Managing Product Development » Uncategorized http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd Management, especially good management, is hard to do. This blog is for people who want to think about how they manage people, projects, and risk. Thu, 24 May 2012 13:28:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The Challenge of a Lightning Talk http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2011/02/the-challenge-of-a-lightning-talk.html http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2011/02/the-challenge-of-a-lightning-talk.html#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:51:44 +0000 Johanna http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=9439 Continue reading →]]> I’m at Belgium Testing Days, and in about 90 minutes, I’ll be giving a lightning talk as part of a keynote. I  love lightning talks because I love to talk and I love the challenge of a 5-minute, go-for-broke, get-it-organized, and do-it. And, it’s an excuse to drink a lot of cold caffeine in preparation.

The problem I’m having today is this: the topic. I can’t decide between: the manager’s role in the agile organization (this isn’t an agile conference); how we got to think that 100% utilization is reasonable and how to change people’s minds (could be boring since I haven’t written a lot yet); acknowledging technical debt at all levels (a possibility); why chocolate is like testing (because you never know what you’ll find inside). I’m not sure I can carry off enough humor for the chocolate one.

If you comment or tweet quickly enough, I’ll be able to listen to you in time to take your comments and tweets into consideration!

]]> http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2011/02/the-challenge-of-a-lightning-talk.html/feed 5 Appreciations from Japan Trip http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2011/01/appreciations-from-japan-trip.html http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2011/01/appreciations-from-japan-trip.html#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:03:55 +0000 Johanna http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=9406 Continue reading →]]> I had a great time in Japan last week with Esther. On the flight home, we started plotting our next book!

@kaztak_en, Thank you for your invitation to see your team. It looks and sounds as if you are on your agile way.

@kdmsnr, Thank you for your gracious hosting on Tuesday. You were even patient during our shopping!

@yattom, Thank you for your additional translation/interpretation with Kenji, and for picking me up off the ground. (No lasting effects, I am happy to report.)

@hiranabe, Thank you for your speedy arrangement of our talks at the mini conference last week. I’m glad you finally returned home, although it was the next day.

I met so many gracious people. I had a great time. If you want to see my slides from my talk at the mini conference, they are posted at http://www.slideshare.net/johannarothman/six-behaviors-for-agile-team.

I am sure I forgot some people in my appreciations. Please forgive me. I had a fabulous time.

(To my friends who know how much I love sashimi, no I did not have any sashimi this time, which disappointed me. Esther is allergic to fish and seafood, so we ate other food. I’ll have to return at some point and eat sashimi!)

]]> http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2011/01/appreciations-from-japan-trip.html/feed 0 Fixing One Problem Promotes the Next http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2009/12/fixing-one-problem-promotes-the-next.html http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd/2009/12/fixing-one-problem-promotes-the-next.html#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:33:23 +0000 Johanna http://jrothman.com/blog/mpd/?p=8930 Continue reading →]]> I have fixed the how-do-I-get-up-in-the-morning-when-Mark-is-traveling problem. I bought a new Sangean RCR-5 Digital AM/FM Clock Radio with a Sangean Pillow Speaker – #PS-100 – D/S (I love them both) and now, I hear the alarm, no matter what side I sleep on! I don’t have the problem of blasting my good ear with noise that my deaf ear can’t hear anyway :-) I had to buy a new clock radio because my old one did not have a headphone jack, so I couldn’t just get the pillow speaker.

Now that I’ve fixed that problem, number 2 is now number 1. That’s the alarm-when-I-travel problem. If anyone knows of a vibrating watch that works (I bought one that doesn’t), where the alarm keeps going until you shut it off (I bought one where it vibrates once and shuts off), let me know. I could buy another pillow speaker for travel, and assume every clock radio wherever I go in the world will have a headphone jack. I prefer not to make that assumption.

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