183 posts from: Managing Product Development
Catching Up With my Email Newsletter
(Indexed 2010-08-25):
I have been delinquent for those of you who subscribe to my email newsletter. I have not published one since April. On the other hand, I just posted Park Projects You Can’t Staff, For Now. The next newsletter is scheduled for Thursday morning. In case you’re wondering, I post the most immediate past newsletter when [...]
What Should Done Mean, Coda
(Indexed 2010-08-18):
Last week at Agile 2010, Joshua Kerievsky and I facilitated an Open Jam session (open space) about what done means. We discussed a variety of points. I believe we eventually agreed that context matters. It’s important to know what your product success criteria are. If you don’t use a project charter where you define success [...]
Develop by Feature, Develop by Component, or Some Combination?
(Indexed 2010-07-23):
I’ve been working with Rebecca Wirfs-Brock on an agile architecture workshop. I’m working with Rebecca because she has such a depth of experience in architecture, as well as design. She’s working with me because of my project and program management experience. We’re pretty psyched. We’re working through the issues of large programs and architecture, and, [...]
Top Project Management Thinkers
(Indexed 2010-07-22):
I’m proud and pleased to be on the list of LiquidPlanner’s Top Project Management Thinkers. I’m thrilled, too! Tweet This Post
Defining Program Management and How Agile Helps
(Indexed 2010-07-08):
It’s a good thing I said my post about musings was just that–musings! I didn’t bring all of you along. Sorry about that. Let me be more clear. A program is a collection of projects, where the value is in the overall deliverable. Yes, each project may have a deliverable that’s valuable, but the value [...]
Musings About Agile Program Management
(Indexed 2010-07-06):
I’ve been working with organizations who want to move their programs to agile. They’ve been successful with small projects. But now, they want to make agile work with large programs, programs that involve hardware or firmware, programs with many pieces of interdependent software features, programs of 50 to 300 (or more!) people. Now, you might [...]
Gantthead Column About Agile Project Management Posted
(Indexed 2010-06-23):
My column at Gantthead, The Agile Project Manager: To Facilitate, Serve and Protect is posted. Enjoy! Tweet This Post
Strategic vs. Tactical Management Work
(Indexed 2010-06-21):
A twitter follower asked if I could provide a link to a “discussion of tactical vs strategic planning/projects?” Here you go:Strategic work is a management role. It involves setting the direction for the organization (or group), deciding what to do and what not to do, who to hire and when. If it involves committing [...]
Functional Managers Acting as Scrum Masters: Not a Good Idea
(Indexed 2010-06-17):
I often meet people who are transitioning to agile, and they decided to pick Scrum, because it’s a helpful project management framework. Ok, that makes sense. But then they decide that they no longer need project managers, and that the development manager can act as the Scrum Master.The Scrum Master is not a management position. [...]
Multiple Product Owners for an Iteration
(Indexed 2010-04-27):
I’ve been working with clients making the transition to Agile. They are accustomed to a product manager “owning” a product, and negotiating for people to work on their product. Of course, that means begging, borrowing, stealing people from other projects and lots of multitasking. It also means that specific people have very specific knowledge of [...]
Another Wonderful Review of Manage Your Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2010-04-25):
Ashley Moran wrote a wonderful review of Manage Your Project Portfolio. I particularly like these quotes:There’s a wealth of tips for making the whole process effective, with some unexpected ones thrown in. The sectionsHow to Kill a Project and Keep it Dead andDiscover Barriers to Collaboration are little gems.…It’s also amazing that [...]
Columns for Your Reading Pleasure
(Indexed 2010-04-12):
It’s been a few difficult weeks. First, I came down with a bad head cold. It’s almost funny, watching a person with vertigo and a head cold try to walk. Unless you are that person ;-) Then Daughter #2 contracted mono. Then the rains came and my office flooded–twice. I’ve spent a bunch of time [...]
Wage Cost and Project Labor Cost
(Indexed 2010-03-16):
I’ve been working with teams who want to move to agile. Some people on their teams are in another location, where the salaries are cheaper.It’s difficult to get agile started with a geographically distributed team. If everyone’s distributed, it’s easier than if just some people–especially if they are all one function, such as developers or [...]
Trip Report for Japan Symposium on Software Testing
(Indexed 2010-02-01):
I just returned from Tokyo, where I keynoted at JaSST, the Japan Symposium on Software Testing. 10 years ago, when they started the conference, maybe it was just about testing, but now it’s evolved to be about quality in the organization.Some highlights from my trip:Everyone (and everything) I met appeared quite orderly. Everything had a [...]
Still Time to Reserve Your Spot for 3 Crucial Factors
(Indexed 2010-01-15):
Wow! I can hardly believe how many people have signed up for the brand-new free teleclass, “3 Crucial Factors For Preventing Your Agile Titanic” that Gil Broza and I will be teaching next week!I guess we struck a nerve with many people who want (or need) to get Agile going, and who don’t have other [...]
Problem Solving Requires the Right Question
(Indexed 2010-01-04):
The December Harvard Business Review has an article, Is the Rookie Ready? (You have to subscribe and pay to read the whole thing.) The story is this: Kristen is the new project manager, reporting to Tim. The old PM left because Tim, who’d been her manager for 6 months didn’t know how to work with [...]
Kill, Commit, or Transform Your Projects
(Indexed 2010-01-01):
Daniel wrote a lovely post, Kill, commit, or transform your projects over on praglife.Keeping projects around that are not staffed, multitasking on several projects (committing to none of them), and running away from reality doesn’t help anyone. The projects don’t finish faster–they finish, if at all, slower. The people don’t have a sense of accomplishment, [...]
A Rant on People, Resources, Men and Women
(Indexed 2009-12-27):
Rant on.There’s a flame-fest on the scrumdevelopment list about the use of “resources” or “people” to describe the human beings on projects.I like “humans” or “human beings” or “people.” And, I actually prefer “resources” to “man-hours.” I can live with “people-hours,” and prefer that to “resource.”I bet you’re a little surprised. I’ve written that People [...]
Incremental Funding Article Up
(Indexed 2009-12-24):
A new article is up, Using the Project Portfolio to Move to Incremental Project Funding. It’s up on PMBoulevard.com. (Free registration required). Enjoy! Tweet This Post
When Did fill in the blank Start?
(Indexed 2009-12-14):
On mailing lists, when I speak, in email, people ask, “When did ’some principle, approach, or whatever’ start?”A long time ago.Timeboxes have been around forever. I’m pretty sure that when the Pharoahs told their architects to build a pyramid, they said, “And do it by this-date! Or else!” I know that military projects used timeboxes. [...]
Ideal Team Size and Ratios
(Indexed 2009-12-09):
A client recently asked me how many people should be on his agile team. “I have a two-person project here, and a 23-person project there. Do I want two teams, one of 2 and one of 23? Oh, and how many testers do I really need?”I can believe there’s a small and short project that [...]
Agile Managers Need to Be Generalists
(Indexed 2009-12-02):
I’ve been working with several management teams recently. They realize they need to change how they are organized in order to really make the agile teams even more productive.For example, what good is a functional manager? If functional managers don’t need to assign tasks and check on how the work is going (the team does [...]
Do You Track Project Outcomes?
(Indexed 2009-11-30):
I finally heard about the almost-complete financial numbers from the Agile 2009 conference. The conference is supposed to generate enough monies for the Agile Alliance to fund research, other conferences, guest speakers, and a whole bunch of other initiatives that are on the site. I was happy, because early indications are that we did. No, [...]
How Not to Win Friends and Influence People
(Indexed 2009-11-25):
I receive a number of please-link-to-me requests each week. Some are for products, some are for random sites. I received one a couple of weeks ago and decided not to respond because I wasn’t going to accept the link request. I received another request, this time with a please respond with an “aye or nay”. [...]
Management Debt, Technical Debt, and Decision-Making
(Indexed 2009-11-20):
Dave and Bob have great comments on my post, Might Three Backlogs Be Better Than One?. Dave is describing situations where management is making reasonable decisions, not incurring management debt, and by extension, technical debt. Bob and I have experience with significant management debt. (Take a look at Musings About Management Debt for more information [...]
