The Daily Standup - AgileDad: Recent Episodes

AgileDad

In 15 Minutes or LESS every weekday, AgileDad presents The Daily Standup! AgileDad has been recognized worldwide for its Inclusive, Pragmatic, Humanized, Psychology based approach used to help organizations achieve true business agility. What the book advises is no longer enough to help Agile teams and leaders get the proven tools they need to establish and scale their business in what many are calling the new normal. This podcast will review articles, present tips and tricks, tell war stories, and spend time with industry leading experts!

Scrum Has Become a Nice Term to Hide Bad Management

Once a wise man said: Fire all Scrum Masters and your non-technical managers who run your IT departments, and watch your productivity to boost up! In most cases, all you need is to hire highly-experienced Tech Leads and show trust in them. Communicate with them and share your insights, answer their questions, and provide them with what they need, including but not limited to the budget, time, ad-hoc specialist consultants, and coaches who would work for them to improve their non-technical skills. The rest, they will figure out themselves.

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One Last Lap - How a Coach Changed Lives

Listen in and learn how one attentive coach ran one last lap to help change the lives of countless students.

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ScrumBan... Is it real? Or just Camouflage?

Let’s get this straight.

Every time someone tells me they’re doing Scrumban, I raise an eyebrow. Not because I doubt hybrids. Hybrids can be powerful. But because in my experience, Scrumban is rarely a sign of maturity — it’s usually a cry for help.

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How to Engage Busy Stakeholders - Mike Cohn

We often find ourselves reliant on others outside the team.
For example, an agile team may get stuck waiting for feedback on the latest features or input on what to build next because a key stakeholder has never shown up for a sprint review. Without that stakeholder’s feedback, the team is impeded: unable to determine if what they’ve created is what’s needed.
The team nags, pleads, and cajoles. But still they’re left waiting because stakeholders are often busy, and they just can’t (or won’t) find the time.
You’ve tried moving the sprint review meeting to more convenient times. You’ve sent agendas that make it clear the stakeholder’s most desired feature is the one being discussed in the review.
But time and time again, something comes up at the last minute and the stakeholder is a no show.
In these instances, it’s time to take the meeting to them.

When a stakeholder won’t (or can’t) show up for the team, it’s time for a different approach:

Schedule time on the stakeholder’s calendar for a meeting a few days before sprint planning.
Use that block of time to work together on what the team needs.

Schedule a Non-Meeting Meeting Tip within the Tip: Want more help with team dynamics and stakeholder management? Try my free Scrum Team Reset training. It’s three videos from me that will help you find new ways to take your team from good to great.
When I schedule the meeting, I’ll sometimes be very clear what the meeting is about: “I want to go over such-and-such with you before the review.” Other times, I’ll be more vague: “I need to chat about the project.”
Use whatever language you need to secure time on the person’s calendar. Why? Because we are all more willing to cancel appointments with ourselves than we are to cancel an appointment with someone else. By putting time on their calendar that they’re reluctant to cancel, you’ve secured enough time for them to actually do the work.
Get the To-Do to Done
During the meeting, explain to them the work you need them to do (look at the feature and give feedback or clarify how the feature should work.) Then, use the time to step through the implementation (or plan) with them.
This results in two things: the team gets the information it needs. The stakeholder finds that the thing they’ve been putting off really wasn’t so bad once they focused on getting it done.
Why This Works
When stakeholders show an inability to get work or answers to you at appropriate times, it’s time to intervene. Maybe they’re worried their time will be wasted in a review where their feature is one of many being discussed.
Maybe “review the xyz feature” has been on their to-do list and keeps getting bumped down. Or maybe they haven’t actually scheduled a specific time to work on it.
No matter the reason, the work the team needs done is not happening. And your best chance of helping the stakeholder do that work is to schedule time with the stakeholder directly. And then use that time to make it happen.
Should stakeholders be able to do this on their own?
Sure.
But we all struggle at times. My experience is that after doing this a handful of times with a stakeholder, most stakeholders will form a new habit and be able to continue without you.
In other cases, you and the stakeholder will discover it actually is more efficient when done together, and you’ll keep a recurring meeting on their calendar that isn’t the review. That’s perfectly fine, too.
Stakeholders are often busy. And that can cause them to take longer to respond than a fast-moving agile team might like. Finding creative solutions that keep the team moving (even if it’s not something Scrum prescribes) is the best way to help advance a team from good to great,

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Clarity Is the Secret Weapon of Agile!

We often mistake transparency for clarity. Transparency just means the information is available. Clarity means you can actually see. Clarity is not dumping everything on the table. It’s making sense of it. It’s vision. It’s seeing...

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Burnout Is NOT a Agile Problem - It Is A Planning Problem

I remember a sprint planning meeting a few months ago, and I knew the sprint was doomed before it even started. Not because of bugs or blockers — those we could handle. It was the way everyone looked during planning: like we were gearing up for a marathon we hadn’t trained for.

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5 “Healthy” Habits That Are Quietly Aging You

You swapped breakfast for a smoothie.
You do long cardio and skip weights.
You religiously avoid fat.
You graze all day.
You think stress management means just relaxing.

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Is Scrum Dying? Or Are We Just Doing It Wrong?

Scrum used to be king. Now people don’t even want it on their CV.

Remember when being a Product Owner was cool? When Scrum Masters were change agents, not glorified note-takers?

When saying “we use Scrum” signalled progressive, Agile thinking?

Fast forward to now, and you’ll find Product Owners ashamed of the title, Scrum Masters sidelined, and developers stuck in factory-mode delivery.

Teams are jumping ship to SAFe, Kanban, or “whatever Spotify did,” chasing results Scrum couldn’t deliver.

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Is it ever OK to deviate from the Scrum Guide? - Mike Cohn

I’m out there on social media and I see all the same posts you do about the sanctity of the Scrum rules. And I get it. There are many rules of Scrum that teams break when they shouldn’t. But I don’t think it does anyone any good to be so hung up on rules that you throw practicality out the window.
Here’s the thing: No team should break a Scrum rule before they’ve tried to do it by the book for a while, and given themselves a chance to understand why each rule exists in the first place.
But teams that have been doing Scrum together for a while sometimes need to bend a few Scrum rules to fit their specific circumstances and situation. And in most cases no one needs to start calling foul if they do!
Here are a few common rules most teams can safely break or bend:
Never extending a sprint is a great rule. Usually. Can it be broken? Yes—not often and always for a good reason (such as a holiday that makes a longer sprint sensible).
It’s ideal to have a dedicated Scrum Master–it’s the best way to build high-performing teams. But having a dedicated Scrum Master is an economic decision and it may not always be justified, especially once the team can take on some responsibilities for itself.
Having a retrospective every sprint is a wonderful way to put improvement front and center. But if a team is running one or two-week sprints and things are going well, I think it’s OK for them to only do a retrospective every four weeks (or every other sprint).
Teams that are new to Scrum should do Scrum by the book. But it’s unrealistic to expect teams to never bend or break a rule to better fit their context.
Knowing when to follow the rules, and when to break them, helps teams succeed,

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The 5 Stages of Leadership

The Doer — You deliver results by doing everything yourself.
The Fixer — You solve everyone else’s problems.
The Enabler — You empower others to solve problems and grow.
The Multiplier — You build systems that scale others’ success.
The Shaper — You shape culture, vision, and the next generation of leaders.

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Scrum Masters, You’re Not Just the Meeting Person

You set up the standup, run a clean retro, update the board — and yet, nothing really changes. Dependencies still hit late. Stakeholders still ask for fixed timelines. The team’s doing its best, but it always feels like someone outside is pulling the rug. Sound familiar?

That’s because agility doesn’t stop at the team boundary. And if you’re only coaching inside the circle, you’re missing half the job. The real magic? It happens when you start coaching around the team too.

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$1 from 130,000 Strangers: Bella’s Viral Mission to Reclaim Her Great-Aunt’s Home

Fourteen-year-old Bella had a dream: to bring back into her family the little 1950s house next door — the home that once belonged to her great-aunt and uncle. With six brothers and sisters, a part-time job at her dad’s sno-cone stand, and a barely-used TikTok account, she launched a wildly ambitious idea: what if 130,000 people each sent $1 to help her family buy the house?

A month in, Bella has already raised about $43,000 — almost entirely from small, heartfelt donations. Her campaign proves something simple and powerful: when a story is real, humble, and human, people respond. This episode explores Bella’s origin, her progress, and the smart, ethical ways we can help push her all the way to the finish line.

In this episode we’ll hear from Bella’s dad (Zachary Patrick), learn how a small business (a sno-cone shop) and a big heart are powering a grassroots movement, and lay out a tactical plan listeners can use right now to help — whether that’s amplifying the message, organizing local support, or contributing safely.

Donate / follow Bella’s fundraiser:

CashApp: $summersnow2015
Venmo: ZPatrickFamily2008
SpotFund: https://www.spotfund.com/story/8aaa610d-6d63-492d-a999-a9999284c151

Agile Coaches Can’t Fix What Leadership Keeps Breaking

You can run the cleanest standups, the best retros, and the most motivated team workshops — and still feel like you’re sprinting in circles.

Because if leadership isn’t on board, the system breaks faster than you can coach it. It’s the silent pain many Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches carry: you’re hired to drive agility, but you’re blocked by decisions made way above your influence. And when things stall, guess who gets blamed?

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Setting and Managing Expectations - Mike Cohn

My first Scrum project was incredibly successful, yet it was almost a failure.
All of the technical aspects of the project were going extremely well. We were ahead of schedule, stress and scalability tests showed that we'd exceed uptime and reliability goals. Everyone on the team was having fun and doing their best work.
The problem was that user expectations had been growing faster than the functionality being developed.
The project was call center software to be used by hundreds of nurses initially, scaling to thousands. Nurses would use the system to triage patients, provide advice, dispatch emergency personnel when needed and so on.
In monthly sprint reviews with the nurse users, I was routinely shocked by what they’d come to expect, some of which wasn’t even technically feasible. With about three months left on the year-long project, I realized my focus had to change. From then on, I spent almost all of my time on expectations management.
I met with nurses in each of the call centers and described exactly what would and would not be in the delivered system. I toned down their expectations about the system’s impact on world peace, global warming, and personal weight loss.
Had I not done this, the product would have been perceived as a failure.
Since that project, I have been acutely aware of the importance of expectations management to the overall success of any project. Setting and managing expectations is perhaps even more important when an organization seeks to adopt or improve its agility.
With agile improvement efforts, I find it helpful to set and manage expectations about four things:

How quickly teams will improve
How long it will take to gain additional predictability from the team’s new way of working
How there will almost always come a time when turning back looks easier than sticking with it
The level of involvement in the transition that will be necessary from various stakeholders and organization leaders

By properly setting expectations you can avoid the problem of having an otherwise successful transition or project sunk by unrealistic expectations,

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How to Say No Without Killing Innovation

Have you also felt stretched too thin, saying “yes” to everything and watching your product get bloated and unfocused? I’ve been there. As a PM, you know that saying no isn’t just necessary it’s your secret weapon for driving meaningful product impact.

But let’s be clear: saying no doesn’t mean stifling ideas or shutting down innovation. It’s about strategically selecting what to build, and confidently explaining why others don’t make the cut.

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Scrum IS a Delivery Framework - NOT a Ceremonial Cult

They say Scrum is easy to understand, hard to master.
I’d say it’s easy to misunderstand, and even easier to fake.

Let’s not talk about standups, reviews, or retrospectives just yet.
Let’s start deeper — from the inside out.

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Teacher Reveals Heartbreaking Reason Behind Her Ocean-Themed Classroom

One teacher was used to her father's support in everything from big dreams to classroom decor, but after his sudden death in March 2025, that steady presence was gone

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Symptoms Of Moving Without a Vision

In the absence of a clear and shared vision, every team, leader, and individual will fill that gap with their own beliefs, experiences, and expectations. It may appear to be “diversity of opinion,” but in practice, it often results in misalignment. Every strategic conversation becomes a clash of narratives.

This fragmentation of understanding is just one of many symptoms of a lack of product vision. Based on my experience leading product teams at Locaweb, Conta Azul, Gympass, and Lopes — and more recently, supporting companies as a product advisor — I’ve seen how the absence of vision impacts the entire organization.

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Small Changes That Made Our Daily Stand-Ups More Useful

Daily stand-ups are a cornerstone of agile software development — but often they’re seen as a burden or a distraction. Why? Because they frequently devolve into long status reports that bore participants and add little real value.

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The Agile Family Tree: Theme, Epic, Feature and User Story Explained

“Let’s group this into a theme, break it down into epics, then into features and finally user stories.”

Sure. Cool. Great.

Just one question: what does any of that actually mean?

If you’ve ever nodded along in a backlog grooming session while secretly wondering whether an epic is bigger than a feature or the other way around — you’re in good company.

It’s time we cut through the jargon and talk real Agile clarity.

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Is Your Team Heading For a Win?

It’s officially the end of summer here in the U.S. Part of me is sad. Cooler temps mean it’s time for me to hang up my wakeboard and store my boat for the season.
But part of me welcomes the move to falling leaves, long sleeves, and Major League Baseball playoffs. I’m a big Dodgers fan, and I’m hoping they make it to the post-season again this year.
But even if my team doesn’t go, I’ll still watch the playoffs and World Series–both because I’m a fan and also to see if I can predict the winning team. And while I’m no Nostradamus, I do have a bit of a superpower. After just one or two innings, I can often tell who is going to win the game.
Why? Because it’s usually clear that one team is trying just a little bit harder. They’re not pitching any better or getting more hits–they’re just more engaged.
They’re running down every foul ball, even when it’s already crossed into the stands. They’re moving toward every hit, only backing off when a teammate yells, “Mine.” From the superstars to the backup right fielder, everyone on the field is looking for ways to contribute, even when it’s outside their role.
It’s a thrill to watch teams like this: Teams who have put their individual egos aside to win the game.

I’ve seen the same thing happen with successful agile teams, too.
Agile teams thrive when team members let go of their egos and do what needs to be done. Agile teams struggle when people stay too rigidly in their most comfortable role–a programmer who refuses to do anything but code or an architect who won’t come down from the ivory tower to dirty his or her hands with actual code.

The Best Agile Teams Operate without Ego“Agile teams thrive when team members let go of their egos and do what needs to be done.”I’m not saying that everyone needs to be a generalist–that would be like having your pitcher also play first base! What I am saying is if that first baseman has to field the ball, I expect the pitcher to hustle over and cover first to make the out. And if the testers are behind or someone has run into a roadblock, I expect to see anyone who is able help out.
On high-performing teams, each person plays their part as best as they can, and looks for opportunities to back up their teammates when they need help.
On these teams, it seems as if everyone starts each day thinking: “How can I best help the team win today?”
When team members have a winning attitude, I’m willing to bet they’re on the move from good to great.

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Teen Gets Adopted After Almost 15 Years In Foster Care

An Arkansas teen’s life was changed forever when he was adopted after almost 15 years in foster care.

Cozy, 19, had been in foster care for 5,429 days and was the longest-waiting person in the Arkansas foster care system, per local news outlet KARK.com. Tim and Anna Dietrich adopted Cozy on Monday, Aug. 25.

Anna works for the nonprofit Project Zero, which helps connect foster children with permanent homes. She met Cozy through the organization, per the outlet.

“The Lord made it very clear that we were supposed to all-out adopt him. We're supposed to give him our name, give him our family, give him our whole hearts," she said in a press conference filmed by TVH 11.

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Happy Patriot Day - Just Serve

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) members participate annually in the National 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, also known as Patriot Day, by organizing and joining various community service projects through initiatives like JustServe.org. These activities, which can take place on September 11th or during the broader month of September, include tasks like cleaning parks, assembling hygiene kits, and making blankets, transforming a day of tragedy into one of unity and doing good.

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OKR's At Google and Amazon

You’d think a company with tens of thousands of employees, layers of hierarchy, and complex workflows would slow down innovation to a crawl.

Yet somehow, giants like Google, Amazon, and Intel manage to launch cutting-edge products, drive bold initiatives, and keep their teams aligned and motivated.

Welcome to the world of OKRs — Objectives and Key Results.

What’s their secret weapon?

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5 Habits of High Performing Teams

What makes some teams do exceptionally well, and others perform poorly? Do they have more talented team members, better resources, or are they simply being lucky?

Teams that stand out are not more talented, better skilled, or have greater opportunities. What sets them apart are their habits and practices.

Empowering work culture, support from leaders in the organization, and clarity of vision and goals are important, but they’re insufficient to drive excellence and high performance in teams.

Building extraordinary workplaces with high-performing teams requires more than hiring the right talent and equipping them with the right opportunities. It requires cultivating the right habits and incorporating them into daily work and life.

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Making Invisible Work Visible

Lately I noticed, sprint velocity looked fine and Jira showed progress. But none of the key tests, critical analysis and silent validations are tracked.

After my observations I questioned: How much of our real work is visible?

In Agile teams, productivity is often measured by delivered outputs: written code, released features, completed user stories, increasing metrics in dashboards, sprint completion rates, closed Jira tasks, the number of successful CI/CD runs, pull requests deployed to production, or customer-facing new functionalities.

These are all important indicators. However, the behind-the-scenes efforts that make these visible outcomes possible are just as valuable.

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NFL Athlete Makes a Difference in a Young Mans Life

A young boy who burst into tears upon learning that NFL defensive end Micah Parsons was leaving the Dallas Cowboys for the Green Bay Packers got some closure.

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Leading With Vision That is Rooted in Presence

A leader cannot see clearly if they are clouded by ego, attachment, or fear. Desires, frustrations, unhealed stories — all of these act as filters. They color what we think is “the future” with the palette of our past.

To truly see a vision for others, the leader must first become still.

Presence is not passivity. It’s clarity. It’s the willingness to meet the moment without adding anything to it. To feel what wants to happen instead of forcing what we want to happen. That’s where vision begins — not with strategy decks, but with stillness.

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Consider The Downstream Effects - Mike Cohn

Have you ever looked at the pipes under a bathroom or kitchen sink?
If you do, you’ll notice that the pipe doesn’t run straight from the sink to the wall. Instead the pipe from the drain goes down farther than necessary, curves right back up and then heads into the wall.
This little extra bit of pipe that goes down farther than necessary and u-turns back up is called a P-trap. That’s because it looks like a P turned on this side.
Why do plumbers install P-traps? They must cost more to manufacture, so it increases their costs, which they may or may not be able to pass on to customers. They’re a little harder to install, so they cost the plumber time, too.
So, why?

Plumbers install P-traps because they prevent downstream problems. A P-trap under your sink traps gases that would otherwise rise back into the house. They also catch small items that fall down the drain.
And good plumbers care about this even though they know they may not be the plumber to return to fix the problem.
Good plumbers care because they’re good plumbers. Installing a P-trap under your sink is simply the right thing to do because it prevents downstream problems.

We want agile team members who behave the same way. Good agile team members care–not just about their own work but also about the work of everyone downstream of them.

OK. Back to the example. A while back, I helped a team incorporate more automated testing into their work. Some programmers, who viewed their job as nothing more than writing what they considered good code, balked at the idea of altering their code to make future testing easier. Code testability, they argued, was not their problem; it was the testers’ problem.
The situation came to a head during a sprint planning meeting, when the testers were giving some really large estimates for testing code that was going to take only a fraction of that amount of time to program.
The programmers were asked if they could do anything to make the code easier to test. And it turned out there were some things they could do, but some of the programmers didn’t want to do them because they felt it would make their code less elegant.
They had defined their jobs as merely writing good code. Who cared if that code was hard to test?

Why Do Something If It’s Harder?Act Like a Good PlumberI'm going to give you an example of why this matters, but first, I need a favor. Would you take this short AI survey?
We want to learn more about how Agile teams are using (or thinking about using) AI in their work. Your input will help us better understand current practices, opportunities, and challenges—and we’ll be sharing the results with the community.
Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZJY2SXY

“They had defined their jobs as merely writing good code. Who cared if that code was hard to test?”If my plumber had done that, I would have had a fully functional sink, perhaps for years. But eventually enough debris would have made it past where a P-trap should have been installed and deep into my plumbing. This would have led to an expensive--and easily avoidable--repair.
When team members accept responsibility for issues caused downstream of their work, that team can begin to grow from good to great.

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The Birth of the Agile Delivery Manager = No More ScrumMasters

In 2025, we formally changed the title of Scrum Master to Agile Delivery Manager (ADM) in our technology division. This renaming wasn’t a rebrand for the sake of optics. It reflected a deeper evolution already happening, rooted in the expanding scope of delivery leadership, the adoption of Flow Metrics and Value Stream Management, and our real-world shift from strict Scrum toward a more customized Kanban-based model.

It was this year that the name finally clicked. After assigning Value Stream Architect responsibilities to our Scrum Masters and giving them ownership of delivery metrics, team-level delivery health, and collaboration across roles within their Agile team, I realized the title “Scrum Master” no longer fit their role. I even considered Agile Value Stream Manager, but it felt too narrow and platform-specific.

That’s when Agile Delivery Manager stood out, not only as a better label but also as a more accurate reflection of the mindset and mission.

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Scrum often gets blamed for a lot of things it was never meant to do. Misused? Absolutely. Misunderstood? All the time. But the framework itself? Not the villain here.

It is tiresome to see so many people complaining without truly understanding the purpose and intention of the frameworks.

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9 Daily ChatGPT Uses That Will Literally Change Your Life

1. Instant Book Summaries (Absorb Knowledge Fast) 📚

2. Personalized Workout & Nutrition Plans 🏋️‍♀️🍎

3. Perfect Email & Message Crafting ✉️

4. Everyday Tech Troubleshooting 💻📱

5. Out-of-the-Box Idea Generation & Problem Solving 💡

6. Language Learning & Practice Partner 🗣️🌍

7. Mock Interview Powerhouse 👨‍💼

8. Real-Time Translation & Negotiation Assistant (The “Travel Hack”) ✈️🇨🇳

9. Personalized Tutor & Exam Creator for Kids (The “Parent Hack”) 🧑‍🎓📝

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3 Critical Skills That I Have Learned as an Agile Coach

Be Prepared for Chaos
0.5 Step Further Mindset
Let Them

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What If Scrum Masters Only Want To Act On A Team Level?

I recently had an interesting conversation with a manager at a large organization. We discussed the evolving role of Scrum Masters, the growing questions about their value, and whether organizations are seeing actual returns on these investments. 💰

We agreed that the most significant impact for Scrum Masters is not within the team, but in the environment and the broader organization.

Initially, I assumed that Scrum Masters in this organization were restricted from engaging beyond their teams. But I was wrong. They chose not to.

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Are You Chasing ScrummerFalls?

You can be pure Agile, you can be pure Waterfall, but have you ever been Waterfalling Agile? I have seen Waterfalling Agile, and it’s not a good scene. Essentially, when you are doing the worst of both worlds, thinking you are on top by taking the best of both, but you are wrong.

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Why Is Your Team Skipping Daily Standups?

Standups have become a way of life — not only for software teams but everyone else — they are the checkpoint on the day as to how we are doing, what’s working and what we need to do.

If ever there was a meeting to attend, to get the pulse of what is happening in your team, it would be this meeting, and yet people skip them when other meetings conflict, or they have appointments during that time, or they simply opt out of them because they are too busy. Perhaps the reason you are busy is because you have too much on your plate and you need help clearing it off.

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Empowering a Future Generation

How can you assist in empowering the younger generation? What can we do to make their dreams come true?

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The 1-Minute Introduction That Makes People Remember You Forever

How to Craft Yours: A 15-Minute Exercise

Step 1: Start With Why (5 mins)

Answer: What problem do I help solve that I deeply care about?

What makes you frustrated about your industry?
What change do you wish you saw more of?

Step 2: Find Your Origin Moment (5 mins)

Answer: What personal moment explains how I got here?

It could be a client you helped.
A mistake you made and learned from.
A shift in how you saw your work.

Step 3: Define Your Unique Edge (5 mins)

Answer: What’s the real result I help people or businesses create?

Not just tasks.
Outcomes.
Transformation.

Bonus Tip: Test It

Once you’ve written your Sticky Introduction, test it:

Can you say it in under 60 seconds?
Does it sound human (not robotic)?
Do people lean in or ask follow-up questions?

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Why “Holding Space” Is the Most Underrated Leadership Skill

Leadership is usually associated with action — setting direction, making decisions, solving problems. We’re taught that the best leaders are the ones who speak with confidence, execute quickly, and always have a plan. But what if one of the most powerful things a leader could do… was nothing?

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Agile Is Not Dead, Whether You Like It Or Not

Recently, there has been a flood of articles and videos claiming that agile is dead. The Agile Manifesto was created during my university years, so I witnessed firsthand how this topic gained traction in software development. As a result, I have a pretty strong opinion on the matter that I’d like to put out there.

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The Future of Scrum: What Will Agile Look Like in 2030?

Agile methodologies, particularly Scrum, have dominated the software development and product management landscape for decades. However, as technology advances and workplace dynamics shift, Agile is evolving rapidly. By 2030, Scrum will be unrecognizable from its early iterations. Here’s how it will transform...

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Surviving The Outback

Carolina Wilga, a 26‑year‑old German traveler, disappeared in Western Australia's harsh outback after a car accident on June 29, 2025. Suffering a serious head injury and stranded without supplies, she survived 12 days by finding shelter in caves, collecting rainwater, and drawing on sheer willpower.

On July 11, exhausted and barefoot, Carolina was discovered nearly 19 miles from her vehicle by a local farmer, Tania Henley, and then rescued by the Western Australia Police People.com. She later expressed profound gratitude:

“I am simply beyond grateful to have survived… Australia has taught me what it means to be part of a true community

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The RACI = The Team Killer

The RACI matrix, outlining who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, seems like a logical approach for complex work. It seemingly makes clear who does what, and when.

Unfortunately, beneath its veneer of order lies a subtle but significant impediment to the very essence of high-performing IT teams: genuine teamwork.

I will describe that while the intent is to bring clarity, the RACI instead promotes, and often rewards, working as a collection of individuals. This approach erodes the collaborative approach necessary for knowledge work teams such as software development.

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What Seinfeld Taught Me about Iterative and Incremental - Mike Cohn

Agile is both an iterative and incremental process. I’ve taught this in classes for 25 years. Yet I’ve never felt like I had the right way to explain how they both differ and relate.
Until now.
I recently watched the documentary “Comedian,” about Jerry Seinfeld deciding to return to standup comedy after ending his long-running hit television series.
The film shows Seinfeld developing a completely new act. He couldn’t rely on jokes from his standup routines from a decade earlier.
He begins by performing for just a few minutes at small comedy clubs. After each performance he refines the wording, sequence, and pacing of his jokes. He’s iterating over each joke.
As he finds material that works, he adds time to his show. His performance goes from five minutes to ten. He is incrementally building his show. He continues adding increments (new jokes) until he achieves his goal of more than an hour of new material.
Refining each joke is iterating. Adding jokes bit by bit until he has a full show is incremental.
This example also shows why iterating and incremental aren’t very good on their own. Imagine a comedian who only iterates over existing material but never adds new material. Or one who keeps adding new jokes but never iterates to ensure each is funny.
Another thing the “Comedian” movie teaches is the value of experimenting. When Seinfeld (and another comedian profiled in the film) perform, their shows contain a mix of material they know will get laughs and some new jokes they’re trying out.
Experimenting is equally important in product development. Teams can experiment with their process or the product—by delivering small, partial features to confirm their value before going all-in.
I knew agile teams need to be iterative and incremental, but this documentary taught me comedians need to also if they want to succeed at comedy,

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Top 4 Ways to Eliminate Backlog Bloating

Stop putting every idea into the backlog.
Stop keeping things that will never happen.
Stop tolerating tickets with no impact or product hypothesis.
Stop micromanaging tickets like a project manager.

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The Best Retrospective You’re Probably Not Doing - The Introspective - Ro Fernandez

https://medium.com/@rociofernn/the-best-retrospective-youre-probably-not-doing-e2622c1ecd12

A few months ago, we kicked off a cross-functional project that had everyone excited — product, design, engineering, marketing… Energy was high. The goal was clear. At least, we thought it was.

Fast forward three weeks.

Things were already slipping.
Some teams were waiting on decisions that hadn’t been made.
Others were building in parallel, but with different assumptions.
And one team member quietly said in a 1:1:

“I’m just not sure what success actually looks like here.”

That’s when it hit me:
We hadn’t missed the retro.
We had skipped the prevention.

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Top 5 Ways to Be Better at Giving and Receiving Praise

Be Specific, Not Generic
Giving: Instead of “Good job,” say “I really appreciated how you stepped up to lead the meeting today—it brought clarity and confidence to the whole team.”
Receiving: Acknowledge it with gratitude and, if appropriate, reflect on what specifically helped you succeed.
Be Timely
Giving: Praise is most powerful when it's fresh. Don’t wait for formal reviews—speak up as soon as you notice something great.
Receiving: Respond promptly and graciously. A simple “Thank you, that means a lot” goes a long way.
Make It Personal
Giving: Tailor your praise to the individual’s values or effort. People are more moved when the praise shows that you see them.
Receiving: Don’t deflect or downplay. Accept that someone noticed your contribution—own it with humility.
Focus on Effort and Impact
Giving: Highlight the hard work, problem-solving, or collaboration that led to success—not just the outcome.
Receiving: Recognize your role in the bigger picture, and consider how your work helped the team.
Practice the Praise Loop
Giving: Create a culture where praise flows in all directions—peer to peer, manager to team, team to leader.
Receiving: Pay it forward. When you receive sincere praise, use that as a reminder to encourage someone else.

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Dedicated vs. Rotating Scrum Masters

I spent my first five years as a Scrum Master primarily dedicated to one team. As a result, I got to know team members deeply. Even 10+ years after I left, I’m still in close contact with some of them. Due to frequent changes in the team — people come and go — improving team dynamics was a continuous effort. However, after a while, our team understood Scrum, and I could shift my focus towards the broader organization and our customers.

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Bring Focus to Your Refinement Meetings - Mike Cohn

Your team is spending too much time in product backlog refinement.
How can I make such a bold claim since I didn’t participate in your most recent refinement meeting? I can make it because the vast majority of teams spend too much time refining their product backlogs.
So I’m playing the odds, and betting your team is among them.

Teams spend too long in refinement because they misunderstand the purpose of refinement, so let’s start there. As a reminder:

The purpose of backlog refinement is to ensure the highest priority items are small and sufficiently understood that they can most likely be completed within a single iteration.

This means that during a refinement meeting the team does not need to get answers to every conceivable question about each backlog item. Some questions can be answered during the iteration without quashing the feasibility of finishing the backlog item in the iteration.
For example, suppose a team wants to know how long a failed transaction should be retried. Perhaps 30 seconds? A minute? Two? The product owner says she’s not sure but she’ll decide within a couple of days.

Even if the team doesn’t get that answer until after the iteration has begun, that’s fine.
The team should not need to have all questions answered or all open issues resolved before an item is brought into an iteration.

In this example, whatever answer the product owner provides about the retry duration will not affect the two concerns of backlog refinement:

Is the item small enough to be brought into an iteration?
Is it sufficiently understood to be completed within an iteration?

This means that the amount of time spent retrying failed transactions should not be discussed during refinement. (Actually it could warrant just the briefest discussion to confirm that the retry period is minutes—not months, because that difference could matter.)
From just this example we can see that some questions do not need to be discussed during refinement. Sure, the team will eventually need to know how long the product owner wants to retry transactions. But team members don’t need to know that during refinement. And they don’t even necessarily need to know it before starting work on the item.
Conversations between team members and their product owner during refinement should be focused on confirming an item is small and well understood. Discussions beyond that are often very fun, but they’re best had either during the iteration itself or possibly the sprint planning meeting.
Keeping off-topic discussions out of your refinement meetings will shorten those meetings with no adverse effect on meeting your iteration goals, which will help you succeed,

The Main Reason Refinement Bogs Down Focus on the Two Concerns of Backlog Refinement

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10 Human-Centered Leadership Principles

Ask for forgiveness, not permission

Innovation rarely starts with approval.
Build what you believe in — and deal with the politics later.
You will be remembered for the rules you break.

Build teams first, then products

Good products are built by healthy teams.
Invest in trust, care, and clarity — and the product will follow.

People and interactions over processes and tools

Stolen from Agile, and still true.
Tools are only as good as the humans using them.
Build relationships before systems.

Find a way — or build one

Constraints don’t stop creativity.
They shape it.
Be scrappy. Be resourceful. Be relentless.

Never build what is asked

Dig deeper.
Understand the real need.
Then build what actually matters.

Less talking, more building

Endless alignment leads nowhere.
Create momentum by making things.
Then talk about what’s real.

Live off the land

Use what you have, don’t wait for ideal conditions.
Work with the terrain, not against it.
It takes knowledge, humility, and creativity.
But that’s how great work gets done.

Everyone is a designer

Design is not a job title — it’s a mindset.
Everyone on the team shapes the experience.
So give them the tools, the trust, and the invitation to contribute.

Good management is as little management as possible.

The best leadership is invisible.
Create clarity, then get out of the way. People want clarity not transparency.
Support, don’t control.
Unblock, don’t bottleneck.

We all have wings, but some of us don’t know why

There’s magic in everyone.
Part of leadership is reminding people they can fly —
even if they’ve forgotten how..

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Breaking Down The Spotify Engineering Culture Model

The Spotify Engineering Culture Model is one of the most widely referenced frameworks for scaling Agile and creating autonomous, innovative teams. Originally popularized by Henrik Kniberg and Anders Ivarsson in their internal videos (now public), the model describes how Spotify organizes and empowers teams to deliver software at scale while maintaining a strong culture of innovation, speed, and flexibility.

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Become A Life Changer...

Do you have the power to change a life? Listen today and reveal the answer to this powerful question.

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Can We Do 100% Scrum And SAFe Simultaneously? - NOPE...

This question emerged during a recent Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master Advanced training in Germany 🇩🇪. Some time ago, the company started an Agile transformation and hired me to learn more about Scrum and how it could benefit them.

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3 Powerful Questions I Love Asking My Team ~ Ro Fernandez

https://blog.novatools.org/3-powerful-questions-i-love-asking-my-team-and-why-you-should-too-ccb05111ad2f

1) What would make you feel genuinely prepared?

2) If you had to describe how things are going… like a weather report… what would you say?

3) What would you do if you were in my position right now?

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I Have NEVER Used Scrum 100% - Take It From The TOP!

Fifteen years ago, I stumbled upon Scrum. It gave a name to many things I was already doing and introduced me to new working methods. But here’s the thing:
👉 I’ve never used Scrum 100%.
👉 I’ve never developed a product without using parts of Scrum.

For me, Scrum — or any framework — was never the goal. The goal was always to build high-quality products that deliver value to customers while enjoying the process.

Take it from the TOP

T = Teams

O = Outcomes

P = Product

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You Don’t Need Agile... YES You Do Need Agile!

When Agile was introduced many years ago, it gave software delivery an option to do things differently. From there, many offshoots have come from Agile that come from Agile that provide even more options for Software Delivery.

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Exploring How To Discuss Sensitive Topics From a Spiritual Approach

Learn how to have the tough conversations and express yourself while still being empathetic to those who think differently than you do.

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Why We Killed Scrum Sprints Forever

When I started my journey as a product manager, I went through every article, book, and video I could find about Scrum. Sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, retrospectives — the whole shebang...

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Do Your User Stories End in a Coffee Break? - Mike Cohn

Ever write a user story that the team never finishes?
That’s a sign you’re dealing with an open story—one that doesn’t deliver a clear, finished result to the user.
Let’s fix that.

A closed user story is one where the user completes a meaningful goal.
Think: “Ah, I finished reviewing resumes. Time for a coffee break.”
Contrast that with this story:
“As a recruiter, I can manage the job ads I’ve placed.”
That’s not closed. Why?
Because “manage” never ends. You don’t manage something and then say, “Great! That’s done forever.”

For Here are some red flag words to watch out for:

manage
maintain
administer
configure
monitor
As a recruiter, I can review resumes so I can pass good candidates to the hiring manager.
I can change the expiration date of an ad to keep it visible—or close it when we’re done.
I can delete unqualified applications so the team doesn’t waste time.
I can update ad descriptions to attract better candidates. Each one finishes with something tangible.

Closed Stories Let Users Take a Coffee Break
Red Flag Words to Watch
These words signal that your story might be too broad or too vague.
How to Close Open Stories
Break “manage job ads” into stories with meaningful outcomes:

Each one earns that coffee break.
Why Closed Stories Matter
Closed stories avoid misunderstandings. A vague story like “manage ads” might mean running reports to the product owner; the same story might mean UI tweaks to the team. That gap in understanding leads to rework.
And yes—open stories have a place as epics early in a project. But when it’s time to build, break them down into stories with clear outcomes.
That’s how teams build clarity—and succeed with agile.

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Limitations of the Sprint Retrospective...

Back in my Scrum days — yes, with 20+ years of experience, I am allowed to say that — I genuinely enjoyed facilitating Retrospectives. It was a perfect moment to pause and identify areas for improvement.

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Avoid Getting Good at Agile

I know the agile universe has been around for a long time. You may have even been using agile concepts since XP or Scrum in the mid-90s, I get it. But if you were to line up every single person in your whole country that works at all the organizations, large or small, and ask them how well they understood what it means to be agile, what do you think you’d find?

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Vocal Training Exercises That You Can Do

It is AMAZING the things that we can do with our voice.. Please listen and learn some tips to help you use this tool to the best of its capability.

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Dolly Parton Can Improve Your Teamwork... - Mike Cohn

Would you like to get a check from Dolly Parton for $500? I would.
In an effort to reduce the number of students who dropped out of high school in her home county, she promised all 7th and 8th grade students she would give them each $500 if they graduated from high school.
She added a catch: They’d only receive the money if a buddy they chose also graduated.
Dolly’s Buddy Program reduced high school dropouts from 35% to 6%.
She clearly understood the importance of accountability to one another: a student contemplating dropping out may not when they factor in the financial impact on their buddy.
I wish Dolly Parton would make a similar offer to teams. The best teams understand that they succeed (or fail) together.
No one benefits when the programmers finish coding on the last day of an iteration, and leave testers no time to test.
When shared accountability pervades a team, people help each other. Programmers may write more unit tests if they know testers will be challenged. Or they may execute some tests themselves.
If testers are concerned that programmers may not finish, they can help by identifying earlier and sharing the edge cases that programmers may overlook.
There’s always something you can do to help your coworkers. Beyond helping out in a pinch, here are some practices that help a team succeed together:

Small backlog items that flow through the process more smoothly
Small, frequent handoffs to reduce waiting
Close collaboration to improve communication
Overlapping work to avoid leaving too much testing until the end
Daily scrum meetings to encourage accountability to one another

Fostering an attitude that everyone succeeds together may not get you a $500 check from Dolly Parton, but it will help you succeed with agile.

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The 13 Commandments of Strategic Thinking

If your team can’t use your strategy to make real decisions, it’s not a strategy.
Strategy is made of principles, not plans. You can’t script the future — but you can guide decisions.
You have six key stakeholders. Strategy must serve all of them — not just shareholders.
Customers are special. They bring in the money. Everyone else takes it out.
Solve big problems. The bigger the problem, the more value you create.
Satisfaction over profit. Happy customers bring profits. Not the other way around.
It all connects. Customers → Needs → Value → Assets → Processes.
Forget the vision board. Focus on your purpose and mission — who you serve, and why.
Strategy is direction + pace. Not a fixed destination.
Think in decades. The goal is to build a company that outlives you.
Don’t play someone else’s game. Create your own market.
Forget annual targets. Build the capacity to learn, adapt, and create value.
See your business as Value Waves. Strategy is how you redesign those waves to create more value.

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Turn Complainers Into Problem-Solvers

“Everything’s wrong. Nothing works. This place is falling apart.”

And then… the grumble list begins. Oh gawd, every single problem without a hint of a solution!

We’ve all got that team member, right? The one who turns up to meetings like storm clouds ready to rain on everyone’s parade?

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Product Management Is Broken - Here's How To Fix It

Five fundamental shifts are redefining what it means to be a product manager in 2025. These aren’t minor adjustments or trend-driven pivots. They represent a complete inversion of core PM practices that have guided the profession for over a decade.

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Help Me Understand - Become a Better Listener

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

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Is Agile Disappearing? - Not Again...

For the last two years, we’ve seen a fairly drastic change in the agile landscape. Large companies have laid off hundreds of thousands of agile and tech jobs (287k in 2023 and 152k in 2024). The job market for new jobs is also very different. You can’t just search for Scrum Master or Agile Coach like you used to.

Maybe it’s because big firms have started treating agile like “a skill not a role”, as mentioned by the Business Agility Institute and

scrum alliance in their “Skills in the New World of Work” research paper. You might need to be multiple things, a manager who knows agile or a technologist who knows Scrum. It’s a trend that is sad but true, IMO.

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Don't Doubt the Power of Fast Feedback - Mike Cohn

Every year when summer rolls around, I start dreaming about getting out on the water: sailing, rowing, kayaking, wake surfing, and so on. If it’s a water sport, I probably love it.
And every time I work with a product that doesn’t quite meet my needs, I start thinking about how important it is to get real user feedback early and often.
Today, those two thoughts combined. I was sighing over the latest update to a less-than-optimal work management app, and my mind went back to a 1995 America's Cup race. The race between the US and New Zealand is a great illustration of the importance of two vital activities for agile teams: knowing customers and getting fast feedback.

To create their boat, Team New Zealand used software that allowed them to simulate the impact of various design changes on the speed of the boat. They evaluated thousands of design decisions. 
Each day, Team New Zealand ran simulations on a small network located a few feet from the dock. To further evaluate designs, Team New Zealand made two boats. Each day, they would alter one with a design change to be evaluated. The two boats then raced each other to assess the impact of the design change.

By contrast, the U.S. Team designed their boat using massive supercomputers located hundreds of miles from the dock. This created significant feedback delays. The team also had only a single boat for testing, which made it harder to assess the impact of changes.

Yep. Tiny New Zealand. For the very first time.
Why? Because Team New Zealand got close to their customer and used rapid feedback cycles. 
If you are not cycling ideas past your customers quickly enough to get rapid feedback, consider moving closer to the dock.

New Zealand Went Small, Close & OftenThe U.S. Went Big, Far & SeldomGuess who won?

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Keeping Team Meetings Relevant

Team meetings are a crucial part to the success of any team. They can be a tricky problem to solve because generally you are trying to perform a balance between having fun while focusing on what’s next.

I don’t think team meetings should be overtly structured, but when running them there are always a few goals I need to achieve in each one. And when I speak to those goals, I don’t just mean for me, but more importantly, the members of my team.

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Conflict Management - Mid-Meltdown Edition

if Marcus was running a bakery, what would that look like?”

Emma stopped mid-rant. “What?”

“I’m serious. Marcus the micromanaging bakery owner. Paint me the picture.”

She looked at me like I’d suggested we rob a bank together and then buy a radio station with the funds.

But then something shifted. A tiny smile crept across her face...

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Happy 4th of July - One Flag, One Firework, One Nation

Thank You For Listening to This Special Episode!

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The Lazy Facilitator...

“You’re such a relaxed, laid-back, and maybe even lazy facilitator!”

I received this feedback during a recent Liberating Structures workshop. It was meant as a compliment, though the “lazy” part needed some clarification. 😄

I do take it as a compliment. If you’re the busiest person in the room as a facilitator, something probably isn’t quite right.

When I started facilitating, I was the busiest person in the room. I ran around clarifying instructions, answering questions, prepping the following steps, taking notes, and even sorting coffee and cookies.

We often didn’t achieve our purpose, but I received compliments for working hard — like that somehow made up for it. 🤷‍♀️

In hindsight, the problem was me. I was so busy micromanaging that I lost sight of the bigger picture.

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Are You Refining Your Backlog Enough (or Too Often)? - Mike Cohn

Hi V. Lee,

Ever felt like your backlog refinement meetings are either way too long or painfully unproductive? You’re not alone.
Backlog refinement can be a game-changer—or a time sink. The difference? How well you understand the purpose.
So, let’s get clear.

Refinement is when a team and its product owner look at the top items on the product backlog to make sure each is sufficiently well understood and small enough to be brought into the next sprint.
That means breaking down large items, adding detail, estimating effort, and generally getting your stories “ready” for the team to work on.
Great refinement helps your team:

Avoid surprises during sprint planning
Reduce rework due to misunderstood stories
Deliver value faster, with fewer blocker
Once per sprint works well for teams that like fewer meetings. Keep in mind that the meeting will be longer, though.
Once per week can help avoid long, draining sessions—especially if your once-per-sprint meetings are creeping past two hours.

What Is Product Backlog Refinement? How Often Should You Do It?
Most teams will either do a refinement meeting once per sprint or once per week.

What I don’t recommend is going beyond that.
I’ve worked with teams in the past that were running 2–3 refinement meetings per week, each an hour or more. Unless your backlog is in serious disarray or your product is unusually complex, that’s overkill.
And remember—refinement doesn’t only happen in meetings. It’s perfectly fine for a product owner and a few team members to huddle up outside the scheduled meeting to split a story or clarify details.
Keep your refinement meetings focused, lightweight, and appropriately timed—and you’ll spend more time delivering value instead of just talking about it. That’s a great way to succeed with agile.

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20 Powerful Leadership Quotes That Will Transform Your Thinking

As leaders, we are often busy — busy leading, managing, and chasing our business goals. If continued endlessly without any break, this can lead to stress and burnout.

I find it helpful to take a step back from time to time, and reflect and ponder over our roles as leaders.

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Is AI Killing My Coding Creativity and

Critical Thinking?

“Why solve the puzzle when ChatGPT can solve it for me?”
That’s a question I never thought I’d ask myself as a young coder. But today, it echoes louder in my mind than any compiler error.

I started coding because I loved creating things from scratch. I enjoyed the frustration of debugging, the thrill of getting something right after failing ten times, and the weird pride that came from staring at a screen for hours to make a simple animation work. But now, with artificial intelligence just a click away, something important is fading: my creativity.

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Do You TikTok? If So... Why?

It is a legitimate question...

I am still trying to figure out why people do this..

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How To Improve Your Teams Motivation

Motivation isn’t pushed — it’s ignited. When people feel seen, heard and trusted — they don’t just show up, they step up.

Motivation impacts everything at work — without it people in the team do the bare minimum leading to slow progress, missed targets and poor results. Demotivated people are also highly contagious — they can bring the entire team down with their low morale, lack of enthusiasm and discouraged attitude.

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Stop Using User Stories.. I Think Not

Someone Asked me to review an article about user stories...

Lets just say it is a mixed review.

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The Coaching Question That Makes People See Their Impact

“The team did all the work.”

That’s when I dropped my sneaky question:

“What would not be like it is — had you not been part of it?”

The silence got longer and at one point I thought she had frozen in time.

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Is There a Silent Genius In Your Meetings?

The most valuable voice in your meeting is the one you never hear. And for that you need a sneaky coaching question.

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You Too Can Do Amazing Things!

It's the Friday NOT so Agile Episode time..

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All About The Definition of Ready

Many teams use a Definition of Ready to check if Product Backlog items are ‘ready for Sprint.’ Often, the acronym “INVEST” is used as a checklist. PBIs are considered ready when they are independent, negotiable, valuable, estimable, small, and testable.

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The One Question That Changes Your Entire Meeting For The Better

“What’s one thing we do in these meetings that wastes everyone’s time?”

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Leadership Scripts for the 3 Conversations That You Can't Afford to Mess Up

Letting Someone Go (Without Burning Down the House)
Giving Feedback That Actually Lands
Talking to Someone Who Has No Idea They’re Underperforming

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Celebrating Fathers - SPECIAL EPISODE

Happy Fathers Day!

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Happy Friday the 13th... It is Time For Change!

Despite its spooky reputation, Friday the 13th has been a surprisingly positive and even lucky day for many people throughout history—especially when you look past superstition. Here are some great things that have happened (or regularly happen) on Friday the 13th:

🌟 Historical Wins & Milestones

Hollywood Gold:
"Friday the 13th" (1980) debuted and became a cult classic that launched a billion-dollar horror franchise—creating jobs, fan conventions, and pop culture gold.
Engineering Feats:On Friday, April 13, 1970, NASA’s Apollo 13 crew safely returned to Earth after a life-threatening malfunction. It’s now a case study in problem-solving, teamwork, and grace under pressure.
Technology Triumphs:Many companies have launched successful products or closed major deals on Friday the 13th because competitors avoided that date. Ironically, it’s become a clever move for risk-takers.

💼 Business & Financial Perks: 1. Flash Sales & Travel Deals:Retailers and airlines often offer special “unlucky” discounts to attract shoppers. It’s a great day for thrifty buyers and vacation planners. 2. Low-Key Productivity Days:Because some people avoid major events or decisions on Friday the 13th, workplaces are often calmer—making it a great day to focus, finish projects, or think creatively without interruption.

🌱 Personal Wins & Feel-Good Moments 1. Weddings & Babies:Many couples choose the date for its uniqueness—and report long-lasting, happy marriages. And yes, lots of amazing people were born on Friday the 13th! 2. Fresh Starts:It’s a favorite date for reframing bad luck, setting intentions, and launching personal goals. Some even treat it as an annual “reclaim your power” day.

🧠 Fun Fact: The "13" Isn’t Actually Unlucky Everywhere

In Italy, 13 is lucky. In China, it sounds similar to “definitely vibrant” in Mandarin. It's mostly the Western superstition that paints the number as negative.

So instead of fear, embrace Friday the 13th as a day to defy expectations, be bold, and celebrate the upside of unusual.

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The Top 3 Agile Performance Metrics That You are Likely NOT Measuring

Discuss the development of new metrics that go beyond traditional KPIs, focusing on customer satisfaction, team health, and value delivery to better assess Agile performance.

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Learning & Upskilling - Now is the Time!

Today we will Highlight the growing emphasis on upskilling within Agile teams, including cross-functional training and certifications, to meet evolving project demands and technological advancements.

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Agile Contracting Models in 2025

Lets take a moment to Investigate new approaches to Agile contracts that allow for flexibility, shared risk, and iterative delivery, moving away from traditional fixed-price models.

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Agile Application Beyond IT

Today we will Explore how Agile principles are being applied across various business functions such as marketing, HR, and finance, leading to increased adaptability and customer focus throughout organizations.

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We Still Don’t Know How Tickling Works But a New ‘Tickle Lab’ at a University is Finding Out

Why can’t you tickle yourself? And how come some people aren’t ticklish at all—while some on the autism spectrum are laughing more often?

Neuroscientist Konstantina Kilteni believes we should take tickling research more seriously—and she’s working with colleagues in a new tickle lab at Radboud University to get some answers.

Socrates wondered about this topic 2,000 years ago, and Charles Darwin racked his brains about it: what is a tickle, and why are we so sensitive to it?

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Agile Leadership Evolution in 2025

Today we will Examine the shift in leadership roles within Agile frameworks, emphasizing the importance of enabling self-organizing teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and balancing alignment with empowerment.

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Value Stream Mapping Enhances Agile Capabilities

Value Stream Management (VSM) is a systematic approach to improving the flow of value from a customer's request to the customer's hands. It focuses on optimizing the end-to-end process, from idea to delivery, to accelerate time-to-market, increase throughput, and enhance customer satisfaction. Key aspects of VSM:

End-to-end focus:VSM considers the entire process, including all steps and touchpoints, from ideation to delivery.
Flow optimization:VSM aims to remove bottlenecks, reduce waste, and improve the flow of work.
Data-driven insights:VSM relies on data and analytics to understand the current state of the process, identify areas for improvement, and measure the impact of changes.
Continuous improvement:VSM is an iterative process that involves ongoing monitoring, analysis, and optimization.
Reduces lead time:By streamlining the process and eliminating waste, VSM can significantly reduce the time it takes to deliver value to customers.
Increases throughput:Optimizing the flow of work can lead to higher throughput, meaning more value is delivered in a shorter period.
Improves product quality:By identifying and addressing issues early in the process, VSM can help ensure higher product quality.
Enhances customer satisfaction:Faster delivery, higher quality, and more reliable products lead to greater customer satisfaction.
Enables business agility:VSM helps organizations become more agile and responsive to changes in the market. In essence, VSM is about maximizing the value delivered to customers by optimizing the end-to-end process, from customer request to customer value realization

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Top 3 Tips For Effective Agile In Hybrid Work Environments

Today we will Discuss the challenges and strategies of implementing Agile methodologies in hybrid work settings. Topics include effective remote collaboration, maintaining team cohesion, and optimizing virtual meetings.

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This is the REAL Question...

How much do you need to know and what is the best way to get caught up?

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Six Magic Words That Help You be a Better Listener

Help

Me

Understand ?

Tell

Me

More...

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Why EVERY Product Manager needs to Understand AI!

AI is no longer a standalone product — it’s becoming a standard feature.

For product managers (PMs), this shift means learning to think differently about how users interact with software. The rise of large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4, Claude, and open-source alternatives is changing user expectations across every industry — not just in tech-first companies.

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A Simple Technique to Make Meetings More Enjoyable - Mike Cohn

Every time I went to the dentist as a little kid, my dentist gave me a small toy after my treatment.
And back then my parents’ house was near Disneyland. From our backyard we’d see the nightly fireworks. Disneyland always saved the most spectacular display for the finale.
My dentist and Disneyland were making use of what later became known as the peak-end rule. This rule says that we judge and recall experiences based on how we felt at the peak and at the end.
My dentist was giving me a more favorable impression by giving me the toy at the end. If he’d given me a toy at the start, it would not have had the same impact.
Disney was going for the double-whammy of placing the peak experience at the end.
Studies conducted by Daniel Kahneman (author of Thinking Fast and Slow) and others have shown that we consider unpleasant experiences better if they end on an up note. The end doesn’t have to be great; it just has to be better than what preceded it.
Meetings are an unpleasant experience for many of us. But we can improve how team members feel about meetings by changing how we end them.
I plan to try this next week. Our weekly meeting begins with anyone sharing good news, whether professional or personal. This week a coworker is celebrating a professional achievement; next week is another’s last before taking maternity leave.
This simple sharing of good news is the highlight of the meeting for me. All the discussion about the work we each plan to undertake for the week is vital, but I enjoy hearing good news from coworkers.
Back in the day, we put this at the start of each week’s agenda because we reasoned it would be nice to start on a positive note. Do you predict we’ll be better served by sharing good news at the end?
Improving the end of a meeting won’t change the outcome of the meeting or the discussions within the meeting. It should, however, improve how people feel about the meeting.
Making meetings more enjoyable (or at least less unpleasant) will help a team succeed with agile

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5 SuperPowers Every Facilitator Needs

Unlock Team Creativity
Engagement Maximizer / Disruption Diffuser
The Ability to Help People Feel Comfortable
A Curiosity Mindset
High EQ and the Vulnerability to Pivot

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Honoring Memorial Day

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No Fear

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself...

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5 Tiny Leadership Habits You Can Do in Under 5 Minutes for Massive Results

Management is complex, but it doesn’t need to be overwhelming.

If you have read James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, you know that small actions can lead to massive results.

A recent study found that 58% of employees trust a stranger more than their boss. Surprising, right? But what if changing that perception took less than 5 minutes a day?

The truth is that great leaders aren’t made from grand promises or speeches. They’re built through consistent, tiny habits that strengthen trust, communication, and connection day in and day out.

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Which is the MOST Effective Agile Meeting?

I remember working at a startup where every day began with meetings. Planning on Monday, follow-ups on Tuesday, status on Wednesday, dependencies on Thursday, and retros on Friday.

The team spent more time justifying their work than doing it.

That’s when I learned something I’ve never forgotten as a CTO: an unnecessary meeting is a silent tax on time and energy.

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Transform Team Trust In Five Seconds

The Honest Stop

Instead of pretending you’ve got it all figured out (no one believes that anyway), just stop.

Say: “I’m stuck here” or “I’m not sure about this.”

It’s like admitting you have no idea how to pronounce that new artist’s name. (We’ve all been there). And that’s what You Tube is for right?

The Power Flip

Instead of trying to be the all-knowing boss, flip the power dynamic.

Ask, “What am I missing?” or “How would you handle this?”

The Real Response

Here’s the crucial bit — when they speak, shut up and listen. Like, properly listen.

Not the “nodding while checking TEAMS “ kind of listening.

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Leadership IS Language!

The words we use matter.

You may not think much of using terms like “resources” rather than “people” or “I” vs “we” but at a subconscious level these words start to infiltrate our minds. For both the person using them and those hearing it.

Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘I have tough skin’ or ‘I don’t mind when people use these terms’ but even if that’s true, that’s not the case for everyone and it sets a tone. It influences the fabric of culture.

As the old adage goes: “‘Watch your thoughts, as they become your words; watch your words, as they become your actions.”

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Why Our Family Is "Different"

My hunch is that if you know us, you are already aware of this development...

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MVP is Dead!! We Should Focus on MLP Instead!

MVPs sound great in theory, but too often, they result in forgettable, uninspiring products. Instead of focusing on minimum viability, focus on minimum loveability – because a product that people love will always win.

So, the next time someone tells you to build an MVP, ask them:

“Would you rather date someone who’s ‘viable’ or someone who’s lovable?”

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Remove From Your Process as Often as You Add To It - Mike Cohn

Can you imagine being so angry about a team doing something wrong that you institute a rule for them to follow for the next 100 years? Literally 100 years.
Queen Victoria was that angry.
One day in 1894, the Queen went to the Horse Guards building expecting her Household Cavalry to be ready to escort her back to Buckingham Palace. She instead found the guards either asleep, drunk, or gambling.
Infuriated, she commanded that an inspection of the Guards be held at 4:00 p.m. every day for the next 100 years.
I’m guessing the Guards got the message to stop sleeping, drinking, and gambling on duty long before 100 years. The 4:00 p.m. inspection could have stopped after perhaps a year or two. Maybe sooner.
Things that become part of a team’s process sometimes stay there too long, like that inspection of the Queen’s Horse Guards.
This happened in a company that had a large database that was shared by multiple applications. When one team changed the database, they screwed up the change and left other teams scrambling to quickly change their code in production.
They held a multi-team retrospective and agreed that each team would produce a Database Impact Report every sprint. The report would describe how a team’s work would affect the database.
This doesn’t sound horrible yet, except it was rare for most teams to do any work at all in a sprint that would affect the database.
These teams were still expected to complete a Database Impact Report each sprint that basically said:

No impact
No impact
No impact

These no-impact Impact Reports were emailed to all other teams.
After opening a PDF every two weeks that said “no impact,” recipients stopped bothering to even read the reports that were still being generated.
Stop. Just stop.
These reports were probably useful for a period. They may have helped identify a risk. They certainly made people more aware of the impact a database change could have on other teams.
But after a while, they should have been removed from the teams’ process, especially once the teams who actually did routinely alter the database had found better ways of communicating potential impacts.
In retrospectives, it’s always tempting to look for new things to add (“Let’s start using AI to inspect our code!”).
But make sure you also reserve time in retrospectives to look for things to remove.
Unless your team members are all drunk, gambling, or asleep at 4:00 p.m., you can probably find something to remove from your process.
A barely sufficient process with unnecessary actions and rules removed will help you succeed with agile

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Advice From a Tech CEO - Learn Skills Outside of Tech

AI is going to work best in niche technical applications, not general purpose FOMO applications. So the more niche Mike focuses his tech team, the more efficiently they can integrate AI, and reject what they don’t need — those wild goose chases — as AI grows and evolves around them.

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STOP Creating a Sense of Urgency. START Fostering a Sense of Purpose

Let’s retire sense of urgency and instead look for sense of purpose. A sense of purpose is a deep understanding of the reasons behind our efforts and a desire to pour in time and energy because that purpose resonates with the impact we’d like to make on the world.

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18 Cheat Codes to Life, to Put You 10 Years Ahead of Other People

Master Your Sleep First
Build Your Minimum Viable Day (MVD)
Dopamine Detox Every Sunday
Ruthlessly Protect Your Morning Focus
Follow the Energy - NOT the Money
Curate Your Inputs
Build a Personal Board of Directors
The Rule of 100
Automate the Unimportant
Become Addicted to Closing Loops
Build a Temple For Focus
Ask Better Questions
Create a Weekly Review System
Master Assertive Communication
Build a Silent Hour Every Day
Walk 10000 Steps Every Day
Default to Action
Build a Vision - Then Reverse Engineer It

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How To Defeat The 3 Most Common Arguments Against Technical Debt

I once worked on a project where we weren’t able to think about technical debt until five years in.

Like many startups, we had to hustle to get off the ground. In those initial years, we didn’t have much time or capacity to even think about addressing the debt we accumulated.

And did it ever accumulate.

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Agile Is Broken, So What Should Startups and Tech Companies Do Instead?

Look, no matter where you stand on Agile, Scrum, or Jira, no one can name-call their way around the fact that continuous delivery and continuous improvement have, more often than not, given way to over-management, over-documentation, and over-scrutinization of the software development process, turning development into a joyless slog where nothing new and innovative gets done, and certainly not quickly — even at, and especially at, tech startups.

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Are Story Points Helping Your Team?

Story Points have been around for a couple decades now. There are countless articles and videos demonstrating their usage. Many organizations mandate their usage and teaching them are part of the standard approach for consulting organizations.

For as long as I’ve known about Story Points (SP) and the associated velocity there continue to be far too many teams that have constant incomplete work Sprint after Sprint. Teams spend endless hours haggling over point estimation and still get it wrong so much of the time. There is elaborate theater in many teams at the end of the Sprint, renegotiating SP estimates for work that was harder than anticipated. Or splitting incomplete work and then attempting to determine where to place the Story Points.

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Scrum Masters Are Useless — Product Managers Should Run Their Own Scrum

We’ve all been there. It’s 10:00 AM. You’re in a standup, sipping your third coffee, while the Scrum Master dutifully asks each developer, “What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? Any blockers?”

Someone mumbles something about JIRA tickets. Another person reports, “Same as yesterday.”

Meanwhile, the Product Manager (PM) is frantically jotting notes, trying to connect the dots between what was promised and what’s actually happening.

And the Scrum Master? They nod, write things down, and move on.

Here’s the controversial take: Do we really need a dedicated Scrum Master for this? Or should Product Managers just run their own scrums?

