INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
In the beginning, there was pre-history Agile, almost prehistoric era: Before 2000 and the meeting in Utah that birthed modern Agile Rogue developers trying various "light weight" and "rapid" prototyping and coding practises. MORE
Agile leans heavily on the idea of "the narrative" or "epoch"; other. methodologies speak of strategic outcomes and value statements. In any form there is the. inference of "the" narrative, as though there is only one arching aiming point for the project. Not so fast! Not all might agree; alas, there might be (are you ready for this?) disagreements regarding the value statement, narrative, or Project Management MORE
Here's my three point estimate paradox: We all know we must estimate with three points (numbers). so we do it, reluctantly None of us actually want to work with (do arithmetic with) the three points we estimate. In a word, three point estimates suck -- not convenient, thus often put aside even if estimated -- and most of all: who among us can do arithmetic with three point estimates? But Monte Carlo Risk Management Statistics MORE
Can there be scope creep in Agile? Doesn't agile define creep away in a stroke: "Scope is whatever is prioritized in the backlog that fits within the budget (OPM, other people's money) and the time. The backlog changes all the time, but that's not creep, it's just backlog management." MORE
Stage gates and Agile? To some, that might sound horrifying! Not exactly! One of my Agile Project Management students asked me about stage gates and agile. My first response was this: Agile is not a gated methodology, primarily because scope is viewed as emergent, and thus the idea of pre-determined gate criteria is inconsistent with progressive elaboration and emergence. Agile does. agile MORE
A narrative* Imagine two doors to the same room: One labeled risk manager; the other labeled decision maker. Though the risk manager's door, entry is for the inductive thinker: facts, experience, history looking for a generality or integrating narrative Through the decision maker's door, entry is for the deductive thinker: visionary with a need to articulate specifics for the vision Risk Management MORE
Fidelity, faithfulness, and commitment often seem to be the tension between: What the customer/sponsor/user want, and. What the project charter/scope calls for. Why so? Why isn't it straightforward? The business case begets the project charter; the charter begets the project plan; and then the project team is off to do the deliverables. Simple, right? Wrong! It's never that simple --. Project Management MORE
To be open Every text and paper I've read describes risk management like many other project processes: open, transparent, available to any on the project team. Risks are identified, evaluated, ranked, made subject to some form of risk reduction paradigm; and everyone is made aware. Oh, but if it only were! Most of us can handle the text book process. It's more will than capability But, on. Risk Management MORE
Without Metrics you're just another guy with an opinion - Stephan Leschka, Hewlett Packard* I get it; and mostly, I agree with Mr. Leschka BUT, there are a few other rules: Don't measure -- meaning: don't invest the effort to collect and analyze -- that which you don't manage Don't measure the unmeasurable -- meaning, don't assign false values and dimensions to that which is fundamentally. estimate Strategic Plan MORE
Kanban, WIP, and three others are what I frame as "five tools for managing" I've put it together in this slideshare.net presentation (*): Five tools for managing projects from John Goodpasture. (*) See: slideshare.net/jgoodpas for all of my online stuff. free for download, but an attribution would be appreciated Buy them at any online book retailer! Project Management MORE
Are you on one of those death march projects about to burn out. Want some time off? Perhaps it's in the plan Formula solution Google among others -- Microsoft, etc -- are well known for the "time off, do. what you want toward self improvement and personnel innovation" model; formulas like that lend objectivity to the process (not playing. favorites, etc). Note: more on this in the "6x2x1". human factors Teamwork MORE
David Hulett has a presentation on his website, projectrisk.com, entitled "Schedule Risk Analysis using the Risk Driver Method and Monte Carlo Simulation". In this presentation, he develops an interesting operating idea: first, shift the Monte Carlo method to the higher level of events on the risk register, and then use those results as drivers on the schedule. His idea he explains this way: Risk Management MORE
Dilbert: We need 3 more programmers. Boss: Use agile programming methods. Dilbert: Agile programming does not mean doing more work with less people. Boss: Find me some words that do mean that and ask again Dilbert is a creation of Scott Adams And so, you might ask: what does agile mean? MORE
