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Proud Supporter of:
Johanna Rothman
Speaker, Consultant, Author for managing product development
Johanna was the Agile 2009 conference chair. She is the current agileconnection.com technical editor. Johanna is the author of these books:
- Manage Your Job Search
- Hiring Geeks That Fit
- Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects.
- 2008 Jolt Productivity award winning Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management
- Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (with Esther Derby)
She is working on a book about agile program management. Find more of Johanna's articles and her blogs at www.jrothman.com and at www.createadaptablelife.com
Blog
Devs in the ‘Ditch Slides Posted
Posted Tuesday, May 21, 2013
I gave a talk at Devs in the ‘Ditch last week when I was in London. I posted the slides on slideshare: Overcoming Three Pitfalls of Transitioning to Agile. The very nice people at 7digital made a video and posted it, tmore »Individuals and Interactions With Gil Broza
Posted Monday, May 13, 2013
My friend and colleague, Gil Broza, is interviewing me for his Individuals and Interactions virtual training event. My topic? “Focus Keeps You Goimore »Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 5
Posted Friday, May 3, 2013
I am still making progress, although it’s more difficult to see my progress today. Why? Because I did not get as much to donmore »Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 4
Posted Thursday, May 2, 2013
I’m still chugging along, making great progress. I took some interruptions yesterday, as many people do. They are not reflected on my kanbamore »London Workshops Almost Full, May 16 & 17, 2013
Posted Thursday, May 2, 2013
Are you considering joining me in my Coaching or Project Management workshops in London on May 16 or May 17, 2013? If so, please decide quickly. I have room for two more people in the coaching workshomore »Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 3
Posted Wednesday, May 1, 2013
I’ve been busy crossing work off my list. And, as with all of us busy people, I’m adding more work to my list. I feel as if I’ve accomplished a lot this weemore »Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 2
Posted Tuesday, April 30, 2013
I’ve made great progress on Day 1, and I wasn’t even in the office all day! You can see I’ve added more todos, at the bottom of my queue. I discovered two urgent todo’more »Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 1
Posted Monday, April 29, 2013
I use a form of personal kanban inside one-week iterations to finish my work and notice what I am not doing. I do this to maintain a cadence of blogging and to finish work. Did you notice that word, finismore »Management Myth 16: “I Know How Long the Work Should Take”
Posted Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Long ago, when I was a young developer at an anonymous company, one of my managers was disappointed with my progress. “I know how long the work should take. If I was doing the work, it would be done by now,” he huffed at mmore »Start Your Agile Project Right and Coaching Master Class in London, May 16 and 17, 2013
Posted Friday, April 12, 2013
I am going to be in London, May 16 and 17, 2013. I am offering two interactive public workshops, one on starting your agile project right, and a master class on coaching. See the detailed syllabus and signup page for Starting Your Agile Project and Coacmore »Self Assessment Tool for Transitioning to Agile
Posted Thursday, April 11, 2013
Over on agileconnection, a user asked about a self-assessment tool for measuring agile maturity. That’s not exactly the right question, because agile transition is a journey, not a destination. But, I can understand whymore »Presentations
Improve Your Social Networking Skills
You don’t have to be a social butterfly to succeed with social networking. Whether you are searching for a new job, marketing your business, or recruiting for a candidate, you need to know how to network. But as a professional, you want to network with aumore »Has Your Project Outgrown Its Training Wheels?
No matter what lifecycle or process your project uses, the participants on your project have some strongly-held beliefs. “The iteration must be two weeks long.” “No, the iteration must be three weeks long.more »Replacing Management Myths
We have all heard management myths about how to manage knowledge workers. We may have been told to rank the people to yank the bottom 10%. We may have been prevented from moving the cubicles to create a better workspace for a project team.more »Improve Your Social Networking Skills
By Johanna Rothman
You don’t have to be a social butterfly to succeed with social networking. Whether you are searching for a new job, marketing your business, or recruiting for a candidate, you need to know how to network. But as a professional, you want to network with authenticity. Authentic networking means making a warm connection--having a reason to connect. You need to build your reputation to network.
You start to build your reputation at work. You extend your reputation on social networking sites, mailing lists, and with online participation.
During this session, you will analyze your current online network and your current online participation. You will focus on using social networking sites, mailing lists, and other online email and writing to build your reputation. You’ll leave with an action plan and a budding network to help you with that action plan.
Has Your Project Outgrown Its Training Wheels?
