Helpful resources for today's leaders
The PMO can be considered the new fuel for organizational change. An effective PMO delivers business results. Everything starts with hiring and empowering key people that build successful teams. It is important to create the right culture and to adopt the concept of servant leadership. The Agile approach provides companies …
Today, more than ever, organizations need to build products that add higher value to customers and the business. To be more competitive, companies need to develop products in a faster way by reducing costs. To accomplish this goal, organizations can use the Nexus framework, to scale software and product development. …
In Scrum, the Product Backlog Items are refined, during the activity of “Backlog Refinement”, until they are “Ready” for selection in Sprint Planning. To determine the items that are ready it is important that Scrum teams consider “Definition of Ready”. In fact, the Definition of Ready helps Product Owners to …
There are companies that use Nexus to scale their software and product development. Nexus is a framework based on Scrum that uses an iterative and incremental approach to develop products. Nexus is based on the Scrum Framework and increases Scrum slightly. Let’s see why Nexus is based on Scrum and …
Many companies in the software industry have to often deal with the concept of “technical debt”. Technical debt is also known as design debt or code debt. Let’s analyze this concept in depth. What is technical debt? Technical debt happens when development teams take actions to expedite the delivery of …
The Nexus framework is based on Scrum. It helps companies to scale software and product development. In fact, it helps organizations to develop products in a faster way by reducing costs. Let’s analyze in depth two Nexus events: Nexus Sprint Review and Retrospective. What is the Nexus Sprint Review? The …
Many Scrum teams use Kanban to organise their project work. In fact, these teams use Kanban as a visual management tool to deliver work faster and more often. Let’s see what is Kanban and how it is evolving over time. What is Kanban? Kanban is a lean method that aims …
Nexus helps companies to scale software and product development. In fact, thanks to this framework organizations are able to develop products in a faster way by reducing costs. As the Nexus framework is based on Scrum, it can be useful to understand what are the differences between Scrum and Nexus. …
To develop a new product with Scrum it is important to turn requirements into working functionalities. In fact, the development team has to turn product backlog items into working product features. To be successful, you need to convert the list of product features, contained into the product backlog, into a …
Scrum does not clearly define any controls. As Scrum is a risk-reduction framework it already contains various risk controls. In fact it is important to remember that Scrum aims at solving complicated issues to reach project success. Here is a list of controls that can reduce the risk of project …
Nexus is a framework, based on Scrum, that helps companies to scale software and product development. In fact, thanks to this framework organizations can plan, launch, scale and manage large product and software development projects. In addition, they are able to develop products in a faster way by reducing costs. …
Scrum is a framework that implements an empirical process. In general, empiricism is a principle that states that to obtain knowledge people should depend on practice and experiments, rather than on theories. In fact, thanks to this process, progress is based on observations of reality and not on imaginary plans. …
To be more competitive today companies need to develop products in a faster and cheaper way. To achieve this goal they necessarily need to scale the product development process. In fact, they can use the Nexus framework, which is based on Scrum, to manage large and complex product development projects. …
To estimate Product Backlog items Scrum does not require a specific technique. The objective of estimation Estimations should allow discussion to obtain more information about the product backlog items. Estimations help to create a shared agreement about the solutions. In fact, it is important that the team is commitment on …
Today, more than ever, organizations need to build products that add higher value to customers and the business. To be more competitive companies need to develop products in a faster way by reducing costs. To accomplish this goal organizations can use the Nexus framework to scale software and product development. …
Scrum framework focuses totally on how the end user will interact with the software. Use cases help to describe how an end user utilizes the system. What is a Use Case? A use case represents a description of the ways an end-user wants to utilize a system. They capture the …
Today technology moves at light speed. Let’s see how to keep up with technology with Scrum. The waterfall method In the past, the standard way to manage software development was by using the “waterfall method”, basically the process was to execute activities sequentially. In fact, in waterfall, the development starts …
What is a User Story? A User Story is an agile practice for capturing needs and requirements and describing Product Backlog Items. User stories are one of the primary development artifacts for Scrum project teams. A user story is a very high-level definition of a requirement, containing enough information to …
