News

The data-driven project manager: Using analytics to improve outcomes

  • by Moira Alexander

Forward-thinking PMOs recognize the need for project decisions to be supported by data. Here’s what you need to know to become more data savvy in driving better project outcomes. With project failure rates remaining troublesome, many project managers are turning to data for help. Proper use of data can take the guesswork out of decision-making and provide tangible support project managers can use to guide their teams. Data can also prove value in helping project managers schedule work, allocate resources, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and more effectively manage risks.

Agile management: How this new way of leading teams is delivering big results

  • by Mark Samuels

BP is implementing Agile working methods as part of its transition to becoming a net-zero business by 2050 or sooner. Here’s some important lessons that you can learn from their experiences. Evidence suggests traditional leadership styles are being replaced by Agile management techniques that encourage collaboration and foster accountability. Many business leaders say this leadership style has been a great fit for the new way of working during the past year, where companies have had to transform their business models quickly in response to fast-changing circumstances.

10 steps to avoid digital transformation failure

  • by John Belden

Executive sponsors play a key role in the success (or failure) of digital transformations. Taking these essential actions will tip the scales in your favor. Most companies will face the moment where digital transformation will come to the top of the executive stack of priorities. Typically, one or two executives are selected as the sponsors tasked with putting together the business case and the team to lead the organization into the future.

What is SAFe? The Scaled Agile Framework explained

  • by Moira Alexander

If your organization is seeking efficient project delivery, decreased time-to-market, and increased stakeholder value, then the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) may be right for you. Larger organizations tend to move more slowly — and be more change-resistant — than smaller, more nimble competitors. Much of this can be chalked up to deep-rooted cultural issues of being a larger incumbent, and to policy- and process-based barriers, as bureaucracy tends to flourish in broader corporate environments. Still, many larger organizations seek to capture the benefits of agile development, for which they may not be naturally suited.

What are Project Milestones?

  • by Fahad Usmani

In today’s blog post, we will talk about “project milestones” and their importance in project management. Let’s start our discussion with a simple real-world example. Imagine you are in 1980 when there was no GPS and you want to take a 13-hour journey by car from Chicago to New York. On this journey, you will pass through Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to reach New York. You know that there is a chance that you may get lost and the journey will be delayed.

DevOps and agile still hindered by enterprise silos, inertia

  • by Joe McKendrick

Twenty years after the Agile Manifesto was formulated, and 12 years after DevOps became a thing, both these inter-related philosophies are still works in progress -- and for some enterprises, very slow works in progress. These methodologies have the potential to change the way software is designed and delivered, but it takes a great deal of organizational work to make them stick. What's at issue?

Scrumban Should NOT Just Be a Hybrid of Scrum and Kanban

  • by Donald "Mark" HAYNES

Is Scrumban just adding a Kanban board with a few other ornamental changes, or are there deeper issues that need to be addressed? What advantages do you expect to achieve by infusing your current practices with Lean Kanban? Hybrids are problematic at best. Without principles guiding your actions, they create indecision about in which direction changes should occur. The result may be the implementation of the worst possible set of features. The foundational principles of Scrum and Lean Kanban are pretty clear. Will you violate them because it was convenient? Are you being flexible or just being ruled by the expediency of the moment?

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