I offer three online workshops for your writing and product ownership pleasure. All three are open for registration. Practical Product Owner: Deliver What Your Customers Value and Need Workshop (Q2 session starts May 8, 2017) Writing Non-Fiction Workshop 1: Enhance Your Business and Reputation (The Q2 session starts May 17, 2017) Writing Non-Fiction Workshop 2: Secrets of […]
A reader asked me this question: “How do I report on the 1000 (or so) defects in our system? I have 10 minutes on the status call.” If you are working on a legacy application where the team was not able—for any number of reasons—to maintain technical excellence, you might have a problem like this. So
As I’m writing the agile project management book, I’m explaining how agile creates and manages WIP (Work in Progress) Limits. Iteration-based agile manages WIP by estimating what you can do in an iteration. You might count points. Or, you use my preference, which is to count the (small) stories. If you use flow-based approaches, you use kanban.
If you are wondering, “What do I do with the work I said no to?” here’s the answer. Use a parking lot. This is the image from Manage Your Project Portfolio. I recommend just four columns: the project name, the date you put the project on the list, any notes about value, and any other
My most recent post about how to Visualize Your Work So You Can Say No showing a couple of different kanbans was quite popular. Several people ask me how I use my personal kanban. I use paper. Here’s why I don’t use a tool: I am too likely to put too much into a tool.
Most people I know—even the people supposedly using agile approaches—have too much work to do. You have project work. In addition, you have support work, formal for customer support or sales, and informal for your colleagues. Let’s not forget the reports to write or file, time cards to fill out, or other periodic events. You
I’m almost at the end of the January Practical Product Owner workshop. One of the participants has a problem I’ve seen before. They have a backlog of work, and it’s all tasks. Not a story in sight. I understand how that happens. Here are some ways I’ve seen the tasks-not-stories problem occur: The technical people
Is your agile transition proceeding well? Or, is it stuck in places? Maybe the teams aren’t improving. Maybe no one knows “how to get it all done.” Maybe you’re tired and don’t know how you’ll find the energy to continue. Or, you can’t understand how to engage your management or their management in creating an
I had a conversation with Amitai Schleier last year. I told him how much I enjoyed Agile in 3 Minutes (the podcast). I learned something from each podcast. He invited me to contribute one. Naturally, I chose management. My podcast, 34: Manage is up. If you like the podcast, you should check out the book, too. See
In Manage Your Project Portfolio, I’m agnostic about who manages the project portfolio. I prefer that the managers responsible for the strategy make the project portfolio decisions. And, I recognize that the PMO often makes those decisions. I am doing a series of webinars with TransparentChoice. The first one is live. See How many “points” does