Ranking work, whether it’s for the backlog, a roadmap, or the portfolio, sometimes feels like throwing darts and hoping for the best. But especially if there’s too much work and a lot of WIP, we have a tool for clarifying that ranking—the Cost of Delay. It does require counting the number of people and easy […]
In Part 1, I explained the various Costs of Delays with this image: I explained how to calculate the salary costs in Part 1. Now, it’s time to calculate/assess Costs 2, 3, and 4 to decide on the most valuable work. (If you have Manage Your Project Portfolio, there’s an entire section about calculating and
If you’re like my clients (or me!), you have too much work to do. (I’m beginning to think “too much work” is the norm.) But how do you decide what to do first, second, and third? And never? I use Cost of Delay. (I’ve written about how to see the various Costs of Delay, especially
This is the June 2024 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter, from Johanna Rothman. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. A newsletter reader asked me this question: Are there common reasons that projects fail? There are. These reasons aren’t just for product development projects, but for any effort that has some risk and requires
Do you have an overstuffed backlog the way Jenny did in Create More Success: How to Say No to “Everything” to Say Yes to What’s Necessary Now? I offered “now” advice in that newsletter. But what about the future? How can you prevent an overstuffed backlog, roadmap, or all those great ideas from interrupting your
In How Centralization Decisions Create Friction, Increase Cycle Time, and Cost Money, Part 1, I discussed how removing support staff for departments and managers created longer cycle times. (And sometimes, increased friction so much that people could not easily do their jobs.) Removing those support staff was one indication the companies fell into the Economies
In the first post, How Centralization Decisions Create Friction, Increase Cycle Time, and Cost Money, Part 1, I explained how centralizing even relatively small decisions to centralize has high costs. Why do organizations centralize? To supposedly capitalize on “economies of scale.” That’s the problem of understanding the cost of work—but not the value of that
Some company is buying your company (or vice versa). Why? They claim it’s “Economies of scale,” and the combined organization will save money by centralizing “overhead” and flattening management. You know who that “overhead” is: the people who support the business, such as finance and HR. And, the managers. Worse, the new management asks managers
Most projects encounter problems at some point, regardless of the size of the team and the people’s capabilities. For example, in a six-person team, TeamA, Tom resigned to follow his wife to her new job. Dick became quite ill and went out on short-term disability for the next three months. And Harry needed significant time
How to Describe All the Value When You Want to Influence Do you ever wonder how to describe the value of the changes you’ve led or want to lead? Fred, a project leader, needs a new job. His company—despite his project’s success—laid him off. He needs to influence hiring managers to look at his resume