This is Johanna Rothman’s April 2026 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. During a recent conference, I was on a panel with some really smart colleagues. One of the first audience questions was, “What’s your most valuable management tool?” Some of the other panelists mentioned how they use […]
Several of my clients claim they have plans. But I don’t see the elements of a plan in what they do. Instead, I see wishes that the future will unfold in a particular way. I also have wishes. But the more we confuse them with plans, the less likely we will get the future we
In Project Charter Part 2: Clarify the Project Driver, Boundaries, and Constraints for This Project, I explained how project risks can affect the team’s approach to the work. But project risks are not the same as product risks. Product risks are about the need for product innovation. The more innovation this product needs, the more
Let me set the context for this post about the project charter: By now, the team knows what it has to accomplish because they have a product vision. The next question is: How will the team manage their risks to achieve those outcomes? That’s where I recommend a team define its project driver, up to
Susan, a senior leader, wants faster throughput. She can see people working hard. Yet, all the projects seem to take much longer than anyone expects. They’re doing a lot of the right things. No team is multitasking—the teams work on one project at a time. And the teams manage their inside-the-team WIP (Work in Progress).
Some facts that make me a little sad: Social media is more and more splintered. Sites that used to be enjoyable became tolerable. Then, they became intolerable. Worse, the algorithms decide whose posts I should see and whose I should not. If you have not read any of Cory Doctorow’s writing about enshittification, I strongly
I’ve been talking with a very sharp leader about how that person uses the ideas of risk and technical debt. I’m paraphrasing, but the leader said something like this: “We realize we need to incur some technical debt. So we explain that we choose to include the debt as part of our risk mitigation. That’s
My clients all have too much work to do. So they ask the product or project leaders to write a business case for each effort. The clients claim this information helps them decide which work to do and not do. However, everyone knows each business case is at least partially fiction. That’s because the writer
What happens when you use the word “estimate?” For many of my clients, “estimate”== guarantee. Which is not what those words mean. Even if you update the estimate based on data, too many managers still want to know, “When will it be done?” Emphasis on done. And, while managers might not remember the assumptions you
Three Ways to Rethink Your Business I received several thank you’s for the previous newsletter, Three Tips for Coping When You’re Supposed to Lead. I’m delighted that the issue resonated with so many of you. I’ve worked with several clients over the past weeks to help them rethink their projects, portfolios, and their business. Here are