Lean – Leading Answers

November 19, 2021Agile Project Management, Books, Lean, Theory of Constraints

Beyond Agile Gratitude #2 – Lean Thinking and the Kanban Method

Now that my Beyond Agile book has been published, I would like to thank people who helped shape its content and ideas. David Anderson has done much to popularize and explain lean and the Theory of Constraints thinking. The Kanban Method can teach agile practitioners many useful ideas about incremental improvement, successful organizational change, and improved team performance. So, rather than considering it an alternative to agile approaches, I like to think of it as a compliment, another source for ideas, tools, and solutions. We have a tendency to get attached to our personal favorite agile approach, whether that is Scrum, XP, or something else, and regard alternative approaches as somehow inferior or derivative. However, the Kanban Method has some […]

June 18, 2021Agile Project Management, Books, Events, Leadership, Lean, Teams, Visual Learning

Beyond Agile – Webinar Recording

Last month I did a 20-minute overview of my new Beyond Agile book for the Washington D.C. Lean-Agile MeetUp group hosted by Sanjiv Augustine. I outline how Beyond Agile grew from studying high-performing teams and trying to distill what they did differently than most other teams. In the video, I cover Agile Myopia, Buffet Syndrome and the need to drop agile processes when they no longer bring enough value to warrant their use. I would like to thank Sanjiv and the entire team at LitheSpeed for hosting me and allowing me to share this video with you here. Anyone interested in my Beyond Agile book can get a paperback or electronic version here.

May 30, 2021Agile Project Management, Books, Certification, Events, Leadership, Lean, Personal Agility, PMI-ACP, Tailoring Approaches, Teams, Theory of Constraints, Visual Learning

PMI-ACP and My New Book “Beyond Agile: Achieving Success with Situational Knowledge and Skills”

It has been 10 years since the PMI-ACP exam was created, and I published my PMI-ACP Exam Prep book. I recall the Steering Committee meetings where we discussed what we believed was necessary for agile practitioners and team leaders to have experience in and an understanding of. Since then, the exam has been updated a couple of times based on Role Delineation Studies (RDS) and Job Task Analysis (JTA), which is how PMI surveys practitioners and asks what techniques are commonly used. However, the core content has mainly endured unchanged, which is testimony to its usefulness. I remember discussing the scope and goals for the credential among the committee that comprised: Alistair Cockburn, Mike Cottmeyer, Jim Cundiff, Jesse Fewell, Mike […]

May 28, 2021Agile Project Management, Books, Events, Leadership, Lean, NoProjects, Personal Agility, Remote Work, Tailoring Approaches, Teams, Visual Learning

Announcing My New Book “Beyond Agile”

I am excited to announce my new book “Beyond Agile: Achieving success with situational knowledge and skills“ is launching. It is available now from RMC in paperback or electronic form here. This post explains the name and motivation for the book. Future posts will profile the content. Background Since helping create DSDM in 1994, I have been working on agile projects for 27 years. In that time, I have personally been a member of around 30 teams, coached and consulted with about 400 organizations and taught agile to over 2,000 team leads and project managers worldwide. Statistically, most were around average, a few were really dysfunctional, and less than 10 were exceptionally productive. Problems Around 8 years ago, […]

June 19, 2019Agile Project Management, Books, Certification, Events, Leadership, Lean, NoProjects, Personal Agility, Planning, PMI-ACP, Remote Work, Risk Management, Tailoring Approaches, Teams, Weblogs

Let’s Rewrite the PMBOK

Phew, the wait is over! I have been wanting to talk about this for what seems like ages and now the official announcement is out! If you have ever been frustrated by the PMBOK Guide now here’s your chance to fix it. We are looking for volunteers to write and review the next edition of the PMBOK Guide. However, this will not be just an update, instead a radical departure from all previous editions aligned with PMI’s new digital transformation strategy. That’s all I can explain for now, but more details will be announced when I can say more. Meanwhile, we would like people with knowledge of the full value delivery spectrum (waterfall, hybrid, agile, lean, etc.) to participate.

June 9, 2019Agile Project Management, Books, Leadership, Lean, Metrics, NoProjects, Planning, Teams

Review of Product Development Books

Now that a software “Done” Milestone is more like a Tombstone If you work in an industry that has digital products and services then the Product Development trend will impact you. As software becomes more critical to business operations and product offerings we are seeing that software projects do not end. Many organizations are transitioning to become software focussed organizations that offer specialized services. Amazon is a software company with retail (and cloud) offerings. Banks are increasingly digital companies with financial services. The same with insurance, travel, music and even commercial goods. The cost of developing the software in new vehicles is now greater than the cost of the engine. It has become the single most expensive component, even in […]

November 12, 2018Agile Project Management, Events, Leadership, Lean, Teams, Travel

GOAT18

I am excited to be a keynote speaker at the Gatineau-Ottawa Agile Tour (GOAT) conference on November 30th. Along with Mary Poppendieck, we will be leading a day dedicated to learning about agile culture and collaboration. The Gatineau Ottawa Agile Tour is an annual conference in the heart of the nation’s capital, focused on sharing and learning. GOAT has run for 7 years and is part of the Agile Tour that takes place in 90 cities worldwide. Click to see the Keynotes Overview and the Sessions Previews. I hope to see you there.

June 29, 2018Agile Project Management, Leadership, Lean, NoProjects, Risk Management, Tailoring Approaches, Teams, Theory of Constraints, Travel, Warning Signs

Agile 2018 Conference – Unraveling Team Dependencies

I am excited to be presenting on the Enterprise Agile track at the Agile 2018 conference in San Diego, August 7. I have worked with several organizations this year that had issues with work dependencies between teams. My session called “Two-Pizza Team Heartburn Relief: Solutions to Team Dependencies” highlights the shift to global rather than local optimization. We will investigate dependency problems through animations and simulations and then explore some candidate solutions. Each brings their own issues – if these problems were solvable they would have been already, but the suggestions do help considerably. Here is the description from the conference program: Small teams are great – until they cause bigger problems than they solve. Small teams can communicate more […]

April 25, 2018Agile Project Management, Events, Lean, Tailoring Approaches, Warning Signs

Mining Bitcoins with Your InstantPot: Has Agile Popularity Gone Too Far?

I am excited to be presenting at next week’s PMI-SAC Professional Development Conference on May 2 in Calgary. I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new people at this new format conference. My session “Mining Bitcoins with Your InstantPot: Has Agile Popularity Gone Too Far?” examines the hype, realities and use of agile approaches. Here is the presentation summary from the conference site: “The project world seems to have gone agile mad. The PMI has stuffed agile into everything in an attempt to stay current, but is it right or even helpful? Fear of missing out has vendors claiming to be agile and executives asking managers to be more agile. However, like InstantPots and cryptocurrencies, does the […]

April 22, 2018Agile Project Management, Leadership, Lean, NoProjects, Teams, Warning Signs

Where Did All the Project Managers Go?

“Software is eating the world” claimed venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen in his 2011, New York Times article. Seven years on, the trend continues, and project managers are also on the menu. The next generation of project managers face new challenges but also new opportunities as organizations undergo a major transformation. Software is becoming omnipresent, it is embedded and integral to all industries. Not just technology companies (like Google, Apple) but every sector is being disrupted by software including retail (Amazon), banking (PayPal, cryptocurrencies), transportation (Tesla, Uber), and travel (Airbnb). As a project manager you may say “Great, just think of all those IT projects that will need project managers!” Well, that’s where things get interesting. First, today’s software teams don’t […]