Metrics
Derek Huether
Most Important Metric for an Enterprise

As an executive, you will be faced with the choice to do the pivot (if you can) or persevere (if you have no other choice). This will lead to a series of “bets”. You lead with a hypothesis that the things you change will allow you to operate at pre-event levels. But, how long will it actually take for you to validate your hypothesis and have a bet pay off with pre-event levels? If you run out of time to figure it out or run out of bets you can place, then you either lose your standing in the market or worse risk going out of business.

Derek Huether
How to identify dependencies with Tableau and ...

Regardless of the organization or institution, there will always be dependencies. The larger the organization, the greater chance of the existence of dependencies.
This template is available for download from Tableau Public

Video
Derek Huether
Value Stream Management

In the following interview (both video and audio), Dave Prior and I explore why Value Stream Management is so important, how it works, the connection to Value Stream Mapping, and how you can get started with it.

Derek Huether
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics that are used to evaluate the performance of an organization or individual. They are used to measure progress towards achieving specific goals or objectives and to determine whether an organization or individual is meeting their targets.

Enterprise Insights, Jira Align, Metrics, Tableau
Derek Huether
How Atlassian Jira Align Supports Flow Metrics

I keep getting asked, does Jira Align support Flow Metrics, as defined in the Flow Framework and SAFe? The short answer is yes. If you believe these metrics will help unlock the potential of your teams, use this community post to see working examples of Tableau reports I have created using Jira Align and Enterprise Insights.

How Atlassian Jira Align Supports Flow Metrics

Twitter

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Agile 2015 Twitter Feed

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Looking for the play by play from Agile 2015? Check out the feed below

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Individuals & Interactions over Processes & Tools

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It's pretty exciting to hear that LinkedIn just reached over 100 million users.  Upon review this morning, my LinkedIn profile stated that I have 149 connections, adding it links me to 3,156,950+ professionals.  Unfortunately, I believe a tool is only as good at the individual(s) using it.  I'll admit, I don't really get LinkedIn.  I don't leverage it the way it was probably intended.  To me, it's an online resume with connections to people who I should have some kind of affiliation with.  I think of it more as Classmates.com for business.  I actually have a majority of my LinkedIn contacts as a result of an extended Fail Whale that happened on Twitter last year.  Twitter may be great for interactions but it's not so great as a professional contact management tool. A few days ago, I received a LinkedIn connect request from someone I interact with on Twitter.  She wrote

Derek, Would you have any interest in connecting on LinkedIn? I went to send an invite but for some reason the option isn't there!

Since we've interacted on Twitter and share some professional affiliations, I figured I'd add her to my LinkedIn connections.  I logged into LinkedIn to send her the  connection request and realized why she did not see the option.  The LinkedIn user interface had recommended she connect with me, though we were already connected.

interact_vs_tools

In the end, we just laughed it off. We're still following each other on Twitter. We've reaffirmed that we're connected via LinkedIn. But, it raises an interesting question.  How useful is an interaction tool if you don't interact with other individuals?  How useful is have connections, if you don't connect with them?

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Week Ending Nov-13

Wow, it's been a busy week on the blog.  The amount of comments from last week's posts kept me busy clear into this week. Early in the week, I was asked about the RSS feeds that I read daily.  I listed them earlier in the year.  In just a few month, I started using Twitter a lot more and feeds less.  Read more... A retrostpecitve - daily read, then and now

Next, I wrote about how within different areas within organizations, people feel they are the true center of the universe.  Read more... about how I feel people should not forget the larger goal

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to see a webinar, from VersionOne and their Moving Agile into the Mainstream webinar series.  Read more... about AgileLive

I was then inspired to write about the need to Communicate effectively. See what I think are the best and worst ways to communicate.

On Thursday, I was interviewed for an upcoming podcast about project management and project leadership.  It inspired me to write a post titled Chasing the carrot Read more...

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Daily Read Then & Now

Then

Back in January (2010), I published a list of my daily RSS feed reads

It's interesting how a change in technology changes your behavior.  Just like I used to watch television live and now I use a  DVR to watch it later, I now get most of my early morning reading from live tweets.  Though I don't have quite as long of a blog list to read, I feel like a get a more eclectic mix.  On nights and weekends, I go back and read more blogs than tweets.

