In my last post I started to summarize my presentations over the past month. Now that I'm a week later, I continue to be very happy about the results of my presentations. I'm starting to hear feedback from the presentations and it appears at least some of the people in the rooms received value for the time spent.
In my last post I shared 2 of the 6 tips I provided to help PMs understand how they might be Agile. They were:
#1 - figure out what is truly valuable to your customer
#2 - Stop imagining you can predict the future
In this posting I would like to share the next two points:
TIP #3 - Stop thinking your customer can accurately tell you in detail what they want at the start of the project
Have you ever found yourself in the position of having a 'solid' scope statement at the start of a project? You've put a considerable effort into ensuring you clearly understand exactly what the customer wants, detailed in a document that has been signed off by the sponsor. You've detailed scope in terms of what is in scope, out of scope and possibly what is unresolved at the time of writing. Then as your project progresses you find yourself writing many change requests to alter the details of the scope. Was your project a success? I used to think so! On very large programs I would have lots of change requests, and I prided myself that the customer wasn't suprised by the results. However, I now wonder how much value we left on the floor as a result of having to cut scope so significantly in some cases.
Since I've adjusted towards to be more Agile my project experience is foreverr different! At the start of this year I led an Agile project in which my scope statement was very simple. The scope statement merely said to add a business feature and supporting functionality. It was a very vague statement, but turned out to be the best one I ever wrote. We delivered what the business required and exceeded their expectations!
What you need to find is a way to manage the scope of your project. I used a technique taken from a webinar put on by Allan Shalloway from Net Objectives: Webinar. Within the webinar you will find Allan talking about a technique for managing the scope using front burner, back burner, fridge and freezer. We adapted it, but basically used this technique to put scope control into the hands of the customer. The experience was great!
(note: since my presentation I've had conversation with Allan Shalloway who says this is an old technique he no longer subscribes to as he's transitioned to the use of Lean-Kanban techniques. That's OK though, as we're just starting our Agile journey so old techniques were probably an easier step for us. Besides ... results speak for themselves! I am now studying the Lean-Kanban thought process and am sure I will write about it at some time in the future)
TIP #4 - Don't just communicate ... collaborate!
Anyone can communicate! All you have to do is send an email or document out to someone. Collaborating is tough stuff as now you have to get people sharing information and ideas effectively. This doesn't seem to be natural and takes a lot effort on the part of the leader and team to make it happen.
Think about how you organize your team. The most effective organizational structure is a circle where everyone is on an equal level with clearly defined roles. No intemediaries as that is wasteful and leaves things open to interpretation. I will be writing a future post in the coming month with more on the topic of a symetrical team structure, but for now the important concept is everyone has the opportunity to collaborate with everyone else directly.
Host 15 min stand-up meetings each morning. Please note 2 key things in the previous statement: '15 min' and 'stand-up'. This has turned out to be a very effective tool for keeping the team in sync each day. During this quick meeting each member of the core team must share three things: what they accomplished since the last meeting, what they plan to accomplish today and what barriers are in front of them. Keep it on track and moving and you will find people dont' have a problem coming to the meeting each day. If you'd like to read more about stand up meetings check out Martin Fowlers blog entry: Its not just standing up
This is a big topic, but hopefully I've summarized a couple key points for you on tools for collaborating more effectively. Don't just be a manager or boss! Be their leader and inspire them to do the best job possible! Make them believe they're the most important thing happening and watch how they'll rise to the challenge
Next week I will post the last two suggestions I have for being an effective agile PM.
Until then ... be Agile!
Mike
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