By Johanna Rothman
No matter what lifecycle or process your project uses, the participants on your project have some strongly-held beliefs. “The iteration must be two weeks long.” “No, the iteration must be three weeks long.” “You must ask these three questions at the standup.” “No, you must sit down at the standup.” “You must only measure velocity.” “No, you must only measure cumulative flow.” “You must never use waterfall.” “You must always use waterfall.”
How do you know the project management practices are working for you? When is it time to reexamine those beliefs? Such questions are hard. But, they are necessary to ask and answer, if you want to keep improving and keep innovating.
There are no best practices. There are practices that help projects. It’s good to know when your project or program has outgrown the practices it uses. In this session, we will seek the patterns that help us realize when a project has outgrown its training wheels.
Replacing Management Myths
By Johanna Rothman
We have all heard management myths about how to manage knowledge workers. We may have been told to rank the people to yank the bottom 10%. We may have been prevented from moving the cubicles to create a better workspace for a project team. We may have been told that the testers had to remain separate from the developers to retain the product’s integrity. These are all management myths.
Myths do not help you manage the people in your organization. Far from it. They may hurt your efforts to become or practice being a great manager.
In this session, we will explore the myths you see in your organization. We will identify alternative practices that allow you to manage effectively and humanely.
At all times we will stay focused on the realities of your business.
Books
by Johanna Rothman
List Price: $32.95
Price: $23.73
You Save: $9.22 (28%)
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All of your projects and programs make up your portfolio. But how much time you actually spend on your projects, and how much time do you spend responding to emergencies?
This book will introduce you to different ways of ordering all of the projects you are working on now, and help you figure out how to staff those projects--even when you've run out of project teams to do the work.
Once you learn to manage your portfolio better, you'll avoid emergency "firedrills." The trick is adopting lean and agile approaches to projects, whether they are software projects, projects that include hardware, or projects that depend on chunks of functionality from other suppliers.
You may be accustomed to spending time in meetings where you still don't have the data you need to evaluate your projects. Here, with a few measures, you'll be able to quickly evaluate each project and come to a decision quickly.
You'll learn how to define your team's, group's, or department's mission with none of the buzzwords that normally accompany a mission statement. Armed with the work and the mission, you can make those decisions that define the true leaders in the organization.
Price: $23.73
You Save: $9.22 (28%)
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All of your projects and programs make up your portfolio. But how much time you actually spend on your projects, and how much time do you spend responding to emergencies?
This book will introduce you to different ways of ordering all of the projects you are working on now, and help you figure out how to staff those projects--even when you've run out of project teams to do the work.
Once you learn to manage your portfolio better, you'll avoid emergency "firedrills." The trick is adopting lean and agile approaches to projects, whether they are software projects, projects that include hardware, or projects that depend on chunks of functionality from other suppliers.
You may be accustomed to spending time in meetings where you still don't have the data you need to evaluate your projects. Here, with a few measures, you'll be able to quickly evaluate each project and come to a decision quickly.
You'll learn how to define your team's, group's, or department's mission with none of the buzzwords that normally accompany a mission statement. Armed with the work and the mission, you can make those decisions that define the true leaders in the organization.
by Johanna Rothman
List Price: $34.95
Price: $18.63
You Save: $16.32 (47%)
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This book is a reality-based guide for modern projects. You'll learn how to recognize your project's potholes and ruts, and determine the best way to fix problems - without causing more problems.
Your project can't fail. That's a lot of pressure on you, and yet you don't want to buy into any one specific process, methodology, or lifecycle.
Your project is different. It doesn't fit into those neat descriptions.
Manage It! will show you how to beg, borrow, and steal from the best methodologies to fit your particular project. It will help you find what works best for you and not for some mythological project that doesn't even exist.
Before you know it, your project will be on track and headed to a successful conclusion.
Price: $18.63
You Save: $16.32 (47%)
-
This book is a reality-based guide for modern projects. You'll learn how to recognize your project's potholes and ruts, and determine the best way to fix problems - without causing more problems.
Your project can't fail. That's a lot of pressure on you, and yet you don't want to buy into any one specific process, methodology, or lifecycle.
Your project is different. It doesn't fit into those neat descriptions.
Manage It! will show you how to beg, borrow, and steal from the best methodologies to fit your particular project. It will help you find what works best for you and not for some mythological project that doesn't even exist.
Before you know it, your project will be on track and headed to a successful conclusion.
by Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby
List Price: $24.95
Price: $16.39
You Save: $8.56 (34%)
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Great management is difficult to see as it occurs. It's possible to see the results of great management, but it's not easy to see how managers achieve those results. Great management happens in one-on-one meetings and with other managers---all in private. It's hard to learn management by example when you can't see it.
