BADGES
BLOG PAGES
THE RELUCTANT PROGRAMME MANAGER.................................“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
UP TO MY NECK IN IT!
Musings and Ramblings on how to get the job done
CROCS & DOCS
The case for documentation
20-20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. But when "it" all hits the fan, the stakeholders are revolting, the teams are threatening mutiny and the money has run out.... What's reasonable and rational now, may not have been reasonable and rational back at the start.
When blame-storming and "the hunt for the innocent" starts, as it inevitably
will, it's important to be able to look back at what was known then, what changed and what decisions were made along the way. It may just save your career
FTP2
Forget the Problem
FIX THE PEOPLE!
Many projects stall (or fail) in their latter stages - when it comes to acceptance and deployment. AGILE as a method is supposed to address this and, in parts does.
However, a surprisingly large number of projects fail to consider their impact on the humans who will be impacted by their work. The most important stakeholders of all are those who have the right of veto over success and failure are those that accept into operation and use the product - treat them wrong and the project WILL be deemed a failure!
WHAT A DRAG
Minimum Viable Governance
Agilists hate it, most of us avoid it, a lot of people will try and work around it, but when it affects us, we all complain when it's not there.
GOVERNANCE is a drag on any project, when people are writing reports or providing updates, they're not producing output. Attending meetings can seriously eat into the working week.
Too much and the project will be paralysed, too little and anarchy will reign, without it the project WILL fail.
Veto-by-Proxy
Are you helping or not?
Have you ever encountered someone who, whilst claiming to support the project, seems to be doing everything in their power to confuse and delay things?
Moreover, when you question their actions, they claim they're doing their utmost to assure success and get visibly upset that their motivations have been questioned.
These people may be guilty of "veto-by-proxy" i.e. causing such delay, callining into question the original or making things so hard that the project is, eventually cancelled.
The Body Bros
(AKA Somebody Else's Problem)
A common flaw in human pysche allows us to ignore things we don't accept, and by so doing make them Somebody Else's Problem - they cease to exist. It spreads like a disease throughout a project team eventually causing it to fail spectacularly and horribly.
The first symptoms of the disase the appearance of the Body Bros in the project team. The Body Bros are Some (body), Any (Body), Every (Body) and No (Body) along with their body guard They. It's the PM's job to keep them away and to keep "the They" happy
S.E.P
CHRIS SHELTON
Chris is passionate about getting the job done, doing the right thing (vs doing it right!) and keeping people happy. In a rather eclectic career he’s been a hardware design engineer, technical support, service delivery manager, team manager, director, VP and, latterly, a programme manager. Having spent the early part of his career living with the consequences of poorly specified projects, he’s passionate about delivering something that will work and be of use.
Over his long career Chris has benefited from a great deal of training and education both technical, operational and managerial. As a consequence he is able to work in, and deal with most environments. At the end of the day, though, it's not the badges that you wear, it's all about how you go about things.
Chris's overarching view is that the most important element of any project is the Human Element (which is all too often forgotten)
In general, he's found this is the most successful formula for delivery........ That, and lemon drizzle cake!