Opinions on leadership and management
Is there room for a Project Manager in Agile? Agile on its own does not define any roles. Scrum Master and Product Owner are Scrum roles, not Agile roles. Even within Scrum, duties often considered Project Manager duties still need to occur (Who is the Project Manager in […]
Earned Value Management (EVM) is comprised of several formulas that provide an analysis of a project and its current state regarding budget and schedule. EVM provides a way to measure the project in a quantifiable way using project metrics. It may not always be ideal and it may […]
Stop using Agile as an excuse for your failure to plan. There is nothing about Agile that means or implies that you do not plan. You must make the plan loose enough to be adaptable but detailed enough to be useful. You must still plan. You may even […]
The first thing I want to do is wish you good luck. I have been involved in trying to do some of this using technology solutions to help streamline processes, you may be in for a rough time. Here they are, in no specific order (because it may […]
We can get away with having lazy communication practices in a co-located team or single building environment. In a co-located team we have accidents and chance encounters that help fill in the gap that exists without a proactive communication plan. In a single work building, we can expect to […]
Complexity Theory is primarily made up of 4 different theories that are used for modeling and analyzing complex systems. These complex systems can include both the natural world, human/animal relationships, as well as the organization of businesses. From Complexity Theory, there have emerged several ideas that try to […]
The short answer – yes they do. Within Agile there is a heavy stress on servant-leadership, self-organizing teams, and emergent leadership. The belief is that through the use of those things, management is unnecessary. The manager of the past has a negative association with authoritarian leadership that dictates […]
User story creation should not be a difficult process. You may encounter the occasional “what do I do here?” situations, but generally, the process should be fairly easy as long as you have the right people helping with understanding the requirements. At times through your project or product […]
An osmotic event is a failure or breakdown in communication that could have led to issues but was averted by pure accident or coincidence. It occurs when a company either lacks a plan for handling certain communication, the plan is not followed, or the plan is inadequate. (What […]
You don’t need to have iterative and incremental development practices, or even a project, to be Agile. Don’t focus on what the Agile frameworks say, focus on what is the best way. Iterative and incremental don’t always make sense – Agile doesn’t actually require iterative and incremental. Even […]
The Hawthorne Effect was first conceptualized after studies conducted in the 1920s and 1930s at Western Electrical Company’s Hawthorne Works in Chicago. Researchers were trying to study ways to improve productivity. In order to carry out these studies, the researchers worked with various groups of employees and implemented various […]
First things first, nothing in Agile requires the use of user stories. They aren’t required anywhere. They are a tool, Agile doesn’t really define tools. Tools are useful only when they are useful and not hindering your progress or driving you insane trying to use them. User stories […]
Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning In 1965 Dr. Bruce Tuckman published an article titled “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups” where he focused on the interpersonal relationships of the group members and the impact on task activities (Bonebright, 2009). Within that article, Tuckman hypothesized the stages of group development […]
The Roles of a DSDM Program *To see the roles of a DSDM Project: DSDM Project Management Roles and Responsibilities Business Program Owner Business Change Owner Program Manager Program Technical Architect Program Change Architect Project Teams Stakeholder Engagement Co-ordinator Change Agents Program Support Office Specialists Role Levels and Categories […]
Most people don’t usually enjoy team building activities. You might get them to play along in team building games, and for some teams that may work, but they would rather be elsewhere. These are usually management driven team building activities. Management decides what they are going to do, […]
