Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
In Costs of an Agile Approach for Hardware Products, I suggested that an iteration-based approach for hardware was too expensive. I focused on the actual development costs. Let me talk a little about the team and alternatives here. What Does a Hardware Team Look Like? Agile software teams are cross-functional and interdependent. The team is …
Continue reading “Create Feedback Loops (Agile Approaches) for Hardware Products”
I had a conversation with a hardware engineer whose organization got the mandate, “Go agile or bust!” They’re attempting to manage their technical and schedule risk with two-week iterations. And, they’re trying to show finished product, not simulations. And, even though they work independently, they’re supposed to have a standup every day. None of that makes …
Continue reading “Costs of an Agile Approach for Hardware Products”
I’m conducting a Hudson Bay Start for a new offering: Advise, Influence, and Serve Clients for Mutual Profit: (Re)Start Your Consulting Practice. What do I mean? Several people have asked me for help in creating or sustaining their consulting practices. Since I’ve done that for 25 years, I know what works for me. I know …
Continue reading “Want to Work With Me to Start Your Consulting Practice?”
I spoke with a project manager recently. She told me her story. I used to facilitate project teams as a project manager. Why a project manager? Because the project had a beginning and an end. We had (and still have) too many products to keep the same teams on them for a long time. For …
Continue reading “Agile Project Manager, Scrum Master, or Product Owner?”
I wrote about how I felt about milestones after achieving a significant milestone last week (How Do You Feel When You Achieve a Significant Milestone?) I specifically wrote about my feelings. During a discussion on LinkedIn, a reader suggested I start with the last sentence I wanted to leave my readers with. Then build back …
Continue reading “The Creation Experience Does Not Mirror a User’s Product Experience”
I spoke with an agile coach whose team works in flow, similar to this board. They don’t use iterations—they plan on demand. The column on the left, “Stories to Workshop” is their backlog refinement column. Recently, the team decided they need “minimum” WIP (work in progress) limits. Especially on the Workshop column. Why? Their product …
Do you have trouble fitting “all” of the necessary work into an iteration? Your managers might want to push you to do more. Or, the product owner thinks you can do more. Or, the team wants to do more (see Beating a Team’s Goal.) Agile approaches are not about doing more. Agile approaches encourage us …
Continue reading “Consider Product Options with Minimum Outcomes”
Does your team have to keep two sets of “books”? You have an agile roadmap to see where you’re headed. You have a smallish backlog of the near/upcoming work. You’re delivering on a frequent basis. And, someone on your team keeps a Gantt chart because a manager wants to see the team’s progress in a …
Continue reading “What Decision Will You Make Based on This Data?”
Part 1 was about seeing the value in the various projects. I called the value stream a product so that people would think about who would use it and why. I suggested that we stop work on specific products when you have more products than teams. That would allow you to work on other projects …
Continue reading “Projects, Products, and the Project Portfolio: Part 2, Assess & Rank the Work”
Note: I had a technical problem with my site and lost this post, even though I had published it. This is the restoration. If you subscribe to my feed, you might see this twice. I’ve been working with some clients who are trying to find the magic way to slice and dice their project portfolios. …
Continue reading “Projects, Products, and the Project Portfolio: Part 1, Organize the Work”