Author name: Johanna

I help you identify and solve the problems that prevent you from releasing systems, hiring the right people, deciding which project to work on next. I take a pragmatic approach: what will work best for you, now? Some people call me a focuser. Some call me an accelerator. When I work with people, first we define our goal together. Typically, it's to get a better product out the door faster. I work with my clients to help managers figure out how to do the managing better, and how the technical contributors can contribute better, not to create a by-the-book system. I work with you, your staff, and your current product development practices. Together, we learn what works well for you and what doesn't. I believe in changing only what needs to be changed at the current time, to maximize your success. We work together to develop a blueprint for the future, and to build in capacity to recognize and implement change.

MPD

Aha Moments

I’m still catching up on posting links where either I or other people had aha moments: TMI’s One-on-Ones discusses a bunch of things about one-on-ones, something Esther and I have been talking about forever (as well as in Behind Closed Doors.) David Carlton explains how he adapted one-on-ones. (For the record, I love it when […]

HTP, interview

Can a Candidate Take “Criticism”?

I ran a workshop recently about hiring for an agile team, and one of the people learning to interview said, “I want a candidate who can take criticism.” I replied, “Don’t you mean feedback?” He asked, “What’s the difference?” Oh, boy. Plenty. Criticism is when you you’re looking at a piece of code and you

MPD, project management

How Many Projects Are You Managing?

I gave a talk at a local ICCA chapter last night, and met a project manager who told me he was managing 7 projects. I must have lost my poker face, because he chuckled and said, “Well, you do what you can with that many projects.” You do. And I don’t buy that you’re actually

Articles

Using Writing and Speaking to Recruit Candidates, Part 2

Now that I’ve piqued your curiosity about using writing and speaking to recruit in part 1, let’s discuss the details of who speaks and writes, where to speak and write, and when. Who should speak and write? The best people to speak and write are your hiring managers. I realize that this statement puts you

Articles

How Often Should You Review the Project Portfolio?

You’ve got a ton of projects. You can’t do them all at once because you don’t have the people to do them. You know better than to ask people to multitask on more than one project—no one will get anything done. One tactic is to organize the projects into a portfolio and rank them by

Interview, MPD

Video Interview Posted at InfoQ

Deb Hartmann interviewed me (video and audio!) at Agile 2007. We mostly talked about schedule games from Manage It. (We briefly discussed Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management and Hiring the Best Knowedge Workers, Techies & Nerds.) For those of you who’ve met me and are wondering, “Where are Johanna’s glasses?” They’re in my

Books, MPD

Manage It! Won a Productivity Award

I’m pleased and excited to announce that Manage It! won a Jolt Productivity award. They announced the awards with all the productivity awards on one slide, and we were supposed to stand up when our names were announced. They then do a drum roll and announce the Jolt winner for that category. I saw Manage

Interview, MPD

Interview Posted

David Daly interviewed me, PM Interviews: Johanna Rothman by email. I answered in American spelling and he translated into UK/English spelling 🙂

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