As organizations have transitioned to agile projects and programs, what happens to the managers? Do we need managers any more? If so, what good would they do? Yes, we need managers. And in a truly agile organization, where the managers are freed from the day-to-day tactical project tasks, we need them more than ever as […]
Last week, when I was on vacation, my most recent Stickyminds column went up. I somehow expected more comments. Maybe other people were on vacation, too?
The December Harvard Business Review has an article, Is the Rookie Ready? (You have to subscribe and pay to read the whole thing.) The story is this: Kristen is the new project manager, reporting to Tim. The old PM left because Tim, who’d been her manager for 6 months didn’t know how to work with
Summary: As a lead and manager, your job to remove obstacles that impede work is most important. But of all the obstacles you find, whether they be people’s perceptions, bottlenecks in the work flow, or an ill-fitted chair or desk, which do you tackle first? Johanna Rothman has cleared countless of obstacles for numerous teams.
Summary: If you’re a test manager–or any sort of manager, for that matter–in a company that’s transitioning to agile, you might be curious about where you stand in the new environment. Many of the traditional management roles are gone, but managers still have their place. As Johanna Rothman explains, it’s time to think about coaching,
If you are anything like me, you have a to-do list a mile long. Because I work for myself, I have an integrated list of everything I need to do: projects for clients, books to write, articles to write, columns to write, presents to buy, house maintenance, clothes to organize, office cleanup. The list is
I have fixed the how-do-I-get-up-in-the-morning-when-Mark-is-traveling problem. I bought a new Sangean RCR-5 Digital AM/FM Clock Radio with a Sangean Pillow Speaker – #PS-100 – D/S (I love them both) and now, I hear the alarm, no matter what side I sleep on! I don’t have the problem of blasting my good ear with noise that
I recently wrote an article on how to say, No: Such a Difficult Word, and a twitter follower wanted to know what to do when your manager can’t hear no. First, understand why your manager can’t hear no. Is it because the business pressures are so great that the cost of saying no seems insurmountable?
I’m a member of a panel Jul 23 for the Boston Agile Bazaar meeting, and am attempting to articulate my two-minute position statement to the question: How would you characterize your approach to handling people problems on agile teams? My problem is that I don’t do anything any differently for agile or non-agile teams. I
In the Small Steps and Plunge In posts, I said projects should transition to agile all the way. But does it work the same way for the entire organization? Nope. I recommend a gradual approach to moving to agile. Not all project teams are ready for the self-discipline agile requires. But, even more importantly, too