PMO Notebook is a site for Scrum practitioners, PMO Leaders, Program Managers and Project Managers - I've created this site to share information based on my experiences in those areas.
How do you join an in-progress program so that you rapidly come up to speed while avoiding the downside of exhausting yourself in the first few weeks?
When a new program manager joins the team, it can be stressful for everyone. You can ease that stress with a solid approach to coming into the program.
This article shares elements of the approach I tailor as the situation warrants along with some helpful tips.
Are you thinking about becoming a program manager or are you new to such a position? Or maybe you are guiding someone who is interested in being a program manager.
It's a challenging role. There are so many areas in which to become proficient.
Most of the courses and books you'll find will help you plan and manage a program successfully. However, before you can be successful in leading programs, you'll need a foundation of understanding.
This article gives you a launching point for building this foundation, with links to books and reference publications that can serve as a starting point for your learning journey to become a top-notch program manager.
When your customer lacks confidence in your ability to deliver solutions to their needs, what recovery actions can you take?
Read about these three approaches that have helped turn around such situations:
How can a program director or program manager effectively support the team the team's time management, information flow and priorities?
Here are four experience-based tips to encourage ideas and communication while at the same time bringing a sense of order to the abundance of information that the team will undoubtedly need to reference:
This article delves into these 4 approaches a program manager can start implementing today!
How can a program director or program manager effectively manage their own time, information flow and priorities?
Here are 4 techniques that I've found to be effective:
This article delves into these 4 approaches a program manager can start implementing today!
The transition to becoming a self-organized team involves a fundamental change in how individuals, teams, and management approach their respective responsibilities. Traditionally managed teams depend upon anointed leaders who give direction, track progress and push the project to completion. Self-organized teams operate quite differently, and in such a team there is no explicit or implicit role of “project leader” or “project manager.” In the context of a self-organized team, this article describes how to implement the daily stand-up meeting.
Read more: The Daily Stand-Up Meeting - A Core Practice for Self-Organizing Teams
While the concept of a project retrospective is easy to grasp, it is all too easy to fail when trying to implement the concept. Esther Derby and Diana Larsen have literally written the book on retrospectives - here is their five-step approach with some specific tips to get your project teams effectively conducting project retrospectives.
Read more: Retrospectives 4 - The Perfect Project Retrospective
If you are a manager and your team is adopting Scrum, then you can anticipate some confusion and ambiguity about your role in the transition to Agile methods. It isn't clear how your management background, skills, expertise and routines will fit into this new world of Scrum. With no definition of a manager role in the Scrum Guide, what are you to do? What skills will you need? How will you know if you are successful? Here's a starter set of five areas in which every "agile" manager will need to be skilled.
Read more: Agile Transformation: Managers Need to Flourish in These 5 Areas
A Scrum implementation is a difficult endeavor that can fracture relationships, diminish team performance, and impact business outcomes. Or, it can drive teams to higher levels of performance in delivering increased value. Here are a few tips for a team that can help your Scrum Implementation be successful.
Read more: Agile Transformation: Tips for New Scrum Teams Navigating the Journey
Some project teams celebrate the completion of a project, while many others let this milestone pass without any special recognition for the team of the accomplishment. I've been in both environments, and greatly prefer a company, organization and team culture that acknowledges efforts and accomplishments - these places are just more enjoyable. A little appreciation expressed by co-workers, a project manager or upper management can be an important positive factor for project teams. As project manager, it is incumbent upon you to encourage a project culture that incorporates an appropriate amount of recognition for individual and team accomplishments.
Read more: We're Done With the Project. Now it's Time to Celebrate!
Introducing Agile methods to a team is frequently approached as a sequence of training events for the team, perhaps a tool purchase, and a period of coaching. Organizational Agile Transformation is a less developed field of practice, and I think much more complex because it has impacts far beyond the Agile Team, touching product managers, executives, financial planning and much more. The inherent risks of such a complex transformation create a need for a few essential leadership skills - I've identified three skills areas that I see as crucial for any Agile Transformation Leader.
Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Project Managers, PMOs and Executives are all in the business of introducing changes that provide benefit to customers, the organization and employees. It is the rare team that listens to your outstanding transformation idea and immediately proceeds with implementation. This journey of change is almost always faced with resistance, challenges and detours. Familiarity with Organizational Change Management methods is a key enabler for success. I gravitate to Kotter's Leading Change framework, but there are other methods and techniques that might be better suited for your transformation initiative.
Read more: Who Needs Organizational Change Management Methods? Can't We Just Tell Them What to Do?