I've heard it many times that this little ditty is the essence of why Agile is problematic with its dearth of plans, estimates, etc: "Would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here? That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I I don't much care,' said Alice. Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. 'So So long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice. agile MORE
Yikes! My backlog is blocked! How can this be? We're agile. or maybe we've become de-agiled. Can that happen? Ah yes, we're agile, but perhaps not everything in the portfolio is agile; indeed, perhaps not everything in the project is agile. In the event, coupling the culprit Coupling? Coupling is system engineering speak for transferring one effect onto another, or causing an effect by. agile MORE
The messenger: “Unfortunately, my King … here I am, unwilling and unwanted … because I know that no one ever welcomes a bearer of bad news.” Antigone by Sophocles, circa 442 BC The surprise: “It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.” Frederick, the Great Who's listening? Pedro C. Ribeiro, writing in NASA's ASK magazine, has a nice posting on risk perception. Risk Management MORE
It's been a few years since I wrote the material for the presentation below, but I find it timeless. It's all about an analogy It's all about how a self-directed team working on a mission of top-down importance and specification -- these imperatives coming from executive leaders -- get the job down sufficiently well (in Agile speak: well enough) to succeed. Agile for project managers - agile MORE
Have you thought much about this? Two of the conceptual conundrums of the hybrid methodology project are: How do you verify that which is incomplete and. How do you validate the efficacy of that which is yet to be conceived? Verification and validation (V-and-V) are traditionally held to be very important project practises that are difficult to map directly into the Agile domain. agile MORE
If you are in the project management (read: risk management) business, one of the best books that describes the philosophy and foundation for modern risk management is Bernstein's "Against the Gods: the remarkable story of risk". Between the covers of this "must read" we learn this bit: The essence of risk management lies in maximizing the areas where we have some control over the outcome. Risk Management MORE
Managing risk? Can you imagine there's risk to manage? Here's the second thing you do: Evaluate the slack. What's to evaluate? You might think the most important thing about slack is how much is there; what do I have to work with? Nope Whatever you've got, the most important thing is sequence and position. Where in the course of events are you going to position slack so that it works to Risk Management MORE
Perhaps I've said this before. I certainly intended to. But, percent complete is a worthless metric Not a value measurement: Percent complete is a ratio. The ratio is dimensionless, whereas value has a dimension; it can be measured. Percent complete is not only not a measure of value completed; it’s really not even a measure of completeness, even if some things are "completed" at less. agile Project Management Project Value MORE
I was recently asked if Agile and 'R/D' go together. The issue at hand: how do you reconcile agile's call for product delivery to users every few weeks with the unknowns and false starts in a real R/D project? Good question! I'm glad you asked. Let's start with OPM. Other people's money. And the first question: What have you committed to do? There are two possible answers: (1). agile MORE
Repetition and review are good--Malcom Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to be expert at anything--so here's a few words that will take a few minutes on three important quantitative concepts every risk manager should know: Concept 1: Centrality Most phenomenon of interest to projects, particularly naturally occurring phenomenon, tend to cluster around a central value, given enough samples. risk Risk Management MORE
For many years, I've preached the benefits of the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). For many reasons, it's superior to other analysis paradigms. In network analysis, for instance, it handles the parallel join or 'gate' as no other method will. In fact, it's this very capability that renders the Monte Carlo superior to other risk adjusted ideas, like the PERT method in scheduling. PERT suffers. Risk Management MORE
8 Administrative Professional Conferences You Can’t Miss in 2018. Have you ever noticed the amazing ideas and inspiration that come from connecting with other like-minded people who have the same profession as you? We want administrative professionals to feel that invigorating spark again and again! MORE
The first thing you do to reduce risk. is: loosen the coupling between sources of effects. Create buffers; remove dependencies; install redundancy. This is a concept from System Engineering (buffers, dampers, redundancy; but also loose tolerances; fuses; barriers and walls. anything that inhibits propagation of effects) This is a concept from scheduling (Critical Chain by Goldratt; Risk Management MORE
