Agile and Project Management - DrunkenPM Radio

PMI Fellow and former PMI Chair Philip Diab has developed a new program to help organizations get PMO’s up and running quickly. RapidStart PMO is an outcome driven approach that creates deliverables as it iterates towards understanding how the PMO can best serve the organization. And despite his stature in the PM community, Philip continues to be a practitioner, helping organizations get better at getting work done. He’s deeply wise and he’s has been kind enough to act as Yoda to me on numerous occasions throughout my career. In this interview we discuss the profound impact volunteerism can have on your PM career, keys to success for PMOs and common mistakes many organizations make when starting up (or maintaining) PMOs. Show Notes 00:00 Podcast begins - Dave introduces Philip 00:39 Philip talks a little about his background in Project Management and with PMI 01:22 How volunteering can help your career 04:30 Volunteering takes a lot of time and energy, but it gives back even more 06:20 PMO’s - How Philip got involved in working with PMO’s, what he learned from it and why he is so passionate about it 07:27 Yes - PMO’s are very exciting… but you have to be pretty deep with the PM geek 07:50 The work Philip has been doing to help organizations that want to start PMO’s to get them up and running quickly 08:43 The PMO as a service organization that helps projects succeed (as opposed to simply providing an auditor function 10:39 Philip’s explains S.E.R.V.E. - his five strategic principles for PMO’s 13:41 The types of organization Philip works with and where they are in the PMO adoption lifecycle 15:41 A story about one of Philip’s favorite PMO projects 16:52 Philip’s optimism around his work “There is no room for cynicism in project management.” 18:05 What makes PMs successful and when the work moves beyond being about the project 19:01 Philip’s PM Origin Story - How to get the job when you have no experience and what happens afterwards 20:41 Giving yourself empowerment because of your knowledge and experience 21:30 “You can take charge and people will let you if what you are doing is the right thing for the organization.” 22:00 Why Rapid Start PMO exists and how it can help you build (or rebuild) your PMO 24:33 A step-by-step deliverable focused program 25:14 The main differentiator that that leads to success and five critical factors you need 27:05 Passion for the project and being the champion who motivates the team is critical, but what if the project you get is “just a pile of garbage” (Philip offers Dave some advice) 29:43 A strange definition of optimism 30:55 Making room in the PMO for experimentation 32:24 Common missteps made by organizations trying to start PMOs 35:22 What to do when you can’t don’t know (or can’t remember) why you have a PMO 37:37 How the course can help existing PMO’s 39:08 How to learn more about the course or get in touch with Philip 39:35 Philip’s new podcast “The Project Management Debate Podcast You can learn more about Rapid Start PMO here: http://rapidstartpmo.com/p/rapidstartpmo You can reach Philip via his website: http://philipdiab.com/ Or his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipdiab And you can find “The Project Management Debate Podcast” on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pm-debate-podcast/id1170807549?mt=2 or Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/user-96614158

In this podcast, Jessie Shternshus , Paul Hammond and I take a shot at addressing the question of whether organizations have become so focused by the need to “do” Agile that they may have lost the ability to actually “be” Agile. During the conversation we touch on a number of the key challenges organizations are facing and how these challenges are impacting individuals at the team level. Show Notes 00:45 Introduction to Jessie and Paul 02:00 The Topic(s): Do we need to return to a more simple version of it so that people can better understand/internalize the fundamental intent behind it and not simply get lost in dogma and going thru the motions? How do we help “them” figure out the “why”? 06:30 Does leadership need to deeply understand Agile to help support transition to Agile or can the organization succeed if they just want to “do Agile”? 08:48 Changing the conversation to help people approach Agile with a more open mindset? 10:48 Mapping organizational values to Agile Manifesto values 11:30 How to create hope (that things can improve) at an organization? 14:20 Taking the option to “Make a choice” 16:37 Advice for getting “Buy In” 18:03 How do we unfreeze the frozen middle? 20:08 Should leadership demonstrate vulnerability when trying to transition to Agile? (crickets) 20:46 How do I help my company become a place innovative, agile people will want to work? 22:47 You can’t put a band-aid on culture 23:56 What id you hire for the culture you want, and disappoint the new folks with what you have? 26:15 Has anyone’s Agile transformation ever gone fast enough? What is the pace of transition that you need? 27:17 Remember to acknowledge the positives 28:00 Advice for Senior Mgmt. on adopting Agile 32:36 Advice for Team Members who feel like Mgmt. doesn’t get it yet 36:30 How to reach Jessie and Paul 38:29 Close Contacting Jessie and Paul Jessie is the founder of The ImprovEffect. You can reach her at her site here: http://www.improveffect.com or via Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheImprovEffect. She also has a number of upcoming events which can be found here: http://www.improveffect.com/events/ Paul Hammond is is the Director European Product Development at eBay and can be reached via his website: http://phammond.com or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/phammond. Paul is also on the Board of the Agile Alliance. You can find more about the upcoming Agile Alliance Technical Conference here: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile-alliance-technical-conference-2017/

