Remote Work – Leading Answers

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, […]

February 18, 2021Remote Work, Teams

Exploring the Scope (and Opportunities) of Digital Transformation

A digital transformation means far more than offering products and services digitally. That is undoubtedly the core of it, but as this article illustrates, it goes far beyond. To start, let's review a simplified business model for a traditional bricks-and-mortar company. White Water Designs sells kayak, and small boat plans to home builders. If you want to build a 3-person canoe or small fishing boat, they will design it for you and provide the plans. The company was formed by two boat-building partners who honed their specialization (boat designs), hired a skilled workforce, and operate from an office in the marina. Going Online

December 15, 2020Leadership, Remote Work, Teams

Navigating Complexity: Zoom Towns and the ‘K’ Shaped Recovery

A theme for the 2019 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland was the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” It was concerned with how a combination of technologies are changing the way we live, work and interact. Few people in attendance could imagine how quickly the ideas would transition from an emerging trend to thrust upon us. The term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” was coined by Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF in 2016, and refers to how technological changes are drastically altering how individuals, companies and governments operate. These, in turn, lead to societal transformation through impacts on the way we live, work and interact. COVID-19 converted the conversations and presentations into our present-day lives. Schwab explains […]

November 8, 2020Agile Project Management, Remote Work, Tailoring Approaches

A New Litmus Test for Agile in 2020

When should we be using an agile approach for our project? The agile convert might claim “Always,” just as the predictive enthusiast could scream “Never!” For the rest of us, more objective tests and selection criteria are useful. Agile suitability tools are nothing new. DSDM shipped with one in 1994, and the Agile Practice Guide published with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Sixth Edition has one as an appendix. However, this article is about short cuts, a single question that can provide a good indicator for suitability—a litmus test for agile approach suitability. Common Destination, Different DirectionsThe whole “agile versus traditional” debate is mostly unnecessary when we step back and take a broader perspective. Everybody is trying to […]

October 10, 2020October 27, 2025Events, Leadership, Remote Work, Teams

Adapting to All-Remote Talent Management

The recent article “Can We Still be Agile?” examined two successful organizations that many years ago deliberately chose an all-remote workforce structure. Most of us have recently experienced unplanned and quickly implemented trials of all-remote work, so let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages when planned for and optimized. All-remote organizations have no central hub(s) for workers. Instead, their staff all work remotely, as shown by the highlighted third element in the image below. By being deliberately all-remote, there are no different sets of contributors (co-located vs remote) or different forms of communication (face-to-face vs dial-in). Instead, everyone experiences a consistent and universal interaction style. Case Studies in All-Remote A few organizations have been successfully using Type-3 (all-remote models) for years. […]

August 29, 2020Agile Project Management, Events, Leadership, Remote Work, Teams, Warning Signs

The Perfect Storm for The Project Economy

The winds of change were strong before the COVID-19 pandemic. Driven by three macroeconomic trends, the need for projects and project managers was increasing. These three trends are: 1) Accelerating rates of technology adoption 2) The switch to alternative energy sources to maintain GDP and meet emissions targets 3) Infrastructure projects for population growth. These movements occurring together were spawning an explosion of projects to turn ideas into reality. This increase in project demand was christened The Project Economy by PMI in 2019. To be fair, these trends and strategies for handling them had already existed for more than a decade. Globalization and business transformation have been discussed extensively. Eric Ries documented his lean startup methodology in 2008 as a way for […]

July 10, 2020October 27, 2025Agile Project Management, Leadership, Planning, Remote Work, Tailoring Approaches, Teams, Theory of Constraints

Can We Still be Agile?

How does work from home impact our use of agile approaches? If co-location is no longer possible, can we still be agile? Yes, of course we can, and in many ways, now we need to be more agile than ever as we try new approaches, learn and adapt how we work. However, let’s address the co-location question and look at agile practices in remote work situations. The Agile Manifesto and Agile Principles do not mention co-location. They do not say teams have to work together to be agile or effective. Instead, they say, “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation” and “Business people and developers must work together daily […]

July 2, 2020Agile Project Management, Events, Leadership, Personal Agility, Remote Work, Tailoring Approaches, Teams, Warning Signs

Returning to the (Electronic) Cottage

This is not a post about rich people now able to visit their second homes after the lockdown, instead, a revisit of the concepts of decentralized work being the new way of undertaking projects. In 1980, Alvin Toffler’s book The Third Wave introduced the idea of “The Electronic Cottage” as the modern workplace where information technology allows more people to work from home or wherever they want. Toffler was a futurist and businessman who did not get the attention he deserved. Even though Accenture identified him as one of the most influential voices in business leaders (along with Bill Gates and Peter Drucker), we do not hear much about him.

June 20, 2020Personal Agility, Remote Work

My Work-From-Home Mistakes

“It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”– Despair calendar quote Today I am going to get some work done. I am because yesterday, to be honest, was not that productive. It started with the best intentions. Without a commute, I was at my computer by 7:30 a.m., earlier than my usual start time at the office. Pleased with my head start, I rewarded myself with a read through my news feeds. I use a news aggregator to collect all my science, sports, local interest, photography and project management articles and announcements in one place. Most items I just scan in the aggregator platform, only clicking into the full articles […]

June 5, 2020Agile Project Management, Events, Exceptions, Leadership, Personal Agility, Planning, Remote Work, Risk Management, Teams

Reset, Refocus: 2 Concepts and 8 Tips for Making Progress During the Pandemic

It is a dilemma. We need to move forward. Not just to make progress on projects, but also to give people something else to focus on beyond the tragedy and fear filling the news. At the same time, we need to be sensitive to how people have been impacted. We need to demonstrate support and empathy. We need to be available to listen and help wherever we can. We need to step up and be professionals. ContextMore than ever, context is king. How to respond and lead in your environment will depend on how your project and stakeholders have been impacted. There is no universal best response. All I can do is offer some tips for consideration. You can then […]