For me, writing has four main parts: researching or deciding what to write and organizing it, writing, editing, and publishing. You might think of these steps as analysis and design, coding, testing, and release. I like to keep my writing chunks small so that my editing occurs soon after my writing. Small chunks also means […]
I’ve lost count of the number of companies that don’t pay for training—or even provide tuition reimbursement. I also see too many organizations decide whom to hire based on technical skills. They don’t see the irony here. That means you’re responsible for your ongoing career development. And here’s the kicker: The more you learn and
In more traditional projects, the Project Management Institute has a notion that you can “control” a project. I have never found that to be true. Of course, I never quite used a waterfall approach–I have used feature-driven approaches more often than I used a serial approach. But the idea that I could somehow control a
I have a problem with the way many people talk about Scrum. They say “agile/Scrum,” as though they’re the same thing. No, no, no. Scrum is just one way to approach agile. It’s a terrific project management framework, especially for cross-functional teams that work on one project at a time. Scrum does not say anything
Many people like to start the new year with resolutions. I’m not one of them. I don’t like resolutions unless they are very small action steps I can take every day. Too often, people select resolutions such as “Lose twenty pounds this year.” That’s big. It doesn’t have small things I can do each day.
I meet many people who are convinced there is One Way to Do Agile. Oh, and it’s the way they are using the agile practices. In their opinion, everyone should do agile their way. They believe that the kanban board is more valuable than a Scrum board—or the other way around. They believe that as
Two development managers were arguing: “I need Tom on my team,” Chase said. “He has the specific knowledge I need. We’re not going to be able to release unless we get Tom on my team.” Pierce retorted, “You can’t have him. He’s working really well with my team. He likes my team. Forget it.” They
How often do you reflect on your career or life? If you are like me, it’s easy to let the daily pushes and pulls distract you from reflection. I realized about a year ago I had not reflected purposefully about my work and my life in a couple of years. I reflect on consulting, individual
Have you ever been told you have “a lot of potential”? My teachers told me that. Some of my early managers told me that, too. I thought I was working up to my potential, so I was frustrated when I heard that. Then, I changed a few things about how I worked. I used inch-pebbles,
I see people measure all kinds of things in projects. Too often, they are single-point or single-dimension measurements. Those measurements don’t provide you with a good idea about the health of your project. They might be a start. However, they are insufficient. Imagine you, like me, would like to lose some weight. You weigh yourself