Alan Zucker

Managers and project managers are often told that “engaging stakeholders” is critical to success.  However, they rarely receive guidance on what it means or how to “engage your stakeholders.”  It is similar to when I started practicing yoga…

Stakeholder management is one of the most critical project management functions.  Stakeholders are our customers, organizational leaders, members of our project teams, and people we may not even know.  The project manager’s ability to effectively ident…

Many organizations try to catapult into agility.  Striving to instantaneously transform their traditional practices and culture.   Unfortunately, this strategy is usually painful and often fails. The Scrum Guide states, “Scrum is easy to…

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is making a bold pivot toward agile.  As a project manager and an agilist, I am excited by these moves.  At the same time, it is hard to envision both this transition and the future state.  In this …

Experienced agile coaches and practitioners develop a sixth-sense. They can quickly assess the health of an agile project or team just as doctors do with their patients. In 2013, Mike Cohn coined the term scrum smells to describe the signs that a scrum…

Knowledge Management (KM) is broadly defined as the process of creating and sharing information across the organization.  Its goal is to enable learning.  KM became a formal business disciple in the 1990s even though it dates back centuries.&…

Organizational change and transformation efforts are often challenging.  Most fail to meet their planned objectives with 30% failing outright.  In my last article, ”Road Trippin’ Organizational Change: The Beginning”, I recommending using ada…

Most organizational change efforts do not succeed.  They fail to achieve the desired results.  They are disruptive and sometimes leave the company worse-off.  An oft-cited statistic is that 70% of organizational change efforts fail.&#160…

Lean and Agile organizations have harnessed the power of the stand-up meeting as a valuable process tool.  The stand-up is an efficient and effective way to communicate.  It promotes transparency into the progress of work and highlights issue…

“You are not in the room for the conversations that impact your career.” Farley Price I was having dinner with an old friend and colleague.  We were talking about the arc of our careers and the events that brought us to this point.  Farley remarked tha…

Kanban is a versatile and powerful tool to help you manage your work.  It can be used to track personal projects, complex operations and large programs; for example, it can be used to: Efficiently manage the flow of inventory in a factory, Help student…

  “All good lessons come at a cost.  Try to learn them inexpensively.”  Howard Zucker When I made a mistake as a child, my father would remind me that all lessons come at a cost.  The goal was to learn them cheaply.  I did not always follow this m…

Remember the last time you joined a new team or organization. What was it like? Was it awkward? Did you make decisions easily? Were expectations clear? Did the team gel immediately? You probably answered “No” to these questions. High-performing teams d…

Well facilitated brainstorming sessions are amazing. A creative, sharing atmosphere is built. Numerous ideas are generated. Participants feel productive, valued, and are enthusiastic. By contrast, poorly run meetings are horrible. Little is accomplishe…

I believe each of us has our own, undiscovered inspirational story. We have not recognized our own accomplishments. We have not verbalized our achievements into a personal narrative. Or, we may be uncomfortable talking about ourselves. We consider hero…

Ben Franklin was a an American founding father, inventor, diplomat, and philosopher. He also wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac which contained information for farmers and timeless adages. When it comes to project management, two quotes come to mind: “An oun…

Recently, my wife and I took a trip.  We were at the airport.  Our flight was delayed.  She was sitting with her back to the window and checking the flight’s status on her iPhone.  She said that we should start boarding in 5 minutes.  I looked out the …

Many organizations struggle with project portfolio management (PPM).  On the face of it, portfolio management should be easy.  We want to align our fiunding decisions to the organization’s strategic objectives.  Since budgets are limited, this becomes …

I spent most of my career in management, leading teams in fast-paced, ever-changing companies.  I have a lot of experience with organizational change. I led teams through reorganizations.  I have also been reorganized. Change is often necessary.   Toda…

  Go to Boston.  In the Beacon Hill neighborhood, you will find the Paramount Restaurant.  The Paramount is both a great eating experience and a fine example of Lean production.  The restaurant was opened in 1937.  Its unusual service policy that is pr…