How can you keep your team focused on priorities while working on multiple projects?

One of the key benefits to running agile methodologies (especially but not limited to Scrum), is that it is geared towards creating focus for the team. Through identification of the overarching goal for the sprint, and ringfencing the deliverables for the iteration, the team as able to focus on delivering against the plan for the iteration without context switching. This focus on delivering against the sprint goal, together with tools like applying the INVEST acronym on product backlog items, contributes to having clear and realistic goals that the team understands, and is able to deliver against.

La definición de objetivos SMARTs es un punto clave para poder ubicar las prioridades y tiempos del proyecto con respecto a otros y a otras actividades del equipo. Por otro lado, la definición de los posibles riesgos del proyecto ayuda a mantener al equipo enfocado en las prioridades y cómo manejarlas.

More hallucinations from the AI: Neither SMART nor MoSCoW will help your team that is not allowed to focus on accomplishing one goal. Humans are notoriously bad at multi-tasking; why do we still hear this kind of nonsense?

While working on multiple projects, we need to: > Redefine/relook the priorities every sprint > Keep a close watch on the progress n blocked issues > Help team understand the release deadlines > Plan to avoid over commitment on any project

Context switching is a cost for sure, unfortunately in the real world we bear this cost more often than ever This is what I did when I used to work un multiple projects 1. Allocate time blocks for projects e,g morning half on project A and after lunch on Project B 2. Set realistic achievable goals 3. Retrospect and measure progress 4. Make adjustments as needed

In my experience, a well-aligned and balanced Objective and Key Result mapped to Initiatives helps everyone be focused on what is important now. Using this for collaboration and communication enhances transparency. Putting a WIP limit on the number of Objectives, Key Results and Initiatives helps maintain focus and commitment.

In my experience, frequent and transparent communication is vital for team success. In a software development project, implementing daily stand-ups enhanced our team's awareness of individual and collective progress. This practice facilitated quick issue resolution and aligned everyone with project priorities. Tools like Kanban boards further visualized tasks, aiding in efficient workflow management. Transparent communication during sprint reviews and retrospectives allowed us to address challenges promptly, fostering a collaborative and trustful environment. This approach not only improved project outcomes but also strengthened the team's cohesion and responsiveness to evolving priorities.

Transparent communication helps teams adapt to changes more effectively. In a dynamic work environment, priorities can shift, and requirements may evolve. Keeping the team informed allows for a quicker and smoother adaptation to changes, reducing the risk of confusion or misunderstandings.

Comunicar-se frequentemente e de forma transparente é essencial no trabalho em equipe. Isso significa manter todos informados, compartilhando abertamente informações e progressos. Uma comunicação clara evita mal-entendidos e constrói confiança, que é fundamental para um ambiente de trabalho saudável. Além disso, ser transparente nas comunicações ajuda a equipe a entender melhor as decisões e os processos, o que leva a um maior engajamento e comprometimento com o projeto. É um aspecto crucial para o sucesso de qualquer equipe.

Na minha experiência o que tem feito a diferença é fazer a Bottom Up, pois percebo que em algumas ocasiões as informações não chegam nas camadas estratégicas da forma e velocidade necessária para tomada de decisão e isso impacta no foco do time que pode estar trabalhando no produto ou feature errada, então uma dica é se a comunicação não está sendo assertiva cabe ao time puxar e levar contexto para as lideranças.

When faced with complex issues, open communication allows for collective problem-solving. By leveraging the diverse perspectives and expertise within the team, challenges can be tackled more effectively, leading to innovative solutions.

Context-switching has a cost , and with continuous multi-tasking, the risk of losing productivity is real. However , having concurrent on-going initiatives/projects is part of the reality of many teams ; and most of time even with clear scope and well-defined roles and responsibilities, prioritizing exercise may be a big challenge. When available ressources allow it , creating dedicated small cross-functional teams(within the main team) will be the best option. Alternatively, a flow-based framework such as Kanban can be used to manage effectively all WIP(Work in Progress) generated by those multiple projects .

Realize dynamic sessions to follow with the team what they need and how they are being pressured and try to re-prioritize the tasks accordingly they skills and capacity. Select a thirdy-part consultancy to help with high effort could be a good idea in a short time or a long time if the company doesn't have the capacity to hire more employees.

Equilibrar a carga de trabalho e os recursos é crucial. Quando bem gerenciado, isso evita o excesso de trabalho e o desgaste da equipe. É importante distribuir as tarefas de acordo com as habilidades e capacidades de cada membro, garantindo que ninguém fique sobrecarregado ou desocupado. Também é fundamental considerar os recursos disponíveis, como tempo e materiais, para que as metas sejam realistas e alcançáveis. Um bom equilíbrio aumenta a eficiência e a satisfação da equipe, levando a melhores resultados.

Balancing workload and resources is crucial for maintaining focus on priorities. Implement capacity planning, resource allocation, and timeboxing to gauge the effort, availability, and duration required for each project. Leverage strategies like delegation, outsourcing, and automation to maximize your team’s skills, expertise, and time efficiently. This careful balancing act prevents overloading or underutilizing your team, ensuring their capacities and capabilities are optimally engaged without causing conflict or burnout. It's like being a master chef in a busy kitchen; you need to know who can do what and how much they can handle to create a perfect symphony of productivity.