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The Time For You to Grow

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The Job Market Rebound is Going to Catch Everyone Off Guard

I’ve got good news about the job market.

And some bad news.

The good news is that this perennially iced-over and zombified market is finally, slowly starting to thaw. Both survey data and anecdotal evidence point to an uptick in hiring in the near future.

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Five Things You Should Know as a Leader Implementing AI

There is no playbook... Yet
Do NOT be afraid to experiment
AI technology advances quickly
AI will NOT solve everything
Be a responsible leader when implementing AI

BONUS - Find the right coach / trainer when implementing AI. Do not go at it alone. You will waste too much time learning outdated materials.

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3 Key Lessons From My First Product Role

My first product role shaped how I lead. I learned about true ownership, deep business impact, and competition that goes beyond features. Working with a visionary CEO in a product-led company taught me lessons that still guide me. PMs, are you embracing these to drive real impact?

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A few years ago, I was in a business review meeting with my team, looking at charts and reports that showed how our business was doing. The numbers didn’t look good, and as everyone around the table shared their thoughts, it became clear that no one agreed on what to do next. There were a lot of ideas, worries, and quick fixes — but not much clarity.

I realized then that my job wasn’t just about making decisions; it was about seeing the bigger picture, noticing patterns others might miss, and guiding the team through the confusion. That’s when I understood what makes a leader truly strategic.

Being a strategic leader isn’t just about having a vision or setting goals. It’s about building a set of skills that help you see changes before they happen, connect the dots, and lead your team through uncertain times.

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How Firm a Foundation...

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Three Ways to Handle Unfinished Work - Mike Cohn

Over the past three weeks, I’ve been sending you tips about spillover on agile teams. We’ve talked in depth about the problem of habitual spillover—when a team routinely rolls unfinished work forward from sprint to sprint.
This week, I want to share 3 ways to handle the unfinished work that will occasionally be left over by even a great agile team.

If You Want a Guarantee, Buy a Toaster

My first bit of advice for how to handle unfinished work is to remember that even the best agile teams sometimes miss their goals. That’s OK and even desirable to a certain extent.
Sprint goals are not guarantees. (As Clint Eastwood’s character Nick Pulovski says in The Rookie, “If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster!”) Leaders, stakeholders, and even the team themselves might need an occasional reminder about this.
A team’s commitment to a sprint goal is a promise to do its best to achieve that goal. If team members are perpetually forced instead to make a guarantee, they will guarantee less in order to be safe.
Sometimes a team needs to make a guarantee. There might be times when a client or customer needs a capability by a certain date. The finance group may need to run year-end reports in early January, for example.
In general, though, we don’t want to force a team into a guarantee. We ask a team to commit to something reasonable and then we’re understanding if they miss it. Falling short on the occasional commitment is not a failure-–it’s usually a sign of bad luck or a team that’s striving to do too much.

Don’t Roll Work Forward Automatically

My second bit of advice is to resist the urge to automatically roll over the unfinished work into the next sprint. Put it in the product backlog instead.
The item may be back on the product backlog for a millisecond, but there should be a conscious decision by the product to continue work on it.
(Logistically, I don’t care if it’s easier in your tool of choice to move the item to the next sprint rather than to the product backlog first. The key is that there is a decision to continue the work.)
If the product owner decides the team should work on the partly finished item immediately in the next sprint, bring in the product backlog item as is. Don’t re-estimate it. Don’t rename it. Don’t take partial velocity credit. Just bring the item into the next sprint and take the full velocity credit when it’s complete.
But if the item is deferred for later, go ahead and split the story into what makes sense. Take partial velocity credit for the work you completed last sprint, then write a new story that describes only the missing functionality and estimate that story.

Document the Cause

My final bit of advice for dealing with unfinished work is this: Whenever work is unfinished at the end of a sprint, the team should take time in the retrospective to consider whether it was preventable.
Sometimes unfinished work is just bad luck or bad timing, such as a team member being ill or a problem being found late in the sprint that could not have been found earlier. Sometimes it’s just the result of aiming too high for one sprint.
But you might uncover something that is becoming a bad habit.
Whatever the cause, it’s always worth considering whether something can be done to prevent it from affecting future sprints so that your team can succeed with agile.

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Is the Party Over For Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches?

Over the past decade, agile adoption in organizations has seen an upswing. Large enterprises—banks, insurance companies, automakers, and many others—have all been at the forefront of launching agile transformations to achieve business agility—the elusive elixir. The promise of increased flexibility, faster delivery, and enhanced collaboration across teams is almost impossible to resist in today’s competitive world, where markets change rapidly, bringing risks and opportunities.

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Five Most Forgotten Parts From The Scrum Guide

Scrum. Love it or hate it. There doesn’t appear to be much in between. I like the framework, although I don’t think it is perfect. At the same time, I understand the developers who hate it from the bottom of their hearts. Strangely enough though, they have different problems with Scrum than I have. And zooming in, their problems often are not about Scrum in the first place. They shed light on how Scrum can be misapplied in many ways.

Today I will list the 5 most forgotten, misunderstood or misapplied parts of the Scrum Guide. I will also tell how they are misapplied and their actual intention.

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Dependencies Destroy Agility and Predictability

Why do organizations desire Agile?

Two of the most common items I hear organizations and executives identify as reasons for adopting Agile methods and practices are to increase their delivery speed and to become more predicable. When will X be done? There are valid financial reasons for these goals such as: when can we expect to book revenue for product X?

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7 Tips To Read Someone’s Personality in 10 Seconds

People think it takes ages to really figure out what someone’s about, like you need to sit with them through a few heartbreaks, swap childhood trauma stories, maybe even get caught in a road trip disaster together.

Nah.

Give it ten seconds, maybe even less if they’re the loud, obvious type, and you’ll get everything you need to know.

And this isn’t about “vibes” or whatever people say when they don’t actually know what they’re talking about. This is straight-up psychology. Well, mostly. Some of it is just paying attention and comment sense.

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6 Daily Habits of Highly Effective Scrum Masters

Start Each Day With a Quick Review
Lead Effective Daily Scrums
Make Time For One-on-Ones
Keep Communication Open With Stakeholders
Dedicate Time For Continual Learning
Reflect and Plan For Tomorrow

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Scrum Fails When Product Owners Think They Are The Boss

I’m afraid that everyone interprets it differently, and that’s the source of problems. For me, the word owner is misleading. As a Product Owner, you own nothing, though you may think you do.

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Why Your Scrum Teams Are Failing - The Hard Truth

Agile was presented to me as the ultimate project management approach — promising productivity, transparency, and value delivery in short bursts. However, many teams struggled to effectively implement and scale Scrum, missing the mark on its potential.

Waterfall was declared a relic of the past — outdated, painfully inefficient, and completely incapable of keeping up with the demands of modern projects.

The question wasn’t which approach was better, but rather why teams were failing to embrace the very solutions meant to propel them forward.

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Product Owners vs. Product Managers vs. Project Managers

While you are knee-deep looking for your next role, I’ve seen endless variations of “product” roles. Specifically, the terms Product Owner (PO), Product Manager (PM), and Project Manager (PjM) seem to be used interchangeably, or even used to describe the same person. Yet, some teams have all three within each individual squad.

So, what’s the difference between these three roles? And why do we need all three in the first place?

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The 5-Second Conversation Hack

Learn how to become better in conversation with this 5-second hack!

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The Great Agile Reset

Framework Fatigue Is Real

Marty Cagan nailed it recently: “The product model addresses three major dimensions: how you decide which problems to solve (product strategy), how you solve these problems (product discovery), and how you build, test, and deploy your solutions (product delivery). Real Agile can certainly help with this third dimension.” (Source.)

Translation: Organizations are done with copying and pasting frameworks. They realize that true agility means finding your own path to creating value. Standardized training and certification programs? That train has left the station. #ParadigmShift

AI Is Eating Agile (Sort Of)

Have you played with DeepSeek R1 yet? This isn’t just another tech trend. This is a seismic shift in how knowledge work happens. No, ChatGPT or Claude won’t steal your job tomorrow. But what about your colleague who’s mastered prompt engineering, AI-based data analysis, and agents? They might make you obsolete.

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How to Break the Spillover Habit - Mike Cohn

For the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about the problem of habitual spillover—when a team routinely rolls over unfinished work from sprint to sprint.
So far, we’ve talked about why spillover happens, and why it’s a problem, plus I’ve given steps to start a reduction in your team’s spillovers.
This week, I want to share two ways to break your team’s rollover habit.

Sometimes teams miss their goals. That’s OK. Sometimes teams miss when they aim high and fall a little short. Don’t try to fix those teams—celebrate their effort.
Other times teams miss because they just hit a run of bad luck for a handful of sprints. Again, no need to intervene there. (Next week, I’ll share what to do with the unfinished work that results from either of these first two scenarios.)
Most often, though, teams miss because they are overly optimistic about what they can achieve. They plan each sprint to be a best-case scenario.
If you think that could be your team, in your next sprint planning meetings try asking questions like these:

What could go wrong that could cause the team to miss its goal?
What has to go right to achieve this goal? These questions can help a team see any risky assumptions they’re making about how easy the planned work will be.

As most of us who made New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of 2025 have re-discovered by now, old habits die hard. Sometimes you have to take drastic action to realize lasting results, and to succeed with agile.

Curb Their Enthusiasm Drastically Under-commitIf these kinds of questions don’t help the team make more realistic guesses about what they can accomplish, you might have to resort to drastically reducing what the team commits to achieving.
At the next sprint planning, encourage your team to truly under-commit. I’m not talking about cutting the sprint goal by some small amount, like 10–20%. I’m saying you limit team members to committing to only 50% of what they believe they can accomplish.
The team may push back on this. They are used to filling up their sprint and will be optimistic that they can get a lot more done than the items they’ve chosen. Don’t give in.
When team members push back, remind them that if they run out of work to do, they can always bring more in. But hold firm that no work will come in until the sprint goal is achieved and all the work planned into the sprint is complete.
(You’ll likely need to have a talk with the product owner prior to sprint planning so they too can be prepared to hear that the team is bringing only a few items into the sprint.)
The goal in under-committing is to let the team feel what it’s like to add work into a sprint rather than always needing to drop work.
After they feel this, they’ll likely want to feel it again.
Encourage them to plan a bit more work into the next few sprints until they get close to missing their goals and rolling over again. Incorporate the enthusiasm-curbing questions as needed.

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Grow Your Product Management Skills

Managing a product through the product life cycle is hard. It is even more difficult to grow as a product owner in these challenging times. Product ownership is a very complex and multifaceted challenge. And because of the complexity of the topic, there is no single linear approach to mastering product ownership. That’s why we need agile and lean approaches and a wide range of knowledge and skills.
You can study product management for years at university. This shows how profound and demanding the entire discipline is. It also shows how long it takes to build the skills required to be successful in this field.

To succeed, you need the right skills and the right approaches. Only if you are aware of the complexity and know what you are doing will your product be successful throughout the entire product life cycle.

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5 Things a Manager Should NEVER Do...

Skip-Level Feedback
Take on Individual Contributor Work
Add More Work to the Team
Take Sides in Personal Disagreements
Make All the Important Decisions

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From Dreary to Dazzling - 1 Young Man Makes a Difference

Can one young man truly make a difference in his community? Indeed he can!

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Effective Storytelling in Product Management

If you’re not careful, product management can get really, really boring. Slide deck after slide deck, the details start to blur together, and the audience starts to disengage.

If you’re throwing stats, facts, and bullets at your audience without constructing a narrative, your point isn’t getting across. Your audience will be quick to tune it out and, even if they do listen, they’ll struggle to turn the information into something memorable and useful.

Product storytelling is a great way to add context and excitement to any product document or presentation. By sharing our data, insights, and strategies in a story-driven way, product managers can get more done with more impactful communication.

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3 Ways To Improve Team Morale

Team morale indicates how willing members are to push on in the face of difficulties. Teams with high morale find their work meaningful and feel motivated to work together. High morale is a buffer against inevitable setbacks and burnout, and a great indicator of the atmosphere in a team.

So what can you do when team morale is low? In this blog post, we share three short formats that easily fit inside a Sprint Retrospective. Their purpose is to start a dialogue in your team and begin improvement. The formats are based on the Liberating Structures “Conversation Cafe”, “Troika Consulting”, and “Discovery & Action Dialogue”. So pick the one that you think will work best and take it away!

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Just watch the video already...

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Transitioning from a Product Manager to a Product Lead

Ever since I started my new role as product lead a few weeks back, I felt that there was a huge difference in the work and responsibilities I perform as compared to my PM roles back in Crypto.com and Alibaba.

And I am not entirely sure if this is because of the role, or perhaps the nature of the company where the startup environment requires me to always be scrappy. But I am definitely loving every moment of it and I am constantly learning to be a better version of myself in this new role.

With that being said, I wanted to share my experience and highlight some of the main changes I have identified to better prepare any first-time product leads out there.

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Shake Off The Winter Blues, Spring Is Here!

Don't let the depression of winter shut you down! Look forward to Spring and make small changes to prepare.

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Start With No... Why Most People Should NOT Be Managers

Leading talented humans requires inspiring them, partnering with them in understanding the problem, designing the solution, and motivating them.

Now, if you can’t influence people as their peers, that might be frustrating, but you can still usually do your job, and no harm is done. However, if you are the formal manager of the team, and you can’t influence them to do what the company needs, now you are failing in your primary job.

Most of the companies I worked for took a “promote from the rear” approach, which meant that people should be promoted for roles they already demonstrated they could do. In this case, if you showcase that you can lead and do 70–80% of the manager role, then you will get that desired promotion.

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The 2025 Product Manager - Winning Playbook

Finding Your Why
The rise of The Product Specialist
Strategy vs. Execution
Crafting Winning Product Documents
Say NO To Boring and YES To Automation
Ride The Creator Economy

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The 2-Minute Meeting Hack

How It Works

Set the stage: Inform your team about the new format beforehand. No team likes surprises.

The 2-minute rule: Each team member gets exactly 2 minutes to speak.

The magic formula: In those 2 minutes, they must cover:

One success since the last meeting
One challenge they’re facing
One specific ask for help or resources

Then it’s your chance as the boss to shine.

You get 30 seconds to respond with:

A note of praise for the success
A clarifying question about the challenge
A commitment to address the ask (or delegate it)

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The Top 3 Weekly Meetings That Will Help You Be the Best Leader!

Open Office Hour
Work Status Meeting
Work Productivity Meeting

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Welcome Home Anthony Henson!

My son is FINALLY home! Please join me in welcoming him back!

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Lead an Agile Team With Context and Control

You can only get so far by attempting to manage the performance of people through control. It is far better to lead or manage people by defining the context of their work.
I was fortunate to learn this lesson early on when I worked in...a fast food restaurant. My manager, Jim, trained me that each burger was to be dressed with:

2 leaves of lettuce
2 tomatoes
3 slices of onion
3 pickles
defining the wildly important goal (WIG) the team is working toward
helping people deeply understand and empathize with users
guiding a team in defining its igniting purpose, an intrinsic motivation that inspires exceptional performance
understanding the strengths and weaknesses of competitive products

He didn’t drill this into my head. He didn’t inspect my burgers. He didn’t pop-quiz me.
Instead, he explained the context, the reason why our burgers should be dressed exactly that way.
He told me to imagine a customer who orders a burger with extra pickles and a cook who loves pickles and puts five on each burger by default. When asked for extra pickles, that cook puts on seven.
That’s too many for the customer who, on a return visit, asks for “light pickles.” That burger is made by a different cook who would normally put on three pickles and so puts just one on when asked for light pickles.
My boss gave me a vision of hapless customers alternately ordering extra or light pickles and never getting what they want due to the preferences of the cooks.
I remember the context he defined 40+ years later. How long would pimply-faced me have remembered these amounts if my boss had merely presented them as rules?
My manager defined the context of my customer—a hungry person seeking consistency. And that was enough.
Leading through context can involve of mix of things such as:

Leading an agile team—whether as a manager, executive, Scrum Master, product owner, team lead or other leader—is different. It requires new skills.
A self-organizing team resists rules and thrives on creativity and freedom. Leading such a team by providing context can also cause it to excel,

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The Art of Strategic Decision Making - Product Manager Edition

In the fast-paced and ever-changing world of product management, the role of a senior product manager stands out owing to the exceptional combination of talents, perspectives, and strategic thinking that they bring to the table. Senior product managers take a different approach to their position than their junior colleagues do, as they are frequently faced with a large array of responsibilities. They have mastered the capacity to maintain a balance between thinking about the large picture and thinking about minute details, deliberate product direction while managing cross-functional teams, and link product decisions with the outcomes of business operations.

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The First Principles of Product Management

Some of the best PMs I know make their decisions based on first principles. A first principle is a “basic, foundational proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption.”.

An example of one that we use for our developer platform team are that “all platform features should be like Lego blocks”, meaning that developers should be able to use any combination of features when building an app. Features should be interoperable, just like Legos.

First principle thinking helps PMs because as companies scale, communicating the rationale behind historical, current, and future decisions can be simplified in a way that their team and stakeholders can rally around. This enables people around the PM to move quickly in the same direction, decouple, and make smart trade offs without their presence.

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Agile is NOT Dead... It is Just in a New Era!

The New Agile Principles

1) Own The Problem & The Solution

Agile addresses complexity, where uncertainty reigns. There simply is no clear-cut solution to your problems. What is worse, the moment you apply a solution without understanding it, you surrender control and become a spectator.

The first principle is to understand and fully accept that the only person who can decide what the solution might be is the person who is closest to the problem — you. Embrace this responsibility.

2) Be a Learner

Effective problem-solving requires knowledge. The only way to take responsibility for your problems is by having the necessary knowledge at hand. And the only way you can do this is by becoming a scholar. Continuously learning.

Knowledge is power. The more you know, the better you can understand your problem and the more solutions you will be able to come up with. The better you will be able to spar with others. The better you can take responsibility for your problems.

Innovation rests on the shoulders of those who came before you.

3) Be Critical

Knowledge is merely information. To wield knowledge effectively you need wisdom.

Wisdom comes from scepticism, from asking questions, being aware of assumptions, deep analysis, seeking diverse perspectives and engaging in thoughtful discussion. Strive to understand the context and the limitations of the knowledge you have. Strive to discover the gaps in your knowledge.

Being critical is the only way to discern what the value and applicability is of any knowledge.

4) Be Creative

Complexity means continuously facing novel problems that demand original solutions. That can only happen with creativity. Experimentation.

Accept that! Realize that that is the job!

Again, you may stand on the shoulders of geniuses and most of what you create may be derivative, but in the context of your particular problem, the solution will always be an act of creation, something unique.

5) Be Humble

Wielding the previous principles effectively will do awesome things for your self-confidence. Solving problems will become a game you love to play.

But beware! Arrogance is fatal. The only way to remain effective is by embracing humility and always accepting that whatever you come up with may and probably will fail, and can always be improved.

Humility is the foundation of continuous improvement. It leads to the need to experiment and validate, a need to second-guess yourself, a quest to make absolutely sure your solutions truly work.

6) Be a Teacher

Last of all, be a teacher. This may sound weird, but the truth is that teaching solidifies understanding. Teaching, whether through your teams, through writing, presentations, or mentorship, forces you to articulate your thoughts clearly, and forces you to structure your knowledge and identify gaps in your understanding.

This is the true sign of mastery of your profession.

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Bring Out Your Stagnation!

In the bustling village of Progressia, every Tuesday morning, the town crier—an overworked man in a tattered robe named Nigel—pushed his old wooden cart through the cobbled streets, shouting:

"Bring out your stagnation! Bring out your stagnation!"

It was a longstanding tradition. Villagers would shuffle out of their homes, dragging out bad ideas, outdated habits, and half-baked projects, dumping them onto the cart so they could be disposed of properly.

One day, old farmer Reginald hobbled out, dragging something heavy behind him.

“Here’s my career,” he grumbled. “It hasn’t moved in years.”

Nigel peered down at the heap of dusty resignation letters, ignored training courses, and a suspiciously untouched LinkedIn profile. He poked it with a stick.

“Oh no, that’s not quite dead,” Nigel said. “It just needs a bit of effort!”

“Nonsense,” said Reginald. “I’m stuck, out of ideas, and might as well give up.”

Suddenly, the heap of career mistakes coughed and sat up. “I’m feeling much better,” it croaked. “I think I’ll take a course on Agile leadership and try networking again.”

Reginald frowned. “Look, can we just throw it on the cart? Makes things simpler.”

But Nigel shook his head. “You see, mate, the problem isn’t that your career is dead. It’s that you stopped improving. If you’re still breathing, you can still grow.”

A murmur of agreement spread through the crowd. People began dragging out their own half-forgotten goals—neglected gym memberships, dusty musical instruments, and an entire sack labeled "New Year’s Resolutions (2009-2024)".

Nigel grinned. “See? You don’t need to get rid of your past—you need to upgrade it! Continual improvement, people! That’s how you avoid ending up on the cart.”

From that day forward, Progressia changed. Every Tuesday, instead of throwing away their “stagnation,” people took their old ideas and revitalized them—learning new skills, trying new methods, and embracing a growth mindset.

And as for Reginald? Well, he got himself a Scrum Master certification and became quite the success. (Though he still grumbled about it.)

Moral of the story: Don’t throw yourself on the cart too soon. If you’re still breathing, you can still grow!

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The Top 5 Daily Rituals of Highly Effective Leaders

Start The Day With Clarity
Connect With Your Team
Focus on Learning
Celebrate Small Wins
Practice Reflection

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Why a Spillover Habit Is So Harmful - Mike Cohn

Welcome to the second email in the spillover series. We’re talking today about why habitual spillover—the phenomenon of unfinished work piling up and carrying forward sprint after sprint—is so harmful to teams.

As a reminder,

Last week, I explained why spillover happens
This week, I’ll describe why habitual spillover is a problem
Next week, I’ll give you some ideas for how to break your team’s rollover habit
Finally, I’ll talk about what to do with unfinished work when spillover happens

Why is Habitual Spillover a Problem?

As we talked about last week, teams will sometimes miss their sprint goal, especially when that team is ambitious and aiming high. And that’s OK.

But teams that develop a consistent pattern of overcommitting and then carrying work forward cause problems for themselves and for the organization as a whole.

Teams That Deliver Routinely Are Predictably Dependable

The main problem with habitual spillover is Lack of Predictability / Dependability.

Every organization benefits from some level of predictability. I worked with a company once that was preparing for its IPO.

Despite the tremendous pressure to meet revenue goals prior to going public, the CEO told me he’d happily trade some revenue for greater predictability. Being predictable is that important.

Predictability shouldn’t be the primary goal for an agile team, but it should be a goal.

It’s the same in sports. Basketball players strive to make every free throw. But a player who sinks the ball in the basket about 80% of the time is considered a high performer. That player can be reliably counted on to make most of their free throws.

Baseball players also strive to get a hit every time they’re at bat. And believe it or not, they are considered great, highly predictable hitters, if they manage a hit about 35% of the time—reflected in their .350 batting average.

Like those sports players, agile teams are expected to try to deliver everything they think they can, every time. But realistically, if an agile team achieves its goal 60–80% of the time, they are providing a high level of predictability.

Teams That Demonstrate Frequent Progress Are Happier & More Creative

A second, related reason your teams want to finish what they’ve started most of the time is a phenomenon called the power of small wins. In a 2011 study, Amabile and Kramer found that tangible, visible progress is a key factor in people’s enjoyment of work, and by extension their level of creativity.
It’s almost impossible to get a true sense of progress on “mostly done” work because until it’s fully done, you can’t really gauge the amount of work remaining.

This is known as the 90% syndrome. Software projects are 90% done for 90% of their schedule, and that’s hard on everyone.
When progress stalls and work rolls over, teams lose their sense of accomplishment from making measurable, demonstrable progress. (Want to know more? Read this blog and discover several reasons why it’s so important for teams to get to done.)

Teams that routinely fail to deliver on their goals lose trust with the organization and miss the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing. That’s why next week’s tip will be things you can do to help break your team of the spillover habit so they can succeed with agile,

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Did We Fail Agile? Shame On Us!!

For decades, developers were trapped. They couldn’t bare the situation any longer. Following requirements that resulted in features customers didn’t use demotivated everyone, and a revolution was necessary.

At the beginning of the 2000s, we finally realized that we could not predict everything upfront. A plan would fool everyone and yield pointless results. It was time to break silos and boost collaboration. Move from features to results, from plans to goals, from fragmented responsibilities to autonomous teams.

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How To Prioritize Risk As a Product Manager

The conventional approach to product development, the build-measure-learn cycle, has been the bedrock for many product teams. This methodology emphasizes building quickly, measuring results, and then learning from those outcomes to iterate and improve. While it encourages speed and adaptability, it also comes with significant downsides, especially when it comes to resource efficiency. Too often, product teams find themselves pouring time and energy into features that ultimately fail, resulting in wasted resources, lost opportunities, and often a shift in product strategy.

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Goat Yoga & Walking the Plank: A Lesson in Balance

Lee... Have you lost your mind?

Yes!

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Do you feel like you have to hover over your team?

Leading a team is sometimes a work for a herding dog. You need to gather, herd, and protect your team.

On top, you need to monitor almost every detail of their work, and frequently intervene in tasks or decisions because otherwise, the needle does not move.

Exhausting.

When the lack of accountability creeps into your team, someone has to do it. Sadly, people quickly get used to it and let leaders make decisions and count them for mistakes...

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A key agile principle is the value of getting work done by the end of each iteration.
Yet one of the biggest complaints I get from agile leaders is that teams never finish what they say they will during a sprint. Instead, teams consistently let the unfinished work spill over (AKA roll over or carry over) from sprint to sprint.
Spillover is such a prevalent problem for agile teams that I want to devote several tips to talking about it.

First, I’ll explain what spillover is and how to know if it’s a problem
Next, I’ll describe why habitual spillover is so bad
Third, I’ll give you some ideas for how to break your team’s rollover habit
Finally, I’ll talk about what to do with unfinished work when spillover happens. After all, while spillover shouldn’t be a habit, every team will occasionally have unfinished work at the end of the sprint
Team members were too optimistic and brought too much into the iteration
The team was interrupted more often during the sprint than expected
Some of the work took longer than expected
Externally: A boss or important stakeholder can exert pressure by telling a team what must be done or by establishing unrealistic expectations.
Internally: Some teams allow their optimism and high expectations of themselves to create pressure to do more than is reasonable.

What Is Spillover? Why Does It Happen?
Spillover is when a team arrives at the end of one sprint with some unfinished work that needs to be finished in a later sprint. It happens when a team overcommits to what they can achieve during the iteration timebox. This is usually because:

Spillover is not a bad thing in and of itself. It’s unrealistic to expect a team to finish everything it starts, every sprint. In fact, it’s normal and desirable for a team to occasionally aim a little high for what they can accomplish in a sprint, and come up short.
When Does Spillover Become a Problem?
Habitual spillover, though, is different. Habitual spillover is when a team almost always commits to more than they can finish in the sprint. These teams rarely finish what they think they will.
As a result, the end of the sprint becomes an arbitrary date, and work is just carried over into the next sprint as if it’s no big deal.
It is a big deal. (I’ll talk more about why it is a big deal in next week’s tip).
The most common reason teams develop a habit of taking on more work than they can finish is pressure. That pressure can originate:
One Thing to Do This Sprint
One thing you can do right away to help stop habitual spillover is to make the problem visible.
At the next sprint end, make a note of how many items the team committed to versus how many were 100% done. Even better: look back and do this for a handful of prior sprints.
Bring this information to the retrospective and ask the team why they think unfinished work has become a pattern for them. Then ask them for one thing they could try next sprint to prevent it from happening.
Don’t forget to hold them accountable to trying that idea (whatever it is) during sprint planning and as the sprint progresses.
While you’re doing that, I’ll be getting my next tip ready for you. Next week I’ll be writing about why spillover is such a bad habit to fall into and how breaking that habit can help you succeed with agile.

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Why ‘Better’ Products Fail

You built the better product. Faster, smarter, and loaded with features your competition doesn’t have. And yet — no one’s switching. Here’s why adoption isn’t rational.

People don’t choose the best option. They choose the least risky, the most familiar — the one everyone else is already using.

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The Power To Change Organizational Culture As An Introverted Manager

A culture is nothing more than shared values, beliefs, and behaviors defining what is “normal” at work. If other managers prefer async communication, for example, then this is probably the norm in your company. On the other hand, if your CEO is more explosive, yelling might be normal.

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Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Your Star shines the very brightest when you are in a dark place...

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3 Ways To Help Your Team Succeed In 2025 - Mike Cohn

Join us as we discuss these three amazing techniques and how they can impact your teams.

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The Top 10 Skills to Become a REAL Product Manager

Create Your Own Product
Join a Helpful Community
Complete Affordable Courses To Gain Real Knowledge
Follow The best Creators
Read or Listen to Books On Top Products
Rehearse Job Interviews
Make It Your Hobby
Knowledge > Certifications
Get an Adjacent PM Job
Practice Soft Skills

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One Why Beats a Thousand Whats - Agile Sales & Marketing

Market research is like archeology. It helps understand the past but tells us little about the future.

It gives us many ‘whats’ but few ‘whys’.

Of course, market research isn’t useless. But it can only go so far.

Consumer research includes surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, ethnographic studies, joint shopping trips, and other methods.

The results are usually used only by marketers, and that’s a mistake.

Oftentimes they use them rather mechanically — for pricing decisions or advertising campaigns.

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Translating User Stories Into Value Stories Can Drive Action

I’ve been seeing an increasing number of designers who don’t realize that design communication is a two-way street.

There’s been an increasing focus on soft skills, like design communication, to navigate this turbulent job market. However, this doesn’t just mean teaching your team about the UX point of view.

It also means knowing enough about the business's priorities to translate user findings and design recommendations into terms they understand.

When I say that, people often think this means learning about KPIs, metrics, and related subjects. While learning those terms is helpful, that’s not the only way to translate designs for the business.

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What Are The Best Ways To Learn Something New?

Do you work as an apprentice?

Do you observe others?

Do you watch a video?

Do you listen to a Podcast?

Do you visit a library and research?

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Fundamental Product Management is Most Important In the AI Age

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) continues to expand its horizons across a myriad of industries, enabling product managers (PMs) of all domains with the chance to become AI-focused and more tech-savvy.

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A Simple Practice To Prevent Wasteful Meetings

Before each session, we need to clarify:
1️⃣ Required participants 👨‍⚖️ 👩‍⚖️
2️⃣ Purpose 🤔
3️⃣ Desired outcome 🎯
4️⃣ How to prepare 🤔
5️⃣ Agenda 🗓

It’s super simple and offers some great advantages:
✅ If any of these parts are unclear, ask the organizer for clarification.
✅ If parts remain unclear, don’t join the session!
✅ Meetings are often scheduled way ahead of time, so it serves as a friendly reminder of the meeting.
✅ Defining all these topics up front allows everyone to provide feedback before the session to ensure it becomes even more valuable. For example, “What if we make … the purpose of the session?” or “What if we include agenda item X as well?”
✅ As a meeting organizer, you can expect all the participants to come prepared. If all parts are completed, nobody can use the excuse of not knowing how to prepare.

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Will The ScrumMaster Be Obsolete in 2025?

If you hang out in the “Agile” bubble on LinkedIn, the dice have already been cast: Scrum is out (and the Scrum Master), and the new kid on the block is [insert your preferred successor framework choice here.]

I’m not entirely certain about that, but several data points on my side suggest a decline in the Scrum Master’s role.

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Why will you hate your next Product Management job as well? - Dr. Bart PM

How is it that when you change Product Manager jobs, all looks so good initially and turns into the same shit as in your last role? Is it you? Is it the job itself?

https://dr-bartosz-jaworski.medium.com/why-will-you-hate-your-next-product-management-job-as-well-0be09a34ccf3

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Happy Valentines Day! A Special Episode...

We hope you enjoy this special Friday Episode to celebrate Valentines Day!

Happy Birthday Justin!

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Three Ways To Refocus In Your Daily Scrum - Standup

1) Actually Stand Up

2) Socialize with Another Human Being

3) Take the Time to Practice Being Creative

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End Team Disruption NOW!

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The Customer is Mostly Wrong? - Could It Be True?

Target customers are your perfect customers. You probably have a small slice of these and you likely know a handful of them by name. You almost consider these folks your friends.

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Agile Is Dead! Who Cares?

Many people despise Agile and claim it’s dead for good, while others still defend it. But now, with Agile Alliance joining the Project Management Institute (PMI), the future is anything but certain.

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Have you ever wondered whether or not you have bias? In this episode we discuss bias and the power of Empathy.

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Four Levels of Product Growth

The first level is sales. You hire salespeople who sell the product to customers by sending emails, visiting, calling, etc. While sales activity is critical in business, scaling is limited because you need more salespeople to sell more.

The second level is marketing. Marketing activity is physical and digital, such as distributing flyers, launching TV commercials, advertising on social media platforms, and digital advertisement. It increases name recognition and gains potential customers.

The third level is product development. A great product increases customer satisfaction, attracts more loyal customers, and generates word of mouth. This approach is longer-term than the previous ones, but it reaps more significant rewards in the long term. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal and a billion investor, says product is more important than marketing and sales in his book “Zero to One.”

The fourth level is human development, a long-term strategy for big rewards. Software products are created by humans, so developing employees is crucial. John C. Maxwell, the author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, says, “If you grow a leader, you can grow the organization. If you don’t, you can’t. A company cannot grow throughout until its leaders grow within.”

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Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You

What to Do When Scrum Meetings Go Wrong - Mike Cohn

I hate getting stuck in traffic. I grew up in Los Angeles and lived in New York, so I should probably be used to it. I’m not.
As frustrating as I find traffic, I’ve never gotten angry at the lines on the highway.
The lines on the highway are there to help me and the other drivers go faster than we could without them. They tell us which direction we can go, where to position our cars, when it’s safe to change lanes or turn, and more.
The meetings of Scrum are like those lines on the road—there to help us go fast. All too often, though, Scrum can feel bloated because teams allow the meetings to take too long.
A good way to prevent this is by keeping each meeting focused on its purpose. One meeting that often seems to stray from its purpose is sprint planning. Let’s look at some ways you can keep that meeting moving in the right direction, starting with a refresher on the purpose.
Purpose of sprint planning: To establish the sprint goal and choose the relevant product backlog items the team will tackle.
As part of choosing the product backlog items for a sprint, team members typically discuss the tasks required to complete the product backlog item. Often these tasks are given estimates (in terms of hours). The result is captured in the sprint backlog.
When things go wrong: While these discussions are helpful, they should last only long enough to help choose the appropriate work. If, on the other hand, team members get hung up in lengthy debates over which approach to use or how long each task will take, the meeting can quickly get out of hand.
How to fix it: To bring the team back to the purpose of the meeting, remind them that you only have to decide if the item will fit in the sprint, not agree completely on how to approach it, or precisely how much time each task will take.
Remind them that you can discuss implementation details at the beginning of the sprint. Offer to set up time with the relevant team members after sprint planning to dive into implementation specifics.
For more on what to do when teams complain that Scrum has too many meetings, check out the blog "Do Scrum Teams Meet Too Much."
Scrum Meetings Shouldn’t Be a Burden
The meetings of Scrum should not be a burden. Rather they are like the lines on a highway: there to help a team move more quickly. If it feels like the meetings are slowing your team down, try making the changes I’ve described.
Shortening meetings while still achieving the purpose of each will help you succeed with agile.

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The Holy Triad of Product Management Tools

Customer Journey Maps
User Empathy Maps
User Story Maps

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Best Techniques to Deliver Bad News As a Product Manager

Do you also feel frustration when, as a Product Manager, you are the bearer of bad news about failures and delays? How can it be done in the least painful way for both parties?

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Its Never Too Late For Second Chances

Let 2025 be the year we mend our hearts and our thoughts...

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10 Product Management Predictions for 2025!

10) More Rigorous Testing Practices- Smarter Experimentation

9) Reduced Team Empowerment

8) PM Industry Growth

7) PM Specialization

6) Product Leaders as General Managers

5) Less SAFe

4) Product Ops Will Grow

3) PO Will Evolve Into PM

2) AI Will Make PM Easier

1) Product Led Growth Is Realized

Is Your Agile Training Worth The Money? - Mike Cohn

Providing agile training to teams is an investment. With any investment, it is wise to assess the return you can expect. So let me ask you:
How much value did your last team training deliver? What benefits did you receive? What tangible improvements did your team realize?
If you can’t answer these questions, you shouldn’t spend another dime on training until you establish a set of metrics you want to see change after the training. What metrics am I talking about specifically?
You can expect many proven benefits from training. I tend to focus on three.

Well-trained agile teams realize productivity gains of at least 30-50%
Most teams see faster time to value just from switching to an agile way of working. Well-trained teams should move 5–10x faster
Organizations can expect well-trained and well-structured agile teams to be around 40% more predictable

(See the blog “Do the Proven Benefits of Agile Training Justify the Costs” for the data behind these claims)
In addition to these three, you might want to consider other benefits as well: improved innovation, higher user and stakeholder satisfaction, and better quality products.
Before your next team training, get a baseline of where your teams stand now in terms of these metrics. Then, measure how much they improve in the three months after training.
Proving ROI is important both for your own peace of mind in knowing whether the training was effective, and also to help justify future investments in training. Let me help you do just that.
We’ve created a free Agile Training ROI calculator you can use to help you think through the value you can expect from training. I’ve included instructions and an example to help you get the most from it. Take a look and see what you think.
Investing in the right training for your teams, and measuring the improvements you receive, will help you succeed with agile.

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Now Is The Time For Customer Delight!

Delight is all about creating moments where your user goes, “Wow!” These moments are usually not [directly] revenue-driving (or even core features), but they are the parts of your experience that your user remembers.

They’re small moments, like confetti animation when a user makes a deposit, a third-party data aggregator seamlessly pulling in data and populating a dashboard or unexpected customization and personalization. Moments of delight breed brand evangelism.

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How To Be A Rockstar Product Manager?

You should join a rock band of course...

Or you could listen to these helpful tips.

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The 15-Minute Worry Hack

You NEED to try this hack..

Your family and Team will appreciate it!

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The Team Working Agreement - Secret Sauce to Achieve High-Performing Teams

A Team Working Agreement is more than just a document—it’s the foundation for trust, collaboration, and accountability within Agile teams. By defining shared expectations, communication norms, and conflict resolution strategies, this "secret sauce" helps transform good teams into great ones. When teams co-create their working agreement, they foster a sense of ownership and alignment, which boosts productivity, transparency, and overall performance. Discover how implementing a Team Working Agreement can be the game-changer your team needs to reach high-performance and drive lasting success.

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What is the Difference Between Self Centric and Customer Centric Business Focus?

Self-centric focus will never build a customer-centric business

Is your org structure customer-centered?

Many companies organize their sales, marketing, and service departments by:

[1] products

[2] regions

They do this for efficiency or because such a structure is easier to manage.

Business is about the exchange of value between a company and its customers.

Customers don’t care if managing your company is easy for you.

The only strategy to build a customer-centric business is to design your org structure around customer segments.

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A Manager is NOT Supposed to Be In Charge of Their Team...

A group of Amazon leaders attended a leadership training summit.

During the retreat, they were told the following:

You are not in charge; rather, you are responsible for the people in your charge.

How true.

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25 Profitable Skills to Learn in 2025

Sales Process Engineering
Attention Grabbing Marketing
Abundance Mindset Cultivation
Efficient Execution Systems
Knowledge Monetization
Investment for Passive income
Wealth Accumulation
Branding
Coding and Development
Data Analysis
Cybersecurity
Remote Work Facilitation
Emotional Intelligence
Strategic Networking
Digital Content Creation
Language Proficiency
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Development
User Experience Design
E-Commerce Strategy
Ai and Machine Learning
Renewable Energy Engineering
Biotechnology
Urban Farming and Sustainable Agriculture
Mental health Awareness
Regenerative business Practices

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Beyond Christmas vibes and New Year excitement, December is also a month of hope, somewhat false promises to our future selves, and, well, a lot of reflection. It is that time of the year when the internet is flooded with advice on setting New Year resolutions.

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Understanding The Lost Art of Focus

Social media, stress and the craving for dopamine made us lose our ability to pay sustained attention.So much so that 80% of people reading this article will not reach the end (and surprisingly, it’s not — all — your fault).

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10 Reasons Why Every Leader Should Have a 'How To Work With Me Document'

Great Tool For Self-Reflection
Clarity For Everyone
Especially Useful for Remote or Distributed Teams
A Living, Breathing Document
Builds Trust and Encourages Feedback
reduces Friction and Conflict
Enables Faster Decision Making
Improves Team Alignment
Creates Accountability
Reference For Iteration

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This episode was inspired by an email I received from Mike Cohn. It is my turn to challenge you..

"Hi, I’m Joel, and I'll be your server tonight.”
I was out to dinner last week, and that was how the waiter introduced himself. Actually, he wasn’t our waiter. As he’d said, he was to be our server.
A small distinction perhaps, but as a writer I think words are important. The difference here struck me for some reason that night.
Throughout the meal, Joel did serve us. He had help with things like carrying plates from the kitchen and filling the wine and water glasses. But he was clearly interested in serving.
He recommended wines, subtly steered us away from some menu choices (“I prefer our fish dishes”), encouraged splitting one of the salads but ordering two appetizer choices, and did everything he could to ensure we had a great meal.
As the year winds down and I think about the emails I’ll send you next year, the YouTube videos I’ll create, the blog posts I’ll write, and the new courses I’ll create, I want to make sure I am serving you.

What topics would you most like to hear from me about next year?
Are there specific questions you’d like addressed?

Please comment below and let me know. I can’t bring you an appetizer or recommend a good Pinot to pair with your next retrospective, but I can promise to address topics that will help you succeed with agile.

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Is AI Coming to Take My Job In 2025?

The short answer is... NO!

However, if you are not doing all you can to protect what you have by increasing your knowledge of AI, that answer crtainly will change.

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Make a Difference In The Lives of Others

Share knowledge or expertise
Volunteer your time
Advocate for positive change
Invest in relationships
Give financially (if possible)
Focus on daily acts of kindness
Build a legacy
Use your platform for good
Leverage your network
Reflect and adapt

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3 Powerful Phrases That Give Others a Chance To Speak:

Say more about that...
And what else...
Help me understand...

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10 Tips To Reduce Communication Gaps at Work

When we don’t make an effort to communicate well, a lot of time is wasted in resolving issues that creep up due to misalignment, confusion, and expectation mismatch.
Communication can be less chaotic when everyone commits to resolving differences proactively instead of relying on others.
Seek alignment on priorities and agree on a common measure of success. Success is more likely when everyone works on shared goals.
Speaking up is important to communicate your ideas and opinions, but you shouldn’t refrain from listening to others. Communication isn’t a one-way street. Treat it as a two-sided road.
Expecting others to register key information by saying it once is a big mistake. Unless you repeat it multiple times, it will not get the time and attention it deserves.
Good questions have the power to unlock creative thinking and surface out hidden problems. Use every opportunity to explore your curiosity by asking questions.
Assumptions, when not validated, can lead to gaps in expectations. Avoid frustration, angst, and anxiety by seeking alignment upfront.
Blaming, shaming, and complaining do not solve problems. Instead of pointing fingers, identify what caused these communication gaps and how you can avoid them in the future.
Avoiding conflicts or delaying them makes the situation worse. Step out of your comfort zone and embrace the discomfort.
Ego kills a conversation. Watch it carefully and deny it the power to guide your thinking or how you communicate and collaborate with others.

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Make Remote Work More Human - The Meetings

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that remote work sucks. I think remote work is great. I am a fan. Please, never make me go back to an office. But yeah, Westenberg has a point — the way we design for remote work often forgets that we are human people with bodies and brains and not just work-input-cogs. We work on machines; we are not the machines.

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Why Scrum Product Owner Certifications ARE Worth It..

Are you ONLY learning what the book says? Or are you really learning practical application of what the book says?

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Be the Eagle and Not the Duck!

Which are you? The eagle or the duck?

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7 Tips To Scale Without Embracing an Overly Complicated Framework:

Focus on continual improvement
Limit work in progress
One large demo / review
Synchronize short iterations
One product backlog with one goal
Align on outcomes not output
Form truly autonomous teams

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Santa Claus Is The Perfect Product Manager -

How does Santa compare to your best product manager? One may argue that Santa is only delivering one product, but I feel like we an all agree it is MUCH more.

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5) The REAL Reason Why People HATE Scrum - Abigail Sundayhttps://www.dailystanduppodcast.com/podcast/episode/1a1f6416/the-real-reason-why-people-hate-scrum-abigail-sunday

4) How Teams Handle Unplanned Work & Interruptionshttps://www.dailystanduppodcast.com/podcast/episode/2a34a23c/how-teams-handle-unplanned-work-and-interruptions

3) Agile, ADHD, & Time Blindnesshttps://www.dailystanduppodcast.com/podcast/episode/dcbd4754/agile-adhd-and-time-blindness

2) Sprint Review - Sprint Demo - Sprint Retro - What's The Difference?https://www.dailystanduppodcast.com/podcast/episode/503e061e/sprint-review-sprint-demo-sprint-retro-whats-the-difference

1) Are User Stories & Story Points Required? No... - Mike Cohnhttps://www.dailystanduppodcast.com/podcast/episode/1a5b8908/are-user-stories-and-story-points-required-no-mike-cohn

Bonus - FASTEST Growing Friday Episode = The World's Most Expensive Lamb - Bring Tissues... https://www.dailystanduppodcast.com/podcast/episode/1b13e011/the-worlds-most-expensive-lamb-bring-tissues

Happy New Year!

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Ooops We Did It Again - Top 5 Spotify Podcast Award!

2022 | 2023 | AND 2024!! All I can say is WOW!

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Embrace The Misery

You are by nature an optimist.No personal disaster or run of bad luck has ever shaken your faith that the march of time brings progress. You believe the wicked eventually get their due. You’re confident that truth will come to light. You’ve never doubted that a hundred years hence, the world will be a better place.

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Facilitate Better Team Collaboration

1. Always cater to different learning styles

2. Balance time for reflection and conversation

3. Let people team up…or not

4. Democratize sharing and decision making

5. Never skip wrap-up activities

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Merry Christmas!

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Light The World

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/light-the-world

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Christmas Adam - Establishing & Celebrating Traditions

What is Christmas Adam you ask ?

Listen today and Learn More!

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Will 9-To-5 Jobs Be Gone By 2034?

In the past few years, one trend I’ve heard brought up over and over again is this — the gig and creator economies are rising.

But it was only last week, when I saw an email in my inbox, that I realized its implications.

The subject line read:

9–5 jobs will be gone by 2034 (Freelancing is the future)

It contained a newspaper article on how Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, predicted that 9-to-5 jobs would be gone by 2034.

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Building Trust Around Customer Requests

Handling customer requests is not always easy. Who takes charge of them? Who gets to make the decisions? And how do you say no when it matters? It all starts with the right attitude and a clear plan. Here’s a good way to approach it.

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How Might We Fix Product Management and Close the Skills Gap

“During the pandemic, many companies experienced a surge in demand for digital services and products, leading to rapid hiring sprees. With expectations of continued growth, they expanded teams across every aspect of the product, anticipating long-term demand.

Features that would have once undergone thorough discovery, prioritisation, and sizing were now being churned out at breakneck speed.

Product managers, who once prioritised delivering cohesive user experiences, have increasingly become mere managers of feature factories, losing sight of the broader vision.

This shift has come at a significant cost, resulting in a substantial skills gap in product management due to the diminished emphasis on developing core product development skills.

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Complex Solutions Lead To Complex Problems

Humans make around 35,000 decisions daily. Help them reduce the number and capitalize on it.

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Product Management Frameworks - Tools Not Solutions

Frameworks seem to get a lot of hate in the Product Management/Development discourse. Whether it’s JTBD, SWOT, Agile/Scrum, SAFe, or whatever, these structured methodologies often bear the brunt of blame when projects go off the rails. But is it really the framework’s fault, or is there something else going on?

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Rethink Your Goals, Mission, Purpose, & Passion

Boldness

Courage

Courtesy

Creativity

Critical thinking

Decision-making

Determination

Directness

Empathy

Equality

Fairness

Fame

Fearlessness

Fun

Generosity

Good citizen

Graciousness

Gratitude

Honesty

Humbleness

Humility

Humor

Improvisation

Inclusivity

Influential

Justice

Love

Mutual respect

Optimism

Patience

Perseverance

Perspective

Persuasiveness

Pleasure

Power

Respect

Respect for others

Self-awareness

Self-questioning

Self-reliance

Socialization

Spirituality

Striving for quality

Tolerance

Transparency

Trustworthiness

Willingness to take action

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12 Reasons to IGNORE Your Users Feature Requests

Ask yourself which of these 12 reasons might apply.

Not every user matches your ICP
The squeaky wheel shouldn’t get the grease
Innovation doesn’t come from consensus
Competitors are a terrible roadmap
Users don’t know what they really want
Feature bloat is silent but deadly
Product vision matters
Users are just plain wrong
Resource allocation is a zero-sum game
You need problems, not solutions
You’re not a contractor
They’ll forget about it soon

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Does Every User Story Need to Be Small?

Small user stories are essential to success with agile. When it’s time to bring stories into an iteration, I always want them to be small.
But larger stories have their place as well–especially for something you're not going to work on imminently.
Suppose you have just begun work on a new product that will include a set of reports. Because this is a new product, there is nothing to be gained by writing a bunch of small user stories around each one of those reports at this point, especially since you don't yet even know all of the reports that will be needed.
At this stage of the project, having one big reporting story rather than a bunch of little ones keeps the size of the backlog more manageable. You'll have one entry in your tool instead of 15 or 20. That's much easier to manage.
Further, if you do write all the small user stories, one per report, it gives the impression that you've thought of everything. Early in a project, that's probably not true. New reports will be identified and some that are asked for initially may not be necessary.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking every story needs to be small from the beginning. They don’t. Instead, plan for stories to shrink in size and grow in detail as they move closer to being brought into a sprint. For most teams, this will happen during the product backlog refinement meeting one or two sprints before the iteration planning where they’ll be considered.
Letting timing dictate story size will help you succeed with user stories and with agile.

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How Value Stream Management Transforms Project Managers and Agile Experts

You’re leading a team of talented developers, creating features day in and day out. Yet, the outcomes are unclear. Customer satisfaction is stagnant, tech debt is piling up, and your team feels like they’re spinning their wheels in a never-ending cycle.

If you’ve been here before, you’ve experienced the grind of being a “feature factory.” But what if there was a way to shift from simply delivering features to delivering meaningful value consistently? Enter Value Stream Management (VSM), a game changer for project managers and agile experts.

VSM is more than a buzzword. It’s a transformative approach that can completely change the way you and your team operate.

By focusing on delivering real value and improving how work flows through your organization, it allows you to prioritize what truly matters: customer outcomes and business results.

But before we dive deeper into how VSM can transform your work, let’s explore the triggers that make it essential.

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Why are product managers still using agile?

Ah, Agile — the buzzword that just won’t quit. It’s been the darling of software development for years, promising flexibility, speed, and a better way to build products. But here’s a cheeky thought…why are product managers still using Agile?

Don’t get me wrong, agility is essential. But sometimes, it feels like we’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, especially when it comes to product management. We continue to attempt to fit a delivery focused methodology into outcome-based work… and we seem to never learn our lesson.

The limitations for Agile are prevalent for discovery, an overlooked part of product management for many years. How does agile help to support a workstream that is primarily focused on research? Can it?

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The Mindset of Highly Attractive People

What makes someone attractive? Someone sent me an article that was perfectly WRONG! It is time for us to review and do an assessment of what truly invites beauty.

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How to Give Feedback to High Performers on Your Team

No one is perfect and that applies to high performers on your team too. They may be doing excellent work or exceeding your expectations, but that doesn’t make them flawless or leave them with no room for improvement or areas of growth.

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5 SuperPowers Every Facilitator Needs

1. The Keys to Unlock Team Creativity

2. Engagement Maximizer, Disruption Diffuser

3. The Ability to Help People Feel Comfortable

4. A Curiosity Mindset

5. High EQ (and the Vulnerability to Pivot)

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How Senior Product Managers Think Differently

In the fast-paced and ever-changing world of product management, the role of a senior product manager stands out owing to the exceptional combination of talents, perspectives, and strategic thinking that they bring to the table. Senior product managers take a different approach to their position than their junior colleagues do, as they are frequently faced with a large array of responsibilities. They have mastered the capacity to maintain a balance between thinking about the large picture and thinking about minute details, deliberate product direction while managing cross-functional teams, and link product decisions with the outcomes of business operations.

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The 9 Magic Words All New Leaders NEED to Hear Today

"If you had a choice, what would you do?"

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The History Behind Black Friday

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, has evolved into one of the most significant shopping days of the year, but its history has a few twists. The term "Black Friday" originally had negative connotations. In the 1860s, it was first associated with a financial crisis: two Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, attempted to corner the gold market, causing a market crash on September 24, 1869, which was dubbed "Black Friday."

The term "Black Friday" as we know it today began in the 1950s in Philadelphia. Police officers and bus drivers used it informally to describe the chaotic day after Thanksgiving, when the city would be packed with shoppers and tourists arriving for the Army-Navy football game held on the following Saturday. The traffic jams, crowded sidewalks, and uptick in shoplifting kept officers working overtime, making it a "black" day for the police.

In the 1980s, retailers sought to redefine the term with a more positive spin. They linked Black Friday to the idea of stores "going into the black," or turning a profit, thanks to the start of the holiday shopping season. Traditionally, retailers operated at a loss (or "in the red") from January to November, and they began making their annual profit, or going "in the black," in late November when holiday shopping started. This rebranding was successful, and "Black Friday" became widely accepted as a day of deals and discounts.

Over time, Black Friday has grown, both in terms of hours (with stores opening earlier each year) and in significance. By the early 2000s, it became the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States. The advent of online shopping and the introduction of "Cyber Monday" in 2005 added a new dimension to holiday sales, allowing consumers to continue shopping for deals online.

Today, Black Friday is known for its deep discounts and big sales, often stretching over several days or weeks in some stores, with deals beginning as early as October in recent years. However, its growth has also sparked discussions around consumerism, workers' rights, and the strain on retail employees required to work extended hours during the holiday season.

Despite these discussions, Black Friday remains a cultural phenomenon and a kickoff to the holiday shopping season, celebrated by many as an opportunity for savings and gift-buying, marking a unique moment in American retail history.

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Special Episode - Celebrate Thanksgiving - A time for gratitude

It was the first Thanksgiving without Jack. Just a few months had passed since he’d been gone, and the family still felt the weight of his absence. He’d been the anchor of every holiday, carving the turkey, telling stories, making everyone laugh even when things were hard. This year, as they set the table, each place setting seemed heavier, and every laugh felt quieted by the lingering grief.

Sarah, his wife, wondered how they would get through the evening. She worried about her two children, who looked up to their dad so much, and her own heart felt fractured. She wanted to honor him, but the idea of celebration felt impossible.

Yet, as everyone gathered around the table, her son, Will, brought out an old journal. It was Jack’s, filled with his thoughts, sketches, and notes, and a bit of laughter spread as they realized how little anyone had known about this private collection of memories. It was titled "Things I’m Grateful For."

Sarah hesitated, feeling overwhelmed by the bittersweet nature of the discovery, but her daughter encouraged her, "Please, Mom, read some of it. Let’s hear what Dad wrote."

Sarah opened it to the first page, where Jack had written a simple list from a Thanksgiving years ago. It read:

Sarah’s laugh when it’s too loud and she doesn’t care.
The kids—everything they say, everything they do, even the things that make me crazy.
Freshly fallen leaves and that sound they make when we crunch through them.
Family. I don’t deserve them, but I love them more than anything.
Every Thanksgiving we get to share together.

Sarah’s voice cracked as she read, but she kept going. Each entry listed another detail Jack had appreciated, from the small quirks of family life to moments they’d all shared but might have forgotten. His journal wasn’t filled with grand things but with quiet, fleeting moments—a shared sunrise, a silly argument that ended in laughter, little things the kids said, the warmth of a fireplace.

As the family sat together, they found themselves remembering each moment. Each word he’d written helped them feel closer to him, as though he were still with them, urging them to see all the small blessings they still had.

They went around the table, sharing memories of Jack and adding to his list, taking turns to express gratitude for things they might have overlooked. There were tears, but also smiles, and something warm and healing began to fill the room.

By the end of the evening, they realized that Jack’s absence hadn’t taken him away. Instead, his memory had reminded them of everything they still had. They found strength and gratitude not in the presence of something new, but in the quiet beauty of what had been, and in the realization that gratitude could carry them through even the heaviest loss.

As they finished their meal, Sarah looked around the table, and for the first time since his passing, she felt peace. She knew they would be okay, carrying Jack with them in the moments they remembered, in the love they shared, and in every Thanksgiving yet to come.

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Top Tips to Become Better Facilitators

Avoid going to meetings that seem unproductive — give your team the tools and knowledge to lead effective meetings.
Avoid going to meetings that are symptomatic of a previous bad meeting (a meeting about another meeting or unsolved topics) — prepare your meetings to make effective progress.
Avoid waiting for meetings to make decisions — collaborate asynchronously.
Avoid sitting in meetings all day that drain your energy — collaborate asynchronously.

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The Strategy of Building Team Culture

The idea behind this strategy was to strike a balance: building a team of naturally motivated players who could share skills, grow together, and work toward the company mission. When people are put into a challenging environment that pushes them to rise to the occasion, they end up in a prime position for success. This setup encourages continuous growth and smart risk-taking since everyone has each other’s backs.

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9 Myths About The Daily Scrum Meeting

The daily stand-up, also known as the daily huddle or Scrum meeting, is a cornerstone of agile practices. Despite its simplicity, this brief daily meeting is often misunderstood which can undermine its effectiveness.

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How To Finally Beat Procrastination and Regain Energy

Procrastination was one of my biggest struggles.

There are a few typical signs of chronic procrastinators. They all applied to me, such as:

I endlessly scrolled my phone, thinking there could be something important. My brain was searching for the next dopamine hit.
I made excuses for not doing a specific task now, such as “I really need to wait for an answer from ABC to continue.”
Waiting for the perfect moment to do anything.

Without realizing it, it took a massive toll on my mental health.

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Scrum, a popular framework within Agile project management, emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and iterative progress. Central to its success are three key roles: the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and the Scrum Team Members. Each role plays a crucial part in the Scrum process, ensuring that teams can deliver high-quality products effectively.

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Last week a client mentioned they were using feedback they’d received on an MVP to make “course corrections.”
My ears bristle whenever someone talks about correcting course on an agile project.
There’s no such thing as course correcting in agile.
Am I crazy? After all, a fundamental part of agile is acting on feedback to improve a product.
My problem with the concept of course corrections is the way it presupposes there is one correct course and that it’s possible to know it in advance.
That’s not the case.
Sure, many products begin with a product backlog that describes what the product owner thinks will be the right combination of features to achieve the desired outcomes.
But on any non-trivial product, this recipe cannot be fully known in advance.
Successful products are created by iteratively homing in on the right combination of features. And that set of features can only be discovered through trial and error.
No matter how much research a team does before developing a feature, they never know how users will respond to the new feature.
Will they love it? Will they hate it? Will they use it? Will they use it as intended?
So a product owner or manager places a sequence of bets. The result of each bet guides the product owner in placing the next bet.
Course-correcting means there was a single, correct course. It implies that development has somehow deviated from this correct course and must be brought back in line.
Instead of talking about course corrections, I talk about course adjustments. As a team learns more, it adjusts course—which is the way to succeed with agile,

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Someone wrote....

In 2017, Agile was presented to me as the ultimate project management approach — promising productivity, transparency, and value delivery in short bursts. However, many teams struggled to effectively implement and scale Scrum, missing the mark on its potential.

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So, what’s the difference between these three roles? And why do we need all three in the first place?

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The World's Most Expensive Lamb - Bring Tissues...

All I can say is WOW!! This is a story about the world record for highest price per pound for any lamb ever sold. 100% of the proceeds went to a VERY worthy cause.

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Acting as the team’s manager
Stay outside of the team
Suffocate Developers with meticulously crafted Product Backlog items
Determine the technology to be used
Push the scope of the Sprint
Ignore the team’s capacity
Lead the Daily Scrum
Enforce skipping parts of the DoD
Ignore the purpose of the Sprint Review

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In today’s fast-paced business world, one of the most common struggles organizations face is how to deliver products faster while still maintaining high quality. Many teams feel bogged down by delays, inefficiencies, and bottlenecks.

This is where value stream management comes in — a method to not only accelerate product delivery but to maximize the value delivered to your customers.

The way you manage your team’s workflows could significantly reduce wasted efforts while increasing the value you provide.

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Happy Halloween! What do you like best about the holiday: the candy, the costumes, or the scariness?
The scariness wins for me, although a fun-size Snickers is hard to resist.
But there’s good scary and bad. I’ve seen that adopting an agile approach to product development can be as scary as a good Halloween movie or ghost story. One thing that can be scary to some is the assumption that agile is more stressful.
And if true, that would suck—no one wants more stress in their life. But let’s take a closer look at those practices or aspects of agile that seem like they could increase stress.
For example, collaborating with others more frequently and intensely could take away the quiet, recharging time needed by some, especially introverts.
This can be frightening and a good Scrum Master or coach should assess whether team members are getting enough time for solo work. Designated hours for this can go a long way.
Similarly, having to report daily on yesterday’s progress and today’s plan can feel like nonstop pressure, which would be frightening.
A good Scrum Master or coach can address this, too: by ensuring that daily meetings are for team members to synchronize their work rather than allowing the creepy impression that everyone is checking up on them.
Sometimes this message needs to be shared with those outside the team; other times, team members themselves need to be reminded that the purpose is merely to synchronize and coordinate effort.
One of the more frightening stresses of agile is that deadlines are never more than a few weeks away.
However, because of their frequency, these deadlines are generally less important than the one big deadline of a traditionally managed project.
I sometimes think about the differences in these deadlines in terms of running on a treadmill.
A traditionally managed, or waterfall, project with its one big deadline is like running a hill profile. It’s nice and easy for a while until a big hill starts and then it’s extremely difficult and stressful.
And then the pattern repeats: pretty low stress for a long time and then really stressful at the end when the team tries to get the project over the big hill.
In contrast, agile is like setting the treadmill at a 2% incline and leaving it there for the duration of your run. It’s moderately stressful but never excessively so.
As team members become accustomed to the smaller deadlines that conclude each iteration, these become far less frightening.

