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 26, 2024

I have never found Gantt charts to be useful. When I say that to my clients, some of them tell me they do find use in Gantt charts. Specifically, the people who like Gantt charts say they can predict where the project is headed. In addition, they can see the various interdependencies across the work. They say they know—from the Gantt and without a doubt—when the project will finish.

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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 6, 2024

In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1 , I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency , where we watch the flow of the work , not the people doing tasks. Too few organizations can do that. Then I offered three suggestions for teams in any lifecycle in Effective Agility: Three Suggestions to Change How You and Your Team Work, Part 2.

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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 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

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

This week's 60 seconds is from a thriller short story I sold to Thriller Magazine. The transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for February 2, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from my story in Thrill Ride magazine, which will be published later this year. Since it’s not yet published, I’m declaring this in progress.

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Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 19, 2024

I've been in a fiction writing workshop all week, so it makes sense to offer you an excerpt from a piece of short fiction. Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for January 18, 2024, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from an unusual Valentine’s Day story. There’s nothing wrong with passion.

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Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 10, 2024

I see many teams and team members who say, “Agile stinks. It's a way to force me to work too fast and not finish anything.” When I ask people what's happening, they say: We're doing an agile death march because someone else already told us what we have to do and the date it's due. We have a standup which is more like a serial status report at least once a day for an hour.

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Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 5, 2024

I'm continuing the experiment into 2024 for several reasons: If you want to write more, you don't need to write a lot at one time. I discovered that even if I get to Thursday afternoon, I can always write 100 words. That helps me make progress on some item/work in progress. I started this experiment to see if it would affect my content marketing. I learned I need more video content for it to have an effect.

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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 22, 2023

My 60 seconds of WIP this week. I also post these on my YouTube channel. If you want a laugh, take a look at my supposedly incognito clip. As soon as I turned on the camera, I realized I could not be incognito. Yes, that moment will make it into some writing in the future. In the meantime, enjoy. (I am fine, just recovering.) I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for December 21, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.

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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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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 14, 2023

A French writer bought Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer and wasn't sure what I meant by a “fieldstone.” He couldn't find a translation that made sense to him. In Weinberg on Writing , Jerry explained fieldstones as a way to build a piece of writing, just like masons used blocks to build stone walls. The more blocks you collect, the easier it is to see when and where to use them.

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 6, 2023

Flow Efficiency In How Centralization Decisions Create Friction, Increase Cycle Time, and Cost Money, Part 1, I discussed how removing support staff for departments and managers created longer cycle times. (And sometimes, increased friction so much that people could not easily do their jobs.) Removing those support staff was one indication the companies fell into the Economies of Scale trap.

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Johanna Rothman

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Yes, you might remember this character from a previous week. I don't just cycle on my nonfiction. I also cycle on my fiction. The transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for November 30, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a short story I’m cycling on, to find the start.

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Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Some company is buying your company (or vice versa). Why? They claim it's “Economies of scale,” and the combined organization will save money by centralizing “overhead” and flattening management. You know who that “overhead” is: the people who support the business, such as finance and HR. And, the managers. Worse, the new management asks managers to “reapply” for their old jobs, the jobs they have right now.

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Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

I have a new book: Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility. I wrote it because I'm concerned about what I see in too many supposedly agile teams: Crazy-long backlogs and roadmaps. Those create a serial lifecycle approach with too little experimentation. Worse, sometimes the team doesn't demo or deliver.

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Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

I'm surprising myself with this experiment and the fact that I am continuing it. I suspect I'm successful because it's just a minute of some in-progress writing. Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for November 9, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from the Project Lifecycles book, almost ready for release.

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Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Strategy and Product Feedback Loops Many of my middle-management and senior leadership clients want certainty about future work. That's one of the reasons they create huge backlogs and long roadmaps. Yet, even those backlogs and roadmaps don't offer certainty. One of these managers said, “I have so much uncertainty and ambiguity. I feel as if I can't make a good, final decision.” When I asked why he had to make a final decision, he said, “Because I need to show strength and res

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Johanna Rothman

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

My 60 seconds of WIP for November 2, 2023 The transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for November 2, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a science fiction short story, which does not yet have a title. Hope Easton didn’t really mind posing a steward on the Shining Star , on the way to Mars.

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Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Several of my trusted advisor clients have asked this question, “Why do I need to choose between effectiveness and efficiency? Why can't I have both?” A great question. I recommend they start with effectiveness. That occurs when they say yes to just the work they need now, to reduce the organizational WIP. Start with managing the project portfolio.

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Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 20, 2023

My experiment continues, even with my terrible cold. (Just a cold.) Transcript: I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for October 19, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This excerpt is from a short story, currently titled “Underdog Party,” which will be published in the Holiday Spectacular Kickstarter, link below. “My black lightweight down jacket hung on the back of my chair.

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Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 10, 2023

When I saw the McKinsey report on “developer productivity,” I shuddered. First, that makes no sense in a collaborative team. Second, there's no way to measure such a thing as developer productivity, despite what McKinsey says. (I'm not linking to the report, because the advice is so bad.) Then I read Lorin Hochstein's brilliant assessment in On productivity metrics and management consultants.

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Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

I'm experimenting with audio and video. So I started a podcast called, “60 Seconds of Johanna's WIP.” Listen here: If you want to listen through your podcast app, go to 60 Seconds of Johanna's WIP September 29, 2023. I will also add those videos to my YouTube channel. The plan—and I use that term quite loosely—is to release 60 seconds of something I'm writing every week.

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Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

For years, I've advocated relatively small teams. Why? Small teams can more easily learn—faster and together. All because they have fewer communication paths. I was only partially right. Smaller teams tend to have lower WIP (Work in Progress). Even if a 5 to 7-person team falls into the Everyone Starts Their Own Story trap (see Who’s Playing Agile Schedule Games?

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Johanna Rothman

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

In How Product Goals Make it Easier to Create Sprint Goals and Reduce Feature Factories, Part 1 , I started responding to Tom's interview question. Now that we've dealt with the feature factory problem, it's time to address planning time. Here's the question again: “The product owner and dev team cannot decide on a sprint goal, even after hours of discussion.

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 30, 2023

Much of my LinkedIn and Twitter feeds have questionnaires with two or three choices. One of those choices contains the One Right Answer. All the other answers are Wrong. Or, a person poses a question that's supposed to show that they—and they alone—know the answer to the question. (I ranted about one of those on my other blog. See Which Assumptions Do You Bring to What You Read?

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 28, 2023

I started this series with the issues of trying to estimate/predict a specific backlog item quarters away, not even weeks away. (Even weeks away is iffy because the entropy is the default state for the world.) In Part 1 , I suggested that the team can use cycle time, but even with cycle time, we need to beware of predicting anything that far off. I used the example of my lunch: I know I will eat lunch.

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 7, 2023

If you're trying to use an agile approach, what do you care about in terms of finishing: That the team finish the work, regardless of the personal or team cost? That you know who did what, so you can reward them? Or that the team completed the work, without undue stress and strain? (also called sustainable pace) Most of my management clients feel torn.

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 1, 2023

I had a great time discussing Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer with Mark Leslie Lefebvre on Episode 316 – Free Your Inner Non-Fiction Writer with Johanna Rothman. I met Mark back in 2017 when I attended an Anthology workshop from the nice folks at WMG Publishing. I sold two short stories at that workshop, my very first short story sales. (Woo!) At the time, he thought I was an experienced short story writer.

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