This post explains our project planning and tracking process, which has evolved over a 20 year period and through our work on thousands of client projects. The foundation of this process is based on the best practices of fast teams, who we’ve been studying since the early 1990’s.
Read MoreSimon Sinek discusses why we should leave our mobile devices behind when we go out, go to a meeting, etc.
Read MoreMy schedule keeps slipping and is out of control. How can I get it back on track?
Read MoreConverge in 1/3 of the time, get to market, generate revenue and then iterate further technology generations. Knowing when to converge is the trick. Converge too soon and you may end up with the wrong product, wait too long to converge and you run the risk of delivering too late.
Read MoreThis is an overview of the FTTM System (fast-time-to-market) used by fast teams. It is based on best practice research developed by lateralworks.
Read MoreIt seems counter intuitive. To make a project go faster when you don’t have to, because you are already on schedule. That is the point.
Read MoreHow do we practice the "Planning with no constraints" philosophy during the build/model session?
It seems counterintuitive not to consider constraints when planning.
Constraints are real and should be a factor, shouldn't they?
Read MoreHow do risks get reflected in a development schedule?
Risks are unknowns. How does one incorporate the impact unknowns could have on a schedule if they don't know what they don't know? What "is known" is that risk or uncertainty will cause a schedule to move to the right (expand in duration), especially when it is missing from the baseline schedule.
Read MoreThere are four areas associated with Refresh Planning, these are: Update, Analysis, Pull-in, Reporting.
Read MoreEstimating how long something takes is always a problem, especially when you factor in the external "influences" the person doing the work has to navigate within the organization. The other factor is the overriding culture of the organization. Is it a learning culture that stimulates open and honest discussion or is it a punishing organization where it is better not to fail, rather than taking risks that might lead to failure (i.e., playing not to lose vs playing to win)?
Read MoreThis is a question we have heard countless times. The schedule is constantly slipping. The PM is blamed for not managing the team. The team is blamed for not sticking to the schedule. The management is blamed because people are working on too many projects and there's not enough time in the day to do them all. The most important project is the one that's the latest.
Read MorePsychology and human behavior are interesting to study. Permitting people to "take longer" and to factor risks into their plan tends to free them up to creatively think of ways to make it take less time - to find technical solutions that also accelerate the schedule.
Read MoreDo it now
Pay to save a day
Act versus talk about it
Schedule is king
Creative thinking - finding solutions to make it go faster
Don’t accept no for an answer
Get in people’s faces (in this case their suppliers)
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