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Happy Veterans Day!

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Uplifting Message of Helping Hands

What can you do to make a difference in the lives of others? How can you impact how others think and feel? What can you do to be a beacon of light love and hope?

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore how happiness leads the way.

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Pumpkin Spice Season - Mike Cohn

Pumpkin spice season is upon us.
It seems every company jumps on the pumpkin spice bandwagon. I enjoy the humorous memes such as for pumpkin spice tacos and even a pumpkin spice muffler for your car.
I think pumpkin spice is so popular because it can be added to so many things. (But please keep it off my tacos.)
In that way, pumpkin spice is like agile. A little agility can be added to many things.
That’s why we’ve seen agile move beyond its initial application in software development. Agile moved quickly to all forms of product development. Today, we see agile in education, marketing, construction, law firms, and more.
A few years ago, a bank called itself “your agile bank.” I’m not sure I want my bank to be agile. Teams at the bank can be agile, but I want money at my bank to mostly just sit there sedately earning interest with no need for agility.
We even see agile for managing our personal and family lives. I hear regularly about family backlogs. One former course participant contacted me to say he’d become engaged after he and his girlfriend began holding a relationship retrospective every Friday.
Agile, like pumpkin spice, is everywhere. Many human endeavors benefit from less rigid planning, from emphasizing the human component of success, responding to change, iterating, continuously improving, and more.
Like pumpkin spice, these bits of agile can be mixed into many things we do.
Perhaps, too, like pumpkin spice, they can be overdone. A little pumpkin spice goes a long way. In some endeavors, so may a little agility.
If you haven’t already, try adding a little agility to your non-development or even non-work activities.
It’s worth a try. Just like I guess those pumpkin spice tacos may be,

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Praise Is Your Products Worst Enemy

When I talk to customers, I absolutely love negativity. I thrive on being told that I got it wrong, that I made a poor product decision or assumption, that I missed the mark, that I could have and should have done better.

Call me a masochist, but the thing is this: I know that those lumps I receive are going to help me build a better product. Positivity, on the other hand? That’s useless to me.

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Facts About Election Day

Election Day in the United States is a cornerstone of democracy, representing the fundamental right of citizens to have a voice in their government. It is the day when millions of Americans head to the polls to choose leaders at all levels, from local offices to the presidency, helping to shape the direction of the nation for years to come. This day is not just about individual candidates or political parties; it is about the democratic process itself and the principles of freedom, equality, and representation that the country was built upon.

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How Product Discovery Should Work...

By collaborating through continuous discovery, and making our thinking visible through the opportunity space, we can bring our overarching strategy to life.

It will require leadership to no longer pretend they have all the answers, but to see that teams are clear on the strategic context and effective in bringing clients into the process of collaboration and discovery while sharing what they learn along the way.

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Return To The Office Is NOT working... Or Is It?

In this Friday Episode, we explore whether or not returnong to the office is even an option?

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Count Stories NOT Points.. It will NEVER Work

October 31st is scary enough without having someone argue that it would be so much better if we just counted the number of stories completed each Sprint. I had to go back and look at the date on this article and make certain it was not April 1....

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Velocity & Throughput Are Full of Crap - I Think NOT...

Join V. Lee Henson as we review an article that was written to rebuff the way that I treat story points and velocity without them making an effort to understand why I have success with this approach.

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Making Estimation Less Mysterious

Does estimation always have to be so complicated? Why are we always under the impression that the only way to figure things out is if we revert back to time-based estimates? Is there a better way?

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The Slow Painful Death of Agile - Round 3

How many times is someone going to send me the most recent Agile is DEAD article? This will be round three and it in my opinion is the most frustrating article I have reviewed in a while...

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Do NOT Search For a Job - The Job WILL Find You - 2024

The traditional approach to applying for jobs no longer works. The world has evolved, and so must you.

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Top 3 Essential Skills of The Product Owner

Domain Knowledge
Exceptional Communication
Product Backlog Management

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Converting Story Points to Money - Mike Cohn

It’s often worthless to tell a boss, client, or customer that a project will be done in, say, 142 story points.
Even if stakeholders fully understand what a story point is, telling them how many points a project will take or cost isn’t awfully helpful to them.
These stakeholders are accustomed to hearing how much time and money a project will take. And it’s important that teams and their leaders communicate with stakeholders in the terms those stakeholders prefer.
Fortunately, it is quite straightforward to convert an estimate of points into money. Here’s how.
From Points to Dollars
To start, gather data on how much the team has been paid over a period of time. Ideally this should be at least a few months, but you could start with as little as one sprint.
Next, divide total team compensation by the number of story points delivered by the team in that period. This gives you a cost per point.
For example, suppose a team has been paid $100,000 over some period. During the same period, the team delivered 100 story points. Dividing $100,000 by 100 gives a cost per point of $1,000.
This can then be multiplied by the total expected size of the project to give an estimate of the total financial cost.
Getting Fancy (If You Want)
You can get fancy with this calculation, if you’d like. Instead of using compensation as I did in this example, you might want to use fully loaded labor cost. As its name implies, this includes compensation as well as other costs such as benefits, overhead, and payroll expenses (taxes, Social Security in the U.S., etc.).
A company controller can easily (and usually immediately) provide this as a percentage. It will typically be in the range of 25–40% added to compensation.
You can get fancy by trying to adjust for seasonality or team size changes. However, that’s usually not worth the effort: it shouldn’t significantly impact the cost per point.
Keep it simple.
Clearly communicating expected costs with your stakeholders will improve your relationship with them. Everyone appreciates being communicated with in terms they understand.

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The #1 Most Common Mistake With User Stories

Output is a fixation we can’t seem to shake in the product space.

We continue to think we know the right product to build before we build it. This often shows up in the way we treat user stories as requirements.

Even though many product teams and managers think user stories are requirements, they aren’t.

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Product Vision & Scrum Events

A product vision is a succinct, inspiring articulation of where your product is heading. It embodies the essence of your product — the core values it upholds, the core needs it fulfils, or the core problems it solves.

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5 Ideas Fix Your Work Life Balance

Focus only on your part of the pyramid
Manage your energy levels, not hours
Prioritize based on importance (and energy again)
Rely on others when needed
Say no and yes

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The Surprising Cost of Bad Estimates - Mike Cohn

Bad plans lead to many well-known problems. Teams deliver later than expected. Or the budget is blown by adding people in the hope that will help.

Sometimes a deadline is met but by dropping important features. Or the deadline is met by team members working overtime, causing burnout, frustration, and usually introducing bugs.

Inaccurate plans frustrate both team members and stakeholders.

But one of the worst, and perhaps most overlooked, impacts of a poor project plan is that the team loses credibility with its stakeholders.

As an example of how poor planning affects credibility, I’ve got a friend whom I’ll occasionally meet for lunch. He’s always 5 to 10 minutes late. If he emails me today and suggests meeting at noon, I’m going to arrive 5 minutes late myself.

I no longer trust him to be on time. His plans just aren't reliable. And that's OK because it’s just lunch.

But the credibility gap caused by unreliable plans is much worse on projects.

Consider a team that is either consistently late or always has to drop scope to meet a deadline. The project stakeholders ask this team if they can deliver a new project in 3 months. Team members think about it and decide they can’t deliver it in 3 months, but could do it in 4 months.

When the team members tell the stakeholders they need an extra month, the stakeholders don’t believe them. Why should they? The team has been consistently wrong on all prior projects.

At this point, stakeholders may tell the team to do it in 3 months anyway. And why not?

If a team never meets its stated deadlines, stakeholders may reason that they’ll stick with the 3-month deadline to apply some pressure, which has limited effectiveness. (And like me with my friend, they might also quietly expect it to be done later, in perhaps 4 months.)

Here's the bottom line: stakeholders will not treat a team as an equal partner if the team consistently provides bad plans and inaccurate estimates. Credibility is such an important factor that I include it as the first of four reasons agile teams estimate product backlog items in the first place!

Consider how things may have played out differently if the team instead had established a track record of providing decent plans. Note I said decent. Plans don't have to be perfect to be reliable.

When a consistently decent team tells stakeholders a project will take an extra month, stakeholders are likely to engage in a conversation about options to meet the desired, earlier deadline:

Would it help to enlarge the team?
Is there a feature or two that could be dropped or deferred?
Would it help if team members were allowed to focus solely on this product instead of also supporting some old product?

When a team has a track record of presenting reasonably accurate plans, they will be treated as equal partners by the rest of the organization.

Many teams try to solve the problem of inaccurate plans by padding their next plans. This usually makes things worse as the team now has two things to estimate:

The plan, and
How much to pad the plan

When stakeholders call the team on padding the plan, the padding is often removed unless team members can present solid logic and evidence for the size of the padding.

A better solution would be for team members to assess why their plans have consistently been wrong.

Sometimes the problem is due to poor agile estimation. If that’s the case, there are many things team members can do to improve estimates of story size.

I’ll share just one technique now that's especially helpful for teams who chronically underestimate the amount of work involved in a particular product backlog item. It’s called unpacking.

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Happy Boss's Day - A Message From Kim

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4 Reliable Traits of Genuinely High Performing Leaders

Self-belief paired with humility
Decisiveness
A bias for action
Thinking like a gymnast, not a sumo wrestler

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How Relevant Are The Agile Principles Today?

2001 is the official birth year of Agile. It took the world by storm. Millions of professionals have found new ways of creating software (and other products) using the values and principles of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development (or Agile Manifesto).

At the height of Agile, people saw it as a panacea for all software-related, even all product-related problems. Nowadays, Agile is a commodity. “Everyone” works Agile these days. Some proclaim we are in the post-Agile era. Others say Agile is Dead.

Is Agile Really Dead?

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Why Can't You Enjoy Life?

Living used to be colorful, and now it’s like I don’t even want to fight anymore. I don’t want to become ‘successful’. I don’t want to wake up and go to work, day after day. I don’t want to learn and I don’t want to read. I don’t want to explore the world. I don’t even want to entertain myself. What’s this?!

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What To Do When Your Team Says They Do Not Need The Daily Scrum?

When your team pushes back against the daily stand-up, responding with thoughtfulness and adaptability is essential. The daily collaboration meeting, whether you call it a stand-up or something else, plays a crucial role in Agile success. However, it’s not just about keeping the meeting-it’s about ensuring it serves its true purpose of fostering alignment, communication, and collaboration.

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Lessons From Barbie for When a Project Absolutely MUST Succeed - Mike Cohn

I finally watched Barbie. I enjoyed it, which doesn’t surprise me. It had to be good.

Barbie was a must-succeed project. If the movie had flopped, it would probably be a decade before anyone could try again to make a Barbie movie.

But a successful movie would serve as a platform for sequels.

While watching Barbie (and singing along to “I’m Just Ken”) I was struck by a few important lessons that apply to any must-succeed project.

The first tip for successful project management is to solicit and act on as much fast feedback as you can get on preliminary versions of your product.

For Barbie, the filmmakers ran test screenings in multiple cities, analyzed feedback, and ran more test screenings. In our words, they iterated toward making a great movie.

The second tip for managing projects successfully? Leave things out. Not every scene that’s filmed makes it to the final movie.

During test screenings of Barbie, the filmmakers performed what product development teams call A/B testing. Different versions of the movie were shown to different audiences to see which were best received.

They used this feedback to remove scenes or shots that weren’t necessary to the flow or humor of the film.

Not every feature a team builds should remain in the product. The sunk cost fallacy often clouds our judgment—when we spend time building that feature, we think we might as well leave it in just in case someone wants it.

But no. Unneeded and rarely used features clutter the user interface just as unneeded scenes can ruin a movie.

Third, have a visionary who keeps the project focused but engage others for increased creativity. Greta Gerwig was that visionary for Barbie. She directed the movie and co-wrote the script. Her vision drove what we experience when watching the film.

Agile projects have product owners who should act as visionaries for their products. They should see the future and guide others toward it.

But no visionary, even an auteur filmmaker such as Gerwig, does it alone. The best welcome creativity from others on the project (including stakeholders and developers).

During the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey, director Stanley Kubrick used a novel idea from his team.

It was critical that HAL, the spaceship’s onboard computer, overhear that crew members Poole and Bowman were going to disconnect him.

Kubrick brainstormed ideas of how HAL could overhear those private conversations but could find no good solution.

The solution came from his associate producer, Victor Lyndon, whose job had mostly been filing insurance paperwork for the film. Lyndon casually suggested that HAL can read lips.

The vision for the film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's story remained very much Kubrick’s, but he knew to use great ideas without regard for their origin.

Finally, if you are working on a project that absolutely must succeed, include Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie as team members.

OK, their coding, design, and database skills are probably lacking, but they were perfect as Ken and Barbie.

Project Success Tip 1: Solicit Feedback as Early as PossibleProject Success Tip 2: Leave Some Features OutProject Success Tip 3: Have a Visionary But Find Good Ideas AnywhereProject Success Tip 4: Have the Right Team

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What Does a Project Manager Do?

People Management
Requirements Management
Expectation Management
Task Management
Commitment Management
Risk Management
Communication Management
Change Management
Resource Management
Dependency Management
Contract Management
Supplier Management

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How Do We Do Better Capacity Planning & Forecasting?

Quarterly planning always seems to creep up on us. It’s a busy time, and teams are usually scrambling to get their projects scoped. I used to feel the same pressure — like no matter how much effort I put into planning, something always slipped through the cracks. One challenge for engineering managers is planning capacity while balancing competing priorities like new projects, tech debt, and time off.

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Top 4 Product Manager SuperPowers

Execution Sense: This is all about making things happen. It’s one thing to have a plan, but bringing it to life? That’s where execution sense comes in. You ensure that not only do tasks get completed on time, but they’re done brilliantly. ⏱️✨
Analytical Sense: This superpower focuses on your ability to think critically, use data to make informed decisions, and solve complex problems. 🧠📊
Product Sense: Ever just ‘know’ what’s going to work? That’s product sense. Understanding what your users need and delivering products that meet these needs effectively. It’s about foreseeing what will work before it’s fully designed. It’s an almost instinctual understanding of what users want before they even ask for it. 🎯
Adaptability (New addition): The only constant is change, right? Being adaptable means staying flexible and responsive to whatever new challenges, technologies or market trends come your way. 🔄

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Just Focus on Yourself.. Nobody Really Cares What You Do..

We thought that people were watching us.

I don’t want to say that we are narcissistic, because I’m not going to talk about that. I’m just saying that it is normal to feel like that. Feeling that people might be judging us or watching us.

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Top 10 Principles For Effective Team Leaders

The role of a leader is to build the business and grow the team…at the same time.
Appreciation is the most valuable currency your team wants and needs.
Praise in public, coach in private
You aren’t just the team leader…you are the head talent scout and training coach.
As team leader, EQ and CQ are more important than IQ.
Teach your team to bring you solutions, not just problems.
Ensure your team understands and commits to the “disagree and commit” principle.
If you love drama, go to the theater because drama at work can ruin your business.
Make sure you and your team members “stay in your lane.”
Sometimes, a team member must find their “happy place” somewhere else.

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Simple Practices To Prevent Wasteful Meetings

Before each session, we need to clarify:
1️⃣ Required participants 👨‍⚖️ 👩‍⚖️
2️⃣ Purpose 🤔
3️⃣ Desired outcome 🎯
4️⃣ How to prepare 🤔
5️⃣ Agenda 🗓

It’s super simple and offers some great advantages:
✅ If any of these parts are unclear, ask the organizer for clarification.
✅ If parts remain unclear, don’t join the session!
✅ Meetings are often scheduled way ahead of time, so it serves as a friendly reminder of the meeting.
✅ Defining all these topics up front allows everyone to provide feedback before the session to ensure it becomes even more valuable. For example, “What if we make … the purpose of the session?” or “What if we include agenda item X as well?”
✅ As a meeting organizer, you can expect all the participants to come prepared. If all parts are completed, nobody can use the excuse of not knowing how to prepare.

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Celebrate Failure? Why Not?

Teams are more effective when they operate in environments that allow members to take interpersonal risks, such as admitting they don’t know something, offering feedback and support, asking for help, or sharing their mistakes and failures.

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How To Be a Great Entrepreneur

The other night, I had dinner with a group of 40-ish young entrepreneurs on my university’s campus. As you’d expect, I spoke with lots of enthusiastic founders and heard lots of pitches about the projects they’re working on. But one student, in particular, stood out. He was clearly passionate about entrepreneurship and the startup he was building. He shared how he had spent the summer in a corporate internship he didn’t enjoy, but, as soon as his workday ended, he would meet with his co-founders and they’d work on their startup until late into the evening.

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How to Make the Best Decision Under the Worst Circumstances

When making decisions under suboptimal conditions — the situation is not in our favour, we have incomplete details, or there’s an issue that requires urgent attention — most of us tend to screw up.

We overreact, hurry, and let our biases prevent us from making good decisions. We assume that, given the conditions and constraints under which we operate, this is the best we can do.

However, most of the time, our best is not good enough because we blame it on our circumstances and fail to learn from our mistakes instead of taking responsibility for our actions.

This creates a vicious cycle of stress and anxiety every time we are faced with a difficult situation — negative emotions from past failures, fear of not meeting expectations again and not knowing how to make a better decision, this time leading to bad choices with terrible results.

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How Can an Agile Coach Build Self-Efficacy of The Team?

What is Self-efficacy?

“Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s confidence in their ability to complete a task or achieve a goal. This concept was originally developed by psychologist Albert Bandura” 1.

One way is to create a blameless postmortem, rather than pointing fingers on each-other for the mistake which is already committed, explore all contributing factors to the incident, factors can be technical/non-technical, process failure or the human error, irrespective of who is in-charge of each of these activities, Agile coach can help the team to focusing on the issues and bring them back on track, let’s say if the team is oversimplifying the root cause and if they are concluding that the issues is caused by a single factor or individual, then you have to step-in and pull them back.

How can an Agile coach help to boost self-efficacy?

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Psychological Safety In The Agile Community

Summary of Key Results

We define the Agile community as a global knowledge-sharing community with many smaller subcommunities. Research has shown that psychological safety is an essential predictor of members’ intent to continue contributing to virtual communities.
For in-person interactions, most participants (N=160) experience a moderate to high level of psychological safety (3.9 on a scale from 1 to 5). For online interactions, most participants experience a low to moderate level of psychological safety (2.9).
The behaviors that participants typically experience are the rejection of (new) ideas (37.1%), tribalism (24.5%), and not feeling heard (19.6%). 4.2% reported no experience with behavior that lowered their psychological safety. The most common strategy for dealing with this is for participants to stop contributing or withdraw from the community (55.2%). A tenth of participants reported lowered emotional well-being (9.8%). 11.2% of participants report no effect on them.
We found no significant difference in reported psychological safety by gender. However, women report substantially more dismissal of their views and tend to withdraw more from further interactions. A significant difference was found when comparing between age groups. The youngest cohort (26–36) reported a high level of psychological safety, which then dips to the lowest level (36–45) and trends up from there to the highest level for the oldest cohort (66+). We also found significant differences between roles, with facilitators and trainers reporting the lowest level of psychological safety.
Participants identified three primary factors contributing to lower psychological safety: poor debating skills (36.4%), dogmatism (30.8%), and self-promotion (16.1%).
According to participants, the three primary strategies to improve psychological safety are more community engagement and leadership (21%), improving the quality of dialogue (19.6%), and personal coping strategies (10.5%).
Future studies can replicate this study to analyze trends and compare psychological safety between different communities.
We identified several limitations to our research, which primarily impact the degree to which the findings can be generalized to the global Agile community.
Whether the level of psychological safety is too low or good enough is a normative one that is up to the community. However, research shows that the intention to share knowledge is lower when psychological safety is low. If we combine this with observed differences in gender, role, and age, knowledge sharing may be harmed, lowering the diversity of those contributing.

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Why Is Customer Loyalty So Important?

For those who don’t know, UX principles are guidelines used to create products that provide the right kinds of experiences to users. They focus on usability, functionality, and how users feel and respond.

Here’s a quick rundown of those principles:

Discoverability:Users should easily find the features they need.
Feedback:Users should get immediate and understandable responses to their actions.
Consistency:Design elements and behaviors should be uniform throughout the interface.
Simplicity:Keep things simple and free from unnecessary elements.
Affordance:Design elements should indicate how an object can be used (like buttons that look clickable).
Accessibility:Ensure that all users, including those with disabilities, can use the product.
Efficiency: Users should be able to complete tasks quickly and easily.
Error Prevention: Minimize errors and make it easy to recover when mistakes happen.
Flexibility and Customization: Allow users to customize their experience or choose how tasks are performed.
Visual Hierarchy:Guide users to the most important information with clear visual cues.
User Control and Freedom:Users should feel in control of the system and not get trapped in unwanted states.
Emotional Design:Evoke positive emotional responses for a memorable and satisfying experience.

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Five Factors to Consider when Prioritizing - Mike Cohn

Not only do you need to build the right features, you have to build them in the right order. I want to share five key factors you should consider when prioritizing a product backlog.
Value
Naturally, you need to consider how valuable a feature will be, value is a nebulous term. Most work a team will pursue will be valuable to users. But other work may be valuable just to the team. Still other work may be valuable to both users and team members.
For example, consider refactoring: improving the structure but not the behavior of code. Because this makes code more maintainable or easier to change, developers value refactoring and often request time for it.
Still, the cost of refactoring is usually justified by the way it benefits users, too. If code is more maintainable, users should experience fewer bugs. Similarly, improved code means that users should receive new features in that area of the product a bit more quickly.
Learning
When prioritizing a product backlog, consider how much the team will learn by developing each backlog item.
For example, when a team develops a preliminary version of a feature, team members get feedback on whether users like it and how they’re using it. If users love a feature, enhance the feature or consider other things like it.
Other learning is about how to build the product. This might occur when a team uses a new technology for the first time. They might learn if the tech works as promised, or they can develop as quickly with it as they thought, or whether it might be useful elsewhere in the product.
Learning about what to build and how to build it are both valuable.
Cost
The third thing to consider when prioritizing is the cost. The largest cost is usually the team’s effort to develop a feature. Most teams estimate the effort product backlog items in story points but some estimate in person-days, ideal time, or other similar units.
In some cases there may be additional costs that should be considered. A current common consideration is the ongoing cost of delivering features that rely on various AI products. These products often include small per-use fees but those can certainly add up at scale.
Regardless of the unit in which a team estimates their product backlog items, and that cost to develop and support a feature should factor into an item’s priority. For example, an item a team estimates as 5 should be prioritized higher than a feature estimated at 20 if all else is equal. This is true whether these are story points, person days, person hours, ideal time, or any other unit.
Risk
The fourth factor to consider when prioritizing is the risk inherent in developing the product backlog item. If something is risky and you need to do it, do it early. You want to know whether that risk is going to materialize.
On the other hand, if a feature is risky and you may not need to develop it, delay working on it until it becomes clear you need to do it.
Dependencies
The final factor you should consider when prioritizing is dependencies between product backlog items. Some items may not be high priority on their own, but they’re necessary for delivering other items. When that’s the case, the enabling but lower-priority item needs to be moved higher on the backlog in order to be done before the item dependent on it.
How to Combine These Factors
While all five factors are important, I don’t recommend combining them through some fancy formula.
The value of a feature and its cost–our first and second factors–are the most important.
I recommend continuing to prioritize based on these but then using the other three factors to adjust priorities and resolve conflicts.
For example, suppose a product owner or product manager has prioritized an item such that it won’t be done for another three or four iterations based on its value and risk.

Driving a 16 Foot FULLY LOADED Box Truck 2349 Miles in 2.5 Days Across The USA...

Just listen to this special episode where I detail the top 3 things I learned making this drive for the third time.

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What is Product Strategy Discovery?

What is product strategy discovery? In a nutshell, it’s about finding a problem worth solving. More precisely, it is the process of developing a product strategy whose implementation will likely create the desired value and impact. It applies to a brand-new product as well as an existing one whose current strategy is no longer valid, for example, as market conditions change. This means that strategy discovery is crucial not only to developing an initial offering (MVP) but also to achieving product-market fit and sustaining growth.

Unlike product discovery, it is not primarily concerned with determining the right solution, finding the right features, and creating the right user experience. Instead, strategy discovery focuses on the problem space. It explores if a large enough group of people has a big enough problem that can and should be addressed. Strategy discovery therefore sets the scene for product discovery

Product Discovery is an exciting part of any Design Project, and it may be a Designer’s first exposure to working with executives.

During a Project Kickoff, CEOs and other executives may come to discuss their grand vision of the project or help establish its overall goals. Unfortunately, as a result, many Designers stay silent and wait for other voices to speak up and finish talking.

However, that approach may cost you a lot of time and effort. Decisions you make during the Discovery process can often significantly impact the final product, and asking three specific questions during this process can help you do that.

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Connect Teams to Customers and Avoid the Mistake of Backlog Fixation

Product team members couldn’t care less about the customer.
Product teams need to stay focused on the work.
Only the product manager should perform discovery with the customer.
The product team can’t connect from a different time zone.
Product team members are incapable.
There are too many customers for the team to cover.
This will bother customers.
The backlog is much easier to follow than a customer’s whims.

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Does Every User Story Have To Be Small?

Small user stories are essential to success with agile. When it’s time to bring stories into an iteration, I always want them to be small.
But larger stories have their place as well–especially for something you're not going to work on imminently.
Suppose you have just begun work on a new product that will include a set of reports. Because this is a new product, there is nothing to be gained by writing a bunch of small user stories around each one of those reports at this point, especially since you don't yet even know all of the reports that will be needed.
At this stage of the project, having one big reporting story rather than a bunch of little ones keeps the size of the backlog more manageable. You'll have one entry in your tool instead of 15 or 20. That's much easier to manage.
Further, if you do write all the small user stories, one per report, it gives the impression that you've thought of everything. Early in a project, that's probably not true. New reports will be identified and some that are asked for initially may not be necessary.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking every story needs to be small from the beginning. They don’t. Instead, plan for stories to shrink in size and grow in detail as they move closer to being brought into a sprint. For most teams, this will happen during the product backlog refinement meeting one or two sprints before the iteration planning where they’ll be considered.
Letting timing dictate story size will help you succeed with user stories and with agile,

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Anti-Agile: The Agile Industrial Complex

Daniel Mezick says:

“It is that web of Agile institutions, Agile thought leaders and Agile consulting firms that implicitly collude to make normal the very harmful and disrespectful imposition of Agile practices on teams without consent. The Agile space is now a “no-innovation zone.” It tolerates and in fact perpetuates a highly weaponized version of Agile. Coercion, command-and-control, force, and the routine mandating of specific practices are how this game is played. The Agile Industrial Complex perpetuates and then monetizes a culture of coercion and force. The result is a worldwide pandemic of highly prescriptive, enterprise-wide Agile “trance formations.”

Could this be true?

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The Power of Baby Steps - Atomic Habits

Have you ever watched a baby learn to walk?

For the past month and a half, she’s been carefully moving with her little walker, taking wobbly steps, testing her balance, and building her confidence. Now, she’s starting to take her first steps without it—unsteady, unsure, but determined.

What amazes me most is her persistence. Every time she falls, she doesn’t get upset. She just gets up, laughs, and tries again. She’s not in a rush; she’s focused on those tiny steps forward, enjoying the process along the way.

It’s a powerful reminder of the importance of baby steps.

In business, it’s easy to feel like we need to make giant leaps or do everything at once. But those giant leaps can leave us overwhelmed, off balance, and scrambling to keep up. The truth is, lasting success is built on steady progress—small steps that move you closer to your goals, one day at a time.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stuck, remember this: baby steps matter. They add up. And they’re often the surest path to success.

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How Much Should You Pay a ScrumMaster? OR Do You Even Need One?

So how much does a Scrum Master cost? Let’s chat about it, I think the answer might just surprise you.

Now I think this is an interesting question, we tend to think of this in terms of how much an organisation will have to pay to employ a Scrum Master or how much the Scrum Master thinks they’re worth, but there’s a different way of looking at this. The cost to the organization and the team by employing the wrong person.

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September 11th - Peace, Politics, and Remembrance - You Can Make a Difference!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore remembering 9/11 and how politics does not need to divide us as a people.

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The Importance of Using the Word No.. Prioritization Matters!

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” — Steve Jobs

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What is Self-Management in Agile Teams?

Self-managing teams are one of the foundational principles of Scrum. As Scrum Masters, we are trained to strive towards that idea. It embodies the first value in the Agile Manifesto: We put the individuals and the interactions first by giving the team autonomy on how to organise themselves to achieve the Sprint Goal. Only then do we give them tools and processes to support that specific way of organising themselves.

Self-management is critical to succeeding as a Scrum Team because it leads to ownership and empowers the team. And it creates intrinsic motivation, which is such a powerful driver of team effectiveness.

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A Random Act of Kindness

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Is The ScrumMaster Role Obsolete?

In the dynamic world of Agile methodologies, the role of the Scrum Master is often misunderstood and undervalued. Many organizations mistakenly view the Scrum Master as merely a facilitator, applicable only in the early stages of a team’s development. Many organizations divide the responsibility for a person, being a half-time Scrum Master and a half-time value developer. And many organizations believe the Scrum Master role is obsolete when the team has understood how agile works and how all ceremonies should be performed.

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I just had groceries delivered. One of the items I ordered was a four-pack of square tissues. The store must have been out of those because they substituted an eight-pack of small travel tissues.
You might say the store delivered less value than I expected.
And I’m only a bit disappointed, but imagine how disappointed stakeholders are when teams deliver less value than they should. That’s more frustrating because what our teams deliver is nothing to sneeze at.
One reason teams deliver less value than they could is that they don’t have a medium-term goal to guide their efforts.
A long-term goal is great. It can provide excitement to spur a team to greater creativity, novel solutions, and breakthrough products.
But it’s hard to feel progress against a long-term goal that won’t be achieved for maybe two, three, or more years.
And short-term goals, such as sprint goals, are great at gauging daily progress and keeping everyone focused.
It’s the medium-term goal, perhaps two or three months into the future, that I often find missing. And that I find the most compelling.
This is why I was excited in 2020 when the product goal became an official part of Scrum. The Scrum Guide is silent on how far out a product goal should be, simply calling it a “long-term objective.”
Two problems arise without a goal a few months into the future:
1) Each sprint is prioritized anew. The product owner considers whatever is urgent—that is, whatever stakeholders are yelling about at the moment—and sets the team to work on that.
The urgent is not always that important. My email has been dinging while I write this. I probably need to at least read my new messages today, so they’re urgent. But they’re not as important as writing this email is to me.
Without a medium-term goal to weigh against whatever stakeholders are asking for this red-hot moment, those urgent items will always win.
When a team works on what’s urgent rather than on what’s important, they don’t deliver as much value as they could.
2) Without a medium-term goal to guide it, a team will often bounce from one top priority to the next. Teams, and especially their product owners, can succumb to shiny-object syndrome.
An agile team should absolutely shift away from its current top priority capability once the next work on that item is of lower value than work on some other capability. A product goal achievable in a few months helps a team decide when that’s the case.
As the team begins each new iteration, everyone should be open to abandoning or altering the medium-term goal.
Using a medium-term goal to guide rather than dictate its priorities will help your team succeed with agile.

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Together with the rest of the team, the Product Owner is accountable for ensuring the product’s success, usually in a dynamic business environment.

They link the customer’s needs and desires and the team’s work, aligning the product with market demands. For this, they need the ability to order the backlog based on priorities, risk, and value, to communicate effectively, and to keep the direction steady towards the product vision while taking care of all the details that may emerge.

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Observed the first Monday in September, Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.

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We all dwell on unresolved personal conflicts from time to time. Who hasn’t ruminated on a hurtful comment or unintentional harm we might have caused someone? Feeling bad about something you did, or something done to you, is human. Congratulations on not being a psychopath!

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The Top 3 Reasons Why Big Tech Layoffs Does NOT Mean That Agile is Dead... It is Refocused!

Behold... Agile is STILL NOT DEAD!! Join V. Lee Henson for what he promises WILL be the MOST VIRAL episode of 2024 as he telly you the REAL reason organizations are doing layoffs and what you can do to be protected.

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The Top 3 Ways to Prevent Developer Burnout

Eliminate Pointless Meetings
Manage Developer Stress
The Constantly Changing Technology Landscape

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Study Finds 268% Higher Failure Rates for Agile Software Projects - DEBUNKED

This study is deeply rooted and focused SOLELY on Agile Delivery. After reading the study if 600 participants... And digging deep into what smelled about the report, I came up with a few things that led me to believe that the creator if the study was merely trying to sell a competing product..

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What Are the Three Biggest Factors if Great Leadership? - Richard Branson

Lead From the Front
Prioritize Your People
Get REALLY Good at Making Decisions

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3 Questions to Help Overcome Your Biggest Fear

Question #1 Why do you even care?

Question #2 What is your fear like?

Question #3 What are you willing to feel?

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Making Remote Work Work.. - Is The Honeymoon Over?

I will never take an in-office job again”, words I and most of my team live by now that we’ve gotten to work on a team that gets how to do remote work right.

Our team has always been remote. My boss is located on the east coast and we have team members on both coasts of the United States.

I’ve been leading 100% remote teams for over ten years now and while most people on my teams have sworn off in-office jobs for life, building and maintaining a remote team has some unique challenges.

We’ve wrestled with these challenges ourselves and today I want to walk you through how we’ve solved for them in the hopes it can help your team build a better working life and group culture.

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How ScrumMasters Go Astray by Committing to Plans - I Don't Think So...

Imagine your success gets measured on your ability to predict the unpredictable.

Sounds ridiculous, huh? Yet, this is how many default to measuring Scrum Masters and their team’s performance. It’s the rampant, default behavior in organizations today.

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Simple Rules To Build Complex Things

Customer
Communications
Planning
Product
Architecture
Process
Risk

Go-To-Market Strategies For New Products and Services

In short, a GTM is a comprehensive plan for introducing a new product or service to the market. A GTM differs from a marketing strategy which is a long-term strategy (could ideally be years in the future) that outlines a business’s overall marketing objectives. A GTM is aimed at a specific shorter-term timeframe and asset (product or service).

Businesses prepare GTM strategies to optimize potential success and minimize risk when introducing a new product or service to market.

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Sage Advice For My Son Justin on His Wedding Day

This is a rather personal episode... But I did it in hopes that at least one of you can also benefit from this advice.

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Being Too Precise Hurts Your Plans - Mike Cohn

I need a new backup drive. I don’t need a 40 TB drive but the site I buy from listed one available. I thought I might as well click on it to see the price.
The price seemed reasonable for that much storage, but what caught my attention is that the drive ships in 205 days.
Seriously, what are they thinking? How can they possibly know the drive will ship in 205 days, not 204 or 206?
This website fell into what I call the precision trap, which is applying a false level of precision to some estimate or plan. We often fall into the precision trap because of the math involved in planning.
Let me clarify this with an example. Suppose a team has estimated that it needs to deliver 100 story points of work to achieve some objective. They’ve already calculated their velocity to be 15. Someone on the team does the simple math of 100 divided by 15 and gets 6.66. Team members then proclaim that they will be done in 6.66 sprints. Or hopefully someone decides to round that up and say it will take 7 sprints.
But math like this leads to the precision trap. You can see from this how the website decided the drive would ship in 205 days.The precision trap persists because we seem wired to like precision. It feels good to say we’ll be done in 6.66 sprints. We must be really smart to know that.
But we need to favor being accurate over being precise. Accuracy is about being right. The easiest way to be right is to be less precise.
For example, that website could have told me the drive would ship in “about 7 or 8 months.” That would have been enough precision for me to decide whether to buy it.
When math tells a team they can deliver in 6.66 sprints, that is very precise. But it’s probably not very accurate. Just like the ship date of the hard drive, that estimate should be conveyed as a range. Instead of 6.66 sprints, maybe it’s 6 to 9 sprints or even 7 to 10 sprints.
Avoid falling into the precision trap if you want to succeed with agile

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Are You a CT-NO?

A CEO once told me it felt like the CTO misheard and thought his title was CT- N O. “Can we do that? No. Is that feasible? No.” After wiping myself from having spilled my coffee laughing, I realized that’s such a common stance tech executives take that I’m surprised I hadn’t heard the term earlier. Let’s discuss why so many people have this issue and how you can become a force-multiplying CTO instead of a backlog gatekeeper.

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What happens POST Agile Coaching?

In future, the agile coach becomes a delivery leader, moving from cheering at the sidelines to playing an active role in execution, with delivery accountability.

The idea that a Scrum team can be self-organizing and act in a silo is long-dead. The World is too complex for that. No single team knows everything about the business, the customer, the regulatory environment and the technology environment in which they work. It’s why we have all the departments we do in organizations. The best teams know how to navigate necessary complexity and produce results together.

This ability to navigate is where the future of the agile coach lies.

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How to Better Leverage Assumptions and Thwart Risk

In product management, most of our ideas are not going to work.

It’s essential to test our assumptions before the implementation.

But you can’t test everything. And you can’t test what you’re unaware of.

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Nine Simple Hacks That Make Life So Much Easier!

Be a ‘top-level asker.’
Presuppose greatness.
Simplify daily.
Prioritize uncomfortable conversations.
Be aggressively countercultural.
Choose bigger problems.
Create mystery.
Commit to becoming elite in one thing.
Biased to what’s working.

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The Art of Asking the Right Questions - Becoming the ScrumMaster

Asking the right questions is a crucial skill for any Scrum Master. Mastering this ability can yield numerous benefits in various situations, especially when engaging in conversations or working within an agile context. Here's why it matters:

Ask Questions to Know More About Your Team
Ask Follow-up Questions After You Listen

Ask Questions to Clarify Your Role

Ask Questions About the Company & Product
Ask Questions About Expectations

Short Answers To BIG Questions About Agile Leaders

What Is an Agile Leader?

Three qualities define an agile leader.

First, agile leaders are comfortable with uncertainty. They’re willing to hear and say, “I don’t know.” They understand not everything can be stated with certainty. This means they can accept it when a team says they’ll be done in five or six months.

Second, agile leaders guide; they don’t command. An agile leader does not tell people the specific steps to take to achieve a goal. Instead, the agile leader creates a culture of teamwork, transparency, and continuous improvement. This environment empowers team members to achieve great things.

Third, agile leaders do less but accomplish more. Agile leaders are rarely a flurry of activity. Instead, they motivate and inspire others to do more of the right things.

Jazz great Thelonious Monk was known for leaving silence between the notes he played. He said, “What you don't play can be more important than what you do.”

Like Monk, an agile leader knows that what they don’t do–where they leave space–can be more important than what they do.

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Crafting the PERFECT Offer...

You’ve made the cold calls. Sent the emails. Built the landing page. Ran the ads. You’ve generated significant interest. Yet, people are still not buying.

Why?

Probably because your offer sucks. And it’s not your fault. Understand this: A great offer makes business easy. Once you’re able to craft and articulate an offer that people can’t refuse, you get to play business on easy mode.

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Maximizing Stakeholder Buy-in

The most amazing product strategy and product roadmap are ineffective if the stakeholders don’t support them. Without their buy-in, you’ll struggle to execute the strategy and find it hard to deliver the roadmap. But it doesn’t have to be this way. This article shares my tips to help you secure strong stakeholder buy-in to strategic product decisions, align people, and achieve product success together.

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How Much Control Do We Need?

Do you ever wonder what the correct threshold for being in control is? Is there ever a time where it is better to NOT have control? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what control is and when it is healthy.

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How Your Agile Team Could Compete In The Olympics - Mike Cohn

Let the games begin! Are you and your team ready for the Olympics? I hope so, since the games start tomorrow.
I want to share a few Olympic events at which I think agile teams would excel.
First are the speed events: swimming, sprint canoeing, the marathon, and the shorter running events. The emphasis agile teams place on going faster and seeking continuous improvement will serve them well in competing in these.
Some of these events, such as the swimming and running relays, require handoffs. Good agile teams become adept at small, frequent handoffs (such as from programmer to tester). This skill will serve an agile team well when participating in Olympic relays.
Good agile teams are cross functional. That is, individuals with different but complementary skills collaborate. Cross-functional agile teams would excel at the many sports that require different types of players such as football, hockey, cricket, volleyball, and water polo (my personal favorite).
These sports include experts who are highly skilled in one dimension. But these single-function aces need to be balanced with the skills of other team members.
While a cross-functional Olympic team can include specialist experts, the team will benefit from multi-skilled members. These pi- or m-shaped people are proficient at two, three, or more skills needed by the team. Sign these folks up for the triathlon, pentathlon, heptathlon, or decathlon!
The best agile teams collaborate and synchronize their work. We see this when testers create test plans while programmers are still coding rather than waiting for the programmers to finish. Agile teams who have mastered collaboration and synchronization could look for Olympic success in events such as rowing or artistic (synchronized) swimming.
A team’s Scrum Master would do well running the hurdles. Who better to clear obstacles?
And good agile teams excel in delivering the outcomes expected of them in the time frames desired. Teams who hit the bull’s eye should give archery a try.
Finally, I have to add that I’d like all agile teams to compete in the Olympic trampoline event. Shouldn’t work be a bit more fun? And what’s more fun than bouncing on a trampoline and winning a gold medal at agile,

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Ditch the Crystal Ball: A Simple Way to Prioritize Your Team’s Work - Justin Hawkins

We have over 200 ideas in our backlog across our suite of applications. Each of those ideas represents anywhere from 3 days to 3 months of work for our product and development teams to fully define, build, and release.

All said and done, we could keep our teams busy for 5 years with only the things we already know about and there are more ideas coming in every day. So how do we possibly prioritize this giant pile of possibilities?

Here’s our dirty secret. We don’t.

https://productcoalition.com/ditch-the-crystal-ball-a-simple-way-to-prioritize-your-teams-work-a5f547ed7c88

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ScrumMasters NEED to Rethink Their Role or Become Extinct...

1) Help the team learn to self-organize in different ways

2) Listen for impediments out of the teams control and work quickly to get those removed

3) Anticipate problems and help the team avoid them.

4) Become equipped to radiate information about the teams work.

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Strategy To LAND Your Next Product Manager Role

How can you find your next job in this economy? It is actually MUCH easier than you imagine! Join V. Lee Henson as he explores what you need to do TODAY to land that ideal role.

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The Untold Story Behind The Key Bridge Collapse in Baltimore

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T-Shaped Personas

Key Concepts

A persona is an abstract representation of a typical user or customer. We often focus on the buyer persona and the moments-that-matter for our buyer’s journey. This article focuses on the customer already using our product or service.
A feature is an important part, quality or ability of a product that makes it distinct or better; it usually contributes to the overall value proposition.
A product feature matrix maps product(s) on one axis, to features on an intersecting axis. It is typically used to compare competing, similar products, or differentiate a product’s versions from product Gamma to Gamma+, Gamma 2.0 and so on.
The T-Shaped person is a talent management concept, attributed to McKinsey & Company, that describes the depth or domain expertise of an individual along the vertical stroke of the letter ‘T’, while also describing that same individual’s breadth across varied other disciplines along the ‘T’ horizontal bar.
A T-Shaped Persona is a new concept. It’s a business strategy tool, similar to the talent concept above, visualized by a ‘T’; it also conveys a breadth and depth. Its differences start with its job — act as a visual guide to inspect a persona’s adoption and use of our product(s). The vertical stroke of the letter ‘T’ signifies depth of product experience, while the ‘T’ horizontal conveys typical persona attributes like geographic, firmographic, occupational, and other traits.

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Stop Doing So Many Spikes - Mike Cohn

One of the more common mistakes I see teams make is relying too much on spikes. A spike is an activity a team performs to get smarter about something. With a spike, a team isn’t trying to immediately deliver a new capability; instead, they are building the knowledge that will allow them to deliver the new capability later.
Spikes are a great tool, and I’d expect every team to use them...but not on everything they work on.
The best use of a spike is to reduce excess uncertainty. This could be uncertainty about how a feature should work or about how it will be built.
A team may opt, for example, to spike the user interface for a particular feature. Or it may use a spike to determine if a technical approach is feasible or will perform at the required level.
Each of these can be a good use of a spike. The problem comes when a team wants to use a spike on everything. Spikes should be used only in cases of extreme or excessive amounts of uncertainty. Spikes should not be used to reduce the typical, garden-variety uncertainty that exists in all work.
Further, spikes should not be used to eliminate uncertainty. Teams need to be comfortable bringing work into their sprints or iterations with open issues remaining.
Is your team reluctant to allow work into a sprint with any remaining uncertainty? That’s sometimes the result of team members feeling excessive pressure to estimate perfectly, to always achieve the sprint goal, or to always deliver everything that they brought into a sprint.
If that is happening, a Scrum Master or coach needs to work with outside stakeholders or whomever is creating these unrealistic expectations. Sometimes it’s even the team members putting this pressure on themselves.
But what’s the problem with frequent spikes anyway? It’s that overuse of spikes extends your time to value. This is especially true when the spike is done in one iteration and the rest of the work in a subsequent iteration.
Overuse of spikes also reduces the extent to which teams overlap work. This can increase the burden on testers.
For example, consider the case of a programmer who uses a spike to reduce the uncertainty of a backlog item. If that item is brought into the next sprint, the programmer’s work has been made simpler by the spike, but the tester’s has not.
If your testers are struggling to keep current with the programmers, consider whether the team is doing too many spikes. It’s a good question to ask yourself even when the testers don’t seem overburdened, if you want to succeed with agile.

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6 Micro-Habits of Highly Effective Leaders

Great managers follow simple habits and practices to stay highly effective.
They reframe fear as a sign to evaluate multiple options, ask questions, or reconsider assumptions instead of letting fear get in the way of making decisions or taking action.
Instead of giving power to naysayers by allowing them to influence their thinking or how they make decisions, highly effective managers stay away from them.
By working on things within their control instead of wasting time on things outside their control, highly effective managers expand their circle of influence.
Maximizing their team’s potential is their primary focus. By highlighting each individual’s strengths and combining them with the right opportunities, highly effective managers build high-performance teams.
Effective managers are highly self-aware of the limitations of their minds. They don’t let cognitive biases get in the way of how they think or make decisions.
They use their peak productivity period to do some of their best work. Matching energy to the cognitive demand of their work makes them highly effective.

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The BEST way to Improve Company Culture Is To KILL It First...

You’re working long hours, for low pay, either in an open office environment that nobody likes or working remotely and feeling like you’re going to wake up tomorrow to one of those dreaded HR meeting invites.

There doesn’t seem to be any kind of work-life balance anymore, because the gap between the two has disintegrated, and life is so expensive right now that you’re perpetually working in larger chunks to salvage smaller slivers of life.

You’re not happy. I get that. And if we’re here to be honest, I’ll tell you I’m not happy either. All respect, but I’m not here to listen to a bunch of complaining or to resolve interpersonal issues all day. I’m in the same boat as you, only I don’t have anyone to complain to.

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The Art of Getting a Good Nights Sleep

Is it really possible to get a good nights sleep? Join V. Lee Henson as he reveals tips and tricks to help you get the rest that you need.

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The 9 Zones of A Product Backlog

Ideally, I have some work placed in all nine zones. This indicates that product development is progressing, while still being able to develop the product strategy and make it operational.

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The 5 Deadliest Strategy Myths

1) A List of Initiatives is a Strategy

2) You can Prove that your Strategy is Correct

3) Analytically Strong People are Better Strategists

4) Strategy is a Zero-Sum Game

5) Strategy is Formulated at the Top & then Executed Below

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Why Is Strategy So Hard To Define?

If you’re a reflective type and you’ve ever considered how difficult it is to truly define strategy, you’re not alone.

And I blame the abusers of the term. Those who use it with wild abandon, who insert it in pedestrian comms, repeatedly and deliberately. People who believe that activity becomes strategic, simply by labelling it so. It is those offenders that make the idea of strategy complex and nebulous.

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What to Do Before Adding Items to the Backlog - Mike Cohn

Have you seen “The Princess Bride” movie?
I love it. (And the book is even better.)
The film tells the love story of Buttercup and Westley. Westley works on Buttercup’s family’s farm and any time she asks him to do something, he responds, “As you wish.”
This is not how a team should respond when a product owner asks a team to do something.
Before doing what their product owner requests, team members should ask questions. This ensures they understand what’s needed, but also confirms the product owner has thought through the request sufficiently.
I’ve seen many situations in which product owners ultimately realize they never really wanted the thing they initially asked for.
I think team members should even go so far as to push back slightly if they have doubts about the benefit of something a product owner has requested.
Product owners are meant to be the authority on their products, the wise and most knowledgeable voice. But team members’ opinions should not be discounted.
Team members are valuable stakeholders who may have unique insights into how a product works. If they have concerns about a request, they deserve to be heard. And product owners owe it to users to listen.
Ideally, a product owner asks a team to achieve some goal rather than simply perform a simple task.
“Fetch that” may have worked for Buttercup telling Westley what to do. And a simple task like that may warrant an “As you wish” response.
On an agile project, however, asking questions before possibly telling the product owner, “As you wish” is the way to succeed with agile.

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Top 6 Lessons You Can Learn ONLY If You Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone

The comfort zone. What a beautiful place to be in. But have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone? Have you ever thought of venturing outside to see what lies in the great beyond? Have you ever wondered what lessons about life you can learn outside your comfort zone? One thing’s for sure: you’ll be surprised by what you find at the edge of your comfort zone.

Change is great.
Challenge equals a mental workout.
Pushing yourself helps you grow.
Happiness cannot be found in complacency.
You are better than you think you are.
Life is a beautiful journey.

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The Future of Agile Coaching

Agile delivery has conquered the world. Agile is everywhere. The industry dinosaurs have introduced Agile over the years. Public organizations have Scrum teams. It’s omnipresent.

Many active in the Agile space have discussed we have reached a saturation point. “Everyone” is doing it, so we should expect a decline in demand to introduce people to Agile.

That doesn’t mean Agile Coaching will become less relevant. On the contrary, introducing Agile is only one step towards effectiveness in creating value.

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5 Things I Wish I Would Have Known About Agile Sooner!!

When I started as a Scrum Master/Agile coach, I didn’t take a mentor but studied by myself, leading consecutive failures of Agile transformation in projects. It was a hard, shameful, and embarrassing experience, as I even got fired from several projects.

However, these experiences made me stronger as well. I decided to take advantage of these failures to introspect, study harder, and brush up on my Agile skills. After that, I was able to succeed in Agile implementation in many projects. Mistakes and failures were stepping stones for my Agile journey.

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Should Product Managers Write Problem Statements? - YES!

A problem statement is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to be improved upon. It identifies the gap between the current (problem) state and desired (goal) state of a process or product. The first condition of solving a problem is understanding the problem, which can be done by way of a problem statement.

A good problem statement:

Provides focus and frames the problem
Inspires your team
Informs criteria for evaluating competing ideas
Empowers your team to make independent decisions
Captures the hearts and minds of people you meet
Prevents you from creating concepts that are all things to all people
Should be discreet, not broad

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Corporate Ozempic - Is AI Shrinking Companies?

If you want to understand how AI is reshaping business, picture it as the other massive innovation of our time: GLP-1 drugs. Both shed weight by suppressing cravings; both exacerbate existing inequities (aka the rich get richer) before generating wider prosperity; and both are having a greater impact than projected as early adopters are hesitant to admit they’re using.

https://medium.com/@profgalloway/corporate-ozempic-da829480c878

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8 Things That Emotionally Intelligent People NEVER Do!

THEIR EMOTIONAL BASE IS NOT EXTERNAL
THEY MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HAPPINESS OR WHAT CREATES IT
THEY UNDERSTAND THAT FEAR IS A NORMAL EMOTION TO NEW THINGS
THEY UNDERSTAND THAT AN EMOTIONS ARE REACTIONS, NOT REALITY
THEY DON’T ASSUME THAT A BAD FEELING LEADS TO A BAD LIFE
THEY DON’T BEFRIEND EASILY
THEY DON’T ASSOCIATE COMPOSURE WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
THEY CHOOSE THEIR OWN THOUGHTS

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Independence Day - 4th of July Tribute

Join V. Lee Henson as we pay tribute to Independence Day.

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Stop Doing Scrum All Wrong...

Are you finding that Scrum isn’t working for you? Do you constantly find that you’re never quite able to complete your Sprint Backlog and even when you get close it never really feels like success? You’re more of a feature factory than anything else.

Well it’s almost certainly because of this one thing. What is it? Let’s find out!

I’ve been using Scrum with teams and a variety of organisations for the past 20 years, God has it been that long! And when Scrum fatigue sets in it’s almost always because the team are not using a Sprint and Product Goal or because they’re using them in the wrong way.

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Is AI Anxiety Holding Us Back? Fear Not.. AI is AMAZING!

ChatGPT’s arrival was met with a mix of awe at its technological advancement, and anger at the blazé nature of its launch.

Some felt there had been little consideration for how under-prepared society was for this innovation. Students would cheat on essays. Disinformation would spread like wildfire, and it would produce toxic, racist, and sexist content and we would all suffer. Dooom!

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Outcome-based product roadmaps offer many benefits over traditional, feature-based ones including a strong focus on the value a product should create. But how can you introduce this new approach when an organisation is used to feature-based plans and stakeholders find it difficult to trust an outcome-based roadmap? To address this challenge, I introduce a four-step process in this article.

https://romanpichler.medium.com/how-to-get-started-with-outcome-based-product-roadmaps-68f30098175a

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How Did We Get 60 Seconds?

Have you ever wondered why there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour? People often take this for granted because it has been this way for thousands of years. If you can believe it, the ordering of our clocks took place nearly 4,000 years ago. Our clocks work on intervals of sixty because that is how the Sumerians and Babylonians did it. The ancient Babylonians began codifying their astronomical beliefs and findings in the 14th century BCE, or 3400 years ago. It is from these calculations and assumptions that we get many of our most basic and common numbers.

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The Beatles Made a Mistake - Mike Cohn

It should be a comfort to each of us to know that we’ll probably never make a mistake as big as the one The Beatles made during this week in 1966.
Following the critical and sales success of the prior year’s “Rubber Soul” album, the Beatles released a new album, “Yesterday and Today,” in June 1966. The album was released in the US and Canada and contained songs that had been withheld from North American versions of other Beatles albums.
Musically, it’s a solid album featuring “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Day Tripper,” and of course “Yesterday.”
Where The Beatles went wrong was in the choice of the album art. The cover photo shows all four Beatles wearing white butcher’s frocks with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of raw meat in their laps.
The photo is in incredibly bad taste even to the less sensitive standards of 1966.
I’m sharing this because on this day in 1966, The Beatles admitted their mistake and replaced the cover.
I think The Beatles’ experience with this botched album cover decision holds four lessons.
First, it’s important to acknowledge that when a team is moving quickly, team members will make some mistakes. “Yesterday and Today” was The Beatles’ twelfth album released in North America in four years.
Second, when you make a mistake, be willing to admit it. The Beatles did not blame their label for picking the cover. In fact, band members insisted on the cover over the label’s objection.
The Beatles said the cover was meant to be a protest against the savagery of the Vietnam War. I’ve always been skeptical of that as it seemed like an after-the-fact justification, but I appreciate that they owned the mistake.
Third, correct mistakes as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. The Beatles corrected their mistake by recalling all the albums and pasting a new cover on top of the original.
A few savvy DJs and record store owners did not return all the albums. This created a lucrative collector’s market in copies of “Yesterday and Today” with the original cover. I’ve seen some sell for nearly $40,000.
Finally, after correcting the mistake, put the memory aside and move on. After the cover debacle of “Yesterday and Today,” The Beatles went on to make some of their greatest albums including “Revolver,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the white album, and “Abbey Road.”
Mistakes happen. I make them. You make them. Your team makes them. Even The Beatles made mistakes.
Let’s acknowledge that mistakes will happen when moving quickly. Then, when we do make a mistake, let’s own it, correct it, and move beyond it.
It’s quite possible, as it was for The Beatles, that your best work may follow your biggest mistake,

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Stitching Agility Into Life and Work

Today is June 26, or 6-26, a playful nod to Disney’s beloved blue alien, Experiment 626, better known as Stitch. As we explore the connections between this mischievous character and Agile methodologies, let’s dive into how Stitch’s adventures in "Lilo & Stitch" can teach us about flexibility, adaptation, and the power of ohana in our personal and professional growth.

Segment 1: Embracing Change and Chaos:Stitch, created to be a destructive force, initially thrives in chaos. However, throughout the movie, he learns to adapt his behavior and purposes to fit into his new family with Lilo. This mirrors the Agile principle of responding to change over following a set plan. In Agile frameworks, like Scrum or Kanban, the ability to adapt to changing project scopes or client needs is crucial. Stitch’s journey from chaos to adaptation is a perfect metaphor for teams adjusting their strategies and workflows to achieve better outcomes.

Segment 2: Incremental Learning and Growth:Stitch’s development is not overnight. His integration into human society and his transformation into a beloved family member is gradual. This reflects the Agile commitment to continuous improvement and iterative progress—be it through sprint retrospectives in a Scrum team or the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle in Lean practices. Stitch’s incremental learning and the small steps he takes towards becoming a better version of himself highlight the importance of growth in small, manageable increments.

Segment 3: The Importance of Feedback and Collaboration:Lilo’s feedback plays a critical role in guiding Stitch’s behavior, showing how crucial feedback is within Agile teams. Just as Lilo offers real-time, constructive feedback to Stitch, Agile methodologies emphasize regular feedback loops with stakeholders and continuous delivery to ensure the product meets user needs. Moreover, Stitch learns the value of collaboration and teamwork—core aspects of any Agile project.

Conclusion:As we wrap up today’s episode, let’s reflect on the lessons from Stitch’s story. His transformation from a creature of chaos to a loving family member underscores the Agile values of individuals and interactions, customer collaboration, and responding to change. On this 6-26, let’s remember how Experiment 626 can inspire us to embrace our Agile journeys, fostering environments where flexibility, continuous improvement, and strong collaborations are at the heart of what we do.

Call to Action:Thank you for tuning into today’s episode. If Stitch’s story inspired you, or if you have your own tales of agility in action, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us through our website or email, and join us again for more insights on applying Agile principles beyond the workplace. Remember, like Stitch finding his ohana, you’re not alone on your Agile journey.

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Is The Product Owner an Order Maker or Order Taker?

In Scrum, the Product Owner includes the perspective of what is valuable (and what is not) regarding the product's ambitions. As the team spends time and money working on the product, the Product Owner ensures this investment returns value to the stakeholders. Close collaboration with the people who have a stake in the product and the developers is essential to decide what is valuable and what isn’t.

One product has one Product Owner and one Product Backlog with one Product Goal. To keep the speed at which decisions can be made high and adaptation can take place quickly, Product Owners need full mandate over the product. They have the ultimate say over what the ambitions for the product are, what goes on the Product Backlog and what doesn’t, and how to spend the budget (or even set it).

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Pack Your Bags... Enrique Dans Says That Agile Is Done!

In this episode of the Agile HateFest... LOL Enrique Dans tries to convince us all that "research" shows that Agile does NOT work. I for one am thankful that he told me before I spent over 20 years helping organizations achieve AMAZING & PROVEN success implementing Agile.

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10 Psychology Behaviors to Look Out For in 2024

Listen to learn more..

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The Product Owner is assigned to a team
The Product Owner is responsible for the product delivery
The Product Owner’s sole job is to do backlog management
The Product Owner is no Product Manager
The Product Owner owns the Sprint Backlog and determines what the team does

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Juneteenth marks a pivotal moment in American history, commemorating June 19, 1865, the day when Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were now free. This announcement came a full two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery in Confederate territories. The delay in the enforcement of the Proclamation highlights the deep-seated resistance to ending slavery and the complexities involved in applying federal laws across a fractured nation.

The first celebration of Juneteenth was one of both profound joy and cautious optimism. The newly freed African Americans of Galveston rejoiced in the streets, their celebrations a powerful act of communal catharsis. However, this newfound freedom was tempered by the uncertainty of how true emancipation would unfold in the years to come. Despite the challenges they faced, including segregation, economic disparity, and the long struggle for civil rights, Juneteenth has remained a symbol of resilience and hope. It is a day to reflect on the bitter history of slavery, to celebrate the strides toward equality, and to renew the commitment to fighting against systemic injustices. This holiday serves not only as a reminder of past pain but also as an inspiration to strive for a brighter, more inclusive future.

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Are we really still having this conversation? I had a student point out an article that explains why everything ties back to time. Yet again we debunked and show how everything should NEVER point back to time. It is so much easier to estimate and forecast without it!!

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Where is the BEST Price Point for your product or service?

Too Expensive

“At what price would you consider the product to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it?

Too Cheap

“At what price would you consider the product to be priced so low that you would feel the quality couldn’t be very good?”

Expensive

“At what price would you consider the product starting to get expensive, so that it is not out of the question, but you would have to give some thought to buying it?”

Cheap (Bargain)

“At what price would you consider the product to be a bargain — a great buy for the money?”

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Why We Should Learn Everything The Way We Learned To Walk

Watch home videos of babies standing and walking for the first time and two things in particular stand out:

1) They fall over a lot. They are trying and failing constantly, which isn’t surprising considering how tricky standing up and walking can be. What is surprising is just how readily they get up again, without seeming to be at all disheartened by the experience of failing. In fact they often find it funny. They are not only unconcerned by their failures, they are entertained by them. How might we maintain this attitude to our learning later in life?

2) Their efforts are celebrated and encouraged by everyone around them. If you are lucky enough to witness a baby taking their first steps, take a moment to take your eyes off the magic happening in front of you and look at the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends who are watching. I wonder if we ever really celebrate our children’s achievements with the same amount of genuine excitement, encouragement and love as we do when we watch them take their first steps. What if we could keep replicating that level of encouragement and joint celebration throughout their lives whenever they learn something new?

Maybe babies have something to teach the rest of us. Maybe they realise more than we do the importance of taking your time, laughing at your failures and encouraging others with genuine love and excitement. Maybe, just maybe, if we learned to do everything the way we learned to walk, learning itself might not seem as painful as it sometimes seems at school. Maybe instead it would feel easy, like … well … like a walk in the park.

