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. See Manage Unplanned Feedback Loops to Reduce Risks and Create Successful Products.)

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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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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. I assume you have some sort of functional product development expertise. If not, why are you in technical product development?

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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. See Building the Right Product with Johanna Rothman. In the meantime, enjoy our discussion.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 18, 2024

Do you have an overstuffed backlog the way Jenny did in Create More Success: How to Say No to “Everything” to Say Yes to What’s Necessary Now ? How can you prevent an overstuffed backlog, roadmap, or all those great ideas from interrupting your team from finishing its work? (See I offered “now” advice in that newsletter.

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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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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 19, 2021

So when does it make sense to customize your agile approach to gain a strategic advantage? Example 1: Startup/Small Organization with Few Products. They offer their product in two versions: Pro and Lite. They can offer a subscription-based revenue model if they figure out how to release something useful almost every week.

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Johanna Rothman

JUNE 5, 2023

That's because each project offers different value over the product's lifetime. See Product Roles, Part 4: Product Orientation and the Role of Projects for images of why we want ever-increasing product value, but why we might space the projects out.) See Manage It! However, that does not always work.

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Johanna Rothman

JUNE 7, 2022

What do teams need to know about the product now to focus their work? These problems might be about how to reduce risk, what the users need first, or an experiment the team needs to learn.). ” That's why many people like time-based roadmaps. I'm not a fan of time-based roadmaps, but here's how they work to focus the team.

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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? 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.

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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

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

JANUARY 21, 2021

When I think about agile approaches to work, I think about how fast we can change and the cost of those changes. That's why an agile approach with deliverables every day or week doesn't fit with some kinds of projects, such as events. Here, I assume you want multiple releases for your product.

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Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 6, 2020

In Costs of an Agile Approach for Hardware Products , I suggested that an iteration-based approach for hardware was too expensive. Agile software teams are cross-functional and interdependent. Many agile software teams have somewhere between four and seven people. This hardware team swarms on a product.

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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.

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 13, 2021

Your team has product-focused work. And, the team also has “fast” response-required, ad hoc work: Production support, when something breaks. Answer questions about possibilities for new development from management and others. With all these interruptions, when are you supposed to finish your product work?

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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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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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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.

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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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Johanna Rothman

JUNE 17, 2022

In Part 1 , I said that product roadmaps are not like car roadmaps. If I stretch that analogy a little, managers need to see where we are predictable for the next bit of time, and the options we see for the future. Too often, I see very predictable roadmaps for managers. Not every product has the same need for innovation.

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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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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 6, 2023

Flow Efficiency In How Centralization Decisions Create Friction, Increase Cycle Time, and Cost Money, Part 1, I discussed how removing support staff for departments and managers created longer cycle times. Now, it's time for Economies of Scale and how that ties into resource efficiency thinking.

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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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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.)

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Johanna Rothman

JULY 23, 2020

You can do this even if each of you is an expert on various areas or different products when you use flow efficiency. Here's how Clare's team worked: Every person started their own story. See Who's Playing Agile Schedule Games? ). No More Agile Death Marches. Agile approaches are all about collaboration.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 28, 2023

Sherry, a middle manager in a relatively small organization, said, “We can’t plan for an entire quarter at a time. Our managers need to change what they want more often than that. ” “How long can the managers commit to their decisions?” How often do the teams release?” What do I do?”

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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. That article has the template I offered in Manage It! In Create Your Successful Agile Project , I suggested a reframe for the charter. Charter as a Team.

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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.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 26, 2024

In innovative products, the interdependencies can change any day. ” There's more in Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management.) How is it possible these people have such different experiences than I do? How is it possible these people have such different experiences than I do?

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Some of my clients have struggled with their project governance as they move to agile approaches. However, the governance people judge the projects and programs by how well their original estimates (for date and cost) line up with the actuals. This kind of measurement is antithetical to agile principles. That productivity thing.

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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?

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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 3 was about how people want a recipe. This post is about what you can do to create an agile culture, regardless of where you are in the organization.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 12, 2021

You want business agility. The teams have worked hard to change how they work. 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.

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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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Epicflow

MAY 4, 2023

Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that these projects cannot be successfully managed. Read the article to find out how to cope with the uncertainty in R&D projects and increase the chances of achieving desired outcomes. Will the developed product satisfy customers and be relevant in the market?

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 28, 2019

You've got interdependencies across the organization for a given project or program to release a product. You need enough insight or prediction to start the marketing campaign or to create training videos or product documentation. You need some kind of milestone criteria so you know you can complete the entire product.

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