product development

Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics, Part 1

agile, MPD / By / August 27, 2021

A number of my clients confuse their strategic ideas with tactical work. They think that the agile tools they use, such as boards, offer a strategic advantage. So they build or customize their tools. However, they adopt or “install” an agile framework or process without customization. Those actions lead to organizational brittleness. Instead, agile organizations …

Agile Approaches Offer Strategic Advantage; Agile Tools are Tactics, Part 1 Read More »

Large Features and Long Deadlines Mean You Have a Gantt Chart, Not a Roadmap

management, MPD / By / July 29, 2021

Several of my clients have internal struggles about how to internally see the future of the product. The teams want to use an agile approach so they can incorporate learning. The managers want rigid roadmaps. Why? Because the managers want to “know” the teams will deliver it all. However, the managers create a roadmap similar …

Large Features and Long Deadlines Mean You Have a Gantt Chart, Not a Roadmap Read More »

Why Shared Services “Teams” Don’t Work with Agility

management, MPD / By / April 14, 2021

One of my clients wants to use shared services “teams” as they start their agile transformation. Their developers work on a product for months and years at a time. However, the testers and UI people are part of pools of people. The organization calls these testers and UI people, “shared services.” Shared service-thinking denies the …

Why Shared Services “Teams” Don’t Work with Agility Read More »

Want Business Agility? Rethink Your Easy Career Ladders, Part 4

management, MPD / By / March 12, 2021

You want business agility. The teams have worked hard to change how they work. And you realize your current career ladder isn’t working for you—or the people you serve. The people and teams continue to experiment with agile behaviors. You would like more lateral, not just vertical options to support any person’s growth. What can …

Want Business Agility? Rethink Your Easy Career Ladders, Part 4 Read More »

Encourage Lateral and Vertical Movement in an Agile a Career Ladder, Part 3

management, MPD / By / March 12, 2021

As people gain experience, they often want new and different responsibilities. In a typical career ladder (Part 1), they had one direction: up. That often creates a problem: great technical people become insufficient managers. Let’s not blame these people—many of them didn’t want to become managers However, if people want more responsibility, the career ladder …

Encourage Lateral and Vertical Movement in an Agile a Career Ladder, Part 3 Read More »

Define Agile Behaviors We Want to Reinforce in an Agile Career Ladder, Part 2

management, MPD / By / March 12, 2021

Part 1 discussed a typical career ladder. I said that when we focus on individual achievements and deliverables, we ignore the agile system of work. Worse, when we reward individual achievements we prevent an agile culture. That’s because agile teams learn together as they create the product. We need career ladders that reward working together. …

Define Agile Behaviors We Want to Reinforce in an Agile Career Ladder, Part 2 Read More »

Why the Popular & Easy Career Ladder Prevents an Agile Culture, Part 1

management, MPD / By / March 12, 2021

As I’ve been speaking about the Modern Management Made Easy books, people ask these questions: We’re pretty good with our agile approach. It’s time for performance reviews. How do we reward someone based on individual work when we want teams to work together? What do we do? Can we extend whatever that is to our …

Why the Popular & Easy Career Ladder Prevents an Agile Culture, Part 1 Read More »

Feedback Loops Help When to Centralize or Decentralize Product-Based Decisions

management, MPD / By / January 21, 2021

When I think about agile approaches to work, I think about how fast we can change and the cost of those changes. We can change the next decisions about the work because we finish the current work and release it. Multiple deliverables allow us to change what we do and what we plan next. That’s …

Feedback Loops Help When to Centralize or Decentralize Product-Based Decisions Read More »

Low Tech Way to Visualize Your Percentile Confidence for Forecasts

MPD, product ownership / By / January 5, 2021

Michael Mahlberg taught me something cool last week. We’re writing an article together. Part of the article is about forecasts. I was ranting and raving about how to help people see their confidence levels. He pointed me to this slideshare: Lightweight Kanban Metrics (in German).  (Don’t worry about the language.) Go to slides 24, 25, …

Low Tech Way to Visualize Your Percentile Confidence for Forecasts Read More »

Failure Is Always An Option

management, MPD / By / December 18, 2020

I’ve been working with teams that feel a ton of pressure. On top of the pressure, a senior manager says these words:  “Failure is not an option.” When managers say that, they ignore all the possibilities for success. They put their heads down, ignoring ways to manage risk. When managers don’t collaborate to manage risk, we …

Failure Is Always An Option Read More »