"Big Data" is the meme du jour, but most projects run on "little data", the sort of data that fits into the constraints of spreadsheets like Excel. It's everyday stuff that drives estimates, scorecards, dashboards, task assignments, and all manner of project analytics. Let's Excel So, assuming you using Excel as a spreadsheet for doing actual calculations and data entry, you will find that. Project Management MORE
Risk un-management? Perhaps the largest task within risk management, and requiring the greatest judgment, is "risk un-management" On any project there are going to be dozens, perhaps hundreds, of unmanaged risks. These comprise the population to be un-managed. I doubt this is news to anyone, but these are, as a group, more numerous than those selected for the usual risk management paradigm. Risk Management MORE
Can anyone image doing serious risk management without a checklist? The answer, of course, is No. or, it should be!) Actually, any procedural management can benefit from a checklist. There's been whole books written about checklists. In fact, one of the more prominent books -- "The Checklist Manefesto" by Dr. A. Gawande -- entitles Chapter 1: "The Problem of Extreme Complexity", Project Management MORE
Trying to remember how you got here? Perhaps Understanding why you're sticking around is also important So, here's my top ten reasons why agile has worked for me 1. Agile is a "best value" method: it's doctrine is centered on value and accomplishment for the customer and user, not so much adherence to cost and schedule--though the sponsor's investment can not be exceeded, so cost is at. agile MORE
There comes a point where more planning can not remove the remaining uncertainty, instead execution must be used to provide data and remove uncertainty. This quote comes from a nicely argued case -- from the agile blog 'leading answers' -- for mixing agile methods in rather traditional businesses, like the oil and gas exploration/production business If ever there was a business that. agile MORE
"Others may have plans; I have deadlines" Amy Klobuchar Senator This sentiment has been expressed in other forms, most famously by many: Plans don't survive first touch with reality Plans are nothing; planning is everything The big idea: Plans are the process; outcomes are the value. Manage with milestones Detail planning is good -- it brings out the interdependencies and. planning Quotations MORE
What's the hybrid thing? It's agile coexisting in the same project with a traditional methodology, presumably for the swim lanes that are not software. Some call hybrid agile as: agile in the waterfall Are hybrids practical? After all, the traditional is top down planned, most requirements up front, much system testing at the end, etc. Agile is the not-traditional. Can you fashion a hybrid. agile MORE
Musings on Project Management
OCTOBER 23, 2019
In the beginning, there was pre-history Agile, almost prehistoric era: Before 2000 and the meeting in Utah that birthed modern Agile Rogue developers trying various "light weight" and "rapid" prototyping and coding practises.
Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 4, 2019
What's the hybrid thing? It's agile coexisting in the same project with a traditional methodology, presumably for the swim lanes that are not software. Some call hybrid agile as: agile in the waterfall Are hybrids practical? After all, the traditional is top down planned, most requirements up front, much system testing at the end, etc. Agile is the not-traditional. Can you fashion a hybrid. agile
Musings on Project Management
JUNE 30, 2019
Dilbert: We need 3 more programmers. Boss: Use agile programming methods. Dilbert: Agile programming does not mean doing more work with less people. Boss: Find me some words that do mean that and ask again Dilbert is a creation of Scott Adams And so, you might ask: what does agile mean?
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How can project planning that stretches over months or years remain relevant and account for new ad-hoc activities that arrive every day?
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 14, 2019
Stage gates and Agile? To some, that might sound horrifying! Not exactly! One of my Agile Project Management students asked me about stage gates and agile. My first response was this: Agile is not a gated methodology, primarily because scope is viewed as emergent, and thus the idea of pre-determined gate criteria is inconsistent with progressive elaboration and emergence. Agile does. agile
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Musings on Project Management
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
Can there be scope creep in Agile? Doesn't agile define creep away in a stroke: "Scope is whatever is prioritized in the backlog that fits within the budget (OPM, other people's money) and the time. The backlog changes all the time, but that's not creep, it's just backlog management."