This summer Patrice Colancecco Embry posted an article on The Digital Project Manager suggesting that project managers needed to show empathy not just towards team members and stakeholders, but towards the project itself. In this interview Patrice and Dave dig in a little deeper on the idea of showing empathy for your project, why and how you'd go about doing that. They also get into the how important it is for the PM to show empathy for him/herself and when it is okay to totally hate the project. If you'd like to check out Patrice's original article, you can find it here: http://www.thedigitalprojectmanager.com/managing-project-empathy/ If you'd like to get in touch with Patrice, you can reach her via: Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrice108 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriceembry Her website http://www.patrice-embry.com

One of the great benefits I have had through volunteering for the Scrum Alliance has been the opportunity to work with a long list of inspiring and brilliant people. At the top of that list is Jukka Lindstrom. Jukka is someone who’s approach to exploring and solving problems is so different from my own that I felt like every time we collaborated on something, I got better at what I was doing just by working with him. A few years ago Jukka left his job as an Agile Coach and Trainer and started working full time with traditional organizations. At the start of 2016 he joined Cargotec to head up their Digital Transformation effort. If you think Agile Transition is hard, consider that it is only a small part of the transformation of digitizing a global organization with 11,000 people who are used to working in an analog world. In the first part of the interview Jukka and I talk about the work he’s been doing since leaving Reaktor and what it’s like trying to transform a company of 11,000 people to not just Agile, but a digitized way of working as well. Leaving the Agile Consulting world to go back into a traditional environment is a brave choice, but for Jukka, it presented an opportunity to test out what he had learned and see if he could help. While it has provided him with great learning experiences, it has also come with some tough moments. In the second part of the interview we focus on how what that career transition has been like and how he has avoided getting trapped in the doldrums when he is faced with working in a more traditional environment. Show Notes 00:09 Interview Begins 00:57 Jukka’s role at Cargotec and what the company does 02:37 The difference between Agile Transformation and Digital Transformation 07:36 The complexity of transformation at Cargotec 08:44 Why is this level of transformation so much harder than basic Agile transformation 10:10 The mindset shift 11:54 Placing a bet on technology when you don’t know exactly what you’ll be able to do with the result yet 13:00 transforming11,000 people … “that’s like 1,200-1,500 teams of people” 15:00 Where do you learn faster? Working in software or more traditional (manufacturing) companies 17:15 Becoming an Agile Bodhisattva 17:52 When you walk back into the waterfall, doesn’t it kinda suck? And how do you stay inspired? 19:45 Realizing that the reason you feel stuck is because you aren’t being true to yourself 22:37 How to avoid playing the victim and taking ownership of your own learning and joy 24:30 “I’m not having fun… why am I doing this?” 25:27 If you can’t find fun in what you’re doing, you’re doing the wrong thing 25:55 Things Jukka does outside of work that helps him stay engaged and learning while he is at work 27:00 MIT’s ULab Links from the Interview Cargotec Website: http://www.cargotec.com Singapore Cargo Port Timelapse Video https://youtu.be/HrZg96L8yaY MIT’s ULab Course https://www.edx.org/course/u-lab-leading-emerging-future-mitx-15-671-1x Leading from the Emerging Future by Otto Scharmer http://amzn.to/2dJJ1TL Reaktor https://reaktor.com If you’d like to contact Jukka LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jukkalindstrom Twitter https://twitter.com/jukka_lindstrom

