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

The Truth behind Software Development Estimates

The problem with estimation is that software is not construction. We can’t create software the same way we build a house or manufacture anything else. We can't say, “We can build this software for x dollars per square foot.” But other people often think of our estimates that way. What can you do?

Ease Your Transition to Agile and Learn What Your Team Needs

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.

What You Can Learn from Sony about Cost Versus Value

Sony is now worth a fraction of what it was ten years ago because the company started asking, "What will make us the most money right now?" Your question should not be how much something costs; you should be asking, “How much value will this project provide?” Learn to tell the difference.

Good Project Managers Don't Move Employees Like Chess Pieces

When you move people from project to project before they've finished their work, you deny them the opportunity to learn domain expertise. You want to leave people to finish projects, learn the product, and create solid teams. Good managers don't move employees like chess pieces.

Advice for Geographically Distributed Teams Transitioning to Agile

You have any number of choices for your lifecycle if you are a geographically distributed team transitioning to agile. But some choices are better than others, and you may need a coach. Similarly, there are many tools available, but you, the team, should choose which you use, not your management.

For Agile Program Iterations, Short Is Beautiful

For programs, the risks are too high to have longer times between integration points and demos. Waiting too long increases potential delays, which increases risks. You want feature teams in your program working together, so you want short iterations and small stories connecting often and everywhere.

Think Test Offshoring Is Automatically Less Expensive? Think Again

Why does senior management split developers and testers? Because they do not realize that software is about collaboration. Success happens when you hire feature teams in one location. When CIOs are under pressure to reduce budget and release faster, they think offshoring—but that has other costs.

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