Welcome to My Blog
My thoughts on Lean, Agile, psychology, creating businesses excellence & making people happy.Presenting at Dutch seminar ‘Agile project results with PRINCE2 Control’ (Nov 26th)
I'm happy to announce that I'll be presenting (in Dutch) at seminar 'Agile project results with PRINCE2 Control' Thursday the 26th of November. I'll share my experiences combining PRINCE2 with Scrum and explain what makes this combination very...
Project Boards are agile
Scrum Masters normally do not have access to a Project Board but in my opinion, they should. With PRINCE2 the Project Board is accountable for the project's success. Within the Project Board there are three separate roles: The Executive is accountable for the...
Where Scrum sucks
I do love Scrum. But at the same time Scrums sucks at a lot of areas from a business point of view. In my opinion the Scrum process is great to get things done. It's great to get a motivated team with focus, it maximizes creativity and delivers value. The business...
Lessons (not) Learned
PRINCE2 prescribes incorporating 'Lessons Learned' into the project's processes. There's the post project Lessons Learned within the process 'Closing a Project', but also the transition from one stage (iteration) to another is an excellent opportunity to learn from...
Combining PRINCE2 with Scrum is officially ‘allowed’
The combination of PRINCE2 and Scrum has received the stamp of approval by the auditor.
New Whitebook “PRINCE2 2009, nieuwe inzichten, nieuwe kansen?”
Yesterday my new Whitebook called "PRINCE2 2009: nieuwe inzichten, nieuwe kansen" was published here (in Dutch). In this Whitebook I explain the differences between the 2005 and 2009 manuals and why the new manual is an important leap forwards.
New PRINCE2 2009 manual
I'm very, very, pleased with the new 2009 PRINCE2 manual. The method has not been changed, it's the description of the method that has changed. This new book emphasizes not the theory of the method, but the principles behind the method and gives much more practical...
Prince2, licht en effectief
I'd like you all to know that I've published a whitebook called 'Prince2, licht en effectief'. It is published in Dutch though. You can find it here.
Velocity planning or capacity planning (or both)?
Traditionally (if that even exists with agile project management) the team's velocity is expressed in the number of story points delivered per iteration (sprint). In an ideal (theoretical) world, the next iteration's velocity should be the same (or slightly better)...
Lean Business Process Design
In most projects some amount of analysis is required. With an agile method like Scrum there's no room for a separate analysis phase. It is assumed that analysis can be done concurrently with design and build activities. This is often true when the business process is...
Implementing Scrum, ‘crash’ start or controlled start?
Most people advocate a "crash" start when implementing Scrum. Don't think, just go! It's very difficult to explain the advantages of Scrum when the customer is not used to "agile" thinking. Because Scrum delivers tangible results in short increments one could think...
Psychology of a timebox approach
Timeboxes are widely used in agile and non-agile projects. The idea is that scope is (or should be) limited to the amount that is feasible within the given timeframe. The assumption is that the team is capable of limiting itself to tasks that can be completed within...
Specialism is a great thing, but collaboration is key
Everyone knows that it's a good thing to have specialists on your team. Not only do these people have a lot of knowledge within a specific area, they also are very efficient on the job. They deliver the best quality of work in the least amount of time within their...
Stakeholder alignment
Have you ever noticed how much energy is put in getting stakeholders to work together when they actually won't (and don't), even when it is in their best interests? A fine example of this is the change management procedure. Sometimes more energy is spend in analyzing...
Managing expectations with Scrum
One might say that managing expectations becomes much easier with an agile approach like Scrum. In stead of waiting for months before there is any result visible the Scrum approach delivers results each iteration (each sprint), thus building trust and creating...
Do Scrum projects need a business case?
The Scrum method does not explicitly state that a business case is needed. So why should you have one? First of all, let me ask you another question. "Do Scrum projects have a business case?" Well of course they do. Every project has a business case. A "reason why", a...
PRINCE2 choices
Some people asked me what I meant with "implement all PRINCE2 processes" in my last post. "Did you really mean all processes?" Yes that's correct, I do mean all processes. And trust me, it still can be lightweight, depending on your choices. Let me explain. With...
Maintaining focus
One of the challenges within projects is to keep focus on what's really important. The project has (or should have) a specific goal. When things go wrong, when issues and changes occur, are we still focused on that goal? There is a very powerful tool to create and...