Writing the introduction to a podcast interview with Dr. Alistair Cockburn is not a simple thing. He is the co-author of the Agile Manifesto and the author of numerous books on Agile, Use Cases and Object Oriented Programming. There is also his work with Crystal and now with the Heart of Agile. He’s contributed a significant body of material around the topic of how we work. While this interview touches on most of the above, the primary focus of the interview is around a simple question with a complex answer: How can you design a lifestyle that is based on continually examining and enhancing the quality of your life. The interview is a long one, but is filled with volumes of advice and wisdom on how to build a professional life that supports the level of quality you want to achieve in your personal life. The information will be especially valuable for anyone working on consulting. For those who are pressed for time, I’ve created detailed show notes below so you can jump to a specific portion if you need to and you can find them here: http://bit.ly/2cjamVJ If you would like to learn more about Alistair Cockburn, check out http://alistair.cockburn.us. If you’d like to follow Alistair on Twitter, you can find him at https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair If you’d like to learn more about Heart of Agile, check out http://heartofagile.com If you’d like to check out the Facebook Live conversation between Alistair and Nic Sementa, try http://bit.ly/2cESM57

Nic Sementa from the Agile Marketing Academy joins me in this podcast to share his thoughts on how to craft User Stories that will work for marketing. Nic's thoughts and opinions on this topic are heavily influenced by his marketing background, which, as he points out in the interview, is a little unique since most of the conversations on the topic are led by agile practitioners.  During the interview Alistair Cockburn joined in the conversation to offer his expert advice and guidance on the subject. Alistair is one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto, the creator of the Crystal methods, leading voice on Use Cases and the man behind the Heart of Agile. (There is lots more - you can find it all at http://alistair.cockburn.us/ ) Show Notes: 00:38 Nic’s background and the challenges faced by Marketing that Agile could help with 4:27 Putting Agile together with Marketing 5:52 User Stories from a Marketers perspective 6:52 The historical challenges involved with “marketing” to the customer as opposed to engaging directly with the customer to find out what they need 8:00 How coercing your customer to buy leads to the marketing equivalent of technical debt 8:50 Googling Agile Marketing 9:20 The corporate world is high school with ashtrays 10:00 Why marketing needs a new language framework for Agile 10:57 Apology to the Band Geeks (which Dave is) 11:30 Revenue impact of implementing Agile Marketing Techniques 11:52 How User Stories change in Agile Marketing 12:33 Personas and more 13:33 Developing a deeper understanding of the User and his/her pain points 14:03 MadMen in Reverse is not going to help you understand the “ideal customer” 15:14 Marketing Research 16:10 There is no such thing as offline marketing 17:52 Recap of the Marketing User Story Guidance 18:57 Let’s get al Skynet with this thing! 20:00 Special Guest Alistair Cockburn on Agile Marketing User Stories 25:55 Abstract thinkers vs. concrete thinkers 28:05 Alistair’s visual grammar version of User Stories 35:33 Where to learn more about the Agile Marketing Academy and how to reach Nic Some Links: For more on the Agile Marketing Academy you can go to their Certification site http://www.agilemarketingcertification.com or send them an email at info@agilemarketingacademy.com. You can reach Nic on Twitter -> https://twitter.com/nicsementa

