Ricardo Viana Vargas's Blog, page 4

3 Features of Agile that I Love

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about three aspects, features or characteristics of agile that we all should learn and apply.

Listen to the podcast to know them.

What is Your Exit Strategy?

In this week's episode, Ricardo makes an analogy on how you can use the same approach to close a project in your own professional life when it is time for you to move on.

Sometimes we know that, for any reason you may choose, it is time for you to end a cycle to give the opportunity to start a new one. But this process is not as happy and joyful as the beginning of a project or job.

Ricardo shares the 4 things you need to be mindful of to avoid destroying what you built when it is the time of your departure. Listen to the podcast to know more.

How to Manage the Pain of the End: Understanding Project Closure

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about something nobody talks too much about. The pain of the end.

When the project releases its main products or services, it is pure joy. However, there is a less joyful moment happening at the same time: the feelings surrounding the end of the work, the loss and fears about the future.

Listen to the podcast to know how communications and a human approach can reduce the trauma of demobilization and disassembly.

The "Burnout" Portfolio

In this week's episode, Ricardo makes an analogy between the book "The Burnout Society" by the Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han and our current work.

The book talks about how the pressure we put on ourselves to break the limits has produced a sick society.

Ricardo's analogy centers on our choice process. Companies want to do everything without investing in anything.

During their portfolio selection, the executives aim to make everything, but there are no resources. People want to do more with less until a point is reached of making the infinite out of nothing.

In the end, he addresses three topics: the importance of focus, our inability to do everything, and our choice process.

Why Did I Choose Working with Projects?

In this week's episode, Ricardo makes a personal reflection on why he chose to work with project management. He explains how the desire to create new things and the happiness and fulfillment when you get things done were a fuel to select his profession.

The happiness for the achievement.

Listen to the episode to hear his perspectives about the profession.

Understanding the Differences between Product Owner, Scrum Master and Project Manager

In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the fundamental differences between 3 roles in the project environment: the product owner and Scrum Master, widely used when applying Scrum and the Project Manager. All of them have critical roles in supporting their projects to deliver the results. However, each of them comes with a different set of accountabilities and responsibilities. Listen to the podcast to know more.

3 Tips to Find Our Way Out of the Labyrinth of Imperfect Information

In this week's episode, Ricardo reflects on how our experiences, the media, and the different voices of society affect our perception of risks.

We often increase, decrease or disregard the relevance of different threats and opportunities due to imperfect and biased information we receive every day.

Ricardo also shares three simple tips you should always keep in mind to analyze future risk scenarios in the best possible way.

How to Get to the Root of a Problem Using the 5 Whys Technique

In this week's episode, Ricardo explains the 5 Whys technique to help you identify the root cause of an event, a specific risk, or even support your decision-making process.

The technique, although simple, has nuances that allow you to be more effective and expand its range of uses beyond what was proposed by its creator, the founder of Toyota in the 1930s.

Ricardo shows how to use 5 Whys in measuring intangibles, problem-solving, risk response development, and also in combined applications such as the use of 5 Whys with AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process).

Accountability: We Have to Live With the Decisions We Make

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about accountability and the discomfort we face most of the time when making decisions.

Having the chance to make decisions are one of the most significant freedom examples we have. However, it comes with a lot of pain because we do not know precisely a decision is correct or not.

If we take only the professional lens, we have to make decisions constantly, bringing stress, but we have no other option. It is our duty.

And do not think that delay decision is a good option. When you delay decisions, you are deciding anyway: you just chose to do nothing.

This was your decision.

Reflections on the Impact of the Suez Canal Blockage: Reassessing Enterprise Risks

Ricardo tries to see the incident from different perspectives. From the standpoint of Evergreen Marine (ship operator) to the other shipping companies.

From the perspective of the Egyptian government to the perspective of countries that rely heavily on global trade.

Finally, he discusses your view as someone managing a project that relies on equipment or supplies coming from the other side of the world.