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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

I’m now about to discuss a block of three processes that are in the continuous improvement knowledge area that are carried out in the planning phase.   The first of these processes is 7.2 Value-Stream Mapping.

There’s an apocryphal story that goes like this:   Michelangelo was once asked how he would sculpt an elephant.  He replied “I would take a large piece of stone and take away everything that was not an elephant.”   Since of the principles of agile is that you want to maximize the value of the product to the customer, there are two ways of doing this in value-stream mapping.    You take your current process that use to produce the product for the customer and break it into smaller pieces.   Then you analyze each piece and you keep or maximize those pieces that add to the product’s value, and throw out or minimize those processes that do NOT add value to the product.

Here’s a more detailed description:

1. Identity the target of the value stream analysis, whether it’s a product or a service.
2. Define the current stream by breaking down the steps required to deliver product of service.
3. Identity opportunities to eliminate waste, i.e., those steps that do not add value to the product or service and are not operationally necessary, i.e., needed to lead to a step that DOES add value.
4. Depict the desired future state of the product or service that has the non-value-added steps removed.

Value stream mapping is a part of lean manufacturing techniques and is a methodology used in Six Sigma projects.   Now it is part of the tools and techniques used in agile project management, because of its emphasis on maximizing value to the customer.

The next process is 7.3 Cross-Functional Team Formation, and is described in the next post.

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

I’m now about to discuss a block of three processes that are in the continuous improvement knowledge area that are carried out in the planning phase.   But before I do that, I should spend some time on the relationship between continuous improvement and agile.

What is continuous improvement?   The ongoing practice of advancement through incremental or disruptive changes to the design of the delivery process.   As such, it has affinity to quality assurance in traditional PM, as opposed to the value-driven delivery knowledge area, which has affinity to quality control in traditional PM.

Agile frameworks tend to focus on delivering the right product for the current need, rather than improving on the process of delivery itself.   However, agile project management recognizes that improving the process does improve the product, both the current product and future products, so this continuous improvement is the last knowledge area, although by no means the least important of the seven.

Kanban has affinity with agile in spirit because it focuses on

• value-driven delivery
• self-organizing teams
• adaptability

However, it does not have fixed iteration lengths, so some do not include it as a form of agile.   Well, in my opinion it may not be in the same immediate family as agile, but it is definitely a cousin.

The next post will cover the first of the three continuous improvement processes done in the planning phase, 7.2 Value Stream Mapping.

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

Now I am starting on a block of four processes that are part of the sixth knowledge area of Communication that are done during the Planning phase of the project.   The first three of these four processes are 6.3 Communication Protocols, 6.4 Information Radiators, 6.5 Team Space, covered in previous posts.   This post continues discussing 6.6 Agile Tooling.   The first of the agile tools is a product vision box, which often includes a vision statement, sometimes often referred to as an elevator statement.    The second of the agile tools is a flexibility matrix, which was covered in the previous post.    The third of the agile tools is a product data sheet. 

Product Data Sheet

This is a one-page summary of key project objectives, capabilities, and information that convey how a project fulfills the product vision.    According to author Jim Highsmith in his book Agile Project Management, Creating Innovative Products, the product data sheet provides the project information that the team and all the stakeholders need in an appealing, condensed format which constantly refocuses them on the strategic aspects of the project.

Here are the typical elements of the Product Data Sheet:

• Project Start Date
• Project Finish Date
• Agile Leader (the project leader who guides the process)
• Customer/Proxy (the project leader who guides the product)
• Elevator Statement (see previous blog post on this agile tool)
• Customer Segment(s)
• Customer Benefits
• Flexibility Matrix
• Milestone Table

Using the example I’ve used for the previously presented agile tools in the series, let me take the example of an app that is already in existence called Duolingo, which I use every day to study foreign languages.    The following is an example of a product data sheet which uses my own made-up content to give an example of everyone of the elements listed above.

You can see how the customer will be focusing on the elevator statement, the customer segment(s) and the customer benefits, whereas the team will be focusing on the flexibility matrix and the milestone table.    It is more left-brained and logical in its presentation as opposed to the more right-brained product vision box which is more visually-oriented and geared more strictly for the customer than for the team.

This agile tool actually combines the other two, the vision statement (aka elevator statement) and the flexibility matrix.   The whole purpose is to give all the information that would be of value to the customer.

The next post will start covering the next block of processes that deal with the next knowledge area, Continuous Improvement.