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Are Scrum & Agile Dead? - Mike Cohn

I’ve always said I wanted Scrum and agile to go away.
Is that happening? I don’t think a week passes without some article about their deaths appearing in my browser or email.
Within a few years of the Agile Manifesto being written, I began to say I wanted agile to go away. I didn’t mean I wanted us to stop using them. Rather, I want them to win.
I want agile to become so much the accepted approach to product development, or to teamwork in general, that we could stop talking about it.
Instead of saying “agile software development,” for example, I could just say “software development” and the assumption would be that, of course, that meant agile software development.
To some extent, we’re there.
Changes Accelerated by Agile
When Scrum emerged as the original agile framework in the mid-1990s, cross-functional teams were not common. They are now.
Software development back then was done in phases—typically an analysis phase followed by design, coding, and testing phases.
Heavy duty, pixel-perfect prototypes were common back then due to the high cost of iterating over a design. While prototypes are still used today, multiple quick prototypes are now common to help product owners and managers choose between options.
Before the advent of agile, organizations thought they could add quality to a product by testing quality in at the end. Agile has helped us see that isn’t true.
Barry Boehm’s spiral model (1986) and Tom Gilb’s evolutionary delivery (1988) had started a shift to iterative, incremental development. But that shift accelerated dramatically after the Manifesto in 2001.
(Did you know I named Mountain Goat Software after a sentence in Tom Gilb’s book?)
What I Hear about Agile Today
Recent articles and podcasts saying agile is dead are not saying we need to reverse the improvements agile initiated or accelerated.
I haven’t read anything advocating a return to waterfall development or, more accurately, the ad hoc development practices that were more common before agile.
Instead, the “agile is dead” articles more closely mimic my long-held view that we can eventually stop talking about agile teams, agile development, agile frameworks and more. They’ll just become teams, development, and frameworks.
So are agile and Scrum dead?
I don’t think so.
I think there’s still plenty of work ahead. It’s why we’re focusing more attention toward whole-team training.
Some of the agile and Scrum fatigue I sense today is analogous to what happens in the music industry. Fans who love an artist’s first few albums often sour on that artist when they’re discovered by the masses. The artist is no longer the hip, new thing and many early fans move on because of that.
I will be happy when agile wins, when we can drop it as an adjective in front of so many terms. Until then I will remain dedicated to helping teams succeed with agile,

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How To Fix The Top 3 Most Common Scrum Issues

Avoid starting projects with a Sprint Zero

Sprint Zero often doesn’t provide enough time for thorough planning and architectural decisions. Instead, advocate for a flexible approach. Ensure initial planning and setup extend beyond a single sprint. This way, your team can establish a solid foundation for future development without feeling rushed.

Ensure thorough planning and clear acceptance criteria

Starting sprints without clear acceptance criteria can lead to scope creep and missed deadlines. Before beginning any sprint, ensure a detailed agreement between developers and management. This should outline exactly what needs to be built, including all edge cases and validation rules. Clear criteria help keep the team focused and on track.

Avoid treating story points as hours

Converting story points into hours undermines the agile methodology by bringing back the rigidity of waterfall projects. Educate your team and management on the correct use of story points to represent relative effort and complexity, not time. This maintains the flexibility and effectiveness of the scrum process, allowing for better adaptation to changes and challenges.

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The Top 5 Ways You Can Demonstrate Collaboration With Cross-Functional Teams In An Interview

Share Stories
Highlight Empathy
Discuss Outcomes
Use Metrics
Reflect Flexibility

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Sprint vs Kanban vs ScrumBan - A Question From Scott

Do you know the difference? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the differences between the three and what you need to know.

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9 Unwritten Social Rules Everyone Should Know

Be direct when you are too tired to function.
If someone turns down alcohol, let it go.
Don’t stand in a door way.
Don’t make plans in front of those you don’t plan to invite.
Never criticize someone’s laugh or smile.
Respect your surroundings.
If someone drives you somewhere offer to pay for gas every time.
Don’t cut the line.
Say thank you when someone holds the door for you.

BONUS: Always show gratitude

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From Product Manager to AI Product Manager - Making the Transition

Why focus on AI product management ?

AI or traditional(??) Machine Learning has been driving business impact for a while (decades now). Search, recommendations, Ads, fraud detection and many such areas are heavily driven by ML algorithms
AI is bound to have a large impact on business productivity going forward. There is some hype, but there is surely some real gains after the hype settles.

There will be a lot of effort by businesses to extract productivity gains out of AI and this will open door for more innovations.

An AI Product Manager could be working for:

a tech company building foundational models and serving API-s (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft)
a tech company building tools and applications that will be heavily influenced by AI eg. — Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Netflix; startups, etc.
businesses that want to extract benefits from this new technology
consulting companies that help business through the transformation (the role here might be ‘consultant’ instead of ‘PM’)

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Story Points Are NOT Trash!

Recently, I noticed another ‘Story Points are trash’ article on LinkedIn. It was a popular post, with many people responding to AND agreeing with this statement.

I disagree. 😱

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Why People Don't Listen and How We Can Encourage Them

If your senior management team is ignoring you, it is probably not because they are stupid
If the message does not inspire your intended reaction, you may not have been clear in your communication
If your manager is ignoring recommendations from professional researchers, it is probably not because they don’t think understanding customers is important
If you’re doing planning activites when you should be doing strategic activities, the business might not be encouraging the behaviours it intends to encourage
If your ideas meet resistance, it might be because you’re not in an environment where true learning is valued.

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The Top 5 Undeserved Reasons Scrum Gets a Black Eye

Micromanagement
Sprints are mini waterfalls
Excessive Meetings
Story Points estimation gives a false sense of security
We can’t work in two weeks Sprints

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What Was I Made For?

Who would have ever thought that I would have an episode completely inspired by the lyrics of a Billie Eillish song? Okay.. all of you who know me well realize that this is not so far fetched. As we remember a dear friend who passed on or we are trying to introspect on our own contribution to the world, it is time we ask the question.. What was I made for?

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Managers Are Overworked and I'm Worried - Mike Cohn

I’m scared, folks—not of zombies, spiders, or flying.
I’m afraid of managers. Maybe I should say I’m afraid for managers.
I just read a new Harvard Business review article called Four Reasons Why Managers Fail. It said managers have nearly three times as many direct reports as they did just six years ago.
Managers also reported an average of 51% more responsibilities than they can handle.
The same research found that 44% of managers are struggling to fully support their direct reports.
I get that it’s fashionable to bash managers and to think of them as all living in a Dilbert cartoon. But managers perform important functions in organizations:

They help convey organizational strategy.
They look out for the careers and development of their employees.
Managers resolve conflict.
They help put the right people together to form great teams.
They shelter teams from the potentially swirling whirlwind of change that often exists outside the team.
Managers facilitate decisions.
They have resources and can get more when it’s justified.
Managers help create—or change—the culture of an organization.
And when you want someone to remove an impediment? There’s no one better than a manager with both budget and people responsibilities.

So when some serious research reveals 48% of managers are at risk of failure, I’m worried.
I can literally remember becoming a manager. The responsibilities I had felt huge. The company was planning for a public offering and if the teams I managed were to fail, the public offering wouldn’t happen. Some nights I was sleepless with excitement over what my teams were accomplishing and how well they were working together.
Some nights I was sleepless with worry. (Other nights I was sleepless from too much pizza.)
But according to the research in this article, I had it easy as a manager back then compared to the stress and responsibilities managers feel today.
If you’re a manager with too many responsibilities, or three times the direct reports you had a few years ago, or you’re worried you’re at risk of failure, please understand you’re not alone; what you’re feeling is the norm now.
Next, take a look at my website. I’ve got hundreds of blog posts there, in addition to the videos on YouTube. It’s very likely you’ll find something there to help.
Or try asking GoatBot, our AI answer engine. It’s been trained on everything I’ve written or taught.
Finally, just click reply to this email—even if you only want some sympathy for the challenges of being a manager today. My team and I want to help.
So many managers at risk of failing scares me. That’s a lot of value that could be created in the world that may not be. Let’s fix that together,

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Everybody Hates the Product Manager

Product managers are almost universally hated — and with (good?) reason. They just don’t get it. They make a lot of excuses. They never deliver, and when they do, it’s the wrong feature. And don’t get me started on how poorly they iterate, descope, estimate, roadmap, and “prioritize” their “backlog”.

Being a PM is an almost impossible job by definition. You’re supposed to somehow keep all these disparate sets of people happy, and they all want different things. Not just different — sometimes the exact opposite.

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Product Manager vs Project Manager - The Importance in the Difference

Why should I care about the differences between product and project management? And why do the differences matter?

Despite being distinct roles, product managers and project managers are often confused

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Remembering Memorial Day - Reflection

Reflect on what memorial day really means..

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An Act of Service - What Have you Done For Me Lately?

Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying to remember the last time you did a generous act of service for someone else? Do you find that it was so long ago that you just do not remember? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss why service is important and why recent service is a key to success.

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How To Learn From a Disagreement About Agile - Mike Cohn

A reply I got recently to one of these weekly email tips began with, “Mike, you’re wrong.” The reply then went on to summarize that person’s experience and how it led to his conclusion that I’m wrong.
But I wasn’t wrong.
And neither was he.
Whenever I disagree with someone, I try to begin from the perspective that we are both right. (Except in the case of whether Han shot first. He did.)
If you and I disagree and begin with the assumption that we are both right, we’re going to have a better conversation. Instead of each trying to persuade the other that we’re right, we instead try to figure out why we view something differently.
Putting this in an agile context, our different opinions have been formed by the projects and teams we’ve worked with. Since our experiences were different, the conclusions we draw and opinions we form can be different.
As an example, suppose two people are arguing about how much upfront design should be done on agile projects. Their different opinions could arise from one having experience building very simple websites and the other having experience developing large systems in highly regulated domains.
As another example, I have a different opinion than those advocating “No Estimates.” But rather than thinking they’re wrong, I want to understand how their and my experiences could have led us to different opinions.
Maybe we’ve worked on projects of different sizes. Or we worked with companies with different cultures and attitudes toward planning. Or we were required to make more or fewer commitments to customers, marketing, or external stakeholders such as public or private investors.
When people disagree, I don’t find it very useful to engage in a bare-knuckle brawl to determine who is right. That’s often fruitless, frustrating, and just leads to more entrenched thinking on both sides.
Figuring out why we may disagree is much more productive, and a surer way to succeed with agile.

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The Top 10 Keys To Being a Respected Product Manager

10) Be a great Product Manager

9) Share the credit

8) Acknowledge your mistakes

7) Be proactive

6) Be confident, but not a jerk

5) Be the presentation

4) Moderate the conversation

3) Keep your cool

2) Be a part of the development team, not always their manager

1) Don’t say “Yes or No” hastily to any request

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Should Product Roadmaps Have Dates?

Whether product roadmaps should have dates has attracted much debate in product management. Some people passionately argue that dates should be banned from roadmaps. Others claim that they are useful.

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What Is Waste Snake? Is It Agile?

The concept of a "waste snake" isn't a standard term in any major discipline or practice that I'm familiar with. It might be a term from a specific niche or a new concept that hasn’t widely circulated. However, if this term is being used in a context similar to process improvement or systems efficiency, it could potentially refer to a visualization or tracking method for waste in a system, similar to tools used in Lean management like value stream mapping.

In Lean methodology, "waste" refers to any activity that consumes resources but creates no value for the customer. Common types of waste include defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing. A "snake" in this context could metaphorically represent the way waste moves or grows through a system, suggesting a need to identify and eliminate it continuously.

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3 Keys To Help You Get Things Done - Join V. Lee Henson as we explore 3 keys that will truly help you achieve the most in personal productivity.

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What Happens to the Scrum Master if the Organization Decides NOT to do Scrum?

Team Collaboration Advocate
Change Agent
Focus on Continuous Learning and Development
Consultation and Advisory
Enhancing Organizational Resilience and Adaptability
Product Development and Customer Focus

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5 Ways to Improve Team Productivity

How to say goodbye to unproductive meetings with a simple framework your team can remember?
How to assess the productivity of your current meetings?
How can you transition some of your meetings asynchronously?
What conditions need to be met for this to succeed?
What are the guidelines and principles you should have or consider during meetings?

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Our Definition of Productivity is Skewed...

Ever since Covid, people have been working MUCH longer hours to get things done... What has changed and how do we fix it?

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7 Easy to Miss Signs You Are an ANNOYING Leader:

You only make room for gloom and doom
You treat feedback as a one way street
You’re as stable as a spaghetti flagpole in an earthquake
You demonstrate a 2D mindset
You’re as rigid as a diamond in an ice bath
You don’t respect people’s personal time
You’ve built a squad of mini-mes (and leverage it)

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Lead With Light & Love...

After speaking at a recent conference, I had three very magical moments with some of the attendees. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss what happened and the impact we can have on others.

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7 Things a Product Owner Should Stop Doing:

Acting Like the Team Manager
Not Involving the Team in Product Backlog Management
Create All the Goals and Objectives Alone
Be a Team Output Owner and Act Like a Proxy
Forget That Value Requires Validation
Treating All Stakeholders the Same
Not Involving the Team in Stakeholder Conversations

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Are User Stories The Same as Requirements? - Mike Cohn

Are user stories the same as requirements? Not quite, but they’re close.

Rather than thinking of a user story as a requirement, I find it more useful to think of each story as a pointer to a requirement.

Most commonly, every story is a placeholder for a future conversation between the team and its stakeholders. During that conversation, stakeholders will convey the details about what is needed. If more detail is needed than can be conveyed in a conversation, the story may point to a flow diagram, a sketch of the user interface, sample data, instructions on how to perform a calculation, or so on.

A user story itself is too vague to be considered a requirement. You’re better off thinking of a story as a pointer to a requirement.

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Top 5 Things We Do Incorrectly in Product Discovery

Inadequate time for the problem space
Discovery solely for estimation
Discovery without past evidence
Discovery for a quarter or more
Separation of responsibilities and accountabilities in discovery and delivery

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Agile Does NOT Mean ZERO Planning...

Before diving into how I managed planning for this project, it’s important to understand what a plan is and the role of agile planning.

A PLAN is a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something. It’s like a beacon, offering stakeholders a clear vision and placing realistic expectations. It can project a rough timeline for marketing activities, too. The book Agile Estimating and Planning, by Mike Cohn introduces plans as guidance to investment decisions, helping us know who needs to be available to work on a project during a given time and if a project is on track to deliver the functionalities that the user(s) may need and expect. In short, plans usually take the form of documents or figures. They are a big picture of how a project is supposed to unfold.

PLANNING, however, is a quest for value. It is an activity done continuously responding to the feedback from users. Planning helps the team adjust their original plan towards the final destination. To serve different purposes, product teams structure and frame different levels of planning. In a fast-paced world, Agile teams achieve this by planning at three horizons — the release, the iteration, and the current day.

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Agile Estimating and Planning

How Can I Speak At A Conference? - AgileDadSpeaks.Com

Join V. Lee Henson for this Agile Not so Agile episode of The Daily Standup Podcast where he discusses what it takes to speak at Industry-wide conferences and the joy that it can bring in uplifting others!

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The Top 10 AI Tools For Agile Project Managers:

Stepsize.AI
Motion
Notion
Process Street
Forecast
Ayanza
ClickUp
Trello
Asana
Monday
BONUS - ChatGPT4

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Avoid Overloading Your Sprints - Mike Cohn

Someone asked me the other day, “Is there a maximum size for a sprint backlog item?” The simple answer is yes. A team should not bring any item that is more than half of its average velocity into an iteration.
As an example, if a team’s average velocity is 30, and the team estimates using the Fibonacci series, the maximum size sprint backlog item would be 13.

In general, I’d like items much smaller than that. But half of the average velocity is the max.

To understand why large items create problems, consider a recent experience I had at a hotel. My room was on the 15th floor. That floor also had a handful of meeting rooms, each of which looked as if it held around 20 people.

One afternoon, I left my room and went to the bank of elevators. Unfortunately, this was seconds after the meetings let out, sending hoards of attendees surging out of the meeting rooms. I suddenly found myself waiting for the elevator with perhaps 70 other people.

Those elevators, each with a capacity of around 10 people, were not designed for a sudden need to transport 70 people. They were designed instead to transport individuals or small groups of 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Each sprint is like an elevator. It’s very effective when you load your sprints up with a set of small items. Put something large into a sprint, though, and work can back up just like passengers waiting for an elevator.

But what if the team needs to bring in something bigger in a certain sprint?

My first recommendation is to attempt to split the item into smaller items. (I wrote about 5 simple ways to split stories. Try those first.)

If you can’t split it, go ahead and bring the large item into the sprint but balance its largeness by bringing in some much smaller items. Doing so will smooth the flow of work from one skill to another, such as from programmers to testers.

Keeping things smaller will smooth the flow of work through an iteration, and will help you succeed with agile.

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The Top AI Tools For Product Managers:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoYxTrSg7WvRTz_2C1OAnHC2fkWTcQyxx

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Don’t say “No” hastily to any request
Be a part of the development team, not their manager
Keep your cool
Moderate the conversation
Be the presentation
Be confident, but not a jerk
Be proactive
Acknowledge your mistakes
Share the credit
Just be a great product manager

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People Don't Buy Your Product... They Buy YOU!

For this one.. You just need to listen.

~ Lee

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The Product Owner - Steering the Team to Success

Imagine a world where requirements are constantly changing, priorities are shifting, and stakeholders are never satisfied. Sounds like a nightmare, right? Well, that’s where the Product Owner steps in like a superhero to save the day.

The Product Owner is like the captain of a ship in Agile development. They steer the team in the right direction, prioritize work, and ensure that the end product meets the needs of the customers. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!

Creating and maintaining the product backlog
Setting priorities for the team
Ensuring the product meets the customer’s needs
Acting as a bridge between stakeholders and the development team
Making tough decisions when necessary

To be a successful Product Owner, you need a unique set of skills. Here are a few that are essential:

Excellent communication skills
Strong leadership abilities
Empathy for the end-users
Decisiveness
Adaptability

Being a Product Owner is not all rainbows and unicorns. There are challenges that come with the job, such as:

Managing competing priorities
Dealing with difficult stakeholders
Adapting to changing requirements
Making tough decisions under pressure

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Scrum Has Transformed Itself

I’ve noticed that what we understand by Scrum is like the telephone game. Everyone interprets something, passes it on, and the next person picks up what they think is relevant. And to complicate matters further, it’s a changing game. Scrum is not static; its own creators realize its shortcomings and fix them over time. Moreover, after downloading the official guides, versions from 2010 to 2020, I’ve seen it has changed a lot. Things many of us take for granted as the foundation of Scrum no longer exist. And all for the better!

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Whether or not you are a fan of Star Trek, you’ve likely heard of the Captain of the U.S.S Enterprise asking some form of this question: “Engineering, status report?” or “Spock, status report?” (It’s such a common trope that Season 2, episode 9 of Star Trek: Brave New Worlds, “Subspace Rhapsody,” features an iconic scene where the crew has encountered something that is making them all sing their status reports.)
On a ship, even a spaceship, status reports are a quick and efficient way to check that all systems are running as expected or to report problems. On waterfall software projects, status reports often were an effective but often tedious way for a manager to update their Gantt chart to reflect the progress (or lack thereof) for each plan element.
Unfortunately the idea of status reports is so embedded in our psyches that many people on agile teams treat a daily scrum as a time to give a status report to the Scrum Master.
The daily scrum is meant to be a synchronization meeting for the whole team, not a status report solely for the benefit of the Scrum Master. So how did we end up here?
I suspect some people missed the message that a daily scrum is an inspect and adapt activity for the team. And I wonder if the three traditional questions of the daily scrum are to blame as well. The template, “What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? Any blockers?” just sounds like a robotic status report Spock would give.
Two Ways to Bring Sync Back to Daily Scrums
Want to break your team out of the status report mindset? Try these two tips.
First, eliminate the three questions and experiment with structures that work for your team. At your next retrospective, tell the team you want to dispose of the three questions (and why). Remind them of the purpose of daily scrums: to inspect and adapt the team’s progress. And that the goal is to make each daily scrum about synching their work, rather than reporting status, while staying inside the 15-minute timebox.
Then invite the team to come up with experiments to try (like going PBI by PBI instead of person by person).
Second, for one sprint try to avoid eye contact with anyone giving an update during a daily scrum, especially doing them in person. Making eye contact is human nature. When we speak, we make eye contact with someone. Many teams, especially those new to Scrum, will naturally look at the ScrumMaster when speaking rather than one another.
By not making eye contact with someone giving an update, ScrumMasters can signal that the speaker should be talking to the rest of the team, rather than directly to the Scrum Master.
If your daily scrums are so dull that the team is silently begging to be beamed up, you aren’t alone. Bringing a collaborative spirit back to your daily scrums is one way to help your team succeed with agile.

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Generative AI is Revolutionizing Product Development!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M09Nj1ETldo&list=PLoYxTrSg7WvRTz_2C1OAnHC2fkWTcQyxx&index=1&pp=gAQBiAQB

Imagine a world where your product ideas are not just yours but are informed by the collective intelligence of countless consumer interactions, market trends, and technological possibilities. Welcome to the realm of generative AI — a world where product managers can transcend traditional boundaries of innovation and efficiency. As a product manager, you are the maestro of this orchestra, wielding tools that can harmonize market data into symphonies of opportunity. This article invites you to explore the revolution generative AI is bringing to product development, offering you a lens into a future where the only limit is not your resources, but the breadth of your imagination.

Generative AI can fuel the ideation process by synthesizing market trends and customer feedback to suggest improvements and new product ideas.

Example: By analyzing social media data, AI can generate ideas for eco-friendly packaging that appeals to sustainability-conscious consumers.

Tip: Use AI to regularly scan customer reviews and forums to capture emerging needs and preferences for product updates or new developments.

AI tools can analyze large datasets to uncover market patterns, generate user interview guides, and synthesize feedback into actionable insights.

Example: AI can create detailed customer journey maps by integrating data from various touchpoints, providing a holistic view of the customer experience.

Tip: Employ AI to conduct competitive analysis, ensuring you’re aware of the market landscape and can strategically position your product.

In this phase, AI assists in creating design concepts, simulating user interactions, and generating personas for hypothesis testing.

Example: AI can simulate the user experience of a banking app for different personas, identifying potential usability issues before development.

Tip: Use generative AI to validate design concepts by generating visual prototypes and testing them with target user groups.

Generative AI can draft requirements, optimize code, and automate repetitive coding tasks, enhancing efficiency.

Example: AI can suggest optimizations for a food delivery app’s routing algorithm, reducing delivery times.

Tip: Incorporate AI-driven code reviews to maintain high-quality standards and identify potential efficiencies.

AI generates test cases and identifies edge cases, simulating user behavior to ensure robustness and quality.

Example: AI can generate synthetic data to test a new payment processing feature under various conditions.

Tip: Use AI to conduct pre-mortems, anticipating potential risks and addressing them proactively.

AI can create marketing materials, suggest A/B test scenarios, and help in crafting targeted outreach.

Example: AI can draft a press release for a new tech gadget, optimizing it for key SEO terms.

Tip: Leverage AI for real-time analysis of campaign performance, allowing for quick adjustments to improve outreach efforts.

Post-launch, AI analyzes customer feedback for product iteration and helps in setting OKRs for future development.

Example: AI can propose feature enhancements for a project management tool based on user suggestions and usage data.

AI models can help in exploring new strategic directions and simulating business scenarios.

Example: Use AI to model the impact of adding a subscription tier to a productivity app, forecasting revenue and user engagement changes.

Generative AI is not just a tool but a game-changer in product development. By integrating AI into each phase, product managers can ensure that their strategies are data-driven, customer-centric, and innovative.

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How To Stay Consistent- Mahika Joshi

I am the most inconsistent person you will ever meet. And that is why you should listen when I say — I know what helps maintain consistency.

Other than immediate deadlines, what else pushes a person to complete their task? If you do complete that task today, how to make sure you do it long enough to see the desired results?

The steps are very basic and general. You must have heard of them here and there. But you don’t give any importance to those things, right? It’s not even your fault. Happened to me as well. We all like to think that we are better than others. Even though some of our habits are below average, we don’t admit that, do we?

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Is The Party Over For ScrumMasters and Agile Coaches?

Join V. Lee Henson as we continue the conversation around the great transition of roles and titles in the Agile Community...

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Software Engineers Are DOOMED! - AI Has Come For Their Jobs..

“Devin,” an AI tool that generates production-ready code.

And it’s mind-blowing.

Unlike other coding AI copilots, Devin can actually write entire apps on its own and not just autocompleting tasks. Perhaps, its most striking feature is its ability to fix code issues autonomously.

In a demo by a Cognition Labs developer, an Upwork post prompted Devin to autonomously complete the entire project. What really impressed me is that Devin can fix issues in large repos and deploy in seconds.

Also, I love how software engineers at Cognition refer to themselves as “Human Software Engineers.”

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We Can't Fix Every Problem - Mike Cohn

At almost every monthly Q&A session for my AMC members, someone asks me how to solve dysfunctional management challenges. I hear it all:

An impossible, imposed deadline
An incredibly junior team that needs to perform at an expert level to meet an impossible deadline
Management who assigns work to the team
Management who holds the team accountable for their sprint plan but then adds 50 percent more work during the sprint
Product owners who won’t tell the team what to work on next, but then yell during the sprint review when it’s the wrong thing

And more. Yes, more.

I feel compelled to point this out: We cannot fix every problem.

We owe it to our employers to try. But our employers owe us a culture in which we can succeed.

When they don’t provide that culture, we have limited options.

First, we should try to expose the problem (or the effects of the problem) to others who may be in a better position to address the issue.
If that fails, we either need to accept the status quo or move on.

If you are excited to build a strong agile team but the organization assigns your team a product owner who insists on telling the team what to do and has no willingness to change or improve, you probably aren’t going to be successful.

Yes. Try to educate the person. Try to persuade the person. Expose the bad behavior to stakeholders with the hope of garnering support there.

But if none of that works, accept that you’re in a position you cannot change.
Focus your energy on things you can affect. And accept or move on from the unfortunate things in our work environments you cannot. You can be successful. But not every company culture will let you fully succeed with agile

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The 'F' in Feelings.. Should This Be Part of Agile?

When I first hear a student John say the F'n Feelings I was floored by his disdain for effective communication until I realized that he said the F IN Feelings... Then it all made sense. Is it practical or even realistic to bring feelings into workplace conversations? Or should we check our feelings at the door?

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A Lesson On Gratitude

Each sunrise and sunset, each gust of wind or patter of rain, serves as a reminder of the interconnectedness of everything. It brings me back to the absolute core of being, and it reduces the noise around me. We are paying so much attention to things that don’t really matter and often fail to pay attention to things that matter most.

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The Top 3 Questions To Unlock Your Team's Potential

What’s the real problem?
What have you tried so far?
How can I help spark new ideas?

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Wait Wait Don't Tell Me... - Mike Cohn

In the US, National Public Radio runs a popular weekly news quiz show called, “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” I was listening to the show the other day while driving back from the airport to my home, and it got me thinking (and laughing too. It’s a funny show.)
“Wait wait … don’t tell me,” might be a good mantra for Scrum teams to use with their product owners. Or perhaps better, “Wait wait . . . tell me later.” Agile teams need to be willing to start without having all the answers up front.
Some teams, though, expect the product owner to have every answer figured out before work can begin. This happens with new teams, and more frequently than you might think, also with teams that have been doing Scrum a while.
Teams that refuse to bring a backlog item into the sprint until they have all the details buttoned down are getting in the way of their own ability to be agile.
Most commonly, this shows up as the team demanding the product owner provide full acceptance criteria for each product backlog item before that item can be brought into a sprint.
This is a step back toward a waterfall or sequential approach. It essentially establishes a gate at the start of a sprint. No work is allowed through that gate until all open issues have been resolved.
To overcome this, team members need to become comfortable with uncertainty. And so do the product owner and business stakeholders. You don’t need to have all the answers to start. You only need all the answers to finish.
When open issues remain on backlog items are brought into a sprint, there will be times when those items are not finished in the sprint. That's okay. It’s OK (and expected) to not finish everything every single sprint. What’s not OK is slowing work down by trying to think of everything up front.
Just like in a quiz show, the answers will come eventually. And, just like in the show, sometimes those answers will fail to appear before the timer runs out [on the sprint]. As one of the contestants quipped, “I am prepared to fail spectacularly!”
But even if they sometimes fall short, teams will do a lot of learning while they search for those answers. They’ll learn about the product, yes, but they’ll also learn a lot about how to work together, how to communicate, and how to embrace uncertainty. And that learning is key to ultimately succeeding with agile.

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We Should NOT Fire All The ScrumMasters.. The Top 5 Things That A Scrum Master Does DAILY

Team Coach and Mentor:
Promoting Great Facilitation:
Facilitating Impediment Removal:
Transparency and Trust:
Continuous Improvement Advocate:

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It's The End Of The Roles As We Know Them, And I Feel Fine...

Are you still hung up on what to call people? Have you been a victim of a recent layoff because of your title? Is Agile broken or is your company broken? Have you read step 3 of The Agile 12 Step Program? Get with it and get this done today.

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Make Meetings Matter

Gatherings are sacred spaces where we have the opportunity to create, commune and transform, and yet so often we bluster into them haphazardly worrying about the future while they pass us by. We are constantly dragging our baggage in the door while bulleting a laundry list of future to-dos. As a result, we are lagging in the past or projecting into the future. As a result, we are never actually anywhere.

People think that being Mindful or doing body or breath work takes time, but it actually makes time.

I do not expect everyone to be an expert in body or breath work to start an event. Not everyone is going to dive down that rabbit hole. But what we are all experts on is being human. Because we all are. So let’s invite more humanity into our gatherings. It can be a simple as feeling your body in space, noticing your breath, recalling the reason for gathering.

Don’t make your soul rush behind you like a harried assistant. Give it time to arrive. Give yourself time to arrive.

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Team Disagree? Try a Lunch and Learn - Mike Cohn

If you’re like many of the Scrum teams I work with, your team members might have learned about Scrum in very different ways and at very different times. Some people might be self taught, others might have taken a CSM course 15 years ago, still others might have taken their first Scrum class last week.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Diversity of thought is an excellent quality for teams to have.
But it can become problematic when everyone believes their approach to some agile principle or Scrum practice is the “one true way”. Meanwhile agile leaders, HR, and others outside the team are still trying to figure out what Scrum even is.
Sound familiar? I’m betting it does.
Here’s something you can do right away to help. Host a lunch and learn on whatever topic has your team at odds.

Maybe it’s “What are story points?”
Maybe it’s “How many items do we bring into a sprint?”
Maybe it’s “Do we have to have a sprint goal?”

Need to add a little authority to your discussion? Share the linked videos above as part of the lunch and learn. I regularly cover those topics (and more) out on my YouTube channel in short videos (typically 3-8 minutes).
My next few email tips are going to cover a few of the common ways teams get twisted when they can’t agree on what “being agile” or “doing scrum” means. If you’ve got a specific issue, reply to this email and let me know. I’ll do my best to cover it. Getting your teams on the same page is a fundamental way to succeed with agile.

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6 Hard to Swallow Leadership Pills That, if Applied, Will Make You a Better Boss

1. You’re the architect of most of your pain

2. Few will have the same motivation as you

3. You’ll get more from giving credit than trying to take it

4. Excellence is the next five minutes, or nothing

5. Some people are great workers but terrible employees

6. You don’t need to be liked to get the work done

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10 Lessons I Learned In My Journey as a Product Manager

Understand your Product: Product managers, will lead the development of your product and not only that, you’ll be the one to define what success would look like for your product. Understanding your product’s goals, Business goals, Vision of the product, and extensively understanding what problem your product is solving is key. Understanding your WHY, WHAT and How of your product is essential.
Build yourself like a Product: I started my product management journey with not so clear vision of what I wanted to become, but one of the things I took serious was building my brand and positioning myself in the PM and Tech Space; well not like I’ve gotten to where I want to yet. As time went by, my career vision, long term & short goals became clearer, I kept building on myself, actively learning and open to feedback. As Product Managers you have to build yourself like a Product.
Have an innovative mindset: To become a better Product Manager, you have to have an innovative mindset and be a critical thinker. Products aren’t just built, it takes a lot ideation, critical thinking, research before it is being brought to life. As Tech evolves, you have to be actively thinking of ways to better improve your product and be innovative about your ideas.
Product Management isn’t a Shortcut to Tech: A lot of people tend to believe that since they can’t code, the easiest Career path to delve into is Product Management. Product Management is hard, what other word can I use? It’s hard and it’s not easy. It takes a lot to be a Product Manager; Being a critical thinker, Decision Maker, Effective leader, People Manager, Empathetic Manager and many more. They seem easy but when you eventually have to start using these skills, you realize it’s more than that.
Prioritize both your physical and mental health: Health is wealth like we all say. Sometimes people only focus on the physical health and neglecting the mental health, forgetting that a healthy mind results to a healthy productive lifestyle. Product management can be so demanding that sometimes, you struggle to care for your mental health. Having healthy routines or habits that can help you balance a healthy mental health is key.
Learn everyday: When I say learn everyday you know I’m not saying every day, I meant be an ‘active Learner’. Product Management is a broad Career path, and even though you don’t have to be expert in all aspects, it’s important to be able to understand every other aspects of Product Management. Learning from experts, online learning, learning from experience are ways to learn. Learning is a continuous journey and Tech itself is a fast pace sector.
Build rich connections: Building rich connections is key in Tech, and it has a lot of its advantages. Remember that; “Your Network is your net-worth”, this is really true. Having the right connections and people in your corner would help your journey a lot easier as a product Manager; From learning from their experience, guidance, to even opportunities.
Product Managers wears many hats : So far in my career, I’ve realized that not only are we Product Managers but we’re superheroes. Product Managers are at the center of the Product, and we do more than managing the Product. Some Product Managers do responsibilities of Quality Assurance tester, Business analyst, marketing manager, Scrum Master, Project manager and many more. Kudos to all Product Managers!
Documentation is a key aspect of Product Management: As product managers, ability to effectively document processes and tools, Product Documentations is key especially if you’re just starting in PM or in the junior level. Documentation plays a crucial role in Product Development and it serves as a guide for knowledge sharing.
Product Managers embraces Feedback: Feedback could be positive or negative, what makes you a better Product Manager is your ability to embrace feedback both on your product and on your Career journey.

Announcing Agile For ALL Dads! (and Moms and Children...)

* BREAKING NEWS *

Bob Hartman from Agile For All and V. Lee Henson of AgileDad are Proud to announce the merger of our two companies! We will now be known as:

Announcing Agile For ALL Dads! (and Moms and Children...)

We will begin effective immediately offering the following world class certification offerings:

CSM - Certified Scrum Mom

CSD - Certified Scrum Dad

CSPO - Certified Scrum Pediatric Organizer

CSS - Certified Scrum Sibling

OR.. Our MOST Popular - CALM - Certified Agile love Machine

We also offer discounts for entire families looking to be certified:

CALF - Certified Agile Large Family

LAFS - Large Agile Family Scaled

(ALL Large Agile Family Courses come with a free LAFBOK)

Large Agile Family Book of Knowledge - 3741.3 Pages

We also offer LESS - Licensed Entertainment for Scaled Siblings

And of Course the MOST Popular: SAFe - Scaled Agile Family Edition (This one comes with a single overcrowded graphic picture courtesy of our friends from Ikea)

Act QUICKLY as these certificates are offered in PRIVATE workshops ONLY and are on a first come first serve basis!

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How To Know What You Want

What do you want? This is a difficult question to answer because for most, what they want is only a matter of how they feel. Their feelings and emotions are an intuitive guide; beckoning them to desire and be attracted to some things while forsaking and being repulsed by other things.

The only problem with this is that most people don’t know what they want; rather, they know what other people seem to have.

According to the theory of Memetic desire, much of what we want is the result of what other people have. Our single friends all get into relationships and suddenly we want to be in a relationship. Our friends all get the new iPhone and suddenly we want to make an upgrade. Our social instinct to “fit in” means that we largely mimic what others model.

If you are basing what you want on how you feel then you are likely to be misled to pursue what it seems other people have.

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Leadership Is the Big Gaping Hole In the Agile Manifesto

From time to time, people will declare Agile dead. On December 1st, Cliff Berg declared Agile dead in a viral post on LinkedIn. Personally, I think declaring a tool like Agile dead because it doesn’t work is like declaring a pencil dead because it doesn’t turn us all into Michelangelos. A tool enhances human capabilities. A tool is only as powerful as the people using it. But declaring things dead can be a good way to see what is wrong with it, maybe redesign it. In his post, Cliff stated that “Agile is dead … but companies still need agility.” Agile is dead, long live agility.

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Hey Scrum Master... Are you my manager? - Mike Cohn

Back when my girls were small, I used to read Dr. Seuss books to them. Together, we giggled over the antics in the Cat in the Hat and shed a few tears over the destruction in The Lorax.
But a question I got asked in a class recently brought me back to another childhood classic from the Dr. Seuss brand, “Are You My Mother?” It’s a simple story about a newly hatched baby bird that sets out on a quest to find their mother. (Don’t worry, the baby bird is eventually reunited with their actual mother.)
I think newly hatched Scrum teams (and sometimes the people forming those teams) can feel as lost as the baby bird in that story. Why? Because without fail, one of the first questions they ask of or about their Scrum Master is, “Are you my manager?”
In the words of the book, the correct answer is, “No. I am not your manager. I am a Scrum Master.”
The confusion is natural because good Scrum Masters do perform some of the same functions good managers do:

They motivate and encourage people to do their best work.
They look out for the team’s mental health by avoiding excessive deadline pressure.
They remove impediments to progress.
They improve a team's collaboration and teamwork and more.
Scrum Masters don't assign tasks or allocate people to projects
They don't pick due dates for tasks or projects
And, most importantly, Scrum Masters do not assume responsibility for a team's work. The responsibility for the team’s work resides with the team members.

But Scrum Masters are unlike managers, too:

If you find your teammates acting as though the Scrum Master is their manager, discuss it immediately rather than waiting for a retrospective. Quickly getting on the same page about how Scrum roles compare to traditional roles will help you and your team succeed with agile,

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Should Stories Carry Over From One Spring To the Next? - NO

Common sense would advise us that we should attempt to only consume the number of stories that can reasonably fit inside of a sprint. I have seen in many cases where teams either do NOT honor WIP limits and take on too much work or they Under-Commit and Over Deliver.

Neither of these are what we are shooting for. We should attempt to commit and deliver. No under... No Over...

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How to Deliver Value Faster with Agile

Agile Methodologies are not set in stone, and certain ceremonies help with reflection and improvements. There are others that, in some situations, reduce the fast pace of delivery. We also need to understand how to identify what is working and what is not working. At this point, there is no reason to measure twice and cut once. Sometimes, what to measure or cut is not visible because the team or the company needs more direction toward what’s important. We need a purpose to move forward at the organizational level. Individual contributors usually only have little to say in this manner. By focusing on individuals, there will be team improvement and company improvement. We need to start with ourselves to promote similar behavior in others. It’s important to note that providing value doesn’t mean releasing a product or feature to the public. If something is valuable but has yet to be shared, it’s not benefiting anyone.

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25 Things You Can Do To Simplify Your Life!

Do what you love to do.
Determine what “enough” means for you and your family.
Define what “success” means for you and your family.
Reduce the clutter in your home.
Work where you live or live where you work.
Eat the same breakfast every day.
Have a work uniform.
Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
Get rid of all your toxic relationships.
Let go of your past.
Plan your week on Friday.
End each day by writing your to-do list for the following day.
Start every morning by reading your to-do list.
Save everything in the cloud.
Open no more than five tabs on your computer.
Use a journal to declutter your mind.
Learn how to say no.
Simplify your workout routine.
Slow Down.
Get rid of most of your credit cards
Stop Watching The News.
Reread some old books.
Take a day off every week.
Set up automatic payments.
Delete 90% of apps on your phone.

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Can Scrum Be Tweaked or Changed? - Yes

BUT.. Should we really be changing things? Is what we are seeing a symptom or the real problem that we are trying to solve? Join V. Lee Henson as we more deeply explore how and when we should pivot or make adjustments.

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Top 3 Ways To Excel in Remote Leadership

Remote work is not something new. It has been around since LONG BEFROE the pandemic was a thought. Many organizations have found success embracing a remote work culture, yet many have floundered. Here are the top three ways leaders can excel in a remote setting:

People have to want to do it
Leadership styles need to adapt
The secret of good bonding

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Active Listening - A Silent SuperPower!

Have you ever zoned out mid-conversation, fingers itching for your phone, brain choreographing your next groundbreaking product feature? We all have. But in the whirlwind world of product management, where ideas zip around like bees in a garden, there’s a superpower often overlooked: active listening.

This episode delves into why active listening is an indispensable tool in your product management arsenal and how it can profoundly influence your approach to user engagement, team collaboration, and product development.

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Are You a Great Leader?

Many Realities Exist at The Same Time

People who have trouble accepting and respecting this fact turn out to be poor leaders.

They tend to speak more than they listen.

But the greatest leaders know how to do this one thing.

They’re able to feel the discomfort of holding opposing realities at the same time in the mind.

Without reaction. Without fear.

This discomfort is cognitive dissonance.

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The BEST Skill to Learn Is Often to Forget

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What Are Words For?

NOTHING is more annoying than when people take words and twist them out of context and or take sound bites of entire documents to force others to believe their point of view.

While there is a time and a place to be selective of our word choices, dissecting the Agile Manifesto is NOT one of them.

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Yes, Agile Teams Can Create Accurate Plans - Mike Cohn

The term release plan made a lot more sense when Scrum first began in the 1990s. At that time, most teams would run a series of sprints and then release a product.
Today, most teams release more often than every few sprints. Some release every sprint and others release multiple times per sprint or even many times per day.
Release plan might be an outdated term, but it’s still essential for many teams to be able to accurately predict what will be delivered three, six, or perhaps more months into the future.
So whether you call it quarterly planning, release planning, PI planning, or milestone planning, you’ll be much more successful if you, and your leadership team, understand that accurate long-range plans typically lack the level of precision possible in short-term plans.

Plans Can Be Accurate without Being Precise

To put that another way: to ensure accuracy, the longer the planning period the less precise your prediction will be.
If I ask your team in January when you can finish a project, you could likely tell me, “by the end of Q3.” By June, you might be able to update your estimate to “sometime in October.” By early September, you will likely feel confident enough to tell me “the week of October 22” or perhaps, “We’ll definitely have the first ten backlog items done by October 18, but I’m not sure about the next five yet.”
All of those answers are equally accurate. But the level of precision varies depending on how far out in time I’m asking you to estimate.
So when you are communicating your quarterly plans, I recommend communicating your plans as a range, either of time or of scope (or potentially both). By the end of the quarter we’ll give you between 180 and 220 story points. To deliver the 300 points you’ve asked for will take between six and eight sprints.
Being accurate by giving up some precision will increase the trust other people have in your team and will help you succeed with agile.

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UX Research Methods Mapping

In research, we explore our questions with research methods. We might use qualitative methods, like in-depth interviews, or quantitative methods, like surveys. Preferably, we will use a few methods and layer the insights from them together, but it is very important to pick the right research method for the questions you’re exploring. Cue the UX Research Methods Map.

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Don't Get Stuck In the RACI Rabbit Hole...

Imagine you’d like to clarify who can make what decision. One of the most popular methods is to create a RACI-matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed). But it has several serious shortcomings.

If you’ve ever been in a conversation about a RACI, you’ve likely discussed the difference between Responsible and Accountable. And that is not surprising because even the English dictionary tells us that those words are synonyms — quite confusing.

Furthermore, what’s the point of separating Consulted and Informed? It assumes that there are people we don’t want to inform, even though we get information from them, and vice versa. And that every decision requires Consultation and Informing, which shouldn’t be the case. And what should happen if we don’t like the advice we get from the consulted?

Article Link: https://jurriaankamer.medium.com/dont-get-stuck-in-the-raci-rabbit-hole-f9d768176954

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Buddha Kept Repeating This When He Taught Mindfulness

This one line was what most powerfully imprinted itself into my mind.

Atapi sampajjano satima, a refrain of the Satipatthana Sutta is probably the most succinct definition and description of mindfulness in the Buddha’s own words.

In an age of commercialization of mindfulness, the original definition can often get obscured.

This is why elucidating the logic behind these three words helped me so profoundly; and I hope that it can do the same for you.

The root of this word comes from Sanskrit tap which means heat.

It’s the basis for the concept of tapasya or penance in yoga, which isn’t as scary as it sounds.

It’s merely an increase of the intensity level of our practice so that we are shifted out of our habitual mode, into a more growth-oriented and malleable state of plasticity.

To pursue mindfulness more intensely means to be ready for all the impurity that might come up as a result of it.

This is the entire process of purification; one where impurities arise and pass, just as they would when a piece of iron ore is being heated & refined to produce pure metal.

Without the heat, the practice falls short, and won’t help us reach the depths of profundity taught by the Buddha.

The root sam denotes completeness or orderliness. Pajjano refers to a contextual awareness or understanding.

What the Buddha is trying to describe is a mental state where you know exactly what you are supposed to be doing. Continusly.

This is (depending on the tradition) usually a focus on the phenomena that are arising and passing: impermanent, absent of selfhood, and unsatisfactory.

This examining erodes our clinging & identification with the causes of suffering!

It is with this context in mind that Buddha’s teachings act as a profound & potent medicine for long-term wellbeing.

The Pali word sati and Sanskrit word smrti translate quite literally into “remembrance.”

It’s not quite ‘mindfulness’ as we understand it today (being just in the present moment) but a more widely-encompassing state of awareness.

Past events can be recalled skillfully, such as meditation instructions.
Present events arising/passing are the conscious anchor for the mind.
You can plan the future, but never get lost inside its conceptualization.

This calls for a serious expansion of our mode of conduct to be able to access the past, present, and future — rather than be unconsciously torn between the three!

Remembrance is all about bearing something in mind; of ensuring that this candle of knowing is maintained continuously, so the process of purification continues.

When I realized how my meditation practice was being watered down by my habits, weaknesses and laziness, I went back to the source.

And I found a wellspring of insistence and inspiration from the Buddha to re-vamp my practice for a long time to come.

It is my hope that continuing to learn and share insights such as these is of some benefit to others.

ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः

May all beings experience happiness.

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Signs That You Are a Good Manager...

1) Have a passion for technology but care more about ensuring that their underlying team succeeds

2) Motivates his/her team on a regular basis

3) Passion to teach or help younger members learn

4) Ability for the lead to handle their big titles.

5) Openness to share their expertise & insight with team members

6) Ability to Humble oneself

7) Check often to see how team members are doing

8) Ability to communicate the requirements & expectations effectively to team members

9) Treat everyone as equals

10) Do not micromanage

11) If a subordinate is struggling, lift them up

12) Understand that there must be some time set aside for your developers to study/learn

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The Death of Scrum... NOT Again!

Scrum is dead... It will NEVER make it through 2024... Nobody will do Agile. Everyone will do something new.

I have heard it all and now I have had enough.

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Are User Stories & Story Points Required? No... - Mike Cohn

I’m often asked if user stories are part of Scrum.
No, they’re not. You can have a phenomenally successful team and never work with user stories at all.
At its core Scrum is a very small set of rules. The Scrum rules are defined in the Scrum Guide, and they’re things like keeping sprints short, no longer than a month.
Outside this core of rules are the generally accepted Scrum practices. These are good ideas every Scrum Master should be aware of, but that a team doesn’t necessarily need to do. User stories fit here.
A great Scrum Master should know what user stories are. They may think stories are awful and not recommend using them for a team, but they should at least know what they are.
What about Story Points?
Story points are another generally accepted Scrum practice that isn’t officially part of Scrum.
Story points are a useful way for team members to agree on an estimate. Points get around a common problem: A senior team member thinks something will take one day, a junior team member thinks two days, and they’re both right depending on who does the task.
I think story points are great because they help you avoid pointless debates, they save time, and they increase the chances that your estimates will be accurate. They are my recommended unit for estimating product backlog items.
But not every team needs to estimate! And you certainly don’t have to use story points if you do estimate–you can use person days or some other unit if you prefer.
I do, however, think that you should give story points and user stories a try. For the majority of teams, they are both great practices that will help you succeed with agile,

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The Difference Between Definition of Ready, Definition of Done, and Acceptance Criteria

The DoD, DoR, and the acceptance criteria are fundamental concepts in product development. While DoD and DoR are part of Scrum, Acceptance Criteria is an additional very important practice.

10 Unhealthy Habits You Need to Quit Doing Right Now!

Gossiping
Doom Scrolling
Talking Over People
Not Investing
Spending Your Savings
Poor Sleep Hygiene
Procrastinating
Being Late
Smoking and Drinking
Being Sedentary

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Agile Personal Leadership Supports a Strong Stable Work Culture

If you have not heard about Stable Framework yet, it is high time that we do something about that! I was knee-deep into reading The Stable Framework when I came across a section on Personal leadership application that I felt really makes Stable stand out above all other business agility frameworks. Have a listen and go grab a copy of the book!

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8 Ways Organizational Culture is KILLING Agility:

Hierarchical organization structure / Taylorism
No learning culture
Fragmented responsibilities or silos
Individual appraisals
The organization values output over outcome
Efficiency over effectiveness
HIPPO culture
HR ignores agility

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The Top 4 Patterns for Product Teams to Achieve Successful Outcomes:

Engage directly with users and stakeholders.
Emerge and validate your product in thin, end-to-end slices.
Finish one thing before starting another.
Work as a team, not a collection of individuals.

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Do We Re-Estimate Split Stories? - Mike Cohn

Someone asked this question at a recent webinar I hosted on user stories: Do we re-estimate the user stories after we split them? The short answer? Absolutely.
When you break stories down during product backlog refinement (or during sprint planning if you’re trying to make a story smaller to fit inside a sprint), the team will want to re-estimate them. And there is no guarantee the sum of the new estimates will equal the old estimate.
That’s OK and expected. Ideally, the estimate will even out over a bunch of stories and splits but it won’t be perfect. Just adjust the burndown to account for the rise or fall in estimated points, and keep moving.
The Product Burndown Is Like an Airplane Touchdown
For a longer explanation, I’ll use an analogy. I flew into Heathrow a few months back on one of my periodic trips to London. I was looking out the window, idly watching the mechanisms on the wing as we made our final descent. It was a windy day, so I was curious about how the pilot would handle the landing.
I know that the pilot follows a glide path towards the runway (shaped much like the ideal burndown line). But from my point of view, we didn’t hurtle down an imaginary diagonal line and magically land in the perfect spot. We descended a bit, then flew what seemed like level for a bit, then got a bit lower.
At one point, when we were close enough where I could see the runway, we were buffeted up by a strong gust. I didn’t panic, and thankfully neither did the pilots. They just made some sort of an adjustment (it felt like they added a bit of power) and resumed their steady progress towards our destination.
Every commercial runway in the world is painted to help give pilots visual cues about their safe landing zone. In vastly simplified terms, there’s a threshold (after that point it’s safe to land) and a touchdown zone (a range of safe touchdown points in 500 ft / 120 m increments). The safe range varies depending on the size and weight of the airplane.
I don’t know precisely where we landed in the touchdown zone, but the pilots greased the landing and got us to our gate 10 minutes early. So despite the literal ups and downs, and the visual estimates they had to make on their way down, they succeeded.
A product’s burndown chart is like that airplane’s approach into Heathrow. It rarely follows a straight line. Some sprints we approach the goal a bit faster than we expect and sometimes we reach it a bit slower than we expect. Occasionally, we might bump slightly upwards and have to descend again.
Predicting exactly when we will touchdown at our product goal is impossible. It’s always a bit of a guessing game. But predicting a date range where we will finish is both desirable and entirely doable. And as with landing a plane, it’s a skill that improves with practice.
The more you estimate and the better you track your progress, the more consistent and predictable your team’s estimates and plans will become. And creating accurate agile plans that others can rely on will definitely help you succeed with agile,

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It's Lee here, your host from the Daily Standup Podcast, and I'm absolutely thrilled to share something extraordinary with you. We've just hit a milestone that's both humbling and exhilarating – our 1000th episode! 🎙️🎊In this special edition, I sit down with the remarkable Bob Hartman, and together, we dive deep into our agile journey, the incredible community that's been our backbone, and the exciting plans we have for the future.Here's a sneak peek of what we've got in store for you:🌟 A Heartfelt Thank You: Bob and I open up about the overwhelming gratitude we have for the agile community. Your support has been the wind beneath our wings, and we couldn't have soared this high without you.🌟 Reflecting on Impactful Training: We reminisce about the profound influence of Ken Schwaber's training and how it's shaped our mission to certify and uplift thousands through Scrum Alliance certifications.🌟 The Joy of Giving Back: Discover our commitment to offering free training opportunities to those in need and how we plan to extend our reach and make an even bigger difference.🌟 A Vision for the Future: We're not just celebrating the past; we're looking ahead! Bob and I discuss our shared values and the potential impact of our partnership on the world.🌟 A Message of Kindness: In a touching moment, my daughter reminds us of the power of simple acts of kindness. Imagine a world where each of us extends a hand to someone we don't know – every single day.🌟 Laughter, Tears, and Hope: We share stories that will make you laugh, moments that may bring a tear to your eye, and our aspirations to bring joy and fairness to workplaces everywhere.As we wrap up this episode, I'm left with a sense of profound appreciation for the friendships forged, the lives touched, and the agile spirit that continues to drive us forward. I'm confident that together, we'll reach new heights and touch even more lives.So, are you ready to join us on this journey? Tune in to our 1000th episode for a celebration of community, collaboration, and the small acts that make a big difference. Let's continue to stay healthy, stay well, and stay agile!Until the next episode, take care and keep spreading positivity!Warm regards, Lee 🚀P.S. Don't forget to hit play and immerse yourself in the heartfelt conversations that have shaped our 1000-episode journey. Here's to the next thousand! 🎧

Retrospectives - It's Good To Be Choosy - Mike Cohn

I’ve learned not to go to the market when I’m hungry. If I do, I buy too much. When I’m hungry, everything looks too tasty, and I buy more than I can possibly eat.
Agile teams often behave similarly in retrospectives, especially when beginning their agile journey. During a retrospective, team members identify so many promising opportunities for improvement that they decide to tackle every one of them.
These teams would be far better off improving at one, two, or maybe three ways of working. If team members attempt to improve at more than that, their efforts will be too diffused.
Improvement Is Continual
My favorite way to facilitate a retrospective is to use a Stop, Start, Continue exercise. This puts improvement ideas into each of those categories.
To help teams keep to a three-improvement limit, I coach them to pick only one or two new improvements in each retrospective. That leaves them one or two items to select from their continue list.
A continue list contains behaviors at which the team has made improvements but which aren’t yet habits, like writing better unit tests or overlapping work. (Once a behavior has become ingrained, teams should remove it from their continue list so that the list remains a manageable size.)
However you choose to run your retrospective, be sure to take away just one to three concrete improvements that you can track as part of the next sprint. It’s one of the best ways I know to succeed with agile.

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Agile WILL be AI in The Next 5 Years!

Product and Project management jobs will be gone in less than 5 years! Yes, that’s the prediction.

The landscape of product management is on the cusp of a revolutionary transformation, driven by the relentless advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). As we project into the next five years, a profound question emerges: Will the traditional role of the product manager become a relic of the past, subsumed by the inexorable tide of AI and redistributed among other pivotal roles within organizations? This contemplation is not just speculative; it’s a realistic forecast of a rapidly approaching future.

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https://medium.com/the-simulacrum/product-management-will-be-taken-over-by-ai-in-5-years-780d1302fefc

How Teams Handle Unplanned Work & Interruptions

Plenty has been written about how to prioritise roadmap items, but what about those disruptions or interruptions — the urgent requests from customers, the unscheduled maintenance, the technical questions from customer support, or the accumulating stream of bugs?

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https://medium.com/boldstart-ventures/how-engineering-teams-handle-unplanned-work-d90415ff0d81

Discovery & Delivery ARE Part of Kanban

Discovery work would be, for example, research to figure out whether this is the right thing to build for the customer. Maybe we are doing some experiments or some prototyping. It is very wise to do experiments when we have insufficient evidence so we can harvest the proposed value because at the end of the day, our work items are bets at best. They are ill-informed opinions at worst if you do not experiment. You could just fill your funnel with stuff to develop and maybe there is no evidence you should actually develop it. So discovery is about discovering value, it is about learning.

There are multiple patterns available for managing these four time horizons. The thing is that we are managing WHAT type of work it is as opposed to WHO is doing the work.

In a modern team that is trying to practice agility, I would hope that people are trying to learn other skills. The reality is that the people who do discovery have a lot of work to do and there are usually fewer people who have the skill to do that discovery. What I often find is the people who do discovery are often coaching, mentoring, teaching, and willing volunteers who want to learn how to do that discovery.

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Learn To Unlock Your Full Potential - There is simply TOO MUCH great information to write a description for this episode which is filled with practical tips and application. Be prepared to take LOTS of notes!

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Is The ScrumMaster Role Dying Out in 2024? No...

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the evolution of the ScrumMaster Role and the Accountabilities that are often associated or mis-associated with it.

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The Top 5 Things We LOVE About Agile

Flexibility and Adaptability: Agile allows teams to adapt to changes quickly, whether they're shifting customer requirements or project scope changes. This adaptability is key in today's fast-paced business environment, where being able to pivot and respond to new information is a critical advantage.
Customer-Centric Approach: Agile focuses on customer satisfaction and continuous delivery of valuable software. By involving the customer throughout the development process and prioritizing their feedback, Agile ensures that the final product meets their needs and expectations.
Improved Product Quality: Through iterative development, continuous integration, and regular testing, Agile promotes high-quality outcomes. By addressing issues and incorporating feedback in real-time, teams can ensure that the product evolves to be the best version of itself.
Enhanced Team Collaboration and Communication: Agile emphasizes teamwork, collaboration, and daily communication among all team members and stakeholders. This approach fosters a transparent, open work environment where everyone is aligned on goals and progress, leading to more cohesive and motivated teams.
Faster Time to Market: With its iterative cycles and focus on delivering working software in short sprints, Agile can significantly reduce the time to market. This allows businesses to benefit from faster product launches, staying ahead of the competition and responding swiftly to market demands.

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The Top 4 Reasons Your Team Might Be Resistant To Change - Mike Cohn

Reason 1: Lack of Awareness about Why

The most common reason people resist change is a lack of awareness about the reasons for the change. If your team is being split into two teams, you’re much more likely to support that change if you understand why it’s happening.

Reason 2: Lack of Information about What

Another reason employees resist change is a fear of the unknown. I might be willing to go skydiving one day. (My friends would tell you there’s no way I’d ever do that, and I tend to agree. But for the sake of argument, let’s pretend I’d agreed to give skydiving a try.)

When it’s time to jump out of the airplane, I’ll be a lot more inclined to go through with it if an instructor has removed the fear of the unknown by telling me exactly what to expect.

Reason 3: Lack of Job Security

The third most common reason employees resist change is a lack of job security. I’ve got bills to pay and mouths to feed. Will I still have a job after the change? If a change is introduced and I’m worried it could affect my job, I’m probably going to resist that change.

Reason 4: Lack of Executive Advocacy

Finally, the fourth most common reason employees resist change is a lack of executive sponsorship for the change. We’re all much more likely to support a change if there is at least one key leader advocating for the change.

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PROACT Helps You NOT React and Make Better Decisions

The Secret PROACT Framework to Make Better Decisions

A big decision is like climbing a mountain. You have to take it step by step.

You cannot take the complexity away but you can manage it. You can break it down into manageable parts and analyze them. You then reassemble your thoughts into a good choice.

The PROACT Framework gives you a step-by-step blueprint for this.

Framing the decision problem: Sometimes the necessary decision is not the one you had in mind.
Defining your objectives: These are your guides in the process.
Collecting your alternatives.
Understanding the consequences of the alternatives.
Making the right tradeoffs.

Your decision confidence increases as you follow these steps.

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The Top 6 Reasons Why People Get So Angry Over Small Things

Accumulated Stress
Personal Triggers
Control and Expectations
Emotional State
Communication Breakdown
Cumulative Effects

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5 FREE Webinars To Launch Us Into Spring!

Feb 9 - Finding a New Job or Advancing Your Career in 2024

Feb 16 - What is the NEW Agile Coaching Skills - Certified Facilitator?

Mar 1- Agile Certification Roundtable - SAFe | Stable | Scrum Alliance | PMI

March 22 - The AI in AgIle - How Artificial Intelligence is impacting Agile

April 19 - Advancing & Scaling Agile - The Agile Diamond in the Rough

Recent YouTube Videos: (All in January 2024)

What Is Agile Change Management?

The Top 3 Tips to Start and Quickly Grow Your Podcast

Exploring Trust & Empathy - With Vendy Steinberga

Recent Blog Posts: (All in January 2024)

Navigating The Agile Journey - Agile Maturity Assessments

Elevate Your Event: 10 Tips To Find The Best Speaker in 2024

Navigating The 2024 Job Market - Strategies For Finding Your Ideal Job

Excel In Achieving Excellence In Professional Development

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Backlog Items When the Product Is Still Undefined - Mike Cohn

I get many of my ideas for tips from the questions people ask me in class or on calls. And I’m leaning on a real-life question for this week’s tip. Someone asked me recently:

“We’re working on an integration project, building out three APIs. We don't have proper user stories and are just figuring it out as we go. But it makes it hard to gauge progress.

“Is there a way we can still write user stories while we continue to figure things out?”

If you have a lot of open issues, one of the ways to structure a product backlog is to put those questions on the product backlog.

Issues as Backlog Items

Issues aren’t ideal as backlog items, but they can help teams get going. For example, maybe you have the following two issues that you know you need to solve before you can get started building a working product:

We want to understand how to approach such-and-such problem
We want to evaluate four alternatives and choose one approach

Put those onto your product backlog.

You may recall from my product backlog tip at the end of last month that I don’t normally want issues or questions on a backlog since they’re not true product backlog items. Why not? Because neither delivers a finished working product.

Instead, they’re decisions that the team needs to make in order to begin delivering product backlog items.

And sometimes, that’s just where a project is. And if that’s the case, issues can be the start of a product backlog.

