Facilitating meaningful conversations in large groups can be challenging. That’s where the World Café technique comes in! It’s a structured, interactive method to foster collaborative dialogue, uncover insights, and build consensus. Here’s how to run …
You’re deep into an important task when your phone rings. You switch to handle the call. Suddenly, an urgent email pops up, demanding immediate attention. Before you know it, you’ve jumped between three tasks, and …
There is a game inspired by the Prisoner Dilemma that I like to facilitate. What is the Prisoner’s Dilemma? The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a classic thought experiment in game theory. Two thieves must decide independently …
In project management, it’s easy to confuse symptoms with problems. However, identifying the root cause is the key to unlocking successful solutions. Here’s a common example:📉 Symptom: “Our team keeps missing deadlines.”🔍 Problem: Poor …
Scaling Agile with LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum) requires team collaboration, especially during backlog refinement. One effective technique I love isRotational Refinement. How It Works:1️⃣ Kickoff Together: All teams meet to understand high-priority backlog items, aligning on …
Leadership isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. The Situational Leadership Theory, developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, highlights the importance of flexibility. The best leaders adapt their style based on their team’s maturity and the specifics of the task. This ensures that leadership is aligned with the team’s needs, fostering better collaboration and outcomes.
Hersey and Blanchard identified four leadership styles:
🔹 Telling (S1): Leaders provide clear instructions on what, how, when, and where tasks should be completed. This style involves high direction and minimal relationship-building—ideal for teams needing strong guidance.
Stay tuned for insights into the other leadership styles!
When introducing Agile or Scrum to teams with no prior experience, I like to kick things off with a fun and interactive game that explains key concepts like iteration, teamwork, and continuous improvement: The Agile Ball Game. 🎉
Here’s how it works:
Grab 20-30 small balls. Everyone is part of one big team. Each ball must have air-time 🌬️. Every ball must be touched by all team members, at least once 🤲. Balls cannot be passed to your immediate left or right. Each ball must return to the person who introduced it into the system.
🚀 After a 2-minute preparation, the team has 2 minutes to complete the first Sprint. 💬 Following the Sprint, there’s a 1-minute Retrospective to discuss how the process can improve.
This cycle repeats for five iterations—by the end, the team can reflect on how they improved and adapted after each iteration. ( In each iteration the team improve the time to move all the balls)
This game is a great way to demonstrate the value of small iterations, retrospectives, and continuous improvement—all core elements of Agile! 🎯
“You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” – Lord Kelvin
✅ Why Measurement Matters Measuring key metrics like cycle time, lead time, and bug counts helps you spot bottlenecks and areas for improvement. Without solid data, you might rely on guesses, but accurate measurements lead to informed decisions and real results.
🚀 What Should You Measure? According to Accelerate, focus on these four important DORA metrics: -Deployment Frequency: How often your team releases changes to production. -Change Lead Time: The time it takes for code to go live after being committed. -Change Failure Rate: The percentage of deployments that result in issues, rollbacks, or failures. -Time to Restore Service: How long it takes to fix an issue in production.
From my experience, I also recommend tracking:
-Cycle Time: The total time to complete a task from start to finish. -Development Time: The time spent on coding and programming a feature. -Bug Count: The number of defects or issues found in the software.
📊 Recommendations Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to measure everything. Instead, focus on 3 or 4 key metrics, establish a baseline, and make gradual improvements. Concentrate on enhancing one metric at a time for the best results.
🔧 Pro Tip Use tools like JIRA, Trello, or Asana to collect your data, and Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) to visualize it. Real-time insights help you focus on solving problems and improving processes.
Remember, measuring performance isn’t about micromanaging; it’s about empowering your team to continuous improvement by identifying growth opportunities.
I love running marathons, and while I’ve completed several, I always wish I could run more. I treat my marathon training like managing a project—using a flexible, data-driven approach. With a 16-week training plan, I see each week as a new step, much like a Scrum sprint, where I check my progress and make adjustments as needed.
I track important details like my interval times, endurance, and recovery using tools like Strava and Garmin Connect, comparing them to previous training cycles and races like half marathons.
I’ve noticed that many runners stick to their training plans without adjustments, which can lead to burnout by race day. If you’re thinking about running a marathon, don’t make that mistake! Instead, listen to your body and adjust your plan based on how you feel.
Every week, I assess my performance and well-being. If I’m feeling tired or not meeting my goals, I adapt by adding more recovery runs or changing my long runs. When I’m feeling good, I push myself a bit more.
This focus on improvement—regularly checking in and adapting helps to get better and finish strong. As in project management, being flexible and responsive to change is key to success! So listen to your body and adapt your training plan 🏃♂️💪
The Channel Tunnel is an undersea rail tunnel that links Folkestone in the UK to Pas de Calais, near Calais, in France. It carries high-speed Eurostar trains, and in recent years, it has transported over 22 million passengers annually, with freight surpassing 20 million tonnes.
