Tim Arthur

Scrum and Kanban comprise the core ideas used by the world's most successful Agile organizations. My upcoming Scrum and Kanban classes provide practical techniques to effectively manage workflow and iterative/incremental development. https://lnkd.in/gvs_jBmU

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Curious fact: One well-run agile story writing workshop can keep your backlog clean and aligned for months! 🗓️ Mike Cohn suggests holding these sessions about once a quarter In my own practice, a single rapid release planning session every three months replaces traditional big room or PI planning, making our workflows more efficient. 📊 https://lnkd.in/eqE34ji5 #Agile #AgileDad #Scrum #ProductManager #ProductOwner #Leadership #GoalSetting #AgileManagement #Productivity #BacklogManagement

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🥳 🎉 ITS PM MONDAY!!!!!! 🥳 🎉 Last week, we discussed the Governance This week we are discussing Technical Debt!!!!! 👉 Let's talk about the silent killer that is slowly destroying your project, Technical Debt 🙉 Most Project Managers hear "Technical Debt" and tune out because they think it's a problem for the engineering team to solve Wrong!!! Technical debt is a Scope and Schedule Problem masquerading as code issue Technical Debt is essentially a loan you take out against your future productivity 💳 Every time you say "We don't have time to do it right, just patch it so we can ship on Friday," you are swiping the project credit card You get the immediate gratification of hitting the deadline, but you always have to pay that debt back, usually with interest Technical debt acts a lot like a predatory lender, there is easy access, but the interest rates are insane Here is the breakdown of why PMs need to own this metric ✅ The Principal This is the work you skipped the refactoring, the documentation, the automated tests you didn't write You still have to do all of these tasks, just maybe not right now ✅ The Interest This is the extra effort required to work in a messy system, the new feature that now takes 2x longer to build because the foundation is shaky ✅ The Default If you let the debt get too high, you go "bankrupt"  The system becomes so fragile that you can't add any new features without breaking everything 🔴 "We'll Fix It Later" is a lie, and one of the most dangerous phrases in Project Management If you don't explicitly schedule time in your roadmap to pay down this debt (refactoring sprints, hardening phases), it will never happen until it causes a catastrophic failure ✅ Morale of the story here, technical debt, much like financial debt is ok to carry in small chunks, but the balance always comes due It is incumbent upon you as the PM to choose when to borrow against the debt and then be proactive to repay it, before the debt collector comes calling at the worst possible time 🥓 My name is Trevor Greenberg and I help organizations improve outcomes by streamlining systems, optimizing processes, and leading projects that move the needle ➡️ Follow me for more 🥓 flavored wisdom 🔁 Repost this if you think others can benefit 🎙️Tune in to The Disgruntled PM Podcast for more great insights on Project Management

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I’ve seen a lot of hand-wring the past 2 weeks about the new definition of ‘project’ in the PMBOK Guide 8th edition. As a quick reminder, the old definition was: “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”  The new definition is : “a temporary initiative in a unique context undertaken to create value.” The criticism seems to be vary between A) the idea of ‘value’ is nothing new, B) the word ‘value’ is too imprecise or ambiguous, and C) it suggest the PM is now responsible for the outcome of the project achieving whatever results it was minted to achieve, even if the PM has no control over that. I’m going to talk about whether this is actually anything ‘new’ (hint: it’s not) in a different post later this week.  But today I wanted to tackle an aspect I haven’t seen addressed yet. We often see the criticism that “nothing’s changed” in the past 20 years in project mgmt. I don’t think that’s true. I think a lot of 'has' changed over the years - just not for the better. Somewhere along the last 20 years we as a profession lost the plot. We forgot ‘why’ we exist, and ‘why’ we do things, and started focusing more on ‘how’. We started created new methodologies, and then arguing over whether they were new or not, and obsessing over the word-smithing and semantics they contained. “Is it a framework, methodology, or method, or a project, program, or portfolio, or an output, outcome, or result?”  We started to focus solely on how *we* view what *we* do. And to some extent this *does* matter. As professionals we need to have a *somewhat* common understating of the vocabulary and language we use. But that’s so that we can 'communicate', not so we can 'dictate'. Worse, we started to unilaterally define these things for ourselves. We forgot ‘why’ we do things, and ‘who’ we do them for. And we forgot to speak their language as well as our own. We started to describe and define things in a way that’s almost totally insular to us, which, rather than making us ‘more effective and valuable’, served to make us seem out of step with leadership. A prime example of this is the idea of ‘positive risk’. This is a concept that exists almost exclusively in project management.  (go ahead, talk to your leaders about the ‘positive’ risks… I dare ya 😂 ) And I think this new definition is a sort of ‘course-correction’ for the back-sliding we’ve done.* Because while 'we' as project professionals may chafe at it (a bit), the real question is - “is this how leadership defines a project?” I think if we look at it those terms, then not only is the answer 'yes', but the new definition might just be another step in helping recover some of what we’ve lost over the years - a return to an understanding of why we do what we do. *I have no idea if this is 'why' the change was made. It's just a way that I'm seeing it.

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This week reminded me why I love working with PMP candidates. We hosted a focused practice event built around two of the most critical domains in the PMI ECO 2021: Task 1 — Manage Conflict Task 2 — Lead a Team And the energy in the room was incredible. Instead of memorizing theory, candidates stepped into real scenarios — navigating stakeholder tension, reframing conflict as data, and practicing leadership behaviours that actually move teams forward. A few powerful themes emerged: - Conflict isn’t a problem to “fix” — it’s a signal to understand - Leadership shows up in micro‑moments, not job titles - Psychological safety is a project asset, not a “nice to have” - PMs who can regulate themselves can regulate the room - The best decisions come from structured dialogue, not speed and usually depends on the situation Watching candidates debate, negotiate, and collaborate reminded me that PMP prep is not just about passing an exam — it’s about becoming the kind of leader people trust in uncertainty. If you’re curious about how we run these scenario‑based sessions, or you want to see a replay of this week’s event, you can check it out here. It’s a great window into how modern PMs are sharpening the skills that matter most. https://lnkd.in/gha6nyMP

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Most project problems are clarity problems, not process problems. I have managed projects/programs in both federal and financial environments and across Agile and hybrid. What I most often see is this: Teams are usually doing enough process. Sometimes, they are inundated with process. They are just not always aligned on what matters most right now. True clarity means: * Everyone knows the top 1–2 priorities * Decisions happen at the right level * Work-in-progress remains visible * Metrics are used to help make decisions vs providing hope * Stakeholders are aligned on outcomes, not activity When clarity is absent, no Jira boards, meetings, or Agile events can fill that gap. With clarity, everything speeds up - even in complicated environments. What's one thing you do to create clarity on your projects? #ProgramManagement #Leadership #ProjectSuccess

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