I believe in Management on the Ground and what better way to be on the ground than to be sitting with the team in an open plan office. By simply observing, eavesdropping and overhearing I know what is going on and I also get early warning when I have to intervene.
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Tag Archives: project management
I’m Impatient with the Pseudo-action Deceptions
I like to finish things. Get “Done”. Some might say I’m impatient to finish things. But not everybody is like that. Many people suffer from the various Pseudo-action Deceptions, i.e. thinking rather than doing.
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Accuracy vs Precision in Estimation
Which is better: An estimate of “roughly 2 weeks” or an estimate of “4.75 days”? Personally I favour accuracy over precision. “4.75” is attractive because it very precise and a smaller number, but “roughly 2 weeks” might be more accurate. And estimating must be accurate to be any use for planning.
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Are you dead? A comfortable Agile Project Manager isn’t doing their job
If no one is pissed off with you then you are dead but just haven’t figured it out yet!
Tom Peters (2004)
Developers don’t have time for code reviews and unit tests
The ticket moves to “Dev Done” but there are no unit tests and the code hasn’t been reviewed. When challenged the developer says “That’s because I don’t have time for that stuff”. If I hear that I want to know why they feel they don’t have time, then I give them the time.
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Fluid Planning and Execution Creates Agility
Thought leaders in the US military are challenging traditional approaches to command and control. These military innovators are proposing a more fluid approach that allows simultaneous planning and execution. It is good to see they are catching up but as an Agile practitioner I already do fluid planning and execution.
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Cake Driven Development
I don’t know whether it is me or whether it is just people, but my teams tend to obsess about food. Particularly cake. Food entwines itself in the team culture. And that is why I think it is worth a blog post.
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No space to co-locate team – think again
I knew I had a big problem when I walked into the new programme space and found 18 desks. 18 wasn’t enough. I predicted I would have about 35 people on the team and I wanted them together. Co-location is so important to me that I will always challenge the assumption of “there is no space”. And I have found there are lots of things I can do to get my team together.
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When Buckets Go Bad
I use the term Bucket Planning for Release Planning. The metaphor works because buckets overflow if overfilled. There are risks associated with Release buckets corresponding to Minimum Viable Products (MVP). A large MVP bucket has gone bad and a MVP Bucket that continues to grow is a Bucket gone really bad.
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Bucket Planning – Helpful Metaphor for Agile Release Planning
I sometimes call a Release Plan a Bucket Plan and the process Bucket Planning. I like the metaphor because if you overfill a bucket you end up with a mess on the floor – and the business gets that.
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