Agile and Project Management - DrunkenPM Radio

In Elizabeth Harrin’s latest book Managing Multiple Projects: How project managers can balance priorities, manage expectations and increase productivity, she draws on her 20+ years providing training, education, and mentoring in the project management field to take on a problem all of us face. When you have too many projects on your plate, and all of them are high priority, how do you find you get the most important work done without losing yourself in the process? While the book is project management-centric, the tools and skills Harrin offers are applicable not just for career project managers, but anyone who finds themself juggling more projects (work or otherwise) than the hours in the day will accommodate. In this interview, Elizabeth shares a few of the key ideas from the book and we dig into some of the techniques she employs to manage her own workload in a way that still allows her to be present and show up for the rest of her life as well. While many of the interviews I get to do focus on particular aspects of project management or agile, this interview has valuable ideas and techniques for everyone - not just those on a project management career path. Managing Multiple Projects https://amzn.to/3uEQwiX Project Management Rebels https://projectmanagementrebels.com Contacting Elizabeth Website: https://elizabeth-harrin.com Amazon Page: https://amzn.to/3cbWykH LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethharrin/ Blog: https://RebelsGuideToPM.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Rebelsguidetoprojectmanagement   Twitter: https://twitter.com/OtobosGroup

When I have questions about product-related topics Scott Sehlhorst is always the first person I reach out to. He is a product management and strategy consultant that makes my head explode every time I talk to him and this interview is no exception. Scott joined me for this interview that builds on his recent blog post “How to Make Your Product Special” (https://bit.ly/3AciBBK). We dig into product positioning, why understanding the desired outcome the product is supposed to provide is often the thing fail to understand, and how to start creating User Stories that are focused on those outcomes instead of the output-driven stories most people write. This interview covers a lot of ground as we talk through the challenges we all face when we’re trying to understand the problems we are trying to solve, who we are solving them for, and how to capture a user-centric explanation of what we need to create in a way that genuinely addresses the goal of the end-user. This podcast will make more sense if you first check out Scott’s blog post “How to Make Your Product Special” (https://bit.ly/3AciBBK) Contacting Scott Scott’s Blog at Tyner Blain: https://tynerblain.com/blog/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sehlhorst/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sehlhorst Email: scott@tynerblain.com

This episode features Troy Lightfoot who is a Business Agility Coach and Consultant as well as a Professional Kanban Trainer. The interview starts with a discussion about the basic differences between Scrum and Kanban and then digs into four of the metrics recommended in the Kanban Guide. We cover WIP, Throughput, Work Item Age, and Cycle Time, talking through what each of these is, the value these metrics provide, why they are so much more valuable than simply looking at something like velocity, and what these metrics can do to help you develop a better level of predicting when work is likely to finish and how they can show you and your team ways to identify and address the things that are holding you back from delivering value for your client. Troy also has a few ProKanban Certification classes coming up. In the back half of the interview, he explains what to expect if you sign up for a Professional Kanban 1 (PK1) Certification class or his Applying Metrics for Predictability (AMP) Certification class. Troy’s Classes Professional Kanban 1 (PK1) Certification June 23-24, 2022 https://bit.ly/3HmV1Ug Applying Metrics for Predictability (AMP) Certification July 21-22, 2022 https://bit.ly/3zxZOk2 Links from the Podcast ProKanban.org https://prokanban.org The Kanban Guide https://kanbanguides.org My interview with Troy Magennis on Probabilistic Forecasting https://bit.ly/3tDUW9b My interview with Colleen Johnson on ProKanban and ProKanban Certification https://bit.ly/3NUN6Ac Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability by Dan Vacanti https://amzn.to/3tAVeh7 When Will it Be Done by Dan Vacanti https://amzn.to/3NUjrqR Contacting Troy Email: troylightfoot@gmail.com

