Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
Too often, organizations want to budget for an entire year. The managers run around for two or three months in advance of that fiscal year, attempting to predict a ton of things: Estimates for not-well-defined projects or features, Capital equipment or tool needs, “Headcount” aka, people needed. Then, the organization doesn’t finalize the budget until …
Continue reading “Tactical Ideas for Agile Budgeting, Part 1”
Most of my clients struggle with their agile transformation. The teams love agile approaches because they can work on their release frequency and technical excellence. The senior managers love the agile promise because they can see how agile approaches help the teams release a more constant flow of value. They can see the benefits of …
Especially when we use agile approaches, we want to be close to our customer. If you’ve ever had a chance to sit with a customer, you’ve learned how effectively (and fast!) the team and the customer learn from each other. And, too few teams have any access to any customers. Most of their customer information …
Continue reading “Seeing the Close-to-the-Customer Conundrum”
I just finished a series for my Pragmatic Manager newsletter about Agile Transformation Secrets: Part 1: Manage for Change Part 2: Emphasize Collaboration Part 3: Principles Over Practices I wrote this series because I find that many people get a little confused about an agile transformation. They think an agile approach will work because they …
Continue reading “Agile Transformation Secrets Series Posted”
Some of my clients have struggled with their project governance as they move to agile approaches. In the past, they’ve asked for estimates and costs—by requirement—and then tracked the variance for those estimates and costs. The governance people do not record assumptions. They only record estimates and actuals. They want to “measure” the project success …
Continue reading “Cost vs Value Measurements for Agile Approaches”
Your customers can’t take your product more often than once or twice a year. Because the product doesn’t need to leave the building, the teams don’t release internally. Nor do the teams demo on a regular basis. The teams miss the feedback loops so critical for an agile approach. Their agile transformation falls apart. Rethink Your Definition …
I’ve met a number of agile coaches recently. They tell me they’re hired as Scrum coaches or as Scrum Masters. They see their job as “better Scrum.” It would be lovely if that was their one and only job. However, many of these coaches work in organizations just starting a cultural transformation. Even though the …
I’m catching up on my podcasts and just listened to Seth Godin’s Akimbo episode about honest signals. (Do listen.) It’s about the signals we send that are honest or dishonest and why we might choose one, the other, or both. I started to think about the management signals we send, especially in an agile transformation. …
Ryan Ripley, host of Agile for Humans, interviewed Gil Broza and me in AFH 102: The Influential Agile Leader. Oh, we had fun! We spoke about the workshop I lead with Gil, the Influential Agile Leader. We also spoke about the conversation Gil and I will lead this coming Wednesday, Oct 17, noon Eastern. If …
Continue reading “Listen to Agile for Humans with Ryan Ripley and Gil Broza”
I’ve been thinking about my clients who’ve had success moving from a project-based/resource-efficiency organization to a product-based/flow efficiency organization. They had these things in common: A senior person made it safe for the managers to create experiments. They created very small experiments (either managers or teams, or together). The senior manager often asked a question …
Continue reading “Starting a Product Organization Transformation, Part 6”