Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
I spoke with a project manager recently. She told me her story. I used to facilitate project teams as a project manager. Why a project manager? Because the project had a beginning and an end. We had (and still have) too many products to keep the same teams on them for a long time. For …
Continue reading “Agile Project Manager, Scrum Master, or Product Owner?”
At the Influential Agile Leader workshop earlier this year, I led a session about scaling and how you might think about it. I introduced the topic and explained that “scaling” might not be the answer. My experience is that when people use frameworks for larger efforts, they experience these unexpected side effects: The framework actions …
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, …
Note to my dear readers: As I write, I realize this series is growing. Thank you for your understanding in advance. In Defining “Scaling” Agile, Part 4: Sharing Agile Outside of Product Development, I wrote about an independent workgroup with one stream of work. I used Customer Support as an example. Support has one stream: …
Continue reading “Defining “Scaling” Agile, Part 4A: Sharing Agile Outside of Product Development”
Here’s where we are so far in this discussion of what it might mean to “scale” agile approaches: Part 1: Creating Cross-Functional Feature Teams (Teams that can produce features on a regular basis) Part 2: Programs of Cross-Functional Feature Teams (Programs (multiple teams working together) that deliver features on a regular basis) Part 3: Agile Product …
Continue reading “Defining “Scaling” Agile, Part 4: Sharing Agile Outside of Product Development”
In the “Scaling” Agile: Part 1, I wrote about cross-functional collaborative teams. The cross-functional collaborative feature team is the basis for “scaling” agile. In “Scaling” Agile, Part 2, I wrote about programs. I realized I need another part before my original part 3 :-). This new part 3 is about creating agile product development capabilities. …
Continue reading “Defining “Scaling” Agile, Part 3: Creating Agile Product Development Capabilities”
The first post was about scaling functions to working as collaborative agile teams. See Defining “Scaling” Agile, Part 1: Creating Cross-Functional Teams. Now, let’s talk about moving to multiple teams working together, a program. The good news is that you have a few cross-functional teams. They’ve been delivering as project teams. And, now you have a …
Continue reading “Defining “Scaling” Agile, Part 2: Program Management for Product Development”
As more teams and organizations transition to agile, they discover something important about leadership. Leadership is part of everything we do in an agile project. It doesn’t matter if it’s development or testing, management or architecture. We need people with high initiative and leadership capabilities. That leads me to these questions: We need project management. …
I am about to update Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects to a second edition. What would you like me to add? To remove? To change? What have your challenges been about project portfolio management? Here are things I’m planning to add: Many more kanban views of the project portfolio …
Continue reading “Taking Requests for New Edition of Manage Your Project Portfolio”
The big problem with hardware going agile is that the risks in hardware are not homogeneous. Hardware and mechanical engineering are on different cycles from each other, and they are each different from software. Even with each discipline, the risks are different when the teams collaborate together on one deliverable and when the entire program …