Dan, a product owner felt as if he was stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place. His managers wanted “everything” in the next release.He knew the team couldn’t possibly deliver all of it. He hoped to get most of the features. He met with Polly, the agile project manager, and asked how much […]
I have a new column up on projectmanagement.com, 3 Questions to Ask Before Estimating an Agile Program. Often, management wants an estimate for the program. I suggest that before a program manager ask the teams to estimate, she learn the answers to these questions from management: How much would you like to invest in time,
Own Your Leadership, Part 3 I started this story back in Own Your Leadership, Part 1: Dave and Sherry collaborated to facilitate their team’s ability to deliver one completed feature at a time, to improve the team’s throughput and quality. In Own Your Leadership, Part 2, Sherry realized the team doesn’t have a real PO,
It seems as if the larger the agile program, the bigger the planning. Many organizations try to plan for an entire quarter at a time. They bring everyone on the program together in a large room (often a hotel ballroom) and attempt to plan the next quarter’s work. That kind of planning works for some
In What Agile Project Managers Do, Part 1, I described what facilitative agile project managers do. In What Agile Project Managers Do Not Do, Part 2, I described a number of roles a more traditional project manager might think is their job still, even if they are supposed to be/use agile. Sometimes, people get confused with
In What Agile Project Managers Do, Part 1, I spoke about what agile project managers might do. Here’s what agile project managers do not do: The agile project manager does not assign work. The agile project manager does not estimate work on behalf of the team. The agile project manager does not commit to features,
One of the questions I hear all the time with people transitioning to using agile is this: How do we organize the project if we don’t have a project manager? If you read Manage It!, you know I don’t buy the idea of a controlling project manager. But a facilitative project manager? Oh my. That
Plan, Plan, Plan Do you like planning? You might be one of those people who likes to make lists and plan in great detail. I love my lists. I’m not big on huge, ginormous plans, but I do like a list of what to do now and the picture of where I’m headed. You might
I have two online workshops starting in late August: Practical Product Owner Workshop: Deliver What Your Customers Need Non-Fiction Writing Workshop: Write Non-Fiction to Enhance Your Business and Reputation If you have been reading the estimations posts and are wondering, “How do I help my project deliver something every day or more often,” you should
Marcus Blankenship and I wrote a follow-up piece to our first article, mentioned in Discovery Projects Work for Agile Contracts. That article was about when your client wants the benefit of agile, but wants you to estimate everything in advance and commit to a fixed price/fixed scope (and possibly fixed date) project. Fixing all of