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 27, 2019
Can anyone image doing serious risk management without a checklist? The answer, of course, is No. or, it should be!) Actually, any procedural management can benefit from a checklist. There's been whole books written about checklists. In fact, one of the more prominent books -- "The Checklist Manefesto" by Dr. A. Gawande -- entitles Chapter 1: "The Problem of Extreme Complexity", Project Management
Musings on Project Management
OCTOBER 14, 2019
The messenger: “Unfortunately, my King … here I am, unwilling and unwanted … because I know that no one ever welcomes a bearer of bad news.” Antigone by Sophocles, circa 442 BC The surprise: “It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised.” Frederick, the Great Who's listening? Pedro C. Ribeiro, writing in NASA's ASK magazine, has a nice posting on risk perception. Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 8, 2019
Risk un-management? Perhaps the largest task within risk management, and requiring the greatest judgment, is "risk un-management" On any project there are going to be dozens, perhaps hundreds, of unmanaged risks. These comprise the population to be un-managed. I doubt this is news to anyone, but these are, as a group, more numerous than those selected for the usual risk management paradigm. Risk Management
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Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 13, 2019
If you are in the project management (read: risk management) business, one of the best books that describes the philosophy and foundation for modern risk management is Bernstein's "Against the Gods: the remarkable story of risk". Between the covers of this "must read" we learn this bit: The essence of risk management lies in maximizing the areas where we have some control over the outcome. Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
APRIL 30, 2019
There comes a point where more planning can not remove the remaining uncertainty, instead execution must be used to provide data and remove uncertainty. This quote comes from a nicely argued case -- from the agile blog 'leading answers' -- for mixing agile methods in rather traditional businesses, like the oil and gas exploration/production business If ever there was a business that. agile
Musings on Project Management
FEBRUARY 9, 2019
A narrative* Imagine two doors to the same room: One labeled risk manager; the other labeled decision maker. Though the risk manager's door, entry is for the inductive thinker: facts, experience, history looking for a generality or integrating narrative Through the decision maker's door, entry is for the deductive thinker: visionary with a need to articulate specifics for the vision Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
OCTOBER 17, 2019
Fidelity, faithfulness, and commitment often seem to be the tension between: What the customer/sponsor/user want, and. What the project charter/scope calls for. Why so? Why isn't it straightforward? The business case begets the project charter; the charter begets the project plan; and then the project team is off to do the deliverables. Simple, right? Wrong! It's never that simple --. Project Management
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Musings on Project Management
OCTOBER 5, 2019
Perhaps I've said this before. I certainly intended to. But, percent complete is a worthless metric Not a value measurement: Percent complete is a ratio. The ratio is dimensionless, whereas value has a dimension; it can be measured. Percent complete is not only not a measure of value completed; it’s really not even a measure of completeness, even if some things are "completed" at less. agile Project Management Project Value
Musings on Project Management
OCTOBER 20, 2019
For many years, I've preached the benefits of the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). For many reasons, it's superior to other analysis paradigms. In network analysis, for instance, it handles the parallel join or 'gate' as no other method will. In fact, it's this very capability that renders the Monte Carlo superior to other risk adjusted ideas, like the PERT method in scheduling. PERT suffers. Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
NOVEMBER 10, 2018
I've heard it many times that this little ditty is the essence of why Agile is problematic with its dearth of plans, estimates, etc: "Would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here? That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I I don't much care,' said Alice. Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. 'So So long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice. agile
Musings on Project Management
MARCH 24, 2019
It's been a few years since I wrote the material for the presentation below, but I find it timeless. It's all about an analogy It's all about how a self-directed team working on a mission of top-down importance and specification -- these imperatives coming from executive leaders -- get the job down sufficiently well (in Agile speak: well enough) to succeed. Agile for project managers - agile
Speaker: Steven Haines, Founder and CEO, Sequent Learning Networks
Product professionals use phrases like "voice of the customer," and "user experience" so often that it can be easy to lose sight of their actual meanings. How can we, as product professionals, learn to keep customers and users at the heart of our work? Join Steven Haines, globally recognized thought leader and author, as he guides us through a memorable journey demonstrating how you can walk a mile in their customer's shoes. He'll explore how, by developing true empathy for your users, you can ensure you're creating the features and products they actually want.
