Your team has one of those long roadmaps or a long backlog. They’re working, delivering about two items (full stories) a week. Then, your manager asks you this question: “That feature set in six months: when will you start it and when will you finish it?” “We could start it now,” you say, “assuming we […]
Some facts that make me a little sad: Social media is more and more splintered. Sites that used to be enjoyable became tolerable. Then, they became intolerable. Worse, the algorithms decide whose posts I should see and whose I should not. If you have not read any of Cory Doctorow’s writing about enshittification, I strongly
I’ve been thinking about flow… In his first week, Tom, a new manager, realizes the four teams he leads and serves are frantically trying to finish their work. Each team feels too much pressure to have one-on-ones with him, in this, his first week. He first checked the project portfolio. Here’s what he discovered: His
Warning: Rant ahead. Today, I received several chirpy, happy, perky emails from either connections or LinkedIn’s email. They all said essentially the same thing: “Hello, friend. What’s making you happy or successful today?” I hate these emails. Just hate them. They feel fake to me and worse, they bring out the grumpy in me. And
After I spoke with Chad and Jeff on the previous podcast, Deep Dive into Successful Independent Consulting with the Agile Wire, we spoke all about the idea of building products, starting with consulting-based products. See Building the Right Product with Johanna Rothman. Some of our discussion points: Consulting products: how to think about products for
If you’re trying to use an agile approach, what do you care about in terms of finishing: That the team finish the work, regardless of the personal or team cost? That you know who did what, so you can reward them? Or that the team completed the work, without undue stress and strain? (also called
I had a great time discussing Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer with Mark Leslie Lefebvre on Episode 316 – Free Your Inner Non-Fiction Writer with Johanna Rothman. I met Mark back in 2017 when I attended an Anthology workshop from the nice folks at WMG Publishing. I sold two short stories at that workshop, my
I had a terrific time speaking with Jeff and Chad on the Agile Wire: Successful Independent Consulting with Johanna Rothman. (That’s the video link.) We discussed many things: Fees and why some clients want us to float their money and what to do instead. Marketing is an ongoing and continual activity Jeff has a hack
It must be the season for “research” on social networks. Just this past week, I received several requests to share my stories with researchers—as if my experience was research. Some of these researchers are graduate students. Others are consultants. All of them share these goals: They want to write a substantial document, incorporating their research.
How do you know when you finished a feature? You might have a checklist, to make sure multiple people looked at all the artifacts, and that everything is checked in. (This is easier if you work as a mob/ensemble, pair, or swarm.) In addition, a product leader might approve the feature. Finally, the team, a