Build a Working Product to Make Decisions

Try though, as soon as you can, to think of ways to turn those issues into user stories that do result in some piece of working product. In other words, reframe your issues and questions as user stories about building things that test hypotheses.

For example, the best way I’ve found to validate decisions is to build things. If I’m trying to figure out an architecture, I like to build things that prove the architecture is valid. A small build has two advantages: you’re delivering something and you’re using the work itself to help you make better decisions.

Let’s say we’ve done a design and it’s sketched out on a whiteboard. How do we know it’s the right design?

Well, the best way to know it’s the right design is to write one little thing based on that design. Then use that piece of working product to gauge whether the design is correct.

Building working product increments as part of evaluating options and making decisions will help you succeed with agile.

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Do Non-Certified Offerings Add Value?

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations are continually seeking ways to stay competitive and innovative. One strategic approach is to invest in skill development and knowledge expansion of their teams, especially in areas like Agile methodologies and integrating cutting-edge technologies like AI. However, the dilemma often lies in choosing between certified and non-certified training offerings.

Here's why organizations should consider leaning into non-certified training offerings, particularly for courses such as Agile & Scrum Foundations, Advancing & Scaling Agile, Agile Leadership Summit, Agile Facilitation Foundations, and Integrating AI and Agile.

Cost-Effectiveness: Non-certified training courses are generally less expensive as they are not billed per participant. This financial advantage allows organizations to train more members of their team without incurring the steep costs often associated with certified courses. By opting for non-certified training, companies can allocate their resources more efficiently, enabling a broader base of employees to acquire essential skills and knowledge.

Customization and Relevance: Unlike certified courses that adhere to a strict curriculum, non-certified training can be tailored to meet the specific needs and challenges of an organization. This means that the content, examples, and exercises can be directly related to the company's projects and processes, making the learning experience far more relevant and immediately applicable. Customization ensures that the training addresses the unique issues and goals of the organization, fostering a more engaging and impactful learning environment.

Direct Pathway to Agile Without the Fluff: Non-certified training courses can be designed to cover the same core concepts and learning objectives as their certified counterparts, but without unnecessary content that may not add value to the learner's immediate needs or the organization's objectives. This streamlined approach not only makes the learning process more efficient and effective but also prepares participants for certification should they choose to pursue it later. By focusing on the essence of the subject matter, non-certified training ensures that participants gain the necessary knowledge and skills in a more focused and time-effective manner.

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Effectiveness vs Efficiency - Avoiding The Trap...

Efficiency and effectiveness, while often used interchangeably in the business lexicon, embody distinct concepts that are crucial for organizational success. Efficiency refers to the extent to which time, effort, and resources are wisely used to achieve a desired outcome, essentially measuring the input-output ratio. It's about doing things in the most economical way possible.

Effectiveness, on the other hand, focuses on the degree to which objectives are achieved, highlighting the importance of achieving desired results or outcomes. It's about doing the right things to reach organizational goals, irrespective of the resources consumed. While efficiency is centered on the process, effectiveness is concerned with the end result. A company can be efficient by minimizing resources to complete a task, but if the task does not contribute to the overall objectives of the company, it cannot be considered effective. Balancing efficiency and effectiveness is key to strategic management, ensuring that resources are not only conserved but also directed towards meaningful, goal-oriented activities.

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You Will Go Where You Are Looking - A Lesson on Goal-Setting:

When driving a car, your eyes determine the path your vehicle follows. You will steer where you look. Anyone with a driver’s license probably knows this principle.

“You’ll go where you’re looking.” 🚗

This principle also explains why teams need a shared goal.

< One shared goal > 🎯

A clear, compelling, and shared goal increases the likelihood of everyone looking in the same direction. As such, they’ll also move in the same direction to achieve their goal.

< Multiple shared goals > 🎯🎯🎯

If a team has multiple goals that must be achieved simultaneously, chances are that only some people are looking in the same direction. Potentially resulting in confusion, misunderstandings, and not achieving the goal(s).

< No shared goal > 🤷‍♀️

Everyone is focused on their individual tasks, potentially all going in different directions. There’s no collaboration, no shared focus, and no teamwork.

This is why having one shared goal as a team makes sense.
Ideally, one long-term goal and smaller short-term goals.

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Fight FALSE Coaching Advertisements:

Have you ever had someone try to tell you that they have a red pill blue pill approach to solving EVERY Agile Coaching issue? I recently came across an article titled I use this coaching method to solve 90% of problems and it works every time. Just reading the title made my skin crawl as I had flashbacks to many years ago when I purchased a used car from a not so reputable dealership.

Do not allow people to steer you in the wrong direction. Do not fall for the predatory tricks!

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Understanding The Link Between Agile Thinking & Agile Mindset

Agile thinking and the agile mindset are increasingly important concepts in both business and personal development. Rooted in the principles of Agile methodology, originally developed for software development, these concepts have far-reaching applications in various fields. This article explores the essence of agile thinking, the agile mindset, and the key principles underpinning them, explaining their significance in today’s fast-paced world.

Agile thinking is a way of approaching problems and projects that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. It’s about being adaptable, responsive to changes, and focused on delivering value. The agile mindset is the set of attitudes supporting this approach. It includes:

Embracing Change: Seeing change not as an obstacle but as an opportunity for improvement.
Continuous Learning: Always seeking to learn and grow, both from successes and failures.
Collaborative Effort: Believing in the power of teamwork and open communication.
Delivering Value: Focusing on creating real value for customers or stakeholders.

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Top 3 Ways To Leverage The Daily Standup Podcast

Listen to the Podcast Episodes to help you learn Agile and teach others about Agile
Replace your organization's book club with aPodcast Listening Party
Use the podcast for research and discovery

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Longer Time = Lower Precision - Mike Cohn

How much confidence should leadership have in an agile plan? It depends. Plans vary greatly in their precision depending on the time horizon.
Teams typically create different plans for different time horizons. They might, for example, make a three-month plan, a one-year plan, and a three-year plan. You can depend on those plans, as long as they reflect the appropriate level of precision for the time horizon.
If I'm looking at what I'm going to do three days from now, I can give you a fairly precise rundown of what I will accomplish. I know what I'm going to get done. I will write 1-3 YouTube scripts and approve a small set of website changes. I might also have time to review an AI tool we’re developing.
So for a plan where the deadline is 3 days from now, I can give you a pretty detailed accounting of what I’ll get done. But notice I’ve left the plan just imprecise enough to account for uncertainty. I’ve built in a bit of wiggle room with my range of scripts and language such as “might.”
On the other hand, if you’re asking me for a plan as to what I’ll finish three months from now, I need even more wiggle room. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do. I'll give you guidance on what I'm going to do. I'll give you expectations. And they'll be reasonable, but they’ll include broad-range estimates and broad-stroke descriptions.
If I’m going out three years from now? I can give you some sort of idea of what we might do in three years if I talk about it in really vague terms: We're going to build a new product in 2-3 years.
As the time horizon grows, the precision needs to decrease to account for the increased variability. Or to put it another way, as the time horizon shrinks and more is known about the project, more precision can be added to the plan.
Barry Boehm described this phenomenon in a 1984 paper “Software Engineering Economics.” Later in his book The Software Project Survival Guide, Steve McConnell coined the term cone of uncertainty in referencing Boehm’s work. McConnell explains, “The Cone narrows only as you make decisions that eliminate variability.”
The further away something is, the bigger the estimate range needs to be to account for variability and uncertainty. Today, for something that I haven’t started yet, I might say it's going to take three to six months. Later, I can say we’ll finish in another one or two months. Later still, I can be even more precise: It’ll take one or two more weeks.
Precision improves as we get closer to the deadline.
Understanding the variability in each plan’s precision can help you succeed with agile,

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Bo Lends a Paw - An Act of True Love

In Salem, New Jersey, a firefighter named Al Stell performed a heartfelt act of kindness that sparked a larger community initiative. The story began in a local grocery store, where Al noticed a distressed woman who didn't have enough money to cover her essential groceries. Moved by her predicament, Al stepped in and paid for her groceries. The woman, prioritizing her pets' needs over her own, mentioned that her cats would eat before she did.

This encounter inspired Al and his wife, Tammy, to think about how they could help people in similar situations. They decided to establish a mobile pet pantry, "Bo Lends A Paw," named after their dog, Bo. The pantry started with operations from the back of their pickup truck, but soon, thanks to the overwhelming community support, they were able to upgrade to a small trailer. This allowed them to expand their reach and help more families by providing pet supplies to those facing financial hardships.

"Bo Lends A Paw" has become a beacon of hope in Salem, traveling to various churches, fire departments, and community areas to distribute pet supplies. This initiative exemplifies how a single act of kindness can lead to a significant positive impact within a community.

For more details on this story, you can visit Sunny Skyz.

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Navigating the 2024 Job Market - FREE WEBINAR Coming Soon!

As we embark on 2024, the job market continues to evolve, shaped by technological advancements and shifting economic landscapes. Understanding these changes and adapting to them is crucial for anyone looking to enhance their career or find new opportunities. This comprehensive guide aims to equip you with strategies to navigate the 2024 job market effectively.

Understanding the 2024 Job Market

The current job market is characterized by a significant shift towards remote work, increased reliance on artificial intelligence and automation, and a growing gig economy. Industries like green energy, AI development, and healthcare are on the rise, demanding new skill sets. In this digital era, proficiency in digital tools and platforms is becoming increasingly important across all sectors.

Self-Assessment and Goal Setting

Before diving into the job hunt, it's vital to understand your strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations. Tools like the SWOT analysis can help in assessing your skills and interests. Setting SMART goals can provide clarity and direction in your job search. Reflect on your past experiences and how they align with your future career goals.

Building Relevant Skills

In a rapidly evolving job market, upskilling is no longer an option but a necessity. Whether it’s learning a new programming language, getting certified in data analysis, or improving soft skills like communication and leadership, there are numerous online platforms like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning to help you stay competitive.

Networking and Personal Branding

Building a strong network and personal brand can significantly enhance your job prospects. Platforms like LinkedIn are instrumental for online networking, allowing you to connect with industry professionals and join relevant groups. Personal branding goes beyond your resume; it's about how you present your skills and experiences online and offline.

Effective Job Searching Techniques

Leveraging job boards like Indeed and Glassdoor is a good start, but don’t overlook the power of networking and referrals. Tailoring your resume and cover letter for each application is crucial. Also, consider utilizing social media platforms to showcase your professional expertise and connect with potential employers.

Preparing for Interviews

Whether it's a virtual or in-person interview, preparation is key. Research the company and the role thoroughly. Practice answering common interview questions and use the STAR method for behavioral questions. Remember, the interview is also an opportunity for you to assess if the company aligns with your career goals.

The journey to finding a better job in 2024 may be challenging, but with the right strategies and mindset, it is certainly achievable. Stay adaptable, keep learning, and network actively. Your next career opportunity could be just around the corner!

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The REAL Reason Why People HATE Scrum - Abigail Sunday

https://medium.com/@abbi.sunday/the-real-reason-people-hate-scrum-521a3482f610

This is one of the BEST articles that I have read about Scrum in the recent past! PLEASE go and give it a read and show Abigail some LOVE!

Imagine this: you’re part of a team newly transitioning to Scrum. There’s excitement in the air, but also a hint of skepticism. After all, you have heard mixed reviews about this popular agile framework on LinkedIn. As weeks turn into months, the initial enthusiasm wanes. Stand-ups feel like a chore, sprints seem never-ending, and the backlog is just sitting there looking at you. You start wondering, “Why do people hate Scrum? Or is it just our team?”

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Introducing The Agile Coaching Skills - Certified Facilitator Workshop!

FACILITATORS ARE IN VERY HIGH DEMAND!!

Facilitation supports groups of people as they collaborate, create, and make decisions. The Agile Coaching Skills - Certified Facilitator (ACS-CF) course provides training for anyone interested in developing their facilitation mindset and knowledge while learning from experienced agile practitioners.

Completing this course is also a way forward on the path for those who want to become Certified Agile Coaches or Trainers.

Facilitation is one of the many tools essential to coaching, and this course will equip you to develop and hone the skill.

This certification is new and we are in the process of adding more classes. If you don't see a course in your area, please email LearnMore@AgileDad.Com and we can get a course lined up for your organization.

Learning objectives:

Discover what a facilitator is and what they do
Practice the mindset of a neutral facilitator
Learn how to facilitate teams through conflict
Understand the needs of different teams
Apply the skillset before, during, and after a facilitation event

This course is designed to:

Make sure all voices are heard.
Establish psychological safety.
Create better meetings.

If you’re passionate about facilitation, the ACS-CF course lets you follow your passion so you can make a real difference. Many careers, industries, and teams need people who know how to facilitate.

The ACS-CF course is right for:

Anyone who wants to be an empowering and impactful facilitator
Anyone interested in growing their career with facilitation skills
Anyone who believes in happier teams and better meetings

Benefits of the certification:

Deep dive of an in-demand skill that goes beyond technique alone and explores the mindset of a facilitator
Live, immersive facilitation practice
Scrum Alliance-approved agile instructor V. Lee Henson delivering the material
Contributes to evidence of facilitation experience when you apply to become a CEC, CTC, or CST

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Why work in an Agile Way? This has been a question I first asked myself as a team member in a Scrum Team. Over the years, I’ve reserved my right to add to, refine and change my answers.

The question can be approached from multiple angles. Say from the perspective of being responsive to customers’ needs:

“We work in an Agile Way to respond to customer needs, release frequently, get feedback quickly and course correct as required.”

Or, from the perspective of optimising a team:

“We work in an Agile Way to bring individuals together in a high-performing team.”

Or, from the perspective of flow:

“We work in an Agile Way to maximise flow and get stuff done”

Or, from a commercial perspective:

“We work in an Agile way to maximise profit”

More recently, I helped a team define this as their reason during their inception:

“We work in an Agile way to deliver reliably (we do what we say), predictably (we finish when we say we will) and sustainably (we care for ourselves whilst doing it).”

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I know you have all heard of a glitch in the matrix before.. I wanted this special episode to serve as the I am so sorry for missing a day! We will be all back on track this Monday.

Even Agile Dads make mistakes...

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The Top 5 Most Listened to Podcast Episodes of 2023:

Are Your User Stories Opened Or Closed? - 3/28/23
7 Tips To become a Successful ScrumMaster - 3/2/23
Responsibilities vs Accountabilities - A Better Understanding of Agile Roles - 2/9/23
The Product Owner Does NOT Need To be The Sole Source of Knowledge - 1/16/23
The Top 10 Ways To Create and Support an Agile Culture - 1/31/23

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https://medium.com/@sametkaraahmet/together-in-agile-methodology-385c1d8c3311

by: Samet Karaahmet

"Together" in Agile... I know you hear the voice of Troy right now.... We're all in this together...

In the dynamic landscape of the IT sector, Agile methodology has become the cornerstone of efficient project management. At the heart of Agile lies the pivotal concept of feedback and the collaborative spirit encapsulated in the term “together.”

Feedback in Agile is not just a formality; it’s the lifeblood that fuels continuous improvement. In the iterative cycles of Agile development, regular feedback loops ensure that teams are not just progressing but evolving. This iterative process allows for adjustments, refinements, and realignment with project goals.

Feedback is a two-way street. Team members provide insights into their progress, challenges, and the evolving landscape of the project. Simultaneously, stakeholders offer valuable input, aligning the project with overarching business objectives. This bidirectional communication fosters a culture of transparency and adaptability.

Agile is inherently a collaborative methodology. It thrives on the principle of working together to deliver exceptional results. The “together” aspect goes beyond mere cooperation; it signifies a collective commitment to shared goals and mutual support.

In Agile teams, collaboration is not restricted to formal meetings or designated collaboration tools. It permeates the entire work culture. Team members are encouraged to share knowledge, provide assistance when needed, and celebrate collective victories. This collaborative ethos creates an environment where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Working together and fostering a culture of mutual support directly impacts the quality of projects. When team members collaborate, they bring diverse perspectives to the table. This diversity leads to comprehensive problem-solving and innovative solutions.

In a collaborative environment, feedback is not perceived as criticism but as an opportunity to learn and grow. Team members support each other in navigating challenges, ensuring that individual experiences contribute to the collective wisdom of the team.

In conclusion, Agile methodology, with its emphasis on feedback and collaboration, becomes a catalyst for elevating project quality. The iterative nature of Agile allows teams to adapt swiftly, and the collaborative spirit ensures that each team member contributes meaningfully to the project’s success.

As we embrace Agile values, let’s remember that together, through open communication and a commitment to continuous improvement, we not only meet project goals but exceed them, delivering solutions of the highest quality.

The Essence of Feedback in AgileThe Power of Collaboration: Working Together for ExcellenceSupport, Assistance, and the Ripple Effect on Project Quality

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Planning a significant event like an all-hands meeting, symposium, or conference can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to choosing the right speaker. The speaker sets the tone for your event and can be the difference between an unforgettable experience and a forgettable one. Whether it's inspiring your team, sparking innovative ideas, or sharing invaluable insights, the perfect speaker can elevate your event to new heights. But how do you ensure that you get the best speaker for your needs? Here's a comprehensive guide, and why AgileDad Speaks should be at the top of your list.

Understanding Your Audience and Objectives

Before embarking on your search, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of your audience and what you aim to achieve with your event. Are you looking to motivate your employees? Share the latest industry trends? Or provide a deep dive into a specific topic? Your objectives will guide the type of speaker you need – motivational, educational, industry expert, etc.

Research and Recommendations

Start with thorough research. Look for speakers who have a proven track record in your industry or in speaking on the topics you're interested in. Personal recommendations are invaluable, so tap into your professional network for suggestions. You can also explore speaker bureaus, but remember, they often charge a commission.

Reviewing Credentials and Content

Once you have a list of potential speakers, review their credentials. Look for their experience, expertise in the subject matter, and their speaking style. Videos of past speaking engagements can give you a good sense of their style and how they engage with the audience. Check their social media profiles, blogs, and publications to understand their viewpoints and areas of expertise.

Aligning with Event Theme

Ensure that the speaker’s expertise and style align with your event theme and objectives. A good speaker should be able to tailor their content to align with your event's goals and resonate with your audience.

Budget Considerations

Speakers’ fees can vary widely. Have a clear budget in mind and be transparent about it when reaching out. Remember, investing in a good speaker can have a significant return in terms of attendee satisfaction and overall event success.

Interactivity and Engagement

In today’s world, audiences expect more than just a lecture. They want an interactive and engaging experience. Look for speakers who use interactive elements like Q&A sessions, live polls, or group activities to keep the audience engaged.

Expertise in Agile Methodologies

AgileDad’s expertise in Agile methodologies is unmatched. Whether your audience is new to Agile or looking to deepen their understanding, AgileDad can deliver content that is both informative and accessible, tailored to your audience's level of expertise.

Engaging and Interactive Sessions

AgileDad is known for interactive and dynamic speaking sessions. Expect a speaker who not only imparts knowledge but also engages the audience in meaningful ways, ensuring that the learning is both deep and lasting.

Customized Content

Understanding that no two audiences are the same, AgileDad Speaks offers customized content to meet your specific event objectives and audience needs. This bespoke approach ensures that your audience gets the most out of the session.

Post-Event Support

AgileDad’s commitment to your event’s success extends beyond the speaking engagement. They offer post-event support, which can include follow-up sessions, Q&A opportunities, and access to a wealth of resources for further learning.

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Happy 2024! I’m back to work after a long end-of-year company shutdown. I hope your 2024 has been wonderful so far.
Late last year, I recorded an Agile Mentors podcast episode about agile leadership with my colleague, Brian Milner. I started sharing some of the tips from that episode with you last month. Agile leadership is such a critical topic that I want to share a few more tips with you this month.
Let’s begin with what it means for a team to self-organize to meet the challenges set by leadership.
Self-Organizing, Not Self-Directed
At its core, self-organization is a response to a challenge. Challenges for self-organizing teams are defined by leaders.
Leadership says Accomplish this goal. And the team figures out how best to do it.
Suppose the goal is “Make a banking app that will speed up loan applications.”
Leadership issues that goal as a challenge to an agile team. The team doesn’t get to self-direct. They are not empowered to say, “Nah, we’d like to make a video game instead.” Their mission is to reach the goal that was set for them.
Self-organization is how teams respond to the challenge they’re given.
In the example I gave, that challenge could be expanded to “Make this banking application and do it with these seven people.” Both of those constraints are a legitimate part of leadership’s role in defining the challenge.
What’s not part of leadership’s role is to overconstrain how the team accomplishes the goal. To continue the example, agile leaders do not say, “Do it with these seven people, use my brother’s API into loan systems, on this hardware, and so on.”
Too many constraints makes it difficult for a team to discover the best solution.
A leader’s job is to challenge their teams with inspiring goals. An agile leader knows when to step out of the way and let teams determine the best way to meet their challenge. That’s self-organization. And that’s one way you’ll succeed with agile.

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One Voice Really Does Make a Difference - especially when the other party is a giraffe that dos not have a voice of its own. Come on a journey with V. Lee Henson as we explore a heartwarming story about his oldest daughter and the animal that she loved the most!

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The 2024 AgileDad Course Offerings Guide Releases TODAY!

Get your copy now at: https://agiledad.com

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Sprint Review - Sprint Demo - Sprint Retro - What's The Difference?

Agile, Scrum, and other techniques all use a different glossary when it comes to clarity around these definitions. Learn from V. Lee Henson, the tips, tricks, and techniques needed to understand and practice the differences foreach of these.

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Multi-Team Product Backlog Refinement - Blog Post Review

https://medium.com/orgtopologies/creating-cross-team-collaboration-with-multi-team-product-backlog-refinement-36e84aa87abb

This article focuses on refining the Product Backlog with multiple teams at the same time: multi-team Product Backlog Refinement (aka mt-PBR). The goal of mt-PBR is to maximize information sharing and collaboration during Product Backlog Refinement. We bring all development teams together in one refinement session instead of having teams conducting separate refinements.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE ADDRESSES THE SYMPTOMS AND NOT THE ACTUAL PROBLEM. Listen for more details.

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The Art of Storyboarding for Product Managers

Here’s how storyboarding is used in product management:

Idea Visualization: Storyboarding helps product managers transform abstract ideas or concepts into tangible and visual representations. It provides a clear and accessible way to convey product features and functionality.
User Journey: Storyboards typically focus on the user’s journey or experience with the product. They illustrate the steps a user takes to accomplish a specific task or goal within the product.
Communication: Product managers use storyboards to communicate their vision to various stakeholders, including designers, developers, marketing teams, and executives. It can bridge the gap between technical details and high-level concepts.
Feedback and Collaboration: Storyboarding encourages collaboration and feedback. Cross-functional teams can provide input and suggestions, leading to a more refined and well-rounded product concept.
Alignment: Storyboards help ensure that everyone involved in the product development process has a shared understanding of the user experience and product requirements. It aids in aligning the team’s efforts towards a common goal.
User-Centric Design: By focusing on the user’s perspective, storyboarding reinforces a user-centric approach to product development. It helps in designing products that meet user needs and expectations.
Validation: Storyboards can be used to validate product concepts with potential users or target customers. By presenting a visual narrative, product managers can gather early feedback to make necessary adjustments.
Iterations: Storyboards are not set in stone. They can be iterated upon and refined as the product concept evolves or based on feedback received during the development process.

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3 Toxic Communication Styles That End Relationships

Passive Communication: Passive communication is when you ignore or mask the truth about how you feel or what you want, usually as a way to avoid conflict.

While passive communication often feels good in the moment because it makes you look self-sacrificing and generous (at least to yourself), it always fails in the long run because it’s fundamentally dishonest.

Aggressive Communication: Aggressive communication is when you express your own wants and needs without regard for the rights and preferences of others.

Importantly, aggression is usually not the result of pure malice or a psychopathic lack of empathy; instead, it’s a reaction to fear and insecurity.

Despite how it appears on the surface, anger is actually a positive emotion in the sense that it feels good to be angry. When we’re angry, the underlying assessment is that someone or something is wrong, and by extension, we’re right. This boosts our ego.

Passive Aggressive Communication: Passive-aggressive communication is when you’re too angry to keep quiet and too afraid to be honest.

Recall that passive communication involves being overly deferential to other people and dishonest with yourself, whereas aggressive communication is the opposite, being honest about your own wishes but in a way that’s disrespectful to others. The third toxic form of communication, passive-aggressive, is the worst of both worlds: dishonest to yourself and disrespectful to others.

Scrum to Optimize Predictability & Control Risk -

https://medium.com/@kalosbonasia/scrum-to-optimise-predictability-and-control-risk-e7edcf3303ed

Scrum can help #teams continuously deliver value to customers, but it is incomplete by definition because it only focuses on the practices needed to support its three pillars: transparency, inspection and adaptation.

Scrum seeks to optimise #predictability and control risk to enable frequent delivery. Scrum also seeks to harness the potential of people who have the #skills to get the job done, while setting delivery expectations for the customer.

Scrum also makes headwinds in the organization more visible, so that #people can take steps to #improve the way they do things.

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Agile, ADHD, & Time Blindness

Base my personal planning on empiricism, and expect extra time when something is unknown.
Use a daily standup, where I inspect and adept my personal plan.
Make sure that any task I have, is cut up into smaller pieces, which can be done within max 2 hours.
Use weekly goals to make sure I make progress in small significant ways.
Timebox my tasks to create focus.

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Top 5 Mindset Shifts For Product Managers

1: Look at everything as a client-centric problem

2: Understand the difference between Strategy and Planning

3: Get out of thinking you can design strategy by yourself

4: Learn how to gather and use Qualitative over Quantitative insights fueled by regular client touch points

5: Manage the three levels of Execution, Impact, and Optics

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7 Tips To Help You Make & Keep Resolutions in 2024

Be picky about your resolutions
Plan your resolution
Set very specific goals
Don’t take on too much
Choose a new resolution
Identify accountability partners for support
Give your resolution time to become a habit

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5 Tips to Make People Respect You in Seconds!

The tips I will discuss should be used cautiously because they will quickly help you gain influence and respect. However, I still want you to focus on maintaining high character and a sound moral foundation.

Dress one slice better than the norm.
Pay attention to your posture and adopt power poses.
How to speak so that people want to listen.
Your positive comments should outnumber negative comments.
Show authentic vulnerability.

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How Do Agile Leaders Support Self-Organizing Teams

This week, I want to talk about the leader’s role regarding self-organizing teams.
Influence, Don’t Command
I got introduced to agile principles and practices back in the 1990s before people had formalized the term agile. I was leading software teams then, and just like now, I read every book I could get my hands on about how to be better at my job.
One I enjoyed was Wicked Problems, Righteous Solutions. The authors, Peter DeGrace and Leslie Stahl, had read the original paper on Scrum by Takeuchi and Nonaka in the Harvard Business Review.
So DeGrace and Stahl wrote about how in an agile approach like Scrum, leaders are still exerting control over teams. But here’s the key as they saw it: much of that control is “subtle and indirect.” In fact, it’s so subtle and indirect that influence may be a more accurate term than control.
Agile leaders influence teams by the goals they pick, but they also influence teams in other ways, including via the team composition itself.
Suppose you’ve got a software team and their goal is to finish an app and then hand it over to an ops group that will install it. So your team isn’t charged with deploying the software, just getting it ready for deployment.
Now imagine you decide to put a DevOps engineer on that team. That team will behave differently with an Ops person in the mix. I have no idea if they’ll behave better or worse (it’s going to depend on a lot of things) but I know they will do things differently. So team constitution is one way to influence.
Leaders also have a tremendous influence on teams just by how they answer questions such as:

How big of a problem do we give the team?
How clearly have we defined the problem?

And that’s not a bad thing. Leaders are there to lead. When a manager exerts influence, someone might think, “Oh no, they’re moving toward command and control.” But I disagree. Agile leaders have not only the right, but also the responsibility to exert their influence to help teams thrive. But that influence should be, as DeGrace and Stahl wrote, subtle and indirect.
Recognizing the subtle ways they can bring out the best in teams will help leaders (and their organizations) succeed with agile.

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Is Lean BIGGER Than Agile?

As an Agile enthusiast, this question intrigued me. I see many benefits in Agile for that white-collar world, but I also see a staggered implementation. That made me think about what was happening. I discovered five causes that prevent a wide adoption of Agile. In this article, I share my thoughts about this topic.

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The Need For Agility in Leadership

When you have many teams working on a software project, it’s important to remember a couple of things to make sure everyone works well together:

Teams Need to Talk to Each Other: If different teams are working on parts that connect, they need to communicate. This way, they can make sure their parts fit together well and don’t cause problems for each other.
Make Big Decisions Together: When teams depend on each other, they should decide on big things together. After that, each team can make their own choices on smaller stuff inside their part of the project.
Teams Can Decide on Their Own, But Not Everything: Teams should have the freedom to make some decisions, but they should always think about how these decisions affect the whole project and other teams.
Leaders Should Guide the Teams: The people in charge should help the teams understand that while being independent is good, working together as part of a bigger picture is also important.
Keep Everything Working Together: All the different parts of the project must work well together. This means sometimes teams need to adjust their work so that everything fits together nicely in the end.

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The Christmas Story 2023

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with Child. 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son,
and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger;
because there was no room for them in the inn.
2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the LORD came upon them, and the glory of the LORD shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the LORD. 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into Heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD hath made known unto us. 2:16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 2:17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 2:18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 2:20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His Name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

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The Brad Pitt of Agile Discusses 5 Simple Ways To Be More Attractive -

1. Empathy & Compassion

The most attractive people are kind even when the world has been unkind to them.
The most attractive people are generous, even when they have little to give.
The most attractive people have an open heart, even when they have every reason to close their hearts.

2. Intellectual Curiosity

Someone who can silence their ego and open their mind is hot.
Someone who is genuinely interested in learning more about you, your passions, your dreams, your desires, and your goals is hot.
Someone who eagerly seeks new experiences, new connections, and new adventures is hot.

3. Having Boundaries

People who are kind but have no boundaries are not kind. They are just people-pleasers who are constantly seeking validation and most of the time have a hidden motive.

The most attractive people have standards, they have boundaries, and they are not afraid to say no.

You know what’s attractive? Saying no to opportunities that don’t align with your values.
You know what’s attractive? Saying no to unhealthy relationships that suck the soul out of you.
You know what’s attractive? Saying no to yourself. No to your temptations. No to your excuses. No to your self-doubt that’s silently robbing you of the beautiful life you deserve.

4. Living with Passion and Purpose

People with purpose move differently. You can see commitment in their eyes, discipline in their action, and conviction in their voice. When you come across such people, you are instantly drawn to them. Their energy is so magnetic that it lights up your own ambitions and aspirations.
It leaves you with a sense of hope and assurance, almost whispering, “You’ve got this too.”

5. A sense of Humor

You know that kind of person, right? The one who doesn’t take themselves too seriously. The one that can make you laugh until your stomach hurts. The one who’s laugh is funnier than the joke itself.

This type of people is rare and they understand that tragedy is the biggest comedy. Your guard naturally comes down, and you’re transported back to that childlike state. You don’t need to play the pretend game anymore. It’s like they’ve given you permission to be yourself. It’s like they accept you with all your flaws.

6 Step Flow For Better Story Mapping

Frame The Problem
Map The BIG Picture
Explore & Discover
Slice Out a Release Strategy
Build a Learning Strategy
Establish a Development Strategy

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The Top 10 Tips To Be the BEST New Manager or Team Lead

Help Me Understand
Embrace Constructive Feedback
Delegate Effectively
Develop Decision-Making Skills
Encourage Creativity & Innovation
Set Clear Goals & Expectations
Develop Empathy & Emotional Intelligence
Foster a Positive & Supportive Environment
Lead By Example
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Effective Team Working Agreements - Cracking the Code

Imagine being on a team where everyone knows what they are supposed to do, how they should do it, and the norms that guide their behaviour. Sounds incredible, right? That’s where working agreements come into play. They are essential in creating such a high-functioning team environment.

As you delve into the dynamics of working agreements, it’s important to recognise the pivotal role they play in forging productive team dynamics. The heart of a successful working agreement, whether it’s in a Scrum team or any other collaborative team setting, lies in shared understanding and mutual trust. But what exactly are working agreements, and why are they so important?

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Agile Success With Definition of Ready & Definition of Done

The specific items on a DoR checklist may vary from team to team, but some common components include:

Clear Description & Acceptance Criteria is defined
Any Dependencies related to the story are identified & resolved
The story is estimated to is feasible to be completed in a single sprint
Story is testable
Mockups are finalized & attached to the story
Fix Versions is added to the Story

While the specifics of the DoD may differ among teams, common elements include:

Design/ Spike Document is added to confluence and reviewed
PR is reviewed & Merged
Unit Test is written & Passed
All Integration tests are passed
Automated Smoke Tests are executed & Passed
Test Case is written & Executed
Test evidence is attached to the story
Documented the impacted features in Jira for regression testing
The user story meets the acceptance criteria
Performance tests, if applicable, have been conducted, and performance is within acceptable limits.
Stress Testing using Monkey UI Exerciser is completed & Passed
UX Review is Done if applicable
PO Review is Done
Release Notes added in the Jira

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The Problem You Think You Have Is NEVER Really the REAL Problem... - Episode 950

I can PROMISE you that this episode WILL BE THE MOST LISTENED to episode in the history of this podcast! Join us as we discuss mental health and how to best resolve worry, grief, stress, and anxiety.

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What Is an Agile Leader? - Mike Cohn

Let’s start with what agile leadership looks like.
Guide, Don’t Command
I’ve got a poster on my wall that shows the Monopoly man, the mascot of the Monopoly game. I had to look up his name, by the way. It’s Milburn Pennybags, also known as “Rich Uncle” Pennybags.
In the poster on my wall, Mr. Pennybags proclaims, “Leadership: Guide don't Command.” I bought the poster for two reasons. One, it’s funny to have my “rich uncle” looking over my shoulder during Zoom calls. And two, the motto actually summarizes agile leadership pretty well.
Agile leaders set out some goals and create a culture for people, but they don’t tell people what to do—they don’t assign specific tasks.
Agile leaders will say Let’s achieve this goal. But those leaders won’t dictate how to achieve that goal. Instead, they create a culture of teamwork, transparency, and continuous improvement. In other words, they create an environment where teams are empowered to achieve great things.
Traditional leaders might also do those things, but creating the culture is not the foremost thing on their minds.
So if you want to be a more agile leader, start by doing less telling and more inspiring. Set big audacious goals for your teams and create an environment where they can succeed. If you do, I suspect two things will happen. Most times, your teams will surprise you with their ideas and innovation. And every time, guiding instead of commanding will help you succeed with agile.

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Discovering The Differences Between Scrum & Agile...

Simply put, Agile is a Mindset - Scrum is a Framework. Let the argument commence in the comments below!

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3 Reasons Why HR Needs Agile

1. Specialized Roles/Silos Resulting in Sequential Processes and Longer Decision-Making Cycles

In most organizations that have adopted classical HR Service Delivery practices there often are distinct roles and silos for HR functions such as Business Partners focusing on strategic activities, Centers of Expertise handling specialized tasks, and Shared Services managing transactional activities. This separation does not foster the collaboration needed for agile responsiveness.

2. Focus on Specialization Over Cross-Functionality that hinders Team empowerment

In a classical Ulrich Model-based HR Service Delivery organization, the focus is specializing in a specific HR domain. Although specialization is a considerable asset, it does not foster a holistic approach towards a comprehensive People Strategy. Team members are primarily focused on their specific roles and responsibilities instead of collaborating or taking over different/new tasks for holistic problem-solving.

3. Less Emphasis on Employee Experience

Last but not least, traditional HR organizations are more inclined to miss the main persona in context, “the Employee”. There are of course several reasons for that. As discussed in the above 2 bullet points, in traditional HR Service Delivery organizations the focus is more on administrative tasks and different Centers of Expertise focus on their delivery roadmap, which makes it hard to establish a holistic strategic and employee-centric HR approach.

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Lean or Agile? The Answer May Surprise You!

In order to make this decision, you MUST explore the organizational mindset:

Strategy
Structure
Culture
Risk Management
Goals
Measure of Success

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5 Life Lessons That Have Made Me a Better Leader

#1. Perception is projection

What you perceive, you’ll believe.

If you’re painting the world around you with negative projection, that’s also what you’re going to imbibe, until you’re smothered in the glossy sheen of cynicism and horror.

It’s like a twisted remix of the classic ‘if you build it, they will come’. Field of dreams? More like field of nightmares. Because what you fixate on will manifest. Watch as your warped worries are birthed into the world around you in some Tim Burton-esque torture show.

The beautiful thing is this works the other way too. See beauty in the world and you’ll find it. Everywhere.

Too many people are so fixated on their problems that they miss the beauty staring them in the face. Moments of wonder get lost like tears in the rain. And worse than this, they miss opportunities. The world seems like a scary place, so they operate from a place of fear. They become risk-averse. They clutch tightly at what they have and fail to gain anything more.

As a leader, you need to have a positive relationship with the world. Be courageous. See the good in people, then get the best out of them. Take risks. Laugh at setbacks. Embrace chaos. And let yourself enjoy the wonders of life, both ups and downs. You never know what’s good for you and what’s not, on a long enough timeline. So might as well just try to enjoy it all and make the best of it.

#2. The cynicism safety blanket

Leadership is about preparing for the worst, but trying for the best. Consider the worst case scenario and make sure you’re both active in trying to avoid it, and careful not to manifest it.

#3. Someday is today

There will never be a perfect time. If you keep putting stuff off until the right moment, you are never going to start. Because there’s always going to be an excuse to leave it until tomorrow.

There is no ‘someday I’ll get to it’. If it’s important, that day is today.

Get to the action as quickly as you can. Because tomorrow is never promised. You can’t guarantee anything in life but right now. And before you know it, you’ll have missed your chance.

Maybe you’re just not at the right level yet to do an idea justice. But rather than carry it with you, start it and learn as you do it, share it with someone who can use it, or let it go. Don’t weigh yourself down with ‘what ifs’ and unfulfilled desires. Unrealized dreams are a slow death.

The present is all we ever get. Act accordingly.

#4. It’s all material

Everything that happens to you is a chance to create something new.

You can learn lessons. Apply feedback. Make a story. Coach others.

It all starts with how we treat what happens to us.

A lot of bad things are not actually as bad as they seem. Barring disasters, there’s value in nearly every experience. Because everything is material. It can all serve a purpose. The world is full of stories of people who turned hate into fuel, rejection into success, and failure into triumph.

Don’t be a diamond that chooses to stay coal.

#5. Keeping a level head is a superpower

When everyone around you is blowing a gasket, the ability to focus on solutions and move forward becomes the closest thing to a superpower.

It’s easy to find reasons to quit. As a leader, they’re basically everywhere. And why wouldn’t you? There’s only a finite amount of hours in the day, and days in a life. Who’d want to spend theirs pissed off, burnt out, and failing?

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How Product Managers Can Master the Art of Communication?

The Crucial Role of Communication in Product Management

Communication is the backbone of a Product Manager’s responsibilities, impacting various aspects of their role:

Stakeholder Alignment - A PM interfaces with a multitude of stakeholders, including engineers, designers, marketing teams, and executives. The ability to articulate product vision, objectives, and progress is vital to ensure everyone is on the same page. Failure to do so can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and misalignment.

Example: Consider the case of Tesla’s Elon Musk. His exceptional communication skills, through mediums like Twitter and public presentations, have kept Tesla enthusiasts, investors, and the public informed about the company’s vision, progress, and challenges.

Requirement Gathering - To build a successful product, a PM needs to gather and document requirements from various sources, including customers, internal teams, and market research. Clear and concise communication ensures that these requirements are accurately captured and understood.

Example: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos mandated an empty chair in meetings, symbolizing the absent customer. This practice reinforced the importance of customer-centric communication and decision-making in the company.

Prioritization and Roadmapping - A Product Manager must prioritize features and create a product roadmap. Effective communication helps in justifying these decisions to the team and stakeholders, aligning everyone with the product’s strategic direction.

Example: Spotify’s Daniel Ek has excelled in communicating their vision to prioritize user-centric features. This has led to a constant stream of innovations in the music streaming service, keeping them ahead in a competitive market.

Cross-Functional Collaboration - In a dynamic environment, a PM collaborates with cross-functional teams, often with varying priorities and perspectives. Clear communication fosters collaboration, minimizes conflicts, and helps in achieving product goals.

Example: Slack’s Stewart Butterfield promoted transparency and open communication, allowing teams to work together efficiently, resulting in the development of a popular team collaboration tool.

A Structured Approach to Mastering Communication for Product Managers

To shine in their role, Product Managers can adopt a structured approach to communication. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Understand Your Audience - The first step is to understand who you are communicating with. Tailor your message to the level of detail and terminology that your audience will understand. Engineers may require technical details, while executives may need a high-level overview.

Example: Steve Jobs was known for his ability to simplify complex technological concepts when presenting new Apple products to the general public, making them accessible and exciting.

Craft a Clear Narrative - Create a compelling narrative around your product, emphasizing its value proposition, benefits, and unique selling points. A well-structured story captivates your audience and makes the message memorable.

Example: The late Tony Hsieh of Zappos was a master at storytelling, making customers and employees feel part of a larger narrative about delivering happiness through exceptional service.

Actively Listen - Communication is not just about talking but also about listening. Pay attention to feedback and questions from your team and stakeholders. Listening actively helps you refine your message and address concerns.

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Agile Anti-Pattern Review - Budgeting Buckets of Time for Interruptions & Tech Debt

Many teams and organizations try to budget buckets of time to address inbound interruptions and or tech debt. Making it time based is a critical error and an even bigger error is trying to break off percentages for people to do specific types of work. We should have an entire sprint each quarter dedicated to tech debt and should address issues and or concerns as they arise. The core team should NOT be interrupted.

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Attend but Don’t Participate Unless You’re on the Team -

I’m listening.
That phrase is on my mind because the TV character Frasier Crane has returned to television. Portrayed by Kelsey Grammer in the shows Frasier and Cheers, Frasier Crane dispensed psychiatric advice on his popular radio show.
As each new caller joined the show, Frasier would voice his catchphrase, “I’m listening.”
If you attend a team’s daily scrum meetings but are not a member of that team, consider following Frasier’s lead: listen.
Your team probably welcomes your attendance. But unless you are actively working on sprint backlog items, you should not participate.
As an attendee, listen silently unless the team solicits your opinion or questions.
Daily scrums exist so that team members can synchronize their efforts. These meetings enable team members to be sure the most important tasks are being worked on, to know that two people are not working on the same thing, and to emphasize their commitment to achieving the sprint goal.
When outsiders go beyond just attending and they participate, a number of problems may arise:

Team members may hold information back, not wanting to be questioned by outsiders
Team members feel less ownership of issues and may wait for outsiders to solve problems for them
Morale suffers because team members don’t feel trusted

If you attend daily scrums but are not on the team, you may want to stop. Instead, ask the team to notify you about anything they need your help with.
If you can’t go as far as no longer attending, perhaps start each meeting as Frasier Crane would, by saying (or at least thinking), “I’m listening.”
Listening and letting teams run their own daily scrums without (even well-intended!) outside participation will help them succeed with agile.

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Military Appreciation Interview With Ryan - This is an interview I was blessed to do with one student who attended both the CSM and CSPO Military courses. He shares his thoughts about the impact of the course and how it will help him going forward.

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Lead With Light & Love - Light The World 2023

This year for #LightTheWorld, focus on sharing kindness, just like Jesus did. Throughout December, look for ways to bring joy to someone new each day. By following Jesus, the true Light of the World, you can bring a little light to the lives of friends, family members, coworkers, and even strangers!

From December 1 to Christmas Day, pay attention to the ways the people around you have shared their light with you and others. Each day, highlight their small acts of kindness on social media. Hopefully the examples you share can inspire many more to reach out with love like Jesus did. Make sure to use the following hashtag in your posts:

LightTheWorld

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/light-the-world/downloads

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Backlogs Aren't Meant to Hold It All - Mike Cohn

Backlogs are like dessert: best in moderation. Having a backlog that’s too big is a sign of trouble like an extra-wide slice of pie with two scoops of ice cream.
This goes for both product and sprint backlogs. Each should be kept to a manageable size.
The Sprint Backlog
A sprint backlog can become unwieldy when team members start to use it as a catchall for their personal to-do lists.
For example, one of my colleagues was recently working on a submission to the Scrum Gathering in New Orleans that’s happening in May 2024.
It's important for him, and it’s good for our company. So I support the work. But it wasn’t on the sprint backlog because nobody else had anything to do with it.
It was just one person creating his presentation proposal and occasionally asking a few of us for feedback.
Perfecting the proposal isn’t a shared goal; the rest of us would never say, "Oh, he’s out sick today. Let me jump in and work on his proposal."
If others need to know about the work or can sub for you on the work, put it on the sprint backlog. Otherwise, consider leaving it off.
The Product Backlog
The product backlog can become outsized when too many half-baked ideas are added to it.
When working as a product owner, I don’t want to clutter the product backlog with every idea I have. So I maintain a second list: a backlog of sorts. I call it a holding tank. It holds ideas until I either move them to the product backlog or delete them.
I’m not trying to hide anything from a team by using a holding tank. I just don’t want to bother anyone with some ideas until I’ve given them more thought.
It’s kind of like the new recipe I found for key lime pie. I bookmarked it, but the items to make it haven’t made it to my shopping list yet. And when it does, one slice will be plenty!
Keeping your sprint and product backlogs to a manageable size will help you succeed with agile.

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When the Agile Team Says, "We Don't Need xyz Meeting..."

So, let’s translate the “we don’t need statement” to what you’re really saying:

Sprint Planning:

We do Sprint planning because we are committed to delivering incrementally. There are so many benefits of delivering incrementally. So, what you’re really saying is that you don’t need sprints benefits:

We don’t need risk mitigation, early feedback, visibility, transparency, and adaptability.

Daily Scrum:

I hear very often that Daily meetings are not necessary. But what you’re really saying is:

We don’t need our team to be synchronized. There is no value in identifying blockers early and embracing fast decision-making.

Sprint Review:

Although Sprint review is the main point when you collaborate with your stakeholders, some people find it unnecessary. In this case, what these people are really saying is:

We don’t need to engage our stakeholders and gather feedback from them. It’s totally the same if we’re doing the right thing or not.

Retrospective:

For some reason, people tend to kill this meeting first. The problem is that then you’re killing the most important part of the agile — continuous improvements.

So, what you’re really saying is the scariest one:

We don’t need to improve.

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The Top 4 Tips to Lead Your Team as a ScrumMaster

Be a servant leader. Your role is to serve the team, not to boss them around. Focus on helping the team achieve their goals and overcoming any challenges they may face.
Be a good communicator. Communication is key to any successful team. Make sure to communicate regularly with your team members and stakeholders. Be clear and concise in your communication, and be open to feedback.
Be organized and efficient. As a Scrum Master, you have a lot of responsibilities. It’s important to be organized and efficient so that you can stay on top of everything. Use tools and techniques to help you stay organized and manage your time effectively.
Be flexible and adaptable. Things don’t always go according to plan in Scrum. Be flexible and adaptable so that you can adjust your approach as needed.

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Enjoy The Silence...

Silence can be awkward. A virtual meeting can be incredibly uncomfortable when everyone stares at each other. As a Scrum Master, in the past, I would continue utilizing filer words to break as much silence as possible. Whenever I asked the team a question, and no one would answer right away, I broke the “awkwardness” by attempting to elaborate on the question or provide my opinion first.

So, how do you remove the awkward silence?

You don’t.

You embrace it. After countless books and research on how to be a better facilitator, silence is critical. It allows team members (or the person you are speaking to) to ponder what answers they can provide. As a facilitator, you are not only practicing the power of silence but also practicing the power of patience. It is amazing what happens when everyone has the opportunity to think. More opinions are shared, brainstorming sessions become valuable, and everyone has the chance to absorb information.

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How to Persuade Others You've Made the Right Decisions - Kim Scott

Your team has managed to come to a decision, but there are still people who don’t agree with it — the same people who will be responsible for helping to implement it. If you’re working efficiently, not everybody on your team is involved in every step of the listen-clarify-debate-decide process for everything — just the relevant people.

Now that a decision has been reached, it’s time to get more people on board. This isn’t easy, and it’s vital to get it right. Persuasion at this stage can feel unnecessary and make the decider resentful of people on the team who aren’t fully in agreement.

The decider has painstakingly gone through the listen, clarify, and debate steps and made a decision. Why doesn’t everyone else get why it’s obvious we should do this — or at least be willing to fall in line?

But expecting others to implement a decision without being persuaded that it’s the right thing to do is a recipe for terrible results. And don’t imagine that you can step in and simply tell everyone to get in line behind a decision, whether you have made it or somebody else has.

To help you be more persuasive, and to teach the “deciders” on your team to be more persuasive, the rest of this section will cover, briefly, Aristotle’s elements of rhetoric — pathos, logos, and ethos, which I’ll translate loosely as emotion, logic, and credibility.

Emotion: The listener’s emotions, not the speaker’s when trying to persuade
Credibility: Demonstrate expertise and humility when persuading
Logic: Show your work when persuading your team

https://kimmalonescott.medium.com/how-to-persuade-others-youve-made-the-right-decisions-a7a38a4555db

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Being Thankful for Agile: A Deep Dive into Appreciation

In the expansive universe of project management and software development, it's easy to get ensnared in the intricacies of metrics, deliverables, and the ever-looming shadow of deadlines. Yet today, I'd like to invite you on a different journey. One that traverses the realms of emotions, relationships, and profound gratitude, centered around our experience with Agile.

Gratitude is a potent emotion. It goes beyond mere acknowledgment; it's an immersive experience that ties us to moments, individuals, and events that shape our lives. So, you might wonder, how does such a deeply personal sentiment intersect with the professional framework of Agile?

Our embarkation with Agile wasn't just a strategic shift. It represented a transformative expedition that recalibrated our perspective on work, the art of collaboration, and personal and collective growth. Before Agile graced our processes, many of us navigated work landscapes that, at times, felt stifling, bound by rigid protocols that seldom left room for spontaneity. Agile was the fresh breeze that introduced an environment of adaptability, fostering unity, and engendering genuine connections among team members.

As we wade deeper into this reflective pool, I want to delineate the multifaceted gifts of Agile:

Flexibility: At its core, Agile offers more than just an adaptable work model. It's a philosophy that teaches us to embrace change – to view challenges not as roadblocks but as opportunities to pivot and grow. This adaptability isn't just about circumventing hurdles but about fluidly navigating our professional terrain with a vision and purpose.

Collaboration: Beyond the rudimentary concept of teamwork, Agile has sown the seeds of profound collaboration in our midst. Through its tenets, we've built bridges of trust, fostered open channels of communication, and celebrated the mosaic of skills and perspectives each member contributes. It's a dance of synergy, where every individual's rhythm adds to the collective melody.

Continuous Improvement: Agile's magic isn't limited to enhancing our deliverables; it's about the holistic elevation of our teams. It propels us into a cycle of introspection, relentless learning, and shared growth. Every retrospective, every feedback loop, becomes a step towards collective excellence.

Yet, gratitude isn't a mere sentiment to be voiced; it pulsates in our daily actions. Each nod of acknowledgment, every moment of patience, every feedback session, and our unwavering commitment to bettering ourselves – these are our tributes to Agile.

In this tapestry of gratitude, AgileDad wishes to weave its thread of thanks. Our gratitude isn't sought but extended. To everyone who has entrusted us with their training and coaching aspirations, know that your faith is both our motivation and our guiding star. It galvanizes us to not just impart training but curate transformative experiences that resonate with the spirit of Agile.

To encapsulate, our journey with Agile isn't a linear path towards set destinations. It's a rich odyssey filled with lessons, pivots, challenges, triumphs, and deep-seated connections. As we continue to traverse this path, may our compass be calibrated by gratitude, ensuring our professional endeavors are as enriching and profound as our personal evolutions.

Thank you for sharing this moment of reflection. I eagerly anticipate your thoughts, narratives, and the myriad ways Agile has sculpted your professional journey.

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Being a Scrum Master Requires Coffee: 5 Ways Coffee Makes Scrum Taste Better

From keeping the team on track to navigating difficult conversations with stakeholders, there’s always something brewing in the Agile world. That’s why, my dear fellow Scrum Masters, I’m here to tell you that being a Scrum Master requires coffee. And not just any coffee, but a rich, aromatic brew that can fuel your brain and your passion for Agile. So grab your mug, and let’s dive into five ways coffee makes Scrum taste better.

Coffee can give you an energy boost to tackle the daily scrum meeting
Coffee is like a shot of adrenaline for your brain. When you’re up early for the daily scrum meeting and need to get in the zone, a cup of bold and robust coffee can give you the energy boost you need to start the day on the right foot. Keep a bag of Colombian beans nearby!

Coffee can help you stay focused during sprint planning
Sprint planning is the time when your team sets the stage for the upcoming sprint. With a lot on your mind, it’s easy to get distracted. But a cup of smooth, sweet mocha coffee can help you stay focused and centered. The chocolatey notes will bring a little bit of sweetness to a tough planning session. Mocha is a crowd pleaser for sprint planning meetings!

Coffee can help you navigate difficult conversations with stakeholders
As a Scrum Master, you’re responsible for keeping everyone aligned and on the same page. Sometimes, that means having tough conversations with stakeholders. But when the going gets tough, the tough drink espresso. The intense flavor and caffeine jolt can help you stay sharp and focused in even the most challenging situations.

Coffee can help you power through sprint reviews and retrospectives
Sprint reviews and retrospectives are essential for reflecting on the last sprint and preparing for the next one. But they can also be draining. That’s when you need a macchiato boost to keep you going. The smooth milk and espresso combination is the perfect fuel for your brain and your taste buds.

Coffee can help you celebrate sprint successes
Finally, when you and your team have completed a successful sprint, it’s time to celebrate. And what better way to do that than with a cup of flavored coffee? Whether it’s a Frappuccino or Pumpkin Spice Latte, a special treat can be the perfect way to cap off a job well done!

https://medium.com/the-agile-analyst/why-being-a-scrum-master-requires-coffee-5-ways-coffee-makes-scrum-taste-better-7d5c6daea3f5

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Are Items in the Sprint Backlog ALWAYS Smaller Than Items in the Product Backlog?

Maybe... Maybe not... This question from the PSM 1 Exam facilitated by Scrum.Org certainly generated some interesting discussion in one of my Advanced Workshops! We concluded that it is all a matter of applying best techniques to how we prioritize!

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Strategies To Maximize Team Efficiency

1) Understand the North Star

2) Clear & Effective Communication and Collaboration

3) Knowledge of Agile Roles & Accountabilities

4) Becoming the ULTIMATE Communicator

5) Not Repeating the Same Mistakes

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Dealing With Toxicity - 3 Ways to Thwart Negativity

Addressing toxicity in interpersonal relationships and environments is an essential aspect of promoting mental and emotional well-being. Here are three top techniques to combat such negativity in our personal and social spheres:

Boundaries and Self-care:
- Set Clear Boundaries: Learn to say "no" when necessary and establish clear boundaries with toxic individuals. This can be in the form of limiting time spent with them, avoiding specific topics, or even cutting ties if the situation warrants it.
- Prioritize Self-care: Ensure that you're dedicating time to activities that rejuvenate and ground you, be it reading, meditation, exercise, hobbies, or seeking therapy. This helps in building resilience against negativity.
- Communication and Assertiveness:
- Open Dialogue: If safe and appropriate, address the toxic behavior directly. Sometimes individuals aren't aware of the impact of their actions, and a calm, non-confrontational conversation can lead to understanding and change.
- Be Assertive, Not Aggressive: Express your feelings and needs clearly without being confrontational. Using "I" statements, such as "I feel hurt when…" instead of "You always…" can help in addressing issues without escalating them.
- Seek Mediation: If direct communication doesn't resolve issues, consider seeking mediation or counseling, especially if the toxic individual is a family member or close friend.
- Seek Support and Distancing:
- Lean on Support Networks: Share your feelings and experiences with trusted friends or family. They can offer emotional support, different perspectives, and coping strategies.
- Limit Exposure: If someone consistently brings negativity into your life, consider reducing your exposure to them. This can mean different things depending on the situation: fewer meetings, unfollowing on social media, or seeking a change in your environment (like a transfer at work).
- Professional Help: Therapists or counselors can provide guidance tailored to your specific situation, helping you develop coping mechanisms and strategies to deal with toxic individuals and situations.

Ultimately, protecting oneself from toxicity is about prioritizing your mental and emotional well-being. Recognizing toxic behaviors and taking proactive steps can lead to a healthier, more balanced life.

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Scrum Explained In Less Than 15 Minutes... Ready? GO!!

Is it possible? Listen and find out.. LOL

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Making Retrospectives Matter - 3 Keys to Success!

#1. The team doesn’t know what greatness looks like

If a team always feel that nothing needs to change, it could be because they don’t know what a high-performing team is like. They have been working in their familiar ways for too long and never got a chance to learn what greatness can be.

#2. The improvement actions have not been actually taken on

Another common issue is that the team always has good conversations during the retrospective and identifies the things to improve. But those improvement actions haven’t been followed up closely. The actual results of the improvement haven’t been tracked and reviewed. So the team feels that the retrospective is just wasting their time.

#3. The impediment is too big for the team to improve

Sometimes the improvement that the team wants to focus on is a big challenge across the whole organization. For example, the team decides to find a way to remove the external dependencies. However, it requires either changing the organizational structure or changing the architecture across multiple systems which is out of the team’s ability to improve them. The team will feel frustrated about it and may lose the passion to improve anything.

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MVP vs MMF - What is the Difference? - Mike Cohn

I had a question come up in a recent Better User Stories webinar. We were talking about story mapping and the concept of setting a significant objective for a period of time (usually about a quarter).
I gave three examples of how to come up with a significant objective: An MMF (minimum marketable feature), an MVP (minimum viable product), or a WIG (wildly important goal).
At the end, someone asked me if I could further explain the difference between an MVP and an MMF. I wanted to share the answer with you in case this has come up on your team.
What’s an MVP?
An MVP is about the whole product. Product is in the name: Minimum Viable Product. The term MVP comes from Eric Ries and his book The Lean Startup.
An MVP is the version of a product that delivers the maximum amount of information for the least amount of effort. An MVP is designed to validate the idea of a product as a whole: Is this product something people will pay for?
I have a bit of an issue with using an MVP for a significant objective. Why? Because when you meet again to plan, what do you build next?
You've already released something minimum and viable. Whatever comes next is more than minimum and viable. So how can you call it an MVP? It feels as if you can only use the term once.
I tend to prefer the term MMF, minimum marketable feature.
What’s an MMF?
An MMF is about a single feature rather than the whole product. A minimum marketable feature is a subset of an overall feature, one that delivers value when released independently. It was introduced by Mark Denne and Jane Cleland-Huang in their book Software by Numbers.
That is, the MMF is not everything you may ultimately want in the feature, but it's enough to get some feedback.
In a spell checker, for example, you may release a version that checks your spelling but doesn't allow users to share custom dictionaries or do other things you know you eventually want. But you've released enough to market that your spell checker includes that feature.
What’s the Difference?
A minimum marketable feature is smaller than a minimum viable product. An MVP can and likely would include multiple MMFs.
For example, suppose I’m building an ecommerce website.
I might have the following requirements:

I can search for items
I can put items in a cart
I can pay for items
I can set delivery addresses

That set of features would be an MVP: I could launch my ecommerce site with those features. An MMF, on the other hand, would be a way to deliver part of any one of those features.
Let’s say we want an MMF for “I can pay for items.” We want to be able to launch that feature in the coming period but decide to launch it in a minimal way first, maybe for capacity reasons or maybe because we want to learn something about it before we create a bunch of functionality.
So we would take the feature “I want to pay for an item” and identify a minimum marketable feature: “I can pay for an item with Mastercard.” It’s not a whole product. It’s not even a full feature. But it is enough to get us going.
Whether you prefer to think about MVPs, MMFs, or something else, focusing teams towards a significant objective and mapping the stories that will get you there, will help you and your team succeed with agile.

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No Agile Methodology is Right for You

I understand that there is no one-size-fits-all methodology for any team. Every team is unique, every project is unique, because people are unique. Therefore, it is much more important to understand the fundamental principles associated with agile work methodologies and project management rather than becoming an evangelist for Methodology A or B.

A summary of these principles:

The foundation of work in an agile methodology is for everyone to have a clear understanding of what work is expected to be completed at the end of a predefined period. This period is most commonly referred to as a sprint. It’s also worth noting that work should be assigned to an individual with a specific responsibility. In other words, there is no “team work”; all work should be assigned to an individual. Another crucial principle is the ability to anticipate whether the team will be able to achieve what has been planned and to identify anything that can be done to make the process more efficient in order to reach the goal. Understanding that the role of the person responsible for coordinating the teams is to ensure that as many assigned activities as possible are completed by the end of the period, aiming for 100%, it is crucial for them to constantly monitor the team’s progress in the current endeavor. This includes knowing how much of the work has been completed and what each team member is working on, allowing for real-time adjustments if necessary.

With this in mind, there are four major pillars:

What work needs to be executed and who should execute each part of that work.
The deadline for completion.
How much of the work has been completed up to that point.
What each team member is working on at that moment.

Task Fragmentation

Measuring the progress of work is a critical necessity, and the smaller the margin of error in this process, the better. The best way to reduce estimation errors and generalize activities as much as possible is to break down each part of the work into something resembling a ticket or task with an equivalent effort. This leads to greater predictability.

The Pitfall:

There is a pitfall when it comes to generalizing activities. Many managers start making a massive effort to create activities with irrelevant actions, such as “Send an email…” or “Follow up with the department…”. When this happens, their management model is on the verge of failing. This occurs because the time allocated to manage the activities becomes greater than the actual execution of the activities. At this point, a good manager understands that working is more important than organizing work (which is correct), but often attributes the problem to the methodology, which is a mistake.

How Tasks Should Be Divided:

Each task should have its role within the whole. Think of each task as a piece of a puzzle; it needs to make sense within the project. A good way to determine if an activity has the minimum requirements to be considered a task is to ask, “When the project is completed, can this task be perceived in some way within the project?” This prevents activities of minimal relevance from being included in a list of items to be completed and providing an incorrect perception of a team’s efficiency.