Musings on Project Management
JUNE 25, 2019
To be open Every text and paper I've read describes risk management like many other project processes: open, transparent, available to any on the project team. Risks are identified, evaluated, ranked, made subject to some form of risk reduction paradigm; and everyone is made aware. Oh, but if it only were! Most of us can handle the text book process. It's more will than capability But, on. Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
DECEMBER 28, 2017
8 Administrative Professional Conferences You Can’t Miss in 2018. Have you ever noticed the amazing ideas and inspiration that come from connecting with other like-minded people who have the same profession as you? We want administrative professionals to feel that invigorating spark again and again!
Musings on Project Management
DECEMBER 24, 2018
Have you thought much about this? Two of the conceptual conundrums of the hybrid methodology project are: How do you verify that which is incomplete and. How do you validate the efficacy of that which is yet to be conceived? Verification and validation (V-and-V) are traditionally held to be very important project practises that are difficult to map directly into the Agile domain. agile
Musings on Project Management
JANUARY 15, 2019
Trying to remember how you got here? Perhaps Understanding why you're sticking around is also important So, here's my top ten reasons why agile has worked for me 1. Agile is a "best value" method: it's doctrine is centered on value and accomplishment for the customer and user, not so much adherence to cost and schedule--though the sponsor's investment can not be exceeded, so cost is at. agile
Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic
We all want to build successful products - and that means satisfied customers. Before anything else, you must understand what problems you can solve. The best way to do that is to get out of the building and start asking questions. But how can you make the most of those conversations, and ensure that you walk away with productive insights? Join Nick Noreña, educator, entrepreneur, and currently Innovation Coach and Advisor at Kromatic, as he covers how we can effectively action our findings from customer discovery conversations.
Musings on Project Management
JANUARY 18, 2019
Repetition and review are good--Malcom Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to be expert at anything--so here's a few words that will take a few minutes on three important quantitative concepts every risk manager should know: Concept 1: Centrality Most phenomenon of interest to projects, particularly naturally occurring phenomenon, tend to cluster around a central value, given enough samples. risk Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 29, 2019
Are you on one of those death march projects about to burn out. Want some time off? Perhaps it's in the plan Formula solution Google among others -- Microsoft, etc -- are well known for the "time off, do. what you want toward self improvement and personnel innovation" model; formulas like that lend objectivity to the process (not playing. favorites, etc). Note: more on this in the "6x2x1". human factors Teamwork
Musings on Project Management
FEBRUARY 18, 2019
I was recently asked if Agile and 'R/D' go together. The issue at hand: how do you reconcile agile's call for product delivery to users every few weeks with the unknowns and false starts in a real R/D project? Good question! I'm glad you asked. Let's start with OPM. Other people's money. And the first question: What have you committed to do? There are two possible answers: (1). agile
Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 17, 2019
Agile leans heavily on the idea of "the narrative" or "epoch"; other. methodologies speak of strategic outcomes and value statements. In any form there is the. inference of "the" narrative, as though there is only one arching aiming point for the project. Not so fast! Not all might agree; alas, there might be (are you ready for this?) disagreements regarding the value statement, narrative, or Project Management
Speaker: Kirui K. K., Co-founder and CEO of Tanasuk Africa
If you want to offer a better user experience, it can be tempting to track each and every data point in your product. However, this can quickly get complicated and overwhelming as you collect more and more data. How do you know which metrics will help you improve? Kirui K. K., Co-founder & CEO Tanasuk Africa, wants you to know that analytics don't have to be complicated to make an impact - no matter the size of your company. Join him as he explains how to create a customer journey map, then use that map to figure out the metrics you need to know - and how to use them.
