When I read the discussion about project managers in "Scrum Agile Software Development", it resonated so much with me that I had to put down the book and chat a few words, on the one hand to express my feelings, on the other hand it was considered a Kind of reflection.
I usually carry 3-5 items at the same time. As a project manager, I spend most of my time analyzing requirements and breaking them down into smaller tasks. When splitting tasks, I enter tasks into Teamview , a project management program I designed myself . During the entry process, I set a priority for each task and the time it takes to complete that task based on my experience. Next, project members can carry out development work step by step according to the assignment of tasks in Teamview .
In this process, what seems to be related to agility is "prioritized". I will communicate with the salesperson or customer to establish priorities to help the team achieve sales or customer goals. But the timing of communication is disordered. Sometimes, based on my own experience, I feel that I should communicate with customers; sometimes I am free and suddenly remember that I have not communicated with customers for a long time; Ask for help, and talk to the client about priorities by the way. But if I'm on a tight schedule, I may be communicating priorities with different clients for an extended period of time. In this disorder, there is no way to ensure that the customer's concerns about priorities can be smoothly reflected in the current development sequence, so that the team cannot be guaranteed to move in the direction expected by the customer to the greatest extent.
In addition, the splitting of tasks is somewhat similar to Agile "story points", but it is not necessary.
First of all, the task assignment is done by me, and the relationship between me and the team members is still assigned and assigned, which contradicts agile self-organization. Second, the tasks I assigned were time-pressured, under-descriptive, and far from the story points advocated by agile, usually just a sentence or a picture. Team members handle these tasks and sometimes further communication with me. Of course, this process works, after all, I have successfully completed countless projects of all sizes this way.
But I also have to admit the drawbacks of this approach. This method is cramming, limited by my own experience and knowledge. I used to not understand JQuery Mobile, so when dealing with a client's needs, members were required to write their own code to achieve the list effect on the mobile application. Remember, this is just a data-role in JQuery Mobile. While the project was a success, it took time over budget.
The most fatal drawback of this approach is that it robs the project members of the best time to imagine and think, because when I assign tasks, I have more or less restricted or implied what should be done. As a result, project members do not grow effectively. All in all, this is an inefficient process.
These are the two questions I'm currently looking at in the agile mirror. Have you also encountered similar problems? Discussions are welcome.