Leveraging the Frog in the Pot
Everyone has heard of that metaphor of a frog in a pot of water: put the little guy in hot water and he’ll jump right out, heat the water gradually and he’ll just hang out there. The gradual changes are too subtle for him to perceive them and do anything about it. This explains why a lot of team environments are the way they are, and might even give us an idea about what we can do about it. Read more
Work Breakdown Breakdown
One of the most useful tools to support consistency across projects is also one of the most misunderstood and widely overloaded tools: the work breakdown structure. Let’s tear this thing apart and look inside. Read more
The Rule of Three
When I first started focusing on improvement initiatives (over a dozen years ago now), the typical approach was to perform a deep analysis and come up with a big laundry list of recommended changes. That never did much more than pad the wallets of the consulting firm that provided the recommendations. For that reason alone, I’m sure the approach won’t be going away soon. For the improvee, though, the victim of these massive recommendations, there remains hope for a better way. Apply the Rule of Three. Read more
Many Sources, One List
On any project, regardless of the size or complexity or uncertainty involved, there is one thing you know darned well to expect: things will change. To ignore or be surprised by potential changes is to set yourself up for heaps of trouble. It is important to recognize that change can come from many different directions. In addition, once you have collected all these potential changes from all over the place, it is critical that you triage all of them together, in a single list. Read more
Misguided Consistency
In almost every process improvement initiative I have seen, whether based on some sort of guidance (such as CMMI, ISO, RUP, Scrum, or…pick your favourite) or not, there is significant emphasis on standardization of process. PMO implementations usually provide a process binder, maybe a bunch of templates to complete on each project. Often, the people that drive these implementations see the job as done once these ‘deliverables’ are delivered. All this consistency is completely misguided. Read more
Top of Mind
A few months ago, I posted some data that suggests that when we compare performance against different approaches to developing software, no particular brand stands out. Each approach appears to provide some net value in some area of performance, but there is no clear winner in the broad-based “this is the best way to develop our products” competition. There might be a couple of well known effects at play here. Read more
Best Foot Forward
There are many approaches that teams can take to improve. One thing that any team needs to understand before they should even try to get better is to understand why they would even bother to do so. There needs to be a clear and compelling reason for doing something different than they are currently doing, or any attempt to change is doomed to failure. Usually, that ‘why’ is sitting right under their noses, hiding in plain sight. Read more
Looking Forward
Filed under: Agility, Leadership, Process, Quality, Teamwork
As usual, heading down to Portland for the PNSQC conference this week provided me with a great deal of food for thought. This year, more than ever, I see signs that this industry might finally be maturing, getting over some of the bickering and posturing that seems to characterize the software sector more than anywhere else. Read more
Control and Management
Filed under: Leadership, Process, Project management, Quality
The terms Control and Management are often used interchangeably for a variety of activities in product development: configuration, change, risk, process, and so on. From my perspective, there is a difference between the attitude (implied or expressed) with these words, and for a couple of reasons, I tend to lean towards management over control. Read more
Norms and Rules
Filed under: Leadership, Process, Project management, Quality
I was chatting with someone the other day about my upcoming trip to Germany (I’m actually writing this one in the departure lounge). He was over there during the summer, and as a way of helping me ensure I had a good time, he noted “just remember, there are social norms over there, but there are no social rules”. Makes me ponder the relationship between the two. Read more
