This is Johanna Rothman’s July 2026 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. (Looking for the video? I post the video within a few days of publication on my YouTube channel.) Are you drowning in work? While I mostly speak with project and program managers, or “people” managers, everyone […]
Some of the writers who take my writing workshop tell me they have writer’s block. But they can write me long emails, so it’s not literally writer’s block. However, they are stuck on something—something that prevents them from writing something useful. So they call it writer’s block. Instead, I suspect they have project block, where
If you are wondering, “What do I do with the work I said no to?” here’s the answer. Use a parking lot. This is the image from Manage Your Project Portfolio. I recommend just four columns: the project name, the date you put the project on the list, any notes about value, and any other
My most recent post about how to Visualize Your Work So You Can Say No showing a couple of different kanbans was quite popular. Several people ask me how I use my personal kanban. I use paper. Here’s why I don’t use a tool: I am too likely to put too much into a tool.
Most people I know—even the people supposedly using agile approaches—have too much work to do. You have project work. In addition, you have support work, formal for customer support or sales, and informal for your colleagues. Let’s not forget the reports to write or file, time cards to fill out, or other periodic events. You
I’m doing a webinar on July 2 about finding a job: Manage Your Job Search Webinar . Here’s the description: Searching for a job is a big, complex, and scary prospect. You don’t have control over the end date, so it’s an emergent project. How do you regain control? By using personal kanban inside one
Today’s job search trap is something we can all identify with: biting off a big chunk of work and not getting it to done fast enough. I suspect we have all been there and done that! How do you avoid this particular trap? I like to assess each of my tasks on my board and
Three Secrets for a Successful Job Search Are you looking for a job? If you are, I bet you’ve received advice from many people–whether or not you wanted it. Here are my three secret ingredients for a successful search: Secret #1: Create a system that works for you. I happen to like personal kanban inside
I recently met someone who thought he could manage his job search with yellow stickies. Given that I recommend personal kanban, I thought we’d be on the same wavelength. Imagine my surprise when he said, “I have stickies all over my computer, to remind me of what I have to do.” Oh no. That’s not
As I give my talks about Manage Your Job Search, I ask people, “What traps have you noticed in your job search?” I hear all kinds of things. I’ve addressed a number of them in the book, and I’ll address more of them here. One of the traps I hear a lot is this one: