Just wanted to say Hello!
A little inspiration goes a long way. Just wanted to say hello and hope you are keeping up with the week.
Pic courtesy- Pinterest
The Project Managers Guide to Mastering Agile- Book Review
The book was sent for review, though I chose it amongst
others. The book piqued my interest because project management and agile are
considered contradictory ideas.
Published by Wiley, the book covers all aspects of agile and
how its different from the traditional waterfall.
What it covers is:
- Provide a better understanding of what Agile is
- Talk about the roles and how they are different in Agile
- Take the main discussion points from PMBOK and explain how the same topic is looked in Agile
- Dedicates a chapter to Agile tool- about Version One specifically.
·
The book is categorized into 4 main section:
§
Fundamentals of Agile
§
Agile Project Management
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Making Agile Work for a Business
§
Enterprise Level Agile Frameworks
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Chapter 11 onwards, the discussion focuses more
on understanding Agile at deeper level and subsequently talk about Scaling
Agile, the concept of Agile Transformation and towards the end Frameworks
§
SAFe
§
DAD
§
Managed Agile Development Framework
·
The case studies brings in the how changes
happen in reality, the challenges and how to overcome them.
·
The added benefit is the glossary of terms, so
someone very new to the concept of Agile doesn’t need to go through another
book or web, but can simply get all the terminologies from right here.
Total No of pages
399 (including index)
Who should read this
Book?
- Project Managers moving into Agile- This book is caters to both experienced and new project managers. Apart from explaining the concepts, the book talks in details about all aspects of traditional project management and its changing roles- from estimation to time management.
- Sponsors for Agile Transformation- The case studies are a great way to look into the challenges along with the scaling frameworks. While Agile tool has been discussed here, they are a lot many options available in the market.
- Managers interested in knowing the relevance of roles in Agile and how they are supposed to be handled- With self organizing Agile teams, the concern for management always lies in where does the existing roles fit in?
Why should you read this
book?
Anyone
interested to know where a project manager would fit in an Agile Organization
can read this book. I have to say, the book is for someone who’s new to Agile,
or has been working in traditional project management role for long.
What’s the price and
where can I find it?
- Publishers website: click here
- India- 3950.05 INR
- USA- $50.98
- GoogleBooks
Who is the author?
Charles
G. Cobb
Reinvent You
Sometimes, you need to detox and look within yourself what
you want. Our goal changes with life.
My reinvention has been about doing something new, finding
ways to have some time for me and being happy. In order to do that, I have
added things in my regular schedules and things have been working.
I made some major changes too, like I wanted to stop
travelling between the two cities every week. I had to make that call. And I am happy I took it.
Reinvention is always not about revamping the wardrobe or
going for a haircut, sometimes it goes way deeper. It is an effort to rethink
and align your goals and life to the new thought.
I am not sure if reinvention makes you happier, but it does
work sometimes. May be it’s I have wanted to do for a long time. I will share
my morning routine with you soon, perhaps it might strike a chord with you or
inspire to create one for you.
I think with the blog, while I keep at the original theme, I also want to bring in something new. I would like to connect with you more as a person than just a project manager or a consultant. So, may be once a week we talk about the lifestyle that we have as consultants or the changes you have to go through to sustain the pace. Go back to doing one vlog a month and see how we can reinvent the feel to the blog. It’s not changing the design, but smaller changes that will add up hopefully.
By the way, there are couple of project managers on Pinterest
and its fun following them there in the visual board. I am more a visual person
than an audio person and I have found it amazing to see the interest of the
project managers. I am there too, but I really don’t do anything project
management wise there.
However, what I have recently started as an experiment is
Instagram as a way to look at my life- work and a little bit of personal mixed
in. So, if you want to look into my work life once in a while, you can connect
me at http://instagram.com/steppingintopm/
Let me know what you are doing to reinvent yourself.
(Pic courtesy: google images)
Mixed Bag
My mix bag of links that I have been browsing and reading
and found it quite interesting.
The bags has from life style to agile to career paths to
blogging tools are all linked here.
Career:
- http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2012/10/30/there-are-three-career-paths-and-one-will-fit-you/
- http://www.lifehack.org/319814/8-ceos-reveal-which-daily-habits-drive-success
- https://medium.com/@mrandrewandrade/growing-and-scaling-high-performance-teams-d17ee1e22462
Agile
- http://www.stickyminds.com/article/5-ways-testers-can-mitigate-practical-risks-agile-team
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/01/26/why-do-managers-hate-agile/
Lifestyle
- https://www.canva.com (Great way to add pictures to your blog and its free)
- http://www.lifehack.org/320137/7-simple-tools-make-your-blog-posts-even-better
- https://t.co/c3ujUydbxQ benefits of meditation, found via https://twitter.com/kellymcgonigal . PDF file, downloads directly.
- http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/ - talks about choosing your work wardrobe (for women)
Top Hacks when on the move, Pt 2
This post is more about the products I use/carry with me
that serve more than one purpose. I have figured the best way to keep your
sanity when you are travelling way too often is to keep things around you that
you are familiar with. Since I also want to travel light, I emphasize on the things
I absolutely need and use on a regular basis to carry with me.
- Sunglass- Apart from the obvious because I am anyways carrying it, it’s a great way to sleep in flights specially when taking morning flights.
