Guerilla Agile: Stop Playing Schedule Games
Chances are good that if you’ve worked on a project, you’ve encountered a schedule game or two (or three or four). As part of a team, you’ve seen Schedule Chicken or 90% Done. If you’re a project manager, you’ve probably pushed back against We Gotta Have it; We’re Toast Without It, the Queen of Denial, We’ll Go Faster Now, or Split Focus.
Using timeboxed iterations and other agile practices can help you avoid and stop playing schedule games. But you can’t do this alone. First help your team and your management understand they are playing schedule games. Then, once they understand the games, enlist their help in solving the underlying problems that lead to the games. Even if you feel stuck—“my management can’t help; they’re part of the cause”—you can still use many of the agile practices to work your way out of the schedule games.
I tried to run this as a discovery session last year but people came looking for answers. It appeals to newcomers, so a talk may be more reasonable for newcomers.