Distributed Teams are never easy. It doesn’t matter if you are separated by one flight of stairs or 12 time zones. Forming and maintaining a cohesive, collaborative team that can support one another, consistently deliver, and continuously improve is always just a little bit tougher when you are not in the same physical space. The pandemic has offered all of us plenty of “opportunities” to find ways to improve how we form and function in a distributed way. But here’s the thing, even when you’ve been doing this stuff for years, it is tough. Experience can help guide you and show you some things to try to avoid, but each team is its own puzzle. In this episode of the podcast, Mark Kilby has joined me to utilize the Five Lenses of Humane Management to talk about distributed teams. There are three important things you need to know before you listen. 1. Mark Kilby and Johanna Rothman wrote the book “From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver”. If you are looking for a tips on what makes distributed teams work, this book is an amazing resource. 2. Mark and I are on a distributed team together with two other people. Collectively, we bring over 70 years of experience of not only working on teams, but in coaching others on how to do it well. 3. We are struggling mightily During the interview, Mark and I unpack some of the things we’re experiencing in the forming storming stages of our distributed team. We share some of the insights and struggles we’ve had along the way. This interview is intended to offer a kind of retrospective/case study on challenges that even seasoned pros have when working remotely. For those of you who are having similar challenges, we want you to know that you are not alone and hopefully, one of the takeaways you’ll get from this interview is that even when you and your distributed team are struggling, there are probably some amazing things happening, you just need to keep an eye out for them and appreciate them. Links from the interview From Chaos to Successfully Distributed Agile Teams by Mark Kilby and Johanna Rothman
 https://amzn.to/3bPVDkT The Five Lenses of Humane Management Interview with Jim Benson https://bit.ly/3a2FBIe Lean Agile Visual Management https://www.modusinstitute.com/lavm Contacting Mark:
 Web: www.markkilby.com
 Twitter: twitter.com/mkilby
 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mkilby/

This podcast was originally recorded as a video interview. To view the video version, please go to: https://bit.ly/3a2FBIe This special video podcast features Jim Benson who is back to talk about the Five Lenses of Humane Management. When human beings work together they form a system. That system runs according to the culture created by the people who are gathering together and collaborating. That culture may be designed with intent or it may happen organically, it may support the people working together in the system or it may work against them and the system. The Five Lenses offer a way of examining the system and the culture it creates to understand the ways in which it is fostering an environment that allows the people in the system to rise up together and thrive in a collaborative way. They will also help you see when and how the opposite is happening. The Five Lenses of Humane Management are: 1. Communications 2. Relationships 3. Respect 4. Flow 5. Continuous Improvement I asked Jim to join me for this podcast because I’ve been studying the lenses and incorporating them into my work for about a year now. They have had a deep impact on me, the way I engage with teams, and the way I show up to collaborate with others. If you are interested in understanding how and why the groups you are working with are high-performing (or perhaps the opposite), you will find valuable insights in this interview. If you’d like to learn more about the Five Lenses of Humane Management or Lean-Agile Visual Management: https://www.modusinstitute.com/ And if you’d like to reach out to Jim Benson directly: LINKS FROM THE PODCAST: Personal Kanban: https://www.personalkanban.com/ Lean-Agile Visual Management on Modus Institute: https://www.modusinstitute.com/lavm Jim’s Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JQEEyX CONTACTING JIM BENSON: Web: https://moduscooperandi.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbenson/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourfounder Email: jim@moduscooperandi.com

When people talk about Agile you’ll hear them talk about certain ideas, topics, or “laws” that are just mentioned as if they were universally known truths, almost like gravity. In “Agile Physics - the Math of Flow”, a new FREE course offered by Troy Magennis, you can start to learn the math behind some of these truths. The course focuses on a number of these ideas and breaks them down in a way that provides clarity on why they are considered to be true. What I found in going through the course was that even with subjects I felt deeply schooled in, the way Troy breaks things down helped me see some of the basic concepts that I had not totally grokked. In this interview, Troy joins me to explain why he developed the course, how it works, and the tools he provides to add clarity to the concepts. Later in the interview (21:30), we also discuss Monte Carlo Simulation. Until recently, my understanding of Monte Carlo Simulation was based on what I learned early in my PMP journey, and what I saw from vendors demo’ing their Monte Carlo tools in the early 2000s. My understanding of Monte Carlo is now very different. Troy was kind enough to walk me through how it actually works, the benefits it provides, and why what I originally learned about it is no longer a “thing”. Agile Physics - The Math of Flow - https://learn.focusedobjective.com/collections Contacting Troy Web: https://www.focusedobjective.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troymagennis/ Email: troy.magennis@focusedobjective.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/t_magennis

This interview was originally recorded with video. If you'd like to check out that version you can find it here: https://bit.ly/3rtJEDd Jim Benson is finishing up work on a new book The Collaboration Equation and in this episode of the podcast, the creator of Personal Kanban joins me to talk all about why we often resist collaboration, and why it is a necessary element of everything each of us does. Working through a number of real-life examples we discuss some of the ingredients you need to design a system that supports its participants and fosters a culture of collaboration. This interview is going to challenge your understanding of collaboration, offer you a lens to see collaboration in a deeper, more lasting way, and offer you a sneak peek of what is coming up in Jim’s new book. Links from the Podcast: Personal Kanban: https://www.personalkanban.com/ Lean-Agile Visual Management on Modus Institute: https://www.modusinstitute.com/lavm Jim’s Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JQEEyX Contacting Jim Benson: Web: https://moduscooperandi.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbenson/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourfounder Email: jim@moduscooperandi.com

