In This Issue:
From the Editor
Alan Koch on The Essence of Agility: Small, Self-directed Teams
Featured Bundle:
Close-out & Lessons Learned Bundle
Site Highlights
- It's Like Using a Crystal Ball in Reverse
- Dead Plan Talking
- The Fountain of Truth
- What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say
- We Will Begin With Our Traditional Blamestorming Exercise...
- You Say Pareto, I Say Po-tah-to...
Where's ProjectConnections?
Corporate Subscriptions
From the Editor
"I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today." My great-grandmother had that motto hanging on her wall the entire time I was growing up. The sentiment may seem a bit sugary when applied to project management, but like most such sentiments it frames a basic truth: the future is a lot easier to face when we're willing to take an unflinching look at our past and learn from it.
We do this instinctively in our daily lives because it makes life much easier. We put our hand on the stove and it burns, so we pull back and decide to buy an oven mitt. Lessons Learned meetings—whether you call them retrospectives or close-outs or post-mortems—are the same sort of experience applied on a group level. If your organization has never run lessons learned activities in the past it may feel stilted or bureaucratic at first, but it's really just the conscious application of the same learning process. Making everyone conscious of it means everyone can learn from the experiences of the few or the one, so we don't all have to plant our hands on the same flaming hot stove.
Whatever stage your project is in, whether it's large or mini, agile or linear, your team can learn from the lessons of yesterday. It may not make you completely sanguine about today's projects, but it will at least make tomorrow's a little less frightening.
Featured Article
The Essence of Agility: Small, Self-directed Teams, by Alan Koch
The Essence of Agility consists of those sets of behaviors that distinguish a truly Agile team from a bunch of hackers who are claiming to be Agile. They are the markers that any concerned stakeholder can use to answer an important question, "Are they being Agile? Or just lazy?"
Agile project teams are small (generally fewer than 12 individuals), and they self-direct (or manage themselves).
"Small" is easy to see. If the project consists of 20 or 50 or more contributors, it is unlikely that they will be able to self-direct as an Agile team should. (Although there are ways to break a large project into several self-directed teams who work in parallel with each other, we will not address that option in this article.)
"Self-Directed" is less obvious. What behaviors would indicate that a team is self-directing? Some people use the term self-directing synonymously with self-organizing and self-managing. The easiest way to think about these ideas is to watch the team's relationship with their management. Read more »
Want to hear from Alan in person? He'll be conducting a tutorial on Agile Software Development Methods at ICSPI 2008 (International Conference on Software Process Improvement) in Washington, DC on Monday, October 20, and several presentations Tuesday and Wednesday at the conference.
Vendor Assessment Checklist – PREMIUM
Even (especially) in Agile projects, any outside firms you hire are part of the team too. Choose them carefully.
Agile: Overview and Core Methods – MEMBER
Want a quick introduction to the various Agile flavors out there? This paper provides a high-level overview and explains some of the differences.
Agile Technique Guideline: Information Radiators – PREMIUM
Big Visible Charts keep everyone informed about your team's commitments and progress toward completion.
Featured Bundle
The endgame was chaotic, as usual, and the release and close out have followed the typical "two steps forward, one step back" mode, but it's finally (almost) done. How will you make sure that the hard-won lessons from this project—the things you vowed you'd never forget again—will be remembered in six months? All those lessons from the school of hard knocks don't do your team much good if you just have to re-learn them again over the next project. And if you don't record them where you and others can refer to them, they don't do your colleagues on other teams any good at all. This bundle of closeout resources will help you and your team work through it all, document the results, and share them with everyone who needs to know—which is usually everyone.
Find out more »
ProjectConnections bundles allow access to our templates without a Premium subscription, but they also provide a convenient licensing mechanism for project managers or PMO heads looking to supplement their project office resources. If you'd like your whole department or organization to benefit from this or any other ProjectConnections bundle, we'd be glad to provide licensing terms. Just email deanna@projectconnections.com for more information.
Site Highlights
It's Like Using a Crystal Ball in Reverse - Agile Technique Brief - Retrospectives – SPECIALThis Premium resource is free to registered Members until October 1, 2008
Often, the best forward progress comes from looking backward. Retrospectives are a technique that teams can use to inspect their progress in a project to date and identify opportunities for improvement in their processes, team dynamics, and decision-making as well as areas for continued excellence. The retrospective approach helps the team to take a look backward to move forward, with a key difference: there's no need to wait for the end of the project or even the end of a phase to collect and act on the team's lessons. This technique brief guides you through the agile retrospective process and—shows you how to make sure your team is using the results effectively. Get the technique brief »
Dead Plan Talking - Lessons Learned Meeting Report – PREMIUM
Even wildly successful projects end at some point. If your recently terminated project is more traditional in nature, you might prefer a more traditional approach to your Lessons Learned meeting. This sample agenda and report provides a useful model. The example report shows how to incorporate key project information into the meeting information in order to jog memories, and emphasizes positive actions and next steps based on the lessons uncovered. Completed with your team's lessons and suggestions it can be a useful reference for future projects, even if they're reincarnated with a completely different team. Plus, the constructive focus ensures that even troubled post-mortems won't be all about weeping and gnashing of teeth. Download the example report »
Lessons Learned Meeting Agenda – MEMBER
This sample agenda for a half-day lessons learned workshop illustrates how to allocate meeting time so the "what went wrong" portion doesn't outweigh discussions about what to do/repeat in future projects.