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

Now I am starting on a block of four processes that are part of the sixth knowledge area of Communication that are done during the Planning phase of the project.   The first three of these four processes are 6.3 Communication Protocols, 6.4 Information Radiators, 6.5 Team Space, covered in previous posts.   This post continues discussing 6.6 Agile Tooling.   The first of the agile tools is a product vision box, which often includes a vision statement, sometimes often referred to as an elevator statement.   This was discussed in the last post.   In this post, I discuss the second of the agile tools, a flexibility matrix.

A flexibility matrix is a tool that communicates how to handle trade-offs with a grid showing the relative importance of constraints such as scope, schedule, cost, and quality by defining them as fixed, firm, or flexible (only one constraint may be fixed).

The Flexibility Matrix

As discussed in a previous post, in traditional PM, the scope is fixed as much as possible in the beginning of the project, and the other two of the triple constraints of time and cost are estimated in relationship to this more-or-less fixed variable.

In agile PM, it is one of the two triples constraints of time or cost, usually time, which is the fixed variable, and the scope is the one constraint that is flexible.    Okay, in theory that it is understandable, but when push comes to shove, and some of the scope has to be thrown out of the project, how do you make that decision?    That’s where the flexibility matrix comes in.   As mentioned above, it shows how to handle trade-offs and prioritize features by showing the relative importance of constraints such as scope, schedule, cost and quality (although other constraints may be added to the matrix).

NOTE:   When using the flexibility matrix, only one constraint may be considered fixed, all of the others have to be defined as firm or flexible in relationship to this fixed constraint.    In the example below, the flexibility matrix is given where the schedule is fixed, the scope and quality are firm, and the cost is flexible by comparison.

Usually the flexibility matrix is incorporated into another tool called the Product Data Sheet, which is covered in the next post.   .

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

Today I start on a block of four processes that are part of the sixth knowledge area of Communication that are done during the Planning phase of the project.   The first three of these four processes are 6.3 Communication Protocols, 6.4 Information Radiators, 6.5 Team Space.   This post is 6.6 Agile Tooling.   The first of the agile tools is a product vision box, which often includes a vision statement, sometimes often referred to as an elevator statement.  

Product Vision Box

The product vision box is a tangible expression of a solution to that includes graphic images as well as narrative content to express the customer’s product vision.    This is meant to be presented to the customer so technical jargon is to avoided as much as possible.

One way to create the product vision box is to start with the vision statement, sometimes called the elevator statement, as discussed in the last post.    Let’s review the elements of the vision statement, as set forth by Geoffrey Moore in his book Crossing the Chasm.

Vision Statement

For:  [name a customer type]

Who Want:  [state a specific need or desire]

The:  [name your product]

Is a:  [name the product category]

That:  [name a compelling reason to buy or use the product or service]

Unlike:  [name the leading competitive products]

Our Product:  [specify the differentiating features or functions]

Here’s an example I created with an app that I use every day to study foreign languages called Duolingo.

For all those who want to learn a foreign language, the Duolingo app is an free app that can take you from having no knowledge of a foreign language to fluency by using it just 10 minutes a day, unlike other foreign language programs like Rosetta Stone that can cost up to hundreds of dollars and require a much larger time commitment.  Our product teaches the user the basic and intermediate levels of any one of a dozen or more European languages.

Vision Statement –> Product Vision Box

Here’s a sample of a “Product Vision Box” for the Duolingo app that I created using the vision statement.

DUOLINGO!

THE EASY, FUN WAY TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

For any one who wants to learn a foreign language

App can be downloaded to your iPhone or Android Device

Be fluent in months if you practice just 10 minutes a day

App is free to use

Learn any one of a dozen foreign languages, with more being added

GO FROM LANGUAGE ZERO TO LANGUAGE HERO!

As you can see, there is the product title, followed by a slogan which gives the basic function of the product.   Then you can include a graphic element which shows either how the product will work, or in this case, the logo that plans to be connected with the product, the owl named Duo.

Then the elements of the vision statement can be stripped out and given underneath.    I have followed the list with a catchy slogan “Go From Language Zero to Language Hero” which is aimed at the potential end user, who may have tried to learn a foreign language in the past and had little success.    This is obviously just an example, but it shows the approach being used.