Scrum relies on transparency. It is important to notice that transparency does not occur overnight, but is a path. The importance of transparency Transparency makes visible the progress of work and team. As a result, when the team achieves its goal, people who are responsible for it can be identified …
Scrum does not clearly define any controls. As Scrum is a risk-reduction framework it already contains various risk controls. In fact it is important to remember that Scrum aims at solving complicated issues to reach project success. Here is a list of controls that can reduce the risk of project …
The Scrum Team is a self-organized team that constantly looks to improve its way of working. What is the Sprint Restrospective? The Sprint Retrospective is the final event of the Sprint. In fact, it occurs after the Sprint Review and prior to the next Sprint Planning. It represents the moment …
Business agility is a very important ability for a company. In fact, it helps companies to maintain a competitive edge over competitors over time. Business agility helps organization to adapt and succeed in the digital era by providing customers with innovative and technical solutions. Evolving gradually To implement an agile …
What is the Sprint Review? The Sprint Review is an informal meeting held at the end of the Sprint. This meeting lasts four hours for one month Sprints. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter. During this meeting the Scrum team shows to the Product Owner and the stakeholders …
Agile processes have created new ways of thinking about Project Management, which impact Project Management Organizations in various ways. Traditionally, a PMO focuses on implementing basic project management processes, introducing basic tools, and supporting the professional growth of competent project managers. Moreover, the PMO can support management to make decisions …
An artifact is something that we create. In general, it can be a handmade object, or a result of human activity. For instance, a design, a document, or more in general a project deliverable. Scrum has three main artifacts: the Product Backlog, the Sprint Backlog, and the Product Increment. The …
Today, the business world is changing at a fast rate. For this reason, it will be increasingly difficult to predict the future marketplace. Moreover, companies should expect this trend to continue in the future. The Strategy concept Companies have always used strategy to reach organizational objectives by using their resources. …
In Scrum, development teams have the objective to reach Sprint goals. Impediments can jeopardize the achievement of the Sprint‘s objectives. What is an impediment? In Scrum, an impediment refers to anything that holds a development team back from being productive. Basically, it is any problem that blocks the team from …
All projects live in an organizational context. All organizational characteristics can influence the execution and the outcome of a project. These characteristics can challenge project managers. In fact, to be successful they should be able to operate under those conditions. Be ready to change To support agility a company should …
One of the five Scrum events The Daily Scrum is one of the Scrum events. During this meeting the team members synchronize their progress with each other. They create a plan for the next 24 hours. The Daily Scrum is held every day of the Sprint and lasts at most …
The idea behind the burnup and burndown charts is to show progress completed, or work remaining, over a defined period (Sprint). Burndown charts Burndown charts are a great visual way to track the remaining work on a Scrum project. You can track story points completed to get an indication of …
Project performance by using the traditional approach In traditional project management, project managers can use Earned Value Management (EVM) to evaluate project performance. EVM is a structured project management process which finds variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned. This process is used to …
The importance of status report It is a common practice to use status reports to monitor project’s progress. Status reports are part of the project management basics. In fact, they are part of the project documentation. Status reports quantify the project’s progress. This helps you to make informed decisions. In …
Agile approaches are characterized by sequence of iterations. In fact, iterations are the building blocks of Agile methods. Each iteration is a fixed-length timebox. Usually the length of iteration can vary between a week and a month. The development team works to deliver a potentially releasable Increment of “Done” product …
Agile teams have daily meetings called stand-up meetings. Teams usually have the meeting in the morning which lasts no more than 15 minutes. Stand-up meetings are important to keep the development team on the same page. In other words, teams use these meetings to uncover problems, and ensure the work …
The product backlog contains all the work that has to be done on a project. It is not mandatory to prepare all product backlog items before starting the work. Each item can be presented in story form. The Product Owner constantly works with the team to prepare some stories for …
An Agile retrospective is a meeting that’s held at the end of an iteration. During this meeting, the team reflects on what happened (good or bad) during the previous iteration and identifies actions for improvements. The team decides what changes they want to make in the next iteration. The retrospective …
