This is Johanna Rothman’s December 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. In the first part of inviting culture change, I wrote about Stephanie, a senior leader who wants more organizational agility. She’s used the flow metrics to invite that culture change. So far, she’s succeeded with the […]
This is Johanna Rothman’s November 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. I’ve been working with Stephanie, a senior leader who’s trying to nudge her organization to more organizational agility. Not because agility is so “good,” but because they want to quickly launch new products and new versions
I had a wonderful time discussing management myths, fake agility, and how to get to done with Kumar Dattatreyan. He runs the Agile Meridian podcast. You can also find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/live/_L4TnfDeQAs?si=SZs1oLuL6faYG7Bg Kumar was a terrific host—we had a delightful conversation. We discussed several of my books: The Modern Management Made Easy books (the
This is Johanna Rothman’s October 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. I happened to see a recent review of Practical Ways to Manage Yourself that made me laugh. (I don’t normally read book reviews because once I put the book out into the world, that book is
The various AI vendors want us to trust their autonomous agents. I have several problems I would love to use AI to solve. (Including updating all the tags on this site!) However, I cannot trust the agents yet. Even when I use interactive prompting, I’m not happy with the results. Those results can change (non-deterministic
This is Johanna Rothman’s September 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Humans excel at seeing problem signals—the signs that we have a problem. However, we often have blind spots about the root causes of those problems. Our beliefs and/or insufficient or irrelevant data reinforce those blind spots.
This is Johanna Rothman’s August 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Amy, a project manager, said, “With all the changes going on, no one is quite sure of their next steps. The portfolio team is stuck because they can’t predict for a year anymore. The product leader
I have options for all kinds of work I want to do today: The creative work, which includes a wide variety of writing (articles, blog posts, and yes, more books) and more workshops Paperwork. Yes, I have accounting and all kinds of spreadsheet reconciliation. Client preparation work for when they return from their summer vacations.
I’ve heard that the AA/PMI wants to create a manifesto for enterprise agility. I’m not sure we need a manifesto, but that’s fine. Here are the necessary conditions for enterprise agility: A culture of flow efficiency thinking. That means everyone collaborates across the organization to optimize up for one overarching goal. Limited planning horizons, with
This is Johanna Rothman’s July 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Mike, a new senior leader, wants to know when Engineering will deliver specific projects. He would prefer more accurate estimates, but he’s okay with relative sizing, such as: Small projects: Not more than a quarter (12