When I wrote Manage It!, I included an idea called a Hudson Bay Start. I wrote an article about that later, in How to Use Iteration Zero—Or Not. Hudson Bay Starts are not a new idea. However, you might not know what they are. Here’s the idea: the team chooses one item from their backlog. […]
When I started working on projects, we thought we could use a serial/waterfall approach to project management and product development. While we were wrong, one very good thing happened in the 1970s and 1980s: We took the time at the end of each phase to do a little retrospective. Yes, even for a serial approach,
In my work with project and program managers (see all the various titles below), I always recommend they clarify their project or program boundaries: drivers, constraints, and floats when they start the effort. But in a recent coaching call, I realized there’s another question I use a lot, especially with sponsors: When do you want
In a recent conversation, I realized that very smart and experienced project managers do not always know the difference between activity-based plans and deliverable-based plans. While activities might result in an interim or internal deliverable, activities do not result in a user-focused deliverable. The team might make some progress, but not progress users can see.
When Mark, my husband, and I moved into this house a decade ago, we faced the problem many other people face: what to keep and what to toss (or recycle, etc.). Mark had a particularly difficult time with the kitchen drawer that held all the old baby dishes and utensils. I wanted to toss everything
Susan, an experienced senior leader, wondered what to do. Her company’s market was on a roller coaster. Increased revenue meant a lot more customers, who clamored for more features. So, the product leaders pressured the teams to deliver faster. But she’d been in a roller coaster situation before. After two years of stupendous growth, revenue leveled off in just one
For years, managers have been trying to find ways to make software product development faster and easier. As an industry, we’ve tried tons of things. Here are just the one I’ve experienced in the 70s, 80s, 90s: Structured Analysis and Design. (That was the precursor to Big Design Up Front.) The SEI’s Capability Maturity Model
Susan, a new-to-the-company program manager, could not understand why Product A was so late. The teams used a well-known agile approach. They weren’t working on anything else except for production support. Yet, even though the teams worked hard, not one team could meet any of their deadlines. The teams were unhappy with their progress. They
I continue to work with people who have trouble with their agile approach. They tell me their relative estimation isn’t working for them. They continue to roll over items, from sprint to sprint. They’ve rolled over some items for six months or longer. The people feel demoralized. And the Scrum Masters or agile project managers
Regardless of whether you work inside an organization or you work for yourself, the start of the new year allows all of us to reset and restart. That means too many of us think we need to “plan” for an entire year. Before you consider an entire year, reflect on last year: How much of