Kent McDonald

Kent J. McDonald, partner and co-founder of Accelinnova, has more than a decade of experience guiding successful projects and designing business solutions in a variety of industries, including financial services, health insurance, performance marketing, human services, non profit, and automotive.

In this column, Kent addresses questions about projects and project leadership with answers heavily influenced by the business value focus of agile principles. By providing answers to common questions about project leadership, Kent demonstrates how agile practices can be applied in organizations, focusing on his "Words To Lead By: Collaborate; Iterate; Serve The Team; Consider Context; Practice Excellence; Reflect And Adapt; Deliver Value."

Kent has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from Kent State University. He is co-founder, and Treasurer of the Agile Project Leadership Network, is a founder of the Agile Iowa Group, and is on the planning committee for the Agile 2007 Conference. He welcomes questions about project leadership with a focus on value at kent@kentmcdonald.com.

Teching Up a 19th-Century Pastoral Game
What baseball can teach us about technology rollouts.
There are several lessons to be learned about introducing a new process or system to a group of users from watching MLB dipping their toes in the technology pool. Because I am a big believer in learning from others' experiences, I thought I would share some of them with you.
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Running the Numbers
Budgets show how much money a project takes. Building a simple financial model shows you how they make money too.
Most project budgets are static, or are at least built to be very difficult to change. This limits the team's ability to quickly test out different scenarios based on different cost or revenue projections, which limits the information available for their decision-making.
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User Illusions
Just one customer representative to talk to, seated with the development team all the time... sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? Be careful what you ask for.
Agile advocates like to brag that one of the advantages of agile methods is that they stress regular involvement of the "customer" throughout the life of the project. Some people refer to the concept as the "single wringable neck."
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A Fool With a Tool
A tool in the right hands is powerful. But if the users haven't been properly prepared, it may creates more problems than it solves.
"If only we had a tool to do that..." And so it begins.
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Leading from Within: Supporting the Right Project Team
Projects call for several different kinds of leadership -- but only one should come from the project leader.
Let's face it, if you went to all of that work to form the right team, you would certainly hope that your work as a Project Lead was done, right? Oh, if only it were that easy. Read more ...

Picking the Right Project Team
What does the "best" development organization look like? Some key characteristics of high-performing teams.
Whenever possible, you want to make sure you have the right people on your team. So who are the right people? Read more ...

What Are We Building Again?
A concrete alternative to the usual Easter egg hunt approach to project scope statements.
For some reason, not knowing what a project is really supposed to accomplish is a common problem. Scope issues can lead to bigger problems down the road on the other two sides of that infamous Iron Triangle. Read more ...

Move Boulders, Don't Throw Pebbles
Why PMs need to sit back, bite their tongues, and learn to like the squares (for now)
Project Leaders willingly accept responsibility for protecting the team from outside distractions such as scope changes or demands from other parts of the organization. However, these same leaders often fail to realize that they can be a distraction to the team as well. Read more ...

What Is Agile, Really?
Kent McDonald discusses his Words to Lead By and the seven strategies he believes will change project management for the better.
I often find myself talking to people about agile outside of a formal presentation setting, usually in response to the infamous 'so what do you do?' question at fundraiser dinners or cocktail parties. Often, these are people who are not in the software business, so the inevitable question comes up: 'What is agile really, and can it apply outside the world of software development? Read more ...

What Does an Agile Project Plan Look Like?
Would you know an agile project plan if you saw one? Kent McDonald compares agile planning practices to traditional PM.
These differences could very well give experienced project managers a reason to stop and think. Many of these ideas run counter to what they have been taught and have practiced for several years. Read more ...

Questions from the Field: Do Agile Projects Require Different PM Skills?
How is leading an agile project different from leading a traditional one? For one thing, you spend a lot more time carrying water.
There are several differences between Traditional projects and true Agile projects that—from a project management perspective—can best be summed up by the concept of self organization. In traditional projects, the project manager not only provides the vision of the team, but also directs and manages the team... Read more ...

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