Why Do So Many UK Youngsters Have Side Hustles?

The phenomenal rise of the gig economy, powered by platforms and apps such as Uber, TaskRabbit and Airbnb mean that many people, especially Millennials, are taking on second jobs, also known as a “side hustle”. This is a global phenomenon but is having a particularly large effect on employment in the UK, where a quarter...

Seven Life Hacks to Simplify Planview Portfolios Administration

If you work in an environment similar to mine, you’re probably challenged on a daily basis to improve data integrity for users, provide them easy access to information, and make quick changes to reduce their frustrations. I have eight simple hacks that I’ve used with Planview Portfolios® to address all these challenges, building engagement and...

Shifting from Projects to a Product-Centric Approach

In my last blog, “Agile Transformation: The PMO’s New Paradigm” we covered the significance of embracing different types of work and the role that continuous planning plays in becoming an Agile PMO—but that’s only the beginning. In Part 4, we explore the trend of turning project-focused planning and delivery into a product-centric approach to enable...

How to Do Kanban for IT Operations

Learning how to do Kanban can completely transform the way your organization manages tasks, especially for IT Operations teams which have to manage a steady stream of planned and unplanned work. That’s because Kanban makes it easier for IT Operations to accurately predict their capacity and manage resources, thanks to Kanban’s ability to break complex...

The Minimalism Trend Needs to Go Below the Surface

Walk into the lobby of almost any technology company today and you’ll get the same feel. It can be in New York or Los Angeles or Hong Kong or Berlin. There’s a spareness. Clean lines.  A neutral color palette. Every object in sight serves a clear purpose. The streamlined look suggests order, inside and out....

How Executives Can Become More Effective Leaders by Leveraging Communication Psychology

“Effective communication, in turn, enables us to psychologically connect better with others, win people over, negotiate better and establish better alignment.” (Jan de Jonge, business psychologist) It is no secret that effective communication is a key leadership (and life) skill required for being able to better connect with people across the organization’s hierarchy, with customers,...

Effective Ways to Reduce the Stress Level of Your Team

Stress in the workplace has been a common theme for decades and technological advances have done little to alleviate it. It is estimated to cost American businesses up to $300 billion a year and with “always on” e-mail, it means that there can often be nowhere to hide, destress and recharge for under-pressure employees. For...

The Benefits of Kanban

You’ve probably heard about how Kanban is a great collaborative tool. But aside from managing tasks, what are the real benefits of Kanban? Turns out, there are a lot of ways it can improve working conditions. From maximizing efficiency to reducing job-related stress, Kanban offers a number of benefits that ensure your projects run smoothly....

Crowdsourcing Case Study: Polaris Industries

Polaris Industries’ crowdsourcing case study is inspiring people both internally and externally—and their story is still relevant today. As a strong believer that the key to success is in the ethics and values of its employees, Polaris has made the creation of great products not just a job, but a way of life. “We’re proud...

Measuring Batch Size, WIP, and Throughput

The part 1 of this series, 5 Lean and Agile Metrics to Measure Track with Your Team: Lead Time and Cycle Time, I shared two of the five Lean and Agile metrics to track. In this blog, we’ll talk about measuring batch size, WIP, and throughput. Let’s get started. The goal for any Agile team is...