I’ve heard that the AA/PMI wants to create a manifesto for enterprise agility. I’m not sure we need a manifesto, but that’s fine. Here are the necessary conditions for enterprise agility: A culture of flow efficiency thinking. That means everyone collaborates across the organization to optimize up for one overarching goal. Limited planning horizons, with […]
My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. I am happy to report my copyeditor has the book. I’m looking forward to his comments. In other news, I have finally finished renaming the blog posts from their original (and repetitious) “60 Seconds” to useful titles that match the content. I have not
This is Johanna Rothman’s July 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Mike, a new senior leader, wants to know when Engineering will deliver specific projects. He would prefer more accurate estimates, but he’s okay with relative sizing, such as: Small projects: Not more than a quarter (12
This week’s podcast is from the Effective Public Speaking book. As of this morning, I have four more chapters to review and then, the book is off to the copyeditor. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: While you might want to speak about your general expertise, many speakers prefer to narrow their topics to their specific
Several of my fellow writers are busy writing their nonfiction books. Since I’ve published a number of books, they’ve asked me to take a look at their book covers. Too often, the cover does not do the book or the author justice. The title is too small, the author’s name is way too small, and
My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. I’m now listening to my computer read me the book. That will help me realize where things might be out of order, not just where they do not make sense! Enjoy. The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with
There’s all kinds of hype every single day about AI taking the place of programmers. That reasoning infers that typing is the hard part of product development. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here are the hard parts of product development: Understanding what the customers want. Often, the customers don’t know until they see
Even though it’s a holiday in the US (July 4th), I have a podcast for you this week. It’s from the Effective Public Speaking book. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for July 4, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of
My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. While I’m not a fan of the term, “thought leader,” a lot of people aspire to be one. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for June 27, 2025, where I read an excerpt of
Many of my clients have large “appetites”: they want to create ambitious products with many features. Even though I recommend they start small and iterate their way to that ambitious product, these (smart people) still say they want to start with “more.” They think the team needs to see this ambitious product vision to know