Several people on social media have denigrated the terms “project manager” and “program manager.” These people claim there is no need for either role in an effective team, especially an agile team because the team can manage its own deliverables. While some agile teams can manage their own deliverables, that’s not the only role for […]
Several years ago, I wrote a post for a different blog called “Why Team Size Matters.” That post is long gone. I explained that the number of communication paths in the team does not increase linearly as the team size increases; team communication paths square when the team increases linearly. Here is the calculation where N is
I’ve said before that agile is a cultural change, not merely a project management framework or approach. One of the big changes is around transparency and safety. We need safety to experiment. We need safety to be transparent. Creating that safe environment can be difficult for everyone involved. John LeDrew has started a new podcast,
A couple of weeks ago, I had a great time participating in the Agile in Large Enterprises panel, a part of the Continuous Discussions (#c9d9) that Electric Cloud hosts. Here’s the recording: We discussed these questions: Why agile in large enterprises and what are the challenges? Where should you start? Centralized? Decentralized? Where should agile
I once worked in an organization where the senior managers thought they should motivate us, the team members. They decided to have a team competition, complete with prizes. I was working on a difficult software problem with a colleague on another team. We both needed to jointly design our pieces of the product to make
Glen Alleman seems to have nailed it, with Alert – Was Poor PM the Root Cause of ACA Difficulties? Among the many problems: No overall program manager No way for stakeholders to know what Done looks like (no release criteria) No replanning I’m a huge fan of rolling wave planning. (Read Starting with Rolling Wave
Now that the election is over, we have an opportunity to reflect on some of the project management and hiring practices. I’m going to blog here and over at Hiring Technical People because the bits are just too juicy to leave untouched. If you read nothing else, read Inside Orca: How the Romney Campaign Suppressed
Summary: Before a software application is released, its upgrade is already being developed. But what about upgrades for software testers? In this column, Johanna Rothman offers some ways to strengthen the existing talents within your test team. I was speaking to a senior manager, and he said, “I don’t have the money to hire an