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April 11, 2013
Agile Success Factors: The Product Owner Role
3 Success Factors for Product Owners Plus The Support Needed From Senior Management
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Scrum, an agile software development process for managing software projects, specifies only three roles: 1) Product Owner; 2) Scrum Master; 3) Developers / Testers
The role of Product Owner is critical however not always fully appreciated. For years, those of us who develop software have decried the lack of user involvement in our projects. The same can be said for any major development project no matter what the industry...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on April 11, 2013
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March 26, 2013
Creating An Agile Culture: Top 3 Challenges Empowered Teams Face
Is your company culture aligned with rapidly changing business needs?
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Agile organizations must overcome cultural challenges to enable teams to function, foster creativity and move quickly. When Project Managers face organizational challenges they can slow down, or even worse, fail; it takes a companywide approach to succeed. These challenges were recently published in a survey titled “The State of Agile Development,” where more than 4,000 respondents from various software...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on March 26, 2013
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February 21, 2013
Testing Within The Agile Framework – Learn What’s Different
A New Approach to Programming Requires a Different Approach by Management
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Agile is sometimes perceived as “cowboy programming,” devoid of discipline, and structure. This perception is fueled by flawed rollouts that overlook the agile principles that espouse “working software.” When properly implemented, agile is very disciplined and results in high quality, reliable software that is tested extensively. Agile testing, however, requires a new approach.
Why is...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on February 21, 2013
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January 20, 2013
Agile Methodology: A Creative Approach to Project Management
Learn the values and let them drive your actions.
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Agile Methodology was born as a lightweight framework for managing software development. It emphasizes business-driven prioritization, responding to change, self-organizing teams, face-to-face communications and quick delivery cycles. It de-emphasizes sequential processes and detailed project artifacts such as specification documents. Since it’s inception the benefits of the concept have been spread to other...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on January 20, 2013
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December 27, 2012
Six Things to Consider Before Assigning a Project Leader
Is your next project doomed to failure?
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Finding the right person for the job is always an important hiring decision, but often overlooked when assigning project leadership roles. Why do you think that is the case? Many times project leadership roles are “assignments” instead of “appointments”. That distinction creates a mindset that can set your project, your employee, and your company up for failure. Ask yourself: Does your company...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on December 27, 2012
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November 12, 2012
A Project Manager’s Guide to Proper Care & Feeding of Project Issues
Learn how to manage the small, seemingly harmless complications before they escalate and damage your career.
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Your project kick off meeting was a great success and the team is beginning to execute the plan. Then some nefarious trolls begin to arrive in your email inbox. They vary in external appearance, but they have a common name: Project Issues. When they first arrive, they are small and appear to be harmless. When ignored, they grow and multiply and sometimes damage the project manager’s career....Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on November 12, 2012
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October 15, 2012
Political Advice for Project Managers: Navigating Office Politics
Four Tips to Achieve Your Goals & Overcome Workplace Opposition
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
Project managers go through extensive professional development to prepare for the job. They study scheduling, budgeting, team dynamics, communication, and change management among other subjects. Conspicuously absent from the typical project management syllabus is the study of company politics. This is unfortunate because projects are to great extent political activities.
Why are they political...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on October 15, 2012
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September 24, 2012
Successful Project Managers - The ‘Ninjas’ of Influence
What behaviors define successful project managers and the people who sponsor them?
By Ron Montgomery, Management Consultant & Owner, OnPoint, LLC
It’s a common complaint among project managers; “I have the responsibility, but I don’t have the authority.” It’s true that project managers rarely have formal authority, and the lack of such authority makes it difficult to meet project objectives and ensure that issues are resolved in a timely manner. However, successful project managers still manage to get the job done without formal authority. ...Continue reading
By Ron MontgomeryPosted in Project & Process Management on September 24, 2012
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