Project management

[Greg McCarroll]

I'd also suggest finding yourself a mentor in your organization - it  
might not even be inside the IT function, my mentor was head of  
findance, and maybe have a first chat about what the various  
stakeholders (and i dont mean just the business) want to get out of a  
successful project. In my experience the best thing that scrum  
meetings/etc. bring is honesty - somethings are easy, but still take 4  
or 8 hours, somethings don't take the 2 weeks, but getting a good  
relationship between business and engineering is the key. And getting  
engineers to appreciate the project manager's role is key and often  
this comes out of being ready to be wrong with estimates, with a no  
blame culture.

It's amazing how cheap some of the best motivators are, when i was at  
a well known ISP the project manager used to make a point of getting  
me to talk to the head of customer care, because once i put a human  
face on the problem i wanted to solve it more. It was a cheap trick,  
but it worked and it's ok later her, I and another london.pm'er had a  
little date with a roll of duct tape ;-).

G.

On 23 Jan 2013, at 11:17, Dermot wrote:

> Thanks Adrian. There's some really useful stuff there. Am immersing  
> myself
> now.
> Dermot.
>
>
>
> On 23 January 2013 10:34, Adrian Howard <adrianh at quietstars.com>  
> wrote:
>
>> Hey Dermot,
>>
>>
>> On 23/01/13 09:27, Dermot wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm pretty sure I've seen this discussed on the list before but I  
>>> can't
>>> (easily) find it in the archive. I was looking for a Project  
>>> management
>>> course or company. There are a lot of companies in London doing  
>>> training
>>> but I am a little sceptical about their quality. I'm not  
>>> interested in a
>>> certificate. I'd like to grasp a decent methodology. From what  
>>> I've seen
>>> that would be Agile.
>>>
>>
>> Agile != methodology. Agile = broad set of principles/philosophy on
>> software development. Particular methods like Scrum, XP, Crystal  
>> are Agile.
>>
>> Sorry - pet niggle. Caused by folk causing me problems by using  
>> Agile &
>> Scrum as synonyms ;-)
>>
>>
>> Does anyone want to tout a course or company. I
>>> promise not to sue if I think they're crap :-)
>>>
>>
>> 1) Consider Certified Scrum Master course.
>>
>> The certification itself is pretty useless as a signifier of skill  
>> - it
>> basically just means you attended a two day course - but the courses
>> themselves tend to be quite useful.
>>
>> The trainers are certified and generally pretty good. It does cost  
>> more
>> than pocket change. However employers do take notice of CSM  
>> certifications
>> - however foolish that may be.
>>
>> The two day course will get you up to speed on the basics of Scrum,  
>> and
>> usually some pointers to some technical practices that go some way to
>> helping a Scrum implementation work.
>>
>> More here http://is.gd/xJea3J
>>
>> What this won't give you are insights into non-Scrum methods, and  
>> they
>> tend to fuzz the Agile/Scrum/everything-else divide a bit from what  
>> I've
>> heard from some folk.
>>
>> (I am not a CSM. I am not a Certified Scrum Trainer. I think Scrum  
>> is a
>> good method - but I have a long rant about the way Scrum gets
>> abused/misused. I also think that certification in general has  
>> probably
>> done more harm than good... but I digress...)
>>
>>
>> 2) General Assembly and Skills Matters
>>
>> http://skillsmatter.com/ & http://generalassemb.ly/
>>
>> They both do free/cheapish courses with good presenters. Might be  
>> worth
>> dipping a toe in here.
>>
>>
>> 3) Try a local agile event
>>
>> I assume that you're London based. There are some great local Agile  
>> events
>> that it might be worth toddling along too and quizzing folk.
>>
>> The Extreme Tuesday Club is one http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?**
>> ExtremeTuesdayClub <http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeTuesdayClub>
>>
>>
>> 4) Try some background reading
>>
>> I still stand by this list 'o' books as good introductions
>> http://qr.ae/8DyB3
>>
>>
>> Also <bias="hubris">Agile training/workshops is something I do a bit
>> myself</bias> - drop me a line if y'like ;-)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Adrian
>>