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Johanna Rothman

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President, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.

28 points

I'm an expert in managing high technology product development, helping managers, teams, and organizations become more effective. I use pragmatic techniques for managing people, projects, and risk, to create successful teams and projects.

I've written several books about ...

I'm an expert in managing high technology product development, helping managers, teams, and organizations become more effective. I use pragmatic techniques for managing people, projects, and risk, to create successful teams and projects.

I've written several books about managing people, projects, and the project portfolio:
- "Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects"
- "Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management"
- "Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management" (with Esther Derby)
- "Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People"

I write two blogs on my site: Managing Product Development and Hiring Technical People.

I write tons of columns and articles. See http://www.jrothman.com/papers-chron.html for a listing of all my writings in reverse chronological order.

I'm one of the founders and leaders of the Amplifying Your Effectiveness (AYE) Conference.

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WEB: Managing Product Dev

March 20, 2012

Johanna Rothman and 8 other people answered this question

What are signs that an IT project may be heading toward disaster?

1. For any project, if you have not done deliverable-based planning, you are in a disaster. You just don't know it yet.
2. If you have done deliverable-based planning, and you see no deliverables, you are in trouble. You should always be able to see ... more

Enterprise Resource Planning

Feb. 15, 2012

Johanna Rothman and 2 other people answered this question

Is there such a thing as "IT" PPM?

Steven, I agree with you. The organization decides which project is #1, which project is #2, which project is #3, etc, all the way across the organization, and then staffs the projects accordingly. It is irrelevant which function *has* the project. -- Johanna more

Project and Portfolio Management

Oct. 14, 2011

Johanna Rothman and 4 other people answered this question

What skills do project managers need to stay ahead of the game?

Interpersonal skills, such as influence, so you can *act* on risks across the organization; the ability to give and receive feedback; the ability to coach; the ability to facilitate not just meetings but teams--those are the skills that great project managers need. more

Human Resources

Information Technology

Career Development

Aug. 25, 2011

Johanna Rothman and 5 other people answered this question

What the $#^! is Project Portfolio Management?

There are several reasons:
1. The emotional reactions to sunk cost. How can we pull out of this project now, and admit we were wrong when we've already spent this much money? My reaction is why spend more? That's why it's so helpful to use project ... more

Information Technology

Project and Portfolio Management

July 18, 2011

Johanna Rothman answered this question

Project managers, what is a project portfolio?

A project portfolio is a ranked list of the projects the organization is staffing and funding. The project portfolio prevents multitasking and helps you know which project is first, second, and third, etc. That way, if a more important project interrupts you, you know you ... more

Project Management

Project Portfolio

Project Portfolio Management

June 20, 2011

Johanna Rothman is now following Michael Krigsman and 3 other people

June 20, 2011

Johanna Rothman and 2 other people answered this question

Who are the top project management bloggers?

I like me: http://www.jrothman.com/blog/mpd
I also like Glen Alleman, even though/maybe especially because I don't always agree with him :-), http://herdingcats.typepad.com/ more

Project Management

June 13, 2011

Johanna Rothman and 3 other people answered this question

What are the best strategies for keeping a project under budget?

Why do you care? How often is budget the real constraint in your projects? The reason I ask is that most often in my projects or the projects I consult on, budget is the first thing to go. That's why I ask. I'm not being ... more

Information Technology

Business Intelligence

June 5, 2011

Johanna Rothman answered this question

Any evidence that Agile projects are more successful than traditional software development projects?

Search on Michael Mah and "How Agile Projects Measure Up, and What This Means to You" or contact him directly. It's a Cutter report, so it's unclear how much is published to non-paying clients. more

Information Technology

Agile Development

Software Development

June 3, 2011

Johanna Rothman and 5 other people answered this question

How would you determine whether a project manager has done a good job?

The PM has not succeeded. In fact, I would say the PM failed on my third item, the team creation piece. (I have been on teams where we united against crazy management, but that's not sustainable over the long term.)
The PM has had short-term success, ... more

General Management

Project Management

Following 5 Topics

Agile Development

Information Technology

Project Management

Software Development

Following 4 People

Followed by 9 People

Knowledgeable in 11 Topics

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