The Delivery Manager Daily

In this episode I meander through a recent couple of conversations I've had & some reflections over the year on software & software delivery projects. Thanks for those listening & sorry for the sporadic posting. I do have more in the can, but the can is a bit dry & sad at the minute with the end of my 2024 being a bit chaotic. See you on the next one & dont forget, please subsc...

an intimate episode with just some thoughts around a term I read about recently in a Harvard news review magazine, VUCA. Listen to find out more & tell me how you cope with VUCA. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mariodc 📸 Instagram: h ttps://www.instagram.com/mariodc ✍️ Medium: https://medium.com/@mariodec...

I was put in touch with Mark Oakes, a great Head of IT from South Africa. You can find him on Linkedin here We spoke about him coming over from South Africa, the UK Job market, what he thinks are technology trends he's seeing here in the UK compared to overseas & we get to find out a little more about a great guy. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecris...

After a recent experience of watching a team member create their own documents from scratch, it reminded me why I have a toolbox stuffed with useful project delivery templates, guides & assets that I can deploy time & time again. It helps me with managing my time & with the time I have, I can be super productive. What do you have in your toolbox? Do you even have one, or maybe you've n...

In this podcast I talk about what responsibilities Delivery Managers often have, (or should have) in complex projects which go awry. Maybe you've been parachuted into a project that's a disaster & have been asked to help fix it, maybe your a management consultant that's been tasked as an independent advisor to help re-align a project. I talk about some of the strategies & practical things...

** Welcome to Season 4** To celebrate getting to 55 episodes & a fourth season I sit down with Paul Bratcher . Paul runs an Ai company called unfold Ai & brings with him 30+ years experience. A former boss, mentor & friend we talk about how folk can get started with Ai from using tools such as Leonardo , Claude , Midjourney , ChatGPT to using Ai to solve the simple things first rather...

A quick one this, just wanted to talk about my new Newsletter thats jam packed with Agile resources to help delivery managers which I'd really like you to subscribe to. Please visit here to subscribe . Also a quick aside, I'm doing the Y3P in August, Id be grateful if you can donate here Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://tw...

In this episode I reflect on how tech workers behave (or should IMO) from interview & applications to their first 1st day, 1st week & 1st month on the job. Not everyone has to be locked in like David Clarke but at least think about the effort you put into things & putting your best foot forward. Bit of a ranty one. Strap in. LETS GO PEOPLE. :) Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: h...

GOING LIVE - PLEASE LISTEN, Schedule to follow on mariosblog.co.uk Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mariodc 📸 Instagram: h ttps://www.instagram.com/mariodc ✍️ Medium: https://medium.com/@mariodecristofano 🧠 Blog: https://www.mariosblog.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I reflect on rolling out Jira recently, what went well, not so well & what you can do if you're responsible for rolling out tooling in your organisation. In this episode I refer to a number of references, including the awesome & delicious tastycupcakes.org the history of Lean & Agile, Please listen, enjoy & share. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www...

IN THIS EPISODE I talk about the top 4 things I do & recommend you consider when starting with a new Scrum team. How do you bring folk together? How do you get them to perform? What about legacy politics & ghosts of the past, how can you smash through those & deliver value & solid outcomes for both the team & the client? Well, take a listen & visit the blog for more https:/...

In this episode I talk about being a software engineer wanting to do Scrum. After a recent talk at Keele University I fielded questions about how a software engineer could cross-over into Scrum territory. Well give this a listen, read the blog mariosblog.co.uk & enjoy! Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mario...

in this episode I talk to the awesome Alex Rae about System thinking. Check out the blog post here Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mariodc 📸 Instagram: h ttps://www.instagram.com/mariodc ✍️ Medium: https://medium.com/@mariodecristofano 🧠 Blog: https://www.mariosblog.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

In this episode I wanted to quickly tackle how to answer some of the common interview questions I ask, get asked & hear people answer in my opinion incorrectly. Let me know what you think on X (@mariodc) & as always, thanks for listening. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mariodc 📸 Instagram: h ttps://w...

In this episode I sit by the virtual fire & chit chat with Matthias, a certified Scrum professional & aspiring Delivery Manager working in the tech healthcare startup scene in London. He talks to me about what he believes a DM should do, who they are & we cover some of the responsibilities a DM may have. In the podcast, I refer to a UK GOV resource which you can find here & talk ab...

In this episode I talk about a recent real world client scenario - the things I think about when implementing an IT strategy. Thinking carefully about this is really important & hopefully there's something of use in here for you. As always thanks for listening, don't get to reach out to me on X (Mariodc) & search for the deliverymanagerdaily for more. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedI...

in this episode, I wanted to be practical & continue the two-topics-per-podcast thing, so I talk about how as a DM the things I do to manage teams across MANY time zones, & then in the second part, some fantastic Agile resources just for you. Read the blog post Thank you so much for listening. Follow me on Twitter/X @mariodc Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...

In this episode I talk about two things. a) How to become a DM - in 2023 you need a special set of skills to be a good DM. Someone recently asked me how they should get into the industry & I'd write a podcast about it. I talked about it more in this post here b) Using Code Gen tools in your engineering teams. Something I see more & more in 23 is needing to wrangle engineering projects wher...

In this short 30 minute episode I'll explain what Agile is. No question, no messing, in a way your mum would understand. Off the back of talking to folk who still ask 'so what is Agile then' & listening to many people get it wrong, here's my authoritative explanation on what Agile is. Think I'm wrong? Let me know via X @mariodc, dont forget to subscribe, subscribe to my new Agile newsletter, a...

In this episode I crack the nut open on using Ai as a Delivery Manager. Whether its for help with creating slide decks, writing Epics & User Stories or more complex stuff like Monte Carlo simulations. I've observed Ai being used more & more by engineers, and now I'm starting to see it with us DM's too! Good idea? Bad idea? Let's find out. Follow me on Twitter/X @mariodc for more AND PLEASE...

in this post I wanted to talk about some of the broader technical capability & understanding & concepts Delivery Managers in 2023 will need to consider, when they take on their respective projects. From cloud management & orchestration to sustainability, the days of pushing a Gantt chart around have gone. Read below my thoughts on what DM’s need to know about in 2023. Follow Mario De’C...

An often-mystical beast of never-ending unorganised work that never shrinks. Everything in Agile is driven by a backlog of some description. We talk about ensuring PBIs are  INVESTable , and  DEEP , but I find myself in projects these days where the backlog is just a noose around the teams neck. Teams shy away from it. Its acknowledged but never spoken of. It’s used as an excuse – ...

An ad to my new short run series & blog special on Carbon sustainability in relation to project management - COMING SOON. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mariodc 📸 Instagram: h ttps://www.instagram.com/mariodc ✍️ Medium: https://medium.com/@mariodecristofano 🧠 Blog: https://www.mariosblog.co.uk Hosted on...

In this episode I wanted to talk about how to manage dependencies, whether you should manage dependencies or should you break them, & also some the practical things I do. Visit https://www.mariosblog.co.uk/dependency-mapping-is-a-complex-thing/ for more. Follow Mario De’Cristofano: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariodecristofano 🐦 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mariodc 📸 Instagram...

In this episode I talk about LEAN thinking in relation to Agile delivery. If you're a DM, working in a LEAN way, a true LEAN way can be problematic for teams as they get their heads around the focus on not gold-plating a solution. From back when the term was coined by John Krafcik to Toyota levering Just in Time manufacturing principles to increase efficiency on the factory floor, LEAN is a proper...