Maria Matarelli and Michael Sahota have joined forces to provide upcoming Certified Agile Leadership Training workshops in Chicago and Toronto, as well as a free webinar which highlights some of the key learnings offered in the public sessions. In this interview Maria, Michael and Dave discuss the challenges Leadership faces when it comes to creating lasting organizational change that can support Agile. Show Notes 00:53 What they’re working on - Helping Change Agents Managers and Companies orient for Agile Success 2:50 - Why the Scrum Alliance created the Certified Agile Leadership program 4:53 - Does Management have awareness of how they may be impeding Agile 7:14 - The ugly truth of Agile and how leadership creates organizational conflict 8:51 - Why a typical approach to Agile transformation doesn’t create change that can last 10:05 - How the class can help Senior Leadership become adopt an Agile Mindset 11:02 - Survival is optional 12:02 - What kind of people attend the program 12:55 - How the class addresses Leadership, Organizational Culture and how we can foster personal and organizational growth 16:31 - Is there a point where organizational transformation is complete? 18:04 - Dave’s bad metaphor for Agile transformation 19:42 - Becoming more mindful about organizational culture at the leadership level 21:48 - Killing Agile 23:16 - Maria saves the metaphor (or analogy) 24:48 - Discipline, joy and figuring out what you want 26:47 - A dream of greatness 28:39 - Details on the 8/25 FREE Webinar: “Navigating Agile Transformation - an Updated Survival Guide” 30:25 - Is taking any step towards Agile adoption a positive thing? 31:23 - Moving beyond Agile practices to an Agile Mindset 33:48 - Your company and your problems ARE NOT DIFFERENT 34:52 - Details on the upcoming classes in Chicago (9/22-23) and Toronto (9/12-13) To learn more and sign up for the 8/25 FREE Webinar “Navigating Agile Transformation - an Updated Survival Guide” http://agileleadershipchicago.com/webinar-replay For information on the upcoming Certified Agile Leadership classes, please follow these links: In Chicago: http://www.agileleadershipchicago.com Other locations: http://agilitrix.com/agile/certified-agile-leadership-training/ For more information on the Scrum Alliance's Certified Agile Leadership program: www.scrumalliance.org/agile-leadership Getting in touch with Maria and Michael - Maria Matarelli- findmaria.com or twitter.com/mariamatarelli - Michael Sahota - agilitrix.com or twitter.com/MichaelSahota

On the Digital PM Slack channel there was some discussion recently about Project Managers' having PTSD. In this podcast, Carson Pierce, Senior PM at DDB Edmonton and Registered Psychologist, Dr. Krista Pierce (who is also Caron's wife) and I got the chance to discuss the topic of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the stress PMs' experience at work and the relationship between the two. Show Notes: Krista and Carson Introductions 0:15 Introduction to the topic of Mental Health and Project Management 1:58 The Stress Project Managers Experience vs. actual PTSD 3:30 Living with failure but expecting success 5:30 Are we making too much of it 6:19 We are a dysfunctional bunch 8:00 The role experience plays in helping you cope 9:55 Lacking self-awareness 12:40 How to cope with being assertive 13:42 Bringing the bad news and being at ease15:58 Role playing the tough conversations18:26 Personal risk management 19:39 Recommendations for coping with the stress of being a PM 21:00 Setting boundaries for yourself (and sticking with them) 24:15 Carving out the self-care space  and finding balance 25:55 Mindfulness 28:42 Talking with your client (and team) about personal boundaries 29:49 Owning the burden you choose to carry 32:32 Letting go of the things you can do (Inbox 1,708) 33:03 Parting advice for coping with stress 36:45 Getting in touch with Carson and Krista 39:50 The Digital PM Summit 2016 40:28 Getting in touch with Carson and Krista Kristi can be reached at http://kristapiercepsychologist.com Carson can be reached at carsonpierce.com or via email at carson@carsonpierce.com If you'd like access to the Digital PM Slack Channel, just email Carson The site for the 2015 Digital PM Summit  can be found here: http://bureauofdigital.com/summits/digital-pm/

