Agile project management is still going strong in 2021, and since it’s a big part of our daily work at Netguru, we try to stay up-to-date with the best tools and techniques out there. Here’s a list we’ve compiled of the best tools for PMs, some of which we use across the company, and some, we think, do a great job in certain circumstances.

Tips & tricks for what we’ve discovered in the last few years about working with teams across many borders.

The key to the successful implementation of digital healthcare solutions is patient engagement. Without mutual trust between healthcare providers and patients, even the most sophisticated technological solutions won’t improve patients’ medical outcomes. We gathered experts from across digital healthcare – both from dynamic startups like Keto-Mojo, as well as enterprises like Roche – and with this patient-centered approach in mind, discussed the essential aspects of patient engagement:

There is a lot you, as a PM, can do to make sure your team is successful in delivering the product you are working on. Taking full ownership of the timeline, budget, risks and a consulting mindset are just some of the ideas I want to share with you. You can be sure that the PM role can be as vital to a project’s success as skilled developers and insightful QAs. In this article I will share with you tips that helped us successfully deliver a working MVP for one of our clients. Enjoy!

Remote work is all around us. And it’s great! But, as it’s widely commented in the agile community, it poses some specific challenges when implementing Scrum or other agile approaches. Below you will find some tips on how we tackle them at Netguru. But before we go there, let’s debunk one myth: Neither Scrum Guide nor Agile Manifesto forbids remote setups

What makes a specific person a good Project Manager? Is it soft communication skills? An analytical brain that manages budgets and timelines? High-level multitasking capabilities? If you ask me, I’d say that a pinch of everything will do the job.

To say that the people who work for Netguru are scattered the length and breadth of the country still wouldn’t give you the full picture. Now, it’s true that we have 9 offices in Poland, but our employees aren’t obliged to actually go there to work. As a result, you can meet Netgurals in Cyprus, Buenos Aires, Budapest, Tel Aviv or even Kuwait. How I make sure that our workflow goes smoothly and manage my team if it’s a hundreds miles away? Simple - by sticking to the 10 rules of running a remote team, which I would like to share with you now.

The answer, of course, may vary. I hope I won’t surprise or disappoint anyone by pointing out that all I’m sharing here are my experiences and thoughts - there are no definite answers for such a question in a complex environment.

Lessons learned do not account for much unless they are recorded, improved upon, and spread. Sharing knowledge is one of the pillars of our culture. We came to a point where we realized that we’d learned so much in recent years, we had outgrown the bandwidth of our usual publication channel – our blog.

You’re a project manager about to take over the management of a new software project and all you get is a one-pager. Sound familiar? We’ve all been there, but there are a few easy steps you can take to get to know your product better. They will help you make more informed decisions, manage risks better, and have a greater impact on the success of your team, project, and product. 

Many people will tell you that coming back to the same organisation after you had once decided to leave is not a great idea. For a very long time I absolutely agreed with that hypothesis. Over a year ago I decided I would like to come back to Netguru more than 2.5 years after leaving. 

Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. —Jim Rohn Someone said that the one-percent improvement approach (also known as continuous improvement) can make one win a medal at the Olympic Games. It might not be the only reason to apply this approach in your life. Continuous improvement is a great tool (or rather a mindset) you can use to achieve your long term goals, and become more efficient, organized, productive and happy. 

This post will give you an idea what skills and knowledge are required for project managers and whether technical expertise is the protein or a spice.

Making sure your teams works like a well-oiled machine is no easy task. That said, it’s a task you should be committed to throughout the project to make sure the efficiency is maintained, instead of only achieving it temporarily. Maintaining the efficiency of our teams is one of the most important roles of a Project Manager in Netguru. While we tend to it in every project, there is no universal recipe for it, as each of our team setups is unique.

Balancing time, money, scope, resources – those are just some of the Project Manager responsibilities. PM has to ensure that difficult projects are handled and positive results are obtained. We have to take care of proper communication between the team and the Client. Challenges are part of our job too.

After my very last recruitment call, the time slowed down. Even though it's been just a few days before I received the decision, I couldn't stop constantly refreshing my email box. And, oh my god, I eventually saw the awaited message. Joining Netguru was my big goal, so I don't need to describe how proud and happy I was when I saw the offer. The curiosity level went high immediately when I started to think about the upcoming adventure - how does it feel to become a new project manager at Netguru? And here I am to tell you what my first week looked like.

"It depends".  That's an answer I hate and love at the same time. In this case, it fits very well. The approach to developing your skills depends on: The skill you wish to build, the level of expertise you want to achieve, your current level of experience as a Project Manager, the dynamics of your projects/organization, the amount of time you have, the budget you have. For this article, I'm focusing on the differentiation by the level of expertise: Junior Project Manager, (Regular) Project Manager, and Senior Project Manager.

Why is feedback important ? Feedback is a very catchy word nowadays, everyone is talking about it, but using it in a way that brings actual value is an art. An art that can and should be mastered as it really does make a difference. In its essence, it’s just any information you get about yourself - how hard can it be?! Well, it can be very hard to deal with feedback and this is why, based on what I’ve experienced and read, I want to give you a few tips and tricks that will help you master the art of feedback.

Hello again! It’s the third time I get to share with you some tips and tricks on time management and I am certain that by now you’ve had enough time to introduce some improvements to your inbox, calendar, or Slack. In those blog posts, I focused more on apps, but this time I have general advice on time management for you. 

Time flies, and I don’t even know when 10 months in Netguru have passed. From the professional point of view, it was the most challenging and exciting time in my career. When I gave up my previous job as a Business Strategy Analyst, I would never bet that one year after, I would be working as an IT project manager, coordinating multiple teams of more than 30 developers, and co-operating with one of the biggest and most innovative real estate franchises in the world.