Johanna Rothman

MAY 1, 2024

Are you looking for work, either as a consultant or a candidate? And candidates and consultants invest time that has no perceived payoff for them. I agree—hiring managers do need to assess a candidate's or consultant's skills. (I So what can a candidate or consultant do to show their skills without working for free?

Consulting 76

Consulting Interviews Resumes Agile 76

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 31, 2022

I finished all the video editing for the writing workshop. Because there's more work to finishing the workshop, I'm sure I will not finish the workshop today. I don't have just one product for my business. And I'm not a team working on just one feature set or a product. But I can get ready to finish. What happened?

Productivity 117

Productivity Development Video Management 117

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

As a consultant, I create many kinds of information products: both writing and speaking. That allows me the most flexibility in my product development. However, too many organizations don't differentiate between what they need to ship as experiments and when to finalize the product. I use that feedback to build more MVPs.

Software 86

Software Productivity Agile Development 86

LSA Global

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

The leaders in the Facilitative Leadership Workshop faced the following challenges: High expectations to take, promote, and encourage a cross-functional and program focus vs. the predominant product and function focus that most of their internal customers follow and are rewarded for.

Leadership 36

Leadership Company Talent Agile 36

Johanna Rothman

JULY 9, 2019

Now that agile teams stay together, we can change the kickoff to more project-specific work. I wrote an article several years ago, Keys to Chartering an Agile Project. In Create Your Successful Agile Project , I suggested a reframe for the charter. Many new-to-agile-thinking teams want everything defined upfront.

Agile 63

Agile Productivity Management How To 63

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

See Project Lifecycle Workshop: How to Manage Project Risks to Release Successful Products.) I said this in the Successful Indepentent Consulting book : People die of exposure—both hot and cold. Yet, I suspect some new consultants will take them up on their offer. This is one of an intermittent series of consulting tips.

Intellectual Property 70

Intellectual Property Consulting Guidelines Process Improvement 70

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 9, 2022

I was clever in the title for my Is Your Product Owner an Overloaded Operator? Many product owners are technical. I could have used a different title, such as “Product Owners: Overloaded and Underappreciated,” and helped my ideal readers feel smart. My title confused some of my ideal readers. Not confused.

Agile 68

Agile Software Operations Productivity 68

Johanna Rothman

JULY 20, 2021

We talk a lot about empowered or self-organizing teams in the agile community. When Mark Kilby and I wrote From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams , we said the easiest way to create a system that worked for the team was for the team to create its own board. Agile Approaches Require Management Cultural Change.

Leadership 141

Leadership Agile Policies Tools 141

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 3, 2019

At the Influential Agile Leader workshop earlier this year, I led a session about scaling and how you might think about it. I asked if any of the teams succeeded at using an agile approach at the team level. I explained how in Agile and Lean Program Management.). ” Agile Scaling is the Answer to Whose Problems?

Agile 70

Agile Telecommunications Wireless System 70

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 13, 2018

I’ve been thinking more about possible measurements in an agile transformation journey. The first Possible Measurements post focuses on product throughput measurements. This post will focus on measurements you might see when the culture changes with an agile transformation. Again, do start with your why. Do join us.

Agile 46

Agile Meeting Culture System 46

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 6, 2023

” These people claim there is no need for either role in an effective team, especially an agile team because the team can manage its own deliverables. While some agile teams can manage their own deliverables, that's not the only role for a project or program manager. Clarify the Product and Team Objectives. The outcomes).

Management 108

Management Agile How To Productivity 108

Johanna Rothman

MAY 16, 2019

I suggested ways to think about more agile budgeting in part 1. I evaluate the plan—my products, services, and clients—on a regular basis. I can also predict how long it takes me to create or customize an in-person workshop. I have an upper bound for online workshops. I didn't tell you why.

Agile 60

Agile Strategy Strategy Strategy& 60

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops About 20 years ago, I taught a project management workshop to IT people. Their products and services did not ship outside the building—their products and services enabled the organization to make money. Adam, a product leader, has changed his meetings and workshops.

How To 124

How To Efficiency Meeting Productivity 124

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 22, 2018

Introduction to an Agile Transformation series… I’ve seen several agile transformation challenges. Since I want to address those challenges, this is a series of posts about agile transformation. The problems I’m planning to address are: Understanding why agile, why now. You might have another reason.

Agile 47

Agile Culture System Productivity 47

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 29, 2022

My updated writing workshop. If I wait too long to complete some of these, such as the updated writing workshop or some of the slides, I won't be able to deliver them when I want to. The post How I Manage My Product Development: Ease with Continuous Flow (Day 1) appeared first on Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant.

Development 89

Development Productivity Management Guidelines 89

Johanna Rothman

MAY 23, 2022

And she wants the teams to create products the customers want to buy. Jenny has experienced what many of you have, too: Collaborative teams with diverse experiences can develop products customers want to buy. Over her career, Jenny has learned that it's easier to sell more product than to manage costs. Learn with Johanna.

Agile 75

Agile Engineering Insurance Insurance 75

Johanna Rothman

MAY 24, 2018

As their organizations move to agile approaches, these managers have problems: their organization (managers above them) wants to measure them by the old rules which demand control. ” Too often, managers feel this tension because the agile approaches challenge the organizational culture. Ask for the results the manager wants.

Agile 41

Agile Management Culture Productivity 41

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Let's imagine a 6-person team: 3 developers, 2 testers, one product owner. Mondays and Wednesdays, the product owner, one developer, and one tester are in the office. When Mark and I wrote From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams, we saw these satellite team traps: People in the office forgot about the people not in the office.

Agile 108

Agile Meeting Video Tools 108

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 18, 2018

Consultants and writers share a common problem: we are business owners. Yes, I manage my own product development and my business. We were both at a business-of-writing workshop with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She was surprised a business consultant could have a sense of humor. Why did she interview me?