Project Closeout Meeting Agenda – PREMIUM
This version of the lessons learned approach expands the sample agenda to a full day and places the meeting in the context of project closeout activities like approval and release. Guidelines for running and facilitating the meeting are also included.
If the project staff is, for whatever reason, unable or unwilling to gather and brainstorm project lessons and challenges, try using a paper-based survey like this one for discovery. If it's a simple matter of logistics -- too many people over too many departments or locations -- a survey can provide a good starting point for streamlining the eventual discussions and focusing on the high-leverage items likely to need team input. But if you suspect that the political climate around the project might keep people from speaking their minds, a truly anonymous survey might help point management toward the elephant in the room. It's like a truth serum for traumatized project teams. You may be surprised what you discover! Download the survey »
What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say - Speaking Up: How to Make Your Case – SPECIALThis Premium resource is free to registered Members until October 1, 2008
Speaking up is a key leadership skill, whether or not you're officially the team leader. But you don't have to, and shouldn't, wait for the official lessons learned meeting at the end of the project. Everyone involved in a team effort should actively look for ways to improve, make recommendations, and generally be responsible to the team for its success—to speak up. This guideline provides an easy-to-learn model for making your case quickly and effectively, examples of how it works in realistic project scenarios, and a checklist of key factors that will help you get and keep credibility as you make your case. Get the guideline »
We Will Begin With Our Traditional Blamestorming Exercise... - Problem-Solving Tools and Techniques – PREMIUM
Sometimes, you need to shake up the routine a little bit (especially if the routine involves finger-pointing or stony silence). This guideline shows how structured problem-solving activities can redirect team focus to discovering and acting on the core of a problem, rather than treating symptoms or placing blame. The tools are illustrated in the framework of a six-step problem-solving process that your team can use to tackle thorny issues in an organized fashion. Get the guideline »
You Say Pareto, I Say Po-tah-to... - Conducting a Basic Pareto Analysis – MEMBER
However you say it, the Pareto chart can be a very helpful tool when trying to identify the best place to focus your project improvement efforts. Creating those fancy charts can be a little tricky, though. This guideline walks you through the steps for creating a well-plotted Pareto chart, and includes a ready-made Excel template if you'd rather just plug in the numbers and watch the magic. (Instructions and example are for Excel 2000+ but may be useful for software with similar features.) Get the template »
Where's ProjectConnections?
Kimberly Wiefling's scrappy "Creating a Vision for Your Future" workshop is famous from here to across the road, and could be just what you need to figure out which side of the road you want to drive on. Her next one is on September 20 in Redwood City, California. In October she returns to Tokyo for the Global Management Program October 3-4 (http://www.alc-education.co.jp/gmp) and Leadership for Breakthrough Results October 6-7.
Cinda Voegtli will be at the PMI Silicon Valley chapter meeting on September 22 to discuss Adopting and Adapting Project and Development Methodologies. If you've never had the chance to hear her live, this is a great opportunity to tune in to one of her favorite speaking topics.
Carl Pritchard has a new PMP® Exam Prep course in the works, October 1-2 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. If you're in the area (or could be) and will be taking The Test at some point, you can find out more on Carl's website. If you're too impatient to wait that long, or if you just prefer a more glamorous setting, you can check out his Risk Management seminar during PMI SeminarsWorld in Vegas September 10-11.
Randy Englund and co-author Alfonso Bucero will be in Denver, Colorado, at PMI SeminarsWorld October 22-23, where they will present a seminar on "Creating Excellence in Project Management."
Corporate Subscriptions and Licensing
Want your team members to have their own access to templates and how-to resources for their project work? Need to share documents and deliverables beyond your project team? We make it easier with affordable corporate subscriptions and licensing. Detailed information regarding corporate options is available online. Give your whole team, or even the entire organization, cost-effective access to our comprehensive online library of resources. You already know how helpful it's been for you. Now it's time to share with everyone else. Find out more »Not sure if corporate terms apply to you? Check out our licensing terms at the top of our Terms of Service page, in refreshingly ordinary, everyday English.