Fun Conversation with Miljan Bajic
Please check out this wide-ranging conversation with Miljan Bajic. The writing workshop we mentioned now has its own page: Free Your Inner Writer & Sell Your Nonfiction Ideas. Enjoy!
MPD, writing
MPD
agile, MPD
How to Create Your Own Team Board Without Spending a Ton of Time or Money
Are you frustrated with your board? Maybe three columns don’t offer you enough information. Or maybe you agree with me that teams need to create their own boards. (See the Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics series.) While you’re intrigued by how to create your own board, you have zero money to
agile, MPD
Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics, Part 4
I started this series with observations that my clients appear to confuse strategy and tactics. They think agile approaches are tactics and agile tools are part of their strategy. That’s why they want to Buy an agile approach. And that’s why they want to Customize and then standardize on tools. This post is about this
agile, MPD
Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics, Part 3
In Part 1 and 2 of this series, I wrote about how an agile approach might offer strategic benefits. And because an agile approach changes your culture, I said the agile approach was part of your strategy. So let’s ask this question: Can any tool—agile or otherwise—offer you a strategic advantage? (I don’t see how,
agile, MPD
Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics, Part 2
So when does it make sense to customize your agile approach to gain a strategic advantage? Whenever you have a unique problem to solve that’s strategic to your business. Let’s start with a couple of examples. Example 1: Startup/Small Organization with Few Products SmallCo has revenue of about $30Million a year. They offer their product
agile, MPD
Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics, Part 1
A number of my clients confuse their strategic ideas with tactical work. They think that the agile tools they use, such as boards, offer a strategic advantage. So they build or customize their tools. However, they adopt or “install” an agile framework or process without customization. Those actions lead to organizational brittleness. Instead, agile organizations
management, MPD
Leadership Tip #13: For Innovation, Remove at Least One Policy or Procedure a Week
Some managers wanted to prevent Bad Things from happening in the organization, so they added policies or procedures. Now, these same managers want business agility. However, the policies and procedures increase friction and make it harder to get the Right Things done. It’s time to start removing some of those policies and procedures. The more
management, MPD
Leadership Tip 12: Focus on Effectiveness, Not Efficiency
Many of us focus on how efficient we can be. Many of our organizations want to maximize our output for every minute and hour of work. However, if we focus on effectiveness first, we create better outcomes for everyone. We don’t waste time working on things that don’t matter. An Example of Moving from Efficiency
management, MPD
Large Features and Long Deadlines Mean You Have a Gantt Chart, Not a Roadmap
Several of my clients have internal struggles about how to internally see the future of the product. The teams want to use an agile approach so they can incorporate learning. The managers want rigid roadmaps. Why? Because the managers want to “know” the teams will deliver it all. However, the managers create a roadmap similar
management, MPD
Purpose vs. Product: Differentiate Your Strategy from Tactics (Portfolio & Roadmaps)
I’m struggling to write several posts and I realized I need to define my terms. I keep seeing managers confuse the strategic and tactical. That leads to large and unchangeable roadmaps and a lot of emphasis on predictability. I don’t know how to offer the level of predictability they want for large and unchanging work.