Consulting 46

Consulting Agile Interviews Small Business 46

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 11, 2022

Notes from previous workshops I wanted to integrate when I updated those workshops. Over the past year, as I realized the pandemic would probably change what and how I offered for workshops, I've slowly recycled or filed all that paper. The ideas for updating the workshops, not the notes themselves. That's what I'm doing.

Data 76

Data Guidelines How To Agile 76

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 21, 2019

I spoke with an agile coach whose team works in flow, similar to this board. The column on the left, “Stories to Workshop” is their backlog refinement column. Especially on the Workshop column. Their product owner doesn't spend enough time with the team. We don't have an agile roadmap.

Agile 40

Agile Productivity Management Consulting 40

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 6, 2022

A colleague unfamiliar with lifecycles or agility asked, “How can we use sprints in this approach?” Every sprint delivers working product.” 30-minute timeboxes to do a draft of a workshop. See Create Your Successful Agile Project for more details.). They do have product goals. ” “Oooh.”

Agile 116

Agile Productivity Finance Software 116

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

You want to present a talk, workshop, experience report at a conference. (Or, I got the idea for this series from Chris Murman's talk at Agile 2019 and from all my shepherding for the Agile 20xx and XPxx conferences. (If For example, I only offer talks for people using agile approaches or trying to. Not for work.

Conference 64

Conference Agile Consulting Examples 64

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 3, 2021

We discussed the Modern Management Made Easy books among other topics: A little about the origins of agile approaches. See Decide When You Need to Meet, Workshop, or Write to Save Energy and Time.). And why we might want to use internal project or product space to keep track of decisions. I ranted about how people use Slack.

Agile 52

Agile Energy Interviews Meeting 52

Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 6, 2023

See Why Shared Services “Teams” Don’t Work with Agility and Unearthing Your Project's Delays.) If you read the article above or any of the other articles you can find online, you might notice Economies of Scale focus on production—specifically manufacturing production. Product development requires teams who can learn together.

Metrics 63

Metrics How To Efficiency Resources 63

Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 31, 2018

If you're trying to write a proposal for a conference or have an agile story you want to tell, consider framing the story this way: Start with the problems. For an experience report, consider adding the initial state (x many teams, y products). I'm working on an agile management talk proposal. What kinds of problems did you see?

Conference 60

Conference Agile Culture Management 60

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 12, 2019

Especially when we use agile approaches, we want to be close to our customer. Most of their customer information comes via a product owner, who learns from a product manager. Most of their customer information comes via a product owner, who learns from a product manager. That's an awful lot of the telephone game.

Agile 67

Agile Productivity Development Management 67

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

Here's my speaking bio, in specific lines, so you can see how I use that template: Johanna, known as the Pragmatic Manager, offers frank advice for your product development challenges. She works with individuals, teams, and leaders across the organization to resolve risks and see alternatives for their product development.

Conference 60

Conference Metrics Agile Intellectual Property 60

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

See Decide When You Need To Meet, Workshop, Or Write To Save Energy And Time for more information.) Work product: Collaborate to create a work product. They have outcomes, either a decision, action items, or a work product. These occasions are too much information dissemination and too few decisions or work products.

Meeting 115

Meeting Efficiency Tools Resources 115

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

You might lead interactions, but it's not a workshop. When people see the word, “workshop,” they expect to work, not just listen to you talk. You can often choose between a talk, workshop, and an experience report. Most of the time, you'll select a session type of: talk, workshop, or experience report.

Conference 62

Conference Report Agile Engineering 62

Kates Kesler

APRIL 7, 2022

Agility” is the management word of the decade for sure. But to move with agility in a complex organization requires leaders to be confident that important decisions are being made at the right level and location across the enterprise. As consultants we see this pendulum swing all too often. Production performance.

Agile 65

Agile Enterprise Metrics Talent 65

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 24, 2021

In Part 1 and 2 of this series, I wrote about how an agile approach might offer strategic benefits. And because an agile approach changes your culture, I said the agile approach was part of your strategy. So let's ask this question: Can any tool—agile or otherwise—offer you a strategic advantage? (I

Agile 105

Agile Tools Productivity Analysis 105

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 25, 2018

One of the big problems with new-to-agile teams is their inability to finish work inside a sprint. However, software, especially with an agile approach, is about flow efficiency , where people work as a team to finish one story at a time. If you need more help, read Create Your Successful Agile Project. Each team is unique.

Agile 35

Agile Efficiency System Management 35

Johanna Rothman

JULY 10, 2018

Some of my goals are corporate objectives: release that book, build that workshop in service of a greater goal. So, can you ever have an objective be “release this product”? For OKRs, think a level higher: what is the value of releasing this product? If you have a large organization, consider product-line OKRs.

Efficiency 46

Efficiency Agile Productivity Meeting 46

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

The online workshop videos are complete. I also know my cycle times to develop workshops and video them. All this collaboration and learning together means the team shares its product development. Have a workshop to decide. You're workshopping.) If you're a product leader, you need a product value team.

Development 88

Development Productivity Agile Video 88

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Product owners have many challenges: They need to keep at least two thoughts about the product: what it needs to be in the near future, and what the organization wants it to be in the (distant) future. But the biggest problem I see is this: Effective product owners belong to at least two teams and maybe more. Strategic work.)

Productivity 99

Productivity Strategy Strategy Strategy& 99

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 16, 2023

When I teach the project portfolio management workshop, we spend a good chunk of time getting all the projects down on cards and then organizing them. But because everyone felt pulled in too many directions, they needed to make some decisions now , even before a portfolio workshop. We decided to gather some data about their WIP.

How To 86

How To Agile Data Productivity 86