Illustrated Agile
It is a bit crazy to think we are already in 2016 but before we get too far into the new year here is a quick review of what has been happening at Illustrated Agile in 2015. Thanks to all of the new email subscribers to the blog. It’s been a record year for the […]
I’m writing this in near total darkness during a planned power outage (called load shedding) in a time zone 7 hours ahead of my home in Chicago. Hang on battery…hang on! It’s been almost 8 weeks since I landed abroad to start an Agile coaching assignment. Admittedly, I was nervous. Would I be able to […]
After many conversations and observations over the past couple of years, it would seem a substantial number of organizations aren’t experiencing a meaningful improvement after a move to Agile. Sure, stories are being written, work is being done within sprints, and planning sessions are being facilitated. Perhaps a scaled framework has been introduced, full of […]
Organizational change will always be an endless journey and this journey will always be personal and unique. This post from a couple years ago mapped out a possible path people may navigate through an Agile change journey and just how unique this experience can be. Many organizations expect a “point a” to “point b” route […]
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he discusses the need to deliberately practice for 10,000 hours before becoming an expert in a chosen endeavor. Ten. Thousand. Hours. If all you did for the next year was practice something non-stop, without sleep, you would be about 90% of the way there. There is however, a raging debate […]
My coaching engagements often bring me to organizations well underway with an Agile transformation or have attempted, with little impact, an Agile transformation in the past. After a short time of observation, it becomes apparent some of these organizations are stuck between the old and the new…and the strong pull of the old provides easy […]
It has been a few weeks since my last post but the good news is I have been spending this time putting the finishing touches on a book. I plan on getting it off to the copyeditor by the end of the week and will let you know a release date shortly thereafter. In the […]
It will happen to most of us eventually. We are asked (told) to join a team having difficulties and turn things around. The team may be challenged with missed deadlines, dysfunctional relationships and low morale, being over budget or behind schedule, or a lack of discipline and organization – and you are going to be […]
In Peter Senge’s book, “The Fifth Discipline”, he mentions seven learning disabilities often going undetected in organizations. One of these learning disabilities is the tendency for people to identify themselves with their position. Mr. Senge calls this the “I am my position” learning disability and states: When people in organizations focus only on their position, […]
One of the pleasures of what I do is having a front row seat for the adventure people experience as they form and grow into incredible teams. While working with these teams, I am often reminded of a technique groups of mountain climbers will often use. When navigating glacier routes prone to crevices, climbers will […]
As more and more organizations begin to shift to Agile practices many existing Project Managers are making the transition to become a Scrum Master or Agile Project Manager. I have seen many people make this move seamlessly and are doing quite well while there are some who find the new role a little more challenging. […]
The Center for Nonverbal Studies has a fascinating webpage called The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, and Body Language Cues. While coaching teams, I recently began to intentionally look for many of these gestures and it is interesting to see how often these gestures and cues reveal what people would really want to say or […]