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AgileDad Veterans Day Tribute

Help Me Understand: Navigating the Complexities of Human Understanding

In today's hyper-connected world, with information at our fingertips and global conversations just a click away, understanding one another has never been more crucial. Yet, it's apparent that in many ways, we're more divided and less understanding than ever before. Why? Let's dive into the complexities of human understanding and the phrase: "Help me understand."

The Power of Curiosity

At its core, the plea "Help me understand" is an expression of genuine curiosity. It's a bridge to empathy, a door to deeper connection, and an admission that we don't know it all.

As children, we're natural explorers, asking endless questions to understand the world around us. "Why is the sky blue?" "Where do babies come from?" But as we grow older, societal expectations, fear of being wrong, or simple complacency can stifle our inquisitiveness.

The Fear of Not Knowing

Admitting we don't understand can be terrifying. In a world that often equates knowledge with power, acknowledging a lack of understanding can feel like revealing a weakness.

However, when we let go of this fear and ask someone to help us understand, we're not just gaining knowledge. We're also building trust, showing vulnerability, and forging deeper connections.

Barriers to Understanding

Cultural Differences: Cultural nuances can lead to misinterpretations. What's considered polite in one culture might be rude in another.
Generational Gaps: Different generations have varied perspectives shaped by the unique challenges and experiences of their times.
Cognitive Biases: These are the mental shortcuts we take, based on our experiences, which can sometimes lead us astray.
Information Overload: The sheer amount of information available can be overwhelming, leading to selective understanding.

Steps to Foster Understanding

Active Listening: This means fully concentrating, understanding, and responding to what's being said, rather than passively 'hearing' the message.
Ask Open-ended Questions: Questions like "Can you tell me more about that?" or "What makes you feel this way?" can open the door to deeper understanding.
Seek Diverse Perspectives: Engage with people outside of your immediate circle. Read books, watch films, or attend lectures that offer a different viewpoint.
Reflect: Take time to process what you've learned. Reflecting helps in internalizing and truly understanding new information.

Bridging the Understanding Gap with Technology

Modern technology offers tools that can help us understand each other better. From translation apps that break down language barriers to virtual reality experiences that allow us to step into someone else's shoes, technology is making the world smaller and more interconnected.

However, with the blessings of technology come challenges. The anonymity of the online world can sometimes make empathy harder to come by. But by harnessing the power of technology with a genuine desire to understand, we can bridge even the most challenging divides.

"Help me understand" is more than just a phrase. It's a mindset, a commitment to lifelong learning, and a pledge to approach the world with an open heart and mind.

In seeking understanding, we recognize our shared humanity. Every time we reach out to someone with the intention of truly understanding them, we're taking a step towards a more empathetic, connected world. So, the next time you're in a conversation, and you find yourself puzzled or at odds, take a deep breath and say, "Help me understand." You might be surprised at the doors it opens.

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The Power of Agile Backlog Refinement in Scrum

Im here to shed light on the importance of backlog refinement, demystify its nuances, and illustrate how it can supercharge your Scrum journey.

In Scrum, the product backlog is your compass, pointing the way towards delivering valuable features and activities. Managed by the Product Owner, it constantly adapts to new insights, stakeholder feedback, and shifting priorities. It’s a repository for documentation, planning, and estimates.

The product backlog can be separated in various categories:

Bundled Functionality: These are clusters of related features and activities that enhance the product’s functionality.
Undeveloped Ideas: Here reside those sparks of creativity that need further exploration and research.
Low-Priority Features: Not all features are created equal; some may be of lesser priority but still crucial in the grand scheme.

Some of the backlog items can include:

New Features: Fresh ideas and functionalities to enhance your product.
Ideas Needing Research: Concepts that require more in-depth investigation before implementation.
Feature Requests: Inputs from developers, stakeholders, and subject matter experts.
Feature Improvements: Enhancements to existing functionalities.
Technical Debt: Unfinished or sub-optimal technical work.
Design and Architecture Changes: Evolving the structure and design of your product.
Known Defects: Bugs and issues of varying severity.
Technical Work: Underlying technical tasks to maintain your product.

Product refinement is the art of taking backlog items and breaking them down into smaller, manageable pieces that can be tackled during a sprint. The product owner and developers inspect the backlog and decide which items need to be refined for the upcoming sprint and prioritized. They also determine which items will be refined at a later stage for future sprints.

It’s crucial the Product Owner strike a balance between thorough refinement and avoiding excessive details that could muddle the team’s understanding of what needs to be built.

Why bother with backlog refinement? Here are some compelling reasons:

Improved Sprint Planning: With most questions preemptively answered, sprint planning becomes clearer.
Organized and Clear Items: Keep your backlog tidy, relevant, and aligned with the product goal.
Transparent Collaboration: Highlight areas where the Scrum team might need external support.
Shared Understanding: Consensus between the team and stakeholders on customer needs.
Clarity on Costs: Understand the cost of delivering features, benefiting both Product Owners and stakeholders.
Rolling Over Items: Backlog items start spilling over into future sprints due to a lack of proper estimation.
Technical Debt Escalates: Neglecting refinement can snowball into mounting technical debt.
Loss of Focus: The product goal fades into the background, and chaos ensues.
Communication Breakdown: A rift forms between the Product Owner and developers, jeopardizing meeting the product goal.

Backlog refinement isn’t a one-time affair. It’s an ongoing process. Here’s a breakdown of when and how it’s done:

Initial Backlog Refinement: Kicks off at the start of the project, setting the stage for a deep dive. Developers get a high-level understanding, and the Product Owner prioritizes items based on business needs, dependencies, risks, and more.

Ordering the Backlog: The Product Owner, developers, and stakeholders collaborate to arrange items based on value and priority, ensuring alignment with business goals.

Continuous Refinement: Regular refinement sessions ensure that the most critical work items are addressed first, making them sprint-ready. They foster collaboration, enhance understanding, and illuminate the path to meeting customer needs.

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The ScrumMaster IS a People Person...

In the fast-paced world of Scrum, where project timelines are tight, and deliverables are paramount, one might wonder where the role of a People Person fits in. However, my experiences as a People Person as a scrum master have taught me that fostering strong relationships, understanding my team members, and promoting a positive work environment are not just valuable but essential components of achieving success in a Scrum setting. In this blog, I’ll share my journey and insights into how being a People Person has positively impacted People Management, Team Dynamics, and overall team productivity.

One of the core requirement of being a People Person is the ability to build genuine friendships and establish meaningful relationships within the team. In a Scrum team setting, where collaboration is key, this skill is invaluable. Here are some of my experiences:

When I joined my Scrum team, I made it a point to get to know my colleagues as individuals, not just as team members. I engaged in casual conversations and showed a genuine interest in their well-being. This simple act helped break down barriers and laid the foundation for trust.

I understood the importance of creating a work environment where everyone felt they belonged. By making an effort to include everyone in team discussions and decisions, I helped team members feel valued and appreciated.

In a Scrum team, there are bound to be challenges and setbacks. However, a People Person can bring positivity and resilience to the table, ensuring that the team remains motivated and productive even during tough times.

During particularly challenging sprints or when deadlines loomed, I made it a point to infuse positivity into the team. Simple gestures like celebrating small victories, offering words of encouragement, and maintaining a sense of humor helped boost morale and keep spirits high.

As a People Person, I understood the importance of staying resilient in the face of adversity. I encouraged the team to learn from setbacks rather than dwell on them. This forward-thinking approach kept us focused on continuous improvement.

Motivating team members and building strong team dynamics are essential for a Scrum team’s success. As the Scrum Master, I embraced these responsibilities with enthusiasm.

I adopted the role of a servant leader, putting the needs of my team members first. By offering support, guidance, and a listening ear, I empowered my colleagues to excel in their roles. This approach created a sense of trust and respect within the team.

A Scrum team’s capacity for growth and improvement is essential for sustained success. As a People Person, I was passionate about fostering continuous learning and development.

Recognizing the value of diverse perspectives, I celebrated our team’s diversity and encouraged open dialogue. This inclusivity not only enriched our problem-solving but also created a more vibrant and dynamic team.

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Feedback vs. Feedforward — Here’s Why I Don’t Like Either Word to Describe Radical Candor - Kim Scott

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about feedback vs. feedforward. Words matter. I don’t love the word feedback, but because it’s commonly used to show people what to do more of and what to do less of, I use it often.

Does “bad feedback” mean criticism, or does it mean criticism that is badly delivered?

Does “good feedback” mean praise, or praise that is well delivered, or criticism that is well delivered?

Who the hell knows??! Because it’s unknowable. Sloppy language.

I like the term feedforward even less because it pretends that we don’t have to understand past mistakes in order to avoid them in the future. It pretends that we can avoid necessary but uncomfortable conversations.

Feedback vs. feedforward — both of these words are well-intentioned euphemisms. That is my main problem with them — they tend toward either Ruinous Empathy or Manipulative Insincerity.

https://kimmalonescott.medium.com/feedback-vs-feedforward-heres-why-i-don-t-like-either-word-to-describe-radical-candor-95fe1137baa8

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Providing Constructive Criticism as an Introverted Team Leader

In the dynamic landscape of team collaboration, constructive criticism stands as a cornerstone for personal and collective growth. As an introverted team leader, navigating the delicate balance between maintaining harmony and fostering improvement can be challenging.

So, how can you deliver constructive criticism effectively while drawing on the strengths inherent in introverted leadership styles?

Introverted leaders often thrive in thoughtful reflection and one-on-one interactions. These qualities can be leveraged to create a unique approach to constructive criticism that emphasizes the individual's strengths within the team.

Introverts are keen observers, attuned to details that might be overlooked in more extroverted leadership styles. Recognizing and embracing these traits can set the stage for a positive and productive feedback process.

Creating a Supportive Environment:

Before delving into constructive criticism, it is crucial to establish an environment that encourages open communication.

Introverted leaders can utilize their listening skills to create a safe space for team members to express their thoughts and concerns. This establishes a foundation of trust, essential for the constructive feedback process.

Choose the Right Time and Place:

Introverts often find solace in quiet and controlled environments.

When delivering constructive criticism, choose an appropriate time and place where both you and the team member can engage in a focused and private conversation. This minimizes distractions and allows for a more meaningful exchange.

Leveraging Written Communication:

Introverts often excel in expressing themselves through the written word.

Consider providing written feedback in addition to verbal communication. This allows team members to digest information at their own pace and promotes a deeper understanding of the feedback provided.

Emphasize Strengths:

While addressing areas for improvement, introverted leaders can highlight the individual's strengths.

By framing criticism within the context of overall performance and accomplishments, team members are more likely to view it as an opportunity for growth rather than a personal attack. This positive reinforcement aligns with the introverted leader's natural inclination towards creating a supportive and nurturing work environment.

Encourage Two-Way Communication:

Introverted leaders may face challenges in initiating conversations, but they often excel in fostering meaningful dialogues.

Encourage team members to share their perspectives on the feedback received and engage in a two-way conversation. This not only promotes a sense of ownership and accountability but also allows introverted leaders to understand the individual's viewpoint better.

Continuous Improvement:

Constructive criticism is an ongoing process rather than a one-time event.

As an introverted leader, embrace the idea of continuous improvement and encourage team members to see feedback as a catalyst for personal and professional growth. Regular check-ins and follow-ups demonstrate commitment to the team's success and reinforce the importance of the feedback process.

—-

In the realm of team leadership, constructive criticism is an indispensable tool for fostering growth and development.

Introverted leaders bring a unique set of qualities to this process, including keen observation, thoughtful reflection, and an emphasis on creating a supportive environment.

By leveraging these strengths, introverted leaders can navigate the delicate balance of providing constructive criticism with tact, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious and productive team dynamic.How to connect with AgileDad:

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What Inspires You?

Today, we embark on a heartening journey exploring inspiration—the lifeblood of our creativity and motivation.

Have you ever paused to marvel at the early morning sun casting golden hues or the heartfelt laughter of a child? While we often search for inspiration in grand moments, it's life's quiet whispers that truly touch our souls. Like Jane, a writer who, amidst a creative block, found her muse in a delicate flower blooming amidst the concrete. That tiny, resilient flower led her to pen a best-selling novel.

Our daily lives brim with such unsung heroes and moments, from the elderly neighbor with an ever-present smile to the determined ant climbing your window pane. Inspiration matters; it fuels our passion, pushing us to think outside the box and remain resilient.

How can we better sense this everyday inspiration? By being present. Observing our surroundings, engaging in conversations, and embracing challenges. Every individual carries a treasure trove of stories and perspectives. Even in adversity, there's inspiration to be found—after all, stars can't shine without darkness.

So, as we wrap up, take a moment to look around. Find joy in the mundane, see the extraordinary in the ordinary, and let the world inspire you

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Daily Scrums: Synchronization Meetings, Not Status Meetings

The daily scrum: It's not a status meeting, it's a synchronization meeting. The term status meeting conjures images of sitting around a table with each person giving an update to a project manager while everyone else feigns interest (In reality, they're either mentally preparing for their own upcoming update or wondering how much longer the meeting will last.)

In contrast, the daily scrum meeting is designed for team members to synchronize their effort. You don't want two designers working on the same screen without each knowing about it. Similarly, someone better be working on a critical task if the sprint ends tomorrow.

Done well a daily scrum meeting is energizing. People leave the meeting enthused about the progress they're making as a team, or inspired to work together to move something to done. This won't happen every day for every team member, of course, but if team members dread going to the daily scrum, that is usually a sign of trouble.

So if the meeting is for the team members to synchronize their work with one another, what does the Scrum Master do?

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Which Agile Certification Is Right For Me?

How do you know which Agile Certification is right for you? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss all of the different certs without bias and discuss which ay be best for you.

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Agile Trick or Treat - 5 ScArY Things About Agile

Change Overload: Agile represents a fundamental shift from traditional project management methods. The constant emphasis on flexibility, adaptation, and change can be overwhelming for teams and organizations used to static processes.
Perceived Loss of Control: Traditional management often involves detailed upfront planning and strict adherence to a roadmap. In contrast, Agile's iterative approach, with its emphasis on regular feedback and adaptability, can make managers and stakeholders feel like they're losing control over the project's direction.
Fear of Transparency: Agile practices like daily stand-ups and sprint reviews promote openness about progress, roadblocks, and failures. This level of transparency can be daunting for individuals or teams who fear being perceived as underperforming or making mistakes.
Commitment Pressure: Agile methodologies, especially Scrum, require teams to commit to specific deliverables in short time frames. The pressure to meet these commitments in every sprint can be intense, especially if the team is still learning the Agile ropes.
Cultural Shift: Implementing Agile is not just about changing processes but also about fostering a new organizational culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and customer-centricity. Changing an established organizational culture can be challenging and can meet with resistance.

Understanding these concerns can be the first step in addressing and overcoming them, ensuring a smoother Agile transformation.

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Making One’s Self Redundant

“The goal of a Scrum Master is to make themselves redundant”

So I preached this mantra, and always managed to get a good deal of nods by those around me.

Then came along one day when I was made redundant. Literally. I was hit by a wave of lay offs, and this made me reflect thoroughly on what I had been preaching for so long.

In the time I was given to work in that organization, did I succeed in making myself redundant, or did I push myself to the fringes, making myself irrelevant?

In the latest version of the Scrum Guide, the authors changed the term “roles” to “accountabilities”.

It is because a role has to be filled, an accountability needs to be carried.

Often we see organizations looking to “fill in the role” of Scrum Master in order to fix a bureaucratic void, a bucket of disparate and non-value adding tasks that someone needs to carry out but none of the existing personnel are actually willing to. Tasks like “running daily standups” and “updating the team board” top the list. In these situations, organizations are looking to create roles to give such tasks a home, and they call these roles Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches, or any other related fancy name.

Accountability demands more than executing such tasks. I link accountability to the impact on outcome.

I think Scrum Masters are accountable to keep mastery of Scrum alive among the team members. By this I mean the mastery of thinking about the client, the potentially shippable increments, the prevention of waste generation, the championing of courage, focus, respect, commitment and openness.

They do so by coaching, teaching, facilitating and mentoring, and they develop other team and organization members into Scrum Masters. They succeed when most or some of it is done by someone else in the team and not just them.

Their own redundancy, in that sense, is part of the accountability Scrum Masters need to carry.

I have done my share of slipping into irrelevance myself. Here are some of the ways this irrelevance can manifest itself, and some questions to help mitigate it:

When we allow ourselves to calcify in our stances, turning ourselves into uninspired masters of ceremonies. What was the initial objective of this meeting? Is it still relevant to the team’s or organization’s current situation? If so, in what ways can I help the group remain true and connected to this objective? If not, how can I bring this to the group’s eyes in a way that invites them to play a more central part of the meeting’s running?
When we hold a sentence or phrase from the Scrum Guide above the team’s will to experiment and adapt. If we look at the Scrum Guide in its full context, how does the team’s idea break any of the values or principles? How can we use the team’s enthusiasm and initiative to turn this situation into a learning opportunity, conserving their appetite for experimentation?
When we position our opinions and knowledge on Agile above everyone else’s, overriding the voice of the team and of the organization. In what ways can we give more space to the team’s voice to emerge? What pearls of wisdom can we take away from the team’s voice so our teaching stances are more aligned to the their mindset, challenges and innate ideas?
When we resist to embrace new ideas, new technologies, like ChatGPT, and remain orthodox in our craft of promoting the habit of learning through experimentation. What is the real challenge behind the method of learning? Why does new technology seem to be a threat? How can we embrace technology to reinforce our teaching message, even if this means dealing with our inner uncertainties and possible failure?

https://medium.com/serious-scrum/redundant-but-not-irrelevant-the-mission-of-a-scrum-master-e39ac26d528a

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10 Bridges...

In the journey we call life, each of us will have bridges to cross. Each brdge will lend to our growth experience, and opportunity. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss what to do when you discover a bridge and the tools you need to cross them.

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What Tools Should We Use To Improve Our Meetings?

I think it takes a team several steps to adapt to a new methodology and mindset. First, the team struggled to understand and apply the simplest events from the Scrum framework. Sometimes we had to repeat the reason for a single event over and over again. Why we are sitting together now and what is the goal of the event? In addition, the team struggled to understand the empirical approach and empirical problem-solving strategy. As time went on, they understood more and more how empirical approaches can help us develop our product better and faster.

The three Phases a Team goes through

But first, let’s go back to the phases we’ve gone through as a team, which I’ve already seen some teams go through.

I always observe that teams go through different phases on their journey to apply the Scrum Framework.

1st Phase

Status — The team is new to agile methodologies and empirical thinking. They have no experience with Scrum and have not yet internalized the agile mindset.
Focus — The team learns the why and looks for appropriate formats and methods to pick up. It experiments with different formats.

2nd Phase

Status — The team has understood the why but has not yet internalized agile values and the agile mindset. It tries to find a way to apply what it has learned well and efficiently. The focus is on living agile concepts, agile values, and organizing events. E.g. How do we want to do planning?

Focus — internalize the agile values, and apply the agile approach. Adjusting the how, how do we make plannings better, how do we make retrospectives better, how do we make reviews better.

3rd Phase

Status - Identifying constraints and adapting habits. Challenging the limiting structures in the organization. Adapting the methods to their advantages. Together we find new ways to live agile values even better and to proceed empirical.

Focus — remembering the why, why do we do Scrum, agile development, empirical approach? Reflecting on the why and the what. Finding your way in line with the framework and agile principles. Challenging the rest of the organization, solving systemic impediments.

First-grade impediments: — Own improvements: Understand the Why and apply concepts “correctly”. Application of methods according to literature and textbook.
Second-grade impediments: — Structural improvement: Simple small adaptation of structures to own needs and beliefs.
Third-grade impediment: — Systemic improvements: Adaptation of systems or system parts and organizational structures to align with higher principles and mindset and to become more efficient and effective on a general level.

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Should We Nuke The Backlog? Maybe...

“My boss won’t stand for me deleting the backlog” I empathise. I know it happens.

At the same time I wonder: does your boss really care? — I’m sure some of them do, I see many Product Owners who are really “Backlog administrators.” Their boss is certainly leaning over their shoulder checking on what being done. If this is your case then your boss is the real Product Owner, sorry to say this but you are really a goffer.

Start to have a conversation about goals bigger than backlog items. Build a routine, a super cycle, around your sprints with the boss and team to discuss bigger goals. Then, during the cycle drive with the goals. If there is a suitable backlog items that contributes towards the goal(s) then do it. If not, write it out and do it immediately.

Either way, whether you are doing this to work around a boss or as a mechanism to tradition to a backlog-less world the same idea applies: create a super cycle, set goals every 10 weeks (approximately) and then drive through the goals rather than the backlog.

Drive with the goals and put the backlog in the back seat, it is secondary. The aim is to avoid nuking the backlog by letting it fade into irrelevance.

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Is Rotating Team Members Ever a Good Idea?

Misperception: The rotation of team members mixes things up and keeps ideas fresh.

Reality: The longer a team stays together, the better they perform.

In contrast to typical beliefs, keeping a team intact for a long time will increase the team’s performance. Furthermore, the team will continue to improve the longer they stay together.

The common thinking is that complacency will develop over time. In other words, we worry that team members, when together too long, will get stuck in their ways and not recognize that they need to pivot when changes in their context require it. If relationships and bonds become too tight, we fear that team members will become too tolerant of misbehavior within the team.

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How Do We Do an Agile Maturity Assessment?

Many organizations are trying to figure out how to measure Agile Maturity. In this episode we discuss the top 2 ways to do such a measurement:

1) The Agile Principles Assessment

2) The AgileDad Agile 12 Step Assessment.

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8 Uncomfortable Truths About Life That Will Wake You Up

“The people you attract (or don’t attract) reflect your vibes.”
“No one cares about your opinion until you show results.”
“It’s not lack of talent. It’s fear of making sacrifices.”
“You truly appreciate life only after you almost die.”
“You don’t know how important it is until you lose it.”
“Most people don’t know you exist and don’t care about you.”
“It doesn’t matter how much you learn, you will never feel ready.”
“Every single person you love will die, or you die first.”

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3 Ways To Improve Teamwork

Centralize Work to a Common Task Management System
The first is basic and it is about centralizing work and the tasks associated with that work in a task management system open to all. Nothing drags down the ability to collaborate than having information spread out across many different tools and platforms. I found though that centralizing all of the work to be pursued by the group in a common location establishes a sort of home base. The team can go to this location as a source of truth for everything that team is doing together.

So if you currently don’t have a centralized task management project management tool I highly recommend that this is the first order of business. There are tools out there such as Jira, Trello, Asana that could be helpful. It really depends on what aligns best with the needs of your team. However, a basic need across all teams is having a central go-to place for project information.

Connect on a Regular Cadence
The second thing that I’ve noticed about high-functioning teams is the significant impact of meeting on a regular cadence. These meetings do not need to be long and extensive. Just having a touchpoint of 15 minutes to review agreed-upon work is helpful in identifying progress and potential issues that need to be addressed. Regular touchpoints. establishing a consistent cadence brings a rhythm to the inner workings of the team that help to establish efficiency. If you are familiar with agile scrum the cultivation of a cadence is a central tenant of the meeting ceremonies that the methodology deploys.

Collaboratively Create Goals
The final suggestion is to use the centralization of work into a common task management system and the regular meeting cadence to drive the co-creation of team goals. During discussions as ideas emerge on how to create value for whoever you consider to be your stakeholders you have the machinery in place to capture these ideas as work that your team can focus on in the future. When your team contributes ideas to the direction of the group there is increased investment in positive outcomes.

When people know where to find information and you have regular discussions it’s easier for people to contribute ideas and thoughts to the discussion. This will lead to a sense of shared purpose, destiny, and ownership.

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Enabling Conflict - An Essential ScrumMaster Skill?

The scrum master as we know has a variety of responsibilities. Those towards the team, those towards the product owner and those towards the organisation as a whole. They are change agents and masters at systems thinking. I have once read a list of 42 tasks that a scrum master needs to do. Definitely not a part time role for a team member.
I have always been fascinated by one of the tasks of the scrum master in particular. That of being a team coach. They have the daunting task of taking the teams through the various levels of team formation by coaching at an individual as well as at a team level. One of the important techniques that work during team coaching is facilitating conflicts for the team. It is especially useful if the team is new and inexperienced.

The five dysfunctions of a team is an essential read for any scrum masters and team coaches. I always had the notion that a good team was one where there were no conflicts and the members were in perpetual harmony. I was really wrong. The perfect team is one in which the members trust each other so much so, that they openly challenge each other and hold each other accountable, which invariably will lead to constructive conflicts. One in which there is no place for ego and inattention to team result.
I have tried this in my teams and I can tell you it really works. One of my best teams had the team motto “Question everything, assume nothing”. I was both surprised and delighted that they came up with that. I also heard one comment once, that in the team everyone behaves like a scrum master, the insinuation being that, everyone asks questions and challenges things. That is how it should be for a team.
The team conflict is something which should be carefully moderated. To understand this one has to understand the concept of conflict continuum. If you map the intensity of conflict from the least to the highest on a line from left to right, on the left extreme we have the artificial harmony in teams which arises from the fear of crossing team members. Every one is OK with everything and each other lest they cross each other in any manner. On the right extreme we have personal attacks which is an extreme case of team conflict. Almost all teams would fall somewhere between the left extreme and the mid point. I once knew a team who was working together for about one and half years. I happened to sit in their meetings and I noticed that, it is usually only one person talking all the time. When I inquired about this, the reason given by one of the team members was that, the senior person always knew what everyone wanted to say. I had the notion of some sort of super human telepathic ability that this team had developed. Such anti-patterns and examples of artificial harmony are many in the real world.
Scrum masters should enable the team to reach the mid point between the extremes which is the ideal point of conflict. The picture which comes to my mind is a tight rope walker (team) who uses a pole (scrum master) for balance. Once the team is comfortable and develop expertise they will eventually be able to walk without the pole.

The conflict modes of a team can be generalized to five categories as can be seen from the graph below. Depending on the teams level of assertiveness and co-operation this can vary. If the assertiveness is more it becomes competitive. Likewise if the co-operation is more it will result in an accommodating mode. The right kind of conflict mode for a team is the highly assertive and highly co-operative kind which brings about a really collaborative conflict within the team.

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Top 5 Mistakes That Block Teams From Delivering High Business Value

Misunderstanding of Scrum: some teams forget Scrum is a means to an end, where the goal is to maximize the business value.
Misunderstanding of value: until everyone doesn’t have a common understanding of what business value means, there will be confusion, which will prevent the teams from maximizing the business value.
No Focus: increasing the business value requires saying NO to everything that is not the priority.
Not removing low-feature value: all products have low-value features or even no-value ones, yet, such features remain available instead of being removed.
The Team is not inspecting & adapting the work dynamics: the Scrum Team should become a better version of itself Sprint by Sprint. If the Team is not inspecting & adapting, the Team may become a worse version of itself Sprint by Sprint.

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3 Things most Leaders Get Wrong About Culture

Culture Is Unique

The first assumption leaders get wrong about culture is that their culture is unique. Most leaders describe how unique and special their culture is and then proceed to tell you about how great the people are, or how supportive of each other the teams are, or how great the benefits are. See where this is going? Most positive company cultures aren’t actually all that unique. While toxic company cultures could be toxic for a variety of reasons, healthy company cultures have a LOT in common.

Culture Is About Artifacts

The second assumption leaders get wrong about culture is that it’s about artifacts. Ask what many leaders are doing to build culture and they’ll describe things that can be easily seen. They’ll talk about the foosball table or the quarterly celebrations. They’ll point to the mural of core values that they commissioned a local graffiti artist to put in the lobby. But researchers on organizational culture point out that these “artifacts” just scratch the surface, and that underneath what you can see lie a set of espoused values and shared basic assumptions. Those values and basic assumptions matter a lot more when we’re building and shaping a culture.

Culture Is About The Company

The final assumption leaders get wrong about culture is that it’s about the company. Afterall, it’s most commonly referred to as company culture or organizational culture. And most culture experts and researchers examine culture at the organizational level. But if you think about most people’s experience of work, it’s shaped less by the culture of the entire organization and more by the culture of the team that they’re working on. We often hear the phrase “People don’t quit bad companies, they quit bad bosses.” In other words, the boss they have or the team they’re on influences their feelings about the company much more than a statement of core values or benefits and perks.

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5 Principles That Transform Gifts Into Relationship Boosters

1. Make the Receiver Feel Seen — Truly Seen

2. Make It Mutual

3. Bring Out the Best in Them

4. Money, Time, or Energy: Choose Your Resources Wisely

5. Give It a Meaning

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Are ScrumMasters Shared or Dedicated? The Short Answer is YES!

Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss when and how the ScrumMaster should be dedicated and when it is more important that they are shared. Both apply, it is a matter of understanding when and how.

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3 Tips to Help You Understand Objective Story Points

1) NEVER associate points and time - Understand the container concept

2) Break things down so that each story is indeed consumable

3) Make certain you have the right people in the room when breaking down and refining stories

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3 Valuable Lessons on Agile Transformation

Lesson 1: You can’t help everyone equally if you’re stretching yourself thin. Ask for help!

Lesson 2: Hire early, and hire right.

Lesson 3: Say “No” so your team can say “Yes”.

Learn to limit WIP and you will be successful!

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5 Words That Create Additional Psychological Safety at Work

I’ve Never Done This Before.

Simple, right? Five words. One sentence. Boom. That’s it.

What I’ve realized is that over the last few years, these major deliveries, tiny successes, and teachable moments were lined up on the same set of starting blocks. We tried do something that hasn’t been done before.

So much of the productivity and leadership space is trying to convince us it has ALL been done before. We are collectively churning out playbooks, best practices, and proven methods that demonstrate it HAS been done and THIS is how you do it.

But we all end up at the same place when we finish reading that playbook.

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The Core of Motivation - Understanding What Drives You

As you embark on the journey of self-awareness, understanding what motivates you and the mechanics behind your decisions becomes imperative. Whether you’re a leader aiming to inspire a team, an educator molding young minds, or simply someone keen on self-improvement, grasping the crux of motivation can be transformative.

Today, let’s delve into the heart of motivation and uncover three crucial keys that drive better decision-making.

1. The Psychology of Intrinsic Motivation

2. The Role of Extrinsic Motivators

3. The Power of Emotional Connection

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Who Gets Blamed When Agile Goes Wrong?

When something goes wrong with a project, who gets blamed?

If you are the Product Owner, Scrum Master or Project Manager, you’re probably saying that the leader gets the blame. If you’re a Scrum Team or development team member, you’re probably saying, “We always get blamed.”

What if the reality of the situation is it’s a bit of both, and both failures could be solved by a purposeful application of skilled follower-ship?

Rob Asghar wrote about this recently in his Forbes article “Why Followership Is Now More Important Than Leadership.” He makes a strong point that “Good, skilled followers are able to nurture good leadership.” He adds that “It’s a lost art in our narcissistic times.”

The article, which is worth reading, provides enough information to see that following Scrum principles and practices can — and already do — produce skilled followers who nurture their fellow coworkers and even their bosses.

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How You Define Success In Agile Matters! - Mike Cottmeyer

There’s been a divide in the Agile community for a while now. On one side, you have the camp that’s all about team-based, iterative and incremental delivery. On the other side, you have the camp that sees Agile more of a social movement; this side is all about empowering the teams and building a culture or a mindset of Agility. Meanwhile, as the debate rages on, a lot of the executives and leadership teams we talk to don’t even want to talk about Agile at all. It’s become a dirty word, they tried it and it didn’t work, and now they just don’t believe in it anymore. So, how do we get these leadership teams back on board with Agile?

https://www.leadingagile.com/2023/09/how-you-define-success-in-agile-matters/?utm_source=How%20You%20Define%20Success%20in%20Agile%20Matters&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%20Reader

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4 Challenges A Leader May Face When Leaning In On Agile Principles

Using Agile principles as a team leader can also pose some challenges or pitfalls that you need to be aware of and prepared for. Here are some of the possible challenges or pitfalls that you may encounter:

Resistance to change: Some of your team members, customers, or stakeholders may be reluctant or resistant to adopt Agile principles or practices. They may prefer the traditional or familiar ways of working, such as waterfall, documentation, contracts, or plans. They may also fear losing control, authority, or stability in an Agile environment. To overcome this challenge, you need to communicate the benefits and values of Agile principles clearly and convincingly. You also need to provide training, coaching, or mentoring to help them understand and embrace Agile principles. You also need to involve them in the Agile process and make them feel valued and respected.
Lack of clarity: Some of your team members, customers, or stakeholders may be confused or uncertain about the scope, goals, requirements, or expectations of the project. They may also have different or conflicting views or opinions about the project. To avoid this pitfall, you need to define and communicate the vision, mission, and objectives of the project clearly and consistently. You also need to establish and maintain a shared understanding and alignment among all the parties involved in the project.
Technical debt: Some of your team members may accumulate technical debt in their code or products due to frequent and rapid changes or iterations. Technical debt is the cost of rework or maintenance caused by poor quality or design choices. Technical debt can affect the performance, reliability, security, or usability of your products or services. To prevent this pitfall, you need to pay attention to technical excellence and good design principles
Unrealistic expectations: Some of your customers or stakeholders may have unrealistic expectations about the project outcomes or deliverables. They may expect too much too soon from your team. They may also change their requirements or feedback too often or too late in the project. To manage this challenge, you need to set realistic and achievable goals and milestones for your project. You also need to communicate and negotiate with your customers or stakeholders frequently and transparently. You also need to manage their expectations and feedback effectively and respectfully.

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6 Agile Principles to Help You Become a Better Leader

Agile principles can help you become a better team leader by improving your leadership skills in various aspects, such as communication, collaboration, feedback, adaptation, empowerment, and delivery.

Here are some examples of how you can apply Agile principles to your team leadership:

Communication: You can use face-to-face conversations as the preferred method of conveying information to and within your team. You can also use tools such as [Microsoft Teams] or [Slack] to facilitate online communication and collaboration . You can also communicate regularly with your customers or stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations, and to share your progress and feedback.
Collaboration: You can work closely with your team members and business partners throughout the project. You can also involve them in planning, designing, testing, and reviewing your products or services. You can also use tools such as [GitHub] or [Azure DevOps] to manage your code repositories, workflows, issues, and pull requests .
Feedback: You can seek feedback from your customers or stakeholders frequently and continuously. You can also give feedback to your team members regularly and constructively.
Adaptation: You can welcome changing requirements or feedback from your customers or stakeholders. You can also use tools such as [Jira] or [Trello] to manage your backlog, sprints, tasks, and priorities . You can also adapt your products or services accordingly by making frequent and incremental changes or improvements.
Empowerment: You can build your team around motivated individuals who have the skills, knowledge, and experience needed for the project. You can also give them the environment and support they need, such as tools, resources, training, or coaching. You can also trust them to get the job done by delegating tasks, responsibilities, or decisions to them. You can also encourage them to self-organize and self-manage their work.
Delivery: You can deliver working software or services frequently and continuously to your customers or stakeholders. You can also use tools such as [Azure] or [AWS] to deploy, host, or scale your products or services . You can also measure your progress and success by using working software or services as the primary indicator.

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Dreams Really Do Come True - Richard Branson

Those of you that know me well, I always call Richard Branson a role model and someone that I admire VERY much! He is a great man and does all he can to uplift others. Someone asked him what was the very first thing he thought of when he went into space? His answer may just surprise you!

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Demystifying The Definition of Ready

Are you ready? Each time we hear these word, whether we are planning for a vacation, planning for a sprint, or about to receive BIG news, our minds go on auto-pilot and start running through the checklist to make certain everything is in order. My BIG ask is are we doing this too late in Agile? Let's talk about the definition of ready and how if it is not applied correctly is merely a symptom of a much larger issue.

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3 Tips To Further Develop Your ScrumMaster - Mike Cohn

I was chatting with my colleague the other day. He told me that even more than the first day of school, he’s always loved the feeling of the first day at a new job.
Why? Because everything is new and everyone you meet has yet to form an opinion about you. You have a clean slate and the possibilities seem endless.
But what about when it’s not a new team for you and/or you are not a new Scrum Master? How do you know if you are being the kind of Scrum Master your team needs at this point in their agile journey?
I have some tips for the not-so-new Scrum Master that I wanted to share with you.
Tip 1: Re-Check Boundaries
When the team first started, maybe you worked within the organization to help uncover team boundaries for self-organization. Things like

Does the team have authority to add its own technical work into a sprint?
What happens if they find they need a skillset not found on their team?
Are they going to be able to make their own estimates on their items?

But have you checked on those boundaries lately? Are they the same? Is there more the team could be doing? Now that the basics are up and running, could you explore ways to improve flow or decrease dependencies between teams?
Inspecting boundaries isn’t something you need to do every day, but it’s good to check in once and a while to ensure you aren’t missing key improvement opportunities.
The Role of Leaders on Self-Organizing Teams
Tip 2: Be Accountable
You’re probably tracking a bunch of metrics with the team: velocity, the time between idea and delivery, weekly bug count, and so on.
But how are you doing in your efforts to support the team? Are you proactively seeking out opportunities for improvement? Are you being honest and fair in your dealings with the team? When you tell a team member you’ll do something, do you follow through? How quickly? Are you keeping them updated on your progress?
You help keep the team accountable for their commitments, so hold yourself to the same (or even a higher) standard.
Become the Scrum Master Your Team Needs
Tip 3: Know When To Break the Rules
I say to teams all the time, start by using Scrum by the book. Then, as you grow comfortable with an agile way of working, look for opportunities to incorporate new approaches that might not be in the Scrum rulebook (or might even go against a Scrum “rule”).
As Scrum Masters, we should know the rules of Scrum better than anyone else. There are only a few rules, and they exist for good reasons. Rules, though, are made to be broken.
One example of this is timeboxes. Each event has a timebox, and 99% of the time we should stick to them. On occasion, though, common sense might tell you that it’s not crucial to strictly keep that timebox.
Knowing where to bend the rules without breaking Scrum can be one of your most important skills to develop as a Scrum Master.
Start Scrum by the Book. Don’t Finish There.
Even if you’ve been with your team for a while now, you have a chance each day to make a new impression on them. I know that purposefully looking for ways to improve as a Scrum Master will help you succeed as a Scrum Master, and succeed with agile,

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What Are Sprint Goals & Do They Work?

Sprint goal represents what you as Scrum Team want to achieve during the sprint. It must be the focus of the iteration. Years ago, we were doing waterfall project management. We were spending a tremendous amount of time in requirements and trying to reach a state of the art product. The products were lasting longer. With the digital revolution, speed matters. Nowadays, businesses cannot afford to invest in the perfect requirements. Here is where Agile helps teams to deliver quicker and learn quicker. You create better products by getting direct feedback and not by creating the best specifications.

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Where Does The Agile Project Manager Fit In?

As companies progressively adopt Scrum as the preferred project management framework over traditional waterfall approaches, the subject of ‘role-mapping’ becomes more critical. Perhaps, one of the biggest challenges that organizations face when they move to Scrum is where does a Project Manager fit in Scrum?

We are so used to the role of a Project Manager that we often forget that it is merely a role and does not necessarily specify a position in an organizational hierarchy. The term ‘Project Manager’ has become so common that in many organizational constructs people are permanently designated as Project Manager. We have to understand the fact that project manager is not necessarily a permanently held designation in an organization; rather it’s a role that a person plays in a particular project when he or she manages that project.

A person may have the necessary skillset to manage a project but is not a project manager in that project until she plays that role. The role of a project manager is defined by the responsibilities performed in that project and a named individual just plays the role.

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5 Keys To Relieve Stress

Life has a way of piling on demands and expectations, whether you're at home juggling family commitments, or at work grappling with deadlines. In our fast-paced world, stress seems almost inevitable. However, I'm here to share with you that serenity and balance are not only attainable but sustainable. Let's dive into the top 5 keys to relieve stress at home and work that can change your life.

The first step toward alleviating stress is to become fully present in the moment. Mindfulness is not just a buzzword; it's a practice that has been proven to reduce stress hormones. You don't have to become a meditation guru; just take a few minutes each day to disconnect from the chaos around you. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and focus on your breathing. This simple act can work wonders to restore balance and clarity to your mind.

The saying "A healthy mind in a healthy body" is truer than ever when it comes to stress relief. Physical exercise releases endorphins—your body's natural stress-relievers. Whether it’s a 30-minute jog, a brisk walk, or even a quick set of push-ups, exercise has the incredible ability to reset your mind and body. Make exercise a regular part of your routine, and you'll notice the reduction in your stress levels.

One of the biggest stressors in both home and work environments is the feeling of being overwhelmed by tasks and responsibilities. Time management can often feel like a herculean task, but it’s crucial. Start by prioritizing your tasks and breaking them down into smaller, manageable chunks. The mere act of writing down your tasks and scheduling them can offer a sense of control and purpose, making the stress more manageable.

Don't underestimate the power of a strong support network. This could be your family, friends, or colleagues—people who can offer a listening ear or a helping hand when you’re overwhelmed. Talk openly about your stressors with this network. Sometimes, merely verbalizing your concerns can bring new perspectives and solutions you hadn't previously considered.

In this digital age, we're continually bombarded with information and requests, which can heighten stress. It's imperative to 'unplug' to recharge your mental batteries. Allocate specific times in your day to turn off notifications, and maybe even step away from digital screens entirely. Use this time to engage in activities that genuinely make you happy and relaxed. This could be anything from reading a book to spending quality time with loved ones.

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The Top 4 Reasons Why Agile Product Management Is The Cause For Your Failure

Just Take The Pill
Half-hearted Adoption
Slicing Mechanism
Forget The Big Picture

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The 7 Dysfunctions of Scrum - I disagree with ALL of these! LOL

The Myth of Perfect Predictability
Good Estimates Take Time
Emphasis on ZERO
Predictable = A Pretty Burndown Chart
Points Aren't Everything
Expecting Velocity to Match Calendar Time
Ineffective Standup

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In Scrum Change is ALWAYS Welcome...

Or is it ALWAYS welcome? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the 4 Agile project phases and when change should be in the forefront vs when changes should be minimal. Do NOT get caught in the TRAP!!

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Agile Timeboxing - Gain The Focus You Need!

In the dynamic world of Agile project management, the concept of “timeboxing” has emerged as a crucial technique for fostering efficiency, maintaining focus, and enabling iterative development. Timeboxing is a disciplined approach that sets specific time limits for tasks, activities, or phases within an Agile project. This technique empowers teams to manage their work effectively and deliver valuable results within defined timeframes.

Understanding Timeboxing in Agile

Timeboxing is a practice that derives from the Agile principle of time management and continuous improvement. It involves breaking down work into manageable chunks, each with a predefined duration. The timeboxes, which can range from hours to weeks, create a sense of urgency and commitment, driving teams to complete tasks within the allotted time.

In Agile methodologies like Scrum, timeboxing is utilized in various aspects of the project, including:

Sprints: In Scrum, each sprint is a timeboxed iteration typically lasting 1 to 4 weeks. This time constraint encourages teams to focus on delivering a potentially shippable product increment by the end of the sprint.
Daily Standup Meetings: Daily standup meetings, also known as daily scrums, are timeboxed to a brief 15 minutes. Team members provide updates on their progress, discuss obstacles, and plan their work for the day.
Backlog Refinement: Backlog refinement sessions, where the team reviews and refines the product backlog, are timeboxed to ensure that they don’t become lengthy meetings.
Retrospectives: Retrospectives, as discussed in a previous article, are timeboxed meetings where the team reflects on the iteration and identifies areas for improvement.

Benefits of Timeboxing

Enhanced Focus: Timeboxing creates a sense of urgency and encourages the team to concentrate on the most critical tasks. By setting clear time limits, teams avoid getting sidetracked and ensure that they deliver valuable increments of work.
Predictability: Timeboxing improves predictability in project planning. Since tasks and iterations have defined durations, the team can better estimate the amount of work that can be accomplished within a given timeframe.
Improved Collaboration: Timeboxing encourages collaboration and helps manage expectations. Knowing that a timebox is limited, team members are more likely to communicate, prioritize, and work together efficiently.
Reduced Waste: Timeboxing reduces the likelihood of gold-plating (overengineering) and scope creep (adding features mid-iteration). Teams focus on delivering what’s necessary, reducing waste and optimizing the use of resources.
Continuous Improvement: The timeboxing practice feeds into the Agile principle of continuous improvement. By analyzing results at the end of each timebox, teams can identify areas for optimization and implement changes in subsequent iterations.

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The Chain Reaction of Kindness

Cedarville, a small town nestled in the heart of the Midwest, has recently been making headlines, but not for the reasons one might expect. Amidst the barrage of global news, this heartwarming tale from Cedarville stands as a testament to the power of a simple act of kindness.

It began on a chilly Monday morning when Jane Patterson, a retired schoolteacher and a long-time resident of Cedarville, found herself stranded on 5th Avenue with a flat tire. With arthritis plaguing her hands and her cellphone battery dead, the situation looked bleak.

Enter Mike Thompson, a teenager known for his tech prowess and his affinity for skateboarding, not necessarily for auto mechanics. However, having seen a YouTube tutorial on tire changing and spotting Jane in distress, he decided to offer a helping hand. Within half an hour, with a bit of struggle and a lot of determination, the tire was changed.

Jane, overwhelmed by gratitude and without much money to offer, decided to pay Mike in the only way she could think of at that moment: she offered him three of her homemade apple pies, fresh from the oven. Mike's eyes lit up, not just from the tantalizing promise of pie but from the genuine appreciation in Jane's eyes.

But the story doesn't end there. Later that week, Mike shared one of the pies with his neighbor, Mrs. Elaine Rodriguez, a widow living with her two cats. Mrs. Rodriguez, touched by this unexpected gift, decided to pay the kindness forward. Using her skill as a seamstress, she mended torn uniforms for the local youth soccer team, free of charge.

Amazed by this gesture, the soccer team decided to offer free training sessions for kids in the community. This initiative not only provided skill training but gave many children a constructive and community-building way to spend their afternoons.

One of these kids, Lily Mitchell, used her newfound soccer skills to organize community matches, raising funds for the local animal shelter. The shelter, experiencing this unexpected windfall, started a program allowing school children to read to the animals, fostering a love for reading and providing companionship for the animals.

This program caught the attention of the local news and soon Cedarville's chain reaction of kindness was making regional headlines. Townspeople, inspired by these events, began finding their own unique ways to contribute, from free music lessons to community clean-up drives. The acts, some big and some small, created ripples of positive change throughout Cedarville.

In a recent town hall meeting, Mayor Allen remarked, "What we've experienced isn't just a series of good deeds. It's a movement. It's the embodiment of community spirit, proving that one act, even as simple as changing a tire, can set off a chain reaction with far-reaching impacts."

Today, Cedarville stands as a shining example of how communities can come together, with the "Cedarville Kindness Initiative" now being formally introduced in schools, businesses, and local organizations.

The story of Cedarville reminds us all that in a world often dominated by vast challenges and cynicism, hope can be ignited by a single act. It tells us that kindness is not just an act, but a lifestyle, one that has the power to transform an entire community.

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Selling Scrum To Leadership & Management

Is this really still a thing? We should have enough data to support Agile & Scrum solving many of the problems organizations face. But what happens when people are just not ready to make the jump?

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3 Tips to Excel as a Product Owner - Mike Cohn

Tip # 1: Hold the Interruptions
What do good product owners tell the team once a sprint has been planned? That what they’ve been asked to develop will not change. But that’s a hard promise to keep when customers and stakeholders change their minds or come up with new needs!
In rare cases, it’s ok to interrupt. Some changes are very important and worth interrupting a sprint. But most are not.
Here are two things to do when you are tempted to bring up a change mid-sprint.
First, solicit the help of your Scrum Master. Give them explicit permission to push back against you anytime you want to bring something new into a sprint.
Second, try writing the new idea somewhere. You can add it to the product backlog and tag it to come up at the next refinement meeting. Or write the idea in an email to yourself, then schedule it to arrive the day before refinement (or sprint planning, if refinement has already happened). Getting the idea out of your head is often enough to keep you from interrupting.
Some teams just have lots of interruptions—most of them not from their product owner. Here are some ways to approach planning with interrupt-driven teams.
Tip #2: Remember that Every Yes Holds a Hidden No
As a product owner, your job is defining products or solutions that make people happy. You probably like saying yes to stakeholder requests.
Many product owners do not say no often enough.
But here’s why you should: For every request you say yes to, you are saying no to some other request. Put another way, every yes is a no to some future task.
Remember, requirements emerge as the team and customers learn more about the product. Customers, users, and others will continue to identify new needs throughout the product’s lifecycle.
If you’ve already committed the team’s time to something else, you are implicitly saying no to those as-yet unidentified requests.
So be careful about what you say yes to and be careful how far ahead you commit what a team will work on.
Six Guidelines to Help You Say No to Stakeholders
Tip #3: Listen and Act on Feedback
What’s one of the toughest things a product owner must do? Listen to—and actually act on—the feedback you receive.
As a product owner it’s easy to get overly attached to your own vision for what you’re building. To be successful, you need instead to listen to customers, users, stakeholders, and yes, your developers too!
You don’t need to do everything any of them suggest. (Remember the mistake of not saying no often enough) Good products become great, though, when you listen to and act on feedback.
Seven Ways to Get and Improve Fast Feedback
Allowing teams to focus, remembering that every yes has a cost, and letting go of your own ideas (just a little) will help you grow as a product owner and succeed with agile,

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Just Throw More People At It... That Always Works!

We all know what happens when leadership wants more work... They hire more people! We also know that this causes a DECREASE in productivity to bring everyone up to speed. The best part is when the team finally understand the work and momentum increases, they are promptly 'rewarded' with MORE WORK! How do we break this vicious cycle?

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September 11th - A Day of Remembrance

It was VERY difficult to record this episode, just as it is each and every year. Please take the time to listen and focus on the best parts that came to us from this day of grief.

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Building Bridges - The Story Behind the AgileDad Logo

MANY people have questioned why we selected a bridge for the AgileDad Logo? Here is the story of how it came to be.

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Introducing Jordan - SPECIAL Edition!

Have you met Jordan? She is the latest addition to the AgileDad team and She is AMAZING!!

Jordan was born and raised in Southern California before moving out to Utah where she attended the University of Utah. While there, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. She has worked in project management for over 5 year and has worked on a variety of projects including construction and software development. She currently works as a product manager and helps organizations implement best practices for agile and SAFe. She holds a Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC), and is currently working towards her Master’s Degree at Boston College.

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Retro of Retros - Is This Really a Retrospective Thing?

In the whirlwind of fast-paced, agile environments, where sprint-to-sprint cycles often blur into one another, it’s easy to get caught up in the momentum of delivery.

The sprint review is done, the retrospective is complete, and the team is off to the next sprint. But, wait — amidst the relentless march forward, have we ever paused to look back? To reflect on how we’re truly doing as a team? This article uncovers the power of “Quarterly Retrospectives,” a concept that offers teams a rare and vital opportunity to step off the sprint treadmill and engage in deep self-discovery.

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Definition of Ready Should NOT be a Contract

Although there should be no question that the Definition of Ready is a guide to a Scrum team to check if a work item is ready for them to start in the next Sprint, I found in many teams that it has been used as the contract to decide when the work can be handed over to the Scrum team.

The team doesn’t understand that the backlog is just a list of ideas that may or may not be implemented. They treat the backlog as a different format of a committed requirements definition and expect all the details to be defined and documented so they just build it...

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What Are Cascading OKR's and Do They Even Work?

Cascading OKRs is a strategic goal-setting frameworkwhere high-level objectives are broken down and aligned across different levels of an organization, ensuring alignment, focus, and accountability throughout the hierarchy.

The concept of cascading OKRs involves breaking down high-level objectives into smaller, more specific objectives and key results, which are then further cascaded down to individual teams and employees.

Company Level OKRs (Top-Level OKRs):

The process starts at the highest level of the organization, often with the executive team or senior leadership defining the company’s top-level objectives. These objectives are typically ambitious and strategic, reflecting the organization’s overall mission and vision.

Department/Team Level OKRs:

Once the company-level OKRs are defined, they are then cascaded down to various departments, teams, and units within the organization. Each of these units creates its own set of objectives that are aligned with and contribute to the achievement of the top-level objectives. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Individual Level OKRs:

From the department or team level, individual contributors define their own OKRs that align with their team’s objectives. These individual OKRs should directly support the team’s objectives and, in turn, contribute to the achievement of the company’s overarching goals.

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How Do I Choose Between Waterfall or Agile?

The first step is to know and understand what Agile Frameworks exist and how they are similar or different from each other.
Next you identify and understand what makes a project Agile.
Once you know what makes a project Agile, then you can dive deeper into each Agile framework before you choose.
After you understand the frameworks, you can compare to the flow of traditional waterfall processes.
Make a decision based on organizational culture, the type of work you are doing, and what fits best!

It really is simple if you apply common sense thought process!

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Beyond The Mountains Shadow - Overcoming Obstacles

How do you deal with and overcome personal and professional obstacles? Today we go on an adventure with Clara as she embarks on her life journey to climb Mount Espara.

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Debunking Common Myths About Agile Philosophy

We’ve all come across a plethora of quotes that don’t accurately capture the true essence of agile. Many of these quotes are, in fact, misconceptions. Let’s debunk some prevalent myths surrounding the agile philosophy by providing clarifications based on agile practices, the Scrum guide, and personal experience.

Myth 1: Agile Means No Documentation

Myth 2: Agile Has No Planning

Myth 3: Agile Means No Fixed Timeline

Myth 4: Agile Doesn’t Do Upfront Analysis and Design

Myth 5: Agile Targets to Deliver Features Faster

Myth 6: Agile Is Chaotic and Unstructured

Myth 7: Agile Allows Scope Changes Anytime

Myth 8: Agile Removes the Need for Testing

Myth 9: Agile Teams Can’t Provide Accurate Estimates

Myth 10: Agile Doesn’t Require Frequent Customer Involvement

Myth 11: Agile and Scrum are Interchangeable Terms

Myth 12: Agile Is the Cure for All Problems

Myth 13: Agile Is Better/Worse Than Traditional Methodologies

Myth 14: Developers Get To Do What They Like

Myth 15: Agile Means Less Discipline

Myth 16: Daily Scrum Meeting is Same as the Status Meeting

https://medium.com/@ramanbansal/debunking-common-myths-about-agile-philosophy-1d7afda7d820

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Let's Talk About User Stories - Mike Cohn

Tip # 1: Start with some definitions
A user story describes something a user wants. The story usually follows this template: “As a [type of user], I [want or need or am required to do this thing] so that [I can accomplish this goal].”
An epic is a big user story. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
A theme is a collection of related user stories. Some people have introduced the term feature to mean a user story that is big enough to be released or perhaps big enough that users will notice and be happier.
All of these definitions are only useful if they simplify discussion about the product you are developing.
Tip #2: Add the Right Detail at the Right Time
Like Goldilocks and the bears, we don’t want items in the product backlog with too little or too much detail—we want detail that is just right.
If a product owner writes a user story that includes too little detail, the developers won’t know enough during sprint planning to understand what to build. When excessive detail is included, the time and money spent adding that unnecessary detail is wasted.
It’s unlikely a team’s product backlog will be detailed perfectly right off the bat. This means the team will likely have to iterate toward the right amount of detail.
I find it much easier for team members to strike the right balance when they start with too little detail. So start by filling in the user story template with the bare minimum amount of product features and detail, and go from there.
Tip #3: Learn the SPIDR Method for Splitting Stories
One of the most common struggles faced by agile teams is the need to split user stories. I’m betting you’ve struggled with this, because I certainly did at first. That’s why I came up with an easy-to-remember acronym to detail the five different factors that might help you split a story. Spike, Path, Interfaces, Data, and Rules.
I hope these tips help you and your team succeed with agile

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The 3 Pillars of Scrum and Why Adaption Is So Very Powerful!

What are the three pillars of Scrum?

The Scrum framework uses three pillars of empiricism: Transparency, Inspection and Adaption.

Transparency suggests that the details about the product development process are available, accessible, and present to all those involved in the process; including customers, Scrum team and the stakeholders. For example, any information radiators, such as the Sprint report, or Sprint burndown are shared and accessible. In a remote team environment, this could be a link shared in your video chat or pinned on a wiki page.
Inspection is the process that evaluates the work done by the development team. Inspection involves the products being developed by the team, and the processes, people, and practices to help drive the continuous improvements of the product. The team collectively evaluates the “done” items by the team. It is recognized as part of the Sprint retrospective in the Scrum process.
Adaption is the Scrum team’s ability to respond to change, when working together on the product they are building. This is part of the continuous improvement ethos. Adaption involves the team’s ability to respond to sudden changes by adapting to the feedback that stakeholders provide, typically in the Sprint review. It is then considered and included in the next Sprint.

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Struggles and VICTORY During Backlog Refinement / Grooming Session

What happens when your team is REALLY struggling with proper backlog refinement? How do we address these concerns? What is the best ways to help teams understand the importance of proper refinement? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss a story shared by one of his students.

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The Unseen Storm - Depression & Anxiety Are Real!

If you or someone you know is struggling with anxiety, depression, or any mental health challenges, please reach out. Here are some resources that can help:

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).
Crisis Text Line: Text "HELLO" to 741741.
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) - They offer support groups, education, and advocacy. Visit their website at nami.org.
And always, reach out to a trusted friend, family member, or therapist.

Remember, every storm passes, and with each one, we grow stronger. Let's learn to dance with the wind.

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Is WSJF Effective? Or Should I do Objective Stack Ranking?

How is WSJF calculated? Weighted Shortest Job First is a simple formula: Cost of Delay divided by Job Duration (or Size).

Step 1: Calculate Cost of Delay

To arrive at the Cost of Delay figure, however, we will need to do a few additional calculations.

As the training company Scaled Agile explains, ⁠Cost of Delay in the WSJF framework is three components⁠:

Value to the business and/or user
Time criticality
Risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement

To calculate the Cost of Delay, you will create a scale for each component (for example, 1 to 10) and add them up. The combined number of all three parts will equal your Cost of Delay score.

Step 2: Calculate Job Duration (or Size)

Next, you will set a scale for the job duration or size of each initiative on your list. The scale can be different from your Cost of Delay scale (for example, 1 to 20) as long as you are applying it consistently to all initiatives.

As TechBeacon explains, calculating job duration in WSJF can be difficult. Your current resource levels, dependencies, skill sets, and other factors can make a project more time-consuming or taking longer at your company than it might at others.

But your team will need to agree on a methodology for assigning a number value to each initiative on your list. When determining job duration or size, the lower-number items will become your higher-priority initiatives.

Step 3: Divide Cost of Delay by Job Duration (or Size)

The final step is to divide your Cost of Delay by Job Duration for each initiative on your list. Prioritize the initiatives with the highest overall scores at the top of your list.

For example, let’s assume you’ve scored one initiative on your list with a Cost of Delay of 9 and a Job Duration of 1. That initiative’s WSJF score will be 9, or 91.

Now assume you’ve scored another initiative this way: Cost of Delay = 7 and Job Duration = 4. That initiative’s WSJF score is only 1.75, or 74.

As you can see, initiatives with higher Cost of Delay scores earn a higher position on your WSJF list. Initiatives with lower Job Duration scores also receive a higher WSJF priority.

Simple right? LOL

Just use Objective Stack Ranking.. It is MUCH MUCH easier for everyone involved!

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How Do You Teach others About Story Points?

It’s nearly back-to-school time where I live. I can almost smell the new spiral notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils!
What are your back-to-school plans? Do any of them involve building your agile skills? I want to help. For the next six weeks, I’ll send a tip per week on common Scrum and agile topics, with three practical pointers for each. Every pointer includes a link to a blog or video for a more in-depth explanation.
Our first back-to-school topic is how to introduce story points to your team.
Tip # 1: Start with What Story Points Are
Story points abstract units of measure for expressing an estimate of the overall effort required to implement a product backlog item or any other piece of work. With story points, the raw values are meaningless. What matters is the ratio between the numbers.
Tip #2: Tell the Team the Main Benefit of Story Points
The main reason to use story points is that they allow team members with different skill levels to communicate about and agree on an estimate, because with story points it’s all relative.
Suppose you are a classically trained French chef. I, on the other hand, struggle to boil water. We are not going to chop an onion in the same amount of time. You’ll always go faster. So if we had to tell someone precisely how long it takes to chop an onion, we’d never agree on a number.
But we’re using story points. And because we are, we don’t have to agree on precise times, we just have to decide on the relative effort it will take to chop an onion.
So let’s imagine that we decide that chopping an onion is a 2–it’s not the easiest thing we could chop, but it’s not too difficult.
From there, we ask ourselves: how does chopping a pineapple compare to chopping an onion? We decide it’s about 2 times more effort to get a pineapple peeled, cored, and diced. So we agree to call it a 4.
We could have called the onion a 5. If we did, the pineapple would be a 10. The numbers don’t matter. The relationship between the numbers is all we care about.
Tip #3: Explain that Effort Considers Multiple Factors
Story points describe how long something will take in terms of relative effort. But effort takes several factors into account.
Suppose we both agree that running from point A to point B is low effort (short, flat, no obstacles), so we call it a 1.
From there, we can assess how much longer it will take to run from point A to point N. To come up with the new estimate, we consider multiple factors that go into determining effort:

Is it the same distance from A to N as from A to B? (volume)
Is the terrain flat and even? Or rocky? Or uphill? (complexity)
Does the path run along a sheer cliff or across a lava pit? Does it look unlike any other path we’ve encountered before? (risky/uncertain)

Using this information, we arrive at an estimate of relative effort.
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Top Ten Ways To Know Your Transformation Will FAIL Before You Even Begin

Brought in consultants to prescribe the details of what everyone must do, when and how.
Spend more time documenting the Future Mode than experimenting or talking to people.
Already know the perfect solution, before having made a single change.
Can show the future on a slide deck, but not in a team.
Have defined the correct process that everyone just needs to follow.
Declare a mandatory universal "Agile Standard" for all teams.
Consider teams deciding their own ways of working to be a problem.
Apply so much rigor that Team Retrospectives don't let people change, experiment, or learn to do it better.
Believe that "people are doing it wrong," without giving them any leeway to do it better.
Your Coaches can recite the doctrine by heart, but don't understand the psychology of change.