Might Three Backlogs Be Better Than One?
(Indexed 2009-11-17):
I’ve been working with several clients on their transition to agile approaches to their projects. They all have a common state:Many features to implementHuge technical debtMany defectsThey want to get a handle on all the work they have to do. I suggested they consider three backlogs, making sure that for a given iteration, they consciously [...]
Lovely Review of Manage Your Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2009-10-09):
I’m slow to post this one: Giordano Scalzos lovely review of Manage Your Project Portfolio is up at Reviewing Manage Your Project Portfolio. I love the part where he says:This book is a must read for everyone involved in IT world, from junior developer till C-level executive.As usual, Johanna Rothman uses a very simple language [...]
No Planning Need on Gantthead.com
(Indexed 2009-10-02):
I have an article up on Gantthead.com, No Planning Needed? (Free registration required, I think). Tweet This Post
Do Whats Effective For You
(Indexed 2009-09-17):
I’ve been working and speaking with whole bunch of people who want to “go agile.” They are not set up for agile. They have gates for approval. They don’t have teams that projects flow through; they assign people to whatever project whenever. (growl. People are not fungible. growl) They have geographically distributed team bits (I [...]
When Managers Cant Hear No
(Indexed 2009-09-10):
I recently wrote an article on how to say No, and a twitter follower wanted to know what to do when your manager can’t hear no.First, understand why your manager can’t hear no. Is it because the business pressures are so great that the cost of saying no seems insurmountable? Managers are people too, and [...]
Great Review of Manage Your Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2009-09-02):
See Claude Emond’s review of Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects. You have to register (free), and you can say “don’t email me anything” Thanks, Claude! Tweet This Post
Manage Your Project Portfolio is Shipping
(Indexed 2009-08-24):
It’s a big week for me: Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects is shipping. In the approximately 24 hours I was home, I got to touch the first books.When I proposed this book, I wanted it to be 175 pages: long enough to be useful, but not so long that [...]
Meeting Daniel In-Person
(Indexed 2009-08-11):
I am very fortunate. I had Daniel Steinberg as my editor for Manage It! and for Manage Your Project Portfolio. We’ve learned how to work together well, and we enjoy working with each other. (Well, I *love* working with him I suspect know sometimes I’m a huge pain.) We’d never met, and this [...]
Book Tour for Manage Your Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2009-08-03):
Manage Your Project Portfolio is at the printer. If the planets align, and the printer doesn’t run out of paper, and if Murphy stays away from this project, the books will start shipping the week of Aug 10. YIPPEEE!!!!! I’m just a little excited, can you tell??Back in March, when the shipment seemed far away, [...]
Plunge In or Dip Your Toe? (for Managers)
(Indexed 2009-07-21):
In the Small Steps and Plunge In posts, I said projects should transition to agile all the way. But does it work the same way for the entire organization?Nope. I recommend a gradual approach to moving to agile. Not all project teams are ready for the self-discipline agile requires. But, even more importantly, too often [...]
Small Steps Are Good; Be Careful What You Call Those Steps
(Indexed 2009-07-14):
I love it when my readers challenge what I’m saying, as in Plunge In or Dip Your Toe? (for Projects).I do believe in small steps for projects. I’ve long been an advocate of inch-pebbles, of standup meetings, of iterations and incremental development. I love knowing what done means, for the project and for features inside [...]
Plunge In or Dip Your Toe? (for Projects)
(Indexed 2009-07-08):
I’ve been teaching a variety of workshops recently, some of which are Scrum. One of the questions people have is: Can we do this partway?No, not Scrum or any other agile lifecycle. You either do it all or you’re not doing agile.You can work in timeboxed iterations. But if you haven’t gotten to done at [...]
PM Boulevard Column Posted: Manage Your Project Portfolio and Stop Thrashing
(Indexed 2009-07-08):
I have a column up at PM Boulevard (free registration required): Manage Your Project Portfolio and Stop Thrashing. Enjoy! Tweet This Post
No: The Essence of Project Portfolio Management
(Indexed 2009-05-27):
Seth Godin has a great entry, Saying ‘no’.No is the essence of project portfolio management, no matter who you are. If you don’t say No, your yes’s don’t mean anything.As Seth says,Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities.
Editing and Writing Are Different
(Indexed 2009-05-26):
I’m in some variety of “final” editing on Manage Your Project Portfolio. I’ve reorganized the first chapter into two chapters, rewritten a bunch of things, added a new zero-sum game, and have managed to tighten up some of the writing. I’ve received great feedback from Esther, Don, and Dwayne that I’m still incorporating into my [...]
Glossary or Index?
(Indexed 2009-05-21):
I’m in what might be close-to-final editing on Manage Your Project Portfolio. Not everyone understands all my references for things. For example, one of my reviewers did not know what a backlog is. Since I hope that managers of every level will read this book, it’s entirely possible they may not all know what a [...]
Estimation Depends On
(Indexed 2009-05-18):
I taught my estimation workshop twice last week and once the week before, and one thing remains true: Estimation depends on the project lifecycle, how the project is organized, the state of the requirements, and the number of people you have available.I used a number of simulations to help people see how to estimate, and [...]
Specialist Column Posted on Stickyminds.com
(Indexed 2009-05-04):
Remember Why Projects Dont Need Specialists? Well, I decided I had a little more to say. I decided to write an article, What’s So Special About Specialists? Please do comment there or here.
Why Do You Care About What Everyone Else Does?
(Indexed 2009-04-21):
Jurgen asked me to help publicize his survey. Ok, I’ve done it. Now, let me rant about explain why I think surveys like this are not useful, and may be harmful.A survey does not take your context into account. Surveys about any practices without considering the industry, the products, and the management don’t tell you [...]
Partial Commitments to Projects Create Unpredictable Projects
(Indexed 2009-04-15):
There’s a discussion on a mailing list about a partially committed-to project: there aren’t enough people on the project, the people don’t have the time to do the work because they are interrupted all the time by support of previously released applications. The only people available are part-time people who are not available when the [...]
Which Kind of Project Are You Working On Now?
(Indexed 2009-04-03):
I’m trying to clean up the project portfolio management book for technical review, and I realized the other night (well, morning, when I woke up), that I’d missed explaining a key idea.We all work on several kinds of projects:Projects that maintain the organization, the kind we need to run. These projects “keep the lights on,” [...]
Measuring Productivity: More Difficult for Managers
(Indexed 2009-03-18):
Jack has an intriguing post, The fun of productivity measures. He ponders how to measure knowledge workers.For software project teams, it’s easy: the number of running, tested features over time. The features have to be complete. No partial credit for partially done features.But what about for managers? That’s a little trickier. I like to start [...]
Gantthead Article Posted: The Game of Risk
(Indexed 2009-03-16):
I’m writing for gantthead.com this year, about agile and lean project portfolio management. My first article was posted back when I was so sick. See The Game of Risk. You can leave comments there, or if you prefer, here.
Announcement: Project Portfolio Book is in Beta
(Indexed 2009-02-19):
The project portfolio book is in Beta! For those of you who have not heard of a Pragmatic Bookshelf Beta book, here are the limitations:It’s not laid out correctlyAlthough I’ve looked for typos, I have not discovered and fixed them allThe bibliography is not yet included (it will be on later betas, but not this [...]
The Simplest Thing That Could Work
(Indexed 2009-02-09):
After I returned home from the Sweden PSL, I had a cold, and then have been redesigning simulations for my upcoming (tomorrow!) customized project management workshop.At PSL, we invoked one idea repeatedly: the zeroth solution. The zeroth solution is the simplest thing that could work. So, if you need a simulation for a workshop, you [...]
Stickyminds Column About Project Portfolio Decisions
(Indexed 2009-01-24):
My most recent Stickyminds Column, Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Should You Commit, Kill, or Transform is posted. Enjoy!
Musings About Management Debt
(Indexed 2009-01-19):
I’m editing the project portfolio book. Yes, I’m trying to get ready for beta. No, I have no idea when I will be ready. I’ll have more information before Wednesday, if you want to know.I realized that when managers don’t make ranking decisions about the project portfolio, when they don’t fully commit to a project, [...]
