Stickyminds Column About Project Portfolio Decisions
My most recent Stickyminds Column, Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Should You Commit, Kill, or Transform is posted. Enjoy!
MPD, Stickyminds columns
January 2009
MPD, personal
Call Your Mom
I just read Steve Johnson’s post, call your mom. I chuckled, because this morning I had sent off my Sweden PSL itinerary email to my folks, hubby, and daughters. I cc’d my contact in Sweden in case my Sweden sim card doesn’t work or I do something stupid, such as forget the phone. The key
MPD, portfolio management
Musings About Management Debt
I’m editing the project portfolio book. Yes, I’m trying to get ready for beta. No, I have no idea when I will be ready. I’ll have more information before Wednesday, if you want to know. I realized that when managers don’t make ranking decisions about the project portfolio, when they don’t fully commit to a
HTP, interview
How Do You Hire for Innovation?
I was working with a client recently, and one of the managers declared, “What we really need are a bunch of innovators. All of our open reqs–let’s hire some innovators.” Well, there’s a little bit about creating an environment in which innovation can flourish (e.g. ending the multitasking, giving people a little slack time, building
lifecycle, MPD
Why Your Senior Managers Like Serial Lifecycles
I gave a talk last night at the Software Quality Group of New England about schedule games. During the talk, I explained how serial lifecycles don’t manage technical, schedule, or cost risk. Serial lifecycles actually increase the duration of the project. And, serial lifecycles don’t offer feedback early enough for the project team. (They only
MPD
Esther's Insights re Specialists and Generalists
Esther has insights, Specialists AND Generalists, on Why Projects Don’t Need Specialists. Her point, that people tend to coalesce around their interests, and that as specialists, they may not share interests, is something I have also seen on projects. As Esther says, Reducing categories (having “developers” rather than many named specialists) reduces differences and helps
MPD
Serial Monogamy Project Participation
I’ve been writing a bunch of articles about project portfolio management, exploring the ideas about committing to projects. (See Serial Monogamy Project Management for some initial thoughts.) But, as I’ve been working with clients and writing more, I’ve been realizing that not only do the decisi0n-makers have to commit to projects, but that the project
MPD
Inbox Zero is Hard for Me
This year, after I archived my last year’s inbox, I decided my email problem was getting worse, not better. “I’m Johanna Rothman, and I have a problem collecting email in my inbox.” I decided to make an effort, one day at a time, to get to zero emails in my inbox. I’m inspired by Merlin’s
newsletter
The Problem Statement is Not Always the Problem
The Problem Statement is Not Always the Problem I recently gave a “talk” at my local SPIN group. They wanted me to do a small version of a session I normally lead at AYE. I organized and reorganized and reorganized and finally developed what I hoped was a one-hour experiential session on coaching. I realized if
MPD, writing
Collaborating with Other Writers
Merlin, via 43 Folders Clips has a video of Eric Idle, on John Cleese’s Approach to Writing. Aside from John Cleese’s specificity, Idle talks about how he had trouble finding collaborators until he started working with John Dupre (I don’t know how his name is spelled). Collaborating with other writers for natural language writing is