A senior leader, Jim, emailed me to clarify how to track a project’s progress. He’s a sales guy by training and is now leading a technology-based company. He’s confused. When he asks about progress, he feels as if everyone takes one step forward and two steps back, just as in the Project Kisses of Death […]
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.
I have never found Gantt charts to be useful. When I say that to my clients, some of them tell me they do find use in Gantt charts. Specifically, the people who like Gantt charts say they can predict where the project is headed. In addition, they can see the various interdependencies across the work.
Three Planning Ideas to Support Your Future Decisions Many organizations use deliverable-based planning, specifying the various features or products the teams expect to deliver and when. I’m a fan of short-term deliverable-based planning because it focuses everyone on the (few) deliverables. But the pandemic taught us a critical idea: while long-term deliverable-based planning can illuminate
I started this series by sharing my status of too much WIP (Work in Progress). My WIP was making me slightly crazed and I explained how I worked to reduce it. In case you’re wondering, here’s my current status: 3 presentations still on the list (I completed 2, including the one I recorded). The online
I hate the fact that I let my WIP get this high—and I’m glad I’m working it down. (I wrote why I let my WIP get this high on my other blog in the post, What Would It Take for You to Fail to Success?) My status today: Finished one more presentation and need to
I’m halfway through this week of working through my too-high WIP. So far, I exposed my WIP and talked about how I planned to use continuous flow in Part 1. Part 2 was about cycle time and using Cost of Delay to make easier decisions. Today is about why I don’t use a real backlog
As I said in my Day 1 post, my WIP is too high. Here’s where I stand with my WIP: I completed one presentation, so I have 4 remaining I have some feedback on the book that I need to integrate. I want to address the next 3 chapters, because they’re the platform for the
I don’t know if you retrospect on a regular basis. I do. (I know, you are so surprised!) Andy Kaufman asked me to share my biggest learning for his podcast. Take a listen to The Most Important Lesson You Learned Last Year. I’m pleased and proud to be in such good company. Thanks, Andy!
I had dinner with a colleague. While we were settling into our coffee, he asked me, “What does post-agile mean to you?” I was no longer calm and relaxed. “That’s a nonsense word. Post-agile!” Here’s why I reacted the way I did. We have known about miniature milestones, or inch-pebbles, since the 1940s. That’s how