Doug was concerned. He was the project manager for a brand new product. After a few specific features, the product manager wasn’t quite sure what needed to be in the first release. The developers were working in a new language. The testers had never seen this new database. And, his management wanted the first release
Feature Article: 90% Done Is Not Almost Done Back when I was a new developer, my boss asked me how long it would take to complete a specific task. I looked at it for about 20 seconds, and said “Four weeks.” “Great,” he said. At the end of the first week, I was 25% done—that’s
Refocusing: Emerging from the Split Focus Schedule Game You see your manager bounding down the hall towards your office. You know what’s going to happen before he gets there–he’s going to ask you to take on yet another project in addition to the three you’re trying to juggle now. You want to run and hide.
Rothman Consulting Group, Inc. Pragmatic Manager, Vol. 5 #3, Timeboxes Help Multisite Teams April 29, 2008 Feature Article: Timeboxes Help Multisite Teams I love timeboxing my work. Timeboxing–choosing a period of time in which to finish a specific task–helps me stay focused on just one thing at a time. Imagine you’ve estimated you have
Contents: This month’s Feature Article: Discovering and Maintaining Your Project’s Heartbeat, Part 2 Announcements =-=-=-=-=- Feature Article: Discovering and Maintaining Your Project’s Heartbeat, Part 2 Last month, I discussed how you to generate and maintain a project’s heartbeat–a project’s rhythm. If you missed that issue, see https://www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager/heartbeatpart1.html. This month, you might want to consider some
Contents: This month’s Feature Article: Making Waterfall (a Serial Lifecycle) Work For You, Part 3 Announcements =-=-=-=-=- Feature Article: Making Waterfall (a Serial Lifecycle) Work For You, Part 3 In the previous two issues, I suggested some approaches for making a waterfall work for you. If you missed either of those issues, see Waterfall Part
Contents: This month’s Feature Article: Making Waterfall (a Serial Lifecycle) Work For You, Part 2 Announcements =-=-=-=-=- Feature Article: Making Waterfall (a Serial Lifecycle) Work For You, Part 2 Last month, I suggested some approaches for making a waterfall work for you. If you missed that issue, see <https://www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager/waterfallpart1.html>. Assuming you’re somewhere in the coding
Contents: This month’s Feature Article: Making Waterfall (a Serial Lifecycle) Work For You, Part 1 Announcements =-=-=-=-=- Feature Article: Making Waterfall (a Serial Lifecycle) Work For You, Part 1 If you read my blog, or have heard me speak, you know I’m not a fan of serial lifecycles, such as waterfall. In fact, unless you
Contents: This month’s Feature Article: Discovering and Maintaining Your Project’s Heartbeat, Part 1 Announcements =-=-=-=-=- Feature Article: Discovering and Maintaining Your Project’s Heartbeat Some projects zoom along, making progress regularly. Others feel as if they slog along, with barely any progress from week to week, or worse, month to month. Why? The zooming projects have
Contents: This month’s Feature Article: How Many Emergency Projects Do You Have? Announcements =-=-=-=-=- Feature Article: How Many Emergency Projects Do You Have? A project manager at a client took me aside recently. “Johanna, how many emergency projects should I have?” I was a bit surprised and asked what he meant. “Well, my boss thinks