Lean Budgeting, Part 2: The Lean-Agile Approach to Funding and Delivery

This is the second post in a two-part series. Read part one here. Traditional, project-based budgeting practices are often misaligned and counter-intuitive to Lean-Agile delivery. Lean budgeting offers a way for organizations to maintain financial and appropriate governance while also minimizing the overhead of traditional project-based funding and cost accounting. Rather than burdening the PMO...

Don’t forget to take your software delivery organization’s vital signs

Have you ever noticed that when you go to the doctor—be it your primary care doctor, a dermatologist, or an orthopedist—they always start by measuring your vital signs? They’ll measure your weight, blood pressure, and temperature. Once a year, your doctor will send you to the lab for blood work. And in recent years GPs...

Why We Fail at New Year’s Resolutions (& Why There’s Still Hope)

If just the thought of making another New Year’s resolution makes you groan, there’s a good chance you’re one of the 92% of people who can’t seem to stick with them. We’re not trying to berate you here––just letting you know that you’re not alone! New Year’s Resolutions are tricky for a number of reasons,...

Understanding Flow Distribution – Getting Your Priorities Straight

“Decision to do one thing is a decision to delay something else” – Dominica DeGrandis, Making Work Visible Flow Distribution is the proportion of Flow items (features, defects, debt, risk) in a specific value stream that can be adjusted depending on the need to maximize business value. Set by the workers who know best about...

Officials Say True UK Unemployment Rate Should Be Higher

The headline figures on the UK employment rate suggest that the country is experiencing its lowest unemployment since records began. This is despite the challenges being posed by international trade tensions and the Brexit drama Britain has faced for the past few years. The fact that the UK workforce is also at last seeing real...

4 Key Actions for Getting your Goals in a Row

Whether you’re aware of it or not, most of your waking hours are filled up with tasks — both big and small ones. These tasks can be anything: from driving to work every morning, to fixing yourself a healthy meal or reviewing a document for work. No matter the type of job you’re performing, it’s...

Lean Budgeting, Part 1: The Limitations of Traditional, Project-Based Budgets

Funding practices – the way businesses allocate budgets internally – are pretty important: They largely determine which projects get prioritized, how teams are structured, and how ROI is measured. If your organization is trying to implement agility at scale, you’ll quickly discover that there are limitations to traditional, project-based budgets and their associated funding practices...

Why Execs Resist PM Implementation & How to Change Their Minds

Resistance to change isn’t always just hard-nosed recalcitrance. Most of the time, it comes from a place of strategic concern. Consider the questions: Is this really the best use of our resources considering how tight things are already? How can we be certain that the payoff is going to be worth the investment? Are we...

Flow Load – Is Demand Outweighing Capacity?

“Too much WIP is the enemy of productivity,” – Dominica DeGrandis, author of Making Work Visible, and Principal Flow Advisor at Tasktop The happiness and engagement of the people who plan, build and deliver software has a direct correlation on the productivity and quality of their work. Combined with the rise of burnout in IT...