MPD

MPD, podcast

Interview Posted at IT Conversations

  I’m excited to announce that Roy Osherove’s interview with me is now posted on IT Conversations. Here’s the link to the interview. Roy interviewed me about the hiring book, and of course we segued into project management and management issues. Enjoy!

MPD, portfolio management

Management Insecurity or Product Strategy?

  In Greg’s provocative comment, he says, “The idea that contributor initiatives are a drag on an organization speaks more to the insecurity of the management than to its skills.” I’ve been noodling that comment since I received it. I agree with Greg that some managers are insecure enough to insist that they make all

MPD

A Project Story

  Read The Graphing Calculator Story. (Thank you to Obie Fernandez for finding this gem. Some ideas that stood out for me: The secret to programming is not intelligence, though of course that helps. It is not hard work or experience, though they help, too. The secret to programming is having smart friends. …he told

MPD, thinking

Looking for a Reference

  I’m looking for a reference to something I thought I read but can no longer find. Technical people can work up to 6 hours a day on technical work. They may be at work longer, reading email, going to meetings, getting coffee, but they can only effectively do 6 hours of technical work a

defect, implement by feature, MPD

Attempting to Define Maintenance

  I’ve had several discussions about maintenance in the past few days. I’m beginning to think I have a different definition of maintenance than other people do :-). For me, maintenance is fixing problems in code. Maintenance is short, small, well-contained and code-based, and should be fixed by the developer(s) who created the problem. So

blog, MPD

Moving to a new commenting system

Due to incredible volume of spam comments, I’m moving to a new commenting system. The new one is installed. I’m working on importing the old comments to this system. In the meantime, it’s ok to leave comments here.

MPD, multitasking

Making the Problems of Multitasking Real

Clarke Ching’s Multitasking MAKES YOU STUPID is another great article. But when I teach PMs or coach managers, they say, “I need to multitask to get things done.” Or, they say, “I’m ok with multitasking.” Even smart people think they can do a couple of things at one time. Maybe they can. But the more

MPD

Visit to Israel

I’m teaching a few project management courses in Israel next week at Sela. If you’re in Israel, and would like to have dinner on Dec. 7, let Roy know. He’s arranging a dinner. Thank you, Roy!

MPD

How Many Process People?

  Yesterday, I was talking to a colleague about a new job he’s considering. It’s in a regulated industry, and he had some assumptions: that regulated industry auditors assume a waterfall lifecycle and that organizations require process people to improve the process. Regulated industries do not require a waterfall lifecycle. What they do require is

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