If you use social media sites, you're probably familiar with email or push notifications when certain types of content are shared. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are setting a bad example when adding a new type of content. They introduce new notifications for the content - which defaults to ON. You'll normally find out about the new content when you start getting … [Read more...] about Notifications: don’t follow what social media giants do
Let’s talk about value, not priority
In one of the first posts on this blog, I wrote about How to prioritise when everything is a priority. In the post, I suggested picking out the risks, dependencies, and biggest stories to work on first. However, this is more of a practical approach to unblocking future work. Crucially, the post assumes you’ve already made sure that the stories belong on the backlog in the … [Read more...] about Let’s talk about value, not priority
Talk more about product, less about process
This blog has recently covered a series of tips on agile development, rather than product management tips. My view is that if you have a good understanding of agile ways of working, you’ll have a better appreciation of how you can work with a product team to get great results. If a product team starts talking about process a lot, this can be a sign that the process isn’t … [Read more...] about Talk more about product, less about process
How the pull model can make a Kanban board run smoothly
A few years ago I worked with a product team who were keen to try using a pull model for their work. The idea is that instead of a product manager or tech lead pushing tasks to individuals, each team member has the autonomy to pull a task when they are ready to pick something up. The product manager should already be working on a prioritised backlog, with the highest … [Read more...] about How the pull model can make a Kanban board run smoothly
Epics should be completable
An epic is sometimes described as a large user story which is too big to fit into a sprint. There’s also a similar definition: epics can span multiple sprints. But if an epic is just a big story (“it’s so big, it’s epic!”) and it can span many sprints, shouldn’t we break it down? Is it still a story? Shouldn’t we aim to complete all the stories by the end of the … [Read more...] about Epics should be completable