In This Issue:
From the Editor
Alan Koch on Progressive Requirements Elaboration
Agile Corner:
All Parts Included
Agile Methodology Brief: FDD
Featured Templates:
It's All Right Here, In Black and White
I Did It My Way (And You Will Too!)
I Hear Blimps Are Cheap These Days
Well, Who Can We Get Confirmed?
Stock Up on Canned Goods!
Project Practitioners Blog
Bundle: Meeting Management and Running Effective Meetings
Where's ProjectConnections?
- This month: Japan, California and Maryland
Corporate Subscriptions
From the Editor
Buffeted by rapidly shifting circumstances, business these days is all about adaptation. We still have to get projects completed and meet revenue goals, but in many cases we have to meet these goals with radically different budgets, staffing, and business requirements than we had when we started. Shrewd project managers know there are a variety of strategies we can use to adapt and thrive. Solid project plans and a clear understanding of customer requirements helps us figure out where we're going. Rethinking our project methodologies and goals can help us figure out how to get there. And at-a-glance reviews of our staffing and status show us what we need to change and who can help us change it. This week we're highlighting a selection of tools to help you accomplish all this, and more.
Featured Article
What makes a project "Agile"? Progressive Requirements Elaboration, by Alan Koch
In the first two installments of this series, we discussed three important behaviors of an Agile team. Each of those three behaviors requires a change to the way we elicit and manage requirements.
If we are to focus only on our customer's needs, we might decide that no requirements should be documented. That way we would have ultimate flexibility in reacting to our customer's needs!
But that gives us no basis for planning and managing the project. We need an understanding of what the project is supposed to deliver so we can ensure that appropriate resources and time are brought to bear. (That is why we like big up-front requirements with sign-offs!)
Progressive requirements elaboration allows an Agile team to balance their customer's need for flexibility with their own need to plan their work. Although there is no simple formula for how an Agile team does its work, we will use Scrum (one of the Agile Methods) as our touchstone in talking about this behavior. (Please note that your team may not be precisely following these steps, but may still be taking an Agile approach to their requirements.) Read more »
Agile Corner
All Parts Included, by Laszlo Szalvay, President, Danube Technologies"As discussed in part one, the past decade has seen agile software development-and Scrum, its most popular subset-reshape how businesses manage projects. Because Scrum asks teams to organize work into consistent and repeatable cadences, known as sprints, its approach to development is iterative and incremental. That is, unlike waterfall development, in which a project is completed in a linear, sequential manner, Scrum allows teams to work in 'chunks.' That's a simplistic take on how Scrum departs from traditional waterfall, but the key difference of an organization's ability to respond quickly to conditions as they arise is what constitutes agility. From a business standpoint, this is very valuable. When a company can react quickly to a customer's sudden feature request or a rival product that goes to market first, it is designed for survival. Given the current global economic crisis has many executives wondering how to ensure their businesses' longevity, Scrum's competitive edge is a very attractive path to developing the products customers want, while enduring the recession in the process." Read more »
NEW – Agile Method Brief: FDD – SPECIALThis Premium resource is free to registered Members until February 18
Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an iterative software development methodology intended for use by large teams working on a project using object-oriented technology. The methodology description includes some prescription about what tasks should be done and what roles should be doing them, so many do not consider it a truly agile methodology. But FDD is good for organizations that are transitioning from a phase-based approach to an iterative approach and aren't yet comfortable getting rid of all task and role assignments. It demonstrates that you can focus on domain modeling on an iterative and incremental project, and that agile-like methodologies can scale. Read the brief »
Featured Templates
NEW –It's All Right Here, In Black and White – Generic Project Plan Document – PREMIUMWe often get asked what a project plan looks like. The truth is, of course, that it depends on the project. But it's possible to draw some generic parallels across most projects. This plan outline originated from a standard developed for technically oriented projects, but most of the sections apply to any project. This version includes annotations to explain the use of each section, to make it easier to adapt the plan for different situations, and different project sizes. Fold, spindle, and mutilate as needed to create the right plan for your unique brand of project.
