We have many words for people who shepherd the business value of a product. The many words aren’t a problem, as long as we can all agree on what these various people are and they take responsibility for. When we don’t agree, we run the risk of not managing our strategy, not thinking in terms […]
You’ve got interdependencies across the organization for a given project or program to release a product. You can see demos. That’s not the problem. You need enough insight or prediction to start the marketing campaign or to create training videos or product documentation. You need some kind of milestone criteria so you know you can complete
Especially when we use agile approaches, we want to be close to our customer. If you’ve ever had a chance to sit with a customer, you’ve learned how effectively (and fast!) the team and the customer learn from each other. And, too few teams have any access to any customers. Most of their customer information
Agile Transformation Secrets, Part 3: Principles Over Practices If you’re trying to use agile approaches or manage an agile transformation, consider these three mindsets for you, your project, and your organization: Manage for change (Part 1) Emphasize collaboration. (Part 2) Use principles, not practices, so teams can be autonomous and deliver what they need to
Some of my clients have struggled with their project governance as they move to agile approaches. In the past, they’ve asked for estimates and costs—by requirement—and then tracked the variance for those estimates and costs. The governance people do not record assumptions. They only record estimates and actuals. They want to “measure” the project success
Your customers can’t take your product more often than once or twice a year. Because the product doesn’t need to leave the building, the teams don’t release internally. Nor do the teams demo on a regular basis. The teams miss the feedback loops so critical for an agile approach. Their agile transformation falls apart. Rethink Your Definition
Agile Transformation Secrets, Part 2: Emphasize Collaboration If you’re trying to use agile approaches or manage an agile transformation, consider these three mindsets for you, your project, and your organization: Manage for change (Part 1) Emphasize collaboration. (this part) Use principles, not practices, so teams can be autonomous and deliver what they need to deliver.
Agile Transformation Secrets, Part 1: Manage for Change If you’re trying to use agile approaches or manage an agile transformation, consider these three mindsets for you, your project, and your organization: Manage for change (this installment). Emphasize collaboration. (I’ll send this in Part 2) Use principles, not practices, so teams can be autonomous and deliver
I’ve been working with several managers at organizations large and small, who want to capitalize their software “earlier.” These managers have some strongly-held beliefs about the people: People are resources Resources can multitask on several projects at a time If “headquarters” does the difficult work, you can move the “grunt” work to lower wage areas
I had a wonderful time on the Agile Uprising podcast The Future of Agile. I had such a blast. Listen for the “expletive deleted” phrases. Yes, I actually said the words, “expletive deleted.” I said many other things that might feel contrarian to you. I thank Georgina Hughes, David Sabine for our discussion and Jay Hrcsko for