Why Your Senior Managers Like Serial Lifecycles
(Indexed 2009-01-15):
I gave a talk last night at the Software Quality Group of New England about schedule games. During the talk, I explained how serial lifecycles don’t manage technical, schedule, or cost risk, that they increase the duration of the project, that they don’t provide feedback early enough for the project team. One of the attendees [...]
(Indexed 2009-01-11):
Esther has insights, Specialists AND Generalists, on Why Projects Don’t Need Specialists. Her point, that people tend to coalesce around their interests, and that as specialists, they may not share interests, is something I have also seen on projects. As Esther says,Reducing categories (having “developers” rather than many named specialists) reduces differences and helps people [...]
Serial Monogamy Project Participation
(Indexed 2009-01-11):
I’ve been writing a bunch of articles about project portfolio management, exploring the ideas about committing to projects. (See Serial Monogamy Project Management for some initial thoughts.)But, as I’ve been working with clients and writing more, I’ve been realizing that not only do the decisi0n-makers have to commit to projects, but that the project [...]
Esthers Insights re Specialists and Generalists
(Indexed 2009-01-11):
Esther has insights, Specialists AND Generalists, on Why Projects Don’t Need Specialists. Her point, that people tend to coalesce around their interests, and that as specialists, they may not share interests, is something I have also seen on projects. As Esther says,Reducing categories (having “developers” rather than many named specialists) reduces differences and helps people [...]
Video Posted: Lessons Learned in Project Management
(Indexed 2008-12-29):
The nice folks at SQE have posted my keynote from the Better Software conference, Lessons Learned in Project Management. Yes, some of the material is from Manage It!: Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management.
Who Should Be a Product Owner?
(Indexed 2008-12-22):
At a recent workshop, one of the participants asked me this question, “We want to start a new Scrum team. But we are confused about who to ask to be the product owner. We have a choice of someone who doesn’t know how to be a product owner, is 10 time zones away, but knows [...]
Why Projects Dont Need Specialists
(Indexed 2008-12-22):
I taught several PM workshops last week in Israel. The Israeli project managers have the same concerns that my US students do–it’s difficult to imagine moving to Agile or even just integrating agile methods into your project if you have specialists.Specialists increase project delays in these ways:They aren’t available when you need them. Because they [...]
Im Disappointing Already
(Indexed 2008-12-05):
I can’t tell if this is a compliment or not, but David Anderson is already disappointed with the Agile 2009 program. Since we haven’t even opened the submission system yet, never mind chosen the program, I’m surprised. What David is reacting to is my organization of the program committee. (The potential compliment is that David [...]
Announcement: PSL Mar 22-27, 2009 Albuquerque, NM
(Indexed 2008-12-04):
Esther, Jerry, and I are leading another PSL in Albuquerque, NM March 22-27, 2009. If you’ve been thinking of participating, this is the time to sign up. Contact me if you have questions, or to sign up. We would love to have you join us.
Discuss Results, Not Tasks
(Indexed 2008-12-04):
I spoke with a program manager who’d been displaced from his program because he doesn’t scream or yell at people. (No, I’m not making this up. This is true.) He’s an effective program manager, because he doesn’t tell people to do this or that task. Instead, he tells them the goal and the results he’s [...]
Projects, Products, and Finishing
(Indexed 2008-12-01):
Chris asked in his comment,how about using the word abandoned for projects that are finished?I just don’t think of completed projects as abandoned.Let’s separate the product from the project. Projects complete. Products may never be done, but projects do finish, sometimes whether we want them to or not. I was working as a consultant when [...]
How Long-Term is Your Strategy?
(Indexed 2008-11-20):
I was thinking about the automakers, and how they want many billions of $ from Washington (please, noooo). I don’t know what their strategic planning is, but it seems not to have changed from the 1960’s. Certainly, when I started buying cars in the 1970’s, I could not afford the low quality/high price/low gas mileage. [...]
Abandoning vs. Killing Projects
(Indexed 2008-11-04):
John Cook, wrote a lovely post, Peter Drucker and abandoning projects, explaining how Drucker talks about abandoning projects. (John, thanks, I will definitely be referencing Drucker in the PPM book.)I haven’t been using the word “abandon” when I describe stopping projects. I’ve been using the word “Kill” and the concepts of permanently stopping projects (killing [...]
Column About Transitioning to Agile in the Middle of a Project
(Indexed 2008-10-08):
My Stickyminds column, Transitioning to Agile in the Middle of a Project, is up. Enjoy!
Starting and Finishing
(Indexed 2008-10-06):
I had coffee with a friend Saturday night. She said, “Our family has a tradition of starting many projects to see what we can stick with. If you don’t start a project, you can’t finish it.”She’s right. You certainly can’t finish something you don’t start. But the real question for all of is: Should we [...]
Are Loyalty Programs Helping or Hurting Your Product?
(Indexed 2008-09-29):
Mark and I visited his family in the Midwest. We used miles to pay for my ticket.Aside from spending 50,000 miles (is it possible to get a ticket for 25,000 miles? We haven’t in years), it cost $5 for the ticket, $75 for the “services fees” and $15 to check one bag.Yes, this is still [...]
Matrix Management is Not the Root Cause
(Indexed 2008-09-22):
I was reading Ralph’s post, Whose Fault Is It?, and I realized that if you don’t know enough about management, you can misunderstand the root cause. Ralph’s example is of defects in an iteration and how they were not detected early enough because the acceptance criteria were missing. The criteria were missing because the testers [...]
Whose ROI Is It?
(Indexed 2008-09-10):
I was trying to address the issue of ROI (Return on Investment) in the project portfolio book. I don’t buy project ROI. FIrst, the idea of a project for software is an artifical construct–our consumers buy running tested features, that we happen to package in a project to release as a product. But the idea [...]
Bob Paynes Podcast Posted
(Indexed 2008-09-07):
Bob Payne interviewed me at Agile 2008. We spoke about my initial plans for Agile 2009, and my (in-writing) project portfolio book. The link is here: Agile 2009 - Johanna Rothman - Agile Portfolio Management and Agile 2009. I had a blast with Bob.If you’re wondering why it sounds like I’m chewing my cud (!), [...]
A Little More About Program Management
(Indexed 2008-09-04):
Glen Alleman has a post about program management, Managing Multiple Projects is Called Program Management which got me thinking. (I’ve written about program management in the past also: Program Management: Multiple Projects With Multiple Deliverables.)But in the portfolio management book, I defined a few ways to think about your projects as programs:You, and two other [...]
Breaking Free of Legacy Projects
(Indexed 2008-08-29):
If you’ve never been a victim of Medieval software project management, wow, I’m impressed. You don’t have to read the rest of this post. But if you’ve ever tried to break free of a legacy product/project, and haven’t been able to, you are not alone.The problem is we can’t create a knowledge management system that [...]
Competition and Knowledge-Sharing
(Indexed 2008-08-27):
In Knowledge Management Needs to be Agile, Too, I saidIf you put people in competition with each other *in any way*, they will have dis-incentives to share their knowledge.John, in his comment on that post, said it seemed intuitive, but was having trouble articulating why. I’m here to help Some of my [...]
An Attempt to Define Value
(Indexed 2008-08-20):
Jim, in his comment on Intuition is Not Enough for Knowing About the Project Portfolio, said:I am having trouble with the definition of the word value in this context. Do you mean showing progress, as in earned value, or value to the customer, such as in ROI or payback period? Value has become a [...]
Intution is Not Enough for Knowing About the Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2008-08-14):
I’ve been reading Jeffrey Kaplan’s book Strategic IT Portfolio Management, as part of my research for my project portfolio book. He says something astounding (I’m paraphrasing a sentence on p.73:Managers intuitively know when their projects are not delivering sufficient value.Wow, that has not been my experience at all. My experience is that managers don’t know [...]
Intuition is Not Enough for Knowing About the Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2008-08-14):
I’ve been reading Jeffrey Kaplan’s book Strategic IT Portfolio Management, as part of my research for my project portfolio book. He says something astounding (I’m paraphrasing a sentence on p.73:Managers intuitively know when their projects are not delivering sufficient value.Wow, that has not been my experience at all. My experience is that managers don’t know [...]
