project planning

Managing Risk in an Agile ProjectScrum does not have any specific risk management practices as compared to the PMBOK. However, everything you do in Scrum—as well as any other agile method—will help you identify risk at an early stage. Venkatesh Krishnamurthy explains how to manage risks in agile projects.
Can Technology Solve California’s Water Problems?Recent news has shown that California is experiencing a water crisis. In this story, Joe Townsend explores whether or not modern technology, including the building of a desalinization plant, will be able to solve California's water problems.
Four Principles for Designing Your New Agile ProjectThere are guidelines for those transitioning to agile. You have to know how your product releases and how often. Next, you should determine how complex your product is. Johanna Rothman helps you determine what type of product you have and how you can work on it while making the transition to agile.
How Management Indecision Loses Money and Hurts Your Project PortfolioWhen managers can’t decide which projects to undertake, they end up making a decision—to not decide. They don’t fund the potentially transformative projects; they go with the safe bets. The difference between when a project goes on the backlog and when it's started eats into your maximum revenue.
Using Root Cause Analysis When Your Project FailsVenkatesh Krishnamurthy explains how root cause analysis (RCA) can be used to help your team members avoid personal conflicts and resentment when a project fails. Conducting an RCA session can help to divert attention from people to process improvement.
Using Points and Hours for EstimatingSteve Berczuk writes that if you decide that there is some value to estimating, you have to decide which unit to measure with points, hours, or something else. Without estimation of any kind, it's difficult to understand how effective you can deliver.
Why Losses Affect Us More Than Gains and What That Means at WorkLoss aversion is the cognitive phenomenon that a loss of a dollar will make you more miserable than a gain of a dollar will make you happy. This causes people to make irrational decisions to ride out potential losses, whether it's sitting through a bad movie or continuing work on a failing project.
Calculating the Real Cost of Multitasking on Your ProjectsThe cost of delay due to multitasking is real. It’s invisible to most people, especially management. It’s not just the cost of time lost due to context switching; it’s the fact that projects don't get out on time, which hurts your maximum sales revenue. How do you calculate these costs of delay?