Understand Your Project Interdependencies Do you have interdependencies in your projects and programs? People on one team need something or someone from another team. Part of the problem is that we use the same word (interdependency) to describe two different problems. Teams can solve sequencing interdependencies. Teams need managers to solve specialist interdependencies. In Sequencing […]
In our projects, we solve problems all the time. We might solve customer problems—how to make this feature work the right way. We might solve project problems—how to get to continuous integration or how to build enough and the right kind of test automation to make it easier to release. We even solve so-called people
Many agile teams attempt to plan for an entire quarter at a time. Sometimes, that works quite well. You have deliverables, and everyone understands the order in which you need to deliver them. You use agile because you can receive feedback about the work as you proceed. You might make small adjustments, and you manage
The more I work with project portfolio teams and program managers, the more I understand one thing: Cost accounting makes little sense in the small for agile, maybe for all knowledge work. I should say that I often see cost accounting in the form of activity-based accounting. Each function contributes to some of the cost
If you’re thinking about agile or trying to use it, you probably started with iterations in some form. You tried (and might be still trying) to estimate what you can fit into an iteration. That’s called “pushing” work, where you commit to some number of items of work in advance. And, if you have to
A project manager proudly told me he was agile. “We do standups every day. We work in iterations.” I asked, “How does the product owner like what you deliver every day or so?” “Oh, we only deliver once we have a hardening sprint, after our three development sprints.” He continued to describe what they do:
It seems as if everyone is talking about “scaling” agile. What they mean is a strategic collection of projects with one business deliverable: a program. We don’t have “best” practices for agile program management. However, you might find some reasonable practices help you use agile or lean even better. Think Product, Not System Sometimes, we
I like to be efficient. I like finishing my work quickly, without wasting time, money, or energy. But it’s also important to be effective—working on what matters most. One of the legacies of waterfall approaches is that too often, our focus is on efficiency and not effectiveness. Efficiency is how fast you can do something.
Marcus Blankenship and I wrote a follow-up piece to our first article, mentioned in Discovery Projects Work for Agile Contracts. That article was about when your client wants the benefit of agile, but wants you to estimate everything in advance and commit to a fixed price/fixed scope (and possibly fixed date) project. Fixing all of
You’re working on a project or a series of tasks for some deliverable. Do you know why? The reason behind the project explains the value of your work. You might work on something just for the fun of it. Back before I had children, I bicycled, crocheted, and needlepointed. I made time for these hobbies