I met Jim Benson about a year or so ago.  He was in Washington DC and I met him for lunch down in Chinatown.  Jim’s a pretty smart cookie.  I like what he does.  I sometimes wish I could do what he does but it requires a little more of a balanced mind than I possess.  In the Star Wars universe, Jim would be a Kanban Jedi and I would be a mere Padawan.

I used kanban and limited my work-in-progress (WIP) at a previous job but don’t have the buyin from my current client to implement the practice here.  I still have a Kanban board hanging on my wall but it’s there for me to manage my own work.

Today I read an article on the Personal Kanban website titled “Would You, Could You on a Plane?” It was about a quick offline kanban for in-flight work.  It was informative, as always.  But, the mere title inspired me to write a bit of a ridiculous comment.  Perhaps I read too much Dr. Seuss during my off-time.

Say!
I like Kanban!
I do! I like it, Sam-I-am!
And I would limit WIP in a boat.
And I would limit WIP with a goat.
And I will limit WIP in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
Limiting WIP is so good so good you see!

So I will limit WIP in a box.
And I will limit WIP with a fox.
And I will limit WIP in a house.
And I will limit WIP with a mouse.
And I will limit WIP here and there.
Say! I will limit WIP ANYWHERE!

I do so like
Limiting WIP and Kanban!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am

Strange how a simple title can get me started.  Thank you Jim for doing what you do, even if that means reading ridiculousness comments that I write.

I kind of enjoy it when people get all in a huff over which soda is the best.  It’s bad enough they can’t even decide what to call it. Is it soda, pop, or soda-pop?  I’ve even heard a few refer to any brown carbonated non-alcoholic beverages as a “Coke”.  I don’t get that at all.  I’m going to assume these people just don’t care.  All they want is a brown carbonated non-alcoholic beverage that will satisfy their thirst.  As far as soda-pop, I am the complete extreme opposite.  I drink Coca-Cola.  I don’t drink Coke; I don’t drink Pepsi.  If I ask you for a Coca-Cola and you ask me if Pepsi is OK, I’m going to respond with a stern but polite “No”.  But, at the end of the day, I am also just looking for something to satisfy my thirst.  But, I digress.

Since the Pepsi Challenge in the mid-70′s, there has been another battle raging.  Let’s call it the Delivery Challenge.  Regardless of what facts may be reports, detailing which approach lowers risk the most, which approach delivers the most value up front, or which approach leaves the stakeholders feeling the most satisfied, we all have our favorite.  If delivery approaches were soda-pop (yes, soda-pop) in a blind taste test, chances are we’d stick with our favorite regardless of what we may have picked.

From my own perspective, I don’t believe we should be so blind to these opportunities.  We should be open to the idea that formulas can be improved and we should be open to the idea that processes can as well.

When I’m dealing with the government client on a particular contract, I use Waterfall.  We’re talking Waterfall the size of Niagara Falls.  It’s not that I choose this approach (drink).  It’s all that is currently offered. When I’m managing my own personal projects and deliverables, I use Agile and Kanban.  I’m not saying one is better than the other!  But, when the choice is mine, I know what I like from each.  I ala carte the way I do things, so (as the customer) I get the most value while not bastardizing the original processes.

I know there are those out there who are cursing me.  They are strict Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper zealots.  Think of me as that kid down at the local Kwik-E-Mart who takes his cup and adds a little of each soda-pop in his 64 ounce cup.  It may look nasty but it sure tastes good.

…and at the end of the day, isn’t it important that I just satisfy my thirst?

Image source: USAGeorge

I don’t normally drink coffee from Starbucks but someone gave me a gift card.  I like black coffee, with no cream or sugar.  I like my coffee fresh so I order a small size.  So, why on Earth did the person behind the counter not listen to me?

I ordered a small Caffè Americano. For those who do not drink coffee, that’s nothing more than a small espresso and water.  My expectation was I would get a small cup of coffee.  When I looked at my receipt it said Tall.  I brought this to their attention and I was dismissed.  “Oh, it’s the same thing.”

Well, no, it’s not.  Line up the cups and this is what you will see.  Extra-Small, Small, Medium, Large, and Extra-Large.  What does Starbucks call them? Tiny, Small, Tall, Grande, Venti. So, what I got was a medium.  I’m not going to split hairs here.  I’m trying to make a point.  There needs to be a common understanding between the vendor and the customer when you both define the same thing differently.  This is a financial transaction.  I want what I paid for.

How does this apply to Project Management?  From the customer’s perspective, what is the definition of done.  From the vendor’s perspective, what is the definition?  From every stakeholder perspective, do you all have the same definition of done?  You should!

It’s important to note, it doesn’t matter which approach you use.  Waterfall, RUP, Agile, or Kanban.  Everyone needs to understand and agree to what done means.

The other day I met Scott Simko, who I “knew” through This Week In Startups and Thomas Kiblin, CEO and Founder of Virtacore.  I met them as the founder of HueCubed, a web startup company offering a flashcard engine that we plan to scale like Weblogs, Inc. or Stackoverflow. (Create a niche product and then scale it in other vertical markets)  Our flagship product, PMPrep Flashcards, was released in March and I wanted to meet the people who are hosting our product(s).

Up to this point, I have introduced myself as Derek Huether, Project Management Professional® and adviser.  But these people don’t know me as that.  They were meeting me as Derek Huether, entrepreneur and founder of a web startup.  As a result, I stumbled when it was time to introduce myself.  Don’t make this mistake!

If you wear multiple hats in your organization, you may need to know who you are to different stakeholders.  Is your specialty in Waterfall, Agile, or Kanban?  Take a moment and imagine you are being introduced to someone.  What are you going to say?  This is part personal branding and part stakeholder management.  What I needed was a solid 30 second elevator pitch.  What’s the takeaway from this post? Know who you are and what you represent.  It may be different, based on the company you keep.

The question is always asked, which Methodology is best?  It is interesting to see or read the responses from people and their reasoning behind their opinion.  I actually don’t like to use the term Methodology. I would prefer to use the term Approach.  Merriam-Webster defines methodology as a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline; a particular procedure or set of procedures.  An approach is the taking of preliminary steps toward a particular purpose.  THAT is what people do.  If you review the PMBoK or the Agile Manifesto, neither are going to say in the event of A-B-C, in this sequence, do D-E-F.  Life, application development, and project management are complicated enough.  You don’t need to write an algorithm to know the next step needed to accomplish goals.

There is a pain point in the industry that I’ve seen ongoing for several years now.  In this post, I’m not going to say which approach I think is better and why.  It’s really kind of irrelevant.  I think what is important is we ask ourselves and our stakeholder. What IS important?

A while ago, commented on two blogs that address similar topics.  Jesse Fewell wants to empower teams to succeed, equip managers to lead, and enable executives to unlock the secrets of high performing organizations.  Jesse wrote a blog post offering the real reasons behind the methodology wars.  It’s an insightful post and I would recommend you go and read it.

The other blog post was from Mike Cottmeyer, someone I turn to on a regular basis to find inspiration and wisdom within the industry.  Mike wrote a blog post asking Why is Agile so hard to sell? Again, it is a very good read and you should set aside some time to read some of his writings.

My bridge to both blog posts is identifying Wants and Needs.  Both drive motivations.  Once you understand the motivation, you can answer the question “why?”

Before analyzing why one team likes one approach or has disdain for another, you have to question their motivations. We assume we all desire the delivery of value. That’s not necessarily true. Some are more motivated at protecting the status quo or their position in the program.

The hierarchy of wants, not needs, will commonly differ between teams, if we want to admit it or not.

Image courtesy of quickandirty