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. Can you create an agile culture for your team even if you can't change how the organization works?

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Agile Culture Efficiency Metrics 80

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 13, 2024

Every day, I hear more stories of agile coaches or Scrum Masters losing their jobs. Several reasons: No manager cares about “agile” even if they care about agility. So, selling “agile” into the organization doesn’t create any traction for change. You might not like these ideas.

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Agile Metrics Management Balance Sheet 74

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

I have a new book: Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility. I wrote it because I'm concerned about what I see in too many supposedly agile teams: Crazy-long backlogs and roadmaps. An example of how much instead of how little thinking.) Yes, I'm experimenting!)

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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.

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Management Agile How To Productivity 108

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. But teams can change how they work—in any approach. But here's how they can work to create more agility.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 14, 2024

And even if you can find an agile coaching or Scrum Master job, the pay is so terrible, you don’t want to take it. Your previous managers and potential managers don’t see the value of someone in your position. That’s because these managers think agile coaching and Scrum Mastering is a staff job, not a line job.

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Agile How To Metrics Productivity 100

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 18, 2024

That's why Part 1 of this series discusses your value and what managers want and need. That part discusses why managers see agile coaches and Scrum Masters as staff positions, not line jobs. This post is about your deep domain expertise, first in product, then in agility. There way too many of you. If not, read it now.

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Agile How To Metrics Productivity 81

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

I had a terrific conversation with the two Jeffs at the Agile Wire. See Modern Management Made Easy with Johanna Rothman for our recording. We touched on many topics in the Modern Management Made Easy books: The system of work. How fast can managers learn? How managers can facilitate the work of others.

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 19, 2021

So when does it make sense to customize your agile approach to gain a strategic advantage? They can offer a subscription-based revenue model if they figure out how to release something useful almost every week. They want an agile approach, so they started with Scrum. Then, they Built their agile approach based on their needs.

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Harvard Business

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Leaders today know that they need to be agile — to change direction quickly in the face of changing or uncertain conditions. But a byproduct of agility is churn: The confusion and demotivation that comes from many such pivots. This can cause inefficiency that bogs down innovative projects and strategies.

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 2, 2022

On the ANE panel last night, an agile coach asked, “What's my path forward as an agile coach? I said that if the coach wanted to move up the hierarchy in the organization, the coach needed some form of management experience. Focus on business results, not agility per se. What do I do next?” Most cannot.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 24, 2024

Your managers don't want story points—they want durations and dates. That's why I recommend all teams (including management teams) measure cycle time, not velocity. Here's a scatter plot: Yes, I realize those little dots are hard to see, so if anyone knows how to fix this in Excel, I would love to know. Cycle time does not.

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How To Agile Metrics Data 75

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 23, 2021

I had a terrific time with Chris Williams on his Badass Agile podcast. We discussed the Modern Management Made Easy books. Some of the topics we covered: Are managers born or made? How managers need to collaborate to achieve agility. How managers micromanage at all levels. Congruence.

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Agile Management Consulting Company 106

Johanna Rothman

MAY 18, 2021

I had the pleasure of being on the Agile Uprising Podcast: Modern Management Made Easy with Johanna Rothman. We had a wide-ranging discussion, including: What the manager's job is (and is not). How servant leaders support people taking responsibility. The podcast: Modern Management Made Easy with Johanna Rothman.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 8, 2021

As I've been speaking about the Modern Management Made Easy books, people ask these questions: We're pretty good with our agile approach. How do we reward someone based on individual work when we want teams to work together? What does performance management look like when we want to reward people for their collaboration?

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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.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 14, 2021

One of my clients wants to use shared services “teams” as they start their agile transformation. The organization lives with many delays when the managers choose a shared services model. That's because the managers think resource efficiency works. They don't realize how much more effective flow efficiency is.).

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Johanna Rothman

JULY 31, 2023

I had a terrific time speaking with Jeff and Chad on the Agile Wire: Successful Independent Consulting with Johanna Rothman. Marketing is an ongoing and continual activity Jeff has a hack about how to read while he's exercising! That's the video link.) And more … I hope you watch this episode or listen on your podcast feed.

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LSA Global

JULY 14, 2020

Agile Change Management – What Is It? Agile change management is an approach to managing the people side of change that works in concert with the agile project management methodology. Done right, the agile approach to project management enables teams to adapt to change quickly and deliver work faster.

