Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

In Part 1 , I suggested that when we organize by function, the recognition and rewards might prevent a successful agile transformation. In this part, I’ll discuss an option for a product-oriented organization. Consider a Product-Oriented Organization. That includes product ownership. How Many Managers Do You Need?

Productivity 65

Productivity Agile Efficiency Management 65

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 28, 2019

You have an agile roadmap to see where you're headed. Your team hates having to translate the agile planning into more traditional planning. If you're in this pickle, your manager might think your agile team doesn't replan very often. That manager might assume your team uses an agile approach only as a way to deliver.

Data 68

Data Agile Culture Management 68

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 30, 2020

If you're creating products of any kind—especially software products—you've got a team sport. Successful software product development is about how well the team learns together. The better the team learns together, the better the product is. See Product Orientation Requires Technical Excellence ).

Management 92

Management Agile Metrics Video 92

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 2, 2023

The first is that Brooks strongly suggested the idea of a “surgical team” That hierarchical team was a feature- or product-based team. Ten people, seven of them professionals, are at work on the problem, but the system is the product of one mind–or at most two, acting uno animo.”

Agile 94

Agile Analysis Management Productivity 94

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Your customers can't take your product more often than once or twice a year. Because the product doesn't need to leave the building, the teams don't release internally. Nor do the teams demo on a regular basis. The teams miss the feedback loops so critical for an agile approach. Their agile transformation falls apart.

Agile 58

Agile Productivity Retail Management 58

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 17, 2021

I see too much micromanagement, even in supposedly agile organizations. ” When we have insufficient trust, morale and the products deteriorate. Instead, we can extend trust and keep innovating for morale and the products. ” Or, when a manager imposes a “standard” agile approach.

Leadership 74

Leadership Agile Management Training 74

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 30, 2020

If you're creating products of any kind—especially software products—you've got a team sport. Successful software product development is about how well the team learns together. The better the team learns together, the better the product is. See Product Orientation Requires Technical Excellence ).

Management 52

Management Agile Metrics Video 52

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 6, 2024

In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1 , I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency , where we watch the flow of the work , not the people doing tasks. What about those cultural changes? This is not an agile approach. Every effort has risks.

Agile 80

Agile Culture Efficiency Metrics 80

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 24, 2023

For years, we've used several metaphors to describe software product development: People-based metaphors, such as: Man-weeks for all the humans working on a project or a product. See Why Shared Services “Teams” Don’t Work with Agility. Demo inside the organization. Is releasing a product anything like giving birth?

Construction 78

Construction Resources Productivity Development 78

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 31, 2024

In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1 , I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency, where we focus on watching the work, not the people. If you and your team have been practicing real agility, you might say these ideas barely show any agility at all.

Agile 70

Agile Metrics Efficiency Culture 70

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

I started this series with many specific concerns about a particular interview question: “The product owner and dev team cannot decide on a sprint goal, even after hours of discussion. Instead, I see assumptions that reveal a divide-and-conquer, and possibly a command-and-control culture, not an agile culture.

Interviews 95

Interviews Culture Agile Efficiency 95

Johanna Rothman

JULY 29, 2021

Several of my clients have internal struggles about how to internally see the future of the product. The teams want to use an agile approach so they can incorporate learning. The managers might even think this is roadmap reflects an agile approach. There's nothing about this roadmap that's agile. What can you do?

Agile 142

Agile Productivity Data Management 142

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 24, 2021

He thought agile approaches would work to “meet” and “enforce” deadlines. I asked Brad these questions: Do you have product or feature teams that are cross-functional and can release alone? ( Component teams create interdependencies and take much more time to finish work.). Why do you have deadlines?

Agile 85

Agile Meeting Software Government 85

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Back in Part 1 , I wrote about how stage-gate approaches were as agile as we could use at the time. We had one delivery, so our agility was about canceling the project if we couldn't finish it. Once our customers saw demos, they wanted to change things. Opportunities for Agility. So, more agility than a serial approach.

Agile 116

Agile Development Productivity Management 116

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Even if a 5 to 7-person team falls into the Everyone Starts Their Own Story trap (see Who’s Playing Agile Schedule Games? or Create Your Successful Agile Project ), the team can still know what's going on. Then, I watched Drunk Agile Episode 75: Team Size. That's when the culture of experience spat in my face.

Agile 109

Agile Culture Efficiency Development 109

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 27, 2020

Maybe you want to use this project as a way to integrate a team into a new product or a new domain. Project lifecycles and cultures manage all those risks. And, you can decide if you want to try to change the culture. Or, you might only need informal demos to show people where you are. You'd like to experiment.

Agile 101

Agile Culture Productivity Management 101

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 30, 2021

and Create Your Successful Agile Project. The closer to the left your products are, the more your managers might be open to changing their behaviors and the culture. TL; DR: “Stop making it harder” is a culture problem. The small-c culture in my team (we would call it a product team now) helped me learn a ton.

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Culture Management Productivity Agile 125