Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
4 Metrics to Help Spot Trouble for Agile Teams
| In coaching several agile teams and sifting through long lists of metrics, I've observed a core set of metrics that can help distinguish successful teams from teams headed for schedule slips: Juggle Many teams have multiple team members who split time between projects. In most cases, it is better to have fewer people full time on a project than more people part time. For example, instead of having eight people working part time, try having four people work full time. Why? We lose 20 percent efficiency each time we multitask, according to Mike Cohn's book Succeeding with Agile. Count the average percent of time each person is allocated to the project. Averages less than 80 percent should be looked at to see if the team is being pulled in too many directions. Plan leak This is the ratio of work planned compared to potential capacity. In theory, people could allocate up to 54 task hours per two-week iteration, but the team only plans an average of 30 hours. Then there is a problem with planning. Fill your plan until you have 70 to 80 percent of the team's time accounted for. Eighty hours for a two-week sprint is not ideal because other important work is not represented by tasks (such as mandatory training, email, unexpected maintenance work). In addition, have the team own its total task hours and let them "pull" work when they are ready. Assigning work to individuals may create silos and is based on imprecise estimates. Execution leak Compare the number of task hours left at the end of the iteration to the total planned. There should usually not be any hours left, but if the team meets this goal every time, it may not be planning aggressively enough. It's healthy for teams to have a small number of hours, say 5 percent, left over on a small number of their iterations (10 percent or less). Jelly This shows how much unplanned work was added during the iteration. In my experience, it is okay to add up to 15 percent because planning is based on approximate estimates and technical execution of the project may reveal new subtasks. But if more than 15 percent has been added, it's a sign the team is either not planning enough or they never say no to new requirements. Either way, they lack the ability to plan with enough diligence or to pause new work until future sprints. What do you think? Have you used these metrics? What metrics do you use to help spot trouble? |
Are You Sure Your Project Information is Secure?
Categories:
PM Think About It
Categories: PM Think About It
| Fellow blogger V. Srivinasa Rao recently wrote an interesting post about the Global Distribution Model 2.0 that is launching soon. The model holds a lot of promise and is a great framework for implementing mobile global communications tools. Today, the fastest rising communications and computing technology is mobile. And while this development provides exciting possibilities for improved project efficiency, it does not come without risks. I'm focusing specifically on devices with a mobile operating system, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry or Nokia. The reason for my concern is the speed of adoption for the devices. They now play a role in every project I manage. It may be simple communications such as email between team members, text messaging and calendar functionality, or more sophisticated uses such as remote access to project data, project management software or even video conferencing. Yet 90 percent of the time, I find that no one is really thinking through the implications of using this technology. Think about it: With this expanded communication comes an increased risk that your project's confidential or critical information could be exposed, intentionally or unintentionally. This information can be controlled fairly easily by IT departments on laptops, but mobile operating systems don't allow for the same kind of security just yet. You must be wary of how information may be getting communicated over your mobile device. Information "attacks" can come in several forms. At an event where "free wireless access" is offered, for example, someone who wants to gather data illegally can set up a US$50 wireless router, name it "[Event Name] Wireless" and watch as attendees innocently connect their devices to communicate with the rest of the team. Simply leaving your Bluetooth enabled in public locations can open you up to attacks. It doesn't even need to be something that devious. All that needs to happen is for one of your team members to lose a device that has regulated data on it. In the United States, you'll have to officially report the incident to the Federal Government. The key takeaway here is that as our world expands, we are being given exciting new ways to coordinate and communicate with our team members across the planet. We should take full advantage of this. But we should do it with our eyes open. How do you protect your data on a mobile device? |
Beyond Stakeholder Management
| My mentor in this field -- Julio Matus Nakamura, a project manager -- once told me, "In any organization, there aren't just processes, projects, strategies or tools. What really matters is people." That lesson, learned long ago, taught me that no matter a person's position, he or she is a human being first. It's very important to build trust among human beings in order to believe in each other. When I realized that, I vowed to establish that type of relationship with my stakeholders -- to build that trust and try to create a more personal relationship with them. In my opinion, in some cases it's more important to have a good relationship with the sponsor or customer than the results of the project. I'm not suggesting you forget about your project's results or even the contract. Just that you should put the same emphasis in building a deeper relationship with your key stakeholders as you put in delivering good results and caring about contract issues. Here are some simple tips that I have used for a while. I hope it may help you when building a relationship with your stakeholders: 1. Use basic manners: Always say hello, goodbye, thanks, please, well done, good job and I'm sorry. These are powerful little words that can make a big difference. 