Johanna Rothman

Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” provides frank advice for your tough problems. She helps leaders and teams see problems and resolve risks and manage their product development.

She was the agileconnection.com technical editor for six years. Johanna is the author of these books:

From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver (with Mark Kilby)
Create Your Successful Agile Project: Collaborate, Measure, Estimate, Deliver
Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects, 2nd edition
Agile and Lean Program Management: Scaling Collaboration Across the Organization
Project Portfolio Tips: Twelve Ideas for Focusing on the Work You Need to Start & Finish
Diving for Hidden Treasures: Finding the Value in Your Project Portfolio (with Jutta Eckstein)
Predicting the Unpredictable: Pragmatic Approaches to Estimating Project Schedule or Cost
Manage Your Job Search
Hiring Geeks That Fit
The 2008 Jolt Productivity award-winning Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management
Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (with Esther Derby)

Read her blog and other articles on her site, jrothman.com. She also writes a personal blog on createadaptablelife.com.

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All Stories by Johanna Rothman

Four Steps to Avoid Micromanaging and Get Good Work Results

There is a big difference between micromanaging people and understanding their state. If you need a project done quickly, you may be tempted to stand over employees' shoulders asking, "Is it done yet?" But if you leave the team alone and simply check in regularly, you'll get better results.

Calculating the Real Cost of Multitasking on Your Projects

The cost of delay due to multitasking is real. It’s invisible to most people, especially management. It’s not just the cost of time lost due to context switching; it’s the fact that projects don't get out on time, which hurts your maximum sales revenue. How do you calculate these costs of delay?

The Cost of Delay for Not Shipping on Time

The cost of delay is the way to think about the revenue you can lose plus the cost of continued development. When you delay your release and don’t ship on time, you miss the revenue from the maximum sales times. Shipping on time isn't always easy, but it's easy to see why you need to.

Why We Should Get Rid of Bonus-Based Pay

There are several problems with basing a knowledge worker's pay on a bonus. In a team-based organization, management often doesn't know who did exactly what work; people concentrate on their own objectives rather than working together; and whether some targets are hit depends on too many factors.

The Power Index: Why a Transition to Agile Is a Cultural Issue, Too

In countries with high power indices, it’s more difficult for people in less powerful positions to talk to people in more powerful positions. A transition to agile exposes this power differential, which can be uncomfortable or intimidating. Read on for ways you can help people adopt agile practices.

Four Truths Every Manager Should Learn

Many managers seem to be in the wrong position. They don’t know or don’t care about management, and that leads them to do crazy things. It’s OK to be an unseasoned manager. Everyone starts somewhere. But you must be willing to ask for help and not think you have all the answers. Read on for advice.

Understand Your Teams' Concerns about Moving to Continuous Integration

How do you help your teams bring the entire product together on a periodic basis, regardless of their technical practices? Continuous integration is a real problem for a number of reasons. But you can’t solve the problems you don’t know about, so ask for the impediments first. You may be surprised.

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