Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
A client wants to know how best to calculate their software capitalization. They had a “standard” approach when they used waterfall. They no longer have all waterfall projects. They’ve started to use agile approaches. And, the projects don’t all look the same. Being somewhere in the middle means they’re having trouble reasoning about capitalization. Why …
Continue reading “Capitalizing Software During an Agile Transformation”
Back when I was a manager, my senior management wanted to separate the “new” work from the “maintenance” work. I suggested that every new line after the first line of code was maintenance. The managers poo-poohed me. My concern: How would the “new” developers learn from their mistakes? I lost that discussion and I managed …
Continue reading “Effects of Separating “New” Work vs “Maintenance” Work”
In my experience, too many projects are under too much pressure. The sponsors want all of the features, completed in too-short time, with no defects. And, if possible, the sponsors think the project should cost nothing, the team should not need any training, and the team can work in any way, regardless of the desired …
Continue reading “Summary for a Project’s Boundaries: Drivers, Constraints, & Floats”
I wrote about how to pick a driver in Part 1. In Part 2, I wrote about how you might finesse some of the constraints and floats if you can release frequently. What if you’re like this organization, Acme? Acme has been working towards agility for the last couple of years. However, they still have …
In Part 1, I wrote about the origins of drivers, constraints, and floats. I needed them when we only could release the project once to the customers. You saw the questions that help people choose the project driver. What about the constraints and floats? I think of constraints as bounding the project inside the driver, …
Continue reading “Create & Manage the Project’s Bounds, Part 2 (Constraints and Floats)”
Do you know your project’s bounds? Do you know what your sponsors want from your project? For many years, I heard about the “iron triangle.” Sometimes, the triangle was “Scope, Quality, Cost.” Sometimes, it was “Scope, Date, Cost.” It was always three things out of a minimum of four possibilities. I never saw a triangle …
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Do I advocate insubordination? Some of my Modern Management Made Easy technical reviewers wonder. And, when I looked at this definition of insubordination, I had to agree. However, when I read that definition, I don’t see any mutual problem-solving. I also don’t see any mutual purpose or respect. I don’t see how that form of …
Continue reading “Insubordination vs Caring About the System”
I’m delighted to announce I published the Conference Proposal book! I collated all the conference proposal posts into a book. And, I added more content only available in the book. The book is through copyediting. You can buy it on Leanpub now in all electronic forms. Yes, I will upload the book to all the …
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In Costs of an Agile Approach for Hardware Products, I suggested that an iteration-based approach for hardware was too expensive. I focused on the actual development costs. Let me talk a little about the team and alternatives here. What Does a Hardware Team Look Like? Agile software teams are cross-functional and interdependent. The team is …
Continue reading “Create Feedback Loops (Agile Approaches) for Hardware Products”
I had a conversation with a hardware engineer whose organization got the mandate, “Go agile or bust!” They’re attempting to manage their technical and schedule risk with two-week iterations. And, they’re trying to show finished product, not simulations. And, even though they work independently, they’re supposed to have a standup every day. None of that makes …
Continue reading “Costs of an Agile Approach for Hardware Products”