Here was my list of RSS Feed Reads (in alphabetical order) that I used to read every morning:

  • Agile Development Blog
  • Alec Satin – People, Projects, and Process
  • CottagePM.com – Project Management for the rest of us
  • Deep Fried Brain – PMP Exam Prep
  • Geoff Crane – Solid Portfolio Management with a sharp wit
  • How to Manage a Camel – Project Management
  • Jason Calacanis – CEO of Mahalo.com and creator of This Week In StartUps
  • Jim Benson – Personal Kanban
  • Josh Nankivel – Founder of PM Student and creator of WBS Coach
  • Mike Cottmeyer – Agile Leadership and Project Management
  • Mixergy – Where the ambitious learn from experienced mentors

Now

Here are some people I follow on Twitter.  I scan for their tweets first thing, on a daily basis (listed in alphabetical order).  I follow a lot of people but this group is verbal and what they say or retweet usually helps me get my mind ready for the day.  I still read from a list of RSS feeds but they don't post every day.  Something to note, Twitter followers really open doors to new ideas.  If they find something interesting, they retweet it.  Because I follow them, I am more apt to find the topic interesting.  It makes the blogroll on websites something more for SEO than something to help me find new content to read.

People I Follow on Twitter (Early morning live reads)

RSS Feeds (Nights and Weekends)

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Motivate With Game Mechanics

Yep, I got it done.  Last night I voted and I even got a Foursquare badge!  I can't say anyone I voted for did or did not get into office.  That wasn't the point.  I just wanted to exercise my right to vote... and get that damn badge! All day I noticed people were checking in and getting an "I Voted 2010" badge.  Though a Foursquare badge won't lower or raise my taxes, I found the idea of awarding the general public for voting a compelling idea.  How many geeks out there were more motivated by that badge than voting someone into office?  Well, the check-ins totaled 50,416.  I can't speak for motivations. It got me thinking, if you want to encourage your team (or the general public) to do something, do you just employ game mechanics (specifically victory condition mechanics) like in Foursquare?  Is it that simple?

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Principles Behind The Twitter Manifesto

We follow these principles: Our highest priority is to satisfy the follower through early and continuous delivery of valuable tweets.

Welcome a changing Twitter stream, even late in the day. Twitter processes harness change for the follower's informative advantage.

Deliver working links frequently, from a couple of hours to a couple of days, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Tweeters and followers must work together continuously throughout the day.

Write tweets around motivated followers.  Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the retweet done.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within the Twitter community is continuous conversation.

Reading informative tweets is the primary measure of progress.

Twitter processes promote sustainable tweeting and retweeting. The tweeters, followers, and twibes should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Continuous attention to tweet excellence and good spelling enhances retweeting.

Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of letters not used--is essential.

The best blog posts, pics, and links emerge from self-organizing twibes.

At regular intervals, the twibe reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Thank you to the authors of the Agile Manifesto.  Without it, my life would have less direction and this post would have even less value.

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5 Twitter Retweet Rules

I spend a lot of time online, perhaps too much.  I read blogs and tweets and engage people wherever and whenever I can.  Using all of these methods of communications is not necessarily for me to just spout project management doctrine.  I look to share ideas to better myself and hopefully make life a little easier for others. It doesn't matter if it's a lifehack, a web app, or discovering a blog.  There is a lot of cool stuff out there and every day I find and learn something new.

Once in a while something does rub me the wrong way.  It might be someone trying to pick a fight in the blog comments or maybe it's someone flooding my Twitter stream with noise.  This weekend it was too little sleep in combination with too much Twitter noise.

As many Twitter users know, the more followers you get, the louder your megaphone.  To counter that, the more people you follow, the louder the noise.  The noise can sometimes be deafening.

I usually see the same topic cycle through my Twitter stream 4 or 5 times before I finally click on it.  What I like about this process is that it's organic.  The link seems to increase in value the more people I listen to tweet about it.  Once it hits critical mass in my head, I check it out.

So, what's the rub?

This weekend, I had over half a dozen people tweet the exact same thing at the same time.  My Twitter feed was momentarily flooded by people who subscribed to a website.  Rather than having people I follow retweeting the link organically, the site sent out the tweet.  That feature deprecated the value rather than increasing it.  Though we all may be fighting for positions in the stream, hoping someone will hear us, I like to follow a few simple rules.

My Twitter Retweet Rules

  1. If you read something notable and it provides value, retweet it
  2. If you read something that is not notable or does not provide value, do not retweet it
  3. If someone I trust and respect tweets something, I see value
  4. If more people I trust and respect retweet the link, I see even more value
  5. If several people tweet the exact same thing at the exact same time, all value is deprecated

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