Most people I know—even the people supposedly using agile approaches—have too much work to do. You have project work. In addition, you have support work, formal for customer support or sales, and informal for your colleagues. Let’s not forget the reports to write or file, time cards to fill out, or other periodic events. You […]
Understand Your Project Interdependencies Do you have interdependencies in your projects and programs? People on one team need something or someone from another team. Part of the problem is that we use the same word (interdependency) to describe two different problems. Teams can solve sequencing interdependencies. Teams need managers to solve specialist interdependencies. In Sequencing
Over on Techwell, my monthly column is Agile Does Not Equal Scrum: Know the Difference. I wrote the article because I am tired of people saying “Agile/Scrum” as if Scrum was the only way to do agile. I use iterations, kanban, and the XP technical practices when I work with teams. I am not religious about
I have a problem with the way many people talk about Scrum. They say “agile/Scrum,” as though they’re the same thing. No, no, no. Scrum is just one way to approach agile. It’s a terrific project management framework, especially for cross-functional teams that work on one project at a time. Scrum does not say anything
I spoke about hiring for cultural fit at Communitech in Waterloo, CA earlier this year. While I was there, I met another author, Yvonne Chypchar. (She wrote a terrific book about knowing your value, Be the Smart Girl: Money and Your Value: Navigating the world of part-time and summer jobs for girls 12 to 17.) Yvonne
Every time I work with a client or teach a workshop, people want more ways to visualize their project portfolios. Here are some ideas: Here is a kanban view of the project portfolio with a backlog: And a kanban view of the project portfolio with an “Unstaffed Work”
I was coaching a new client. He’s a senior guy with several directors reporting to him. He had stopped his staff meetings for a while because no one wanted to participate. Hmm. I almost asked him why, but he kept talking. “What do you think of this format for my staff meeting? Everyone does a
Do you have projects where you can’t predict an end date? These tend to be a job search, a change project, and with a tip of the hat to Cesar Abeid, your life. I like to call these “emergent” projects. You might prefer to call them “adaptable” projects, but to me, every project has to
I posted my slides for my Agile 2014 talk, Agile Projects, Program & Portfolio Management: No Air Quotes Required on Slideshare. It’s a bootcamp talk, so the majority of the talk is making sure that people understand the basics about projects. Walk before you run. That part. However, you can take projects and “scale” them
Workshop: Create Your Successful Agile (& Lean) Project Workshop Workshop Objective: Learn how to deliver value as a collaborative team. You’ll use agile and lean principles, and experiment with various practices to help you find your agile approach. Workshop Overview: As you practice with your project, you’ll learn how to create your collaborative team. Then,