Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
I wrote about how I felt about milestones after achieving a significant milestone last week (How Do You Feel When You Achieve a Significant Milestone?) I specifically wrote about my feelings. During a discussion on LinkedIn, a reader suggested I start with the last sentence I wanted to leave my readers with. Then build back …
Continue reading “The Creation Experience Does Not Mirror a User’s Product Experience”
I’m a monthly contributor to the Gurock blog. This month’s article is Feedback & Feedforward for Continuous Improvement: Using Double-Loop Learning Challenges Our Assumptions. Single-loop learning is when you “Plan the work and work the plan.” Double-loop learning is when you challenge assumptions during the project. Agile approaches allow us to do so. This is the …
Continue reading “Feedback and Feedforward for Continuous Improvement Posted”
To summarize: your agile transformation is stuck. You’ve thought about your why, as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why. You’ve started to measure possibilities. You have an idea of who you might talk with as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 2: Who to Approach. You’ve considered who you need as allies and how to enlist them …
Continue reading “Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 5: Learning to Learn”
To summarize: your agile transformation is stuck. You’ve thought about your why, as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why. You’ve started to measure possibilities. You have an idea of who you might talk with as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 2: Who to Approach. You’ve considered who you need as allies and how to enlist them …
Continue reading “Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 4: Determining Next Steps”
To summarize: your agile transformation is stuck. You’ve thought about your why, as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why. You’ve started to measure possibilities. You have an idea of who you might talk with as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 2: Who to Approach. Now, how do you create allies so you can unwedge …
Continue reading “Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 3: How to Create Allies”
To summarize: your agile transformation is stuck. You’ve thought about your why, as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why. You have some idea for measurements. Maybe you’ve even started to measure to capture the data. Now, it’s time to talk to people across the organization. The question is this: Who do you talk …
Continue reading “Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 2: Who to Approach”
What does it mean to be an agile leader? Here’s what I’ve seen work: The leader recognizes a problem the organization needs to solve. There may be many problems, and the leader extricates one to start. The leader explores options with the people involved. Often, the leader asks this question, “What is the smallest change …
Continue reading “Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why”
I spoke with a new manager, Drew, the other day. His days are full. He’s got tons of meetings. He tries to provide feedback and coaching to his team members, but he has crises up the wazoo. Drew asked for coaching: “I have way too much to do. I need to learn how to manage …
Continue reading “How Much Time Do You Spend Doing Your Job versus Learning Your Job?”
We talk a lot in agile about generalizing specialists. Scott Ambler has a terrific essay on what a generalizing specialist is: Has one or more technical specialties… Has at least a general knowledge of software development. Has at least a general knowledge of the business domain in which they work. Actively seeks to gain new …
Continue reading “Five Tips to Hiring a Generalizing Specialist”
Way back when I was a developer, my professors taught me structured design and design by contract. Those were supposed to be the silver bullets for programming. You see, if you specified things enough, and structured things enough, everything would all work out. I thought I was the only idiot that structure and specification didn’t …
Continue reading “Change is Learning: No Silver Bullets or Quick Fixes”