Scrum vs. Kanban: What to Choose?
Organizations starting their Agile journey are confronted with an array of choices. One early decision is, what methodology and process to follow? The authors of the Agile Manifesto represented many […]
Culture and Successful Projects
Project management has a consistent and unimpressive performance record. The Standish Group’s on-going survey of project performance finds the percentage of projects that were deemed “successful” has hovered in the […]
Eliminating Waste in Knowledge Work
Many of us are “knowledge workers.” We do not physically create a product. We work in areas that are important to our enterprise, but do not directly serve customers. We […]
The Importance of the Product Owner and the Product Backlog
Agile is an effective software development framework. Teams using Agile deliver value in short, iterative, increments. The starting point of the delivery cycle is the Product Backlog. The Backlog is […]
Effective Communications = Productive Project Teams
Effective communications are the cornerstone to successful projects and productive teams. The Agile Manifesto extolls the virtues of collaboration, individual interactions, and face-to-face communications. Projects represent our ability to coordinate […]
Stakeholder Management: A Key to Project Success
Projects with involved stakeholders are far more likely to be successful. But many projects suffer from low engagement from executives, users, and key stakeholders. The PMI’s Pulse of the Profession […]
Agile and the Product Mindset
Adopting a product mindset is critical when transforming to an Agile development methodology, like Scrum. Shifting our thinking from project to product expands our view beyond the confines of the […]
We’ve Been Agile for Years, But…
When teaching classes on Agile and DevOps, I am always presented with the comment, “We’ve been Agile for years, but…” The student then continues to describe an organization rife with […]
If Agile is Better, Why is Adoption So Low?
Agile software projects have significantly better outcomes than Waterfall methodologies. Statistics from the 2015 Standish Group’s Chaos Report show that, on average, Agile projects are three times more likely to […]
Project Management: Centralized vs. Decentralized Delivery
There is an ongoing dialogue in many enterprises: Should project management be a centralized, shared-service? Or, should project managers be decentralized and embedded within their functional organizations? The answer is, […]