Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 11, 2019

I spoke with a project manager recently. I used to facilitate project teams as a project manager. Why a project manager? We had (and still have) too many products to keep the same teams on them for a long time. We could move to a new product and/or a new team. Now, they want to call me a Product Owner.

Agile 60

Agile Productivity Management Meeting 60

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Several of my clients want to use some sort of maturity assessment for their agile transformations. For agile transformation, an assessment can help people see how they change—how they innovate the products and the culture. These are about the product development behaviors I see in the organization.

Agile 128

Agile Culture Data Productivity 128

Tom Spencer

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Effective governance can serve as the bedrock of organizational culture, which shapes perceptions, attitudes, and interactions throughout the organisational hierarchy, between departments, and within project teams. Foster an inclusive culture that values different perspectives.

Government 88

Government Culture Ethics Agile 88

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

I had a great time on the Agile Coffee podcast, 75. Managing with Coffee. We spoke about a variety of issues that managers, teams, and people encounter, such as: Culture and how that plays out at all levels. How we might ascribe value to seeing customer situations vs sitting in the office working on the product.

Agile 67

Agile Management Culture System 67

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 11, 2021

That often creates a problem: great technical people become insufficient managers. Let's not blame these people—many of them didn't want to become managers However, if people want more responsibility, the career ladder often forces people into management. Separate the Kinds of Leadership. What about title-based influence?

Agile 96

Agile Engineering Productivity Culture 96

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 6, 2023

Several people on social media have denigrated the terms “project manager” and “program manager.” ” 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. Facilitating the team's collaboration.

Management 109

Management Agile How To Productivity 109

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 9, 2021

I said that when we focus on individual achievements and deliverables, we ignore the agile system of work. Worse, when we reward individual achievements we prevent an agile culture. That's because agile teams learn together as they create the product. Agile Behaviors for Learning and Working Together.

Agile 69

Agile Productivity Culture Management 69

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

The managers don't believe the teams need product owners, so the teams don't have POs. The managers think a Scrum Master can support at least four teams. The managers (often with the assistance of a consultancy) decided Scrum was the answer. However, the managers didn't define the problem(s) they want to solve.

Agile 108

Agile Management Comparison Productivity 108

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 14, 2019

In Part 1 , I wrote about how “Agile” is not a silver bullet and is not right for every team and every product. This post is about how management fits into agile approaches. Too often, managers think “agile” is for others, specifically teams of people. What we can discuss.

Agile 69

Agile Management Efficiency Culture 69

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 20, 2020

I discussed the origins of the agile approaches in Part 5. In this post, I'll discuss how you can create an agile approach that fits your context. Why should you create your own agile approach? Because your context is unique to you, your team, project, product, and culture. What do you need? Start with the Team.

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Agile Culture Productivity Development 61

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops. Instead, what if managers told the team when the managers want to make a decision? The team could deliver enough to help the managers make those decisions. Let's assume the managers want to replan the project portfolio every quarter. What about product decisions?

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Productivity Agile Management Tools 106

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Once the team completes that highest priority feature(s), the team can release the product. When we release, we can regroup and figure out what to do next for this product. Fork another product. (I I did this with several Lite vs Pro products using this approach.). Opportunities for More Agility.

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Agile Productivity Management Development 113

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

For years, managers have been trying to find ways to make software product development faster and easier. “Agile” as a way to do much more work in much less time. (NO! AI to take the place of humans in product development. There is one silver bullet for product development—the speed of team learning time.

Agile 84

Agile Tools Productivity Development 84

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Which levers does your team need to manage risk in your project? Isn't every iterative and incremental approach an agile approach? We often hear agile approaches are a mindset. An agile approach requires a change in culture at the team level, at the portfolio level, and in management. They don't collaborate.

Agile 71

Agile Training Training Culture 71

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 14, 2020

Manage for effectiveness. Anytime I've seen a successful innovation culture, I've seen these principles. Let me address a little about business agility and innovation. Business agility allows us to create a culture where we plan to change. Applies to management teams, too.). The post Want Business Agility?

Agile 83

Agile Efficiency Culture Resources 83

Business Consulting Agency

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Whether implementing new technologies, restructuring operations, or fostering a culture of innovation, the role of change management, facilitated by adept business consulting services, is pivotal for companies of all sizes.

Change Management 52

Change Management Management Consulting Agile 52

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 8, 2022

The larger your product, the more likely you have components teams. I often see component teams because of the architecture of the product. In this first image, the Integrated System Program, the rest of the product uses the Platform of Common Services as components. InterRelated Program Product.

Productivity 116

Productivity Agile Efficiency Data 116

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

If you read my scaling agile series , you can see that becoming an agile organization requires seeing your organization as a system with a culture. You can start with teams, move to programs and the product part of the organization. You know why you want the organization to use agile approaches. Define Culture.

Agile 51

Agile System Culture Efficiency 51

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

If you’re thinking about an agile transformation, you already know about feature teams. You might even call them/use them as product teams. You might wonder about organizing all the work as product work. The “Typical Product Development Organization” shows the kind of organization I see most often.