- YouTube offline- I download videos I want to watch in offline mode using the app, and use the time in airports watching what I want. I do carry a power bank with me most of the times.
- Utility box- it’s an old sun-glass box, which is packed with my travel essentials like a pen, pen drive, phone cleaner, a lip balm, band aid and ear phones. It’s compact and easy to travel with.
- Aloe Vera- I carry it for its multipurpose use. You can use it on your sensitive skin, as well as for sun burns and mild cuts.
- Ziplocs- instead of carrying small pouches, stuff it in Ziploc’s, lesser space and easy to see. Discard when done whether to carry snacks, makeup or
- Powder- This works as a great dry shampoo and I carry my son’s regular Johnson and Johnson travel size powder with me.
- Personal touch- carry your own shampoo and moisturizer in travel size bottles. Clips and safety pins. To ensure I don’t lose them, I put them in empty tic tac containers, keep them in socks or use a hair band to keep them together.
Whats your travel secret?
Pic courtesy: google images
Monday Readings
I hope this kick starts your week.
Here's a mixed bag of links that am sure will get you thinking and innovating:
(Pic Courtesy: Google Images)
Here's a mixed bag of links that am sure will get you thinking and innovating:
- http://leadinganswers.typepad.com/leading_answers/2015/08/agile-innovation.html
- http://zenhabits.net/single/
- http://brodzinski.com/2015/06/hierarchy-bad-for-motivation.html
- http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2015/09/01/women-should-not-bother-negotiating-salary/
- https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/
- http://theeverygirl.com/small-space-home-office-solutions
- http://www.productmanagerclub.com/
- https://submissions.agilealliance.org/system/attachments/attachments/000/000/966/original/Leadership_at_Spotify_Agile_2014.pdf
- http://www.infoq.com/articles/visualize-big-picture-agile
Top 15 Efficiency Hacks When on Move- Pt 1
If you have been reading the blog you know that I have been travelling every week for the last 5 months. I split my time between 2 cities and I am constantly on the move. Juggling travelling with my life honestly hasn't been easy. Here's couple of things I have been using/trying out to keep me going:
1. Travel light- Over the months I have learned to pack light and keep pieces that multitask and stick to basics and not overload with items I will barely use.
2. Laptop free- I sometimes travel without laptop. I just copy the essential folders in the pen drive or upload in Google Drive and access it from my home laptop. Meanwhile I use my time in the airport to take some time off and read instead of mindless browsing.
3. Happiness- I am my happiest when my life is organized and there;s meaning to what I do. So, I carry my red diary which I just write happy thoughts in. I will write in it after work when I return to my apartment in Mumbai. I sometimes will just read through it while sipping my cup of peach tea.
4. Clutter free- I recently got a purse organizer, which allows me to pack things that can be easily found. it saves me time and irritation.
5. Health- I installed the Pacer app in my phone, while its just a pedometer; I enjoy seeing the steps I cover on a regular basis. Highest number of steps I take is mostly Monday's and Wednesdays. I also recently got a hand blender that is easy to carry so I can whip up smoothies or juices.
6. Music- I have 3 different apps that I use in my phone for music, my latest installed one is Saavn. At night when I am on my own, I will just put it on and continue working or reading.
7. Communication- I keep 2 cell phones to ensure I am always connected and mostly do all transactions via apps. I also use Skype, whatsapp and viber on a regular basis.
8. Cabs- I use Ola on a regular basis and it has mostly been a positive experience.
9. Relax- when I am not browsing through blogs listed in my blog, I go through lifestyle blogs. current fav is Chalkboard
10. Mindful- I try to keep a schedule when away from Home that allows me to feel much more sane. I have always had problem disconnecting from work; these days I will do one thing that triggers the mindlessness.
11. Make myself @Home- It isn't easy to live month after month out of suitcase, so I always have books, magazines and sometimes even candles with me. My current ones are from Ikea.
12. Tea time- I carry my own tea and coffee in office as well as while travelling. My current favorites- Peach tea, Green tea and Earl Breakfast Tea. Coffee is always Nescafe instant.
13. Grocery- From Diapers to grocery to household items; I use apps to keep things going and get them delivered at home at my convenient time whereever I or my family needs them. Current favorites:
- amazon
- flipkart
- bigbasket
- ola store
- peppertap
14. Trick of the trade- I carry a sample size perfume dispenser, which I can always refill and carry even on flights.
15. To write- I started using Zenpen. Simple and less of distraction.
What do you do when travelling for work or pleasure?
Agile Readings
As I finally get sometime at Mumbai airport, I catch up on my readings and definitely think should be shared with all of you before I hop on to the flight in a few minutes.
So, here's the latest- what have you been upto:
So, here's the latest- what have you been upto:
- http://www.infoq.com/articles/book-review-scrum-for-managers
- http://www.infoq.com/articles/nexus-framework?utm_campaign=rightbar_v2&utm_source=infoq&utm_medium=articles_link&utm_content=link_text
- https://www.scrum.org/Portals/0/Documents/Community%20Work/Scrumorg-Whitepaper_Scaled_Professional_Scrum.pdf
- http://www.girlsguidetopm.com/ (check out the Software reviews for September)
- http://noop.nl/2015/09/30-hot-books-september.html
- http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/estimates-on-split-stories-do-not-need-to-equal-the-original
- https://www.inverse.com/article/5889-what-is-boredom-and-where-does-it-come-from