project management
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5 Questions to Ask in a Project Review Project managers often dread doing reviews, but they're necessary to make sure the project is on the right track. Progress can be affected by unclear definitions, risk, schedules, and cost, so it's important to evaluate whether the project manager, sponsors, and team members are all on the same page. |
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Know the “Why” behind Your Projects Every project has its own unique reason for existence. We often work on projects to deliver some kind of return for our organizations. When you start a project, do you know what that return is? When we know the reasons behind our work, we can be more successful—knowing why can create success. |
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The Difference between Plans and Planning As former president Dwight Eisenhower said, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." The fact that plans may have to change does not mean planning is a waste of time. In projects, it's always valuable to consider budgeting, resources, and timelines. |
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Shorten Your Feedback Loops to Build Better Software, Faster When we have short feedback loops, we are still in the moment for that feature. We still have the context. The longer the feedback loop, the less likely we are to still have all the context for the feature because we are on to the next piece of work. How long are your feedback loops? Can you shorten them? |
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Why Process Standardization Is a Terrible Idea Having a standard process everyone uses makes sense in theory. You could compare metrics and progress across teams and projects. But it practice, it becomes like comparing apples and oranges. Teams aren't all the same, and neither are projects. Each team need its own optimized way to deliver value. |
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The Art of People Facilitation: Servant Leadership and Team Dynamics Some senior level staff in various organizations struggle to embrace certain modern concepts of leadership and facilitation. Emotional intelligence, observation, and skilled listening all play into modern servant leadership. It is a new art among agile managers, but it's an art we can all learn. |
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Should You Cancel Your Next Meeting? Of course meetings are often necessary, but sometimes they are just rituals without meaning. At your job, would anyone recognize if a meeting weren't efficient or essential? When was the last time a meeting you were scheduled to attend was canceled because it wasn’t a good use of anyone’s time? |
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Expanded Schedules Pose Project Management Risks, Too We're all aware of the risks from projects that have overly aggressive schedules. But projects with leisurely schedules have risks, too. Extending a timeframe is supposed to give you more time to create quality products, but it can also lead to procrastination, changing teams and expectations, and more. |
