Rational Scrum » Asides

It’s never a good time for training

Zacharias Beckman — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:21:17 +0000

As Jamin Arvig, President of WaterFilters.net learned the hard way, putting off training has a cost of its own: Lost employees. As Jarmin wrote in his A Worker Quit — Because I Didn’t Train Him To Succeed, if you don’t arm your employees to succeed they’ll eventually go elsewhere to look for career advancement. “[It] was just the tip of the iceberg. My other customer service and sales people were struggling and frustrated. They didn’t say it in exactly these words, but they basically felt like I hadn’t equipped them to succeed.” Training is simply one of the best investments a company can make — and carefully planned, effective training yields more dividends than just about any other.

Training is number one

Zacharias Beckman — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:30:11 +0000

As I’ve pointed out more than once, training your employees is one of the best things you can do to benefit your business and your team. Even so, fears about what happens if you train your staff and they leave to find a better job are prevalent — but consider the alternative: What happens if you don’t train them, and they stay? As Derek Christian found out, training is key to success: He successfully dropped attrition from 300% to zero in 2009, and used a strategic training and career counseling program to more than double his business’ size. The number-one reason people leave their jobs is that they don’t feel challenged, he says: “People, especially of this generation, want to learn new things.” (CNN Money Online).

First, care. Care intensely.

Zacharias Beckman — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:18:20 +0000

Excellent advice found on 43 folders: Before you sweat the logistics of focus: ﬁrst, care. Care intensely. We spend a great deal of time working on “engaging the team” or engaging ourselves when what we really need to do is find the willpower to focus on the foremost problem at hand. As Merlin points out, “Obsessing over the slipperiness of focus, bemoaning the volume of those devil ‘distractions,’ and constantly reassessing which shiny new ’system’ might make your life suddenly seem more sensible–these are all terriﬁcally useful warning ﬂares that you may be suffering from a deeper, more fundamental problem.”

Hiring for the culture

Zacharias Beckman — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:14:56 +0000

Hiring the right people means more than identifying good technical skills. A person’s resume can be outstanding, but it won’t matter one whit if personalities clash or new hires just don’t mesh with your culture. As Dan McCarthy writes in How to Hire for Cultural Fit, “It’s not what you know, but how you fit in the culture that results in accelerated performance.” He points out that first and foremost, you need to assess your own internal culture, decide whether your goals include changing that culture, and proceed accordingly. Everyone that joins the team changes the team dynamic: Are you hiring to sustain your culture, or looking to alter the team dynamic?

Whiteboard as a PM tool

Zacharias Beckman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:54:02 +0000

Sometimes we forget that some of the best tools are the simplest ones. If you had to pick just one tool for project management what would it be? I think in my case a whiteboard comes out pretty near the top, if not the top. My point is, focus on the work at hand, not the tool that gets it done. Too often we can become distracted by the dazzling, whiz-bang features of the latest software, methodology, book or trend. Focus on what works, and get the job done.

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Collabnet acquires Danube

Zacharias Beckman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:02:07 +0000

Is ALM at odds with Agile? Application Lifecycle Management is often perceived as a traditional waterfall technique, but not always. Collabnet clearly believes there’s a convergence between ALM and at least Scrum, a process that is well-known as an “agile-oriented” technique for improving project efficiency and visibility. According to Bill Portelli, CEO of Collabnet, we could be seeing “by and large, a move away from waterfall because it is sequential and it doesn’t have the customer intimacy” of more Agile-oriented processes. He’s quick to point out that there’s no single right answer to every situation though. Read more about Collabnet’s product acquisition and hear an interview with Mr. Portelli.

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Should Training be an Integral Part of a Project Budget to Increase Project Profitability?

Zacharias Beckman — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:09:22 +0000

Organizations that are “training challenged” must learn to do things differently. This includes delegating authority along with responsibility, being inspirational to employees, building trust and improving communication — all of which are direct benefits of a comprehensive process that incorporates training. Take a look at part two of Should Training be an Integral Part of a Project Budget to Increase Project Profitability?

Workshop and training topic survey

Zacharias Beckman — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:17:25 +0000

Hyrax International LLC is running a short survey on training industry focus. Please take a few moments and participate — it’s only six questions long and will be tremendously useful.

Rocket science made easy

Zacharias Beckman — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Usability testing is important. It needs to be an integral part of any project plan, which is why I’m glad Steve Krug has written a follow up to his usability classic Don’t Make Me Think. The sequel, Rocket Surgery Made Easy, is an easy read and absolutely gets the importance of practical usability testing across.

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The Weekly Review as an OmniFocus Project

Zacharias Beckman — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:47:30 +0000

Automation can be a wonderful thing when used right. With information overload at an all-time high (see Is Google Making Us Stupid) it’s a challenge to reap the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls. Systems such as OmniFocus and other GTD-oriented solutions can be hugely successful when adopted — and consistently used. Fraser Speirs has documented a handy OmniFocus tip to help “guide us” through the mundane wool-gathering tasks that we hate to bother over.

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