I’m finishing the Project Lifecycles book. Last week, I realized I made several mistakes: It was past time to ask for people to write praise quotes. I had only asked men to write praise quotes. Neither of these was a disaster, but they were embarrassing. Especially since Bob Sutton had posted this, and I replied […]
I’m surprising myself with this experiment and the fact that I am continuing it. I suspect I’m successful because it’s just a minute of some in-progress writing. Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for November 9, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some
Many of my middle-management and senior leadership clients want certainty about future work. That’s one of the reasons they create huge backlogs and long roadmaps. Yet, even those backlogs and roadmaps don’t offer certainty. One of these managers said, “I have so much uncertainty and ambiguity. I feel as if I can’t make a good,
My 60 seconds of WIP for November 2, 2023 The transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for November 2, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a science fiction short story, which does not yet have a
Several of my trusted advisor clients have asked this question, “Why do I need to choose between effectiveness and efficiency? Why can’t I have both?” A great question. I recommend they start with effectiveness. That occurs when they say yes to just the work they need now, to reduce the organizational WIP. Start with managing
My experiment continues. My cold is better, but I needed an outtake for this one. Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for October 26, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a short story, currently titled “A
For years, we’ve used several metaphors to describe software product development: People-based metaphors, such as: Man-weeks for all the humans working on a project or a product. FTE for full-time Equivalent (as in human beings!) “Resources” instead of the words: people, or human beings Construction metaphors, such as: build, which describes how we organize and
My experiment continues, even with my terrible cold. (Just a cold.) Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for October 19, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a short story, currently titled “Underdog Party,” which will be
The experiment continues. My weekly 60 seconds of some writing in progress (WIP). This one is from a short story. The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for October 12, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from
When I saw the McKinsey report on “developer productivity,” I shuddered. First, that makes no sense in a collaborative team. Second, there’s no way to measure such a thing as developer productivity, despite what McKinsey says. (I’m not linking to the report, because the advice is so bad.) Then I read Lorin Hochstein’s brilliant assessment