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10 Years of Agile Practices in Project Management
Categories:
Agile
Categories: Agile
| One decade ago, 17 people who were well-known software leaders met to figure out a better way to build software. Frustrated with traditional methodologies, they brainstormed, argued, discussed and analyzed how the future should look. The result was The Agile Manifesto, which is comprised of four values and 12 principles. In August, Laurie Williams, PhD, led the Agile 2011 Conference, where most of those leaders reunited for a panel discussion. Dr. Williams conducted a worldwide, open survey of 335 members of the agile community across the world to research possible changes to the manifesto. She announced her conclusion that the original manifesto remained valid, saying that the original creators of the manifesto "nailed it" -- even 10 years later. The manifesto authors each talked about the initial meeting held 10 years ago and how agile is trending today. Bob Martin said, "our original meeting was probably the only meeting in my career that actually worked." Ken Schwaber poured water from a pitcher as a visual metaphor for the last use of waterfall. Jeff Sutherland described how developers he's met in the past 10 years have been moved to tears by having a process that worked. But the panelists warned that not all teams do agile well. Some teams call themselves agile but don't do the harder practices. The consensus during the panel session was that the moniker of "agile'" will fade away and simply be how we manage projects. Not just for software, but beyond. The agile conference was impressive because of the growing diversity of tracks. In addition to the usual technical sessions for software testing and development, many sessions covered people skills, including ones on coaching, cultural mapping and distributed teams. Information on the new PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)SM certification was also popular. What will the next 10 years bring? New leadership will expand from the original signatories of the manifesto to those doing agile project management today. And as expressed in the Japanese concept of kaizen, many small improvements will add up to more streamlined productivity in many steps and many teams. How do you see agile advancing over the years? Read more about agile. |
Take a Purposeful Break from Your Project
Categories:
Reflections on the PM Life
Categories: Reflections on the PM Life
| Project managers take various breaks throughout the work day: lunch breaks, coffee breaks, meeting breaks, and so on. Maybe you need a break after reading an intense project plan, or conversely, you need to take a break from working on a project to read the plan. No matter the break's impetus, it ultimately comes down to having a distraction from what you were doing. Consider taking a purposeful break -- one that isn't simply a distraction or escape from a previous activity, but, as the name implies, that has a purpose and therefore achieves a desired result. I find that doing so allows you to be more productive and to re-energize faster. It's the same approach that we use for effective project meetings. Making sure that we focus on the agenda, follow all the topics and cover the intended elements. What works best in this case is staying focused on the task at hand, remembering the purpose and the planned or expected outcome. To take a purposeful break, I suggest you do exactly what you want to do. For example, if you need five minutes to unwind after an intense meeting, do nothing else but listen to music. Don't try to figure out something about the project activity you were just involved in or what you are about to do next. Just sit quietly. By allowing your mind to truly rest and disconnect, I find you are more effective at whatever activity you take on next. When we focus on an activity completely, it reduces multitasking, and we are able to complete the activity in less time, at a higher quality and with a sense of accomplishment. It's contagious: the more you get done in less time, the more you feel you can do. This information may seem like common sense, but taking purposeful breaks regularly is what is going to contribute to one's effectiveness in project execution and time management. |
Project Manager as Meeting Facilitator
| A few weeks ago, I was about to start a facilitated workshop with a very good customer. A South African colleague of mine, Michelle Booysen from Pétanque Consultancy, a South African consulting services in the field of project and process management, was invited to the session. We were preparing to start work when I confessed I was terrified. "No matter what, whenever I'm facilitating a session I always get scared." Michelle is a savvy consultant and has a great deal of experience managing projects and facilitating meetings. She told me: "What a relief -- I am not alone." We both laughed. That moment reminded me of my mindset when I earned my Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential. At that time, I thought having a PMP® was the ultimate achievement in my professional career. Since then, I have learned that to excel as a project manager, you have to have more than a credential. One of the skills you need is being able to facilitate. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)--Fourth Edition, chapter 5, mentions facilitated workshops: "Because of their interactive group nature, well-facilitated sessions can build trust, foster relationships, and improve communication among the participants which can lead to increased stakeholder consensus. Another benefit of this technique is that issues can be discovered and resolved more quickly than in individual sessions." Being a facilitator is a difficult art that is worth mastering. I have used facilitated workshops to build a project plans, to review mission and vision statements, to map business processes and to review deliverables. Although it is always a challenge, if you understand how to play that role, you'll be leading (facilitating) the group to success. Prepare ahead of time, visualize yourself doing it and take the time to build an energized environment at the beginning of the session. It is said that you don't learn to swim by reading a book. You must dare to try it and learn by doing. Have you played the role of facilitator as a project manager? What have been the keys to becoming a successful facilitator? See more on the PMBOK® Guide. See Jorge's prior posts. |
Managing Your Personal Brand
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
In a reply to my previous post about the advantages of an employee adopting the mindset of an independent consultant, commenter Conrad Harrison said:In terms of going fully independent you have to go beyond the profession. Whilst people are seeking you out on the basis of profession, then anyone in the profession will do and can replace you. They have to be seeking you out: recognizing your uniqueness. That added value that only you can provide. Your uniqueness, this differentiating characteristic, is perhaps the most important part of your professional reputation, your brand. And you do have a brand. It might be good or it might be not so good. It might be very crisp or it might be fuzzy. It might be consistent or it might be ambiguous. It might be helping you or it might be hurting you. Whatever it is, your brand tells people what they should expect from you. Here are a few considerations I view as most important in managing the "Jim De Piante" brand, along with tips for cultivating your own brand: Little things matter. Every interaction with other people contributes to your brand. Often, it's a seemingly small thing, such as promptly returning a call, that can leave a lasting impression. Quality matters. As in all things related to reputation, it can take a long time to build a good brand, but you can destroy it very quickly. People talk about you. They talk about your work. You want to be sure they're only saying positive things. Consistency matters. When people think or talk about you, you want them to remember, think and say you can be counted on to do certain things a certain way. Whether you're an employee or an independent consultant, the project you're working on is going to end. Then what? Who will seek you out and why? I'd be interested to hear how you manage your personal brand. Read more from Jim De Piante. |
Generate Action in Project Status Reports
Categories:
Documentation
Categories: Documentation
| To keep project activities moving, I've been testing a strategy of having action generate action through status reporting. Here's what I've noticed that works: As it stands, the current status of a project or task either gives a call to action, which creates further productive activity, or it leaves things as they are. For example, a task status might say, "Completed the requirements document." While it's a valid update on the task, it only tells us something that is already in the past. Rewording your updates to generate a vision of current action is more helpful. Consider if the status update said, "Reviewing the completed requirements document with the business owner." By including the present tense, the status presents the same information, but it adds an action-oriented, current, activity-based standing. As a result of using present tense, I've noticed that the action of simply reporting on status has generated further action. It actually put me directly into the doing part of action, rather than talking about the action. Let's say I receive a status update that says, "Kim is getting the screenshots of the system alert message," or, "John is reviewing the requirements document with the business owner." From this, I would know to follow up with Kim on whether she got the screenshot and set a reminder to connect with John and find out how the review went. Review one of the status updates you've recently done yourself, or one that you received. Did it use the present or past tense? If the latter, what better results do you see possible by using the present tense? |