Musings on Project Management
JULY 17, 2019
Kanban, WIP, and three others are what I frame as "five tools for managing" I've put it together in this slideshare.net presentation (*): Five tools for managing projects from John Goodpasture. (*) See: slideshare.net/jgoodpas for all of my online stuff. free for download, but an attribution would be appreciated Buy them at any online book retailer! Project Management
Musings on Project Management
SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
Here's my three point estimate paradox: We all know we must estimate with three points (numbers). so we do it, reluctantly None of us actually want to work with (do arithmetic with) the three points we estimate. In a word, three point estimates suck -- not convenient, thus often put aside even if estimated -- and most of all: who among us can do arithmetic with three point estimates? But Monte Carlo Risk Management Statistics
Musings on Project Management
JANUARY 24, 2019
Without Metrics you're just another guy with an opinion - Stephan Leschka, Hewlett Packard* I get it; and mostly, I agree with Mr. Leschka BUT, there are a few other rules: Don't measure -- meaning: don't invest the effort to collect and analyze -- that which you don't manage Don't measure the unmeasurable -- meaning, don't assign false values and dimensions to that which is fundamentally. estimate Strategic Plan
Musings on Project Management
AUGUST 23, 2019
"Others may have plans; I have deadlines" Amy Klobuchar Senator This sentiment has been expressed in other forms, most famously by many: Plans don't survive first touch with reality Plans are nothing; planning is everything The big idea: Plans are the process; outcomes are the value. Manage with milestones Detail planning is good -- it brings out the interdependencies and. planning Quotations
Speaker: Brittney Gwynn, former Director of Product, Simple Health
If you've ever launched an MVP, you know that the journey has only just begun. How do you figure out what to do next? You know that you need to look at how different user segments react, but how do you quickly distinguish signal from noise so you can iterate and improve? Join Brittney Gwynn, former Director of Product at Simple Health, as she explains how you can use early customer feedback, usage data, and continuous experimentation to optimize your journey to product-market fit. Whether you're at a brand-new company, or looking to innovate within a more mature organization, or anywhere in between, you'll come away with a new skill set, ready to make the most of your launches.
Musings on Project Management
JUNE 13, 2019
Managing risk? Can you imagine there's risk to manage? Here's the second thing you do: Evaluate the slack. What's to evaluate? You might think the most important thing about slack is how much is there; what do I have to work with? Nope Whatever you've got, the most important thing is sequence and position. Where in the course of events are you going to position slack so that it works to Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
JULY 23, 2019
"Big Data" is the meme du jour, but most projects run on "little data", the sort of data that fits into the constraints of spreadsheets like Excel. It's everyday stuff that drives estimates, scorecards, dashboards, task assignments, and all manner of project analytics. Let's Excel So, assuming you using Excel as a spreadsheet for doing actual calculations and data entry, you will find that. Project Management
Musings on Project Management
MAY 12, 2019
The first thing you do to reduce risk. is: loosen the coupling between sources of effects. Create buffers; remove dependencies; install redundancy. This is a concept from System Engineering (buffers, dampers, redundancy; but also loose tolerances; fuses; barriers and walls. anything that inhibits propagation of effects) This is a concept from scheduling (Critical Chain by Goldratt; Risk Management
Musings on Project Management
JULY 21, 2018
David Hulett has a presentation on his website, projectrisk.com, entitled "Schedule Risk Analysis using the Risk Driver Method and Monte Carlo Simulation". In this presentation, he develops an interesting operating idea: first, shift the Monte Carlo method to the higher level of events on the risk register, and then use those results as drivers on the schedule. His idea he explains this way: Risk Management
Speaker: Hannah Stegen, Customer Service Manager, Crescendo
How can you measure and affect your users' behavior if they're not doing something that's easily measurable? You can monitor usage, activation, retention, and more, but those metrics don't always align with every one of your goals for your users. Hope is not lost, however: with the right framework, you can still make sure your users are on track. Join Hannah Stegen (she/her), Customer Success Manager at Crescendo as she explains how you can monitor even the most complex user journeys by breaking them up into Attitude, Intention, and Behavior.
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