Just remember that there are four communication preferences, those that focus on

• Ideas (relates to what people think)
• Process (relates to what steps people will take)
• People (relates to what people feel)
• Action (relates to what goal people aim for)

One of the perpetual communication problems project managers have is that they are usually have a primary strength in the process communication preference, but may not be able to communicate effectively in the people communication preference, which requires you to tell stories so that people can not just see the steps you are going to take to get to the solution (which is what the process communication preference emphasizes), but what the solution will feel like, look like.    The last statement in the product vision box was “Go from Language Zero to Language Hero.”   This is an emotional appeal to a user, not a practical one.    If you just want to learn a foreign language, then you should try this product.   But if you have been frustrated in the past trying to learn a foreign language, then you should REALLY try this product.    See the difference?    If you have graphic designers or someone with a visual bent, then that is the person you should be using to help create your product vision box.

For those who want to use an approach that is more along the lines of those with a preference for process-focused communication, then you should try the next agile tool, the Project Data Sheet.   That is the subject of the next post.

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

Today I start on a block of four processes that are part of the sixth knowledge area of Communication that are done during the Planning phase of the project.   The first two of these four processes are 6.3 Communication Protocols and 6.4 Information Radiators.   This post covers 6.5 Team Space.

What is a team space?   It is a physical work area with defined boundaries over which the team exercises control.    It has two characteristics:

• It contains a common area shared by the work team that includes that open meeting areas, visual lines of sight where information radiators (process 6.4) can be seen.
• It also contains meeting or breakaway rooms where people can meet in private or take important calls during the lunch hour.

I just experienced the importance of the latter of the two characteristics above.   I am set to take a Certified ScrumMaster course from a company called 3Back scheduled all day Monday and Tuesday of next week.   In my new volunteer position at the Chicagoland chapter of the Project Management Institute, I had also been tasked with running the executive council core team meeting that runs on the fourth Monday of every month.    Guess what day that falls on?    Right on the first day of my class!

So I contacted the instructor and told him of the importance of the phone call.   He said it was no problem:   The class runs from 9:00 to 12:00 and then 1:00 to 5:00, and he purposely allows one hour for lunch in a room that is next to some empty rooms for precisely the reason I had:   because of an important work-related call that I had to take.

If he hadn’t been flexible, I would have had to change the meeting date or change the class date, neither of which I wanted to do.   So in preparing the notes for today’s post, I immediately recognized that the second characteristic of a team space applied directly to the situation I had just faced with regards to the Scrum class.

Despite the importance of a team space where the team is co-located (a fancy term for working in the same physical space), there are some situations where a company will have to use virtual team spaces, aided by such technological tools as video-conferencing, Skype, and instant messaging.   The team needs to work with these tools in order to facilitate the idea transfer that a regular team space provides.    No matter what type of team space, regular or virtual, a team engages in, the whole point in either case is to optimize the delivery of business value to the customer!

The main purpose of the team space is to encourage collaboration, especially when using Agile Tooling, which happens to be process 6.6 and is the subject of the next post.

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

Today I start on a block of four processes that are part of the sixth knowledge area of Communication that are done during the Planning phase of the project.   The first of these four processes is 6.3 Communication Protocols, which was covered in the last post.   This post covers 6.4 Information Radiators

In terms of communications on a project, there are three basic types, each of which I have followed by an example:

1. interactive, usually meaning one-to-one (e.g., a phone call)
2. push, usually meaning one-to-many (e.g., an e-mail sent to the group)
3. pull, usually meaning many-to-one (e.g., documents put in Google Drive and shared with the group)

An information radiator is a form of communication which is like the second type above, with some important differences related to agile projects.

1. The information radiators are posted in the team’s workspace.
2. They contain various types of visual signals or cues intended to make it easier to guide activities and tasks to completion.
3. They convey information about specific parts of the process, but are available to everyone, including stakeholders.

They are designed as a combination of status and progress report, status report meaning the cumulative progress on the project and the progress report meaning the status in the current iteration.

They also are a forecast report of sorts, meaning that they can be used to facilitate early detection of risk or problems that are ahead in the development process so that they do not become impediments towards reaching the iteration goal.

Here are examples of information radiators used in agile PM:

• product vision
• product backlog
• release plan
• burn-up and burn-down charts
• team work agreements

Since the information radiators are put in the team workspace, let us spend the next post talking about how the team space is organized in agile projects.

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In John Stenbeck’s book “PMI-ACP and Certified Scrum Professional Exam Prep and Desk Reference”, he creates an “agile project management process grid” which describes 87 processes used in agile project management.   These processes are divided into five process groups (Initiate, Plan, Iterate, Control, and Close), which are analogous to the five process groups in traditional project management, and seven knowledge areas which can be mapped, more or less, onto the ten knowledge areas in traditional project management.

