Project & Team Management

Long-Term Agile Planning Is Possible!

On an agile software project, we readjust plans daily. We pivot to respond to change, discovery, and feedback. Product owners and stakeholders, on the other hand, focus on longer-term planning — defining product roadmaps, release dates, and milestones. As a Delivery Lead, I have the challenge of balancing planning needs for the entire team. Fortunately, […]

How to Facilitate a Knowledge Transfer Remotely

At the end of a recent project, I was scheduled to visit our clients for a week to hold a knowledge transfer for their development team. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we were forced to change plans, and we opted to run the knowledge transfer remotely. I’d spent the previous weeks creating and refining an […]

Three Levels of Software Project Closeout Documentation

I find that authoring documentation is best done at the end of a project. Writing it too early means it needs to be re-written as things change. Unfortunately, life happens. On many projects, almost no time is available for documentation at the project’s end. This may seem irresponsible, but it’s the tradeoff teams and clients […]

Comparing 3 Work Coordination Techniques for Large Dev. Teams

For several months, I have been working as part of a very large team, bringing together three companies and spanning several time zones. There are about fifteen developers that actively contribute to our codebase — plus several more team members responsible for planning, design, or management. It’s a large group of people with wildly different […]

Software Project Estimates – When, Why, and How?

It can seem daunting to estimate the effort involved in a large software project. And it’s easy to start thinking: “Because estimates are always wrong, they aren’t that valuable.” But there are many benefits of estimation. If you get in the habit of estimating regularly, you can turn a daunting, nonproductive exercise into one of […]

Five Ways to Raise Your Team’s Morale During COVID-19 Lockdown

As a result of the coronavirus spread, Atomic Object (like many companies) has asked employees to work remotely. Technically speaking, the shift went pretty smoothly; we had practices and technology in place to support the change. But mentally and emotionally, switching to remote work is stressful — compounding the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty that […]

Three Ways to Shake Up Agile Development with Design Thinking

If you’re a member of an Agile software team, you know that the routines of Agile can sometimes feel tedious. And it’s hard to know what to change. Do you need to change your meeting frequency? Can some routines be eliminated? Should you scrap Agile altogether? Rather than abandoning Agile, consider incorporating some simple design […]

Successful Dev. Team Onboarding – Trust, Tradeoffs, and Giving Everyone the Benefit of the Doubt

Adding a new team member can be a challenge for both the individual and the team. A new person can shake up a team’s culture, and a team’s culture may force the new member to adapt and change. Sometimes it goes well. Sometimes it doesn’t. For things to go smoothly, everyone needs to play their […]