Status meetings let team members report what they’re doing and whether they’re hitting targets, and they help the project manager identify weaknesses early and make adjustments. Unfortunately, all too often these meetings are boring. They don't have to be! Read on for tips on making them productive.

From Freakonomics coauthor Stephen Dubner: "A ‘sunk cost’ is just what it sounds like: time or money you've already spent. The sunk-cost fallacy is when you tell yourself that you can't quit because of all that time or money you spent. We shouldn't fall for this fallacy, but we do it all the time."

If you are starting a transition to agile, first ask yourself: Why do we want to transition to agile? Agile is about the ability to respond to change. Once you understand what your organization’s issues are and you can resolve them, you can move to a program.