The Management Paradox: When It’s Time to Stop Managing People
Managing people does not lead to improvements in your delivery performance. This is due to one simple reason – time spent at a desk doesn’t necessarily translate into productive time. Productivity should, first and foremost, be assessed in terms of…
How the J Curve Effect Defines the Success of Your Transformation Initiative
There is a concept called the J curve effect that explains why revolutionary changes usually fail. What’s more, this approach ultimately defines the success threshold of our transformation initiative. The need for change emerges when there is no longer satisfaction…
How the Wizards Scrum Team Immensely Improved Their Predictability in Just 2 Months (all by Applying a Simple Pull Strategy)
It’s astonishing to see in practice how a simple pull strategy can improve the predictability of your delivery system so significantly, even after just a couple of months. The Wizards are a development team, working for a start-up digital signage…
Release Planning: How to Decide How Much Work to Commit to In Your Next Release Without Counting Hours (or Story Points)
Release planning is essential to fulfilling the expectations of both your customers and your teams. However, often the approaches we use to create a release plan are inherently unreliable. One of the senior managers that I’m currently consulting came to…
Do You Perceive Your Workflow as a Knowledge Discovery Process?
Modeling your workflow as a knowledge discovery process stays true to the nature of knowledge work and is fundamental to enabling continuous improvement. If you consider your workflow steps as containers for workers, you’re highly likely to hinder your ability…
When is the Right Time to Say “Yes” to New Commitments?
Saying “Yes” to the right commitments (and “No” to the wrong ones) is all about making reliable decisions on what work to take on next. These are paramount to managing a steady flow of work and meeting your customers’ expectations….
Keep Your Teddy Bear! Introducing Probabilistic Forecasting to Your Team
When it comes to introducing probabilistic forecasting, it is paramount that you tackle any resistance head-on. Do you have kids? My son David is 4 years old, and my daughter Louise is now 6. She will start first grade in…
Why Using Averages to Make Delivery Predictions Will Land You in Hot Water
Often, managers use average delivery times to make future predictions. Even though this method is intuitive and widely spread, making delivery commitments based on averages is not reliable. Let’s explore the challenges that come with this approach. What Are Delivery…
Our Christmas Wish For You!
It’s that time of the year once again. As we celebrate the close of one year and look towards the beginning of a new one, we’re all inclined to make a little bit of a recap. It’s a fresh new…
3 Strategies for Effective Demand Management
Effective demand management is the cornerstone of delivering results in a consistent manner and keeping your commitments. And the balance between demand and capacity is in its foundation. When demand exceeds your capability, delivery times increase and, in the end,…
