Archive for February, 2010

Role of a Manager in SCRUM


2010
02.15

Gone are the days where Managers would sit and decide what needs to be done and who does it. In today’s world Managers have to be more hands on. They are the first line of leaders among the organization. Read my article on technical-management so see what it means to be a manager in todays Agile organization.

I came across this article form Pete Deemer at the Scrum Training Institute. He has written an excellent article on the role of the manager in Scrum.

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“What’s the role of a manager in Scrum? I’m a manager, and since I’m not mentioned in the definition of the Scrum roles, and the team is self-organizing, does that mean I’m supposed to just… disappear?”

You can download the guide at: Manager 2.0: The Role of the Manager in Scrum
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Mythical Man Month


2010
02.06

This was a good book, but somehow I was not that impressed by it and couldn’t convince myself to complete the last few chapters.

Blue Ocean Strategy


2010
02.06

I finally got to finish reading this book. It is absolutely a fabulous book. This is a must read for all the people on the product development side or on the strategy side. One of the key things that this book talks about is how do you create a Blue Ocean which will get you out of the bloody red ocean war with your compitetors. The four action framework is a great concept to look into

1. Create – What is that you are creating new. This factor should not have been offered by the industry that you are in.
2. Eliminate – What factors are taken for granted and should be eliminated.
3. Reduce – What factors can be reduced yet still provided the value needed.
4. Raise – What factors should be raised above the industry standards

Also the next focus should be on non-customers.

First-Tier Non-customers – These are the people who are currently the customers who interact very minimally and not too happy or else looking for other alternatives

Second-Tier customers – These are the people who are not customers currently and who dislike or don’t want to use your products.

Third-Tier customers – These are the people who are untapped and not considered as customers for the industry you are in.

Finally overcoming the “Organizational Hurdles”

Strategic shift: Involve your employees to talk to them about the strategic shift.

Limited Resource – Address the limited resource issues

Motivation – Motivate the key people to move fast and tenaciously

Politics – The key phrase most of the places is “You get shot down before you stand up”. You need to address all the issues.

On the whole it was great reading about all the companies that created Blue Oceans for themselves. Cirque De Sole, Yellow Tail., Home Depot, Southwest Airlines, CNN etc….