Serial Monogamy Project Management
(Indexed 2008-08-05):
I ran into Dan North at the Agile conference today, and explained a little about the project portfolio book. I’m writing it because I have a number of clients who are having trouble breaking the multitasking habit (working on more than one project at one time.)Dan said, “Oh, you want them to commit to serial [...]
My Outlines Are Chapter Backlogs
(Indexed 2008-08-05):
I’ve been steadily writing the project portfolio management book this summer, and was describing what I do to someone today. (I’m at the Agile 2008 conference.) I explained that I had a list of things I thought should be in a chapter, but it wasn’t a real outline the way other people outline. He replied, [...]
Fund Projects Incrementally
(Indexed 2008-07-30):
One of the big problems in organizations (IT or product-shipping) is how to fund projects. I don’t believe in ROI (Return on Investment). I learned how to lie with ROI back in 1988–I can make the numbers be anything you want. If you don’t have ROI, how do you know what projects to fund?One set [...]
Reminder: Public Project Management Workshop, Sept 22-24, 2008
(Indexed 2008-07-28):
A reminder: I’m teaching a public project management workshop in Waltham, MA, Sept 22-24, 2008. If you would like to:Understand different lifecycles and when (and how) to use themPractice pragmatic approaches to organizing and estimating a projectLearn a variety of ways to steer a project to successLearn how to develop and use release criteriaDesign the [...]
Knowledge Management Needs to be Agile, Too
(Indexed 2008-07-23):
I was speaking with a potential client about their approach to knowledge management. They think they need a senior person to organize a top-down appoach, and build a custom tool, so they know what knowledge they want to manage and have a place to put it.I don’t think that’s going to work. That approach requires [...]
Why Everyone Needs to Manage Their Own Project Portfolio
(Indexed 2008-07-16):
John Cook wrote a blog post, Scaling the number of projects, that starts addressing the issue of why it’s everyone’s job to manage their own project portfolios. Here’s an example of the problem he’s noticed:It sounds easy to manage independent projects: if the projects are for different clients and they have different developers, just let [...]
Podcast Posted
(Indexed 2008-07-15):
I’ve published a podcast: How Many Emergency Projects Do You Have? Enjoy!
Traceability Matrix and Agile
(Indexed 2008-07-11):
I received two questions this week about how well does agile allow you to do traceability matrix. Very well is the short answer. Here’s why.If you commit to implementing features (not chunks of architecture) based on user stories in an iteration, you know what you’re planning before the iteration starts. Because you’re working in a [...]
Pragmatic Manager Vol 5 #4 Posted
(Indexed 2008-07-10):
I write a roughly monthly email newsletter, the Pragmatic Manager. I (finally) posted Refocusing: Emerging from the Split Focus Schedule Game. Yes, I’m working on the July issue now. Enjoy!
Architecting from the Features
(Indexed 2008-07-06):
I’m writing the portfolio management book, and I just finished a whole big re-architecture. I’m so excited.I realize most people aren’t that excited about a rearchitecture :-), especially not of a book in progress. But I am, because I took my own advice.When I started writing the book, I had several partly done chapter-things. They [...]
Waterfall Projects Create Naivete
(Indexed 2008-06-22):
I’ve been working with several clients on their transitions to agile–or at least, more agile approaches to their projects. In each case, the managers decided to move towards agile because the technical staff were in their words, “naive” about the project goals. To be fair, none of the projects had a vision or release criteria, [...]
Handoffs Dont Work
(Indexed 2008-06-20):
I recently spoke with a project manager. He was concerned about the product managers handing off the requirements to the development staff.He was right to be concerned. Handoffs don’t work. The more people think they are done with “their” part, the less likely you are to receive/finish a great product. That’s because no one can [...]
Make Technical Debt Visible
(Indexed 2008-06-04):
Some folks have told me in their agile projects that they are able to deal with technical debt as they find it. They are a lucky few. But more have been stumped: “I find something. I really can’t fix it now. But I don’t know what to do with it.” I’ve suggested putting it on [...]
Roys Analogy for Unit and Integration Testing
(Indexed 2008-06-02):
I like Roy’s analogy about the difference between unit and integration testing: Unit testing vs. Integration Testing : The Restaurant Analogy.
Meetings, Project Portfolio, and Lean
(Indexed 2008-05-27):
I’ve been writing pieces of the project portfolio book, and was wondering how to explain how managers get caught in the trap of having too many projects. Then I read Joe Ely’s Minimizing Work-in-Process for Knowledge Workers, and had an “aha” moment. (Well, I think I did. You let me know.)For many managers (and senior [...]
Well-Organized and Run Retrospectives Are Not a Nuisance
(Indexed 2008-05-27):
Jurgen wrote Lesson Learned: Automate Project Evaluations a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been trying to find a nice way to explain that no, Jurgen is wrong. I can’t do it.Jurgen, You are WRONG.If anyone here is doing some form of agile or incremental or any kind of development, and you have not bought everyone [...]
What Does Done Mean for Your Project?
(Indexed 2008-05-16):
One of the problems I see in projects is that there is not a sufficient definition of done. For agile teams, it’s not clear what done means for a timebox. For non-agile projects, the team may not agree on what done means for a milestone or for a release.For an agile team, do you know [...]
Another Great Review for Manage It!
(Indexed 2008-05-12):
Steve Berczuk (author of Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration—I’ve only read pieces), has a great review of Manage It! One nice nugget:This book has pragmatic advice on how to make progress and issues visible, how to plan a project, and most everything else you need to help a project come to a [...]
Two More Great Reviews of Manage It!
(Indexed 2008-05-08):
I discovered two more great reviews of Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. The first is a brief explanation of the Jolt awards. Take a look at Winners of the 18th Jolt Product Excellence Awards & Recipients of the Jolt Productivity Awards. (Scroll down a bit to see what Roland Racko said [...]
When You Dont Need a Schedule
(Indexed 2008-05-06):
I’m particular about two things: calling a prose plan a project plan and calling a Gantt chart (or yellow stickies) a schedule. One of my colleagues emailed me last week, explaining he’d spent a week developing a project plan and was hoping I could take a look at it. “Sure,” I said. “Send it along.”He [...]
Great Stickyminds Review of Manage It! Posted
(Indexed 2008-04-29):
Take a look at the Stickyminds review of Manage It! Jennifer says: I highly recommend this book to all project managers, from novices to those with more experience. This is an incredible resource that should be referred to frequently for advice on how to help you decide which project management practice or technique is appropriate [...]
Emergency Projects Pragmatic Manager Email Newsletter Posted
(Indexed 2008-04-29):
I posted last month’s Pragmatic Manager email newsletter, How Many Emergency Projects Do You Have? I just sent out a newsletter on timeboxes and how they help multisite teams. You can sign up for my newsletter, and see the issues right away.
Public Workshop Announcement: Manage It! Pragmatic Project Management
(Indexed 2008-04-23):
I’ve signed all the paperwork, so now it’s official. I will be offering a public project management workshop September 22-24, 2008 in Waltham, Massachusetts. The workshop syllabus is at Manage It! Pragmatic Project Management Workshop. Everyone receives a copy of Manage It! plus a workbook for your writing and working through the workshop.Have questions? Email [...]
New Ventures: New Book on Project Portfolio Management
(Indexed 2008-04-23):
I was under the weather last week, and am finally well enough to think. I still have the raspy voice from coughing all week, but you can’t hear me. Since I worked out this morning, my brain is actually firing on all cylinders.I signed a contract with Pragmatic Bookshelf for my next book about project [...]
Plan a Better Project
(Indexed 2008-04-04):
Dave Christiansen wrote a lovely article, Plan a Better Project. He mentions Manage It!. Thanks, Dave.
How Many Projects Are You Managing?
(Indexed 2008-03-26):
I gave a talk at a local ICCA chapter last night, and met a project manager who told me he was managing 7 projects. I must have lost my poker face, because he chuckled and said, “Well, you do what you can with that many projects.”You do. And I don’t buy that you’re actually managing [...]
