flow efficiency

agile, MPD

Where I Think “Agile” is Headed, Part 5: Summary

It’s time to wrap this series. I started asking if you actually need an agile approach in Part 1 and noted the 4 big problems I see. Part 2 was why we need managers in an agile transformation.  Part 3 was about how people want a recipe. Part 4 was about how “Agile” is meaningless

agile, MPD

Reflecting on Agile Thinking with Roy Osherove

Years ago, Roy Osherove interviewed me about project management, agile thinking, hiring, and management. We had a great conversation. (See Roy’s Archived Interviews page for my interviews with him.) I just listened to some of the questions and answers. If you are not sure about effective management, listen to the interviews. After a nudge from

management, MPD

Help Managers Visualize Their Problems

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

management, MPD

Divide and Conquer Creates Need for Management Control

Several recent clients want help with these problems: Estimation isn’t accurate. Because the estimation isn’t accurate, management can’t predict when they can release anything. Managers can’t manage the capitalization (a way to move from expensing software to capitalizing it). Teams can’t seem to ever deliver a finished feature. The work in progress everywhere is quite large.

MPD, product ownership

Making Roadmaps More Agile

Last August, back at the Agile 2018 conference, I had a chance to record a podcast with Howard Sublett. Howard is a terrific interviewer and a good friend and colleague. We spoke about Making Roadmaps More Agile. We had a blast. Several times, I surprised him with some of my thinking and experience. (Since I’m

management, MPD

Starting a Product Organization Transformation, Part 6

I’ve been thinking about my clients who’ve had success moving from a project-based/resource-efficiency organization to a product-based/flow efficiency organization. They had these things in common: A senior person made it safe for the managers to create experiments. They created very small experiments (either managers or teams, or together). The senior manager often asked a question

Scroll to Top