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Blog
Agile vs Waterfall Comparison
Posted by Rich Crowley on Jun 29, 2009 in Agile, Project Management, scrum, waterfall | 0 comments
Here’s a very good comparison of traditional software development processes (ie. waterfall) with some newer alternatives (agile and scrum). It is interesting that the author treats agile and scrum as distinct alternatives when many scrum practicioners would suggest scrum is simply an agile approach. In any case, the author’s comparison resonated with me because of how we compared these approaches against each other using a lengthy list of project attributes, all of which are things that the Project Manager really does concern him/herself...
read moreSome Thoughts on Agile
Posted by Rich Crowley on Jun 28, 2009 in Agile, planning, scrum, waterfall | 0 comments
Here’s some insight I have gleaned from delving into Agile over last little while. While these points might seem overly simplistic, they are key concepts from my perspective: Agile is an umbrella term that describes approaches for software development that are quite different from the waterfall approach, which is very linear in concept, that is quite prevalent in many shops Scrum and XP (eXtreme Programming) are two approaches that are considered Agile Some of the folks whose stuff I’ve been reading about the virtues of Agile are...
read moreIt’s Summertime and the living is easy…
Posted by Rich Crowley on Jun 23, 2009 in emotions, lyrics, summer | 0 comments
This time of year, when the days are long and warm, the anticipation of summer fills me with great emotions of days to come. Sam Cooke’s great lyrics come to mind. The rest of the first verse you ask? Why of course: It’s summertime and the living is easyFish are jumping and the cotton is highYour daddy’s rich and your mama’s good-lookingHush, little baby don’t you crydon’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cryno no no nodon’t cry, don’t...
read moreBecause That’s Where the Money Is
Posted by Rich Crowley on Jun 23, 2009 in great quotes, people | 0 comments
Legend has it that Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, replied “because that’s where the money is.” Alas, like many famous one-liners, he never said it. In an interview in his later years, he admits he wished he’d said it. However, I like his real answer almost as much. And that answer? “Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my...
read moreSearching for Agility
Posted by Rich Crowley on Jun 18, 2009 in Agile, Project Management | 0 comments
I’ve been managing projects for many years now. Most of my clients have some project management methodology in place that I am to follow while working on their behalf and more often than not, the PMBOK is the underlying framework for these methodologies. While overall my clients have been happy with the results I’ve produced, when I look back at the projects that went well, I get the feeling that the methodology was in some cases as much of a hindrance as a benefit. I’ve done some thinking to try to understand why and it seems to me...
read moreWhat Would Google Do?
Posted by Rich Crowley on May 30, 2009 in books, google, links, networks | 0 comments
What Would Google Do? was written by Jeff Jarvis, founder of the popular buzzmachine.com blog. I liked this book but didn’t love it. I’d give it a 7 out of 10. My main complaint is that I found about only a quarter of it useful. The rest seemed a bit fluffy and written mostly to create enough content to make it a book. The author himself says he is somewhat breaking his own rule by making this into a book when he claims mainstream publishing is dying and irrelevant. Having said that, the parts I liked were excellent and more than...
read moreImplied Requirements
Posted by Rich Crowley on May 26, 2009 in Design, Requirements, Risk | 0 comments
Assume you are working on a project for an organization that is launching a new product. The product is similar to an existing group of products the organization already sells. This could be a sporting goods manufacturer that is launching a new line of hockey sticks, a packaged goods company that is adding a new line of cleaning products to its existing stable of cleaning products or a bank offering a new savings account product to their line of existing savings accounts. Assume also that the internal business stakeholders on this project...
read moreThe Opposable Mind
Posted by Rich Crowley on May 10, 2009 in books, leadership, thinking | 0 comments
The Opposable Mind was written by Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at York University. The book’s premise is that small minority of business leaders think in a very unique manner compared to their peers and this manner of thinking is what Martin coins Integrative Thinking. These leaders, when confronted with a problem, are unlikely to settle for a solution that requires trade-offs when compared to the other available solutions. He likens this approach to choosing the best of the worst and such an approach is...
read moreProject Charter Observations
Posted by Rich Crowley on May 8, 2009 in Project Management | 0 comments
In my experience, organizations create charters in two distinctly different ways. Some use the charter as one of the first documents created in the project life cycle. For these organizations, the charter is a stake in the ground to give all stakeholders identified to that point some insight into the key high level attributes of the project. It tends to be a brief document because often there is still a large list of unknowns about the project. Other organizations like to create a much more comprehensive project charter document that is...
read moreLife Entrepreneurs
Posted by Rich Crowley on Apr 19, 2009 in books, entrepreneurship, happiness | 0 comments
I’ve recently finished reading Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives. The premise of the book is that to be a successful entrepreneur without sacrificing other aspects of your life (ie. family life, hobbies, etc.), you need to blend the two together rather than trying to find a balance. A couple of tidbits I really like from the book were the reference to Martin Seligman’s Authentic Happiness where his research shows that happiness comes from three things: pleasure, engagement and meaning. Pleasure is...
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