Welcome to My Blog
Crossing the Potomac
The Agile Alliance attracts over 2,300 project managers, consultants, and what are called ‘Agile Coaches’ from all over the world, who present over 200 presentations on how to fix troubled projects just like mine.
When Do You Know It’s Time to Let an Employee Go?
I’d like to give you a 100 point checklist that will absolutely assure you that you are doing the right thing when you let someone go, but it doesn’t exist.
Take the Blow
The Scene I turned, and wrote the number on the whiteboard. $1.5M In front of me in the small room was the SVP of a large Japanese auto company, his head of the PMO Jason, and all of Jason’s project managers. “Wait,” said the SVP. “$1.5m is the price for the entire project, correct?” I […]
Wherefore Art Thou Multimedia?
It probably sounds passé now, but there once was a technology we thought would be a new way for telling stories, and maybe even creating art.
The Problem with Team-Based Development
Good small product teams become pros in their area of expertise, as they should. But they can also start to think they are the experts in the whole solution, from end to end, not just the one part they are focused on.
Grooming Sessions
Grooming sessions are a whole lot more effective when the Product Owner kicks the meeting off with a short presentation that shows what the results are of the last release, what the team needs to accomplish in the upcoming quarter, and what are the 3-4 priorities that need to be accomplished in the next sprint.
That’s It. That’s the One.
o be honest, I won’t miss Mad Men, the overwrought fashion show with vellum-thin treatments of politics, feminism, and pop culture we’re asked to nod and wink at. Emotionally, I’m not drawn to Don’s downward spiral like I was with Tony Soprano or Walter White, who seemed to struggle on more fertile and less claustrophobic […]
A Week Later: Reflections on SXSW 2015
ost of us go to SXSW for the music, the parties, and the brisket. But we come back year after year for the ideas and the connections. The 50,000-some people who come to Austin are like ‘idea marbles’ rolling around in a big bowl. You never know if you’ll actually bump into another that will […]
Play Yourself
recently read the following passage in Geoffrey Bellman’s “The Consultant’s Calling”, and it rang true to me. I’d add that I think his message applies to employees as well as consultants. Establish a consulting role that asks you to be–to “play”–yourself. Being a consultant is more comfortable than playing one. Even if you play the consultant role […]
Support the Professionals
I’ll never forget the day I reconnected with my friend Babak Ardalan a few years ago. He’s a seasoned program manager who I’d worked with on big projects for Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, and others. When the conversation turned to work, he told me he’d dropped all of the standard project management artifacts and was running his current projects […]
Catch Someone
