Just a quick note to say I’m speaking tomorrow evening at the Baltimore Chapter of the IIBA. I often get asked “What is the role of a BA in an agile environment.” Much like a project manager, a business analyst carries a set of expectations and is legitimately interested in how that changes when we change … Continue reading »
This post was originally published (p28) as part of my recurring “Agile Project Manager” column in PM Network, PMI’s membership magazine. Other installments can be found here. It drives me crazy. I heard an agile consultant this week say, “We’re trying to force the client to track progress they way we want her to”. Really? Good luck with … Continue reading »
I will be presenting at the AgileDC conference next month on October 23rd. I’m really excited to be a part of the event this year. AgileDC has established itself as THE place to be for Washington DC area agile practitioners to trade tips, tricks, and war stories about getting work done better. Open this post to learn more and get a special discount code. Continue reading »
The most dramatic cause of project overruns is that we are doing more work than is absolutely necessary to achieve the high-level scope statement. But you can be the exception. Do not simply accept the project plan handed to you. Facilitate true innovation, which is delivering the most valuable business results from the least amount of work. Continue reading »
One of the stereotypes for agile approaches is that they only work for small projects. Ten or 15 years ago that might have been the case, but things are vastly different today. Agile techniques now are used as part of the day-to-day project operations of major organizations around the world. Here’s how they do it. Continue reading »
Here’s The Context: My friend and mentor Luke Hohman, inventor of the Innovation Games technique, recently blogged the provocative idea that Agility is Making You Less Innovative. To summarize, he has observed that several Agile teams are busy plugging away at their short-term product backlogs and delivering software every few weeks, but are plagued by … Continue reading »
The rumors are true: I have returned back to the US after a two year stint as Managing Director of RippleRock India. Now that my assignment is completed (“build an India subsidiary”), I have been relocating myself and the family back to the States over the last few months. What was it like, you ask? … Continue reading »
Many of people are familiar with the acronym WYSIWYG = What you see is what you get. It’s a great pneumonic device that describes the expectations people have, versus the product they get. As it turns out, there are a few other great acronyms that describe human behavior patterns in the world of software. WILIWIK … Continue reading »
This week marked the latest annual Agile in Defense conference, in the outskirts of Washington DC. There were about 100 attendees, and strong support form the agile community. As with any conference, the real value was the conversations that happen between the talks, but the talks themselves are also worth mentioning… Warnings From the Past … Continue reading »
Well it turns out the “controversy” about AgileExams turned out to be the biggest of misunderstandings. The Testimonials Were Authentic: Several of AgileExams customers contacted me and revealed the root cause of this confusion is the fussiness of PMI.org’s online certification registry: The name on the testimonial may not be the same format as the … Continue reading »
