Johanna Rothman

MAY 3, 2019

I started this series discussing the issue of the various product-based roles in an agile organization. And, batching the product planning in one-quarter chunks doesn't encourage us to reduce the feedback loop duration. Back when we started using agile approaches, many teams worked directly with their customers.

Product Research 70

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 70

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

I have a new book: Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility. I wrote it because I'm concerned about what I see in too many supposedly agile teams: Crazy-long backlogs and roadmaps. A focus on a “standard” agile approach, regardless of how much agility is in that approach.

Customer Experience 85

Customer Experience Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 85

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 18, 2021

They think that the agile tools they use, such as boards, offer a strategic advantage. However, they adopt or “install” an agile framework or process without customization. Instead, agile organizations need flexibility, not rigidity. Commodity businesses don't need agility for product development.

Agile 116

Agile Feedback Software Product Research Feedback Loop 116

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 21, 2024

I started this series by discussing why managers didn't perceive the value of agile coaches and Scrum Masters in Part 1, resulting in layoffs.) That's why I then asked people to review their product-oriented domain expertise and agile-focused domain expertise in Part 3. Especially, Agile is Not a Silver Bullet.

Software Review 96

Software Review Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 96

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 6, 2024

In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1 , I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency , where we watch the flow of the work , not the people doing tasks. Can you create an agile culture for your team even if you can't change how the organization works? 1,2 and so on.

Agile 81

Agile Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software 81

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

See Create Your Successful Agile Project for how to use cycle time to reduce the time you spend on estimation.). If your team has to change what they do one month or six weeks into a quarter's estimation or commitment, the product feedback loop is too long. Product Feedback Loops are Different than Project Feedback Loops.

Product Research 58

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 58

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Of course, there are feedback loops here, too: Notice that we expect feedback from later features back to the previous features. However, if we have “bad” feedback from the last (or interim feature), we don't have the “Kiss of Death” as we did in the serial or iterative lifecycles.

User Testing 113

User Testing Product Research Agile Feedback Loop 113

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Many of my clients are trying to use short feedback loops in agile approaches. The more need for product innovation and change, the shorter the feedback loops need to be. I wrote about this in Create Your Successful Agile Project.) High Need for Product Innovation and Change.

Product Research 60

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 60

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

Your planning feedback loops can be longer. We need short feedback loops in the project/program to see where we are and make small adjustments. Even if you do encounter technical problems, agile approaches help manage those problems with short project feedback loops. We know what we have to do.

Product Research 60

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software User Testing 60

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 9, 2021

I said that when we focus on individual achievements and deliverables, we ignore the agile system of work. Worse, when we reward individual achievements we prevent an agile culture. That's because agile teams learn together as they create the product. See Multiple Short Feedback Loops Support Innovation for more information.).

Agile 69

Agile Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software 69

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 31, 2024

In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1 , I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency, where we focus on watching the work, not the people. If you and your team have been practicing real agility, you might say these ideas barely show any agility at all.

Agile 71

Agile Product Research Demo User Testing 71

Johanna Rothman

JULY 25, 2018

I’m working on my roadmapping talk for Agile 2018. I finally had the transforming idea about how to position the talk: Roadmapping and product planning are about feedback loops. The shorter the feedback loop, the faster and more often we can learn. How little can you do to get some feedback on the product?

Product Research 41

Product Research Feedback Loop User Testing Customer Feedback 41

Johanna Rothman

MAY 11, 2022

However, the more often we deliver in short feedback loops, the more often we can make strategic decisions. The more often we iterate strategically, the more we exhibit business agility. The shorter the feedback loops, the easier it is to use what we finished to make a new decision about the next bit of work at all levels.

Product Research 96

Product Research Feedback Loop Strategy User Testing 96

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

More of my clients say they want business agility. Yet, we don't share a common definition of business agility. Those actions show that managers change their actions in the face of new information or feedback. Those actions show that managers change their actions in the face of new information or feedback.

Agile 89

Agile Feedback Software Product Research Feedback Loop 89

Johanna Rothman

JUNE 24, 2021

He thought agile approaches would work to “meet” and “enforce” deadlines. Even when we use a non-agile approach , schedule variance doesn't make sense. Schedule variance assumes we don't have feedback loops inside the project, or that we don't learn anything. Why do you have deadlines?

Agile 85

Agile Product Research Feedback Loop Government 85

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 6, 2020

Are you trying to make an agile framework or approach work? Maybe you've received a mandate to “go agile.” Or, maybe you're trying to fit an agile framework into your current processes—and you've got a mess. I've seen plenty of problems when people try to adopt “agile” wholesale.

Agile 111

Agile Product Research Feedback Software Feedback Loop 111

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 16, 2019

See Velocity is Not Acceleration or Create Your Successful Agile Project for more details. The series: Balance Innovation, Commitment, & Feedback Loops: Part 1: High Innovation Products. Then, the people who manage the product strategy, the product manager/product value team change what the team does next.

Product Research 56

Product Research Feedback Loop Agile Consulting 56

Product Innovation Educators

JANUARY 3, 2022

How product managers can use the Modified Agile for Hardware Development Framework. They think they have the answer for applying Agile principles to hardware projects, and they call it the Modified Agile for Hardware Development (MAHD) Framework. Today we are talking about using a modified version of Scrum for hardware projects.

Agile 112

Agile Development Feedback Software User Testing 112

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops About 20 years ago, I taught a project management workshop to IT people. That's why the duration of the internal feedback loops is so important. I used the image above in Multiple Short Feedback Loops Support Innovation. Show them your feedback loops and your cycle time.

Product Research 125

Product Research Feedback Loop Workshop User Testing 125

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

No one cares about a team's agility—with the possible exception of the team itself. The more agile the approach, the faster the team can deliver value to the customers—without late learning. The more agile the approach, the faster the team can deliver value to the customers—without late learning.

