Category Archives: startup
Manage Your Portfolio of Problems Part 1
Does your team and organization suffer from numerous problems and issues? Do more issues crop up each time you try to solve something? Managing your problems as a portfolio may help you. One of the keys to improving your team … Continue reading
Improve your business with Methodologies, procedures and frameworks
Do you have a methodology in your business? A framework? Procedures? Does it matter? When methodologies are first deployed there is a flurry of activity where everyone is trained and then set loose upon an unsuspecting world with binders under … Continue reading
How to raise your company from failure to success
If your company is in dire straights and you’re headed to oblivion, below are some of the basic things we can do to extend our competitive company life – our ‘runway’ as it’s often called. The most important activities are … Continue reading
How to improve your productivity by using structure in your process
Once an organization reaches a certain size (say more then 30 people) it makes sense to set up a little bit of structure behind the way things are done. You often hear the objection “but we don’t need procedures or … Continue reading
Filed under alignment, appraisals, attitude, audits, checklist, CMMI, Effectiveness & Efficiency, executive, improvement, innovation, ISO9001, leadership, manager, method, organization change, PMO, problems, process improvement, productivity, project management, startup, strategy, structure, templates
When to resign and find a better company
Why resign? It depends on what matters to you. Many people join the company but leave their boss. How much does your manager matter? There are loads of books, presentations, articles, websites and standards on building and maintaining a continually … Continue reading
Project Kickoffs Improve Performance
I was recently asked about why project kickoffs are important – surely people could just read the Project Management Plan and Project Charter. Nice in theory – rather more difficult in practice. It’s always better to get everyone in a … Continue reading
Filed under improvement, PMO, project management, risk, startup
Recommended Reading
After my tirade yesterday, I was asked for MY recommended reading. While there are already lots of lists around, here are a few of my favourites: 4 Steps to the Epiphany (Blank) The Mythical Man Month (Brooks) Death March (Yourdon) … Continue reading
Filed under agile, books, improvement, innovation, method, organization change, people, process improvement, software quality, startup
A Day in Refactoring Agile Project Process Part 2
12.30 Lunch We have a great lunch at Tokio’s in Melbourne CBD. The team highly recommended it as fantastic for the sukiyaki-don and other specialties. Sounded good and they were right – it was a great experience. We have a … Continue reading
Filed under agile, appraisals, audits, CMMI, improvement, innovation, ISO9001, method, organization change, people, PMO, problems, process improvement, startup, strategy, templates
A Day in Refactoring Agile Project Process Part 1
8am Breakfast Meeting We’re here with the project team and find ourselves in the local coffeeshop. Attending is the entire project team (2 BAs, 6 developers, 1 tester, project team lead) and a number of managers and PMO rep. We … Continue reading
Filed under agile, appraisals, audits, CMMI, improvement, innovation, KPI, method, metrics, organization change, people, problems, process improvement, startup, strategy
Project Reviews and Alignment With Strategy
How often do we see project healthchecks, appraisals, assessments, audits, reviews, and company breathalyzers where the results are praised by management and then shelved. Perhaps even with the best of intentions: Management didn’t agree with the findings They didn’t have … Continue reading
Filed under agile, alignment, appraisals, audits, CMMI, improvement, innovation, method, organization change, people, problems, process improvement, ROI, sales, startup, strategy