Video Interview Posted at InfoQ
(Indexed 2008-03-13):
Deb Hartmann interviewed me (video and audio!) at Agile 2007. We mostly talked about schedule games from Manage It. (We briefly discussed Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management and Hiring the Best Knowedge Workers, Techies & Nerds.)For those of you who’ve met me and are wondering, “Where are Johanna’s glasses?” They’re in my lap. [...]
Portfolio Management Article Posted at PM Boulevard
(Indexed 2008-03-05):
PM Boulevard just published How Often Should You Review the Project Portfolio?. You have to be a member to see whole article (membership is free). You can’t leave comments there, so please leave them here.
When Youre in Chaos, Try Baby Steps
(Indexed 2008-03-04):
About a month ago, I spoke with a project manager who’d inherited a project in chaos. No one was making progress. He was stumped–he’d never worked on a project where the developers couldn’t do anything, the testers couldn’t do anything, and time was just slipping away.I suggested he try baby steps. What’s the first [...]
Great Review of Manage It!
(Indexed 2008-02-27):
Dave posted his review of Manage it! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. A quote: Heres what I like best about the book: its not theological. By this I mean Rothman doesnt advocate one true way of running projects. She is very careful to be continually cognizant of context when she talks about different [...]
Getting Status at the End of a (non-Agile) Project
(Indexed 2008-02-12):
Here’s a common scenario I was discussing with a colleague last night: They’re at the end of a project. They used some combination of a serial lifecycle, becoming more incremental as they proceed through the project. But they still have a ton of open defects, and a few not-quite-finished features. My colleague was complaining [...]
How Much Collaboration is Right?
(Indexed 2008-01-23):
Bob Sutton has an intriguing post, A Surprising Study of Infant Mortality Rates: Evidence-Based Management Meets Evidence Medicine. One of the surprising conclusions:One kind of collaboration was linked to higher mortality rates. When front-line employees became more involved in unit governance — doing things like being involved in decisions about who was hired and [...]
When is a Scrum Master (or a PM) Not?
(Indexed 2008-01-21):
I’ve been busy the last few weeks (as you can tell by the paucity of posts :-). I’ve been working with project managers, Scrum Masters, and technical leads who have been thrust into the role of Scrum Master.Here are some examples of the problems these nice folks have had:“When I want to use timeboxes to [...]
A Product Release PlanWho Knew?
(Indexed 2008-01-03):
Adam, from Write That Down, likes Manage it!. Here’s what he has to say:There is a great book called Manage It!, by Johanna Rothman. She does not disappoint, and really gets into the nitty gritty details about managing projects. While this is billed as a project management effort, it really does apply to product managers [...]
Stickyminds Column Posted: What Project Managers Need To Know About Testing
(Indexed 2007-12-26):
I have a new column posted at Stickyminds: What Project Managers Need To Know About Testing. Also, check out the podcast related to the article.
Manage It! is a Jolt Award Finalist
(Indexed 2007-12-20):
I’m proud to announce that Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management is a Jolt Award finalist. Andy made a short video you might like to see.I’m excited. Manage It! is up against other fine books, so there’s no guarantee it will win an award. But it’s very exciting to have made it [...]
New Podcast at Pragmatic Bookshelf
(Indexed 2007-12-08):
Daniel Steinberg, my editor for Manage It! interviewed me a couple of weeks ago. The podcast is here.We discussed some of the issues I’ve seen in organizations on projects. Some of the ideas we discussed were:What does the project manager do, even for an agile project?Has anything changed in project management?What happens when you ask [...]
Using Multiple Life Cycles in Combination on a Project, Part 3
(Indexed 2007-11-28):
I’ve also used Agile life cycles (Scrum with different size timeboxes) in combination on a project.Here, the developers in the corporate location had a series of features that were big. I did suggest they break the features apart into smaller chunks for ease of estimation and implementation, but they didn’t want to The remote [...]
Using Multiple Life Cycles in Combination on a Project, Part 2
(Indexed 2007-11-27):
I’ve used another variation on multiple life cycles, especially for larger projects where the project staff or project management didn’t want to or know how to use an agile life cycle. This combination life cycle has two incremental pieces. The developers (the top of the picture) use staged delivery.The testers, on the bottom of the [...]
Using Multiple Life Cycles in Combination on a Project, Part 1
(Indexed 2007-11-25):
I’m not a purist. I use whatever tools make sense for the context I’m in, and when it comes to organizing projects, I use whatever life cycles–in whatever combination–make sense to me. In response to a mailing list query, here are ways I’ve used life cycles for a few projects.Let’s assume you’re collaborating with another [...]
Estimation Units Predict Schedule Slippage
(Indexed 2007-11-21):
I’ve been teaching a project management workshop, and one of the participants said something brilliant: “If you estimate in days, you’ll be off by days. If you estimate in weeks, you’ll be off by weeks.” If you estimate in months, you will be off by months.Here’s why. The more you can break a big task [...]
A Manage It! Review
(Indexed 2007-11-16):
Brad Appleton posted his review of Manage It!. I’m psyched that Brad liked it. Here’s a quote: The chapter devoted to Recognizing and Avoiding Schedule Games is possibly worth the price of the book alone.Thanks, Brad.
Project Cycles, Business Cycles, Planning Cycles
(Indexed 2007-10-24):
I’ve been thinking about how to manage the project portfolio, and I just realized why so many project portfolio efforts fail.There are three kinds of cycles the project portfolio managers need to manage:Project cycles: when the project could release somethingPlanning cycles: how often the management team assesses the project portfolioBusiness cycles: when customers want something [...]
More Manage It! Sightings
(Indexed 2007-10-19):
Anton has published a lovely set of comments about Manage It!. I especially liked this quote:i just feel so comfortable with her take on project management there is no agilist zealotry or flashy theatrics.Also see the review from the Java User Group. The summary there was:In conclusion I suggest this book as an indispensable [...]
Podcast from Agile 2007 Posted
(Indexed 2007-10-14):
Bob Payne interviewed me in this podcast at Agile 2007. We mostly talked about project management, some specifics from Manage It!, and also talked about hiring for an agile team.
Stickyminds Column Posted: Schedule Games and the Portfolio
(Indexed 2007-10-04):
My most recent Stickyminds column is up: Are Your Pants on Fire, or Do You Suffer from Split Focus?. There’s also a podcast on that page. You can leave comments there or here.
How to Give the Project Team Just Enough Pressure
(Indexed 2007-10-03):
In For a more productive team, put the pressure on (within reason), Chris Hoover recommends a little pressure to help the procrastinators un-procrastinate, and help people get their work done on time.I only sort-of agree. Everyone has their own amount of pressure, and what’s good for you is not good for me. But working in [...]
But Its Just a Small Change
(Indexed 2007-09-11):
I had the pleasure of speaking with two different colleagues today, both with the same dilemma. They are near the end of their projects. They don’t quite have enough time for one round of final testing–but if they’re lucky and the stars align, and they don’t find too many problems, they can still (maybe) test [...]
Implement the Most Valuable Features First
(Indexed 2006-12-10):
Scott points out Software Product Delivery - 20 Rules? that you should do the riskiest part of the project first. (He explains that you modify that given what's most important.)I'd add a further refinement: that what's most important better provide the most value. If it doesn't, do the most valuable parts first. You might not have to do the riskiest parts.I saw this in action yesterday. I taught my pragmatic project management workshop, where part of the workshop is to do a project. The project ...(truncated)...
Measuring Project Completion Progress
(Indexed 2006-12-05):
I taught my project dashboard workshop today. One of the things most people want to measure is progress towards project completion. But you can't measure project completion progress unless you have completed features: developed, integrated, and tested features. A completed feature is done enough for someone to use.Implementing by architecture leaves all the feature integration up in the air until the end of the project, so if you must implement by architecture, you just can't measure completion ...(truncated)...
Book Status as of Dec 1, 2006
(Indexed 2006-12-02):
True confessions: I was hoping to finish the draft (of Successful Project Management) for technical review today. I didn't. I knew on Tusday and called Daniel to let him know where I was.This past week I focused on finishing chapters. I have about 16 chapters and one appendix. I don't know if the book will keep its current architecture; I removed one chapter yesterday. I have three chapters to finish (somewhere between 10,000-15,000 words) and three to rewrite (changing about 15,000 words? and a...(truncated)...
