Toptal Project Management Expert
Applying Kanban Practices to Better Manage Context Switching in Software Development
Multitasking can severely impede work output. Use these Kanban practices in your project teams to reduce cognitive load, improve code quality, and meet deadlines with renewed energy and focus.
Vikas Agarwal
Vikas is a project management expert with rich experience across a range of industries such as education, banking, IT, and e-commerce. A former software developer, he transitioned into a project role working with global companies including Infosys and Publicis Sapient. Vikas holds an MBA in information systems and is an Accredited Kanban Trainer.
Powerful Conversations: How Project Managers Can Transform Teams Through Strategic Questions
Posing good questions is a vital project management skill that impacts team trust, self-efficacy, and productivity. Follow this guide to learn best practices and questions for specific audiences.
Mădălina Marincaș
Mădălina is a project manager and management consultant with a unique mix of technical and business psychology expertise. She has degrees in both psychology and computer science and spent five years rolling out complex applications at Flutter Entertainment. She also managed end-to-end projects at Global App Testing, a software QA company serving companies like Google and Microsoft.
Transforming Chaos Into Business As Usual: Resource Allocation in Four Simple Steps
Successful project management depends on having the right people working on the right tasks at the right time. Follow this real-world example and optimize resource allocation for your teams.
Lir Cowman
Lir is a project management expert and certified coach who helps companies navigate organizational change and transform business processes. She has consulted for a number of global companies, including Google, GlaxoSmithKline (now GSK), and Cisco. Lir also holds an MBA in technology management.
Today’s Project Management Blueprint: A Comparison of Lean, Agile, Scrum, and Kanban
Agile frameworks have shaped project management discourse for decades. This explainer traces the antecedents of Lean, Scrum, and Kanban and compares their approaches to managing software development projects.
Darren Hagman
Darren is a project manager and Scrum master with dedicated experience in both Waterfall and Agile approaches to managing software delivery. He spent 10 years as a developer and lead architect before becoming a project manager and has led successful projects across diverse industries, including transportation, e-commerce, and aerospace.
How to Use Coaching in Organizational Change Management
Whether it’s introducing a new organizational structure, tool, or process, project managers are often agents of change. Help team members adapt and thrive with these four strategies.
Lir Cowman
Lir is a project management expert and certified coach who helps companies navigate organizational change and transform business processes. She has consulted for a number of global companies, including Google and GlaxoSmithKline (now GSK), and holds an MBA in technology management.
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3 Essential Project Manager Skills and How to Hone Them
Managing projects is largely about managing people. These three soft skills can help project managers build a strong team, gain trust, and create a positive culture.
Kata Török-Pál
Kata is a project management expert who has consulted for Fortune 500 companies, including Disney and Mercedes-Benz, and Global 500 telecommunications company Telefónica. She has been a servant-leader for international and cross-functional teams, and is an advocate for mentorship and continuous improvement.
Program Manager vs. Product Manager: A Conflict Resolution Strategy
Program managers and product managers often clash. Improving communication at three specific touch points can alleviate tension, develop more positive relationships, and ensure smooth project delivery.
Kamil Imański
Kamil is a program manager, project manager, and Scrum master. He has extensive experience overseeing the delivery of large-scale projects at both national and international companies, including BAE Systems, an FTSE 100 company and the largest defense contractor in Europe. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, PMP, and PMI-ACP.
What Is a Product Owner? A Project Manager’s Guide
It’s not uncommon for project managers to be assigned duties that should belong to a product owner. Find out how you can use this role confusion to your advantage, and increase your skills in both arenas.
Elizabeth A. Anderson
Elizabeth is a Certified Scrum Master and Certified Product Owner with more than a decade of experience in Agile project management. She has built and supported a variety of software products, including a complex IoT yacht security monitoring system with hardware, mobile, and web apps, and a mobile e-commerce platform for industrial metals company O’Neal Steel.
You’ve Landed Your Next Scrum Master Job. Now What?
The first days in a new position can be confusing and lead to avoidable mistakes. These Scrum master best practices will help you become the servant-leader your team needs.
Anna Zakoyan
Anna is an Agile coach, senior Scrum master, trainer, and consultant with 16 years of experience in project and team management. She has helped more than 50 companies, including SGS Digicomply, Krisp, Ucraft, HSBC, Ameriabank, and Joomag, transform how teams collaborate and how work gets done.
SAFe Case Studies: Transformation Notes From the Field
In the final installment of Toptal’s Agile scaling series, the creator of SAFe, Dean Leffingwell, shares his expertise alongside three case studies from Toptal project managers who discuss the challenges and rewards of implementing an Agile scaling framework.
Daniel Carroll
Daniel is a Senior Editor for the Toptal Projects and Product Blogs. He has more than 20 years of experience at publications of the University of Chicago Press, Cambridge University Press, and Elsevier.
Agile Scaling: SAFe Best Practices for Scrum Masters
This article is part of Toptal’s Agile scaling series, designed to guide project managers in their team expansion efforts. In this second installment, Toptal Scrum expert Ammar Raafat discusses how Scrum masters moving into the role of release train engineer can help their teams thrive.
Ammar Raafat Mohamed Bashandy
Ammar is a SAFe release train engineer and Agile program manager at Vodafone Group, where he leads a multidisciplinary agile release train team of 43 engineers, designers, and product managers. He holds 10 current project management certifications—including Advanced Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner, and SAFe Agilist—and has an MBA from ESLSCA Business School Paris.
What Is Agile? A Philosophy That Develops Through Practice
Agile’s flexibility is attractive, but its lack of specificity leads teams to misinterpret its applications. Agile expert Umar Ali explains how he helps teams prioritize values over practices.
Umar Ali
Umar is a project manager, Agile coach, and Scrum master who specializes in leading Agile transformations for organizations and teams. He leverages Agile ways of working to improve software quality and push for process and cultural improvements that allow self-organizing teams—remote, on-site, and offshore—to flourish.
Is the Citizen Developer the New Face of Agility?
In an era of talent shortages and fast delivery, the low-code market is taking off. Citizen development on a low-code platform may be the solution your organization needs.
Bryan Bates
Bryan has more than 20 years of experience managing projects in Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid environments. He holds a PMP certification and the Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant credential. Bryan uses his low-code expertise to assist new users in the Microsoft Power Apps Community forum.
Remote Solutions for Effective Agile Retrospectives
Leading effective remote retrospectives can be challenging. These videoconferencing best practices will help you run successful retros whether your teams are remote or in-house.
Jim Stewart
Jim Stewart is a project expert and certified Agile coach with more than 25 years of experience consulting on and managing projects for companies, including JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity Investments. He has been a PMP and CAPM instructor for more than 12 years.
Scrum Master vs. Agile Coach: Why Successful Transformations Need Both
During an Agile transformation, leaders often assume that the Agile coach role can be undertaken by a Scrum master. While they share similar traits, these roles have scopes that differ greatly.
Tony Amos
Tony is a software engineer turned Agile professional who uses his development experience to guide organizations and teams to success.
How to Facilitate Change Through Agile Servant-leadership
The philosophy of servant-leadership gives project managers a superpower to influence teams without direct authority, which allows them to drive change across the organization more effectively.
Alvaro Villena
Alvaro is an experienced technical project manager and consultant. He has rolled out many SaaS implementation projects and delivered complex cloud and AI-driven projects at numerous companies worldwide.
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