Product Research 61

Product Research Feedback Loop Customer Experience Agile 61

Johanna Rothman

MAY 24, 2023

Brandon, a senior leader, asked, “What is all this hype about agile frameworks and models and practices? That's a reinforcing feedback loop that encourages management agility. In turn, management agility creates the environment for team agility. Do I really need all that stuff?” “Nope.

Agile 45

Agile Feedback Loop Management Management 45

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 20, 2020

The original signatories of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development wanted to solve these specific problems: How can we: Bring more adaptability to software development? Especially since teams now had these levers, from the iterative and incremental approaches: Prototype something for fast feedback. Feature-Driven development.

User Testing 66

User Testing Software Review Agile Product Research 66

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 2, 2023

” It depends on how your lifecycle manages feedback loops and learning, how collaborative the team is, and how much WIP the team has. Each Lifecycle Manages Feedback Loops Differently Brooks wrote the original version of The Mythical Man-Month in 1975, based on the 1960s IBM 360 project. .”

Product Research 95

Product Research Customer Feedback Feedback Loop Feedback Software 95

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 11, 2021

Worse, most career ladders assume we can assess what a person can do, not on their contributions to an agile team. That means most career ladders don't fit agile teams or an agile culture. Instead of individual achievements, we can reward the types of agile leadership we want to see in agile teams. Ask for help.

Agile 95

Agile Product Research Feedback Loop Leadership 95

Agile Velocity

MAY 14, 2020

Did you know you can maximize your chances of achieving desired business outcomes by combining DevOps with an Agile transformation? When you hear “Business Outcomes,” “DevOps,” and/or Agile transformation” – what comes to mind? Agile Transformation. Agile transformations and DevOps initiatives are complementary.

Feedback Software 98

Feedback Software Agile Analytic Tools Data Visualization 98

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

“Agile” as a way to do much more work in much less time. (NO! That's because they don't have unplanned feedback loops as in the image on the left. His team used this collaboration board (from Create Your Successful Agile Project ), where they tracked asking for and offering help. It doesn't work that way!!)

Product Research 83

Product Research Software Review Feedback Software Feedback Loop 83

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Isn't every iterative and incremental approach an agile approach? We often hear agile approaches are a mindset. An agile approach requires a change in culture at the team level, at the portfolio level, and in management. Agile approaches change what we discuss, how we work together, and what we reward. Release trains.

User Testing 70

User Testing Agile Product Research Weak Development Team 70

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 2, 2024

We need operational feedback loops to consistently verify we're headed where we want to go. See the Multiple Short Feedback Loops Support Innovation and Feedback Loops Help When to Centralize or Decentralize Product-Based Decisions for more ideas about feedback loops and decisions.)

Product Research 86

Product Research Strategy Feedback Loop Agile 86

Johanna Rothman

MAY 16, 2019

I suggested ways to think about more agile budgeting in part 1. My feedback loop is one month at the outside. ” Annual budgeting constrains the project portfolio ideas and work to a one-year feedback loop. ” Annual budgeting constrains the project portfolio ideas and work to a one-year feedback loop.

Data Visualization 60

Data Visualization Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 60

Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops. We change the feedback loops. That's the point of all those feedback loops in the image above.). We change the drivers for the feedback loops. How Changing the Feedback Loop Drivers Might Work. Or finish a project.) Teams would not multitask.

Product Research 106

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software Agile 106

Johanna Rothman

MARCH 26, 2024

I suspect their teams hide their feedback loops. When people create a high-level WBS, no one sees the feedback loops or the dependencies. The feedback loops tend to be late and create chaos in the project. That's another great way to hide feedback loops. I always see unplanned feedback loops.

Data Visualization 70

Data Visualization Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software 70

Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

The problem is that the feedback loops are too long because the WIP (Work in Progress) is too high. Managers pressure both the teams for faster blue feedback loops, and pressure the product people for faster red feedback loops. All to create faster green feedback loops.

Product Research 114

Product Research Feedback Loop Feedback Software Technical Review 114

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

They've started to use agile approaches. Capitalization for Agile Work. Let me walk you through an example of a 5-person agile team. I would add demoing in as value creation, but I'm not sure how accountants categorize feedback loops. But, what happens if you don't have an agile project? Why Capitalize?

Feedback Software 74

Feedback Software Agile Product Research Finance 74

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 21, 2021

See Agile FM – Johanna Rothman. Feedback loops and delays for managers. appeared first on Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant. I had a terrific time with Joe Krebs on his podcast. We spoke about a number of ideas from the Modern Management Made Easy books: How to recognize and avoid micromanagement. One-on-ones.

Feedback Loop 101

Feedback Loop Agile Consulting Books 101

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 14, 2019

In Part 1 , I wrote about how “Agile” is not a silver bullet and is not right for every team and every product. This post is about how management fits into agile approaches. Too often, managers think “agile” is for others, specifically teams of people. Team-based “agile” is not enough.

User Testing 69

User Testing Agile Product Research Feedback Loop 69

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 18, 2024

I discussed this a little in Aging Fun with Drunk Agile (Video) and in How to Assess the Value of Old Data and Its Effect on Aging.) That's why aging is a part of the flow metrics feedback loop on the top of this post. Those feedback loops.) We can file all those ideas into an electronic tool.

Product Research 72

Product Research Feedback Loop Data Visualization Reporting Tools 72

Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Back in Part 1 , I wrote about how stage-gate approaches were as agile as we could use at the time. We had one delivery, so our agility was about canceling the project if we couldn't finish it. We could get feedback on prototypes—from the customer. Opportunities for Agility. So, more agility than a serial approach.

User Testing 117

User Testing Agile Customer Feedback Product Research 117