Is Agile Working for Your Project?
My column is up on projectmanagement.com. It’s called Is Agile Working for Your Project? I hope you enjoy it.
agile, MPD
Articles
Is Agile Working for Your Project?
A client asked me to do an assessment. He wasn’t sure agile was working for their teams. The standup meetings felt like micromanagement. People were on several projects, so they didn’t meet their commitments. The project manager had to translate the project’s progress and status to Gantt charts. Worst of all, people went through the
cultural fit, HTP
Hiring for Cultural Fit Slides Posted
I’ve given webinars and talks about hiring for cultural fit for years. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Waterloo/Kitchener, Ontario. When I spoke for Communitech, I updated my talk, Hiring for Cultural Fit. It’s easy to get cultural fit wrong. It’s more difficult to get it right. I hope you enjoy the slides. BTW,
MPD, project management
Thinking About #NoEstimates?
I have a new article up on agileconnection.com called The Case for #NoEstimates. The idea is to produce value instead of spending time estimating. We have a vigorous “debate” going on in the comments. I have client work today, so I will be slow to answer comments. I will answer as soon as I have
Articles
What Drives Your Behavior at Work?
I’m working on my leadership keynotes and workshops. My primary thesis is that leaders work to change things, first with themselves and then at work. That requires knowing what drives your behavior at work. I don’t mean your personality. Of course your personality affects your work behavior. I need to talk in order to know
MPD, project management
Thinking About Estimation
I have an article up on agileconnection.com. It’s called How Do Your Estimates Provide Value? I’ve said before that We Need Planning; Do We Need Estimation? Sometimes we need estimates. Sometimes we don’t. That’s why I wrote Predicting the Unpredictable: Pragmatic Approaches for Estimating Cost or Schedule. I’m not judging your estimates. I want you to consider
MPD, portfolio management
Learning Opportunities for All
If you are not on my Pragmatic Manager email list, you might not know about these opportunities to explore several topics with me this month: An Estimation hangout with Marcus Blankenship this Friday, April 10, 2:30pm EDT. If you have questions, please email me or Marcus. See the Do You Have Questions About Estimation post. Think
career, HTP
Do You Need a Degree to be Hired to Develop Software?
I retweeted a link to Here’s a Thing: There’s No Correlation Between a College Degree and Coding Ability. I was a bit surprised by some of the reactions to that link. One colleague said, “I question whether people who wait until a college assignment to learn to code have the same obsessive interest in the topic.”
MPD, project management
Do You Have Questions About Estimation?
I am doing a google hangout with Marcus Blankenship on April 10. We’ll be talking about estimation and my new book, Predicting the Unpredictable: Pragmatic Approaches to Estimating Cost or Schedule. The book is about ways you can estimate and explain your estimates to the people who want to know. It also has a number
MPD, portfolio management
Do You Know How to Say No?
Some of my coaching clients have way more to do than they can manage. Some of my project portfolio clients are struggling with how to say no. My most recent Pragmatic Manager newsletter is all about what to do when you have too much to do. Read it at Do You Have Too Much to