Illustrated Agile
I have been blessed with many great mentors throughout my career, especially recently. Some of these were formal mentors, while others were informal mentors such as colleagues, bosses or friends. Either way, it is great to have someone you can trust and share your craziest ideas and biggest fears with. After you’ve spoken with a […]
Earlier this year, I published 9 blog posts walking through an Agile Leadership Engagement Model. You can now download all 9 posts in one convenient document. To be a nimble, adaptable, and agile organization facing new challenges and complexities, traditionally accepted leadership practices from the past must be radically changed. This will require more than […]
Perhaps you are thinking of becoming a Scrum Master or Agile Project Manager and wondering where to start. Maybe you are currently working as a Project Manager and your organization is moving to Agile. Would you like to develop the additional skills and competencies to become an awesome Scrum Master in your new role? And […]
This weekend is the start of the 100th running of the Tour de France. I have always been a fan of the race partly because of the beautiful course locations but mostly because of the incredible physical test the cyclists must endure over three grueling weeks. Last year before the Tour de France I wrote […]
Over the past couple of years, I have been able to facilitate or observe many, many sprint review sessions. As you can imagine, many would be considered a success while others did not go so well. Just about everything you need to know about how an Agile team is doing can be discovered by observing […]
Companies are springing up with new thinking about how to structure and lead their organizations. I can think of Spotify, Valve and HubStop just to name a few and I’m sure there are plenty more out there. Every time I hear stories about these companies I am encouraged about what the future holds. I feel a […]
In a previous post, I mentioned how “scar tissue” begins to form in organizations. This scar tissue forms over time as a workforce becomes numbed or even wounded from negative experiences with leaders and co-workers. Organizational scar tissue is very similar to physical scar tissue as it… Can be long-lasting. Just as a simple scar […]
A fascinating topic often emerging from larger organizations is how the business analyst role should integrate with our Agile teams. In 2010, Roman Pichler crafted a blog post with a few options and I’m sure there are many other opinions out there. Even with this knowledge and understanding of what we think could be done […]
It’s a very rare opportunity to be able to stop everything a company is doing to take the time to instill necessary transformational and behavioral changes. There are not many “do-overs” when it comes to company culture. We see it over and over – let’s learn how to work together and fix broken or outdated processes […]
Newly formed organizations have the benefit of hiring teams, forming culture, and building structure from scratch. Mature organizations do not have this advantage and to stay competitive with newer startups will rely on change initiatives for a rebirth to bring back the spark they once had. Many of these companies are attempting to become agile, […]
In an earlier post I discussed collisions and conflicts which may occur within an Agile environment. A common collision on Agile teams occurs between testers and developers so let’s dig into this scenario a little deeper. When we begin introducing agile into organizations, the impact is often strongly felt by the testing community. Testers are an […]
The words we use with our people will leave a lasting impact. This will always be true for leaders and there is no way around it. When we use critical, demeaning, or harsh words we leave “scar tissue” and it may never go away. This scar tissue often takes the shape of guilt, fear, or […]