In 1988, the Channel project began with a budget of £2.6B and an expected timeline of 5 years. However, it wasn’t completed until 1994, costing £4.6B—80% over budget and taking 20% longer than planned.
This is a classic case where uncontrolled changes in project scope occur due to unclear definitions and planning gaps.
Key issues in the Channel project:
–Lack of historical data: Without precedent, crucial requirements like air conditioning were missed in the initial design.
–Risk management: Unexpected underground conditions caused delays, highlighting the need for better risk identification and response planning.
–Communication gaps: British and French teams tunneling from opposite sides faced communication challenges.
-Procurement issues: Optimistic bids led to the “winner’s curse,” where contractors couldn’t deliver on time or budget.
Would an Agile and Iterative approach have mitigated these issues?
Beyond MoSCoW, ROI, or Cost of Delay product prioritization tools, will talk another day, one fun technique is buy-a-Feature.
When planning a product, the Buy-a-Feature prioritization technique can help teams align on the most valuable. This method assigns a virtual “budget” to stakeholders, who then “buy” the most important features.
Imagine organizing a birthday party! You have €100 to allocate between options like catering (€40), a live band (€60), decorations (€20), and a cake (€30).
Everyone involved can contribute their thoughts by “buying” their favorites with their budget. If the cake gets the most votes, but no one “buys” the live band, you know where to focus your efforts.
This technique fosters collaboration and ensures that resources are spent on what matters most to the stakeholders, creating alignment and building better products (or parties!).
14 years ago, I received an unexpected call: “We need a Project Manager in London.” Without hesitation, I said yes, and within minutes, I found myself jumping from my comfort zone into the panic zone.
In just two days, I became the Infrastructure Project Manager at Burberry’s headquarters, the iconic fashion brand. The catch? I had zero experience in infrastructure projects. Luckily, I had an incredible team backing me up. The first month was tough. The gloomy December weather in London, my uncertainty with the language, the loneliness, and the constant fear of failing in meetings weighed heavily on me. But I refused to give up.
I spent countless evenings in my apartment diving into infrastructure software, trying to acquire the knowledge I needed to succeed. By January, something clicked. I began gaining confidence. Meetings became easier, and together with the team, we tackled every challenge head-on.
We successfully delivered two major projects: opening 40 Burberry corners in El Corte Inglés malls and creating a new warehouse in Northern Italy.
My time in London was unforgettable. I met amazing people and learned so much—not just about infrastructure and project management, but about pushing beyond fear. Whenever I face a new challenge or feel my confidence waver, I remember that time. I turned the panic zone into a place of growth.
So, embrace the challenge. Trust yourself. Growth happens when you step outside your comfort zone.
When managing multiple tasks, the RICE scoring model helps prioritize based on four key factors:
Reach: How many people will this impact?
Impact: How much value will it create?
Confidence: How sure are we of the expected outcome?
Effort: How much work is required?
The formula is simple: (Reach x Impact x Confidence) / Effort = RICE Score
This allows teams to focus on high-impact, low-effort tasks that maximize value and efficiency. It’s a great tool for balancing workloads and making smart decisions on what to tackle first.
In March 2014, I ran my first marathon. I followed a structured training plan for four months, and by the end, I felt nervous but ready. Three weeks before race day, I completed 30K at a pace of 5:20/Km, feeling great. But on marathon day, we had an unexpectedly strong heat in mid-March in Barcelona. I tried to maintain my original pace. This was a big mistake. By 40K, I was near burnout. Why? Because I was pushing at an unsustainable pace, one I couldn’t hold for 42K.
This personal experience shows what often happens in project teams. During crunch times—major releases or special events—teams might be asked to go the extra mile, and that’s okay occasionally. But the team will burn out if that extra effort becomes the norm for extended periods.
One of the twelve Agile principles reminds us: “The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.”
The daily scrum is part of the empirical control process in Scrum. Some of the common mistakes that avoid inspection and adaption.
1. Status Meeting vs. Goal-Oriented Focus: Teams often fall into reporting completed tasks (e.g., “I finished tasks A, B, and C”). The daily meeting should be more goal-driven. Instead of focusing on tasks, try shifting the conversation: “I worked on this to help achieve our sprint goal, and today I will focus on this next step.” This keeps everyone aligned on the bigger picture.
2. Micromanagement: Sometimes managers use the daily as an opportunity to micromanage. Keeping the manager as a listener is crucial to fostering autonomy. Let the team self-organize and problem-solve, without external pressure.
3. Endless Dailies: In less mature teams daily stand-ups can be extra long. One simple fix: timebox each intervention. When team members know they have 2 minutes to share, they go to the point, focusing on essential updates that drive progress toward the sprint goal.