The Now-Next-Later Roadmap Framework
The Now-Next-Later roadmap format helps to communicate your priorities over broad timeframes with an emphasis on the near-term. This is ideal for teams operating in fast-changing environments where release dates may be subject to change. It is a strategic tool that can be used regardless...
Templates in Atlassian Confluence
If your organization uses Atlassian products, then you might have already used templates in Confluence. Why Confluence? Confluence provides version control and can act as a project documentation repository. It is an easy-to-use collaboration tool and instead of sharing documents via email or chat, one...
AirTable – Smart Spreadsheet
AirTable is one of a kind spreadsheet. Airtable is a cloud collaboration tool which fuses the features of a database and the format of a spreadsheet in a way that lets users always know what’s going on. Think of it as a smart spreadsheet. An...
Scrumban: An Overview
Scrumban is a hybrid agile development methodology which was originally developed to help projects transition from Scrum to Kanban. The term was coined by Corey Ladas; author of “Scrumban: Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development”. Scrumban combines the structure of Scrum with the...
Scope Creep: What is it, and how to avoid it?
The PMBOK® Guide describes scope creep as “adding features and functionality (project scope) without addressing the effects on time, costs, and resources, or without customer approval”. Even if the project finally gets completed after all the creep, one might be surprised that it looks nothing like what...
Definition of Done
Agile projects need to have a very well-defined Definition of Done (DoD) to avoid confusion amongst team members, and to track project progress correctly. What do we mean by Done? The Definition of Done is when all conditions or criteria that a software product must...
6 Questions to Ask When Starting a New Project
So you’re going to be the Project Manager for a new client. You want to be successful at it and in order to do that, you would want to plan your project well. This articles provides 6 questions to ask when starting a new project....
What is Critical Path Method?
Critical Path Method (CPM) is a resource utilization algorithm for scheduling your project tasks. The objective in CPM is to: List all the tasks in the project with the dependencies defined between all the tasks List the time required (estimate) to complete each task With...
Large Scale Scrum – The LeSS Framework
Large Scale Scrum or LeSS is a framework that enables the usage of Scrum for large teams. It is about applying the principles, elements, and purpose of Scrum for multiple-team Scrum, not multiple Scrum teams. It is a simple and minimalistic framework where there is...
Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrums methodology was first implemented in 1996 by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber at IDX Systems (now GE Healthcare). Both Sutherland and Schwaber needed a way to coordinate eight business units with multiple product lines per business unit and synchronize individual teams with...
What is Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?
The Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) is a set of workflow and organization patterns for implementing Agile Practices at an Enterprise level. The framework encompasses a set of principles, processes and best practices that helps organizations adopt agile methodologies, such as Lean and Scrum, to develop...
Project Status Reports
A project status report summarizes a project’s overall progress. A status report is an important communication tool that should be published to key stakeholders on a regular basis. The stakeholders to publish this to can be identified using frameworks like the Power Interest Grid and...
Atlassian Jira – A popular project management suite
Atlassian Jira is a Project Management suite designed originally for bug/issue tracking. Now it serves as one of the most popular suites for tracking your Agile Scrum and Kanban projects. Jira comes in three versions – Jira Align, Jira Core, and Jira Software. The entire...
Stakeholder analysis using RACI charts
A RACI chart or matrix identifies the key roles and responsibilities against major tasks within a project. It serves as a visual of the role each person on a team is playing. Creating the chart is also an excellent exercise in balancing workload and establishing...
PDCA: The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle
PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) is an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Shewhart Cycle or the Deming Wheel. PDCA was popularized by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an...
Is Agile suited for Data Science
Is a “JIRA” mindset for Data Science the way to execute Data Science projects? Can some structure be put in place for Data Science projects? Is there an an Agile Manifesto for Data Science projects? The Agile Manifesto for Data Science Well…there isn’t an official...