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Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 14, 2021

I had a great time with Jeff and Squirrel on their podcast, Troubleshooting Agile. We spoke about the Modern Management Made Easy books in Johanna Rothman on Modern Management Part 1. Here's a highlight idea from the podcast: a transition to management is a career change. We had a wide-ranging and fun discussion.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 29, 2021

How should agile coaches work? I've heard several questions and problems around what agile coaches should and should not do. Should agile coaches focus on: How well the teams use their pre-determined agile framework. For example, how good is their Scrum?). That's why an agile coach offers value.

Agile 101

Agile Recruiting Recruitment Examples 101

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 8, 2021

See Behaviors Create an Agile Culture with Johanna Rothman. We spoke about the Modern Management Made Easy books. In our wide-ranging discussion, we discussed the various traps that managers create or encounter: Rewarding heroics instead of collaboration. How to offer credit broadly (appreciations for other people's work).

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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? When I learned to manage programs, I managed programs like that, too. Then, we went “all-Scrum” so my managers called me a Scrum Master. Scrum Master or Agile Project Manager?

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 15, 2023

After I spoke with Chad and Jeff on the previous podcast, Deep Dive into Successful Independent Consulting with the Agile Wire , we spoke all about the idea of building products, starting with consulting-based products. The post Product Discussion with the Agile Wire appeared first on Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant.

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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. The spiral model assumes that if you get feedback early enough, you've managed the technical and requirements risks.

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LSA Global

JUNE 16, 2022

Agile Organizations In general, agility is the ability to move quickly and easily. In a business setting, we define organizational agility as the ability of an entire organization (especially its leadership team) to adapt quickly to market changes. We need more agile mindsets at work. What are its trademarks?

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Agile How To Change Management Talent 36

Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 1, 2017

Ron Jeffries, Matt Barcomb, and several other people wrote an interesting thread about prescriptive and non-prescriptive approaches to team-based agile. Learning how to write short and coherently is a different post.). That’s why we have the agile values and principles. Culture expresses what managers value.

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Agile Culture Management Efficiency 68

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

If you took an agile workshop sometime in the past 15 years, you probably played the “ ball game.” Especially since they've probably suffered through way too many “agile” workshops with more and more games. That's an example of how insidious resource efficiency thinking is. How do they collaborate?

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Agile How To Exercises Efficiency 74

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.

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Agile Management Efficiency Culture 69

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 27, 2020

Do you need feedback loops so you can: Cancel the project at any time (to manage schedule and cost risks. Assess technical risks so you can rework the architecture or design to manage feature set risks. Manage what you release to customers so you can manage defect, feature set, schedule, and cost risks.

Agile 101

Agile Culture Productivity Management 101

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 2, 2024

Very few teams understand how to do small stories, so it's fine if they pair, swarm, or mob to finish the work. See the roadmap series starting with Alternatives for Agile and Lean Roadmapping: Part 3, Flow-Based Roadmapping to see how to integration options into your various roadmaps. One-day stories.

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Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

They (the team) feel that the tasks for the sprint are too varied to manage to a single sprint goal. Let's start with the reason we plan anything in an agile approach. Reasons for Agile Planning If we have a product goal or vision, we can say, “Here's what we want to accomplish for this next bit of time and work.”

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 12, 2019

I spoke at Agile 2019 last week. Here are my thoughts and where I think the “agile” industry is headed. Problems I See with “Agile” Here's a summary of problems I saw last week: Too many people think “agile” will solve all their problems. Culture requires management involvement.

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Organizational Talent Consulting

MARCH 13, 2023

Research suggests that mismatched management reduces morale, trust, and productivity and increases employee turnover. Partnering for performance is one way to develop self-reliant achievers and avoid micro-managing your team. What is mismatched management? Micro-management is a hard habit to break.

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Management How To Agile Leadership 52

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 14, 2020

Manage for effectiveness. Let me address a little about business agility and innovation. Business agility allows us to create a culture where we plan to change. Too many people think business agility is about the ability to do more of the same, faster. It matters how well the team can create value. Thanks so much.

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Agile Efficiency Culture Resources 83

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 6, 2020

Are you trying to make an agile framework or approach work? Maybe you've received a mandate to “go agile.” Or, maybe you're trying to fit an agile framework into your current processes—and you've got a mess. I've seen plenty of problems when people try to adopt “agile” wholesale. Yes, cancel.

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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. You might not have the time.

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