I Did It My Way (And You Will Too!) – Mini Case: Getting Process-Skeptical Teams to Adapt and Use PM and Development Processes – MEMBER
Sure, you can mandate compliance, but how often does that actually work? Even when every project seems radically different from the next, you can implement project management processes and development methodologies that work for everyone. This mini-case covers how a relatively new, entrepreneurial, fast-growing high-tech company accomplished a workable, adaptable process -- and broad buy-in -- in the face of push-back characterizing project management as "just bureaucracy" that would kill creativity and couldn't be applied to their uncertain work.
I Hear Blimps Are Cheap These Days – Career Management as Personal Marketing – MEMBER
Not exactly what you had in mind when you said you wanted your name in lights? We can't really say that we blame you. But if you want to market yourself, you do have to think like a marketer. (Step away from the blimp; that's not what we meant.) This paper provides a comprehensive picture of valuable skills you can develop as you move through your career, along with the very important context of why you need them (from the "customer's" viewpoint). Presentation skills, technical expertise, meeting management skills, networking, business understanding, and so on can provide incredible career leverage. Develop a personal strategy for honing those skills and continually marketing yourself, without all that hot air.
Well, Who Can We Get Confirmed? – Project Manager Development Profile – MEMBER
Department heads don't have the dubious benefit of thousands of applicants and a 535-person approval committee for their hires. You have to work with what you've got. But what -- or who -- do you have, exactly? This one-page form allows comprehensive assessment and development planning for individual project managers across categories such as management skills, career ambition, and short- and long-term growth potential. It can serve as an individual coaching/assessment tool as well as a guideline for personnel growth and assignments. (More bureaucratic organizations may want to customize with extra columns for taxes filed and domestic employees.)
Stock Up on Canned Goods! – Simple Portfolio Status Reports – SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until February 18
As status reports go, it's evocative, but not exactly informative. Less alarmist, but hopefully more enlightening, this status format gives executives a quick, very visual record of the status of several projects at once. Instead of overwhelming (and these days, probably gory) details, it provides a high-level view of critical problems in the portfolio and specific areas of vulnerability. Rapid review and identification of issues allows the decision-makers to focus discussion and resources where they're most needed, instead of getting distracted by the depleting stocks of canned peas.
Project Practitioners Blog
Margaret de Haan on seven reasons she's glad her projects aren't perfect.Sinikka Waugh on risk management and 6 common sources of risk.
Alfonso Bucero on managing multicultural teams.
Randy Englund asks what's your interaction quotient?
Featured Bundle
Meeting Management and Running Effective Meetings
At first we did remote work because it was cool. These days we're doing it because someone woke up and realized that business travel costs money. Considering all the challenges involved in getting everyone together these days, it's more important than ever to make meetings productive and efficient. Despite the prevailing corporate jokes, it is possible to have both, and still wrap things up on time. This bundle can help. Formatting examples speed up your meeting planning. Checklists guide you through meeting diagnosis and improvement. Special guidelines address unique meeting types, and a wide selection of agenda examples provides a starting point for one of your most important meeting habits. The Meeting Management Bundle is a fast path to fundamental techniques and real world tools that will make sure your meetings are effective, attended (!), and worthwhile for everyone.
Find out more »
Want to license these templates for your organization? Contact us for licensing terms.
Where's ProjectConnections?
Randy Englund will be in Santa Clara, California on February 5 with fellow author and consultant Dr. Robert Lauridsen to present a full day workshop: "Powering-Up Your Interaction Quotient: Creating Intended Results ... Consistently." Visit Ultimate in Success for more information and registration.Carl Pritchard is finishing up a PMP Prep course in Maryland this week. February 26-27 he'll be teaching the Essentials of Project Management in the Big Apple (in the World Trade Center area), and March 4 he'll begin a course on PM Fundamentals at Frederick Community College in Maryland.
Kimberly Wiefling is in Japan for most of February, conducting leadership workshops in Osaka and Tokyo.
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.