MInimum Requirements for a CMS
(Indexed 2006-11-29):
I'm writing part of the PM book, and said this about the minimum requirements for a configuration management system (CMS):Modern CMSs can branch, label, automatically merge multiple authors' changes, and allow for developers to work in their own private workspaces (sandboxes). If your CMS can't do that, dump it and obtain a new one.The reason I'm saying this is because I still see people using CMSs that don't allow for sandboxes, don't branch easily, and don't perform automatic merging well. It ...(truncated)...
Helpful Links
(Indexed 2006-11-28):
I'm busy writing the PM book, and saw these great posts. So instead of making myself crazy trying to write more good stuff for you, I decided you should read these.What is managing software development? is a great read. BTW, the working definition I have of project manager is: the person who knows what "done" means and can steer the project to accomplish "done." Difference Between Planing and Scheduling talks about the difference. For me, project management planning is the identification of rele...(truncated)...
Off to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Dec 3-21
(Indexed 2006-11-28):
I'm off to teach project management at Sela the week of Dec 3 and Dec 10. Then onto Jerusalem for the week of Dec 17. If you're in either place and want to get together for coffee, let me know.
Never Talk About Other People's Performance
(Indexed 2006-11-22):
A colleague asked how to deal with this situation. "It's clear Brad is being a jerk. I'm working with him on how to be less of a jerk. But Susie asked me today when I'm going to do something about the problem--nothing she says seems to make a dent in his behavior. What can I tell Susie?"Nothing. Not anything at all. You can say, "I'm working on the problem." That's it. And if you have to fire Brad, you say something like, "Brad has decided to pursue career opportunities elsewhere." If anyone ask...(truncated)...
I'm the Queen of the Non-Career Enhancing Conversation
(Indexed 2006-11-20):
If you're a regular reader of this blog (or the Hiring blog), you can see that I'm not shy or demure. I'm blunt and direct. And in most circumstances, I manage to straight-talk without hurting anyone, even myself. But that wasn't the case earlier this week.I was writing the PM book, concentrating. The phone rang. (Note to self: Put the phone to voicemail when writing.) I answered "Johanna Rothman." The nice person on the other end was on a speakerphone and paused a moment before saying, "This is...(truncated)...
Implicit Requirements are Still Requirements
(Indexed 2006-11-18):
I have an all-in-one machine, a fax/copier/scanner/printer, that I use for copying, scanning and primarily faxing. It's fine fax machine. And it's a great copier. But when I hook it up to my computer for scanning to a file, it falls apart. Half the time (or more), my computer can't establish a USB connection to the device. I was ready to throw the damn thing out the window when I thought, "Huh, I bet other people have this problem. I bet there's new software. Go see." I did. There was. I started...(truncated)...
Costs of Multitasking
(Indexed 2006-11-18):
I'm trying to describe the costs of multitasking. Here's what I've got so far:There are three parts to multitasking:Stopping the work you're doing. The stopping cost is the time it takes to mark your place, save your work, etc. You haven't stopped thinking about what you're doing, but when you stop to take a phone call or answer a question, there's a stopping cost. If you're in flow, this is surprisingly high.Swapping out what you're working on. The swapping out is the act of clearing your mind ...(truncated)...
Trip Report From AYE 2006
(Indexed 2006-11-15):
I'm finally back home after 4 weeks on the road. Yes, I was completely nuts to spend 4 weeks away. My office is a disaster, and so is my email. (My domain name is being spoofed, so I'm getting thousands of returned failed email messages a day. Pain in the tush to process.) So, here's my trip report from AYE 2006.Normally, I lead 5 sessions out of 6 session slots. This year, because Jerry was recuperating and unable to be there, I led 6 sessions. I'm thinking of limiting myself to just 4 sessions...(truncated)...
PMs Need Trend Data to Guide the Project
(Indexed 2006-10-30):
I've encountered a number of projects where people didn't know the context of their work. As developers, they were working on the thing they had to develop or fix today. They might remember what they had done yesterday, but there was no sense that they knew what they needed to do tomorrow, or that they were working on something that's part of a whole. (I wrote an article about this years ago, Of Crazy Numbers and Release Criteria) I'm at a client now doing an assessment and I saw some data yeste...(truncated)...
Why Do Some Testers/Test Managers Have a Siege Mentality?
(Indexed 2006-10-21):
I facilitated a management problem-solving session at the STARWest conference yesterday. When I was debriefing the activities, one participant said he's met a bunch of testers and test managers who had a "siege" mentality. He was surprised by that.I'm still surprised when I meet people like that. I sometimes see developers who feel that they are at the mercy of marketing or management or the BAs. But much more often I see testers or test managers who feel as if they have no control over their sc...(truncated)...
What Would You Like in a 3-Hour PM Workshop?
(Indexed 2006-10-13):
I'm thrilled to be going back to the Softed folks (in Wellington, Auckland, and Sydney) who are doing a project management conference next March. I'm working out with them what topics I'll be covering. I have a 3-hour workshop in the afternoon. It's enough time to cover a couple of topics with interactions and experiences, but not enough to do a huge amount. If you had the chance to work with me for 3 hours, what would you like? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
More Observations on Writing
(Indexed 2006-10-10):
Keith Ray, Dale Emery, and I are writing books. Keith and Dale are tracking their writing with spreadsheets. Dale is posting his progress online. You can see his Oct 8 progress.I decided they were on to something, and start tracking my progress in a spreadsheet also. I have about 35,000 words written. I have about 1/3 of the chapters in progress. Maybe. It depends on when I realize I have to write more or less about a topic.For Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds[Image], I wrote e...(truncated)...
When Requirements Spawn Requirements
(Indexed 2006-10-05):
A colleague asked me what to do when you're in an iteration and you realize that the story you're working on spawns other requirements. I suggested that the person add them to the product backlog (the backlog of everything you want to do for the product) and re-rank the requirements in preparation for the next iteration. "We can't do that. Our users won't let us." Why not? "Because if they find it in this iteration, they want to add it to the next iteration, if not this iteration."The users/prod...(truncated)...
Unanticipated Events Screw Up Schedules
(Indexed 2006-09-30):
So after I posted the Probabilistic Scheduling post, I was working merrily away. I had made some small progress on the book, but was still finishing up other things. Finally, Wednesday I had cleared the entire day to work on the book. I was having trouble with one chapter, so I decided to make tea and do some timed writing. But I encountered an unanticipated event.While picking up my electric teakettle, I fell down. Have no idea why, just fell. Normally, an ankle or knee gives out, and I fall s...(truncated)...
Probabilistic Scheduling
(Indexed 2006-09-26):
I'm writing my project management book. I have no idea how far along I am. (Wait, I promise to explain.) When I write, I have several phases: the exploratory phase, where I write articles, the write-it-down phase, where I write the whole thing down (in chunks, of course), and the editing phase. I'm in the write-it-down phase right now. In this phase, I need hours at a time to blast away at a chapter until there's little enough of it left so I can write it in spurts. (I hope you understood that.)...(truncated)...
Teaching Moments Occur Less Often Than We Think
(Indexed 2006-09-22):
Last week at SD Best Practices, I led an experiential half-day session about coaching. A significant number of the participants thought their job was to teach the other person what to do. (I think one person actually said "lead them to enlightenment.")While it may be true in sports or school coaching, peer-to-peer coaching is much more about generating and discussing options than it is about the One Best Choice. Even if the manager is coaching, that's still peer-to-peer coaching for me.During th...(truncated)...
Need Help with a Phrase
(Indexed 2006-09-08):
I'm writing the project management book. I'm noting that sometimes PMs (and teams) perform activities that have no lasting useful effect on the project. One example is doing estimation with feedback. If you estimate but never check reality against those estimates, that's an example of "mental masturbation: it feels good but there's no lasting effect." That's fine for a rough draft book, but it feels not quite right in a final manuscript. I'm afraid it sounds a bit blaming. (No, I'm nowhere near ...(truncated)...