2. Show respect: Often when we are in a conversation with someone, we are not 100 percent in the conversation. You must be present. No excuses. When talking with someone, pay all of your attention to what the person is saying. Avoid thinking about your response when the other party talks; just listen carefully to what's being said. 3. Learn to read body language: We communicate more with our body than with our words. Learn to "listen" to the body of your counterpart and learn to speak with your body. For example, don't cross your arms during a conversation, as this can seem standoffish. Make eye contact during conversation and always face the person to whom you're talking. 4. Share something personal: Find affinities with your stakeholder wherever possible. This could be the university where you studied, the town where you grew up, vacations you've taken, books you've read, or your favorite team and sport. Make sure to find the appropriate moment to share these commonalities. 5. Break the ice: Read the environment around your stakeholder and discover his or her interests. At the first opportunity, bring those interests into the conversation. What about you? What tools or techniques do you use to build trust with your stakeholders? |
Applying Portfolio Management as a Business Map
Categories:
Portfolio Management
Categories: Portfolio Management
| It's the end of the year and many companies are reviewing how they performed over the last 12 months. Portfolio management can help senior managers check how their products or services are performing -- and maximize benefits and opportunities to plan for next year. PMI's Standard for Portfolio Management -- Second Edition defines a portfolio as "a collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives." And "portfolio management is the coordinated management of portfolio components to achieve specific organizational objectives." When we use a portfolio approach, senior managers coordinate how projects and programs are managed and gain deeper understanding of what they mean to the organization. Where I have worked, a portfolio is organized as a collection of business operations that share the same purpose. Portfolio management serves as our business map, where different business packages are laid out according to risk, profit and time. In companies, portfolio managers address products or services according to risk and profit factors. Products or services are divided into four types: · High-risk high-profit · Low-risk high-profit · High-risk low-profit · Low-risk low-profit Taking their payback period into consideration, benefits can be maximized by reasonably allocating resources and financial investment for each of the four types of products/business. For example, products that are "high-risk high-profit" require time to generate high revenue. As for businesses or products that are already generating long-term and stable profits -- those in the "low-risk low-profit" category or basic business -- careful resource allocation should lead to eventual increased revenue. "High-risk low-profit" products should also be given appropriate resources, as long as they bring in certain benefits, such as expanding or maintaining market share, and keeping up with potential competitors. Take computer manufacturer Acer, for example. In the past, Acer has made large profits on PC products of the "low-risk high-profit" variety. By 2008, Acer was about to surpass its main (and only) competitor, Hewlett Packard, as the world's biggest PC manufacturer. But an unexpected competitor arose: Apple. Acer's long-term reliance on this "low-risk high-profit" strategy meant that innovative "high-risk high-profit" or "high-risk low-profit" technology products, such as those that Apple makes, were ignored. Apple topped Acer because Acer failed to plan a complete business map. It didn't manage the risks arising from a "low-risk high-profit" strategy. Acer was only focused on pursuing market share by making and selling cheap PC products. Even when your current business is generating high revenues, you should never ignore business plans and products that are still under development. You should always allocate reasonable resources to these business elements, and never solely depend on your successful products or services. When planning your company's products or services for the upcoming year, be sure to check if your strategic plan is well balanced. Make sure no element of your business is over-exploited and no element is ignored -- no matter how little profit it currently generates. |
Boost Productivity by Renaming Tasks
Categories:
Project Delivery
Categories: Project Delivery
| Do you assign yourself a task that's actually framed as an expected result? For example, creating or updating a report is a task, while producing a report is a result of that activity. Or, performing a troubleshooting session is a task; solving a problem is an expected result. Language impacts how we work and what we accomplish. This reality is illustrated in project management through the use of the work breakdown structures, for example, where we break down the tasks and label them appropriately to be able to execute them. The work seems easier to accomplish that way. To be productive, tasks need to be executable and controllable. Tasks framed as results are ambiguous because they do not specify an action that can be carried out -- instead, they imply that you will figure out the real action you can do and accomplish. I find that I get a lot more done when I put a task on my calendar that I know I can control. For instance, I can control hosting a meeting, but I can't control the meeting's outcome. Therefore, the task, "Chair a solution review meeting" has more power than "Get the team to approve a solution." When our mind considers a task to be particularly important or ambiguous, it tends to look for an easier outlet or for ways to delay working on that task. It's only when we reword the action in terms that we can understand that we jump to execute the task. The key, I find, is in wording the task as something over which you have actual control. Look at the work you planned for today or the next seven days. Reword your actions and tasks so that you can have complete control over them. Notice what happens to your productivity and report back. Have you seen a productivity boost from renaming tasks? |