An individual with the authority to set the direction for a product, and often a family of products, using analytical methods such as market research, trend analysis, structured or unstructured interviews, and other forms of interaction with individual customers or a sample of the customer population. As such, Product Managers set strategy and vision for...Read More

A biography or profile of a fictitious user of a product, which is concise and visual, while also being representative of a group of users. A common layout for a persona is on a single page, including a photograph or cartoon, a hypothetical name, along with social or professional details and areas of interest. Because...Read More

A mathematical method to determine how many lines of communication exist between one node (person) and every other node in a group of people. A way to apply the Permutation Formula is to show that as team size increases, the lines of communication increase geometrically, to the point where effective 1:1 communication and team collaboration...Read More

A cyclical method of performing work and receiving feedback on the work, to improve products and processes. Plan-Do-Check-Act incorporates feedback loops to reinforce an empirical process, which focuses on inspection and adaptation instead of following a comprehensive, fully defined plan, where that plan is established up front and adhered to regardless of the outcomes or...Read More

A practice that originated with eXtreme Programming (XP), where two people work closely together, and frequently switch roles, with one writing code (the Driver), and the other reviewing and thinking of ways to test the code (the Navigator). Also, in a less formal sense, pairing can occur any time two team members work together such...Read More

The notion in psychology that the human brain is capable of maintaining 7 +/- 2 pieces of information at a time for immediate recall. Miller’s Law has important implications in areas such as Customer Experience and User Experience. A concept similar to what’s behind Miller’s Law — the Permutation Formula —  applies to how many...Read More

Many teams make their work visible on a physical or electronic board, such the movement (flow) of work items toward done is apparent. On Kanban Boards, each work item is represented by a token, such as a Post-it-Note (on a physical board), or a rectangular digital object (in electronic tools), providing metadata about the work...Read More

In some organizational contexts, there are activities that seek to continuously improve multiple organizational functions and involve many employees, from the executive level to the level of individual contributors. As such, Kaizen applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into areas such as the supply chain. The foundational level of...Read More

In many organizations there are handwritten, drawn, printed or electronic representations or displays which are placed in a visible location, so that all team members and stakeholders can see the latest information at a glance. Also known as Big Visible Charts, information radiators can show things such as counts of automated tests, team throughput, cycle...Read More

In software development, many things can surface which slow the delivery of value to customers. Agile teams make a point of surfacing impediments, aka blockers, as soon as they occur, and at every available opportunity until they have been addressed. On Scrum teams, Daily Scrums and Sprint Retrospectives are examples of meetings where impediments are...Read More