Today I start on a block of four processes that are part of the sixth knowledge area of Communication that are done during the Planning phase of the project.   The first of these four processes is 6.3 Communication Protocols.

There are two types of protocols:   organic and overt.   Organic protocols are defined as those that are inherently part of the agile framework.   Overt protocols (aka interventions) are externally imposed upon the agile framework    Agile planning can benefit from both organic and overt protocols.

Examples of organic communication protocols are:

• Preference for face-to-face discussions
• Collocated workspace
• Interlinked planning meetings, such as product visioning, roadmap, release and iteration planning, daily stand-ups, and review and retrospective meetings

Examples of overt communication protocols are:

• Risk-adjusted backlogs (process 5.4)
• Escaped defects report
• Variance and trends analysis

Optional open space meetings, where the team discusses ideas for dealing with technical challenges impeding delivery of the iteration goal, can be either organic or overt, depending on whether the technical challenge is coming from inside or outside the agile framework (like regulatory compliance issues, for example).

Much of the output of the meetings mentioned above is communicated to stakeholders and ends users in the form of information radiators which is the subject of the next post.

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In the last post, I described how the High Performance Leadership (HPL) Project is often the “final rung” in the ladder Toastmasters must climb to the final goal of becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster.

In this post, I want to describe the details of how to do a High Performance Leadership Project, using as an example the project I just completed last weekend, thereby earning my own Distinguished Toastmaster award.

Part I:   Learning About Leadership

• First read the High Performance Leadership manual to learn about the theory of leadership and the six dimensions that comprise it.
• Take a quiz to assess your knowledge of leadership and your self-assessment of the six dimensions that comprise it.    The result is your leadership profile.
• Select suitable candidates for projects that you are interested in pursuing as an (HPL) project.
• Recruit a guidance committee that will be the consultants on your project, to whom you will discuss the execution of your project and who will evaluate how well your projected has been executed once it has been completed
• Meet with your guidance committee and decide upon the project you will pursue.

Part II:  Choosing Your Objective

• Form a vision of what you would like your project to achieve as a result.
• Turn your vision into a mission by describing objective criteria so that the guidance committee can decide the degree of success of your project in unambiguous terms.
• Define the core values you wish to uphold as you execute your project.   These values will underpin the choices you make in achieving your goals.
• Plan a speech to your club which explains your vision (what you want to achieve), your mission (how you want to achieve it), and your core values (in what manner you want to achieve it), and present it to your club.

Part III:   Winning Commitment to Your Objective

• Create an action strategy (defining what you want to achieve) and an action plan (the steps you will need to achieve it) which includes goals and timetables.
• Recruit your action team, those who will have various roles on your project and will help you executive it according to the plan.
• Elaborate the action plan so that it now assigns various action items to those who are on your action team.

Part IV:   Working the Plan

• Help your action team achieve the goals of the project.
• Review your action plan periodically.
• Deal with obstacles, both external (dealing with issues and resource problems) and internal (dealing with conflict resolution).
• Complete the project work.

Part V:   Analyzing and Presenting Your results

• Get feedback from the action team on your performance as a leader.
• Present the results of your project, as compared to the acceptance criteria you established before the project started, to your club.
• Review your final speech about your project with the guidance committee..
• Present your final speech, including lessons learned on the project, and possible future projects that could be built upon the results you have achieved, to your club.

In my case, I knew that the second training period for club officers was often marred by the a drop-off in attendance by club officers.    The reason seemed to be that club officers were taught how to do their role in the first training period, and therefore decided that a second training period was unnecessary since they already knew how to do their roles.

In discussing the matter with Distinguished Toastmasters who also had experience as professional trainers, I came to the conclusion that the second training period would be more effective if the training were more of a “learning exchange” between club officers rather than a re-training of the club officers by the trainers.   In other words, if the trainers went in, not as teachers, but as facilitators, and initiated conversations between club officers, rather than talking to the club officers, this might create more engagement from the club officers and thus a more meaningful experience for the second round of training.

So I formed a team of trainers from area directors who had been in various club roles before.    I wrote a script which essentially asked each club officer to state his or her name, his or her club, and then to state the biggest problem they faced.   The trainer would then write each problem on the board, and if more than one club officer stated that this was the biggest problem, the trainer would put a check by the problem to see how many “votes” it got.   This preliminary survey would take 10 minutes at max.    NOTE:    We had between 3 and 5 people coming for each role, so there was enough time to accommodate everyone’s input.

