Distributed Agile Teams White Paper Review
Dave Prior on 24. April 2012
ProjectsatWork has published a study called Distributed Agile Teams: Achieving the Benefits. The report was put together by Elizabeth Harrin (@PM4Girls), who is the author of the website A Girls Guide to Project Management. The results of the research cover a lot of ground with respect to what makes distributed Agile projects work and what can contribute to their failure. The report is very insightful and definitely worth the time it takes to read. While some of the findings may seem like common sense, knowledge workers in the IT space (myself definitely included) seem to possess a remarkable capacity for periodic loss of grip to that tether.
My favorite part comes at the very end during the summary of recommendations. Number One on the list is:
Don’t act like your project is co-located – pay the tax for distribution.
This is one of the most simple things that so many of us forget when we are working at a distance. I believe this applies whether you are working down the hall from someone, or across the globe… there is a price that has to be paid when you are not sitting in the same room. With the transparency that Agile offers, this tax becomes far more obvious. There is no doubt that distributed teams provide a number of benefits, but those benefits come at a cost. The reason (IMHO) so many people struggle so much with distributed is that they keep thinking that the ride is free … which it theoretically could be… unless you actually want it to work.
Tags: Agile 2010, Agile Project Management, Communication, Dave Prior, Project Manager, Scrum
Review CeBIT 2012 – Great feedback and lots of praise
Michael D. Schulze on 14. March 2012
ProjectWizards participated last week in the exhibition CeBit 2012 in Hannover (Germany). Just like last years our exhibition stand was embedded in the OS X Business Park. We held numerous meetings and did business networking with well known OS X software vendors. We generated lots of promising contacts with potential partners in the B2B sector.
The large demand from representatives of the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) was unexpected but pleasing. Chamber of Commerce was interested in various applications of Merlin for their members. We were very pleased to discuss OS X and iOS based examples with them.
We offered staged software presentations for Merlin 2. They were well attended and we received much praise from existing Merlin users.
Well over one hundred trade visitors appreciated the opportunity to come to our stand and posed detailed questions concerning Merlin’s usage.
Web sharing module and the possibility of always having your „projects at your fingertips“ (iPhone & iPad) did appear as a particular interest for many customers.
Last but not least, we would like to thank the organizers and the invisible helpers for this successful exhibition.
Tags: 2012, CeBit, Communication, Exhibition, Merlin Web, Review, Trade Show
It’s all about communication
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 29. June 2010
From what I can read and I understand, project managers have a hard job when wanting to manage projects successfully. They may be prepared and have planned all necessary steps, might be fortuned by skilled and motivated teams, they may moreover have so much luck that their client can express project requirements in a clear and distinct way. They might have thought about possible risks and took steps to mitigate them. They may even have managed to get the budget they requested. How many ‘may’s and ‘might’s have I used? Many? Yes, many but not enough. Even with so many mights which go right, they still can not be sure they can yell ’done’ on time or be successful at the end.
Why? Well it is all about communication. Bad communication will make your project fail, good would give a legitimate chance of succeeding.
Our colleague Richard Joerges found in the archives of TED Conference 2002 a video describing how people sometimes talk, send messages, inform one another that everything is developing as agreed and fail to communicate their real problems or concerns.
The video is a presentation of Chris Bangle (famous car designer for various auto mobile companies like BMW, Fiat or Range Rover) in which he talks about how it pays not only to talk but also to say what’s in your mind and how to build trust between team members.
You may watch the video here: (more…)
Tags: Communication, Creative teams
Disarm with charm
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 2. February 2010
In a previous blog post, we have written about communication skills and that bad communication could be a warning sign to failing projects.
So if communication is so important in project management, what would a PM provoke by walking cold into a meeting? Cold reactions, at the very least. Keith Ferrazzi, an expert in relationship development and author of the books Never Eat Alone or Who’s Got Your Back, mentions in his blog the importance of generosity and spreading goodwill to anyone that we meet as a first step towards a warm relationship.
Tags: Communication, PM
Personal branding: video Interview with Dave Prior
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 5. January 2010
Our friend Dave Prior already gave us an interview in the past. In case you would like to see and hear him, we recommend the episode of Project Shrink podcast by Bas de Baar about Project Managers and Personal Branding. Enjoy 
The video interview is split into two parts.
The first part is about personal branding…
In the second part Dave Prior talks about techniques/steps to start a personal brand…
Tags: Communication, Dave Prior, Personal branding
Hello 2010, bye bye 2009!
Frank Blome on 4. January 2010
One lays a bit longer in bed at Christmas, and finds the new year already in full swing when awaking. But wait. Our hibernation was not that deep, we simply granted ourselves a short break. 2009 was after all the most active year in our young history.
Directly on its begin, January 2009, we were in the Macworld and presented Merlin iPhone to the interested visitors.
In February 2009 the beta test of Merlin 2.7 started containing the new version of Merlin Web. A Merlin Twitter presence was also created, with over 750 followers meanwhile.
Tags: App Store, Communication, Merlin, Merlin iPhone, Merlin Server, Merlin Web, Snow Leopard, Story, Team
Is Over-Communication a Problem in Project Management?
John Kranz on 11. June 2009
Pawel Brodzinski hosts a blog on software development lifecycle and poses this question: “Is over-communication a problem in project management?” Some interesting initial comments have come in via his blog and twitter.
Tags: Communication
Twitter Alternative for Project Managers
John Kranz on 3. June 2009
For those who read German, our CEO has already weighed in on what he thinks of Twitter when it comes to serving as a useful tool for project managers. One obvious concern with Twitter is that the communications is open, so others can easily follow the tweets. The solution to this dilemma in ensuring privacy for the enterprise comes in the form of a twitter-alternative known as Yammer.
Tags: Communication, Twitter, Yammer
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