Project Hero Blog - Weekly Best Practices and Tips

Most agile projects rely on iterations; typically three week periods sometimes referred to as sprints.  Each sprint incorporates four agile events, formerly referred to as ceremonies, that help keep the project on track.  One event is scheduled daily, and the remainder is at the end of each sprint.  These events are:

• Daily stand-up meeting: Every day, the full team (facilitator,...

All projects generate vast amounts of data beyond regular items, such as retrospectives and lessons learned.  As the project progresses, the project manager needs to collect, index, and perhaps even diarize it for current and future use.

Project data and documents contain information such as:

• Changes to the product backlog for agile projects, change requests for predictive
• Performance of...

An important concept for agile projects is the “definition of done.” The team must discuss and understand this concept in terms of the specific project at hand before the first iteration.  Without this understanding, the ability to deliver value will be both difficult and chaotic. 

There are two overarching concepts which are ingredients in the definition:

• Requirements:...

As an agile project manager, you will need to change your mindset to succeed.  Your role and your team and stakeholders' roles will be different from what they would be in predictive (waterfall) projects.  How you manage will need to be different too.

Here are 6 tips to help you adjust:

1. Agile teams are largely self-organizing, so you will no longer drive the work and monitor the...

Introducing Siwan Sero, an accidental agile project manager who crushes her agile project assignment to become a project hero.

Excited to receive the proof copies today! Reviewed it and final author copies (with the non-proof cover) will be arriving soon. Watch for more updates soon about our virtual launch event on Wednesday, 4 November at 10am Pacific.

#accidentalpm #accidentalagilepm ...

In any project, there are four primary development life cycles. A fifth, hybrid, is any combination of these four.  These are for the phases of the projects which produce the product, service, or other results.

This chart breaks them down by the uses and attributes of the project activities and deliveries:

The critical difference is that agile projects produce deliverables over...

Organizations face the temptation to call everything a project. Then, they apply a project manager and a lot of overhead to manage them. So while the formal definition of a project includes "temporary" and "produces a unique result," smart managers apply some additional rules.  These may consist of complexity, the budget amount,  team size, or a combination to determine if an actual...

I was recently asked, "What is the time frame for total project completion?" The time frame for total project completion is when all project work is done and all project resources, including the project manager, can be released.  Total project completion should include the tested product, service, or other results that meet all client needs and expectations.  This time frame is a...

Conflict resolution is a skill that transcends roles. So regardless of the type of team I am managing, my response would be the same.

Tip #1: Set the rules and boundaries.  As a leader, you define the standards for conduct and enforce them. Part of your resource plan should also include time for team building.

First, it is important to establish the team as a safe space where open and...

A question I sometimes need to field is “what are the top 5 critical communication skills a Project Manager must possess to be successful?”.  There are more than 5 skills that revolve around communications, so the choice is a difficult one.

Then the proverbial light bulb went off! I decided my answer to this challenge involves looking for the “lowest common...