Then the next 30 minutes were spent having the other team members offer potential solutions to the 3 or 4 problems listed on the board.  These would be preferably based on solutions that the club officer had personally tried him or herself, but they could also be solutions that the club officer was aware of.    These solutions were compiled by the trainer.

At the end of the training, e-mail addresses of the club officers were voluntarily exchanged so that the club officers could assist one another going forward.

The script was handed out to the trainers, and last Saturday we ran the project to see how it was received.    My goal was to get at least a 4 out of 5 from the trainees as to how they liked the training.   This goal was met, and exceeded:   when asked what complaints they had about the training, the ONLY one that seemed to be repeated across the board was that the training time was TOO SHORT, which showed that they enjoyed the training.   I asked the area directors who acted as my trainers their opinion as to why it was so positively received, and the best comment came from one of the area directors who said, “people want to heard.”

And this is probably the end result of the project:   rather than TELLING people how to do their roles, we LISTENED to them on how they were already doing them.   Once people knew their input mattered, they all participated enthusiastically.

My goal now is to compile the results and present them to the club, at which point I will have my guidance committee submit my application for the HPL project and thereby automatically received my Distinguished Toastmaster award.   My goal in the future is try to scale this training idea to the District at large to see if it can be implemented on a wider scale.

I’m pleased at the success of the project, and am also pleased at it being the capstone of my Toastmasters “career” so far.   I entered the Toastmasters world a little over five years ago in December 2010, after having lost my job and my self-confidence.    Joining Toastmasters not only gave me confidence in public speaking, but by achieving small wins along the way during the past five years, it has also given me confidence to take opportunities I might not have reached for otherwise:   to be a professional speaker, a professional trainer, and to be a Director at the Chicagoland chapter of the Project Management Institute.    I was the Director of Certification at the chapter and my goal was to improve the training of project managers, and that is why I chose the HPL project I did, to improve the training of club officers.    You are not only trying to impart knowledge; you also need to impart enthusiasm, engagement, and experience in the process.   I’m proud of the fact that my training program accomplished just that…

I have other projects planned for future HPL projects, but I will always remember this first one as being a dual triumph of my career as a project manager AND as a member of Toastmasters International–a Distinguished Toastmaster, as of last Saturday.

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If you join Toastmasters, your first goal should be to achieve the Competent Communicator award, which you receive after completing 10 speeches in the Competent Communicator manual.     There are three additional communication-based awards after that:   Advanced Communicator Bronze, Advanced Communicator Silver, Advanced Communicator Gold.    Each of these additional award levels requires doing 10 speeches, 5 from each of 2 advanced manuals, plus some additional requirements that increase as the level goes up.

Your second goal after being a Toastmaster should be to achieve the Competent Leadership award, which you receive after completing 10 projects in the Competent Leadership manual.    There are two additional leadership-based awards after that:   Advanced Leadership Bronze, Advanced Leadership Silver.    The Competent Leadership award is obtained by taking on leadership roles in the Toastmasters meetings; the Advanced Leadership Bronze award is obtained by taking on a leadership role at the club level as one of the 7 club officer roles required to keep the club functioning.    The Advanced Leadership Silver award is obtained by fulfilling the three following requirements:

1. Be a club coach, mentor, or sponsor
2. Be a district level officer–usually starting out by being an area director
3. Complete a High Performance Leadership Project

The first and second requirements can take anywhere from a few months (like being a club sponsor) to a year (being an area director or an club coach).   The High Performance Leadership Project can be completed in anywhere from a month or so to over a year, depending on the complexity of the project.

Once you complete the three requirements, you get the Advanced Leadership Silver award, which, if you combine it with having received the Advanced Communication Gold award, makes you automatically eligible to receive the Distinguished Toastmaster award, the highest level of personal achievement in the Toastmasters educational award system.   It shows you have completed a total of 7 awards, 4 communication awards and 3 leadership awards.

The reason why I’m writing this post is to say that, for most people, the third requirement for the Advanced Leadership Silver award, the High Performance Leadership Project, is the last hurdle they need to overcome before obtaining the Advanced Leadership Silver award, which then makes them eligible for the Distinguished Toastmaster award.

This is what my situation was and in the next post, I want to describe what I did for my High Performance Leadership Project, which I finished yesterday (Saturday, January 16th) and thus making me eligible to finally become a Distinguished Toastmaster …

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