The Latest

Kent McDonald writes that identifying objectives and the assumptions underlying them provides you a way to measure whether the result of your project will actually get you closer to what you are trying to accomplish, as well as the impact your various assumptions have on reaching that objective. 

Charuta Phansalkar writes on the necessity of capturing and understanding requirements using agile practices. Agile, when implemented effectively, will ensure that the customer's voice is clearly understood throughout the project, which results in maximum customer satisfaction.

It used to be that a project manager did one thing: manage the success of the project. As IT budgets shrink and job responsibilities expand, there is no such thing as a typical project manager role. You're expected to wear many hats, facilitate human resource issues, become a subject matter expert, and assist with key technical activities.

Whole team testing makes product quality everyone's business. It can also make people uncomfortable. Matt explains how this new way to approach project quality helps with leading retrospectives, conducting defect analysis, and mitigating project risks.

Jean Richardson shares a story about how the idea of pervasive leadership can help you manage a successful project. In order to practice pervasive leadership, one must change one's mental model of "I" and "thou," act locally and think holistically, and enact empathetic stewardship.

Johanna Rothman explains the challenges and pitfalls of micromanagement. Sometimes, managers micromanage when they need information. In that case, it’s easier to create an information radiator rather than have the manager come running to you every thirty minutes.

The needs to improve the time to market of a quality product and adapt to a changing business environment are driving organizations to adopt agile practices in order to be competitive in the marketplace. However, a project team is bound to face difficulties if it is not trained on the fundamentals of agile. Read on to learn how to design scenarios for agile stories using a structured framework.