I finished my master’s degree a few years ago. It was a two-year program. I was able to finish it in 5 semesters instead of six. I later learned that a lot of my classmates had to stay longer than six semesters. That made me think about some of the strategies that helped me finish …
Strategies I used to finish master’s degree early Read More »
When the idea of time blocking is brought to mind, one cannot help but think of time boxes that must be strictly followed. What if we instead used the idea of flexible time blocking? Well, you might raise your eyebrows, but hear me on this one. Strict time blocking for busy seasons of life In my …
A New Way to Look at Time Blocking: Flexible Time Blocking Read More »
In continuation of the topic of agile concepts, I would like to delve deeper into an interesting idea that will be helpful in the workplace and our personal lives: Sprint Capacity. We will go through how it works in agile teams. Also, we will tackle how it can be implemented in our personal productivity. How …
When I was just first learning about Agile and Scrum, I was trying to read as many books as I could on the topic. And one of the books talked about a guy applying Agile to his home renovation project. That was the first time I learned that you can do agile home renovation. As a …
I want to share a mind trick that I use myself when I’m starting new habits. This mind trick helps me to come back and do this activity again, therefore increasing the chances of it actually sticking and becoming a habit. Everything is hard before it is easy A few years ago I heard this …
Mind trick for starting new habits and building consistency Read More »
Happy Path in Software Development As a product manager, I learned about the Happy Path concept from my manager. This is how it works in product management. The Happy Path When building a new product, you first focus on the happy path. The happy path is a journey a user of a product is taking, …
Building a productive habit can sometimes be a struggle. One of my previous clients asked me recently — “How many sprints does it usually take to build a habit?” I usually divide my habits into two groups. The first one involves those habits that you do on a daily basis, and the other group is …
The agile/scrum methodology is now widely gaining momentum not only in tech industries but also in other fields. Over the past 6 months of using it every day in my full-time job as a product manager, I have learned a thing or two about Scrum. Like most endeavors, our inputs will define how successful this method …
What I’ve learned about Scrum from being a Product Manager Read More »
Every once in a while, we encounter things that we never expected to become so useful in our lives. Perhaps most of you have discovered a life hack that you didn’t expect to be cleverly life-changing. Thus, it has become integrated with your lifestyle. Mine is a transformational way of thinking about goals that impacts my …
Let’s talk about winter and how you can use this otherwise miserable time to your advantage. Let’s take a new look at winter – it is the best time to build productive habits. Regardless of where you are in the world, you certainly have a strong opinion of how brutal winter can be. Love it …
This is the method that I use when I’m in a dark time of my life. When there is burnout. When the mood is simply not there. When a regular to-do list doesn’t work me. This tool is great for when you don’t have any motivation. You’re so tired even to be thinking about complicated …
I’ve received a question from one of my podcast listeners, “What is your opinion about motivation? Is it helpful or is it just temporary?” I think it’s definitely helpful. It is temporary but my overall opinion is that the importance of motivation is highly overrated. I think motivation is a trend that is popular right …
Today, I am going to share the story of how I’ve lost the first 10 pounds by applying some of the Scrum principles to weight loss. Initial Sprint Review Before embarking on a big project like weight loss, I like to the initial review: What have I tried already up to this point? What worked? …
Today, we are talking about how I’ve used Scrum principles to find a job and change my career altogether from being a supply chain manager to now being a product manager in a tech startup. This is a question that I got from one of my listeners. You can submit your question here. It took me …
How I used Scrum to find a job and change career Read More »
I want to invite you to listen to the interview I’ve done for the Skyward Spriral podcast. If you’re looking to listen to learn more about Scrum and some of the principles that I teach within the Monthly Method, definitely check out the interview. I had a lot of fun talking to David. And we …
I am going to tell you about the common assumption we all have when setting goals and how your chances for success increase when you flip this assumption around. I’m amazed at how well it works and I can’t wait to share it with you. How we usually set goals Think back to the last …
Stop having this flawed assumption when setting goals Read More »
Let’s talk about combining your full-time job with a side project. It doesn’t have to be a side business. It can be a hobby, a volunteering project, house renovation, etc. Something that requires a substantial amount of time on your end. Something that you wanted to do for the longest time, but just couldn’t find …
Today we are going to talk about another Scrum concept called a Sprint Retrospective. What is it? How does it work in scrum teams? Why is it useful? And how can we apply it to our own personal productivity? What is Sprint Retrospective? A sprint retrospective is a recurring meeting held at the end of …
The daily standup is one of the core meetings in scrum teams. I want to give you some ideas on how you can bring the core principles of the daily standups to your own productivity as an individual. Daily standup in Scrum Teams During the daily standup, a scrum team gets together. Ideally, everyone is …
The productivity world is fixated on building new habits. They have phrases like “You don’t decide your future. You decide your habits and your habits decide your future.” We also have bestselling books like Atomic Habits. The overall consensus is that building new habits is always a good idea. As you probably know, I love …