An agile project charter is a document created when the project starts whose purpose is to provide a clear and concise definition of what success looks like for the project. This document contains essential and valuable information about the project: the project’s vision, mission and success criteria. A project vision …
Companies which want to start with Agile should start by forming a team. An Agile team is cross functional with all of the skills necessary to analyze, architect, design, build, test and deploy the solution. Cross functional teams help organizations put their customers first, by encouraging effective communication across teams. …
Companies today are investing money to create open and collaborative work environments. Studies reveal that the benefits of teamwork and collaboration are different across industries, businesses and even generations. In general, a collaborative environment offers companies and workers several benefits. Project team members who work in a collaborative environment can …
The challenge is to find people who have broad knowledge and diverse skills which help to create a versatile team capable of solving multiple problems fast. Cross-functional teams have all competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others outside the team. In fact, every member of a cross-functional …
Some researchers have renamed it switch tasking, that means juggling from one task to another. Multitasking affects your performance and the quality of your work. Indeed, performing several decisive tasks in parallel reduces your overall performance by 20 to 50% while extending the completion time from 30% to 200% and …
Agile approaches use servant leadership to get the most out of project teams. In general, a servant leader works tirelessly to develop his or her team and is focused on what they can do for others. A servant leader thinks in terms of the needs of the team rather than …
Many companies are not able to make the switch to Agile approaches (from predictive to agile) overnight. Usually, the bigger the company the longer it will take to change from one approach to another. To reach the objective it is important to plan a gradual transition. In detail, teams can …
To reach a certain goal Project Managers can combine elements of different life cycles (predictive and agile). A combination of different approaches generates a hybrid approach. For example, a Project Manager can follow agile approaches by using short iterations, daily standups and retrospectives. At the same time, in the same …
Iterative and incremental approaches provide feedback to better plan parts of the project. In an agile environment, the team expects requirements to change. Agile life cycles combine both iterative and incremental approaches in order to adapt to high degrees of change and deliver project value to the end users more …
Some projects cannot afford to wait for everything to be completed. In these cases, it is possible to deliver a subset of the overall solution to customers. Frequent delivery of smaller deliverables to customers is done through incremental life cycles. Incremental life cycles optimize work for delivering value more often …
To manage projects characterized by frequent changes to the requirements and high complexity Project Managers can use iterative life cycles. Iterative life cycles improve the product through successive prototypes. Stakeholder feedback are used to create new prototypes which incorporate new information by repeating one or more project activities in the …
Predictive projects typically deliver business value at the end of the project. Project Managers use predictive life cycles to take advantage of high certainty around requirements and project team. To use this approach, the team requires detailed plans to know what to deliver and how. Project activities are often execute …
All types of project life cycle share the element of planning. Regardless of the project life cycle, the project requires planning. Predictive: the Project Manager defines the plan upfront in order to estimate when the deliverables can be delivered. Iterative: prototypes are constantly planned. In this case initial plans can …
There are different ways to undertake projects. Project Managers need to be aware of the options available to select the right approach for a specific situation. Let’s analyze four types of life cycles: Predictive life cycle: the Project Manager focuses on defining the scope for the project. Then he/she develops …
Some projects have uncertain functional requirements that contribute to high rates of change and project complexity. If project uncertainty increases, so does the risk of rework and the need to use a different approach. In fact, to mitigate the impact of these risks, teams use small increments to rapidly understand …
To remain competitive today, companies need to stay focused on customer satisfaction. To constantly deliver products and services of high value, they have to run projects that have high rates of change, complexity, and risk. It can be difficult to manage these types of projects by using traditional predictive approaches. …
Scrum does not have a team leader role like the Project Manager. At the same time, project management activities are distributed among different Scrum roles. One of these roles is the Scrum Master. The Scrum Master manages the implementation of Scrum in the organization. In detail, the Scrum Master helps …
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