“As you know, I go where the risk is. And today I’m sitting here.” I was addressing Rich and Mike – the two guys leading one of my work streams – as I joined their team for the day.
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Tag Archives: flow
Does a Scrum Team need a Project Manager?
I’ve said not to bother project managing a team of one. But what about a bigger team? What about a Scrum team?
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None the wiser after the stand up? Wrong stand up or chance to learn
Kim Daubney asked “What to do when stand ups leave you none the wiser”? What you do really depends on why you are “none the wiser”. Do you have a knowledge gap or is the wrong information being shared?
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RAG status – Red is a call for help
A RAG status uses the colour of traffic lights (Red, Amber, Green) to signal project status. This is a pretty standard tool in the project manager’s tool kit but some folk don’t think RAG is helpful in an Agile context. Personally I use RAG status for risks and issues and have redefined what they mean. In my scheme Red becomes a call for help.
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Why I don’t hire Scrum Masters
I don’t hire Scrum Masters. I don’t hire Scrum Masters because the role is the wrong shape to fit into my team, with the wrong set of responsibilities, and the people who might apply have insufficient qualifications for the job I need done.
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Five things to do when people don’t to see the value of automation
Not everybody sees the value of automation, specifically test automation. But I believe effective software development demands test automation. What to do?
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Specialists are a Pain
Specialists are very useful. They are also a pain. It is great to have the experts around when we need them. But specialists are also add painful management overhead. I accept I have to do it but I wish I didn’t.
I’m going to look at three situations where I’ve had to deal with specialists and explain what I did:
- Drowning in specialists
- Front / Back end developers
- Part time external specialists
Headphones cut off vital information
Headphones. I hate them. If I wore headphones at work I would be cut off from a lot of vital information about what is really going. It would hamper Management on the Ground. So I never wear them.
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Business Representative or Product Manager. Who is the Product Owner?
I’m often in the situation where I’ve got both business representatives and product managers in my programme team. The big question is: who is the Product Owner?
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What to do when Estimates go up a lot
You start the Sprint confidently but the burn down chart starts going up. Things are a lot harder than expected! Your velocity is lower than you expected. What to do?
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