Now We Are Three
(Indexed 2006-08-28):
This is a little off topic, but it's a big deal to me :-)We hit a major milestone this week. Daughter #1 is off to school. (For my non-US readers, that means university.) We have just one daughter at home, who starts high school this week.Sending a child to school is not like releasing a product. Products stay released. I fully expect Daughter #1 to bounce back while she's in school, and if we're unlucky, she'll bounce back after she graduates :-)But it's a major milestone in any case. We've pre...(truncated)...
Projects Have Requirements and Goals
(Indexed 2006-08-25):
I'm in the midst of writing the PM book (which is why I haven't blogged much). One of my tips is that projects have both requirements and goals--and that the PM (at least) needs to know the difference.A requirement can be a use case, user story, a shall statement, whatever. So can a goal. But a goal is something that if there is time (the effort is not on the critical path), the user or customer would want.Let me be clear. Testing is not a goal. All too often, projects shortchange their testing ...(truncated)...
SD Best Practices, Sept 11-14, 2006
(Indexed 2006-08-25):
I'm leading several sessions at SD Best Practices, Sept 11-14, 2006. Here's the list:Monday, Sept 11: Coaching Your Peers and Staff to Excellence (half-day experiential)Wednesday, Sept 13: Predicting Project CompletionWednesday, Sept 13: Develop Your Interviewing SkillsThursday, Sept 15: Managing the Project PortfolioThursday, Sept 14: Successful Software Management: 15 Lessons LearnedI'll also be signing books, but I don't know when that is yet.I hope you decide to come to all or part of the co...(truncated)...
Audits and Assessments
(Indexed 2006-08-15):
There's a fascinating email thread started by David Anderson about What would Agile Auditing Look Like?. Part of the discussion stems from what the definition of an audit is.Audits are about compliance to a defined process. Do we need audits? Sure, for some projects. I would very much like to know that any project in a regulated industry has a defined process and that the project stuck to that process, unless they could show why (with data) a change improved the process. And, if an organization ...(truncated)...
Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great
(Indexed 2006-08-10):
Want to save time on your next project? Improve working relationships? Understand what contributed to your success--or what didn't? You'll need a retrospective to do these things, and if you want a great retrospective, you'll buy a copy of Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen.A retrospective provides feedback to the entire project team and helps them see how to proceed based on their immediate past experience. Esther and Diana have written a readable act...(truncated)...
Reducing Infrastructure Risk
(Indexed 2006-08-08):
It's been quite the Monday so far. My office toilet started spewing water, a cabinet door fell off one of the cabinets in the kitchen, and I'm trying to back up and duplicate my hard disk because both latches on my Powerbook broke at the Agile conference and I need to send my computer off to be fixed. And of course, I have deadlines for presentations and articles, and the PM book I'm trying to write.I have a theory about this string of events. I just came off a crazy amount of travel: 9 out of t...(truncated)...
Iterations Keep Sponsors Involved
(Indexed 2006-08-03):
Several years ago, a colleague emailed me, asking how to keep sponsors involved. My colleague was using company-mandated phase-gate lifecycle with long project durations (18-24 months).I'd recommended providing a project dashboard and showing the sponsor progress. My colleague was stumped--the dashboard wasn't particularly helpful until they were in the testing phase and it was hard to show progress because they weren't using any formal iterations.I explained about iterations, and suggested that...(truncated)...
Starting With Rolling Wave Planning
(Indexed 2006-07-22):
Also this week, over at the AYE Conference, my Starting With Rolling Wave Planning is up.
Creating Transparency
(Indexed 2006-07-04):
I was at the Better Software conference last week, met a bunch of great people (including Jim Shore and Joel Spolsky). Another important person is someone who's not famous--and important nevertheless. A senior tester explained her situation and asked for some help. "Most of our testers can't read code. And, we don't know what the developers are putting into the code when they fix problems. Even if the testers could read the code, we don't know what to look for. We don't know what to test. The de...(truncated)...
Project Managers and Technology
(Indexed 2006-06-29):
A reader was reading Characteristics of Great Project Managers and asked, "Do you feel that to be a great Project Manager one need not know completely about the technology involved?"No. Project managers need to understand enough about the technology so that they can make tradeoff decisions (or help product owners make tradeoff decisions) about what will actually make it into the release. The more PMs understand the product under devleopment, the better decisions they will make--or guide the proj...(truncated)...
A Project Needs a Vision
(Indexed 2006-06-21):
When I teach project management, I ask the participants to create a project charter (See my templates page for one I use to start). I recently encountered a battered project manager who does not have a project charter for a project with 6 or 7 sub-projects.This PM is smart, but has never managed a project with multiple sub-projects before. (I would call this project a program.) All sub-projects are located in one large building (which is helpful). All are using the same language, configuration m...(truncated)...
Managing One-on-One
(Indexed 2006-06-20):
Since Esther and I started advertising our One-on-One workshop, I've been hearing wonderful stories about how managers and team members have benefited from one-on-one meetings. Here are some:A tester said he'd been ready to give notice when his manager started doing regular one-on-ones. WIth the advent of one-on-ones, his relationship with his manager changed. And, he started testing in a variety of ways--using techniques that helped him get a job on a project he enjoyed for a couple of years.A ...(truncated)...
Architect as Consultant?
(Indexed 2006-05-16):
Given the thoughtful comments on Architects Must Write Code and Testing Design, I'm wondering if some of the difference in our beliefs stem from our perceptions of the architect's role.I see the architect as the technical lead who shepherds a product through the overall design, someone who explains enough about the system and how it hangs together so that the other developers can take their parts write/design them (in whatever way works for them). I now believe in as-little-as-possible design-up...(truncated)...
Testing Design
(Indexed 2006-05-11):
In Architects Must Write Code, several architects responded that I was too prescriptive (I'm summarizing their comments). Maybe. But I don't think so.I'm in a nice hotel, where things just don't work completely right. Yes, the hotel is clean (that's the big thing with me). The hotel upgraded me to a suite with an oval bathtub. Clearly, people of normal height and weight had not tried to shower here--the tub is about 9 inches (a hand-width) from the toilet. [Image]There's no grab bar to balance o...(truncated)...
Who's Your Project Manager?
(Indexed 2006-05-04):
At the most recent Boston SPIN meeting, I caught up with a fellow I hadn't seen in a couple of years. He thanked me for the advice I'd given him on a tough project the last time I'd seen him. I had no idea what he was saying, so I asked him what the advice was. He said I asked him, "Who's your project manager?"It's not a question, but a similar idea here: First make someone responsible and put them in the middle. To me, this is the essence of project management.So, who's your project manager?
You'll Just Have to Wait for Tuning Up Teams
(Indexed 2006-04-28):
Read this about "Business Improvement" and weep. Mindboggling, just mindboggling.Good thing you won't have to wait too long for Tuning Up Teams. I've been reviewing the book for Esther and Diana, and with this book you won't have to waste time answer some multiple-choice questionnaire and still not have information. They explain how to do short retrospectives (specifically for after each iteration), as well as longer retrospectives (post-release and post-project). I won't say more yet, because t...(truncated)...
Architects Must Write Code
(Indexed 2006-04-26):
I had the opportunity to read Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World. The book has 45 tip to help developers become agile. And, it's clear that Venkat and Andy know the problems of becoming an agile developer, because along with each tip, there's a devil-thought to show people what happens in the real world. There are also angel-thoughts to show people why this tip works.My favorite tip, and something I've been saying in my assessment reports for the last 10 years is "Archite...(truncated)...
Do Engineers Use Their Software?
(Indexed 2006-04-26):
My friend and colleague, Stever Robbins, has started a blog, and one of his early posts is Are engineers living on another planet? Don'?t they use their software?Unfortunately, not always. It takes self-discipline and the desire to look for problems to cause people to create systems that allow them to use their own software. If a project team only builds once a week, they're not going to use their software. If they fix a bunch of defects at one time, the testers can't do a complete install and t...(truncated)...
Are Your Managers Part of Your Team?
(Indexed 2006-04-21):
I was talking with Don Gray this morning about our work on the AYE Conference. I'm the marketing chair, he's the program chair. We were discussing the sessions we have so far, and I said we could put one of the management sessions into the team effectiveness track. "No," Don said, "Managers aren't part of the team." Blow me over with a feather. I agree that managers aren't part of the technical work that their team performs day-to-day (although some of my clients try to use their managers that w...(truncated)...
