Comments on: When You’re in Chaos, Try Baby Steps

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:00:20 +0000

This is an excellent approach to address this specific problem, one which I use myself and recommend to clients as well. I find that apart from focusing the team it allows me to track progress using activities short enough to allow me to use the ‘done/not done’ approach. It means that I don’t get stuck in the never-ending ‘90% complete’ rut and my progress reports are based on real metrics (number of tasks completed vs number of tasks remaining to complete a feature - combined with task complexity and team velocity) and not the team members’ perceptions of what complete means. Great post Johanna!

By: Jay, writer Memberspeed.com

Jay, writer Memberspeed.com — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:25:27 +0000

This actually reminds me of a Gantt Chart. It’s the chart we use for our thesis-writing process. We need to follow each month’s schedule properly or else we’ll get sidetracked and be delayed. If I’m not mistaken, the schedule is divided into weeks as well.

By: John

John — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:59:25 +0000

I would add that when progress seems to have stopped, it’s important to have absolutely unambigous goals. I remember a former manager who asked us all “Which things are 100% done and which are not?” We’d gotten bogged down with lots of “nearly complete” tasks. The baby step approach probably automatically defines unambiguous goals. Some of the benefit may come from the clarity of the goal as well as its small size.

By: David Christiansen

David Christiansen — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:19:51 +0000

I think some project managers think the one-week timebox approach is too much work. It is definitely a high-energy approach that requires the ability to re-focus at will, but I don’t think the overhead is as high as many people believe. It’s certainly less effort than plan management based on comprehensive upfront planning.
It’s easy to see the time-box approach as a stop-gap measure, something you do “to get the project back on track.” They might be uncomfortable with the approach because it can lead to micro-management, but I don’t think that’s a reason to give up on timeboxing. Instead, PM’s would be well-suited to accept regular time-boxing as a way of life and then develop skills that help them avoid micro-management or other self-defeating behaviors.