Jessica Katz is an Agile Coach and Trainer who is on a mission to help the community of Agile Coaches "...empower ourselves with better rates and more appropriate rates." When she became a freelance Agile Coach Jessica became aware of how difficult it was to understand how much an Agile Coach could expect to make as a full-time employee, how much they could charge as freelance, and how much those freelance coaches were paying themselves for the work they do. The first edition of The Agile Coaching Report came out last year and she recently finished collecting data for the second version. Since then she's been hard at work sorting through the details she has collected. During the interview, she shares some of the key learnings she has had in working with the data. This includes things like which segments of the coaching demographic get paid more, how do race and gender impact your pay, who is better at negotiating salary, and factors that can influence the amount you can earn as a coach. She also shares stories about how individuals have been able to use this data to successfully negotiate being paid at a rate equal to their peers within the organization. The audience for the report is anyone working in a coaching capacity within Agile Teams, on an Agile Transformation or Change Management project and it includes a variety of related information like how much people are getting paid for public speaking, as well as common attributes of those paid the most. If you are trying to figure out whether the amount you are earning is in step with the rest of the coaching field, if you need help figuring out how to negotiate for a higher rate of pay, or if you want to know if you are paying your coaches enough, this interview with Jessica Katz on her Agile Coaching Income Report has the details you are looking for. THE AGILE COACHING INCOME REPORT You can download a copy of the 2021 Agile Coaching Income Report here: https://bit.ly/3M6yE71 Keep an eye out for the 2022 Agile Coaching Income Report on Jessica's website https://liberatedelephant.com LADIES GET PAID During the interview Jessica mentions Ladies Get Paid (https://ladiesgetpaid.com), which can be a very valuable resource for anyone (not just women) who needs to get better at negotiating salary. CONTACTING JESSICA if you'd like to reach out to Jessica directly Web: https://liberatedelephant.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeskatz Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElephantTaming

Dan Eberle is the Agile Coach at the New York Times. He’s been a guest on this podcast in the past to talk about coaching stances and what to do when your team members are working on more than one team. This week our focus is on an Agile Certification program Dan has been developing at the New York Times. While obtaining professional credential certification (like CSM or CSPO) is a great investment to make in the people who work in your organization, those certs may not be right for everyone AND your organization may have developed its own approach to Agile by implementing practices from a number of different frameworks/methodologies. If that is the case, an internal training or certification program centered around your specific approach or one that is intended to offer participants enough learning to make intentional informed choices about what practices to adopt may be an ideal way to go. During the interview, Dan explains why he developed the program, the different areas it focuses on, and how employees of the New York Times will evolve through the different levels of certification. Contacting Dan LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3wGScbC Twitter: https://bit.ly/3F6dkec To sign up for Dave's in-person CSM/CSPO classes in Atlanta: CSM (April 5-6, 2022) https://bit.ly/APR5CSMATL CSPO (April 7-8, 2022) https://bit.ly/APR7CSPOATL * Use the discount code DPM10 to get a 10% discount off the list price

Career Refactoring - Find the Gig that Sparks Joy w/ Luis Garcia The pandemic has been tough on everyone. Some have obviously felt the impact deeper than others. But there have also been positive things that came about as a result of the change Covid has brought to our lives. For some, it provided an opportunity to step back and reassess their goals, how they were spending their days and the way they wanted to live and work. For many, this has meant leaving their jobs entirely. For others, like Luis Garcia, it’s meant taking stock, realizing what work sparks joy in your life, and Kondo-ing the rest of that noise right out of your system. This podcast features an interview with a colleague of mine who started out as a project manager and spent years working his way up the ladder only to find it give way when he got laid off early in the pandemic. Rather than rush right back to work, Luis took advantage of the break, spent more time with his family, and reevaluated his career. He’d been successful at working his way up the food chain but realized that at some point, he’d left behind the parts of the job he enjoyed the most. Luis joins me in this episode to talk about that journey and how he’s made a deliberate choice to go back to being a Scrum Master so that he can spend his time doing what brings him joy - working with teams to build products that impact the lives of others. Contacting Luis Twitter: https://twitter.com/luisgarcia LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisgarcia/