Field Notes

From the field: project retrospectives, hard-won judgments, and the thinking behind the decisions.

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SI Transformation: The Biggest Challenge Is Not Technology, but Why Organizations Need It

Thinking
When companies begin to pursue SI transformation, they often face a very practical problem: the relationship between investment and return is difficult to judge. Many companies hesitate to accept or advance SI transformation not because they see no value in it, but because they cannot clearly see the ROI or determine what concrete benefits the […]

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From First Principles to Pareto to Agile: Why I Increasingly Value Small but Effective Change

Thinking
Recently, I have been thinking again about first-principles thinking, the Pareto principle, and Agile. The more I look at them, the more I feel that they are closely connected. On the surface, they come from very different fields. First-principles thinking is a way of reasoning that breaks a problem down to its fundamental facts. The […]

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The Difference Between Waterfall and Agile Is Not Whether Processes Exist, but the Scale at Which They Occur

Thinking
Whether a project follows a waterfall life cycle or an agile life cycle, it will usually involve several fundamental types of activity: Different frameworks may use different terminology or divide these activities into more detailed components, but the underlying logic does not fundamentally change. The most important difference between waterfall and agile is not that […]

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From Agile PM to Nexus: What I Want to Take On Next Is More Than Project Delivery

Thinking
The more I look back on the work I have done over the years, the clearer one thing becomes: what I do best is not simply delivering a project on time, but reorganizing work that could easily become chaotic into a rhythm that can keep moving forward. My professional identity is still Agile Project Manager. […]

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Kano and MoSCoW: Why I See Them as Two Lenses from Different Dimensions

Thinking
I came across both Kano and MoSCoW quite early on. They are often discussed together because both are used in conversations about requirements, value, and prioritization. But the more I’ve used them, the more convinced I’ve become of one thing: they are not models operating on the same dimension. They may both seem to answer […]

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Making VUCA Visible: How I Helped a Waterfall Client Adopt Agile Without Breaking the Rules

Thinking
VUCA is one of the most common challenges in modern projects—and it’s often hidden. Clients usually don’t sense it proactively, which is why many of mine still insist on a waterfall approach at the policy level. I don’t blame them. They’ve been working that way for years. But as their financial situation has worsened, they’ve […]

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My Agile Awakening

Thinking
When I look back on my relationship with Agile, I realize my true awakening didn’t come from a book, a course, or a certification. It came from real work in 2015—when a friend and I co-founded a small studio focused on visual identity (VI) and website design and development. At the time, we were only […]

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The first step towards the world stage

Thinking
Here is my first step towards the world stage. In recent years, I have set a goal to broaden my perspective on project management to a global level. I want to step out of my comfort zone, moving beyond outdated and conventional project management methods, and instead embrace more advanced knowledge and concepts from around […]

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