Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
Sometimes, it’s not clear that you should fund or staff a project. If you’re not sure how to discriminate between alternative projects, here are four questions to ask: What’s the strategic reason behind this project? (Does the strategic reason behind the project change the importance of the project?) How does this project fit into …
by Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in Software Development, January 2003. When the avalanche of work piles up past your eyebrows, sending for a St. Bernard won’t help. Ask yourself six crucial questions—and use the answers to dig out of trouble. Part 1 of 2. Raul, a CIO, arrives at work at 7:45. Between …
by Johanna Rothman. Originally published in Cutter’s Business-IT Alignment E-Mail Advisor, October 17, 2001. Too many projects? Not sure which projects are most important? Welcome to project portfolio management. A client, Tim, is having trouble with his portfolio management. Senior management is organizing next year’s budget and hiring plan. They want more projects in the …
© 2000 Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in Mass High Tech, 2000. “We’ll sell some consulting along with our product, until we’re making enough revenue. Then we’ll phase out the consulting, and be just a product company.” — senior manager at a Boston-area web-based startup Many startup software/web-based companies decide on a business model …
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Last week, we talked about avoiding dead projects. Now it’s time to talk about the hardest project category: the political project. Killing political projects is difficult, because it’s not a rational problem. Rational discussions are useless and don’t work. You can bring out metrics or try to discuss project-related issues, but nothing will work because …
by Johanna Rothman. Originally published in Cutter’s Business-IT Alignment E-Mail Advisor, October 6, 1999. I visit many different organizations over the course of the year. As I begin working with a client, inevitably someone whispers to me, “Can you help kill my project?” I don’t normally kill projects, but some folks are so desperate to …
© 1999 Johanna Rothman. Originally published in Cutter’s Business-IT Alignment E-Mail Advisor, Feb. 3, 1999. Many IT managers are juggling too many projects and not enough staff. How do you make sure everyone’s focused on the right project? First, decide what’s most important for the business right now. Just because something was important at one …