Productivity 74

Productivity Agile Culture Efficiency 74

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 21, 2019

I started asking if you actually need an agile approach in Part 1 and noted the 4 big problems I see. Part 2 was why we need managers in an agile transformation. Part 4 was about how “Agile” is meaningless and “agile” is an adjective that needs to be applied to something.

Agile 65

Agile Culture Efficiency Guidelines 65

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 4, 2020

I told the story of Cliff, a manager who wanted to understand why the projects were so late. ” I said, “Managers might spend as little as a quarter and as much as a year or two. .” ” In my experience, when organizations want to use agile approaches or transform in some way, the managers start with the teams.

Management 102

Management Agile Meeting ROI 102

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 12, 2021

You want business agility. The people and teams continue to experiment with agile behaviors. Instead, since the career ladder affects everyone, start with a small team who can solve this problem together—your peer management team. Enlist Your Peer Management Team. Every team's agile journey is unique.

Agile 52

Agile Cash Flow Education Management 52

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 9, 2020

In the agile and lean communities, we talk a lot about transparency. This image is the transparency principle we used in From Chaos to Distributed Agile Teams. I see the most product and program success when the various teams create transparency between them, the middle of the continuum. That's the full-product transparency.

Management 59

Management Agile Balance Sheet Metrics 59

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. My experience is that when people use frameworks for larger efforts, they experience these unexpected side effects: The framework actions often require more manager-type people to control the actions of others.

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Agile Telecommunications Wireless System 70

Johanna Rothman

MAY 24, 2018

Most managers I meet want to do a good job. They want to know that people can deliver the outcomes the organization needs and the managers want. 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.

Agile 41

Agile Management Culture Productivity 41

Johanna Rothman

JULY 20, 2021

We talk a lot about empowered or self-organizing teams in the agile community. However, every manager's micromanagement pervades all levels. 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.

Leadership 141

Leadership Agile Policies Tools 141

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 9, 2022

A senior manager said, “We give our resources everything they could need: technology, tools, even some training. ” “Each resource has at least two projects so they stay productive and efficient.” In contrast, a flow efficiency culture watches the flow of the work. What does your culture value?

Efficiency 76

Efficiency Culture Resources Management 76

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

No one cares about a team's agility—with the possible exception of the team itself. But managers and customers do care about better products. The managers care when the team can release those products—that's why managers use capitalization metrics. And the customers care about the value those products offer.

Agile 61

Agile Metrics Productivity Management 61

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 15, 2019

I started this series asking where “Agile” was headed. Part 2 was why we need managers. This part is about how people want a recipe, The Answer, for how to get better at “Agile.” ” Before we can address what an answer might be, your need to know your why for an agile approach. They're not.

Agile 67

Agile Software Efficiency Construction 67

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 18, 2020

My agile transformation clients struggle with this big question: How do we effectively reward managers? The more the organization wants or needs an agile transformation, the less the current reward structure works. How do you incent the managers? What makes sense for management compensation?

Management 100

Management Guidelines Agile Productivity 100

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

MARCH 30, 2020

Are you a manager accustomed to Management by Walking Around and Listening (MBWAL) ? You have an opportunity to work differently as a manager. If you're creating products of any kind—especially software products—you've got a team sport. The better the team learns together, the better the product is.

Management 92

Management Agile Metrics Video 92

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 30, 2020

Steve, a software development manager, thought John was a “10x” developer. Managers can support their teams in many ways. Maybe even draw a picture of when the story/product completes. (I All the ways John's code connected—or didn't—to the rest of the product. Visualize the Team's System.

Development 99

Development Management Efficiency Agile 99

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 14, 2020

Manage for effectiveness. Anytime I've seen a successful innovation culture, I've seen these principles. Let me address a little about business agility and innovation. Business agility allows us to create a culture where we plan to change. Applies to management teams, too.). Seek outcomes, not outputs.

Agile 40

Agile Efficiency Culture Resources 40

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 6, 2021

A manager said to me, “I'm responsible for this department of people.” ” He said, “I'm responsible for managing the people. I also define the products and what the people need to deliver.” Why not be responsible to the people instead of for the people and products?” ” He nodded.

Management 73

Management Agile Guidelines Productivity 73

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 29, 2022

These are delays due to management decision time.). Manage your environment or culture. Manage Your Environment. I much prefer to start with organizational WIP (Work in Progress), to manage the project portfolio. See Manage Your Project Portfolio.) See Create Your Successful Agile Project for more details.)

Development 121

Development Productivity How To Efficiency 121

Business Consulting Agency

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Impact : A product or service without market demand leads to low sales, hindering revenue generation. Impact : Dysfunctional teams or leadership issues hinder productivity, innovation, and company culture. Impact : Avoiding the pitfall of launching a product or service without a market need.

Cash Flow 97

Cash Flow Financial Leadership Resources 97