For projects following an agile methodology, the term “backlog” refers to pieces of work, otherwise known as “user stories”, that are not currently being worked on. In traditional project thinking, the backlog would also constitute the project scope, i.e. what needs to be delivered. The only difference here being, your backlog can (and likely will) evolve as the product you’re working on grows and new requirements and features become known.
As industries and customer needs change, the way we manage our projects need to change along with it. What used to work 10 years ago unfortunately cannot guarantee success today. If we’re not flexible in the way we approach project management, we will get left behind in a world where continuous improvement has become a necessity to survive. For a very long time the Waterfall method dominated the world of project management as everyone adopted the understanding that a project consisted
It’s true, there’s a certain level of unpredictability with all projects, but eventual failure is something that can actually be predicted quite early on. The key is to recognise the warning signs as early as possible to give you and your team the opportunity to do some damage control to potentially save the situation. Here at Analyze, we’ve come up with the following list of 7 early warning signs to look out for:
All companies have a vision, strategy and set of values that define their organisation and their way of working. The differentiating factor, when it comes to customer experience, is whether the values of the organisation are apparent in every interaction you have with them. The beauty of being a smaller consulting firm is that we have a culture that lives and breathes ou
The word disruption seems to be the new norm when discussing just about anything related to technology, ways of working, business models, organisational culture and structures. Despite this, the consulting industry has remained relatively unaffected by disruption. It has, however seen the rise of many niche consulting firms that are looking to compete with the bigger and more established consulting houses…
We live in a fast-moving world, in which change is the only constant. Companies are in an unrelenting race to remain relevant through continuous innovation. Organisational change is accelerating and being driven, in particular, by digital transformation agendas. Delivering new projects is a key way in which organisations meet these strategic challenges. As conductors of the project orchestra, project managers play an important role in…
Have you ever been midway through a project and found yourself wondering: Why exactly are we doing this again? Take comfort in the fact that you’re probably not the only one stuck in this train of thought. Fuzzy project goals can lead to a situation where the project team kind of think they understand what they’re aiming for, but aren’t quite 100% sure. Benefit maps are a way to take project goals and represent them in a visual manner…
The daily huddle or daily scrum, the morning check-in or team roll-call, what you call them doesn’t really matter, what does matter is accepting that stand-up meetings are here to stay. As more and more teams turn to Agile to improve their performance and output, the daily stand-up has become the new norm. It’s a great way for team members to stay on track, collaborating & helping each other along the way…
In the world of business, influence is power, and without it achieving professional success can be an uphill battle. We need to take our cue from the social media world, we need to become influencers, not of popular culture and style, but of business strategy and corporate change. An effective influencer is defined as someone who’s able to move people and shape opinions by understanding what makes people tick, both on a…
Would you believe that one of the top reasons for project failure is the lack of active & engaged sponsorship? We’re guessing probably not… That’s because you’ll likely first want to point a finger at things like scope creep, poorly defined requirements, lack of project governance & poor communication. These are of course all valid reasons for project failure, but at Analyze we’ve realised the one item that often gets overlooked is how…