You can learn to be a better manager---even a great manager---with this guide. You'll follow along as Sam, a manager just brought on board, learns the ropes and deals with his new team over the course of his first eight weeks on the job. From scheduling and managing resources to helping team members grow and prosper, you'll be there as Sam makes it happen. You'll find powerful tips covering:
- Delegating effectively
- Using feedback and goal-setting
- Developing influence
- Handling one-on-one meetings
- Coaching and mentoring
- Deciding what work to do---and what not to do
- ...and more.
Full of tips and practical advice on the most important aspects of management, this is one of those books that can make a lasting and immediate impact on your career.
Price: $16.39
You Save: $8.56 (34%)
-
Great management is difficult to see as it occurs. It's possible to see the results of great management, but it's not easy to see how managers achieve those results. Great management happens in one-on-one meetings and with other managers---all in private. It's hard to learn management by example when you can't see it.
You can learn to be a better manager---even a great manager---with this guide. You'll follow along as Sam, a manager just brought on board, learns the ropes and deals with his new team over the course of his first eight weeks on the job. From scheduling and managing resources to helping team members grow and prosper, you'll be there as Sam makes it happen. You'll find powerful tips covering:
- Delegating effectively
- Using feedback and goal-setting
- Developing influence
- Handling one-on-one meetings
- Coaching and mentoring
- Deciding what work to do---and what not to do
- ...and more.
Full of tips and practical advice on the most important aspects of management, this is one of those books that can make a lasting and immediate impact on your career.
Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People
by Johanna Rothman and Gerald M. Weinberg
List Price: $37.95
Price: $34.16
You Save: $3.79 (10%)
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Good technical people are the foundation on which successful high technology organizations are built. Establishing a good process for hiring such workers is essential. Unfortunately, the generic methods so often used for hiring skill-based staff, who can apply standardized methods to almost any situation, are of little use to those charged with the task of hiring technical people.
Unlike skill-based workers, technical people typically do not have access to cookie-cutter solutions to their problems. They need to adapt to any situation that arises, using their knowledge in new and creative ways to solve the problem at hand. As a result, one developer, tester, or technical manager is not interchangeable with another. This makes hiring technical people one of the most critical and difficult processes a technical manager can undertake.
Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science of Hiring Technical People takes the guesswork out of hiring and diminishes the risk of costly hiring mistakes. With the aid of step-by-step descriptions and detailed examples, you’ll learn how to
* write a concise, targeted job description
* source candidates
* develop ads for mixed media
* review résumés quickly to determine Yes, No, or Maybe candidates
* develop intelligent, nondiscriminatory, interview techniques
* create fool-proof phone-screens
* check references with a view to reading between the lines
* extend an offer that will attract a win-win acceptance or tender a gentle-but-decisive rejection
* and more
You, your team, and your organization will live with the long-term consequences of your hiring decision. Investing time in developing a hiring strategy will shorten your decision time and the ramp-up time needed for each new hire.
Price: $34.16
You Save: $3.79 (10%)
-
Good technical people are the foundation on which successful high technology organizations are built. Establishing a good process for hiring such workers is essential. Unfortunately, the generic methods so often used for hiring skill-based staff, who can apply standardized methods to almost any situation, are of little use to those charged with the task of hiring technical people.
Unlike skill-based workers, technical people typically do not have access to cookie-cutter solutions to their problems. They need to adapt to any situation that arises, using their knowledge in new and creative ways to solve the problem at hand. As a result, one developer, tester, or technical manager is not interchangeable with another. This makes hiring technical people one of the most critical and difficult processes a technical manager can undertake.
Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science of Hiring Technical People takes the guesswork out of hiring and diminishes the risk of costly hiring mistakes. With the aid of step-by-step descriptions and detailed examples, you’ll learn how to
* write a concise, targeted job description
* source candidates
* develop ads for mixed media
* review résumés quickly to determine Yes, No, or Maybe candidates
* develop intelligent, nondiscriminatory, interview techniques
* create fool-proof phone-screens
* check references with a view to reading between the lines
* extend an offer that will attract a win-win acceptance or tender a gentle-but-decisive rejection
* and moreYou, your team, and your organization will live with the long-term consequences of your hiring decision. Investing time in developing a hiring strategy will shorten your decision time and the ramp-up time needed for each new hire.
