Avatar photoSteven Savage

My Agile Life: The Project Doesn’t Matter

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s LinkedIn, and Steve’s Tumblr)

More on my use of “Agile” and Scrum in my life!

So this is going to sound weird, but one thing I realized in Agile practice, and my own use of the Agile technique of Scrum (with a touch of Kanban), is that the Project isn’t the most important thing.

Yes, I know, heresy. Projects are books, right? Projects are art, true? Projects are games, correct? I talk Projects all the time.

No. A book, a piece of art, a game is a product. Products deliver value to the customer and that’s what matters.

Projects are ways to get things done, to produce products, a useful conceptual tool, but that’s it.  The idea of a Project helps you complete a Product that has value.

Yeah, let that sink in. All your planning, all your schemes, everything are secondary to the result. Think it’s hard for you? I’m a guy with a ton of certifications on the subject of Project Management. In short, I actually have certifications on the second most important thing.

Except this is liberating. I don’t have to take Projects seriously or any other organizational tool.  All that matters is if this concept, this idea, this tool, this idea helps deliver value.  That’s it.

This is where Agile as a mindset shines. It’s outright saying that your goal is a result.  That’s it.  Everything else is just a tool on the way to the result.  You only have to care so much.

This is where Agile techniques shine, they’re tools to help you find blockages and get to the results – but like any tool you don’t have to be attached to them. Scrum this year becomes Kanban. This level of Project Breakdown is replaced by another.

I still use the term Project.  It’s useful.  I just don’t have to get invested in it.  It’s all about results.

By the way if you’re focused on Projects and not results – why?  Are the results even worth seeking?

(By the way I do plenty of books for coaching people to improve in various areas, which may also help you out!)

– Steve

Steve’s Update – Late – 9/14/2017

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for my audience, so where am I?

First, late.  Sorry team.

So what have I done the last week?

  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet”: Chapter 7 is about done, it just needs editing..  It’s a pretty critical one as it moves things on from the 40% mark forward – and sets things up for a massive amount of actions and reveals as the crew heads to the world of Lindhaem.
  • Way With Worlds Minibook #4: All formatted and ready.  Just have to do publicity and such.
  • Art: Continuing my cover art work. now on my tumblr.  My latest have been Overwatched themed.
  • Blog: Got more queued up.  I may start mixing it up more – I realized I haven’t career blogged in awhile as I got focused on my fiction projects!
  • General: Lots of chores, marketing stuff, and more.

What am I going to do this week:

  • Way With Worlds Minibook #4: I might do publicity setup for it, but I can wait.
  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” Editing Chapter 7 and getting it ready, moving to chapter 8.
  • Seventh Sanctum: I have an idea for a new generator – well a new idea, I had another in the works.  Let’s see which one I get to first . . . I do at least want to map some data.
  • Other: Got a lot of events and a friend moving, so that may occupy a lot of time.

 

– Steve

Civic Diary 9/14/2017

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Yes, it’s time for my latest Civic Diary.  So where am I in my efforts to be a better citizen?

More or less holding the course still, but with a few changes:

First  of all if you have trouble bugging/talking to/seeing your representatives, do not forget email.  It’s not as good as the phone call, but it’s something you can timeshift and probably do cut-and-paste.  Also some local reps (like city and county) are much harder to call, so the email may be easier.

Secondly, I’m starting to track my efforts in a google doc.  This way I can check off what I do on my phone – much easier to keep track of, update, and more!  I take my various mailing lists and dump them in there.

Third, definitely keep track of news.  This tells you what others are doing, what you forgot, and maybe in a few cases when you don’t need to call/bug a representative if they do something you’re planning to annoy them on.  The latter helps so you can change a prod to a compliment.

And now some psychology and social callings.

Right now we’re more and more aware all the time of how people seek to divide us – not as if we weren’t aware there was assorted news playing on racial resentment and political divisions.  Remember you’ll always want to be aware of just what’s going on in efforts to divide the country and work to bridge gaps when possible.  You can’t always make peace with people who want to hate you, but you can build your community stronger to survive and prosper.

Secondly, though everything is political to an extent, some parts of our lives and communities are less political than others.  These “not-as-political” things like book clubs, conventions, and so on are important.  Work to cultivate these communities and your friendships to keep them strong and provide stability.  I also find it helps prevent divisions like above.

 

– Steve