I keep encountering confusion about what scaling agile is. I’m writing what I think is a 4-part series to define it so we all talk about the same thing. When I ask people to define what they mean by scaling agile, they talk about these possibilities: They have agile developers. They want agile testers. This is […]
Have you ever worked on a project where the management and/or sponsors felt it necessary to provide you warnings: “This release better do this or have that. Otherwise, you’re toast.” I have, once. That’s when I started to use release criteria and check with the sponsors/management to make sure they agreed. I happen to like
Many people use an iteration approach to agile. They decide on an iteration duration, commit to work for that iteration and by definition, they are done at the end of the timebox. I like timeboxing many things. I like timeboxing work I don’t know how to start. I find short timeboxes help me focus on the
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,
As I’m writing the agile project management book, I’m explaining how agile creates and manages WIP (Work in Progress) Limits. Iteration-based agile manages WIP by estimating what you can do in an iteration. You might count points. Or, you use my preference, which is to count the (small) stories. If you use flow-based approaches, you use kanban.
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
In Manage Your Project Portfolio, I’m agnostic about who manages the project portfolio. I prefer that the managers responsible for the strategy make the project portfolio decisions. And, I recognize that the PMO often makes those decisions. I am doing a series of webinars with TransparentChoice. The first one is live. See How many “points” does
When I talk about Minimum Viable Products or Minimum Viable Experiments, people often tell me that their minimum is several weeks (or months) long. They can’t possibly release anything without doing a ton of work. I ask them questions, to see if they are talking about a Minimum Indispensable Feature Set or a Minimum Adoptable
I’m teaching a Product Owner workshop this week, and I had an insight about a Minimum Viable Product. AN MVP has to fulfill these criteria: Minimum means it’s the smallest chunk of value that allows us to build, measure, and learn. (Yes, Eric Ries’ loop) Viable means the actors/users can use it. Product means you
Iterations and Increments: For Any Project A project manager, Dave, is struggling with his project. His organization is not interested in using agile. Agile has a bad name, given their three-time attempt to adopt agile. (I’ll address that problem in another Pragmatic Manager.) That’s fine. Agile is not for everyone. However, Dave knows that prototyping