Hopefully, you've followed my posts and webinars on Portfolio for Jira, as well as how to manage Lean Budgets in Atlassian and its ecosystem. We released a White Paper providing a solution for mid-sized organizations that have embraced SAFe® and want to also incorporate Lean Budgets concepts within the Atlassian technology stack. After all, one of the most critical pieces of adopting an agile mindset is to break the cycle of traditional Project Cost Accounting. 

Given the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus and the need for people to practice social distancing, people around the world have found themselves working, teaching and learning from home. Working remotely has its benefits, but adjusting to this environment has its challenges. 

When I was growing up, my parents taught me all kinds of useful skills. By age 12, I helped my dad build my lofted bed. Routers, saws, drills, clamps, hammers: you name it; we used it. At age 19, I rebuilt a 1968 El Camino from the ground up. Everything from tearing down an engine to rebuilding suspension to (somewhat terrible) electrical. Even today, if you've read some of my other blogs, I've installed floors, rebuilt our fence, and completed other small home improvement projects throughout our home. Since a young age, I have constantly been learning new skills and putting them into practice.

Student Diversity is Key for Learning

Over the last two years, I've had the pleasure of partnering with Atlassian University to provide a wide range of training, including in-person courses, virtual courses, and even being the voice of Planning with Portfolio for Jira. If I had to count, I've likely delivered training to close to 1000 students since 2017 as an Atlassian Certified Instructor, but this week was a first – one of my students was blind. 

New phone, who dis?

On a random Sunday, my husband surprised me by forcing me into the AT&T Store. You see, I had recently been struggling with my phone recently and although it was still a great phone, it just wasn't as fast as I needed it to be. My Bluetooth was sketchy at best, I had to use headphones or the speaker for phone calls, and my battery life meant I carried a backup battery everywhere. At almost four years old, I was carrying a dinosaur. I picked out my new iPhone Xs Max and started the data transfer process.

This year, my husband and I decided to FINALLY spend some money on the house. We started our conversation about home improvement at the end of 2018, thinking about “the list”: need, want, nice to have. We went through the exercise of writing separate lists to compare and prioritize. Quite frankly, I was surprised at how similar they were. We quickly realized there was a need to actually organize and prioritize instead of working on notebook paper, fridge magnets, and the occasional sticky note.

Third of Three

This is the third (and last) of a three series blog. Our lesson began where you learned that the Secret of Project Cost Accounting in Agile is Nothing. Then we reminded you to Never Forget Where You Came From and in this blog, we show you how to balance tradition and innovation.

Second of Three

This is the second of a three series blog. When we last left our intrepid writer, we learned that the secret of Project Cost Accounting in Agile is Nothing. Fixed Teams means Fixed Costs. Fixed Teams means predictable velocity. In Kung Fu Panda 2, however, there is a danger lurking on the horizon: Lord Shen (a peacock) believes in a prophecy which leads him to destroy all pandas in China. He also yearns to regain the respect of his family by conquering China with a new weapon. In many organizations, Lord Shen is the dreaded spreadsheet: the ability to modify project costs based on resource leveling and moving Teams to the work.

First of Three

If you've read my other blog posts or watched one of my webinars, you should be familiar with my tendency to intertwine somewhat unrelated concepts together. I like doing this because it gets folks thinking: thinking about serious business and process things in a totally different context. This is the first of a three series blog. Today's topic: The secret ingredient is nothing.

What is DevOps?

Before we go into depth about the three phases required to fully operate as a DevOps organization, you must first understand DevOps, which has become an increasingly important framework in organizations. DevOps refers to a set of best practices that empower both the operations and development teams to perform more efficiently, exceed organizational goals, and drive long-term business strategy.