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10 Signs Your ScrumMaster Does NOT Understand Scrum

Definition of Done? Yeah, we have one ... somewhere ... Let me find it.
That's the Standard Process. You Can't Change It Just Because It's Stupid.
We Wouldn't Need Feedback if you Just Learn to Write Better User Stories!
Releasable Product Increment? Once a Quarter - otherwise, it's Too Much Overhead.
You Want Time for Learning? Just Look at All That Unfinished Work in the Product Backlog!
Focus on the Sprint Goal Now - We'll Talk About Impediments in the Retro!
Facilitation? Servant Leadership? No, They Need Someone Who Gives Them Clear Direction!
Transparency and Openness? Nah - Nothing Beats a Great Hidden Agenda!
Team Dynamics? We Had a Team Building Workshop at the Kick-off, So We're Good.
Customer Focus? Maybe Later - For Now, Let's Get Scrum Straight!

https://failfastmoveon.blogspot.com/2023/08/10-signs-your-scrum-master-doesnt.html

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Top 8 Behaviors That Will Cause a Loss of Trust..

Boundaryless Freedom
Avoid Confrontation
Act as a Know-It-All
Becoming a Naysayer
Waver Back and Forth
Playing The Victim
Over Promise & Under Deliver
Talk The Talk Without Walking The Walk

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Using Real Examples To Explain What a Great ScrumMaster Does!

The Navigator if a Road Trip
The Conductor of an Orchestra
The Facilitator of a Discussion
The Playground Mediator
The Team Cheerleader
The Traffic Cop
The Wedding Planner
The Gardener
The Sports Team Coach
The Theater Director
The Chef in a Kitchen

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The Daily Scrum Defined -

What does the Scrum Guide say about the daily Scrum?

The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.

The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team. To reduce complexity, it is held at the same time and place every working day of the Sprint. If the Product Owner or Scrum Master are actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers.

The Developers can select whatever structure and techniques they want, as long as their Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management.

Daily Scrums improve communications, identify impediments, promote quick decision-making, and consequently eliminate the need for other meetings.

The Daily Scrum is not the only time Developers are allowed to adjust their plan. They often meet throughout the day for more detailed discussions about adapting or re-planning the rest of the Sprint’s work.

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Is There Ever a Good Time For Multiple Product Owners?

According to the scrum guide, there should be one product owner who is in charge of the product vision and decides what to do, to create a better product (Not how to do it!)

The Scrum Guide states:

“The Product Owner is one person, not a committee.”

Yet, in some environments companies build products that are so complex and big that they need multiple teams to get the job done.

For these situations the Scrum Guide states:

“If Scrum Teams become too large, they should consider reorganizing into multiple cohesive Scrum Teams, each focused on the same product. Therefore, they should share the same Product Goal, Product Backlog, and Product Owner.”

Contradictory to these suggestions, I observe that several companies feel the urgency to have multiple product owners for these situations. (They often argue that they “inspected and adapted” and in their case it is a necessary step to make Scrum work.)

Let me share my thoughts on that.

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Demystifying The Top Five Forms of Bias:

Affinity Bias

Affinity bias means we like people who are more like us. So, if I meet a woman in her early sixties from the south of England who works in HR, I’ll be inclined to like her.

Affinity bias is triggered by anything which makes the other person seem ‘like us’. You might not think much of Sunil from Marketing until you find out he’s a keen fisherman, just like you.

So, background, culture, shared history, hobbies, or other preferences can trigger affinity bias.

At work: Watch out for affinity bias clouding your judgment, or anyone else’s, about who should get that raise, promotion, training, or other opportunity.

Anchor Bias

Anchoring bias gives more credence to the first piece of information we receive, which is why first impressions are so important.

A real estate salesperson would use anchor bias to set a high initial price for a home. All other negotiations relate to this first price; the lower the final price, the lower the perceived discount and the greater the perceived bargain.

Anchoring bias is used in salary negotiations too. If you’ve got through the interview stage and are starting to talk money, an organization may have the upper hand if they speak about a number first.

That first number will anchor all negotiations around the salary.

At work:Look at the facts, identify the first anchor, and evaluate whether it makes sense.

Actor-observer Bias

This bias is a form of attribution bias. It means we judge our behavior differently from the behavior of others.

We attribute our behavior to external causes (I hit the other car because the weather was wet, the road slippery, and it couldn’t be helped), but other’s behavior to internal causes (the other car hit me because of bad driving).

If you’ve ever challenged someone by saying, “But didn’t you do the exact same thing last week?”, you’ll usually get the answer, “But that was different.”

At work: You attribute your lateness to the terrible traffic, whereas others would say you are disorganized or didn’t leave on time.

Authority Bias

Authority bias places more importance on the opinions of more senior employees or someone of high status, such as a doctor.

In the workplace, this could play out in recruitment, where a team member and manager conduct the interviews. The manager’s opinion is considered more accurate if it differs from the team members.

I’ve also seen the manager’s opinion of staff members affect how the organization perceives them. A team member favored by their manager could have an excellent reputation despite their poor work ethic and substandard work.

At work: If you are the leader, listen to your team’s views. They may defer to your opinion, even if it’s not accurate.

Confirmation Bias

This bias means if we believe something, we notice information that backs up our opinion and ignore facts that don’t.

If you think your friend & colleague is a hard worker, you will notice when she does extra work or stays late. You won’t see that she has to do these extras because she is always talking or doing personal admin at work.

You are unlikely to look for information that may change your opinion. You will also interpret information differently. You believe Susan is doing personal admin in work time because she has done all the extra hours rather than the other way around.

Confirmation bias will also influence how you remember information. Not surprisingly, you remember facts that back up your opinion and forget the rest.

At work: Consider your impressions of situations and people and examine the facts to see if confirmation bias is present.

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What Are The Top 5 Keys To Being a Better Listener?

Being a good listener is an essential skill that fosters understanding, empathy, and connection with others. Here are five inspirational keys to becoming a better listener:

Embrace Silence, Hear Wisdom: Practice the art of stillness and give others the space to express themselves. Silence is not an absence but a presence, a moment filled with potential understanding. Embrace the pause, and allow others to fill it with their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
See Through Others' Eyes, Feel Through Their Hearts: When listening, strive to understand not just the words but the emotions and motivations behind them. Listen with empathy, imagining yourself in the speaker's position, and seek to grasp the full essence of their message. This compassionate understanding creates a deeper connection.
Be Present, Be Alive in the Moment: Put away distractions and give your complete attention to the speaker. Let them feel that, in this moment, there is nothing more important than understanding their thoughts and feelings. This full presence communicates respect and validates the importance of their message.
Listen to Understand, Not to Reply: Many of us prepare our response while others are still talking, but true listening requires a suspension of judgment and a focus on comprehension. Let go of the urge to interject, solve, or advise, and instead, make it your goal to truly understand the speaker's perspective. Your insightful responses will flow naturally from this understanding.
Reflect and Validate, the Mirror of Respect: Reflecting what you've heard and validating the speaker's feelings doesn't mean you have to agree with them. It's a way to demonstrate that you've really heard them and that their feelings are valid. This mirroring reinforces trust, respect, and a deeper connection.

Incorporating these principles into your daily interactions can transform your relationships and foster a greater sense of empathy, understanding, and connection with those around you. The ability to listen is a gift you can give to others, and it often returns to you in the form of deeper, more meaningful relationships.

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Top 5 Most Common Mistakes When Using Spikes

Many people do not know how to properly use a spike or when to use one. In this episode we will reveal the top 5 mistakes individuals and teams make when trying to use spikes:

Executing a spike long before you need it
Not defining a clear spike outcome
Doing spikes before considering to reduce scope
Using spikes for immediate implementation details
Performing a spike when many other things are unclear

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In this episode we feature Agile Coach and Yoga Master Sarah Bayliff where she takes us on a journey to learn where, when, and how yoga and Agile Intersect! Enjoy! Namaste!

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The Best Days To Start Or End a Sprint Are NOT Monday and Friday!

Here are the top reasons why:

Friday Meeting Fatigue
Mundane Monday Ramp Up
Public Holidays
Extended Weekends / Personal Holidays
Meeting Room Space / Regular Cadence
International Time Zones

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Once, in an Agile Mentors live Q&A, someone asked me: How important is it for agile teams to define the specific problem that they’re trying to solve?
I thought that was an interesting question. My initial response was to say that it is super important.
As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.”
So yes, often, it is important for a team to know which specific problem it wants to solve.
Then again, as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings said, “Not all who wander are lost.” I’m very open to the idea that when we start out a project we might not know the exact problem at first. We might wander around a bit before we discover it.
Take game studios, for example. Game studios often divide their work into phases of pre-production and production. So if you’re observing teams working in a game studio, you will notice a change: the team goes from “We’re trying to figure out what we’re building” to “We know what we’re building, we just have to make more of it.” Maybe they need to add more levels or monsters to the game. At that point, they’re in production mode.
But during pre-production, you’ll hear them use the phrase, “Find the fun,” meaning—what will be uniquely fun about this particular game that will make it valuable?
That same thinking applies in business apps, except that we ask, “Where’s the value?” meaning, what will be unique about this product or feature that will make it worth creating?
So I don’t think a team always needs to start off knowing the precise problem it’s trying to solve. Sometimes a team needs to explore the solution space to figure out the unique value. It’s important to do this quickly, though, to succeed with agile,

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Do you lead with Light and love? On of my very dear friends Michael Sahota asked a couple of REALLY powerful questions at the end of the Agile 2023 Keynote presentation given on July 26, 2023 by Bushra Amiwala. Her light was incredible but the wisdom shared my Michael was even more amazing! He acknowledged that current culture and a lack of education is leading us deeper and deeper into the "isms". He was quick to point out that sometimes the most impactful thing that you can do is stand by what you know to be true and let go of the isms. This is SUCH a profound statement. What can we do when we feel like the world is against us and how can we lead with light and love?

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People Pay For The Story.. - How Do We Focus On Outcome - Agile 2023

I love the story of the European tourist who loses everything but her passport and how well it ties into customers and customer relations!

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Individuals And Interactions Were Alive And Well at Agile 2023! I was SUPER excited to catch up with so many old friends and meet so many new ones! The conference was a roaring success and one of the highlights was to walk and talk with Jim Highsmith, one of the original authors of the Agile Manifesto. You have to listen to the episode to learn more!

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Vanilla Ice Was The PERFECT Agile Coach - Agile 2023

Many have asked if I can speak at their conference, work retreat, or even to their teams... Here is a link to what I offer and how you can book me!

AgileDad Speaks Website

It is hard to believe that it has been a week since I gave this conference presentation at Agile 2023! This time I decided to give you a little insight into the presentation and what topics surrounding growth mindset were covered. You may even get to hear me rap a little... Stop Collaborate and Listen!

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The Journey To Speaking at Agile 2023 - What I Learned and Who I Met

I start this episode off with a story about a homeless man who is gifted 15 dollars from a wealthy businessman and what he does with his newfound wealth. I liken this to my journey to share all that I have with others and how my journey to and through the Agile 2023 Conference was nothing less than magical.

https://fb.watch/m2se6vDzOX/?mibextid=T3FBdp

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Celebrating Episode 850 - Three Questions with Bob Hartman - Agile For All

This is a VERY special episode of The Daily Standup Podcast! I have my dear friend Bob Hartman joining me and have I mentioned that he is one of my favorite human beings on the planet? Tune in to live laugh and learn as we share some fun stories and offer an inspiring challenge.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobhartman/

https://agileforall.com/

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Here are eight critical side effects of this Product Backlog anti-pattern:

Encourages Waste: An oversized Product Backlog fosters waste by investing time in items that may never be developed due to the continuous discovery of more valuable tasks. It’s a clear violation of Agile Manifesto principles; particularly, simplicity—the art of maximizing the work not done—is essential.
Sunk Cost Fallacy Risk: A large Product Backlog can lead to the sunk cost fallacy. Teams may continue to refine and prioritize items because they’ve already invested time into them rather than because they add significant value. This behavior contradicts the Agile Manifesto’s principle of continuous improvement and adaptation.
Leads to Analysis Paralysis: A huge Product Backlog can cause what’s known as analysis paralysis, where the sheer volume of items becomes overwhelming, leading to indecision and delay. The team might spend excessive time evaluating, prioritizing, and re-prioritizing items, which detracts from their capacity to focus on actual product development. This excess of choices often slows down decision-making processes, making it difficult for the team to determine where to start or what to focus on next. Ultimately, this slows down the entire project, diverting energy away from creating value for the customer and towards managing the Product Backlog itself.
Damages Stakeholder Engagement: A bloated Product Backlog presents a significant challenge regarding effective communication. The vast number of items can make it difficult for stakeholders to comprehend the plan, the progress, and the order of priority, leading to potential misalignment of expectations. Stakeholders may struggle to find their specific interests within the large list, confusing them and potentially causing a feeling of detachment.
Crowding Out Effect: A comprehensive, oversized Product Backlog may inadvertently discourage stakeholders and team members from contributing their ideas and insights. The backlog’s perceived completeness might give the impression that there’s no room or need for additional input, potentially missing valuable ideas and insights.
Inhibits Innovation: A huge Product Backlog can unintentionally stifle the creative energy within the Scrum Team. The lengthy list of tasks can create a culture of ‘checking off the boxes’ where the team focuses more on completing the tasks rather than exploring and innovating. The team may feel constrained, perceiving that there’s no room for new ideas, which can limit their creative problem-solving skills and deter them from finding innovative solutions. This mindset contradicts the Scrum value of ‘openness’ and the Agile principle of harnessing change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
False Sense of Security: An exhaustive Product Backlog may provide a false sense of security, an illusion of control. It might seem like the Scrum team identified all the necessary work, reducing the perceived need for discovery and learning. This misalignment with the Scrum Guide, which advocates for iterative learning and discovery, can be harmful.
Encourages Early Optimization: A bulging Product Backlog can lead to premature optimization, as the team may feel compelled to design systems or workflows that anticipate the completion of future backlog items, resulting in unnecessary complexity, contributing to waste if these tasks later change or get deprioritized. This approach conflicts with the Agile principle of simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—and the Scrum value of focus, as it encourages effort toward uncertain future needs rather than the most valuable present ones.

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What Is a REAL Stakeholder?

Do you know the difference between a Key Stakeholder, Stakeholder, and an Interested Party? Join V. Lee Henson and learn more about these differences and why they should matter to you!

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Everyone agrees that in complex work, clear goals give guidance to what needs attention and what doesn’t (right now). They also see how goals are the glue that binds individuals into a team by giving them a shared purpose. A shared goal gives Scrum teams focus on what is important during a Sprint while allowing flexibility to adjust course and avoid emerging obstacles as needed. Shared goals are the foundation of the Scrum framework. It is what pulls everything together, and gives meaning and purpose to everything that happens in Scrum.

In addition to a Sprint Goal, we would also define a daily goal. These teams not only focused each Sprint on one Sprint Goal, but they also identified one daily goal for the entire team, each day!

Seems impossible? Maybe… But it’s definitely worth a try. It’s a great way to improve collaboration, focus, and commitment. In general, it’s a perfect booster for team morale. It’s probably not difficult to find reasons why this won’t work for your team, but those reasons might also be symptoms of deeper problems in your team.

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Agile project management represents an iterative methodology for planning and guiding project processes. It centers on dividing project work into shorter timeframes, known as sprints or iterations.

Agile project management empowers software development teams to work swiftly and collaboratively on projects while remaining adaptable to evolving requirements. It also facilitates rapid response to feedback, enabling adjustments to be made during each sprint and product cycle.

An Agile project is finished in manageable pieces, much like Agile software development. Iteration in software development refers to a single cycle of growth. The project team assesses and rates each segment or iteration and should comprise representatives from various stakeholders. Insights gained from these critiques serve as a basis for determining the subsequent steps in the project.

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Once upon a time, in a small village nestled among rolling hills, there lived a water bearer. Every day, he would walk to the nearby stream, carrying two large pots tied to a pole that rested upon his shoulders. One pot was perfect, without a flaw, while the other had a deep crack running along its side.

As the water bearer made his way from the stream to his master's house, the perfect pot would hold its water securely, delivering a full portion every time. It felt proud of its accomplishment, fulfilling its purpose with perfection. But the cracked pot felt ashamed and burdened by its flaw. No matter how much water the water bearer poured into it, it leaked along the way, leaving a trail of water droplets behind.

One day, as they reached the master's house, the cracked pot could no longer bear its imperfection and whispered softly to the water bearer, "I'm sorry for my flaw. I'm ashamed that I can't do my job properly. I'm wasting your efforts and leaving a mess behind."

The water bearer smiled warmly and replied, "My dear cracked pot, do not be troubled. Look around you." The pot raised its gaze and noticed a path adorned with vibrant flowers, blooming in a colorful array.

The pot was puzzled and asked, "But how is this possible? I have been leaking water along the way."

The water bearer gently explained, "You see, I have known about your crack for a long time. Instead of letting it discourage me, I planted flower seeds along your side of the path. Every day, as we walked back, you watered them with the droplets that leaked from you. Without your cracks, these flowers wouldn't have blossomed so beautifully."

The cracked pot was filled with awe and wonder. It realized that its flaw had unknowingly brought beauty into the world. It no longer felt ashamed but embraced its uniqueness. From that moment on, it took pride in its imperfection, understanding that it had a purpose and could bring joy to others.

As time went on, the cracked pot and the water bearer continued their daily journey. The pot no longer saw itself as broken but as a vessel that nurtured life. It no longer compared itself to the perfect pot, for it had found its own purpose, its own way of making a difference.

The village people marveled at the stunning flowers that lined the path, unaware of the pot's role in their creation. The cracked pot learned that it wasn't defined by its flaw, but by the beauty it had unknowingly helped cultivate.

And so, the parable of the cracked pot teaches us a profound lesson. It reminds us that even our perceived flaws and weaknesses can have unexpected beauty and bring joy to others. Our imperfections, like the pot's crack, can make us unique and provide opportunities for growth and positive impact. We need only embrace our true selves, for within our flaws lie the seeds of beauty waiting to bloom.

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Here are 5 simple steps to guide you on how to define a sprint goal.

Step 1: Understand the Project Objective

First, thoroughly understand the project objective which means: What problem are you trying to solve and what is the desired outcome?

Step 2: Identify Key Deliverables

Next, identify the key deliverables that need to be completed within the sprint. Break them down into manageable tasks.

Step 3: Prioritize and Align

Third, Prioritize the tasks based on their importance and dependencies. Ensure that they are aligned with your project objective.

Step 4: Set a Clear Sprint Goal

Now, with all the information in hand, define a clear sprint goal that is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound).

Step 5: Communicate and Get Buy-In

Share the sprint goal with your team and stakeholders to get their input and ensure everyone is on board.

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Here are the 5 symptoms:

Your ScrumMaster has become the Master of Ceremonies and is speaking WAY too much: When the ScrumMaster puts on a glitter jacket and or has a bedazzled microphone, this is your sign that they have taken things WAY too far. It is important that the SM work closely with the Development Team to drive value, but they also must be in control without saying many words.
Monologues Over Dialogues: Are team members simply reporting their updates, or are they engaging in a discussion? The Daily Scrum should encourage interaction, not just broadcasting.
Problem-Solving Takes a Backseat: The Daily Scrum is a platform to highlight and assign ownership to problems, not necessarily to solve ALL of them completely. If it can be solved in 30 seconds or less, do not call for another meeting... Solve the freaking problem! If issues are merely reported but not addressed, the meeting isn’t serving its purpose.
Attendance and Engagement Dwindles: If team members are regularly missing the meeting or not actively participating, it’s an indication that they don’t see value in it, signaling that changes are needed.
Misconception of the Meeting’s Purpose: If the Daily Scrum has turned into a status report to the Product Owner or the Scrum Master, it’s a clear sign that the meeting has strayed from its purpose. The Daily Scrum is for the Development Team to synchronize their efforts and plan their work, not to report progress to the Product Owner or the Scrum Master.

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The real struggle however is the transition period where organizations balance between cost of implementing, the time it will take to implement, and retaining the existing clients during this change. In the process the companies may be overstating themselves to have adopted the Agile framework which may be true at a high level but in reality they may not have the right tools and technologies to be able to provide that experience just yet.

The outcome in return puts a deep pressure on the resources (inlcuding poeple, material, tools or supplies) which is not sustainable in the near future.

A product is not coming from just one tool or one team, it is a collaborative effort of various channels. So, when you are transitioning in phases some elements of the products would be agile friendly and some not.

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Imagine. Let’s start rethinking Agile transformations. What if Leaders would issue an “Agile statement of intent” instead of attempting another costly framework-driven transformation? How would our life at work be different? Can you imagine the agility innovation that this would spark?

For example, what if a Leader made the following statement:

“For our company to be successful, our teams really need to have a desire for pleasing our customers. Our teams must be able to adapt quickly based on customer feedback when the need arises.

We want our teams to build our customers high-quality products that leverage modern technologies and are maintainable. Ideally, these products are built incrementally and are always in a ready state that allows for demonstration and release.

We also would like our teams to exhibit a spirit of innovation, courageously experimenting with ways to improve our product offering and the flow of value to our customers.

We want everyone to feel respected and edified within a diverse and psychologically safe environment. And most of all, we want our team members to have a healthy work-life balance.

As leaders, we are committed to building an environment such as this to help us all be successful. But we need your help. This is our ask. We cannot do it alone!

Therefore, each team and organization is empowered to figure out the details of what this looks like for your unique situation. We are here to support your endeavors, so please reach out with any questions or concerns.”

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Burnout in the workplace isn’t uncommon, and it’s not pleasant, either. Data from the American Institute of Stress suggests that 80 percent of U.S. workers feel stressed out about their jobs, with 40 percent in roles that are “very” or “extremely” stressful.

People in high-intensity jobs, like those in the medical profession or law enforcement, are particularly prone to burnout, but they’re by no means the only ones who suffer from it. Across the professional spectrum, burnout can be caused by any number of factors: Long hours, conflicts with management, and overall job frustration are just some of the things that can leave any worker feeling like they’re on the brink of mental, emotional, or physical collapse.

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People often ask me what they can do to advance.
Some who ask are looking specifically to advance their careers. Others are looking to just improve in some way, perhaps knowing that improving often does lead to career advancement. Still others want to improve in ways completely unrelated to work.
I want to share two tips that can form a framework for advancing yourself.
First: treat your own personal development as you’d treat organizational improvements. Think about something you wish you could do (or know) but can’t right now. Then identify the one most useful step to move you toward that. Think of it like gap analysis for personal development.
Second: set monthly goals for yourself in two areas: performance and learning.
Performance goals are things you want to do. Learning goals represent knowledge or skills you want to gain.
Don’t go overboard and write goals for everything in your life. Just start each month with one to three goals of each type.
My performance and learning goals this month are a good example. I’m working on a new writing project so my goals are directed toward that. They are:

Write for at least thirty minutes a day on eighteen days in July
Write for five days in a row sometime during the month
Read two particular books related to my project

The first two are performance goals. I’m so busy with many things but I am trying to get back into the habit of writing daily.
To make that happen, I looked at what else I have to do in July and decided on the two performance goals at the top of my list.
The last goal is a learning goal. To ensure I know all that’s needed for this project, I want to read those books.
Nothing about this is fancy. But identifying and resolving gaps as well as giving myself at least one learning and one performance goal each month has helped me advance my career and succeed with agile.

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First, you may need to build trust to move to Agile

Agile as a virtuous cycle for trust

Once you get past those first hurdles, then Agile (if done well) makes its magic and helps build trust between the Team and users and other stakeholders.

Many times, I have seen business people, that were previously puzzled by our persistence not to commit on any hard deadline before we even get started, now amazed to see actual, usable (yet, functionally limited) software at the end of Sprint 1, and then marveled at how software could be improved without regressions even with a large codebase, and how keeping a high standard on quality made it possible to achieve velocity.

What is it in Agile that builds trust?

I have already mentioned transparency as an intimacy inducer. But that’s only part of the recipe. Here are a few items I feel are of utmost importance.

(a.) The principle of self-organizing dev teams leads to better allocation of the decision power. By better, I mean that decisions are made by the right people, i.e. those who have the context and skills to make them. Business people drive the features roadmap and tech people make technical decisions.

Self-organized teams leads to highly-motivated people who show much better ownership of their product.

(b.) Quality. Focusing on working software and indefinitely sustainable pace means agile teams have high quality expectations. They tend to shift error left in the development workflow. A developer won’t see a story that doesn’t verify the definition of ready, a reviewer won’t review code that has failing tests, a tester won’t test unreviewed code, etc.

Velocity, again, is a by-product of quality. Not something that you try to compromise against quality. I knew our business people had reached a threshold in understanding Agile when, during a review, they mentioned that they didn’t want to team to overdeliver if it were at the expense of quality.

(c.) Risk mitigation. Agile teams focus on delivering working software. That means they’d rather deliver a walking skeleton (a fully integrated software that doesn’t do much) than a fully-developed front-end with no back-end.

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Why Use a Personal Kanban Approach?

Research shows that up to 80% of working professionals experience stress in the workplace, with the primary causes cited as being family responsibilities and large workloads. When modified for personal use, the Kanban method can help you to manage both work responsibilities and personal tasks, saving you time, increasing your efficiency, keeping your life organized, and helping to prevent feelings of overwhelm and burnout.

In this article, we’ll delve deeper into what personal Kanban involves. We’ll show you how you can use it to streamline your personal and professional lives, and the easiest ways to keep Kanban on hand to access it whenever you need it.

You can apply the principles of Kanban to virtually any situation to enhance your productivity and help you tackle multiple responsibilities. It can be easily adapted to users of any age, profession or learning style, and is especially well suited to people who have long and constantly growing to-do lists at work and at home.

Personal Kanban boards are also a great solution for people who battle to prioritize tasks. Options like a personal Kanban app provide visual to-do lists that you can prioritize by urgency or order of importance to stay ahead of your responsibilities.

The simplest and most effective way to create your own Kanban board is to open up an Excel spreadsheet or Word document, use a whiteboard or a piece of paper, or use a Kanban management app to create three columns:

To Do
Currently In Progress
Completed

Next, you can create individual ‘cards’ for each task you need to do, adding them into the To Do column. Once you have all of your cards at hand, you can label them according to low, medium or high priority, and then choose which high-priority task you’d like to start on first.

Some people like to multitask, and a personal Kanban board does help to make multitasking easier by allowing you to keep track of multiple projects at once. However, you are also free to address one activity at a time. When you start an activity, move its card over to the In Progress column, and then to the Completed column once it’s finished.

You can use a Kanban board to keep track of all the things you need to accomplish on a given day. Creating a to-do list helps you to organize your tasks into categories, depending on how urgent they are and whether or not you have started on them yet.

This gives you clear visual progress of how many responsibilities you’ve tackled each day. This could be anything from going to the store, fetching the kids from school, fixing an appliance or learning how to make an invoice or mastering another skill you need for work.

When you have a good idea during the course of the day, noting it in your Kanban board helps to ensure that you don’t forget about it and encourages you to put it into action.

Once you have a strong idea written down, you can then build on it, set goals towards it, and transform your ideas into reality.

If you have a busy and active family or social life, your personal Kanban board can help you to meet all of your personal obligations towards the people you care about.

Create a family board with tasks like children’s play recitals and sports games, birthday parties, celebrations, family dinners, and other can’t-miss events to keep yourself organized and ensure that you don’t miss anything important.

Using a Kanban board with your family will help to ensure that everyone’s needs are met and that you can build a stronger relationship with your partner, children, and extended family and friends.

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There are many challenges for Scrum teams during a Sprint:

Scope Creep: The introduction of new requirements or changes during the sprint can disrupt the team’s focus and lead to scope creep. To address this challenge, effective communication and collaboration between the product owner and the development team are crucial. Clearly define the sprint goal and ensure any changes are properly evaluated and prioritized.

Lack of Clarity in User Stories: Unclear or poorly defined user stories can create confusion and delays. The product owner should collaborate with the team to ensure user stories are well-defined, properly elaborated, and include clear acceptance criteria. Regular refinements and ongoing communication between the product owner and the team can help address any ambiguity.

Unrealistic Timeframes: Setting unrealistic timeframes for backlog items can put undue pressure on the team and compromise the quality of work. It is essential to establish realistic expectations and ensure the team has a sustainable pace. Collaboratively estimate effort, consider team capacity, and prioritize backlog items based on their complexity and business value.

Dependencies and Bottlenecks: Dependencies on external teams or resources can create bottlenecks and hinder progress. Identify and communicate dependencies early on, and establish effective coordination with other teams. Regularly track and manage dependencies to minimize their impact on the team’s work.

Technical Debt: Accruing technical debt can hinder the team’s progress and reduce flexibility. Balancing the delivery of new functionality with addressing technical debt is essential. Prioritize and plan for technical debt refinements in the backlog. Allocate time during sprints to address technical debt and ensure a sustainable development pace.

These challenges can be addressed by adhering to Agile principles, Scrum rules and a clear in-sprint workflow including the following development and test activities:

Development Work
Backlog Item Selection: Collaboratively select backlog items based on the sprint goal, complexity, and priority. Consider dependencies and team capacity while making the selection.

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There are several character traits that are commonly associated with being a good boss. Here are five of the top character traits:

Leadership: A good boss possesses strong leadership skills. They inspire and motivate their team, provide clear direction, and guide their employees towards achieving goals. They are able to make tough decisions and take responsibility for the overall success of the team.
Communication: Effective communication is crucial for a good boss. They are skilled at both listening and expressing their thoughts clearly. They keep their team informed about important matters, actively seek feedback, and encourage open and honest communication among team members.
Empathy: A good boss demonstrates empathy and understanding towards their employees. They recognize and acknowledge the feelings and perspectives of their team members, and they take the time to listen and support them. They consider the personal and professional well-being of their employees and strive to create a positive and inclusive work environment.
Integrity: Good bosses act with integrity and demonstrate strong ethical values. They lead by example and hold themselves and others accountable for their actions. They are honest, trustworthy, and fair in their interactions, and they make decisions based on what is best for the team and the organization as a whole.
Adaptability: A good boss is adaptable and flexible in the face of changing circumstances. They are open to new ideas and willing to embrace innovation. They can navigate challenges and setbacks with resilience, adjust their plans as needed, and guide their team through periods of change.

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Agile is a lot of things. It’s a method for delivering products, but it also has applications in many other industries.

And In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, agile has become a necessity for organizations that want to remain competitive and successful.

Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that promotes collaboration, communication, and the ability to quickly adjust to changing requirements.

It is based on a set of principles that emphasize quick delivery, customer satisfaction, and continuous improvement.

With its focus on continuous learning and adaptation, agile has quickly become a cornerstone of many organizations’ operations and an essential tool for project managers and developers.

As organizations continue to embrace agile, it is becoming increasingly clear that it is indeed a necessity for businesses in the modern world.

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It feels like every Friday brings another announcement of layoffs at some of the bigger tech firms in America.
It affects me as the owner of a small business that depends on clients in those companies. I have to pay attention, and make moves to respond to changing market conditions in a way that makes sense for my organization.
But it likely affects many of you as individuals as well. You have to pay attention to your company’s financial health and be prepared to respond when things change.
So it got me wondering, how do we inspect and adapt (on a personal level) to the changing circumstances that surround our jobs?
Luckily for me, I work with some amazing agile coaches and trainers. And two of them, Brian Milner and Scott Dunn, tackled this very question on a podcast as part of the larger topic of how organizations respond to tough economic times.
I want to share a couple of my takeaways with you.
Scott gave this advice: Before you even think about a new role or a new company, start with an honest self-evaluation.

What are you passionate about? What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?
What are you good at? Where do you shine?
Where are your weak spots? In which areas do you need to grow?

Then, Scott added, in a job interview or when networking, be ready with stories about how you have applied what you are passionate about in your work and on your team. If you think about them beforehand, those stories will come easily to you. And they’ll give people the confidence they need to take a chance on hiring, recommending, or promoting you.
Also, find ways to shore up your weaknesses—now, before the next job opportunity comes your way. What can you study, which incremental improvements can you make, who can mentor you so that you proactively address those places where you need to improve?
Come to think of it, that’s good advice even when the economy is going well. Always be evaluating how you can lean into your strengths and improve your blind spots. Honest self-inspection will help you succeed in your career

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Let Freedom Ring

On April 19, 1775, the “shot heard round the world” echoed far and wide from Concord Massachusetts throughout the Colonies and Europe, finally culminating some fourteen and ½ months later in a final - earth-changing resonance - with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. A conclusion and a new beginning, all at the same time.

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NOBODY Listens to UX...

The results were, let’s say, less than favorable. Now, they were attempting to reboot the product in a direction that, coincidentally, aligned with the original proposal from the UX team.

“Nobody listens to UX,” she told me.

I thought about that for a long time after our conversation. I thought about how I had experienced similar situations. I’ve even said the same thing myself a number of times in my career.

What does it really mean to be heard?

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10 Traits To Help You Attract Positive People

Authenticity
A Positive Attitude
A Discipline of Inquiry
Kindness And Empathy
Boundaries
Open-Mindedness
Authentic Connections
A commitment To Self-Improvement
Gratitude
Vulnerability

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Should The Product Owner Be In The Retrospective? - YES!!

Below a list of what is the Product Owner’s role in the retrospective:

share his/her thoughts about the sprint performance
brings customer perspective
brings management overview
outside the team feedback and perception
shares the vision
corrects misunderstandings
emphasize on the why behind the what

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The ScrumMaster is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master exists to serve the team, puts the needs of the team first. This with the firm belief that you get the best out of people when you empower them.

A Project Manager is responsible to meet the project objective. Within Scrum there is no such role for a Project Manager. The role that comes closest is the Product Owner, who should maximize value from the product.

One of these exists in Scrum, the other does not... :)

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10 Tips For Creating Agile Product Roadmaps

1 Focus on Goals and Benefits

Whenever you are faced with an agile, dynamic environment — be it that your product is young and is experiencing significant change or that the market is dynamic with new competitors or technologies introducing change, you should work with a goal-oriented product roadmap, sometimes also referred to as theme-based. Goal-oriented roadmaps focus on goals or objectives like acquiring customers, increasing engagement, and removing technical debt.

2 Do the Necessary Prep Work

Describe and validate the product strategy — the path to realize your vision — before you create your roadmap and decide how the strategy is best implemented

3 Tell a Coherent Story

Your product roadmap should tell a coherent story about the likely growth of your product. Each release should build on the previous one and move you closer towards your vision. Be clear who your audience is: An internal product roadmap talks to development, marketing, sales, service, and the other groups involved in making your product a success; and external roadmap is aimed at existing and prospective customers.

4 Keep it Simple

Resist the temptation of adding too many details to your roadmap. Keep your roadmap simple and easy to understand. Capture what really matters and leave out the rest by focusing on the goals. Keep the features on your roadmap coarse-grained and derive them from the goals. The details, including the epics, user stories, scenarios and UI designs, belong in the product backlog and not on your roadmap.

5 Secure Strong Buy-in

The best roadmap is worthless if the people required to develop, market, and sell the product don’t buy into it. The best way to create agreement is to collaborate with the key stakeholders to create and update the product roadmap. This allows you to leverage their ideas and knowledge and creates strong buy-in. Running a collaborative roadmapping workshop is a great way to engage everyone and create a shared product roadmap

6 Have the Courage to Say No

While you want to get buy-in to from the key stakeholders, you should not say yes to every idea and request. This would turn your product roadmap into a feature soup, a random collection of features. “Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying no to all but the most crucial features,” said Steve Jobs. Use your vision and product strategy to make the right decisions.

7 Know When to Show Dates

Some people recommend to never show dates on a product roadmap, others always include them. I recommend to use dates or timeframe on an internal roadmap that coordinates the work carried out by the internal stakeholders, such as, the development team, marketing, sales, and support.

8 Make your Roadmap Measurable

When using a goal-oriented roadmap, ensure that every goal is measurable. This allows you to tell if you have met the goal or not. If your goal is to acquire customers, for example, then ask yourself how many new customers should be acquired; or if your goal is to reduce technical debt, determine how much of the bad code should be removed or rewritten.

9 Determine Cost Top-Down

Whenever your product is new, young, or changing, I recommend that you do not attempt to determine the development cost bottom-up but rather top-down. It’s virtually impossible to derive the right epics and user stories from the roadmap features, get correct estimates from your team, and accurately anticipate the velocity and the rate of change in the product backlog.

10 Regularly Review and Adjust the Roadmap

Last but not least: If the environment you’re in is agile, then change is likely to occur. You should therefore regularly review and update your product roadmap — between every four weeks to every three months depending on how young your product and how dynamic the market is.

https://romanpichler.medium.com/10-tips-for-creating-an-agile-product-roadmap-515637c8081b

There are many things that we are encouraged NOT to talk about at work. Bruno should NOT be one of them! It is vital that we understand the intent behind hidden agendas in order to best address how we consume work and keep the stakeholders happy! Some conversations are indeed worth having.

Expressing gratitude in kind and genuine ways can strengthen relationships and foster a positive environment. Here are three of the kindest ways to express gratitude:

Sincere Verbal Appreciation: Simply expressing your gratitude verbally can have a profound impact. Take the time to personally and sincerely thank the person for their kindness, support, or contribution. Be specific about what you appreciate and how it has positively affected you. Use phrases like "Thank you so much for..." or "I am truly grateful for..." to convey your gratitude. A warm smile and eye contact can further enhance the sincerity of your expression.
Handwritten Note or Letter: In this digital age, a handwritten note or letter stands out as a personal and thoughtful gesture. Take the time to write a heartfelt message expressing your gratitude. Be specific about what you are grateful for and how the person's actions have made a difference. Share your genuine feelings and the impact their kindness has had on you. Hand-deliver or send the note via mail to create a delightful surprise for the recipient.
Acts of Kindness: One of the kindest ways to express gratitude is by reciprocating the kindness or paying it forward. Show your appreciation by performing an act of kindness for the person. It could be as simple as offering to help them with a task, surprising them with a small gift or treat, or providing support when they need it. These acts of kindness demonstrate your gratitude in action and create a positive cycle of generosity and goodwill.

Remember, expressing gratitude should come from a genuine place of appreciation. Tailor your expressions of gratitude to the individual and their preferences, and always ensure that your gratitude is heartfelt, specific, and meaningful.

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Agile Means NO Documentation... - Not Again?!?!

Here are some reasons why agile needs documentation:

Knowledge Sharing: Documentation helps transfer knowledge and ensure that important information is accessible to the team members and stakeholders. It captures decisions, requirements, and design choices, enabling team members to understand the system's functionality and architecture. It allows new team members to quickly get up to speed and promotes collaboration and continuity in development.
Requirements Clarity: Agile projects benefit from clear and well-defined requirements. Documentation, such as user stories, acceptance criteria, and specifications, helps capture and communicate the intended functionality. It provides a shared understanding between the development team, product owners, and stakeholders, reducing misunderstandings and potential rework.
Traceability and Compliance: Documentation supports traceability by providing a historical record of decisions, changes, and user feedback. This helps maintain compliance with industry regulations, standards, or contractual obligations. Documentation can serve as evidence for audits, security assessments, and regulatory compliance.
Communication and Alignment: Agile teams work collaboratively and value effective communication. Documentation serves as a reference point for discussions and clarifications. It enables team members and stakeholders to align their understanding, resolve conflicts, and make informed decisions. Documentation can also facilitate communication with external parties, such as clients, vendors, or other teams.
Maintenance and Support: Even in an agile environment, software requires maintenance and ongoing support. Documentation, such as system architecture diagrams, code comments, or user manuals, assists in maintaining and troubleshooting the software. It helps future developers understand the system's components and functionality, making it easier to identify and fix issues.
Knowledge Transfer and Onboarding: Documentation plays a crucial role in knowledge transfer and onboarding new team members. It provides a reference for understanding the system's design, components, and business context. Documented guidelines, coding conventions, and best practices contribute to consistent and maintainable code across the team.
Regulatory and Legal Requirements: Certain industries or projects may have specific regulatory or legal documentation requirements. Documentation becomes necessary to demonstrate compliance, ensure data privacy, or provide evidence of adherence to industry standards.

It's important to note that agile documentation should be lightweight, iterative, and focused on delivering value. The emphasis is on creating just enough documentation to support effective development and collaboration, rather than producing excessive or unnecessary documentation. Agile teams should continuously assess the value and relevance of documentation, adapting their approach based on the project's needs and the team's evolving understanding of the system.

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Weddings, a celebration of love, commitment, and the joining of two lives. For most couples, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, meticulously planned and carefully orchestrated. But what happens when a Scrum Master takes charge of the wedding planning, armed with an arsenal of sticky notes and a burning desire to apply Agile principles to the most romantic day of their lives? Let’s find out.

The Backlog: From Venue to Vows, All on Sticky Notes:

It all begins with the backlog — a towering mountain of sticky notes covering every inch of the Scrum Master’s home office. Each note details a crucial element of the wedding, from choosing the venue to writing the vows. The sheer amount of sticky notes is overwhelming, but the Scrum Master is determined to stay true to Agile methodologies.

Sprint Planning: A Series of Unfortunate Wedding Tasks:

With the backlog in place, the Scrum Master gets to work on Sprint Planning. They divide the wedding preparations into a series of two-week sprints, tackling tasks such as booking the band, selecting the menu, and finalizing the guest list. The Scrum Master’s ambition is admirable, but their commitment to Agile principles quickly starts to unravel the wedding plans.

Daily Stand-Up: Sticky Notes, Stress, and Stalemates:

As the big day approaches, the Scrum Master enforces daily stand-up meetings with the wedding party, the soon-to-be-married couple, and anyone else involved in the planning process. These 15-minute check-ins are meant to keep everyone on track and identify obstacles, but the sheer number of sticky notes quickly becomes a source of confusion and frustration. With each passing day, the wedding party’s patience wears thin, and the Scrum Master’s grand plan starts to crumble.

The Sprint Review: Tasting Cake and Collecting Regrets:

Sprint Reviews, meant to be an opportunity for feedback and adjustment, turn into a parade of disasters. During one particularly memorable session, the Scrum Master presents a half-baked wedding cake to the couple, resulting in a messy and unsatisfying cake tasting. Sticky notes cover the cake like confetti, each one representing a different flavor, frosting, or decoration suggestion from the ever-growing list of stakeholders.

The Sprint Retrospective. A Tangled Web of Sticky Notes and Blame:

As the sprints progress, the Scrum Master conducts Sprint Retrospectives to evaluate the success (or lack thereof) of each phase. However, instead of offering constructive feedback, these sessions devolve into a blame game, with the Scrum Master desperately trying to salvage their Agile wedding plans. Sticky notes are swapped, shuffled, and discarded, as the Scrum Master attempts to regain control over the chaos they’ve created.

The wedding:

In the end, the wedding day arrives, complete with a cacophony of mismatched decorations, last-minute cancellations, and a cake that looks like it survived a sticky note explosion. Despite the Scrum Master’s best intentions, their fervent adherence to Agile methodologies has resulted in a wedding day that is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. As the dust settles and the sticky notes are peeled away, one thing becomes abundantly clear: some things, like love and weddings, simply don’t fit into a neat, Agile framework

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Is Agile Project Management a Harmful Term? I Think NOT...

Sometimes I get really annoyed when people come to me with the very prescriptive dogmatic approach to Agile and claim the certain terms should not be used. Join V. Lee Henson, Founder of AgileDad as we discuss why this practice is wrong and why Agile Project Management is just fine with me!

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Technical debt in the context of agile development refers to the accumulation of suboptimal or inefficient code, design, or infrastructure that may hinder the future development and maintenance of a software system. Addressing technical debt is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy and sustainable agile development process. Here are some considerations for addressing technical debt in an agile environment:

Recognition and Prioritization: Start by acknowledging and recognizing the existence of technical debt. Encourage the entire development team, including product owners and stakeholders, to understand the importance of addressing it. Prioritize and categorize technical debt based on its impact, urgency, and potential risks to the project.
Incremental Refactoring: Agile development emphasizes iterative and incremental improvement. Allocate time and effort in each iteration to address technical debt. Introduce refactoring tasks into the backlog, alongside new feature development. By continuously improving the codebase and addressing technical debt incrementally, you can prevent it from accumulating further and reduce the overall maintenance burden.
Collaboration and Communication: Technical debt is not solely the responsibility of the development team. It requires collaboration and buy-in from all stakeholders, including product owners, business analysts, and quality assurance teams. Foster open communication and transparency about technical debt, its implications, and the need for investment to address it. Involve stakeholders in decision-making processes related to prioritization and resource allocation for addressing technical debt.
Impact Assessment: Assess the impact of technical debt on development velocity, product quality, and long-term maintainability. Work closely with the development team to identify areas of the codebase that are most affected by technical debt. Prioritize refactoring efforts based on the potential positive impact they can have on the system, reducing future maintenance costs, improving scalability, or enhancing the overall development process.
Automation and Testing: Implement automated testing practices and a robust CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline to detect and prevent the introduction of new technical debt. Adopt code quality analysis tools to identify code smells, duplication, and other potential debt-inducing patterns. Automate the refactoring process where possible to ensure consistency and minimize the risk of introducing new issues.
Continuous Learning and Improvement: Encourage a culture of continuous improvement within the development team. Conduct regular retrospectives to reflect on the challenges and lessons learned from addressing technical debt. Share knowledge and best practices among team members to prevent the recurrence of similar debt in the future. Invest in training and skill development to empower the team to tackle technical debt effectively.

By integrating the management of technical debt into the agile development process, you can mitigate risks, improve the maintainability of the software, and enable the team to deliver value more effectively. Prioritization, collaboration, incremental improvement, and a focus on quality are key factors in successfully addressing technical debt while maintaining the agility required for delivering high-quality software.

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The keys to life success can vary from person to person, as success is subjective and can be defined differently by individuals. However, here are five general keys that can contribute to a fulfilling and successful life:

Self-Awareness: Understanding oneself is crucial for personal growth and success. It involves recognizing your strengths, weaknesses, values, passions, and purpose. Self-awareness enables you to make informed decisions, set meaningful goals aligned with your values, and cultivate a sense of fulfillment and authenticity.
Continuous Learning: Embrace a mindset of lifelong learning and personal development. Seek opportunities to acquire new knowledge, skills, and experiences. Stay curious, be open to different perspectives, and embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. Learning expands your horizons, increases your adaptability, and enhances your ability to seize opportunities.
Resilience: Life is filled with ups and downs, and resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and adapt to change. Cultivate a positive mindset, develop problem-solving skills, and build a support network. Embrace failures as learning experiences, persevere through challenges, and maintain a flexible attitude to navigate obstacles on your path to success.
Goal Setting and Planning: Clearly define your goals and create a plan to achieve them. Set both short-term and long-term goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals). Break them down into actionable steps and regularly track your progress. Planning helps you stay focused, motivated, and organized, ensuring you make steady progress towards your desired outcomes.
Healthy Relationships and Networks: Cultivate and maintain positive relationships with family, friends, mentors, and colleagues. Surround yourself with people who support and inspire you. Build a diverse network that can offer guidance, opportunities, and collaborations. Effective communication, empathy, and collaboration are vital for nurturing relationships and creating a supportive environment that contributes to personal and professional success.

Remember that success is subjective, and it's essential to define what success means to you personally. These keys can serve as a foundation for personal growth and achievement, but it's important to adapt them to your own values, aspirations, and circumstances. Ultimately, success is about living a life that aligns with your authentic self and brings you a sense of fulfillment and happiness.

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Having observed a significant amount of change and transformation in the past few years around ‘Agile’ (the good, the bad, the ugly), things are usually not what they seem and require additional inspection. Forcing conformance is always dangerous, this is why ‘Agile Transformations’ inflicted onto people rarely stick with long lasting impact.

I will refrain from all the ‘agile is dead’ rhetoric, but I can see the impact the ‘agile industrial complex’ has had on how people see and behave when it comes to these practices. Running around using new terms and correcting others for using different terms is missing the point entirely.

These days I try not to use the ‘agile’ words as much as I can and try to understand the context of the people / teams I’m talking to and meet them where they are, trying to avoid introducing new jargon as much as possible. I see the same happening with other words like autonomy, empowerment, psychological safety, failure, and I’m sure there are many more you would relate to.

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Managing up on an agile team refers to the practice of effectively communicating and collaborating with higher-level managers, stakeholders, or leaders within an organization to ensure alignment, support, and success of the agile initiatives. It involves building strong relationships, influencing decision-making, and providing transparent information to those in higher positions. Here are some key aspects of managing up on an agile team:

Clear Communication: Establish open and transparent communication channels with higher-level managers or stakeholders. Keep them informed about the progress, challenges, and achievements of the agile team. Clearly articulate the goals, benefits, and value delivered by the team's work. Regularly provide updates through reports, presentations, or informal discussions.
Aligning Goals and Expectations: Understand the objectives and expectations of higher-level managers or stakeholders. Align the team's goals and initiatives with the broader organizational goals. Seek clarity on priorities, constraints, and key success factors. Discuss and negotiate expectations to ensure they are realistic and achievable.
Building Relationships: Invest time and effort in building positive relationships with higher-level managers or stakeholders. Engage in active listening, understand their perspectives, and show empathy towards their concerns. Establish trust by delivering on commitments and demonstrating competence. Regularly seek feedback and act upon it.
Influencing Decision-Making: Provide valuable insights and data-driven information to support decision-making at higher levels. Clearly articulate the impact and value of agile initiatives on the organization's objectives. Present persuasive arguments based on evidence, customer feedback, or market trends. Collaborate with other team members to gather collective input and present a united front.
Anticipating and Managing Risks: Identify and proactively address potential risks or concerns that may impact the team's progress or the success of agile initiatives. Communicate early about challenges, dependencies, or roadblocks that require support or intervention from higher-level managers. Propose solutions or alternatives to mitigate risks and maintain project momentum.
Seeking Support and Resources: If the team requires additional resources, tools, or support to achieve their goals, effectively communicate these needs to higher-level managers. Justify the need by highlighting the potential benefits, ROI, or impact on customer satisfaction. Collaborate with managers to identify ways to secure the necessary resources and overcome any organizational barriers.
Continuous Improvement: Demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement by sharing lessons learned, successes, and failures with higher-level managers. Showcase the team's adaptability, responsiveness, and ability to embrace change. Actively seek input from managers on areas of improvement and leverage their experience to drive growth and development.

Remember, managing up is not about manipulating or controlling higher-level managers but rather about establishing effective communication, building trust, and fostering collaboration. It is a way to create a shared understanding and gain support for agile initiatives, ultimately driving organizational success.

The Top 10 Agile Questions We Should Be Asking Daily...

How big or small is the scope of that item?
How confident are you in that estimate?
What are the other options you considered before making this decision?
What’s the worst thing that could happen if we pursue this direction?
How are we going measure success?
Do we need everyone who is here now?
Should anyone else be here?
Does anyone else need to know about this?
What do you know that I don't know?
Help me understand….?

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We can learn so much about how people feel about something like teamwork just by asking questions. That’s especially true when we ask kids.
I was traveling last month and ended up in line next to a father and his eight-year-old son. I made small talk with the Dad to pass time in line and learned that the son had just traveled with his team to take part in a hockey tournament.
Because I was curious (and a little because it seemed polite), I asked the boy, “So how’d you do?” He said, “Not well. We got eliminated in the first round.”
I replied, “Right. But how did you do?”
His reply to that question was strikingly different. He told me all about the goals he’d scored and the assists he had made.
I learned a few things from this offhand exchange.

His first response was about his team, which means he’s going to be a great agile team member someday.
No matter how great we do individually, it’s hard to feel excited when the team doesn’t perform at its best.

And it got me thinking, what would happen if someone asked one of your team members, “How’d you do last sprint?” Would they automatically reflect on the team’s performance or default to their own?
It might be worthwhile to pose that question to your team. Questions are my favorite way to get team members thinking, because once they’re thinking they automatically start looking for ways to improve a situation or solve a problem.
Ask more questions. I know for sure it will help you succeed with agile,

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11 Tips To Help You Earn The Respect Of Others

Sharpen up your physical appearance.
Emotional control.
Stop always being available.
Unexpected flattery.
Talk less.
Be relaxed and move slow.
Talk a fraction slower.
Know your boundaries and exert them.
Dress well.
Stop trying to impress everyone.
Hold people’s eye.

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Identify & Engage Your Stakeholders - What is the difference between a Key Stakeholder, Stakeholder, and Interested Party? There are in essence 4 categories these stakeholders fall into:

Promoters — high influence, high interest (upper right quadrant). Promoters are vital for success, and thus active engagement with this group is important to keep them informed. This group often influences others in the organization.
Observers — high influence, low interest (upper left quadrant). These stakeholders can potentially pose a risk to product/project success. Monitor this group and keep them informed on progress, successes, upcoming goals, impacts and vision. Ideally some or all in this group can eventually be influenced in such a way that they become Promoters.
Defenders — low influence, high interest (lower right quadrant). Defenders can help you build momentum for the product/project. They are often willing to give you feedback on prototypes and MVP’s. Nurture this group.
Sedentaries — low influence, low interest (lower left quadrant). Since these stakeholders are potential defenders, keep them in the loop, with an eye toward helping them see “What’s in it for me.” Seek to build excitement among this group.

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The Benefits of Delaying Decisions - Mike Cohn

I'm sitting in a hotel right now. I won’t fly home for several days.
But once I arrive at the airport near home, I have a choice of two routes to get me all the way back to my house.
Both routes start the same. But then I have a decision to make. I can either stay on the side streets or get on the highway. Usually the highway is the faster way home.
But, depending on a number of factors, sometimes taking the highway takes longer.
Fortunately, when I first leave the airport, I can catch a glimpse of the highway and decide: highway or side streets.
And so, I defer the decision until I see the traffic on the highway. There is no reason for me to decide today (as I sit here in my hotel) how I will drive home from the airport several days from now.
There is tremendous value in deferring decisions, yet we often rush to make decisions that don't need to be made.
Lean refers to the "last responsible moment" as that time at which a decision will be made for you if you don't decide. When I leave the airport, I am in the rightmost lane. Unless I explicitly change lanes, I will end up on the highway by default.
The last responsible moment is that moment at which the decision becomes made for me. If I don't change lanes by then, I'm taking the highway home.
As you make decisions on your project, be aware of both the power of deferring decisions and the last responsible moment. Doing so will help you succeed with agile.

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4 Common Misconceptions About Agile Transformation

The most popular misconception is that Agile is a set of practices and can be installed by trainers and coaches.

This is the easy button form of Agile Transformation. You train your teams on Agile, the teams start using Agile, recognize their impediments, and change the systems to be more effective at delivery. In practice, most teams are not empowered to change the systems they operate within, so they bastardize the processes to accommodate the dysfunction. This is where we see lots of teams going through the motions of Agile and not getting the business benefit of doing the approach.

The litmus test for this is as follows. Can any given Agile team claim to have a stable velocity against a known backlog? Can they produce a working tested increment of software every week or two that can be validated by an end customer?

The next most popular misconception about Agile Transformation is that it is a culture problem.

The challenge is that it feels like a culture problem. It feels like Transformation is hard because of command-and-control leaders who don’t want to delegate to or empower the teams. It feels like an attitude and beliefs problem. A behavior problem. But let me tell you, if you understand how and why Agile works, and you understand what will get in its way, these leaders are right to stand in the way of Agile. Implementing Scrum or XP or Lean Startup on top of a tightly coupled legacy mainframe system is a recipe for disaster.

One of my favorite user group questions to ask is this. If you were king for a day, you could do anything you want, you could change anything in the culture or mindset of the organization, what would you do tomorrow? The caveat is that you had to start producing working tested software within a few weeks. What would you change in the org design? The technology architecture? The governance model?

You see, many of us want to believe that the teams know best. And that may be true about building software. But it’s not always true about running a for-profit software company.

Another popular misconception is that Transformation is a one-time event.

Transformation itself is a process that takes years. It has a starting place. It has intermediate states. It has a defined end-state. But as customers and markets change, your organization has to change with them. So, the misconception is that the process is linear, and once the process is installed, or the culture has shifted, you will be done.

In my experience, this is never the case. We find that getting an organization to change requires a series of intermediate states that have to be traversed as you systematically improve the organization to enable greater Business Agility and move closer to the ideal.

The fourth and final misconception is that the things you do at the team level are sufficient for running Agile at scale.

So, Transformation is about creating the conditions to do Agile well. And in large organizations, training teams on how to do Scrum or XP is wholly insufficient. You have to address the overall operating model. You have to address governance and compliance and audit and control.

https://leadingagile.medium.com/4-common-misconceptions-about-agile-transformation-3245e8dd1d99

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What Is The Agile Mindset? - Is it Culture?

An Iterative Mindset. Create value in small, iterative steps allowing for early and frequent feedback on each piece of work, which helps eliminate waste and build better products faster. Be data-driven, evidence-based and use that data to decide what to do more of and what to do next.
A Product Culture. Form long-lasting, durable, product teams that reflect the company’s focus, vision, and purpose. Have a top-down vision that influences the teams’ roadmaps and day-to-day work. Prioritize diligently. Build and support only so many products and services, and do them well.
A Customer-Centric Mindset. Include the big picture, product vision and an appreciation for WHY it matters to users before doing anything. Don’t guess what customers want, be customer-driven and empirical about it.
A Culture of Learning. Team members share knowledge, make learning a priority, and invest in communities that grow people and skills that benefit the company. All failures are opportunities to learn something.
A Culture of Experimentation. A Design Thinking mindset is utilized from idea formation through delivery. Instead of requirements, think hypotheses. What’s the smallest thing we can do to learn something?
A Culture of Continuous Improvement. Teams are empowered to change and improve their own process. Self-reflection, transparency, courage, and respect lead to sustainable value delivery and better results.
A Culture of Psychological Safety. People will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with any ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. This breeds greater innovation, inclusive collaboration and a greater flow of ideas that can impact our products, people, and company.

These seven mindsets and cultures are the most important things a company and its employees should embody in order to be agile. The agile mindset is the combination of all these concepts and they represent the key tenets of the new ways of working.

https://medium.com/practical-agilist/what-is-the-agile-mindset-3c320fc955d7

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Top 3 Things That Keep People Motivated

Autonomy

The first motivational driver is autonomy. Autonomy refers to how much people feel in control of their own life and able to make their own choices. In the context of work, autonomy means people feel they have a say in what they work on and how they work on it. They don’t feel micromanaged; they feel empowered by their managers to pursue objectives and deadlines on their terms.

Creating a sense of autonomy in an individual or on a team can come in many forms. It could be by mutually assigning objectives and establishing deadlines. It could also be giving people more freedom over where they work, or incorporating the team or individuals in decision making more often.

Competence

The second motivational driver is competence. Competence refers to our desires to seek control but also to experience mastery. Competence speaks to our natural human desire to be learners, to be growing and feeling like we’re making progress. It could be progress in our career, progress towards a set of objectives or working for a team or a company that is making progress. Anything that helps individuals feel they are moving toward mastery leverages competence as a motivation.

Creating a sense of competence in an individual or on a team might actually be more about what you don’t do. Much of the job of a team leader is providing feedback or constructive criticism. But constructive or negative criticism has been found in numerous studies to decrease a person’s feeling of competence, and thus reduce motivation.

Relatedness

The third and final motivational driver is relatedness. Relatedness refers to our will to connect with others, interact and care for other people. In terms of research, we’ve only just begun to grasp just how important relatedness to others truly is. But we know that humans are much more motivated to take actions when they’re seen as pro-social — that is, when they’re seen as being able to help other people.

Creating a sense of relatedness in an individual or on a team means making sure people build connections to each other. But it also means making sure people know the significance of what they’re being asked to do and how it relates to the whole team and the team’s and organization’s larger objectives. Even better, you might frame the team’s work in a way that makes it quite clear exactly who is helped by the organization’s, the team’s and even the individual’s actions.

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3 Tips To Better Understanding Roles, Responsibilities, & Accountabilities

Agile teams are rarely so simple as to have solely a Scrum Master, a Product Owner and a number of Developers. There may be others around the team supporting them in some way, or the team itself may simply be made up differently to this. There’s nothing wrong with this necessarily; but things can get complicated quite quickly, and keeping track of who does what, and who is talking to who, can be tricky.

Here are three tips...

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How to Increase Stakeholder and Team Member Engagement Right from the Start - Mike Cohn

Do you struggle to engage the right people in product development? You are not alone.
Development team members sometimes view their jobs as things to be endured. They want to get through the 8-hour day, go home, and then do the things that really give them purpose.
Customers sometimes really want the end-result product but hate the process of getting there. “Can’t I just wave a magic wand and get what I want?” they wonder.
Increasing engagement in both team members and stakeholders leads to better products. Achieving that level of engagement can be hard, though.
One of the ways I get people excited about a project from the start is to involve everyone in story-writing workshops.
That means I want the programmers, testers, designers, analysts, DBAs, tech writers, and so on to participate. The Scrum Master, product owner, and key stakeholders should be there as well.
I don’t advise holding a story-writing workshop every sprint. Instead, I recommend doing one every three months or so. Each story-writing workshop should be focused on a strategic objective or two that is larger than a sprint.
Sure, the product owner and team can adjust this plan from iteration to iteration. But if a team doesn’t have a larger goal in mind, their work is often sub-optimized as they go from this iteration’s crisis to the next iteration’s crisis.
You may think it will be wasteful to include development team members in these quarterly story-writing workshops.
I don’t.
I consider it an investment. Sure, team members get less done on the day of the workshop. But that pays back quickly because:

Team members know more about the work they’ll do. Questions always arise when team members begin work on a product backlog item. But, if team members were present when user stories were written, they’ll have more context and fewer questions.
Encouraging participation when defining a set of features leads to greater engagement when building those features.

Conducting approximately quarterly story-writing workshop with team and stakeholder participation sets a project on the path to succeed with agile,

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What do we know about Sprint Goals? The 2020 Scrum Guide clearly states that a team commits to a Sprint Goal rather than how many User Stories the team can complete. Having a Sprint Goal is a great idea, but I often see it misfiring. The latest Scrum Guide focuses more on Sprint and Product goals, which is good.

However, setting goals will only help us if we change our thinking from output to outcome. If we set goals based on delivering features, we risk still ending up in a feature factory When setting goals, we should have a customer-centric perspective. We need to think as if we are in their shoes. Businesses are often tempted to give IT solutions rather than explain their problems. To tell what functionality or features they need. Speaking in a metaphor, the business is unwilling to let us walk in their shoes.

