Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
On the Maintainable podcast, Robby Russell often interviews people about technical issues. Not this time! We discussed the Modern Management Made Easy books among other topics: A little about the origins of agile approaches The issue of “too many meetings” and why they might need to be called something else. (See Decide When You Need …
I’ve been speaking with several possible clients. They’re having trouble with Scrum. The managers don’t believe the teams need product owners, so the teams don’t have POs. The managers think a Scrum Master can support at least four teams. The teams start a lot and finish very little. The teams think they have too many …
Continue reading “Want a Successful Agile Project? Start with Why Before How”
Vasco and I had a wonderful discussion about the Modern Management Made Easy books on his Scrum Master podcast. Listen to BONUS: Modern Management trilogy by Johanna Rothman. We discussed why Scrum Masters and coaches might want to read these books. And how to use the information in the books. (Hint: to support and serve …
Continue reading “Explore Modern Management on a Bonus Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast with Vasco”
When you’re starting off as a consultant, you might take the first one or two engagements a client offers. However, at some point, you’ll see an engagement that is wrong. It’s wrong for the client. It’s wrong for you. No one will see the results either of you wants. What should you do? I see …
Continue reading “Consultants: Clarify Engagements You Will and Will Not Take”
Every so often, someone asks me, “How do you write so much?” I don’t feel as if I write that much. I have meeting-filled days, just as you do. However, I suspect there’s something different about my days: I write for 15 minutes every day. Sometimes, I write longer, but I write for 15 minutes …
Continue reading “Writer’s Block: Don’t Allow Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt into Your Writing”
Have you ever noticed that other people want you to do “more” work? The work has risk—if you say yes to this work, you’ll put every other deliverable at risk. What do you say? You can address this request with a simple sentence: No. That’s it. No. It’s a complete sentence. I bet you feel …
Continue reading “Leadership Tip #3: Use No As a Complete Sentence”
Do you want to develop a habit of writing? Or make writing easier? Or write to find and connect with your audience? I teach these principles in Q2 20201: Writing Workshop 1: Free Your Inner Writer. It took me a while to figure out how to organize the workshop so everyone (including me) could succeed. …
Continue reading “Q2 2021 Writing Workshop to Free Your Inner Writer Open for Registration”
I had a terrific time with Scott Hanselman on his podcast, Hanselminutes. Listen to our conversation on Modern Management Made Easy with Johanna Rothman. I started listening to Scott’s podcast a couple of years ago. I regularly listen because he: Selects people I’ve never heard of before Organizes the interview in ways that clarify the …
Continue reading “Discussion of Modern Management Made Easy with Scott Hanselman”
I had fun with Ian Gill on his Agility by Nature podcast: A Conversation with Johanna Rothman about the Modern Management Made Easy books. We laughed a lot. (Partly at me. I am the Queen of the Career-Limiting Conversation.) We spoke a lot about what managers can do in practice as opposed to theory. And …
Continue reading “More Modern Management Conversation with Ian Gill on Agility by Nature”
I delivered a Modern Management Made Easy talk and ranted about 100% utilization. One of the questions in the chat was: “Don’t consultants want 100% utilization? If you’re not working, you’re not billing.” Here’s how consultants create utilization-based billing: By the hour. Even worse, in 15-minute increments. Time and materials. I don’t do that. Why …
Continue reading “Consultants: Get Better Clients with Better Fees”