Look
who’s talking 1 – Doing
lattes
In search of the accidental conversation
I am constantly amazed by the number of project managers who believe,
that e-mailing (especially using Outlook) is an effective communication
process.
If there is one thing that Agile Project Managers do more than
anything else it is communicating. Stakeholders, sponsors, team
members and related project managers must be brought into the planning
and the development process and, once included, they must be constantly
kept “in the loop”.
One of the most influential people in my professional career is Gerry Weinberg. I first met Gerry in 1974 (don’t faint younger readers) when he and Daniel Freedman ran a workshop for Trainers in Melbourne. I strongly recommend any of Gerry’s numerous books.
I remember walking in to the workshop and finding all the tables and chairs pushed really closely together and at the back of the room making it very difficult for all of us participants to sit down. As a traditional Anglo-Saxon, I also found it uncomfortable that I was “forced” to sit so close to the next person I could easily smell his aftershave.
Spock’s
Law Version 1
There’s a wonderful book called Everything I really need
to learn in life I learnt from Star Trek by Dave Marianaccio.
Time and time again I am asked in workshops about the difficulty
many project managers have in handling “difficult” stakeholders.
Often, like Dave ,when asked difficult questions I think to myself “What
would Kirk or Spock say here?”What I call Spock’s Law emerged
at the wrenching end of “Star Trek II The Revenge of Khan”.
Tales from the Planet Poonsbain Part
1
The strange tale of missing socks & bras
and project management.
As
a consultant and educator, I have seen many strange and puzzling
things throughout the companies I have visited. However, there
is one especially strange and puzzling thing that has confounded
me all those years.
“Where do those missing socks and bras
go to when they disappear from the washing machine?”
This question has confronted many people and, as a consultant,
I have explored this question and various solutions. For example,
in the UK, everyone has front-loading machines with very, very
small holes so the socks and bras cannot simply be sucked out in
the spin cycle? In Australia, we have a Fisher & Paykel direct
drive machine with holes so small you can hardly see them.
Tales from the Planet Poonsbain Part
2
Can project managers ask for help?
One of the most common topics
that we discuss in our Agile Project Management workshops and
during our consults is the topic of sponsors and their behaviour.
The typical comments include:
“My sponsor is too busy. She
keeps cancelling our meetings.”
“My sponsor just says
JFDI (for those readers who do not know this acronym, it has
something to do with Just F*****g Do It).”