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
Agile and Project Management Talks at SXSW 2012
Dave Prior on 23. August 2011
Last year I attended SXSW for the first time. While I had intended to spend my days basking in the onslaught of music and film that it is known for, what I actually spent my time doing was focusing mostly on the talks that centered on Agile and Project Management. Each of the presentations on PM and Agile were very well attended. In some cases there was a line waiting to get in, so there is a definite hunger for information at the event. Unfortunately, with the exception of one talk (given by Brett Harned and Pamela Villacorta) the content presented in most of the PM and Agile talks was disappointing.
SXSW 2012 is right around the corner and they’ve opened the area where people can vote on proposed topics. If you’ve got a few minutes, follow the links below to become an SXSW 2012 Panel Picker, search for Agile and PM presentations vote Thumbs Up for the ones you think look interesting. This Spring, there will be another crowd of PMs in Austin who are interested in learning about project management and how to do it better. Help make sure the talks they get to choose from are going to help them raise their game. Who knows… you may end up working with some of them someday. (more…)
Tags: agile, Agile PM, Agile Project Management, Bas de Baar, Dave Prior, Panda Transport, Panel Picker, Project Manager, Project Shrink, SXSW, SXSW 2012
Risky Business
Dave Prior on 27. May 2011
Ask any Project Manager if they think Risk Management is an important part of successful project management and they’ll all say yes. Ask them if they actually use Risk Management consistently throughout the entire project lifecycle and you’ll probably see far fewer hands go up.
In my own personal experience, I have found that there is almost nothing that eases the path of a project as much as a consistent and disciplined approach to Risk Management. There are two very simple reasons why a consistent approach to capturing, evaluating and managing risk is so critical to managing projects. (more…)
Tags: Dave Prior, Elements, Merlin, Project Manager, Risk Management
Managing Projects on the Mac and the iPad
Dave Prior on 11. May 2011
Over the past few weeks I’ve been able to give a few presentations about doing project management on the Mac and on the iPad. I had a few requests so I thought I would post them.
The first is the presentation I gave in the Philadelphia Walnut St. Apple Store on how to manage projects using a Mac: Managing Projects on a Mac.
The second is the one I gave at the PMI Lehigh Valley Professional Development Day on how to use the iPad as a Project Management tool: The iPad and Project Management
Tags: Dave Prior, iPad OS, iPhone, Mac OS X, Merlin, Merlin iPhone, PM, Project Manager
The iPad2 and Project Management
Dave Prior on 11. March 2011
Last year when Apple unveiled the iPad, I, along with countless others were overcome with that all too familiar craving for new gear from Cupertino. Having tried and quickly abandoned several tablets running the other operating system, I was hopeful that the iPad would gain the acceptance it has rightfully earned, but as a project manager, I was mostly curious about how this new device would fit in with my job. The Windows tablets I had tried in the past always seemed to make my job harder. So, when I purchased it, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do it… but like I said… The craving…
Since then I’ve found a number of ways the original iPad enables me in managing projects and best of all, I’m able to use it with Merlin. And now, we have the iPad 2. (more…)
Tags: iPad, iPad OS, iPhone, Merlin, Merlin iPhone, PM, Project Manager
Letting go of the Concrete Life Raft
Dave Prior on 30. December 2010
By Dave Prior for Scrumalliance.org
On my first day of work on a job where my very official job title was listed as “Project Manager”, a stressed out, old, bearded guy took me and the other newly minted PM into a room to teach us how to do our job. The first thing he said was, “When I am done with you, everything you do will be a project. You’ll be unable to look at the world any other way.” Truer words were never spoken. Looking at the world as a series of smaller tasks, with dependencies, a baseline, and a critical path invaded every corner of my brain. I stopped brushing my teeth and started executing a series of steps, which had dental hygiene as a measure of success. A few years later, after months of study, I passed the PMP exam and began trying to impose my “enlightened” approach on the rest of the world with results that were occasionally successful, but mostly, not so much. Read more bei Scrumalliance.
Tags: agile, Extreme programming, PM, Project, Project Manager, Scrum, Waterfall
ProjectPotion 19 – The Year of the iPad!
Dave Prior on 23. December 2010
Bas and Dave debate whether the year of the iPad was 2010, or will be 2011… (more…)
Tags: Dave Prior, iPad, iPad OS, iPhone, Merlin, PM, Project Manager
ProjectPotion 18 – Dave Goes to Øredev
Dave Prior on 23. December 2010
Bas interviews Dave about his experiences at Øredev 2010 (more…)
Tags: Øredev, Dave Prior, Merlin, MS Project, PM, Project Manager
Øredev 2010 Wrap Up
Dave Prior on 19. November 2010
Someone should give Michael Tiberg a cape!
I’m just back from Øredev 2010 and it was awesome! I am very fortunate in that I have the opportunity to attend and speak at a lot of conferences but none of them are like Øredev.
For the unfamiliar, Øredev is held each fall in Malmo, Sweden. It is put on by Jayway and organized by Michael Tiberg and Emily Holweck (who should also get a cape). This year they drew over 1,000 attendees from all over the world. The primary focus of the conference is development, but the topics addressed cover such a wide range that there is never a moment when you can’t find something that will spark your interest. (more…)
Tags: Dave Prior, iPad OS, iPhone, PM, Project Manager
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Project Potion #46(ish) – Using Social Media. Two Years Later
Dave Prior on 23. September 2011
ProjectWizards’ Dave Prior and The Project Shrink, Bas de Baar, catch up on social media and project management. (more…)
Tags: Dave Prior, Project Manager