If Kanban works well on specific software projects, can it be scaled to facilitate Lean throughout an organization? Here we look at how Kanban can be thought of as a general purpose change management approach for your organization.
It's surprising how many project managers don't know the difference between a framework and a methodology. It's time to clear the air and clarify the differences.
Question: The software developers in my IT department are hardcore agileists. I maintain legacy systems and do operational work. Is there anything I need to know about the agile world that could affect my work with hardware?
| A. | Yes. Cloud computing is an agile practice and a major trend that will probably be discussed in your workplace soon. Learn about it so you don’t look dated and out of touch. |
| B. | No. Agile is only for software developers at large shops like Google who need to support online retail sales and search engine banks. |
| C. | Yes. All hardware purchase and installation projects should be converted to a Scrum process for the greatest impact and cohesion between teams. |
| D. | No. The government has legislation pending to block agile practices as potential antitrust violations. |
In an attempt to help those of you struggling with Business Process Improvement and Business Process Analysis, our expert presents these “anatomical components” in terms of a series of rules so that you can use them in your efforts.
It doesn't matter whether you work for a big or small company: When delivering a product that requires the work of more than two teams, dependencies are part of the picture. Time after time, projects are tangled up in dependencies. Does it have to be this hard? Some dependencies are inevitable, but some are self-inflicted...
Cloud Computing just might hit its stride in 2013. But while the momentum toward Cloud Computing is consistent within larger organizations, the reasons for the push are not...and not everyone is jumping into the Public Cloud pool.
Standardization is the “copy and paste” method of process development. It’s as bad in spreading process through an organization as “copy and paste” is in code. Copying a working instance may be a good starting point, but it’s a bad destination. Creative work needs attentive thinking, even when deciding to not change the status quo.
If you are to grow as an agent of organizational change, then you have to keep learning. Sometimes the learning comes from understanding your successes, sometimes by reflecting on the failures of others. But perhaps the most long-lived learning comes from internalizing ways not to repeat personal failures. Here are one seasoned PM's top five lessons learned along his 37-year (and counting) journey through the world of project management…
Too often, the organizational focus is on relieving symptoms, not necessarily solving the problem. The culture of these organizations is that as long as the user problems can be fixed, then the issue is “solved”. Not only is that inaccurate, it’s inefficient and risky. Quick fixes are not permanent solutions, so when bandage solutions and workarounds become the norm, it’s time to act.
Large-scale change of enterprise-level architecture and infrastructure presents a challenge, especially in today's networked world. Enter agile project management. In our concluding installment, we look at successful architecture and design from history, explore the challenges that come with the principles of evolutionary architecture and design--and identify a short list of evolutionary design principles.
Application development and delivery has changed dramatically in recent years...have you? Many areas have been well documented, but in the midst of all that there is another change happening. Who's in control? That’s what we explore here.
Large-scale change of enterprise-level architecture and infrastructure presents a challenge, especially in today's networked world. Enter agile project management and the ideas of refactoring and continuous improvement, which involve creating innovative new solutions for each problem encountered.
Part 1 of this series discussed the background environment and philosophical divergences that caused agile to establish itself as an alternative to traditional project management. With that background established, it’s now time to start thinking about the where agile is headed and how it will get re-contextualized for the 21st century.
With the steady industry shift away from custom code applications to more commercial software packages and services, IT project management practices are necessarily changing to adapt to the new conditions. Is this a glimpse into what the future holds?
It’s one of the oldest debates in project management, and now there are a whole new set of arguments. What type of project manager should an organization have?
No longer a possible notion, idea or discussion point, the whole cloud concept has been getting considerable traction in mainstream IT operations. But what is up and coming for this technological evolutionary jump, and what will be needed to support it?
It’s a universal problem for IT project managers everywhere. When you’re managing a system implementation you are responsible for the total solution--that means application and infrastructure. The problem is that these two camps haven’t always gotten along. Here, we look at how to make bridging the gap between infrastructure and applications in your project technology stack as easy as, well...a piece of cake.
Having a great product and seeing how its application potential could be exercised across a business, industry or many industries is exciting--but also daunting. The control you have over your product components cuts down on outsider adjustments. Keeping that control, though, may require making yourself available to the opportunities of customization and specialization.
As environmental concerns and sustainability become bigger issues across all aspects of society, there is an argument for taking a rather longer-term view of product development--the concept of whole lifecycle thinking, ensuring that the costs of the product are considered from birth to retirement. What can project managers do to help develop and implement the concept?
An agile architecture and design should be right-sized to fit the scope of the release plan and no more. This is true whether the architecture is created in a traditional top-down or agile bottom-up style. This means that an agile architecture and design can be visualized within the initial release planning phase when a lightweight plan is created--and the most business value to a customer is achievable. Here are some of the practices for agile architecture and design.
Companies always work toward having the competitive edge, and key issues often focus on the perceptions of their customer service. That's all the more reason to be on top of the innovations and benefits of speech engines.
Code inspections are an implicit, often unspoken best practice among agile project management teams. This silence has caused some people to question the quality control of the agile PM paradigm. Surprisingly, agile teams have not forgotten to mind the Ps and Qs of quality engineering--and not only continue to perform code inspections, but perform them more often. This results in even greater quality than traditional project management teams.
While the promises of increased cloud activity are great, so too are the chances for stormy situations. While many organizations will rapidly seek cloud computing to help combat struggles with their economic circumstances, they will do so at their own peril. Be very afraid...the cloud craze is entering its teenage years.
Project managers usually tend to focus on the methodology for executing the technical part of the project. However, a good understanding of a practical SOA landscape and its associated challenges can help a technical PM make the SOA adoption on technology projects run even smoother.
How can PMs harness the power of the cloud? There are many aspects of cloud computing worth noting from an organizational perspective, but this article will focus on two technologies that can be especially useful to project managers: software as a service and commoditized computing.
This cloud thing’s just not working...the silver bullet seems to have misfired. So what went wrong? A tool won't solve all of your problems; in reality, it's a combination of the tool, training, process re-engineering and integration with other corporate functions that will keep you up to speed.
There is lots of great information available on how to use agile methods for custom software development projects, but less so for package implementations. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solutions make up a large percentage of the IT projects undertaken by companies each year, and many organizations are missing out on benefits that an agile package approach can bring.
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"The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts the moment you get up and doesn't stop until you get into the office." - Robert Frost |
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