Some folks have told me in their agile projects that they are able to deal with technical debt as they find it. They are a lucky few. But more have been stumped: “I find something. I really can’t fix it now. But I don’t know what to do with it.” I’ve suggested putting it on […]
I like Roy’s analogy about the difference between unit and integration testing: Unit testing vs. Integration Testing : The Restaurant Analogy.
I’ve been writing pieces of the project portfolio book, and was wondering how to explain how managers get caught in the trap of having too many projects. Then I read Joe Ely’s Minimizing Work-in-Process for Knowledge Workers, and had an “aha” moment. (Well, I think I did. You let me know.) For many managers (and
Jurgen wrote Lesson Learned: Automate Project Evaluations a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been trying to find a nice way to explain that no, Jurgen is wrong. I can’t do it. Jurgen, You are WRONG. If anyone here is doing some form of agile or incremental or any kind of development, and you have not
One of the problems I see in projects is that there is not a sufficient definition of done. For agile teams, it’s not clear what done means for a timebox. For non-agile projects, the team may not agree on what done means for a milestone or for a release. For an agile team, do you
I publish a monthly email newsletter, the Pragmatic Manager. Last month’s topic was Timeboxes Help Multisite Teams. Let me know if you like the formatting of the page the same way I format the email newsletter, or if I should not be so fancy-dancy.
Steve Berczuk (author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration—I’ve only read pieces), has a great review of Manage It! One nice nugget: This book has pragmatic advice on how to make progress and issues visible, how to plan a project, and most everything else you need to help a project come to
I discovered two more great reviews of Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. The first is a brief explanation of the Jolt awards. Take a look at Winners of the 18th Jolt Product Excellence Awards & Recipients of the Jolt Productivity Awards. (Scroll down a bit to see what Roland Racko said
I’m particular about two things: calling a prose plan a project plan and calling a Gantt chart (or yellow stickies) a schedule. One of my colleagues emailed me last week, explaining he’d spent a week developing a project plan and was hoping I could take a look at it. “Sure,” I said. “Send it along.”
Take a look at the Stickyminds review of Manage It! Jennifer says: I highly recommend this book to all project managers, from novices to those with more experience. This is an incredible resource that should be referred to frequently for advice on how to help you decide which project management practice or technique is appropriate