Roman Pichler, one of the leading voices in Agile Product Ownership has released a new book, "Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age", that presents a number of tools and techniques Product Owners and Product Managers can use to gain a deeper understanding the product(s) they are developing in order to stock and maintain a better product backlog. Show Notes: Why the wrote Strategize 00:26 Adding Product Strategy to Agile Planning 2:46 Vision to Strategy to Roadmap 5:37 How to use the Go Product Roadmap to feed Release Planning 6:00 Who you need to create the Roadmap? 8:40 How Strategize should help Product Owners and Product Managers 10:30 Is the focus on Product Ownership increasing and maturing? 11:50 Explaining the difference between and Product Owner and a Product Manager? 15:20 The key elements of Product Strategy 19:20 Aligning products across the portfolio 21:24 Product Owner at the Portfolio level 23:00 How often should you update your Vision Board and Roadmap? 24:05 How important is it that Team Members know the Product Vision? 25:50 If there was one misunderstanding about Product Ownership that you could fix, what would it be? 27:54 How to get in touch with Roman 30:00 If you'd like to get in touch with Roman, you can reach him at http://www.romanpichler.com If you'd like to pick up a copy of Strategize, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Strategize-Product-Strategy-Roadmap-Practices/dp/0993499201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466442777&sr=8-1&keywords=strategize

Gender Bias in Project Management Episode 4 of DrunkenPM focuses on the impact of Gender Bias in the Project Management space. This episode consists of two interviews. The first is with a group of women who work in Digital Project Management (Larissa Scordato, Tera Caldwell Simon and Patrice Colancecco Embry). The second interview features Agile Coach Natalie Warnert. Warning - there are a few expletives in this one...  Show Notes: Interview 1 : Gender Bias in Digital Project Management - with Patrice Colancecco Embry, Tera Caldwell Simon and Larissa Scordato 00:05 Intro 01:18 Women in Digital Project management Interview start and guest introductions 04:42 Meet the Dexters 05:25 Being a PM comes with challenges, does being a female PM carry additional challenges 9:38 Reaching out to your team for validation and support 12:08 Getting support may not fix the actual problem 13:50 How much does experience factor in 14:35 Does having a commanding presence only come with experience and how does gender impact your ability to take the room 16:46 Larissa is not sorry for interrupting 17:41 Letting your team take the floor 18:28 Note Taking 20:20 Generational gender bias 22:50 An apology is nice, a public apology is better 23:00 Advice for young women who are new to Project Management 24:05 Having difficult conversations and owning your role 24:40 The power of being knowledgable about your topic 26:00 The importance of assigning a notetaker 26:45 Getting a mentor 27:19 Know that you are good at what you do 27:35 How gender bias has an impact on your use of the phrase “I don’t know.” 29:30 When you get caught now knowing 30:09 Pretending to be brave enough / Imposter Syndrome 32:00 Taking care when you act “As if…” 33:30 “You’re either emotional, or your’e a bitch…” 35:20 Putting on the dominant female role and protecting your team 38:00 The “Sorry” thing 44:20 Advice for Men 46:10 Contacting Tera, Larissa and Patrice 46:40 Closing All the participants in the above interview are "on the Twitter" Larissa Scordato: https://twitter.com/larissascordato Patrice Colancecco Embry : https://twitter.com/patrice108 Tera Caldwell Simon: https://twitter.com/tcaldsimon Interview 2 - Gender Bias in Agile - with Natalie Warnert 47:07 Intro to the Interview with Agile Coach Natalie Warnert 47:50 Natalie’s involvement with Women in Agile 48:42 Women in Agile events are not just for women 49:27 Is it more difficult for a young woman to break into Agile 50:40 Behavior at a conferences 51:33 An example of differing standards 52:27 Gender bias, age bias and the Agile Coach 53:30 Women attendees at conferences 54:06 Advice for women entering the Agile space 55:35 Carrying yourself with confidence and owning it 56:00 Being more mindful of gender bias 57:31 What is an Aspiring Feminist? 60:10 Is the bias as significant in Agile as it is in waterfall? 61:20 Proving yourself 62:30 Support among women in Agile and at Agile conferences 65:00 Fighting over the slice of pie 65:39 Not tracking gender at conferences 66:00 Tracking down Natalie Natalie can be reached via her website at http://nataliewarnert.com