Keeping your team motivated and focused is key to delivering value to your organization. One way to achieve this is through a culture of collective values and peer reviews. Let the team know that we learn together, improve together and achieve together, and if the teams fails we fail together. By treating each project as a learning opportunity we can experience more success in future projects.

Consider incorporating the Agile Pause principle. This deliberate and periodic break within the project dedicated to reflection, learning, and adjustment, serves as a valuable moment for the team to step back, evaluate progress, and identify opportunities for improvement. By having an intentional pause, this contributes to a culture of continuous learning and prevents burnout by allowing team members to recharge.

Doing Retrospectives is so important and some teams fail to get the full value out of this discussion because it becomes routine. Try mixing up the questions and there are lots of good resources for this. In the end, you need to evaluate what didn't work or what could be improved or how we could communicate differently or what did you need from someone that you didn't get (or didn't get in time) or what skill does the team need to spend time on. There are a million things that you can learn from looking backwards and committing yourself to stop repeating the same mistakes or unproductive behaviors. This is where the most important change can happen.

Embrace change and continual learning to keep your team focused. Apply the Agile Manifesto, Lean Startup principles, and a Growth Mindset to foster adaptation, experimentation, and improvement. Utilize feedback loops, hypothesis testing, and data-driven decisions to validate and learn from project outcomes. This approach not only delivers value and solves problems but also propels your team's professional growth, transforming challenges into opportunities for development and innovation.

Embrace change and learning, perfect! but... Avoid micromanagement As a project manager, one of your most important responsibilities is to have a good understanding of the overall picture. Try and avoid going into every little detail of the project, because you will get exhausted really fast. Instead, try to build teams, where people are well qualified to do tasks on their own. It’s better to invest in training, mentoring, instead of going and doing everything yourself. It’s just not doable for multiple projects, also in the long run.

One thing I have always found helpful is to have a multi project review or huddles to ensure best practices can be shared across all teams. Challenges resolved in one can be quickly picked up by rest. It is very important to have resource plans and schedules and KPA shared across teams to run multi projects . It is important to share milestones achievements with all . The biggest learning is collaboration and communication and appreciation

In my experience, celebrating achievements is crucial for team morale. During a complex system implementation, we instituted a "Success Friday" tradition where notable achievements were recognized. Team members received shoutouts for outstanding contributions, fostering a positive atmosphere. Additionally, completing significant project milestones triggered team-building events. This celebratory approach not only acknowledged hard work but also strengthened team bonds. The increased morale and motivation significantly contributed to sustained focus on project priorities, as team members felt appreciated and engaged in the journey toward success.

Celebrating a team's achievements and successes is vital in maintaining focus and motivation, especially when managing multiple projects. What I feel is it boosts morale and motivation, reinforces the importance of goals, reduces burnout, enhances team cohesion, promotes a culture of continuous improvement, and increases job satisfaction and retention. This practice not only acknowledges hard work but also strategically keeps the team aligned, motivated, and focused on their priorities.

Small achievements should be celebrate by the team with simple messages of "thank you", "you are important for our team" and some small other words. This can change the day of a stakeholder who is super-tired to working hard and sometimes feel is not being seeing. Each small effort by yourself also could be celebrate with a small cup of coffee or some 5 min of deep bride an good music each small moment. Think about implement simple things instead of complex ones. It could be much more achievable then prepare some more elaborated.

I agree with Andrea Fryrear, co-writer of the ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Marketing curriculum. She says: “There are two(reasons), they provide an opportunity to identify successful experiments that should become candidates for future iterations. A success may indicate an unexpected win or positive result on a new experiment, which the team might want to pour more effort into in the future. Without celebration, these bright spots might pass unnoticed and unexploited.”

Keep Rigid boundaries between projects and track separately. Ensure Change management followed as small, continual actions Have clear measurement and feedback loops Have frequent career incentives, appreciations celebrations

1. Prioritize on the size of the prize, bigger the earlier 2. Create a 'Line of Sight', every team member must be aware of his or her contribution to the organization's objectives 3. Celebrate every milestone of achievement, big or small 4. Complete one task and then go for the next 5. Practice 'situational leadership', give the center stage to the subject matter expert and work as a member of his or her team

During the sprint planning, only pick the items (user story’s) which has a higher priority. The priority items are discussed with the PO ( Product Owner) before hand. Pick the higher priority items from Product Backlog and plan a sprint considering the Agile Team velocity.

Start doing your job, which is management, and never ever let your people work on multiple projects! Working on multiple project can not be effective.

While working on multiple projects, it is key to understand the root cause of the team having to juggle multiple projects at once. Contextual switching reduces the capacity of the team significantly, hence it would be valuable to justify having a maximum of 1-2 projects to focus on for the team to effectively deliver value to the respective projects. If that is not possible, splitting the team up to have dedicated focus to a single project would be an alternative as well.