Johanna Rothman

APRIL 18, 2025

My podcast this week is from the Effective Public Speaking book. I'm partway through the reorganization and threading of more specific ideas for writers and consultants. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for April 18, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 22, 2025

Your managers want to measure all kinds of interesting pieces of data to run the company well. Much of that is reflected in your organization's Profit and Loss (P&L) statement. (There's a great site with an explanation of a P&L statement.) Notice any organization's three big numbers: Revenue, all the operating expenses, and net earnings. Do you know how to link those numbers to your team's measures?

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 29, 2025

I've been working with a new-to-the-organization senior leader, Steve, who struggles with this challenge: He wants to capitalize some operational expenses. (That's a move from OpEx to CapEx.) He is convinced that will give him some freedom to change things while everyone is still working hard. So they've asked all the technical people to fill out time cards to describe how much time each person spends on which project.

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Johanna Rothman

JUNE 4, 2024

I've seen a number of posts recently saying that micromanagement isn't as bad as we might think it is. Instead, micromanagement might actually help the person who's the subject of that micromanagement. Sorry, no. Well, not sorry at all. Still No. Heck, NO. NO to all micromanagement. If any manager has micromanaged you, you know exactly how you felt.

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Johanna Rothman

MAY 24, 2024

My podcast this week is from the speaking book. Not part of the podcast, but writing information that might help you see how I write. I think I finally discovered how to write the introduction and first chapter. Too many books have boring introductions and first chapters. So I cycle through mine to find the gems that make the book draw the reader in.

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Johanna Rothman

MAY 21, 2024

When I wrote Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management , I included this chart, the Iterations Content Chart as part of a possible dashboard. I created that chart to clarify the challenges a specific team faced. They had problems with multitasking and the inevitable changes. The first way to use an iteration contents chart is to gather data and answer questions.

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Johanna Rothman

MAY 17, 2024

My podcast this week is from the writing book. Enjoy! I record these in video , too. (Especially since this is a speaking book! The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s Writing WIP for May 17, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. And then came the dreaded “presentations” or “class participation.” You weren't supposed to just talk to your classmates or to the teac

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Johanna Rothman

MAY 14, 2024

If you use Scrum or any other iteration-based approach to your work, the team plans in batches for that next iteration. The iteration is a timebox. The batch is the amount of work the team thinks they can do in that timebox. If the batch is sufficiently small and your cycle time is sufficiently short, that can work. However, planning for a batch of work is push -planning.

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Workshop Product Research Feedback Loop Books 81

Johanna Rothman

MAY 10, 2024

My 60 Seconds of Writing WIP this week is from the speaking book. Enjoy! The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s Writing WIP for May 10, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. There is no such beast as a “standard” panel presentation.

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Johanna Rothman

MAY 1, 2024

Are you looking for work, either as a consultant or a candidate? As part of their filtering process, potential clients/hiring managers want to see how you work. That's fine. But too often, the work they want will take you hours or days. While managers think they will get useful results, too often, they don't. And because the hiring manager is only thinking of their time, they don't consider offering you any compensation for your time.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 26, 2024

My 60 seconds of writing this week is from the writing book. Enjoy! The podcast: The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s Writing WIP for April 26, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. How Early Should You End Your Presentation? I aim to finish the formal part of my presentation ten to fifteen minutes before the scheduled end.

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Presentation Consulting Books Management 98

Johanna Rothman

APRIL 24, 2024

Are you trying to use story points for estimation? If so, you might have encountered these problems: Story points reflect the ideal thinking of the team, not the actual experience of the team. Your managers don't want story points—they want durations and dates. In the absence of sufficient information, everyone makes up fiction (human stories) about what they want to happen.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 19, 2024

I had the pleasure of interviewing Stefan Wolpers about his new book: The Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide: Challenges Every Scrum Team Faces and How to Overcome Them. Here's our conversation: Stefan's LinkedIn profile is here: [link] And here is a universal book link for Stefan's book (all the stores in one link): [link] The post A (Video) Conversation with Stefan Wolpers About His Scrum Anti-Patterns Book appeared first on Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 19, 2024

My 60 Seconds of Writing WIP this week is from the speaking book. Enjoy! The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s Writing WIP for April 19, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. Go Meta to Design Your Presentation Because you're speaking from your experience and expertise, you might notice several patterns that do not serve people well.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 18, 2024

Do you have an overstuffed backlog the way Jenny did in Create More Success: How to Say No to “Everything” to Say Yes to What’s Necessary Now ? I offered “now” advice in that newsletter. But what about the future? How can you prevent an overstuffed backlog, roadmap, or all those great ideas from interrupting your team from finishing its work?

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 9, 2024

I was on the Agile Uprising podcast this past Sunday, discussing my most recent book. See (and hear!): Project Lifecycles with Johanna Rothman. I had a great time discussing the issues with Jay and Claudia. Some of what we discussed: That managers want agility but do not care about any agile methods or frameworks. While we might think “agile” is another project organization method—or lifecycle—it's not.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 5, 2024

My 60 seconds of Writing WIP is from the speaking book. Enjoy! The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s Writing WIP for April 5, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. After the little giggles or murmurs in response to that story, I ask people to put their hands up if they're supposed to multitask between at least two projects.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 3, 2024

I had a terrific time at the Hands On Agile Community meetup. Stefan Wolpers, the host, posted the video. Also, see the slides on my speakerdeck. Thank you, Stefan, and the entire Hands On Agile community. The post Video and Slides from Fake Agility Talk Posted appeared first on Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant.

