Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
In my experience, too many projects are under too much pressure. The sponsors want all of the features, completed in too-short time, with no defects. And, if possible, the sponsors think the project should cost nothing, the team should not need any training, and the team can work in any way, regardless of the desired …
Continue reading “Summary for a Project’s Boundaries: Drivers, Constraints, & Floats”
I wrote about how to pick a driver in Part 1. In Part 2, I wrote about how you might finesse some of the constraints and floats if you can release frequently. What if you’re like this organization, Acme? Acme has been working towards agility for the last couple of years. However, they still have …
In Part 1, I wrote about the origins of drivers, constraints, and floats. I needed them when we only could release the project once to the customers. You saw the questions that help people choose the project driver. What about the constraints and floats? I think of constraints as bounding the project inside the driver, …
Continue reading “Create & Manage the Project’s Bounds, Part 2 (Constraints and Floats)”
Do you know your project’s bounds? Do you know what your sponsors want from your project? For many years, I heard about the “iron triangle.” Sometimes, the triangle was “Scope, Quality, Cost.” Sometimes, it was “Scope, Date, Cost.” It was always three things out of a minimum of four possibilities. I never saw a triangle …
Continue reading “Create & Manage the Project’s Bounds, Part 1”
Many years ago, I was part of a task force to “standardize” project management at an organization. I suggested we gather some data to see what kinds of projects the client had. They had short projects, where it was clear what they had to do: 1-3 week projects where 2-4 people could run with the …
Glen Alleman seems to have nailed it, with Alert – Was Poor PM the Root Cause of ACA Difficulties? Among the many problems: No overall program manager No way for stakeholders to know what Done looks like (no release criteria) No replanning I’m a huge fan of rolling wave planning. (Read Starting with Rolling Wave …
The nice folks at ScheduleMailer interviewed me about how I accomplish what I do. They consider me a time management expert. That’s what project portfolio management will do for you. I thought it was funny that one of the questions was about work/life balance. I wanted to say, “Honey, it’s all life.” I managed to …
Someone asked me again about self-assessments for their agile transition. That got me thinking about this problem of transitioning to agile. I don’t believe agile is for everyone in every circumstance. Some people claim agile has “crossed the chasm.” Certainly, many people are aware of agile. Many people understand that a cross-functional team works in …
I have an article about test dashboards up on TechTarget. It’s called How to measure test progress: Every picture tells a story. The article has pictures. If you want more pictures, see Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Enjoy!
My most recent post, We Cannot Choose Between Management And Leadership, has struck a chord. That’s the good news. The bad news is I have not defined enough terms. Okay, I’ll attempt that now. And, thank you, gentle readers, for hanging in there with me, waiting for my crazy travel schedule this spring. I see …