Posts

Your Question Answered: Agile and Motivation

By Emma Sharrock / May 15, 2016 / Comments Off on Your Question Answered: Agile and Motivation

Firstly, I love it when someone buys The Agile Project Manager. I love it even more when they tell me they read it. And what really is the very best thing is when they have a question about it. There’s nothing better than catching up with someone for coffee and talking about their experience reading…

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Your Questions Answered

By Emma Sharrock / April 11, 2016 / Comments Off on Your Questions Answered

One of the many things I have loved about publishing The Agile Project Manager is the connections I have made with others. These connections I may well have made by just being interested in all things human behaviour and Agile Project Management, but it’s more than that. People have been buying the book (yay!), and…

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The book is available!

By Emma Sharrock / November 19, 2015 / Comments Off on The book is available!

I am so excited* to announce that my book is now available to purchase. Simply go to this page and purchase using PayPal. I can’t wait for you to read it and let me know what you think!   * Clearly too excited to write a longer post…

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Agile and the Art of Finishing

By Emma Sharrock / November 8, 2015 / Comments Off on Agile and the Art of Finishing

One of the things I love about Agile projects is that there is always (or there should always) be a clear definition of done. For everything. From the vision set from the start, through to the high level objectives, through to the stories and tasks. And everyone knows what it is. It’s even written down.…

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The Virtues of Agile

By Emma Sharrock / October 14, 2015 / Comments Off on The Virtues of Agile

I recently read an article in The Agile Times on the seven virtues of an Agile mindset. The article got my immediate attention. I am passionate about all things Agile, and truly believe that it is our mindset that determines our success over processes, tools and templates. The article was great, and you can read…

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Are you Walking your Talk?

By Emma Sharrock / September 20, 2015 / Comments Off on Are you Walking your Talk?

I work with Agile (and non-Agile) project practitioners on a daily basis, and I find that there is still a lot of confusion about what Agile really is. I had a conversation with someone the other day who lamented all the people who were ‘doing it wrong’. I was curious about this because when it…

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Agile Tools and Writing

By Emma Sharrock / August 29, 2015 / Comments Off on Agile Tools and Writing

A few weeks ago I wrote about how I wrote The Agile Project Manager. In the post I talked about some of the strategies and techniques I used to pull the book together including working with a vision, establishing a vision and mind mapping using values levels. I shared that it wasn’t just about writing,…

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Agile and the Art of Holidays

By Emma Sharrock / August 13, 2015 / Comments Off on Agile and the Art of Holidays

As you would know by now, I am passionate about the principles and concepts of Agile, and how applying them to your projects or change initiatives can get great results. It’s amazing what happens when you apply them to life too. We have a Kanban board at home and track our progress visually, checking in…

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Do Agile projects need Sponsors?

By Emma Sharrock / July 25, 2015 / Comments Off on Do Agile projects need Sponsors?

A common mantra of Agile practitioners and change agents is that one of the key success criteria for Agile transformations is strong executive sponsorship. There has been much written on the importance of a good sponsor who guides and leads the team, is available to govern and advise, is approachable, and most importantly, has ‘skin…

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Start Slow to go Fast

By Emma Sharrock / July 18, 2015 / Comments Off on Start Slow to go Fast

Don’t you just love riding a bike? While I appreciate it’s not for everyone, I truly believe there is something freeing about riding a bike. Perhaps it brings back memories of being a child, flying through the neighbourhood on my trusty Malvern Star, exhilarated with the speed and excited about the freedom my bike gave…

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By Emma Sharrock / July 14, 2015 / Comments Off on

“Whenever you have taken up work in hand, you must see it to the finish. That is the ultimate secret of success. Never, never, never give up!” Dada Vaswani

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Getting Things Done

By Emma Sharrock / July 9, 2015 / Comments Off on Getting Things Done

Sometimes life can seem incredibly overwhelming. There is so much to do and so little time. Life is moving faster than ever, yet we are only human and there are only so many hours in the day. It’s so easy to finish a day and wonder what you actually did. Did I achieve anything at…

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By Emma Sharrock / June 26, 2015 / Comments Off on

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear” Nelson Mandela

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Writing Rules of Engagement

By Emma Sharrock / June 20, 2015 / Comments Off on Writing Rules of Engagement

Writing a book, like any endeavour that takes time, can have its challenges. There are times when you are so motivated and inspired you can go on forever, and there are other times where it seems hard and you feel like you want to quit. Just like life, there are ups and there are downs.…

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By Emma Sharrock / June 10, 2015 / Comments Off on

“If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don’t, you will find an excuse” Jim Rohn

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The Secret Sauce of Project Management

By Emma Sharrock / May 31, 2015 / Comments Off on The Secret Sauce of Project Management

Have you ever wondered how some projects get done? From the outside they seem complex with many conflicting stakeholders, yet somehow are a success. You can’t help but have a little bit of professional jealousy/envy/respect going on. We’ll get to that in a minute. The way you can find out what really happened in a…

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