Announcement: Managing One-on-One Workshop
(Indexed 2006-04-18):
A couple of weeks ago in Positive Results With One-on-Ones, I let you know Esther and I would be running public workshops soon. We are finally ready to announce the workshop.July 10-12, 2006, in Minneapolis, we will hold the first Behind Closed Doors: Managing One-on-One workshop. Interested? Here's the flyer (PDF). I'll be adding a workshop page to my site later today. I'll update this post when it's done.This is a workshop for managers, project managers, and technical leads. Here's what we'll ...(truncated)...
Construction Metaphor Doesn't Work for Me
(Indexed 2006-04-15):
Matisse has an interesting post, Software is like Building Construction. He talks about iterative design and the interdependencies of people with deliverables as being common to construction and software.In my opinion, he's not all wrong, but he's not all right. I agree that there are plenty of design-build firms who wait until the last possible moment to cement the design before building. When we remodeled our house, we used an iterative process, and yes, we incorporated the things we'd learne...(truncated)...
Positive Results With One-on-ones
(Indexed 2006-04-15):
Via Keith's A Few Good Posts by Ed Gibbs, I read Better Feedback Loops With One on Ones. Sounds like one-on-ones are helping Ed and his team.Last week, I had dinner with a manager (also using Scrum) who has had great results with one-on-ones. It's always nice to hear positive news about a technique that has brought me great results.But I'm having a conversation with a manager who's not having great results with one-on-ones. If I can understand more about why, I'll post those problems and what ha...(truncated)...
Convincing Management That Context Switching Is a Bad Idea
(Indexed 2006-04-15):
A few weeks ago, I republished an article originally published in Better Software: Convincing Management That Context Switching Is a Bad Idea on the AYE site. I'd received no feedback about the article when it was published, so I wanted to generate some discussion about my ideas.I did generate a little discussion. Don Gray first said "Context switching is fun!". Later on, he said the differences were: * One switches between similar tasks, the other doesn't. * I'm not under deadline pressur...(truncated)...
100 Rules for Nasa Project Managers
(Indexed 2006-04-14):
I was reading Michael Specht's links of Mar 24, 2006 and found this gem: One Hundred Rules for NASA Project Managers.
When is Continuous Integration Not?
(Indexed 2006-04-04):
I'm a big fan of continuous integration. For me, that means that as developers implement small pieces, they check in the changes, verify the changes with a local build and smoke test, promote the code to the mainline, check again, and they're done.I've been having a long discussion with one of my clients about what continuous integration is. They say that when the developer is done with a particular feature, and checks that feature in, they are doing continuous integration. But it can take month...(truncated)...
Working on My Inbox
(Indexed 2006-04-04):
Merlin's been doing a series of posts about emptying your inbox. I decided he was right.Here's the philosphical statement in Inbox Zero: Articles of faith that helped me see a new possibility: Admitting you simply dont have the time to participate in a 10-times-daily email exchange with someone is difficult to admit. But whats the alternative?I decided Merlin was right. Here's where I am. I started with 402 messages. I easily got down to 183 messages after just 15 minutes. I got stuck then, beca...(truncated)...
Ready to Write, Finally
(Indexed 2006-04-04):
You may have noticed a long time between posts here. I was traveling virtually all of March, and had a tough time with finishing all my client work and making time to blog. Once I was home, I had a tough time with jet lag.I believe I'm unlagged and ready. I have ton of stuff in partial form, so I'll be working through the backlog over the next few days.
A Little Bragging
(Indexed 2006-03-14):
If you haven't read Amit's review of Behind Closed Doors, ON THE BOOKSHELF: "SECRETS OF GREAT MANAGEMENT" FINALLY REVEALED take a look. A quote:So it's a welcome surprise to read Behind Closed Doors (The Pragmatic Programmers, 2005), by management experts Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby, and to find that it's full of realistic scenariosand practical solutionsthat managers actually face on a regular basis.I'm very pleased. (So is Esther :-) In response to this review (at least I think it is, we ...(truncated)...
Courage Required
(Indexed 2006-03-14):
I recently spoke with a manager who had too many projects and not enough people. (Sound familiar?) I suggested he organize two kinds of project portfolios. The first is organized with the weeks across the top and the people down the side, explaining which people are doing what in each week, and how much work is unstaffed. The second portfolio was his running estimate of when projects would come into his group (by month) and when they would finish. This way he had pictures to discuss what his cho...(truncated)...
Design Documents Need Pictures
(Indexed 2006-03-14):
When I do assessments, I ask for lots of project documents and data. A few years ago, I was working on an assessment for a very large system, so I asked for an architectural picture. I was surprised--this million plus LOC system had no picture at all. No wonder it was so hard for the people to plan, organize and execute their work.I've had the opportunity to look at design documents recently. Many of them have only words. No data flow, no picture of how this piece of the system works, or how thi...(truncated)...
Working on Multi-Site Projects, Staying in Touch
(Indexed 2006-03-14):
I'm in Israel right now, doing an assessment. That means that I'm the one at "another" site for my US projects. Staying in touch is hard. I'm between 7 and 10 hours ahead of everyone I need to work with. Not easy to stay in contact.I do some reasonable things while I'm here: rent a cell phone, use email and vmail when necessary, even IM. But Elizabeth Keough has an even better way to use IM. See IM is your friend.Everyone sets their Yahoo Status message to show what they're doing.How smart is th...(truncated)...
Feedback While Pairing
(Indexed 2006-02-16):
I'd recommended a group consider pair-programming as a technique to help everyone learn more about the system. One of the developers came up to me later and said, "How do I give feedback while pairing?" I said "Nicely," and promised more specifics. Here are my guidelines for pairing feedback:Explain the effect on me for that line of code/writing. "I'm confused by that..." with the specific confusion. Recognize when it's time to change positions. If I'm the navigator and I object constantly, it's...(truncated)...
O'Reilly's Pick of the Week
(Indexed 2006-02-08):
This is way cool: Roy's interview with me, "Hiring Techies and Nerds" is O'Reilly's Pick of the Week.The first part of the interview is about hiring issues. But the last 20 minutes or so is about management and project management. If you haven't heard it already, enjoy!
Responsibility vs. Authority
(Indexed 2006-02-02):
At a recent project management workshop, a participant asked was "I have responsibility but not enough authority to do what I need to do as a PM. How do I get things done?"I can't remember feeling as if I didn't have the authority to get things done as a PM. I decided long ago, that if the company felt I needed to manage a project, then--by definition--I had the authority to do what I needed to do. I took the authority. I didn't ask for it. I realize that doesn't work for everyone. So here's my ...(truncated)...
A Couple of Links
(Indexed 2006-01-25):
Just because I've been quiet doesn't mean I haven't been working. I've posted two project management templates, the project charter template and the project plan template at my Templates page.The AYE blog is up and running. I have more work to do on the template, but I hope you check it out. (If anyone reading this has attended AYE and you have a blog, please send me an email, so we can link to you.)
Starting on Strategic Planning Posted
(Indexed 2006-01-19):
After missing all of last year, I finally started writing my monthly newsletter. See The Pragmatic Manager email newsletter page to see the most recent article: Starting on Strategic Planning. If you like it, there's a signup box on the top of the page.
Flipping the Bozo Bit Back
(Indexed 2006-01-17):
A new-to-a-company manager explained this situation to me recently. She'd overheard something like this recently from one of her team members.So you're working in a place where it seems as if all the managers are Bozos. But you like the work and you like the people, and you know nothing lasts forever. After a couple years of insanity, all the managers change. And I do mean all, from the CEO down to the first level. Some of the people who were working to reverse the insanity were promoted, and a ...(truncated)...
Implementation by Feature and Embedded Systems Issues
(Indexed 2005-12-28):
I've been working with some companies who do hardware/software systems. Most often, they have some embedded code too, just to make life interesting. To be honest, I don't know how to do implementation by feature for a whole brand new system. Here's what I've been suggesting:Prototype the software architecture as early as possible, even if it's just one path through the architecture, even if everything isn't set up into neat little components. Chances are good the hardware doesn't exist yet, but ...(truncated)...