As a consultant, I want the flexibility to adapt my work to take advantage of opportunities that might arise in a given week–to write an article or blog post, or to propose a project to a new client. And, while I try to plan a week’s worth work, I need the flexibility to adapt my […]
I’m tech-editing an article for the Agile Journal. I’m having a discussion with the author about the words “productivity” and “throughput.” I believe that what we measure in agile teams is throughput, the number of features through the team over time. I don’t think we measure productivity, the number of features per person or per
I posted my slides from my keynote from Belgium Testing Days 2012 at slideshare.net. The keynote was “QA or Test? Does it Matter? You Bet it Does!” I hope you enjoy it. “This person has more stories and may be funnier in person than the slides appear to be.”
Register now, before the end of the day, March 15, for the best single-person and team rates for Shane Hastie’s and my Working Effectively In Geographically Distributed Agile Project Teams. If you don’t subscribe to my email newsletter, the Pragmatic Manager, you have missed a number of great issues where I discussed how to solve
I just posted Managing Timezones in Geographically Distributed Agile Teams. I have a funny story to tell about it. I’m in Belgium, getting ready for Belgium Testing Days. This weekend, the US changes to Daylight Savings Time. But Europe doesn’t. So, when do I talk to my husband? My husband and I are suffering by
Erran Carmel and Alberto Espinosa have written a gem of a book for anyone trying to work in a geographically distributed team: I’m Working While They’re Sleeping: Time Zone Separation Challenges and Solutions. They first start with an introduction to time zones, and explain why I am so confused when I travel. Everyone moves to
One of the problems in a geographically distributed team is the dreaded email chain. Someone has a problem and sends an email. Probably late in the day, when he or she is frustrated after pounding on the problem all day, getting nowhere–except more frustrated. Sally sends the email to the project team. I take offense
I’m doing a webinar with Rally on March 7. It’s about selecting the Number One project in your project portfolio. Please join me and Isaac Montgomery, who will attempt to rein me in (ha!) for What’s the Number One Project in Your Project Portfolio? on March 7. Here’s an excerpt from the description: You have
I have another management myth column posted over at Techwell: Management Myth #2: Only ‘The Expert’ Can Perform This Work. What do you think? Please comment over there.
I have posted 2012’s Pragmatic Manager emails. I have been writing in themes this year: I am writing about geographically distributed teams in preparation for my Geographically Distributed Teams Workshop with Shane in April: Building Trust in Any Team Start Your Geographically Distributed Projects Right Earlier this year, I wrote about the project portfolio for