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Johanna Rothman

APRIL 1, 2024

Luke Pivac, a colleague from New Zealand, interviewed me last week. Here's the video: We discussed several topics: My recent Unemployed Agilists posts. (That link just goes to the first post) My most recent book: Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility. Luke very kindly included (automatically generated) subtitles, which make the video very useful at any speed.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 29, 2024

My 60 Seconds is from the speaking book this week. Enjoy! The podcast is here: And the video is already on my YouTube channel. (I realize you can tell the time of year and when I need a haircut from the videos, but I decided that's part of my “charm.”) The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s Writing WIP for March 29, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 22, 2024

This week, my writing WIP is from the speaking book. Enjoy! Or, watch the video. The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for March 22, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. Do You Worry About Imposter Syndrome? Imposter Syndrome occurs when you feel as if you are not competent.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 21, 2024

I started this series by discussing why managers didn't perceive the value of agile coaches and Scrum Masters in Part 1, resulting in layoffs.) Then, in Part 2 , I asked those unemployed agilists to review their functional skills, the skills people need to do a product development job well. While those skills are useful, they are not enough. That's why I then asked people to review their product-oriented domain expertise and agile-focused domain expertise in Part 3.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 18, 2024

If you're an unemployed agilist, you are not alone. There way too many of you. But the causes and solutions might not be clear to you. That's why Part 1 of this series discusses your value and what managers want and need. That part discusses why managers see agile coaches and Scrum Masters as staff positions, not line jobs. Then, in Part 2, I suggested you mine your experience to move to a line job, so your value is obvious.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 15, 2024

This week, my 60 seconds of WIP is from the speaking book. Enjoy! Video: When I let social media know, I only included this blog post, not the video. Here’s the video on my YouTube Channel. The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for March 15, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 14, 2024

You’re an unemployed agilist. And even if you can find an agile coaching or Scrum Master job, the pay is so terrible, you don’t want to take it. That’s because potential employers think these jobs are staff positions. Your previous managers and potential managers don’t see the value of someone in your position. That’s because these managers think agile coaching and Scrum Mastering is a staff job, not a line job.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 13, 2024

Every day, I hear more stories of agile coaches or Scrum Masters losing their jobs. Why? Several reasons: No manager cares about “agile” even if they care about agility. So, selling “agile” into the organization doesn’t create any traction for change. Agile coaches and Scrum Masters are staff positions, not “line” jobs.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 6, 2024

Do you want to improve your nonfiction writing skills? I offer a 6-week writing workshop to do just that. You'll learn how to write faster and better, all while educating, influencing, and entertaining your readers. (That's a big part of how you sell your nonfiction ideas.) You write. I offer you specific feedback on your writing. In addition, I offer general feedback to each cohort.

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 1, 2024

This week, the 60 seconds is from the as-yet-untitled speaking book. Enjoy! Listen here: The transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for March 1, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the speaking book. Identify Your Ideal Audience Who is your ideal audience?

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

For years, managers have been trying to find ways to make software product development faster and easier. As an industry, we've tried tons of things. Here are just the one I've experienced in the 70s, 80s, 90s: Structured Analysis and Design. (That was the precursor to Big Design Up Front.) The SEI's Capability Maturity Model The waterfall lifecycle (In Project Lifecycles, I said this might have been a pagination error.

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Today's 60 seconds of WIP is part of a mystery short story. Enjoy! Listen here: Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for February 23, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a short mystery story. That’s when the guy next to her stood up. He wore Patriot’s gear that matched hers.

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

This is from a short mystery story. Enjoy! The Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for February 16, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a short mystery story. The food court buzzed with happy diners, eating their mall Chinese, mall pizza, and mall popcorn.

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

As a consultant, I create many kinds of information products: both writing and speaking. I use the ideas of experiments and finalization to decide what to ship and when. That allows me the most flexibility in my product development. However, too many organizations don't differentiate between what they need to ship as experiments and when to finalize the product.

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

If you took an agile workshop sometime in the past 15 years, you probably played the “ ball game.” That's where people emulate a Scrum approach, complete with asking the team to do “more.” As described in the link above, it can be a terrific simulation. There are many reasons to use simulations when trying to teach people new material.

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Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 2, 2024

Regardless of whether you work inside an organization or you work for yourself, the start of the new year allows all of us to reset and restart. That means too many of us think we need to “plan” for an entire year. Before you consider an entire year, reflect on last year: How much of your original plan survived the entire year? If you're like me, not much.

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Want to write better and faster and with more ease? Register for the Q1 2024 Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer workshop. That page has all the details. Free yourself from all the old rules that prevent you from writing fast and well. Never have the blank page problem. Instead, create ease with your writing. You do the homework. I offer feedback. You choose which feedback to take and then we do it again.

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Ever since I was on the Troubleshooting Agile podcast , I've followed Squirrel and Jeffrey. (I highly recommend their podcast.) Recently, Squirrel posted something fascinating on LinkedIn: Aim for a “single source of lies” about your business. That's quite a provocative idea, especially when many of us persist in looking for a “single source of truth.” Why might you want a single source of lies?

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 18, 2023

If you read this blog or my newsletter, you know I enjoy both nonfiction and fiction writing. I have another short story as part of the 2023 Holiday Spectacular : Underdog Party. Copyright © 2023 by Johanna Rothman I was feeling pretty mellow by seven in the evening, as I relaxed back into my wooden armchair. I was in my third place, in the very back corner of the Chelsea Tavern, on December fifteenth, in plenty of time before the Underdog Day Party would start.

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