I had so much fun recording a podcast with the Product Confidential people, Evie Brockwell and Michael Palmer. See the episode: The Essence of True Agility with Johanna Rothman. Check out the episode on Spotify and on Apple. Note: I do not use Spotify, nor do I use Apple, but I found the podcast in […]
I’ve been working with a new-to-the-organization senior leader, Steve, who struggles with this challenge: He wants to capitalize some operational expenses. (That’s a move from OpEx to CapEx.) He is convinced that will give him some freedom to change things while everyone is still working hard. So they’ve asked all the technical people to fill
Your managers want to measure all kinds of interesting pieces of data to run the company well. Much of that is reflected in your organization’s Profit and Loss (P&L) statement. (There’s a great site with an explanation of a P&L statement.) Notice any organization’s three big numbers: Revenue, all the operating expenses, and net earnings.
This is the April 2025 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter, from Johanna Rothman. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email.Early in the agile community, people referred to the Product Owner as the “single wringable neck.” Somehow, if the product owner didn’t define the stories well, or create acceptance criteria, or even represent what someone
My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. I’m partway through the reorganization and threading of more specific ideas for writers and consultants. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April 18, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute
How do you start a piece of writing? I often start with a “story,” an anecdote about a person with a problem. Long ago, I read a project status report from Clive. It was so boring that I skimmed it—only to read this as the last sentence: “This project is at substantial risk of not
My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. I’m finally past the introduction. (Insert maniacal laughter here.) Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April 11, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This
Some writers don’t believe the promise of my Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer book. They don’t believe writing can be fun. Or that writing can free your mind to think of more ideas as you write. They tell me writing is a slog, that they hate it. And they can’t wait to finish the piece.
Do you feel as if you are always behind on your project? That someone—or several someones—started before you or your team started this project? It’s not your imagination. They did. At the very least, a product leader or someone on the portfolio team said, “If we created a project to do A thing for B
My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. I’m in the midst of rewriting the introduction and Chapter 1. So I alternate between them and reorganize them. Yes, this is perfectly normal for me. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April