Projects@Work White Paper - Distributed Agile Teams: Achieving the Benefits

ProjectsatWork has published a study called Distributed Agile Teams: Achieving the Benefits. The report was put together by Elizabeth Harrin  (@PM4Girls), who is the author of the website A Girls Guide to Project Management. The results of the research cover a lot of ground with respect to what makes distributed Agile projects work and what can contribute to their failure.  The report is very insightful and definitely worth the time it takes to read. While some of the findings may seem like common sense, knowledge workers in the IT space (myself definitely included) seem to possess a remarkable capacity for periodic loss of grip to that tether.

My favorite part comes at the very end during the summary of recommendations. Number One on the list is:

Don’t act like your project is co-located – pay the tax for distribution. 

This is one of the most simple things that so many of us forget when we are working at a distance. I believe this applies whether you are working down the hall from someone, or across the globe… there is a price that has to be paid when you are not sitting in the same room. With the transparency that Agile offers, this tax becomes far more obvious. There is no doubt that distributed teams provide a number of benefits, but those benefits come at a cost. The reason (IMHO) so many people struggle so much with distributed is that they keep thinking that the ride is free ... which it theoretically could be… unless you actually want it to work.

Woefully behind in the blog (again)

Today is the day I am trying to get caught up on the blogging.

Here is a link to the ProjectsAtWork : Agile Coaches Corner  interview I did recently with Xavier Quesada.

Part 2 of the Roman Pichler Interview (Podcast)

And my Projects At Work: Agile Coaches Corner interview with Ray Lewallen.
I've got lots of blogging to catch up on, there will be more posted very shortly.

New Stuff Posted on Projects at Work

Part 1 (of 2) of my interview with Roman Pilcher is live -> http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/PodCasts/270538.cfm

Blog Post: How Much Do We Actually, Really, Totally Need To Do? -> http://www.projectsatwork.com/blog/Dave-Prior/5063/

Questioning the "Cost of Sound"

I was listening to an interview on the radio today with one of the authors of a book called Healing at the Speed of Sound. The interview was intriguing enough that I’ve already started reading it, but what stuck with me the most from the interview was a question that was asked about the “cost of sound”. The idea being that any kind of noise around you, ambient noise from an air conditioner, the hum of electricity, water running though a pipe in the wall, children in another room or co-workers in a nearby cube, all have a cost associated with them. Since we can’t actually shut our ears, the way we can our eyes, we are always in listening mode. Even if you wear earplugs or noise cancelling headphones, you are merely swapping one noise for another. Noise is something we can’t entirely block out; our brain will always be processing the sounds around us. The reason that the “cost of sound” question stuck with me so much is because I started thinking about different work environments, how different types of people need different soundscapes to maintain productivity and yet, beyond making sure no one is disruptively loud, we pay little to no attention to sound when we put people together in a workspace.

So, what I’m wondering is, does anyone measure the impact of sound on productivity in an office setting. And, if anyone does, is there a way to translate the negative or positive actual cost (currency) impact of one sound scape over another on a given project? Can changes in sound scape be translated into cost or risk? And, is sound like other environmental conditions?

If the Hawthorne Works studies indicate that simply changing a variable in a work situation will result in increased productivity simply because of change, does this apply to sound? If I start playing Never Mind the Bollocks in the office, will folks be motivated to work more efficiently or quicker? Once their productivity has stabilized, if I replace the Sex Pistols with Kenny G, are they still going to see an improvement?

#46(ish) Using Social Media. Two Years Later

Points to Bas

Editing the new episode of Project Potion. Points to @projectshrink (Bas de Baar) for coming up with a reason to actually use Flipbook - to catch up on recent tweets into a specific hash tag.

The new episode includes a look back at how our use (as project leaders) of social media tools has evolved over the past 12-14 months. It should be up in a day or so.

25 Incredibly Useful iPad Applications
Check out Andrea McDougal's blog post on 25 Incredibly Useful iPad Apps  at Masters in Project Management 

The site is geared towards helping people find a great graduate program for PM (cough - University of Texas at Dallas - cough), but her recent blog post on iPad apps has some great ideas in it.

Agile and Project Management Talks at SXSW 2012 Last year I attended SXSW for the first time. While I had intended to spend my days basking in the onslaught of music and film that it is known for, what I actually spent my time doing was focusing mostly on the talks that centered on Agile and Project Management. Each of the presentations on PM and Agile were very well attended. In some cases there was a line waiting to get in, so there is a definite hunger for information at the event. Unfortunately, with the exception of one talk (given by Brett Harned and Pamela Villacorta) the content presented in most of the PM and Agile talks was disappointing. SXSW 2012 is right around the corner and they’ve opened the area where people can vote on proposed topics. If you’ve got a few minutes, follow the links below to become an SXSW 2012 Panel Picker, search for Agile and PM presentations vote Thumbs Up for the ones you think look interesting.  This Spring, there will be another crowd of PMs in Austin who are interested in learning about project management and how to do it better.  Help make sure the talks they get to choose from are going to help them raise their game. Who knows… you may end up working with some of them someday. SXSW 2012 Interactive Panel Picker  http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/index/10 SXSW 2012 Music Panel Picker http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/index/12 SXSW 2012 Film Panel Picker http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/index/11 And while you’re voting, you may want to consider… Project Leadership Through Personal Branding (ProjectShrink Bas de Baar and Dave Prior) http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/10995 Developing Music and Software Across a Distance (Dave Prior with Panda Transport’s Kathy Compton and Thierry Holweck) http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/12133

Updatey...

I've been very slack about keeping this blog up to date since the Spring. What can I say,  "I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD! "

I'm working on it though and within the next few days I'll have all the ProjectShrink videos updated along with links to some other things I am working on, like my new Projects@Work blog which is called "The Reluctant Agilist".

And next week... NYC! to teach a Merlin class and a 3-day CSM class. Very psyched for that.

More to come...

Presentations on the Mac, iPads and Project Management

Over the past few weeks I've been able to give a few presentations about doing project management on the Mac and on the iPad. I had a few requests so I thought I would post them.

The first is the presentation I gave in the Philadelphia Walnut St. Apple Store on how to manage projects using a Mac.
Managing Projects on a Mac


The second is the one I gave at the PMI Lehigh Valley Professional Development Day on how to use the iPad as a Project Management tool.
The iPad and Project Management