I’ve been teaching workshops for much of the past few weeks, and I’ve noticed an interesting pattern. I get great comments (and usually good numbers) from people who participate in the workshop. I don’t get many comments, and I get substantially lower numerical grades from people who leave their laptops open during the workshop. These […]
I get to see a lot of meeting behavior. A few rules I use for meetings: End the meeting at 5 minutes before the hour. Most people have another meeting starting on the hour, and this gives them a shot at transportation and bio-break time. Ask people to turn off phones, laptops, etc directly. If
I’ve been writing a bunch of articles about project portfolio management, exploring the ideas about committing to projects. (See Serial Monogamy Project Management for some initial thoughts.) But, as I’ve been working with clients and writing more, I’ve been realizing that not only do the decisi0n-makers have to commit to projects, but that the project
I was reading Ralph’s post, Whose Fault Is It?, and I realized that if you don’t know enough about management, you can misunderstand the root cause. Ralph’s example is of defects in an iteration and how they were not detected early enough because the acceptance criteria were missing. The criteria were missing because the testers
I ran into Dan North at the Agile conference today, and explained a little about the project portfolio book. I’m writing it because I have a number of clients who are having trouble breaking the multitasking habit (working on more than one project at one time.) Dan said, “Oh, you want them to commit to
Refocusing: Emerging from the Split Focus Schedule Game You see your manager bounding down the hall towards your office. You know what’s going to happen before he gets there–he’s going to ask you to take on yet another project in addition to the three you’re trying to juggle now. You want to run and hide.
Summary: Knowing how much work your group can accomplish–and how much it takes to complete that work–is critical to your success as a manager. In this week’s column, Johanna Rothman explains how to ascertain your team’s potential and how to use that information to define and manage your project portfolio so it doesn’t manage you. I
I gave a talk at a local ICCA chapter last night, and met a project manager who told me he was managing 7 projects. I must have lost my poker face, because he chuckled and said, “Well, you do what you can with that many projects.” You do. And I don’t buy that you’re actually
Imagine you’re working on or managing a project. You’re dealing with risks and making technical decisions–pretty much humming along. The project isn’t easy, but you’re making progress. One day, you arrive at work and your boss says, “Stop working on that project. Work on this one instead.” You do. A week later, the same thing
Edna sprinted down the hall to her next meeting. “Edna, wait up,” her boss yelled. “What do you want, Wayne. I’m in a rush to get to this meeting,” she said. “I want you to run another project for me. It’s about …” Edna interrupted, “Wayne. Stop right there. We had this discussion last month