Join V. Lee Henson as we learn more about the history of Memorial Day and celebrate this special US based holiday tradition.

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Georgia State University Hails First Class of Inmate Graduates

In caps, gowns, and perhaps even ‘blues,’ 9 inmates at Walker State Prison in Georgia are set to receive their associates degrees for 60 credit hours of coursework done while incarcerated.

3 are graduating with highest honors (3.9 – 4.0 GPA) while the other 6 are gradutaing with high honors (3.7 – 3.89).

Organized by Geogria State University as part of their Prison Education Project, the courses included a variety of subjects such as environmental science, English, philosophy and ethics, and geology.

The GSUPEP program began in 2016 and offers college courses at Walker State Prison and Phillips State in Buford and is currently offering enrichment courses at the federal U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.

By 2025, GSU would like to offer the PEP associates degree in five other Georgia penitentiaries.

“Not only have these students demonstrated that they are critical thinkers by completing a degree, but they’ve also shown tremendous character to seek education and follow it through to the end,” said President Blake. “The degree they rightfully earned can never be taken away.”

50 other students are already in the pipeline, something which Patrick Rodriguez, director of the PEP says will reduce the chances they will end up incarcerated again.

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What Are Non-Functional Requirements?

I want to wrap up our back-to-basics series on user stories with a way to account for non-functional requirements in your backlog.
Here in the U.S., we're in the midst of tax season. Our annual income taxes must be paid no later than April 18 this year. While thinking about—or gulp! actually paying—taxes is not very fun, it does provide a useful example of how to think about nonfunctional requirements.
A nonfunctional requirement is a requirement about how the system exists in the world, rather than about something users can do with that system.
Nonfunctional requirements are often about performance, capacity, maintainability, localizability, interoperability, usability, portability and so on. Because so many of these end with -ility, they are often called the -ilities of a system.
For example, a feature or functional requirement of a word processor might be that it has a spell checker. The spell checker is something the user can do with the word processor.
A nonfunctional requirement might be that the spell checker works in English, French, German and Spanish. This requirement is about how the spell check feature exists in the world; in this case, it exists in four languages.
If the development team speaks English, that version will be the one developed first. And the team will have a nonfunctional requirement to make the spell checker work in French, German and Spanish.
Whether this is thought of as one requirement for three additional languages or three requirements for one additional language each will not matter for my point in this tip.
The effort to produce these translated versions of the product can be thought of as a tax on the development team’s performance. Consider whatever speed the team was going at before. They must now go a little slower due to the need to produce those translations.
It doesn’t matter whether the translations happen in the sprint, a sprint behind or whenever. In the grand scheme, the team is going slower by the amount of effort it takes to produce the translations. That is, they are slower by the amount they are taxed.
The amount of these taxes can become quite significant over time: Support the three last releases of three browsers. That’s a tax. Work on the three latest Windows releases. That’s a tax. Perform at this level. That’s a tax. Future scalability to that number of users. That’s a tax.
I hope that through this metaphor about the costs of nonfunctional requirements, you can use it to think through the value of including each on your project.

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ScrumWOW - Scrum As An Infomercial

Scrum is more than just a framework, it’s a way of life. It’s a framework that enables teams to work cohesively towards a common goal, and it’s not just for software development teams.

It can be used for any project that requires teamwork.

Scrum was first introduced in 1995 in “The Scrum Guide” and was based on the concept introduced in 1986 in the article “The New New Product Development Game.”

At its core, Scrum consists of three main pillars: transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

It’s also built on five core values: focus, commitment, respect, courage, and openness.

Without these values, the project is doomed to fail.

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Product - Platform - Service - What Is The Difference?

Product: an item, physical, virtual, digital, or hybrid that is produced; OR

a service offered for sale to serve a customer’s need or want; OR
a metaphorical vehicle. A vehicle that continually runs like a digital product for delivering value, where external customers and end users know what is produced or served when we mentioned it and people are expected to pay for it somehow, maybe with their money, data or some other consideration.

A product can be built upon the building blocks of platforms, systems, subsystems, or components.

Examples of products include a chair, a cake that I eat or maybe use of any learning service.

an item, physical, virtual, digital, or hybrid that is produced; OR

service; OR
metaphorical vehicle. This continually runs but rather than being recognized by external customers and end users, it underpins and enables value. However, it does not in and of itself deliver value.

It’s usually, but not always unrecognized by external customers and end users.

Salesforce would be recognized but it’s usually not recognized as an internal backend system. It’s often mistakenly labeled a product.

Examples of a platform include an enterprise resource planning system, a customer relationship management system, an e-learning system within the company and a podcast hosting redistribution system.

A platform can also be built upon the building blocks of systems, subsystems or components.

Service: I do some work; OR

Assistance or advice given to some customers; OR
Rental of a product, platform, system, subsystem, component or experience; OR
Labor originated value.

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That does it mean when I say Identifying and Managing All Debt - Not Just Technical Debt? Some organizations understand that they have debt, but they only take the time to think about the technical debt. How do we handle all of the other debt that needs to be addressed in a timely manner? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the best way to address the debt by using a debt cancel sprint cycle.

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Appreciation and gratitude are incredibly important for our mental and emotional well-being, as well as our relationships with others.

When we practice appreciation, we focus on the positive qualities and actions of others, rather than taking them for granted or criticizing them. This can foster a sense of connection and positivity in our relationships, as well as increase our own sense of happiness and satisfaction.

Gratitude, on the other hand, involves acknowledging and expressing thanks for the good things in our lives, whether big or small. Gratitude has been linked to a variety of benefits, including better sleep, reduced stress and anxiety, and improved relationships. By focusing on what we have rather than what we lack, we can cultivate a more positive and optimistic outlook on life.

Additionally, expressing appreciation and gratitude can have a positive impact on others. When we let others know that we value and appreciate them, it can boost their self-esteem and strengthen our relationships with them. It can also inspire them to pay it forward and spread positivity to others.

Overall, appreciation and gratitude are important practices that can help us cultivate more positive and fulfilling lives, both for ourselves and those around us.

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This week’s tip is about the imprecision of words.

Take, for example, something I read on a website once: We provide bouncers for children’s parties.

What did you think of when you read that?

I thought of big, burly, heavily muscled men in tight T-shirts who won’t let certain kids into the backyard clubhouse.

After seeing “we provide bouncers for children’s parties,” I was left wondering, what type of kid’s party needs a bouncer? And were there really enough kids in need of bouncers that this company had formed to serve them?

But this isn’t what the company meant. The company provides those big, inflatable bounce houses kids like to jump in. And apparently those are called bouncers by those in the know. So, this company really does provide bouncers to kids’ parties.

As much as I love words, words can be imprecise. They don’t always mean what we think they mean. My definition of bouncer and the company’s definition were completely different.

Because words aren’t as precise as we might think, an over-reliance on written words can lead to misunderstandings.

Writing is great and is sometimes the absolute best way to convey something. But sometimes, talking is better.

One of the nice things about user stories is they combine both. User stories have a written element–often just a sentence or two on an index card. But the backbone of most user stories are the conversations aimed at discovering details.

I’m confident that putting conversations back in your user stories will help you succeed with agile

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Do We Need an Agile Coach?

Agile Coaches are creative, reflective and non-directive people who guide and mentor individuals or organizations through adopting Agile Framework or improving the current Agile system. Making significant organizational changes can be challenging since the members must learn to adapt and embrace changes. It might require a shift of cultures and even the way of Leadership.

As we have seen, Agile Leadership is one of a kind. It requires the bosses to stop being bossy and managers to reduce control to achieve independent thinking among the scrum teams. We have just visualized an ideal example of how Agile might be challenging to adopt. It’s where an Agile Coach comes in.

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I have a theory. And it’s not much different than my theory on how to be a good human. And it is a simple list.

Before offering any advice or counsel to anyone, you must first earn their trust. And the best way to establish and build trust between two people is to offer it first. Express humility and genuine interest through showing vulnerability and asking questions to which you do not know the answer and are honestly interested in knowing the answer.
Have and express passion for the problem space that your client lives in. If you do not genuinely have passion for solving their problems, you will likely not be the best coach for them. Notice, I said problem space not solving or solutioning. You will further build trust by demonstrating your ability to understand the subtleties of their problem space and really, only then, will you best be able to coach individuals and teams. “Problem space” is intended to be a broad term that fully embraces the industry, the market, the company’s complexities (history, culture, politics), the technology, and their current state of change adoption and transformation.
Be open and infinitely flexible when it comes to the client’s business, situation, politics, and complexities… and yet firm on the matters they have asked you to help them change. As agile coaches, we sometimes forget we cannot fix everything (and we often have opinions on virtually every topic). It is critical that we acknowledge our role in the corporate environment. If they’ve asked us to focus on one particular problem space or part of the organization, we should do so and no matter how much we’d like to offer advice on things outside of our purview, we should be cognizant of our role in their complex ecosystem and stick to the problem domain we’ve been assigned to. That said, an excellent coach may subtly learn to plant very small seeds that grow into ideas in the minds of others who may actually have the role and influence to impact those other areas.

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Scrum is a path to business agility

Organizations adopt Scrum to achieve business agility so they can manage uncertainty and risk in complex environments to achieve their goals. Scrum helps deliver high-value creative solutions in increments of value over short periods (no longer than a month), called Sprints.

The framework depends on having a clear vision and an understanding of what you want to achieve. It requires embracing an agile mindset, which involves collaboration, flexibility, team empowerment and a willingness to experiment in the face of possible failure to navigate uncertainty and enable continuous improvement.

So, how do you know if you’re getting the value you deserve from Scrum? Let’s turn to the three questions that can help you determine that.

1) Are you getting a return on investment soon enough?

Whatever product or initiative your organization undertakes requires a discussion about the expected return on investment (ROI). Business owners and organizational leaders must decide where best to invest their staff and resources.

Delivering features and functionality your customers want and find valuable sooner significantly benefits your bottom line. Rather than tying up large amounts of budget for a long time without getting any return, using Scrum as intended by its creators allows you to deliver value incrementally and get some returns along the way.

Even if your product is not sold to customers but instead used internally, it can still have ROI. For example, you can measure value in terms of time saved, new customer services, or improved job satisfaction.

2) Do you have enough transparency, flexibility and control over investment decisions?

Scrum gives the organization transparency, flexibility and control over investment decisions because it focuses on delivering a small slice of usable value every Sprint. This limits the investment risk to a shorter time frame.

Having a usable Increment every Sprint also enables frequent feedback and assessment of changes in your environment, allowing you to validate that you are moving in the right direction and honing in on the desired outcomes. If not, you can pivot. Sometimes the best decision is to stop investing in an initiative. The sooner you stop, the better because there won’t be as much waste. You haven’t tied up people and resources for months or years before discovering that what you created missed the mark or is no longer needed.

3) How easily can you change direction to take advantage of opportunities and respond to risks?

Another way to word this question is, “How much waste will you have if the organization needs to stop investing in initiative A and pivot to initiative B?” There will likely be some waste, but you can work in a way that reduces that waste. And that also helps us avoid getting stuck in the sunk cost fallacy.

When you are not bound to projects and initiatives with long time horizons before realizing any value, it’s much easier to change course. By delivering value in shorter cycles, you’ve realized whatever ROI you could, putting the organization in a better position to shift resources to take advantage of new opportunities that arise or respond to risks.

Innumerable circumstances require organizations to change how they invest their people and resources. Emerging markets, changing customer behaviors, new revenue streams, technological breakthroughs, and adapting business operations to meet new needs or world circumstances are just a few examples. Being able to respond to these conditions quickly is the ultimate competitive advantage.

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24601 is the prisoner number and protagonist of the famous novel "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo. His real name is Jean Valjean. Throughout the novel, Jean Valjean undergoes a profound transformation from a bitter and hardened criminal to a compassionate and virtuous man.

There are several factors that contributed to Jean Valjean's transformation. Firstly, he was shown mercy and kindness by the bishop of Digne, who forgave him for stealing his silverware and gave him a second chance. This act of mercy moved Jean Valjean deeply and inspired him to change his ways.

Secondly, Jean Valjean was deeply affected by the suffering of Fantine, a young woman he had promised to care for before she died. This experience opened his eyes to the plight of the poor and vulnerable in society, and he made it his mission to help others in need.

Thirdly, the love and trust of Cosette, the orphaned daughter of Fantine whom he adopted, helped Jean Valjean to develop a sense of purpose and responsibility. He became determined to create a better life for Cosette and to protect her from harm.

Finally, Jean Valjean was motivated by his own desire for redemption and his belief in the power of personal transformation. He recognized the harm that he had caused in the past and committed himself to living a life of compassion, integrity, and service to others.

Through these experiences and the influence of the people around him, Jean Valjean learned to become a better man. He was able to overcome his past mistakes and live a life of meaning and purpose, inspiring others to do the same.

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Agile Story Writing Workshops - The Boundaries - Mike Cohn

Hi Lee,
This tip continues our series where we go back to the basics of user story writing. This week I want to talk about story writing workshops and boundaries.
Think outside the box. Do you hate that phrase as much as I do?
It’s become another overdone business cliche. But it also bothers me because creativity often comes from thinking inside the box.
I’ve seen this proven time and time again as the difference between a successful story-writing workshop and one that fails to engage participants or to lead to useful insights.
For a successful story-writing workshop, the product owner provides a significant objective as the box or boundary within which meeting participants work. The product owner starts the workshop by saying something like, “We’re here today to think about this subset (or chunk) of our product.”
When a product owner encourages a story-writing workshop to roam freely over the entire product, the participants will likely write a lot of stories but those stories will lack a cohesive purpose. When the product owner instead focuses the meeting on a single, significant objective, participants tend to find more creative and more valuable solutions to the chosen area of the product.
Early in the life of a product, a good significant objective could be on identifying what will be needed to deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Later story-writing workshops might then focus on identifying a Minimum Marketable Feature or MMF. This is a chunk of functionality that is big enough to be valuable when released but is a subset of what users need.
An additional benefit of focusing a story-writing workshop on a significant objective like an MVP or MMF is that these workshops can be done less frequently.
I like doing a story-writing workshop about every two to three months. Because my workshops are focused on a significant objective, each workshop identifies enough high value stories that the team does not need to spend much time writing new stories each iteration.
Setting a significant objective is an easy way to succeed with agile,

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[website] https://www.agiledad.com/
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What are 6 Agile Leadership Tips To Help Build AWESOME Agile Teams?

Encourage Different Perspectives: Contrary to popular belief, teams work best when there are disagreements amongst the members on the best path to solve a problem. In the presence of different opinions and some constructive friction, the solution will be more innovative.
Stabilize Teams: In contrast to our typical instinct, keeping a team intact for a long period of time will increase the team’s performance. Furthermore, the team will continue to improve the longer they stay together.
Small is Big: Smaller teams promote easy attainment of shared understanding, collaboration, expendient flow to done, and rapid learning.
Encourage Face-to-Face Interaction: Face-to-face communication is key for enabling optimal team communication and collaboration. This remains true in spite of today’s advanced remote technology.
Enable Self-Organization: Self-organization is not easy to achieve, but it is the best thing you can do to set up a team for success.
Serve the Team: Serving the team is not a manager’s first instinct. Often a manager feels the best way to serve the team is to direct them and ensure they do not fail. This actually works against the power and capability of a team by shutting down innovation and self-organizing behavior.

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Defining your Product Vision is the single most important thing for your product success.

With direction and purpose, you can overcome any challenge.

Product Vision statements are how we clarify and communicate our purpose.

They set direction, align and guide development teams towards a common goal.

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[website] https://www.agiledad.com/
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What does the agile business analyst (BA) do?

The business analyst is part of the POBAFATA and is the key interface between the end user and the product owner.

Agile BAs engage with consumers and key users to understand their:

working processes
needs
problems
plans for growth
technical systems
user insights
user models

Ground rules at Backlog Creation Workshop sessions can include the following:

Respect everyone’s opinion
Be neutral
Don’t make assumptions about requirements
Everyone is expected to contribute
Unimportant discussions should be limited
Discuss the issues, not the people
Side discussions during the session should be avoided
Be on time and have good time management
Write everything and ask for documentation that supports the requirements
Have the right key-users
Practice active listening
Conduct the analysis session

After having identified the key participants and the analysis session scheduled, it is time to structure the workshop:

Before the session:

Prepare the features and write down the identified key participants
Define the purpose and desired outcomes at each feature
Write down all questions and doubts to be answered
If you need specific data or documents, add them to the agenda and send them to the key users to have them prepared for the session.

During the session:

Follow the agenda
Respect the ground rules
Identify requirements at each macro feature
Identify the personas involved
Identify the processes and flows at each macro feature
Write down all answers to your questions and doubts
Ask everything and go deeper to understand the requirement better

After the session:

Please list all the macro features and their requirements
Identify the personas at each feature
Gather all the given information by macro feature and its requirements
Draw the flow on paper if it is easier for you, and after, do it on Visio (or other) to attach the Functional Requirements Document
Start to write the Functional Requirements Document with user stories and send the first draft to the client to approve, and show that you are aligned with them
Document everything
Focus on business requirements, not tools

How to connect with AgileDad:

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Sincerity is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine. It’s the quality of being free from pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy.
Competence is the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. the quality or state of having sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or strength. The NIH Office of Human Resources describes the difference between competencies and skills as: “Competencies are the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that contribute to individual and organizational performance. Knowledge is information developed or learned through experience, study, or investigation. Skill is the result of repeatedly applying knowledge or ability.”
Character is the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Your character is your personality, especially how reliable and honest you are.

The Top 4 Benefits From Implementing Agile

Improved Customer Satisfaction: Agile methodologies emphasize customer collaboration, enabling teams to develop products that meet customer needs and align with the organisation’s strategic objectives.
Faster Delivery: Enable teams to deliver working software or products more frequently, reducing the time to market and improving customer satisfaction.
Increased Flexibility: Flexibility and adaptability, enabling teams to respond quickly to changes in requirements or the business environment.
Enhanced Collaboration: Collaboration between stakeholders, enabling teams to work together more effectively and align their efforts with the organization’s strategic objectives.

Change or Fail.. The Shocking Importance of Adaptability

If you do not change, you will NEVER succeed! Learn more about the shocking need for adaptability in every organization and role!

Strong Leaders Accept Mutual Accountability

Do strong leaders let the blame fall on an individual or agile team? How do they handle the issues within the organization in a way where mutual accountability and psychological safety exist? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the 2 keys that help leaders live, learn, and thrive.

Choose a Different Location
Follow Through
Circle of Influence & Concern
Remember The Future
Writing The Unspeakable
Expectations
Why retrospectives
The Constellation Game
Discuss The Teams Purpose
The Feedback Game

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the three keys to better communication to help us better engage and be a better listener.

Why Scrum Fails?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad when we explore why scrum fails and what we can do to resolve it.

How Are Agile Retrospectives Like Jedi Councils?

Jedi Council meetings and Agile retrospectives share similarities in their purpose and structure as gatherings designed to reflect on progress, identify areas for improvement, and plan for the future. Let’s explore these concepts in more detail.

Jedi Council meetings:

In the Star Wars universe, the Jedi Council is an assembly of experienced Jedi Masters who are responsible for guiding the Jedi Order and making critical decisions. They regularly convene to discuss the state of the galaxy, assess current situations, and determine the appropriate course of action. These meetings often involve reflecting on past events, addressing challenges, and strategizing for the future.

Agile retrospectives:

In Agile software development, retrospectives are regular meetings held by Agile teams to reflect on their recent work and identify areas for improvement. During retrospectives, team members discuss what went well, what could be improved, and what actions they should take to enhance their performance in the next iteration. The focus is on continuous improvement, learning, and adapting to change.

Agile Estimation Techniques - What NOT To Do...

Relative estimation is a technique that involves assigning a relative size to each item in the product backlog. This approach does not rely on specific units of measurement, such as hours or days, but instead compares each item to others in terms of relative complexity, effort, or risk. The most commonly used method for relative estimation is called the Fibonacci sequence, which assigns a sequence of numbers to represent the relative size of each item.
Planning poker is a game-like technique that involves the entire team in estimating the relative size of each item in the product backlog. In planning poker, each team member is given a set of cards with numbers that represent the relative size of each item. The team then discusses the item and each member chooses a card that represents their estimate. The estimates are then shared, and any discrepancies are discussed until a consensus is reached.
Wideband Delphi is a technique that involves a facilitator who solicits anonymous estimates from team members, compiles them, and shares them with the group for discussion. This approach helps to prevent bias and encourages more honest and accurate estimates. The facilitator then guides the team in a discussion to reach a consensus estimate for each item.

DON'T USE A NUMBER!!

Top 4 Deliverables Every Product Manager Should Focus On

Vision - Where we are trying to go...
Strategy- How we execute the vision...
Design - Know what to build...
Execution - Get the work done...

The 5 C's For Building Relationships:

Communication
Commitment
Compassion
Compatibility
Chemistry

Explore the 5 C's with V. Lee Henson and learn how you can improve your relationship skills.

Improving Your Retros With ABC Behavior

A — Antecedent: This refers to the event or situation that occurs before a behavior takes place. Antecedents can include things like instructions, cues, prompts, or environmental factors.

B — Behavior: This refers to the observable actions, responses, or reactions that an individual exhibits in response to an antecedent. Behaviors can be positive, negative, or neutral.

C — Consequence: This refers to the event that occurs immediately after a behavior and can either reinforce or punish the behavior. Consequences can include rewards, feedback, social interactions, or other environmental factors.

https://medium.com/@alexdh359/abcs-of-behavior-improve-your-retros-f1399f090fb0

5 Keys to Keep Your Daily Scrum On Track

Time-boxed: The meeting is time-boxed to a maximum of 15 minutes. This encourages team members to stay focused and to keep their updates concise and relevant. 30 seconds per person not to exceed 15 minutes.
Daily: The meeting is held daily, typically at the same time and place. This helps to establish a routine and keeps the team on track.
Stand-up: The meeting is conducted while standing up, which helps to keep the meeting brief and focused. (Plank is an option)
Three Questions - The meeting typically follows a set format, where each team member answers three questions.
Focus on Collaboration: The meeting is designed to encourage collaboration and communication within the team. Team members are encouraged to ask questions and offer help to their colleagues.

Agile Requirement Definition in a Nutshell

What is requirement definition?
Who should define the requirements?
When should we define the requirements?
How should we define requirements?
Why is it so important that we get this right?

The 4 Different Types of Vision & Strategy Execution for Leaders

1) Narrow and Shallow Strategy - These are the WORST type! They are not too dissimilar to the broad-and-shallow, but they lack the breadth of consideration. Narrow-and-shallow strategies are the ones that look like someone wrote it down on a napkin whilst trying to rush out the door. They lack the wide considerations that broad strategies have and as a result, are full of fluff.

2) Narrow but Deep Strategy - There’s nothing inherently wrong with a narrow-but-deep strategy. However, their detail can often give a false sense of confidence. Due to their narrow nature, external factors often blindsided narrow-but-deep strategies. Without investing the time to go broad and consider a wider range of influences, narrow strategies regularly come undone by external events.

3) Broad and Shallow Strategy - As you would correctly guess, these strategies that are high-level but have considered a wide range of aspects. An example of a broad-and-shallow strategy would be a company strategy that doesn’t go into depth on the ‘how’ too much. Broad-and-shallow strategies are the most effective in larger organizations that wish to create the space for agency and autonomy.

4) Broad and Deep Strategy - These are well-considered, detailed and informed by data and research. They can be immensely powerful when done to the right level for the context. They consider a wide range of possibilities, influences and inputs. The strategy then described in depth how these influences have led to a set of choices — both choices to do something and to not do something. As well as how these choices will be executed.

Pie It Forward - Small acts of Kindness Truly Do Make a Difference

This story takes place in a small town in Iowa. It all started when a local restaurant owner, Beth Howard, noticed that many of her customers were struggling to make ends meet. She saw people who were hungry, who couldn't afford to buy food for themselves and their families. It broke her heart, and she knew she had to do something to help.

So, she came up with an idea. She decided to start a program called "Pie it Forward." The idea was simple: for every pie that customers bought, she would donate a pie to someone in need. The response was overwhelming. People were not only buying pies for themselves but also for others who were struggling.

The program quickly grew, and soon, Beth was making hundreds of pies each week to donate to local food banks, shelters, and other organizations that serve people in need. Her customers were happy to be a part of something that was making a difference in their community.

But Beth didn't stop there. She wanted to do more. So, she started teaching pie-making classes, where people could come and learn how to make pies themselves. She also started a program called "Pie Therapy," where she invited people who were struggling with mental health issues to come to her farm and bake pies together.

Through these programs, Beth was able to bring people together, build community, and provide hope and support to those who needed it most. Her acts of kindness and generosity inspired others to do the same, and soon, people all over the town were getting involved, volunteering their time and resources to help those in need.

One of the most heartwarming parts of this story is that the impact of Beth's actions was felt far beyond the borders of her small town. News of her programs spread, and soon, people from all over the country were sending her letters and messages of support. Some even started their own "Pie it Forward" programs in their communities.

What started as one small act of kindness has turned into a movement, spreading hope and love to people all over the country. Beth's "Pie it Forward" program is proof that one person can make a difference and that small acts of kindness can have a big impact.

Team Working agreements - Make or Break Successful Agile Projects

In today’s post-pandemic world, the norm of life and business has evolved in the last 36 months more rapidly than ever. In the business realm, we are in a constant flux of adapting faster, pivoting quicker as we realize the plans we made yesterday, aren’t going to set us for success today.

With distributed teams and remote working being the norm, there is a heightened awareness on the need to be transparent, build on open communication, make work visible, a few of the paradigm shifts experienced in varied forms of agile development. Each of us in our respective organizations are helping teams establish their own Agile ways of working to enable development of releasable code faster, with shorter feedback loops from our customer stakeholders, and adapt more effectively.

Now in 2022, all of us are still aligning to the current reality and hybrid ways of working compounded with cross-geo teams. Many a times, global teams are conjoined by a common or overlapping sprint or development goals. There is a constant buzz of change, volatility, complex scenarios evolving, as we are adapting to work seamlessly as a team. As dispersed, we are by our own specific backlog priorities, time zones, there are also needs to be more effective and be more aligned to the shifting business landscapes as a team.

The Top 5 Attributes of An AMAZING Agile Coach

Guiding the Agile transformation: The Agile coach should guide the organization in its Agile transformation journey, from adoption to continuous improvement. This includes providing guidance on the Agile methodology, helping the organization adopt Agile practices, and coaching teams on how to apply Agile principles in their work.
Empowering teams: The Agile coach should help teams become self-organizing and self-managing. This includes coaching teams on how to work collaboratively, facilitating effective communication, and helping teams to identify and resolve conflicts. The Agile coach should also help teams develop their Agile skills and competencies.
Removing impediments: The Agile coach should help identify and remove impediments that are preventing the team from achieving its goals. This includes working with stakeholders and management to remove obstacles, coaching team members on how to address issues, and helping the team to continuously improve its processes.
Facilitating Agile ceremonies: The Agile coach should facilitate Agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. This includes ensuring that the ceremonies are effective, that they achieve their objectives, and that they are aligned with the organization's goals.
Developing a culture of continuous improvement: The Agile coach should help the organization develop a culture of continuous improvement. This includes coaching teams on how to identify and implement improvements, facilitating retrospectives, and encouraging experimentation and innovation.

Growth Mindset and Business Agility - A Perfect Match!

First, let's define what we mean by an open mindset. An open mindset is a way of thinking that is open to new ideas, perspectives, and experiences. It is a willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn. When we have an open mindset, we are open to change and willing to embrace it. This is important in the context of business agility because it allows us to respond quickly to changing market conditions, customer needs, and technological advancements.

So, how can we develop an open mindset? One way is to cultivate a growth mindset. A growth mindset is a belief that our abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. When we have a growth mindset, we are not afraid of failure, and we see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. This is important in the context of business agility because it allows us to experiment, take risks, and learn from our mistakes.

Another way to develop an open mindset is to seek out diverse perspectives. When we surround ourselves with people who think differently than we do, we are exposed to new ideas and ways of thinking. This helps us to expand our own thinking and be more open to different possibilities. This is important in the context of business agility because it allows us to consider different approaches and solutions to problems.

Now let's talk about how an open mindset can help us achieve business agility. Business agility is the ability of an organization to respond quickly to change and adapt to new circumstances. When we have an open mindset, we are better equipped to do this because we are not limited by our own biases and assumptions. Instead, we are open to new ideas and approaches that may better serve our customers and stakeholders.

An open mindset also allows us to be more innovative. When we are open to new ideas and approaches, we are more likely to come up with creative solutions to problems. This is important in the context of business agility because it allows us to respond to changing market conditions with new products and services that meet the evolving needs of our customers.

Finally, an open mindset allows us to be more collaborative. When we are open to different perspectives, we are better able to work with others to achieve common goals. This is important in the context of business agility because it allows us to quickly form cross-functional teams to respond to new challenges and opportunities.

In conclusion, an open mindset is essential for achieving business agility. By cultivating a growth mindset, seeking out diverse perspectives, and being open to new ideas and approaches, we can better respond to changing market conditions, be more innovative, and collaborate more effectively.

Do you let the voices in your head rule your decisions? If you have seen the movie Luca, you are familiar with the term 'Silenzio Bruno'. In this episode, Fry Your Chickens with Phil Barth, we learn the keys to seek and embrace happiness.

Today, we're going to be talking about a recent news story that's sure to put a smile on your face.

In a world where news headlines are often filled with doom and gloom, it's always refreshing to come across a story that's just plain fun. And that's exactly what we have for you today.

Our story takes place in the city of Dublin, Ireland, where a group of residents decided to take matters into their own hands when they noticed that the pedestrian crossing lights in their neighborhood were a bit dull and boring. Instead of waiting for the city council to do something about it, they decided to take matters into their own hands and do something about it themselves.

So, what did they do? They took some colorful post-it notes and started decorating the pedestrian crossing lights with fun designs and patterns. From smiley faces to rainbows to love hearts, the group transformed the once-boring crossing lights into a colorful and playful display.

The group behind the project, known as "Dublin's Crossings", said that they wanted to bring some joy and positivity to their neighborhood. And it certainly seems to have worked! The colorful lights have become a hit with residents and visitors alike, with many people stopping to take photos and admire the colorful display.

The project has even caught the attention of the local city council, who have praised the group for their creativity and community spirit. The council has said that they are now considering making the colorful crossing lights a permanent fixture in the neighborhood.

So, what can we learn from this story? Well, it's a great example of how a small group of people can make a big difference in their community. Instead of waiting for someone else to solve a problem, they took matters into their own hands and came up with a fun and creative solution.

It's also a great reminder of the power of positivity. In a world where there's often so much negativity and division, it's important to take a moment to appreciate the simple things in life and find joy in the little things.

In conclusion, the story of "Dublin's Crossings" is a great example of how a small act of kindness and creativity can have a big impact on a community. It's a reminder to look for joy and positivity in the world around us and to never underestimate the power of a little bit of fun.

Is STABLE (From The Framework) an Acronym?- It Could Be!

Today, we're going to be talking about the STABLE framework.

The STABLE framework is an Agile framework designed specifically for regulated industries, such as finance, healthcare, and government. These industries are subject to strict regulations and compliance requirements, which can make it challenging to implement Agile methodologies. The STABLE framework provides a structured approach to Agile that takes these requirements into account.

So, what does STABLE stand for? The acronym stands for:

S - Secure
T - Traceable
A - Accountable
B - Business value-focused
L - Legally compliant
E - Efficient

Let's take a closer look at each of these elements.

Secure - This means that the framework provides a secure environment for the team to work in. This is especially important in regulated industries where data privacy and security are critical.

Traceable - The framework ensures that everything is tracked and traceable, which is essential for compliance purposes. This includes things like user stories, requirements, and test cases.

Accountable - The framework ensures that everyone on the team is accountable for their work. This means that there are clear roles and responsibilities, and everyone knows what they need to do to contribute to the project's success.

Business value-focused - The framework ensures that the team is focused on delivering business value. This means that everything the team does should be aligned with the project's goals and objectives.

Legally compliant - The framework ensures that the team is legally compliant with all applicable regulations and laws. This is critical in regulated industries where non-compliance can result in hefty fines and legal repercussions.

Efficient - The framework ensures that the team is working efficiently and effectively. This means that there are clear processes and workflows in place to ensure that work is being done in the most efficient way possible.

The STABLE framework is based on the Agile principles of collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement. It provides a structure for Agile that takes into account the unique requirements of regulated industries.

In conclusion, the STABLE framework is an Agile framework designed specifically for regulated industries. It provides a structured approach to Agile that takes into account the unique requirements of these industries. The framework is based on the Agile principles of collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement, and it provides a secure, traceable, accountable, business value-focused, legally compliant, and efficient environment for the team to work in.

Top 3 Characteristics a PO Needs To be Successful - Guest Host - Jasmine

Resilience
Communication
Reflecting

Enjoy!

Agile Is Like A Roller Coaster!

Today, we're going to be talking about how Agile is like a roller coaster.

Now, you might be thinking, "What does Agile have to do with roller coasters?" But bear with us, because there are some striking similarities between the two.

First of all, let's think about the structure of a roller coaster. It's made up of a series of ups and downs, twists and turns, and unexpected drops. Similarly, Agile is all about embracing change and uncertainty. Just like a roller coaster, Agile projects are full of unexpected twists and turns, and teams need to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

Another similarity is the need for collaboration. On a roller coaster, you're not riding alone – you're sharing the experience with other people. Similarly, Agile projects require a high level of collaboration between team members. Agile teams need to work together closely to ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction and that everyone is aware of what's going on.

Another similarity is the importance of planning. Before you get on a roller coaster, you need to know what you're getting yourself into. Similarly, Agile teams need to plan carefully to ensure that they are on track and that they are meeting their goals. This planning can take the form of sprints, retrospectives, and daily stand-up meetings.

Finally, both roller coasters and Agile projects require trust. When you get on a roller coaster, you're putting your trust in the engineers and operators who built and maintain the ride. Similarly, Agile teams need to trust each other to do their jobs and to work together effectively. Without trust, it's impossible to achieve the level of collaboration and communication needed to make Agile work.

So, there you have it – how Agile is like a roller coaster. Both require adaptability, collaboration, planning, and trust. But unlike a roller coaster, Agile projects don't have to be scary or unpredictable. With the right mindset and approach, Agile can help your team deliver better results and achieve their goals.

What the?? Vanilla Ice Was The Perfect Agile Coach - Fixed vs Growth Mindset - PMBA Orlando

Is this even possible? Thanks to all who attended my keynote session this morning! The conference is AMAZING as usual and we LOVE to have all of your support. Tune in today to learn how all of this can possibly be connected.

https://www.pmbaconferences.com/

Moovin On Up - Farmer Finds Cow On The Roof Of His Barn!

Today, we're talking about a story that made headlines for its unusual circumstances. So sit back, relax, and get ready to laugh! This story really MOOved me! I know I know... It is time I sent these cow jokes out to pasture. Our story takes us to the small town of Flushing, Michigan where a local farmer made a hilarious mistake. The farmer, who wishes to remain anonymous, was out working in his fields when he noticed something strange. He looked up and saw a cow perched on the roof of his barn!

Yes, you heard that right. Somehow, this cow had managed to climb up onto the roof of the barn and was just standing there, looking down at the farmer. The farmer was completely stunned and had no idea what to do. He called the fire department and they quickly arrived on the scene.Now, you might be thinking, "How on earth did a cow get onto the roof of a barn?" Well, it turns out that the cow had been grazing in the nearby field when it saw a pile of hay on the roof of the barn. The hay had been stored there by the farmer and the cow must have thought it was a great place to snack. So, it climbed up onto the roof to get to the hay.

After some quick thinking, the fire department was able to safely rescue the cow from the roof of the barn. The cow was unharmed and was returned to the field, where it will hopefully stick to grazing on the ground from now on. And that's our funny news story for today. Who knew cows were such talented climbers? We hope this story brought a smile to your face and brightened up your day.

60 Second Sprints on The 5 Scrum Events... Ready? GO!

The first event is the Sprint. The Sprint is a time-boxed period where the team works to deliver a potentially releasable product increment. A Sprint usually lasts between one and four weeks. During the Sprint, the team plans, designs, develops, and tests the product increment. The Sprint is a crucial event because it provides a fixed time frame for the team to work within and allows them to focus on delivering a specific set of features.

The second event is Sprint Planning. Sprint Planning is a time-boxed meeting where the team plans the work they will do during the upcoming Sprint. During this meeting, the team decides what items from the Product Backlog they will work on and how they will achieve their Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal is a statement that describes what the team will accomplish during the Sprint. Sprint Planning helps the team understand what they need to do and how they will do it.

The third event is the Daily Scrum. The Daily Scrum is a daily meeting where the team comes together to plan their work for the day. During this meeting, each team member answers three questions: What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? Are there any impediments in my way? The Daily Scrum is a quick meeting that helps the team stay focused and aligned on their work.

The fourth event is the Sprint Review. The Sprint Review is a time-boxed meeting where the team demonstrates the product increment they have built during the Sprint. The team presents the product increment to stakeholders and receives feedback. The feedback is used to help the team improve the product increment and plan for the next Sprint. The Sprint Review is a crucial event because it provides an opportunity for the team to receive feedback and make changes to the product.

The fifth and final event is the Sprint Retrospective. The Sprint Retrospective is a time-boxed meeting where the team reflects on the Sprint and identifies what went well and what could be improved. During this meeting, the team discusses their processes and identifies areas where they can make changes to improve their performance. The Sprint Retrospective is an important event because it helps the team continuously improve their processes and work together more effectively.

Understanding Agile Product Strategy

Agile Product Strategy is an iterative approach to product development that focuses on creating and delivering products that meet customer needs while also achieving business goals. Let's dive in!

First, let's define what Agile Product Strategy is. Agile Product Strategy is a process that involves understanding customer needs, defining business goals, and creating a plan to deliver a product that meets those needs and achieves those goals. It is an iterative process that involves testing and iterating on the product to ensure that it meets customer needs and achieves business goals.

So, how does Agile Product Strategy work?

The first step in Agile Product Strategy is to understand customer needs. This involves conducting user research to understand customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. Once customer needs are understood, the next step is to define business goals. This involves identifying what the company hopes to achieve by developing the product.

The next step in Agile Product Strategy is to create a plan to deliver the product. This involves breaking down the development process into small, manageable pieces called user stories. Each user story represents a small piece of functionality that is required to deliver the product. The user stories are prioritized based on their importance to customers and their impact on business goals.

Once the user stories are prioritized, the team begins to develop the product. The development process is broken down into short periods of time called sprints. Each sprint lasts between one to four weeks, and at the end of each sprint, the team delivers a working product increment.

After each sprint, the team conducts a review to assess the product increment's performance against customer needs and business goals. Based on the review, the team may make changes to the product and plan for the next sprint.

So, what are the benefits of using Agile Product Strategy?

The first benefit of Agile Product Strategy is that it allows companies to quickly respond to customer needs. By breaking the development process down into small, manageable pieces, companies can quickly test and iterate on the product to ensure that it meets customer needs.

The second benefit of Agile Product Strategy is that it helps companies achieve their business goals. By prioritizing user stories based on their impact on business goals, companies can ensure that they are focusing on the most important features of the product.

The third benefit of Agile Product Strategy is that it promotes collaboration and teamwork. By breaking the development process down into sprints, the team works together to deliver a working product increment at the end of each sprint.

In summary, Agile Product Strategy is an iterative approach to product development that focuses on creating and delivering products that meet customer needs while also achieving business goals. By breaking the development process down into small, manageable pieces and working in sprints, companies can quickly respond to customer needs, achieve their business goals, and promote collaboration and teamwork.

Are Your User Stories Opened or Closed?

A useful concept to keep in mind when writing or splitting user stories is to always try to write closed user stories. A closed user story is one that finishes with the user having achieved a meaningful goal. I like to think of the user being ready for a coffee break after finishing a closed user story.
As an example of a story that is not closed, consider this one from a job search website: “As a recruiter, I can manage the job ads I’ve placed.”
This story is too big to be useful. Managing is not something a user is ever done with. Think of a manager in your office. Does that manager ever get to say, “OK. It’s 10 A. M. I’m done managing. It’s time to get some real work done.”
Of course not.
The word “manage” is the big clue that we’re not working with a closed user story. Similar words might be administer, administrate, maintain, and others like that.
Let’s see how you could take this user story and make it closed.
First, consider what manage really means in this context and write stories that better reflect those meanings. On a job search site, managing the job ads means reviewing incoming applications, checking the expiration dates of ads, deleting any applications that are not a good fit, and modifying ad text to better find candidates.
So, you would write stories about specifically those ideas. The initial story is then replaced by:

As a recruiter, I can review resumes from applicants to one of my ads so that I can pass good candidates to the hiring manager.
As a recruiter, I can change the expiration date of an ad so that we continue to get more applications for open positions or stop receiving applications for positions that have been filled.
As a recruiter, I can delete an application that is not a good match for a job so that no one else wastes time reviewing inappropriate candidates.
As a recruiter, I can modify the description of any job in an ad so that we are attracting the best possible candidates for the position.

Each of these stories is closed. The recruiter-user achieves a meaningful goal by completing any of these stories. Or, as I’ve said, the user could feel it’s time for a coffee break. “Ah,” the recruiter thinks, “I’ve finished reviewing applicants. Time for a coffee break.” Or, “Ah, I’m updating expiration dates. Time for a coffee break.”.
Writing closed stories is good not just for benefits to the users, but because they aren’t so open-ended. A story that says only that a recruiter can manage job ads could mean something very different to team members than it does to the product owner. The product owner might have thought that included running reports on the effectiveness of certain keywords in the job titles. After all, the product owner might think, having those reports is vital to managing the ads effectively.
The process of writing closed stories can drive out some of that vagueness that leads to the team misinterpreting a product owner’s intent.
Are there times when an open story is a good idea? Yes—they’re fine as big, big, placeholder epics on a product backlog. So, early on in a project it would be fine to have a story about managing the job ads. But, as the time approaches to work on that story, you’ll want to split it into closed stories, each of which allows the user to accomplish a meaningful goal.

What Is The Difference Between a ScrumMaster and The Agile Coach?

First, let's define what Agile methodology is. Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development. It emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement. Scrum and Kanban are two of the most popular Agile frameworks.

Now, let's talk about the roles of a ScrumMaster and an Agile coach. A ScrumMaster is responsible for facilitating the Scrum process and ensuring that it's being followed correctly. They act as a servant-leader to the team, removing any obstacles that may prevent them from delivering the product increment. The ScrumMaster also helps the team continuously improve by facilitating retrospectives, and they protect the team from external distractions.

On the other hand, an Agile coach is a more comprehensive role. They work with multiple teams or the entire organization to implement Agile methodology. Agile coaches are responsible for creating an Agile environment that supports continuous improvement and enables teams to work effectively. They work with teams to identify and resolve problems, and they provide guidance on Agile best practices. An Agile coach also helps to foster a culture of collaboration, learning, and innovation across the organization.

So, what are the key differences between a ScrumMaster and an Agile coach?

The first difference is their scope of responsibility. While a ScrumMaster focuses on facilitating the Scrum process for one team, an Agile coach takes a more holistic approach, working with multiple teams or the entire organization.

The second difference is their focus. A ScrumMaster is primarily focused on ensuring that the Scrum process is followed correctly and helping the team to continuously improve. An Agile coach, on the other hand, is focused on creating an Agile environment that supports collaboration, learning, and innovation.

The third difference is their level of involvement. A ScrumMaster is very involved with the team, working closely with them on a daily basis. An Agile coach is less involved with individual teams, but they provide guidance and support to help the teams improve.

Now that we've discussed the differences between a ScrumMaster and an Agile coach, let's talk about how they work together.

An Agile coach can provide guidance and support to a ScrumMaster to help them better facilitate the Scrum process. They can also work with multiple ScrumMasters to ensure that the Scrum process is being followed consistently across the organization.

In addition, an Agile coach can help to identify any systemic issues that may be preventing teams from working effectively. They can work with the ScrumMasters and teams to address these issues and improve the overall Agile environment.

In summary, a ScrumMaster and an Agile coach are both important roles in Agile methodology. While a ScrumMaster focuses on facilitating the Scrum process for one team, an Agile coach takes a more holistic approach, working with multiple teams or the entire organization. They have different responsibilities and purposes, but they work together to create an Agile environment that supports collaboration, learning, and innovation.

Evidence of Cheese-Making to Circumvent Lactose Intolerance 6000 Years Ago Found in Poland! Analysis of neolithic pottery shards shows that in Northern Europe, where poor soils and low sunlight made primitive agriculture extremely difficult, people were making cheese in places like Poland potentially as far back as 9,000 years ago.

Examinations of perforated vessels not only found the presence of the dairy protein casein which suggests the creation of curd-enriched products from raw milk, but casein from cows, goats, and sheep, suggesting they were making a kind La Tur long before most other forms of modern food production ever reached the continent.

Can Agile and ITIL Play Nice Together? - What is Agile Service Management? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss how a very strict ITIL world and Agile play well together.

How do you know if the ScrumMaster role is right for you? Join one of our FAVORITE Agile Coaches, Keis Kostaqi as we learn a little more about whether or not you fit into this accountability.

Let’s talk about detail in user stories. Many of us are drawn to detail. It feels good to know exactly what features a product will contain. And it feels good to know precisely how a feature will be implemented.

Knowing the details of something feels good.

It certainly feels better than being in the middle of the morass of open issues, undecided features, and general uncertainty that make up most projects.

To bring order to the chaos, we attempt to remove uncertainty by adding details to our product backlog items.

But is it the right time?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how to handle On-Call incidents. Do NOT let your duty phone turn into a doo-doo phone.

4 Uplifting Lessons From The Life of St. Patrick:

Stay Faithful, Even When Life Is Hard
Trust in God’s Plan
Step Out in Faith
Meet People Where They Are

AMAZING Stories Are Worth The INVESTment!

Bill Wake came up with a formula for writing perfect Agile Stories called INVEST:

Independent: The user story should be self-contained and not dependent on other stories.
Negotiable: The details of the story can be negotiated and refined during the development process.
Valuable: The story must provide value to the end user or customer.
Estimable: The story must be clear enough for the team to estimate the effort required to implement it.
Sized Appropriately: The story should be small enough to be completed in a single sprint or iteration.
Testable: The story should have clear acceptance criteria that can be used to verify when it is done.

Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss some of the more fine details around this model.

Sprint Planning - Should Teams Sign Up For Tasks? This is a GREAT Question.. Join Agile Coach Keis Kostaqi as we explore what she feels is best for teams to do at Sprint Planning! What a way to kickoff International Women's Month!

Should My Team Pull More Work Into a Sprint? Not unless they plan to FINISH the items they pull in.. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what we can and should do when teams feel like they can take on more work.

How Long Should Agile Teams Stay Together? This is such a good question. I recently got an email from Mike Cohn where we have a bit of a discussion surrounding The Tuckman model, (Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing). My thought is that mature Agile teams should be self-organized and self-regulated. This means that they have the power to adjust in order to maintain an AWESOME culture. What are your thoughts?

I could very easily have given you a list of 750 important things to celebrate in your life, but I took the liberty to narrow that list down to the top 3... Whether it is my wife, my kids, or my faith, there are many facets that make an AgileDad tick.

I was talking to a colleague a while back about the primary accountability of Scrum teams. They said that it is the job of an agile team to create value.

I disagree.

An agile team's job is to deliver value.

There's a subtle difference between creating value and delivering it.

For me, it's like the difference between baking a cake and making a cake.

I can bake a cake–it only involves opening a box, adding water, and putting it in the oven. I’d eat it myself (of course!) but I wouldn’t want to serve it to my company.

But when my daughter makes a cake she puts frosting on (the best part!) and often adds little decorative flourishes with more frosting. She might write on the cake. She might even add sprinkles. Her cake is finished and potentially shippable. It could definitely be served at a dinner party, or sold at a bake sale.

Creating value is a start but it’s like a cake that hasn’t been decorated or even frosted. Delivering value goes further. It includes getting the new, valuable thing into your users’ hands.

Creating a product that users will value is a necessary start. But the product only becomes valuable once it is delivered to users.

When a team goes beyond creating value to delivering value frequently, it has learned to succeed with agile,

All companies want to be…Agile. It is like a sexy word isn’t it?

It is the same as startups want to be “disruptive”. It is a buzzword, but what does it mean?

In the dictionary, it means: able to move your body quickly and easily.

So you move/act rather quickly and easily. Is your company an acrobat if it is agile?

In all seriousness, the Agile Manifesto is a Bible for everyone who is starting their Agile journey, either through Scrum training or when a company is streamlining their processes.

This manifesto is pretty simple in words, but when you are starting to implementing it, problems arise. The solution may be to attentively read it, put it into context and practice

https://ritamaral15.medium.com/how-to-live-the-agile-manifesto-b282a8e33ee5

Clearly communicate the benefits of Scrum, such as increased transparency, better collaboration, and faster delivery of value, to the team. This will help them understand why the framework is important and how it can benefit them.
Provide training and education on Scrum principles and practices to the team, and even to the stakeholders. This will help them understand the framework and how to work within it.
Act as a coach for the team, helping them to identify and address any issues or challenges that arise. This will help build a culture of continuous improvement within the team.
Encourage collaboration among team members and build a culture of trust. This will help the team understand the importance of working together effectively.
Empower the team to take ownership of the process and make decisions about how to best implement Scrum. This will help create a sense of ownership and commitment among the team members.
Celebrate the team’s successes and progress, this will help team members feel valued and motivated to continue working together.
Provide regular feedback to the team on their progress and how they are implementing Scrum. This will help them understand what they are doing well and where they need to improve.
Leading by example in terms of transparency and openness will create a culture of trust and respect, and team members will be more willing to follow the process.
And finally, Be patient and understand that change takes time, it takes time for the team to understand, adopt and adapt to the new process, so be persistent in your efforts to educate and coach the team through the process.

https://dejansoftware.medium.com/what-are-the-most-asymmetrical-problems-for-a-new-scrum-master-d586c7b7ba68

What do you do to show appreciation for your employees? Each year we have a day to celebrate those who work for us.. Join V. Lee Henson as he discusses how the team at AgileDad celebrates who works WITH us!

India’s Jal Jeevan Mission of tap water access continues to be one of the great, unsung stories of human development.

Almost 79 million households have been provided with access to a tap water connection since the program’s launch in August 2019, bringing the total to 111 million, or 56% of rural households in the nation.

How is this possible? AGILE Infrastructure!

Here are the 7 Tips To Become a Successful ScrumMaster:

Understand The Scrum Framework
Develop Your Leadership Style?
Be A Strong Coach
Understand The Business
Build a Culture of Continual Improvement
Gain Experience
Get Certified!

We recently received a letter from Mike Cohn which reads:

Back in 1975, Fred Brooks managed the IBM OS/360 project. This was one of the first software projects to be notoriously late. In fact, it was a year late.

Brooks was asked, I suspect with shock and incredulity, “How does a project get to be a year late?”

Brooks replied famously, “One day at a time.”

I believe that daily scrums help our projects from having similar fates. By meeting daily, issues are raised sooner than they would be any other way. And that helps prevent the day-at-a-time slips that led to Brooks’ project being a year late.

But, do we really need to meet every day?

Yes, most teams do. I do believe there are two exceptions to a daily meeting:

The first applies only to teams that are widely distributed across time zones–say when 8:00 am for some team members is 8:00 pm for others. You might not want to hold daily scrums on Friday if it means some team members will have to attend on a Friday night.
The second time you may not need a daily scrum is on sprint planning day. Sprint planning usually ends with some discussion that mimics a daily scrum—what tasks from the sprint backlog will each person work on initially? That might make a separate daily scrum redundant.

Many teams believe there’s a third instance where they don’t need daily scrums: when they “talk a lot, anyway.”

Talking frequently isn’t the same thing as a daily scrum. First of all, the daily scrum may be the only time each day when everyone participates in the discussion. Most other conversations include just a subset of the team.

And secondly, when a team does talk frequently outside the daily scrum, the daily scrum will be extremely short. And so it’s hardly worth complaining about.

Daily scrums are an important inspect-and-adapt activity. Aside from a couple of times when skipping the daily scrum makes sense, holding a daily scrum every working day will help you succeed with agile,

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we discuss why convincing managers is not the issue...

How do we best assess Scrum Team Maturity? Look for these 3 KPI's:

Does the team truly understand velocity?
How are relationships within the team?
Are they holding meaningful Retrospectives?

What is your vice?

A man who prosecutors said broke into a U.K. industrial park to steal almost 200,000 chocolate Easter eggs has pleaded guilty to theft and criminal damage.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that Joby Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break through a gate at an industrial park in Telford, central England, on Saturday, then used a stolen semi truck to tow away a trailer loaded with Cadbury Creme Eggs and other chocolate goods worth more than 31,000 pounds ($38,000).

I often get asked about high performing teams and how to get there. Here is a list of The Top 7 Techniques That Help Teams Achieve High Performing:

Team Alignment
Clear Communication
Small Team Size
Seamless Alignment - GROW
Cross-Functional Meetings
Mutual Accountability
Celebrate Success

There has been LOTS of Buzz around The Stable Framework. This is your chance to hear answers to multiple questions we have been asked including:

Why do we need another framework?
How are Stable certifications different than the rest?
What industries benefit the most from Stable?
Where do you envision Stable fitting into the current project management landscape?
Will Stable replace traditional project management?

Have you ever wondered why smaller teams feel much more personal than larger teams, even when they’ve only been together for a short time? Compounding might have something to do with it.

Compounding is a term that’s often used in investing. It’s the principle underlying the exponential growth of the value of an investment portfolio. Earnings from previous investments are reinvested and are used to generate extra income. Sometimes called the hockey stick principle, where an investment grows slowly but starts to speed up over time.

I realized that this principle also applies to teamwork.

https://jorrit90.medium.com/the-compounding-interest-of-smaller-teams-91074105b474

Presidents Day is one of 12 federal holidays in the US, celebrated each year on the third Monday of February. In 2023, Presidents Day falls on Monday, Feb. 20.

The holiday was first established as Washington's Birthday in 1879 to honor President George Washington. It was commemorated on Feb. 22 until 1971, when it was moved away from Washington's actual birthdate to give federal workers another three-day weekend.

After that, it was more commonly known as "Presidents Day."

Depending on where you live, though, it may alternately be spelled "President's Day" (to acknowledge Washington) or Presidents' Day" (to include Abraham Lincoln, born on Feb. 12).

According to the National Archives, Presidents Day will never fall on George Washington's actual birthday, since the latest the third Monday in February can fall is Feb. 21.

Winston Churchill once said, "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." Do you always press forward? Do you know what to do when faced with adversity? Do you know how to define success? Join V. Lee Henson for this lively discussion.

What are the 9 Sprint Goal Principles to Support Your Scrum Team in Finding It's Groove? In a recent blog post from Stefan Wolpers, he discussed these principles:

Have a Sprint Goal in the first place
Avoid the top-down Sprint Goal
Avoid output-driven Sprint Goals
The pseudo-Sprint Goal
Have a reasonable forecast
Don’t play safe all the time
Avoid a confidential Sprint Goal
Have a “flexible” Sprint Goal
Deliver the Sprint Goal more often than not

https://medium.com/10-min-briefing-on-startup-tech-news/sprint-goal-principles-age-of-product-com-8a904b66c3cc

What are the 6 ideas?

Good Product Owners Are Available
Effective Product Owners Paint a Vision
Successful Product Owners Collaborate with All Stakeholders
The Best Product Owners Set High Expectations
What Makes a Good Product Owner in Agile? Priorities and Flexibility
Product Owners Are Good Storytellers

Join V. Lee Henson as we celebrate this holiday edition by focusing on the top three things we LOVE about Agile:

Agile Changes Lives
Agile Focuses on Truth & Honesty
Agile Helps Us Build World Class Products & Services

Is this the real life...
Is this Velocity
Caught in a backlog
No escape from the apathy
Open your sprint
Give heed to the team and see....

Nothing like a little Bohemian Velocity to warm the soul! Join V, Lee Henson as we discover some handy tips on how to and how not to use velocity with your teams and organization.

Why is it important to keep an idea journal? How do you leverage it and what should it contain? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what it is and how it can be used.

Responsibilities vs Accountabilities - A Better Understanding of Agile Roles

Product Owner:

Accountabilities Product Vision: Craft a Product Vision that points the team in a meaningful direction. * Product Strategy: Define a strategy enabling the team to decide what to do and what not to do. * Goals: Set meaningful goals that enable teams to focus and intensively collaborate towards a unique direction. * Value Maximization: Prioritize meaningful problems that maximize the outcomes for users and businesses. * Communication*: Ensure stakeholders are well-informed about results, decisions, progress, etc. In summary, they should never say, “I was unaware of that.”

Responsibilities Stakeholder Management: Engage with stakeholders to partner up and create value for products. This includes organizing meetings, workshops, communication, etc. * Backlog Management: Curate, sort, and clean up the Product Backlog to ensure it has the most relevant items to create value. * Roadmap: Craft product roadmaps to provide perspective and set expectations on where the product is heading. * Monitor results: Constantly evaluate KPIs to understand how the product creates value for end-users. * Product Discovery*: Ensure continuous learning to enable innovation and solve problems users care about.

ScrumMaster:

Accountabilities Scrum Understanding: Ensure business stakeholders understand how to play the Scrum game. * Atmosphere: Develop a collaborative atmosphere with a balance between learning and delivering. * Framework: Ensure that all Scrum events occur and that all artifacts are created as defined in the Scrum Guide. * Teams’ Effectiveness: Enable the team to grow and become as effective as possible. * Enable Self-management*: Unleashes the team’s potential by helping them become self-managing teams.

Responsibilities Ensure the Sprint Retrospective takes place: The Scrum Master may facilitate the Sprint Retrospective, but the responsibility is ensuring that it happens. Another team member can run the show. * Ensure Retrospectives End Up with Actions: After each Sprint, Scrum teams discuss how to get better as a team. Scrum Masters ensure the result of the session has clear agreed actions. * Coach stakeholders: Invest whatever is necessary to coach key business people to enable teams to thrive with Scrum. * Scrum Events*: Ensure the team respects the Scrum Events frequency and timeboxes them.

Development Team:

Accountabilities Quality: Ensure the code meets the agreed quality standards. * Scalability: Creates solutions that scale to the required business needs. * Efficiency: Guarantee solutions are efficient from the users’ perspective. * Maintainability*: Develop an application that can be maintainable by other professionals.

Responsibilities Solution: Implement solutions that solve the agreed problems. * Test: Perform required tests to meet the quality expectations. * Delivery: Define a delivery process and execute it accordingly. * Estimate*: Only those who work on the solution can estimate it.

Why should we NEVER Correct Course - Is It Really So Bad? In a recent email from Mike Cohn we discussed course correction and the difference between this and inspect and adapt. The truth is we often have a good, better, and best path, but it is really hard to know up front which path is absolute best and MOST correct.

What are 4 Problems That Bias Helps Us Address?

Too much information
Not enough meaning
Need to act fast
What should we remember?

This 2016 article published by Buster Benson covers over 175 biases and how we use them in a constructive way. I do not think I have geeked out this hard in a VERY long time.

https://betterhumans.pub/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18

How can we better Focus on Customer Outcomes? In May of 2020 Richard George posted a blog about truly focusing on outcome to maximize Agile Value. I truly feel like this post is a hidden gem! Take a look and tell me what your thoughts are:

https://medium.com/swlh/customer-outcomes-and-agile-project-management-6cbb32078ca7

Here are 7 Tips To Help You Become a Better Learner:

Stay Curious
Take Care of Yourself
Make Mistakes
Focus
Switch Up Your Learning Style
Teach What You Are Learning
Do NOT Stop Learning

In this recent letter I received from Mike Cohn, we discuss how to write more successful stories. Join us as we zoom in and double down on other learners and how we can really get a better grip on Story size and bandwidth.

Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what is ChatGPT and how does it impact business agility?

Here are The Top 10 Ways To Create and Support An Agile Culture:

Provide the teams what they need to truly be successful
Define and pursue the most important goals
Stop, Collaborate, and Listen with clear focus on outcomes
Diversify your teams, networks, and products
Effective Communication ROCKS!
Stay flexible and adaptive
Hire people for sustainability and growth
Focus on continual improvement
Simplify everything
Foster a healthy organizational culture

I am SO VERY happy with the news that the word estimation was replaced by sizing in the 2020 Scrum Guide! This has been a long time coming and it truly does make sense! Estimation forces us into a time-based way of thinking where sizing is more flexible and allow us to have more freedom with regard to relative sizing and forecasting!

Are you truly happy doing what you do now? If not, what would you prefer to be doing? Join V. Lee Henson as we take a journey and discuss how to find out what motivates people and discover what truly motivates us!

Here are The Top 10 Reasons Your Stories Should Fit In a Single Sprint:

Success Is More Probable
Planning Is Easier
Risk Management Is Easier
Predictability Is Higher
Allows Us To Adapt On The Go
Quality Is Higher
The Product Is Better
Maximize The Amount Of Work Not Done
Stakeholders Are Happier
We deliver Working Product More Frequently

Here are the top 3 ways to create a better product roadmap:

Focus on outcomes, not features
Do not commit too soon
Shorten the planning horizon

Here are the top 5 ways a real BA can Impact an Agile Project:

Be available and visible
Learn about business and strategic objectives.
Build a relationship with the technical analyst and development team.
Consider how your role and responsibilities impact what others are doing.
Take responsibility for all that you do.

The benefits of small product backlog items are well understood. Small product backlog items:

are more likely to fit within an iteration
allow team members to work concurrently on a few (but not too many!) items
lead to a more consistent velocity when an item or two is occasionally left unfinished

But these advantages do not come without costs. One problem with small product backlog items is that it's possible for the team to lose sight of why they are doing those items.

Are you ready to join V. Lee Henson as we learn more about Golf Ball Monkeys?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what a Team Lead does and why they are so important to your implementation.

What is ScrumBan and what are some of the benefits? Can this be applied in healthcare? How does this new way of working help our teams? Keis steals the show by answering ALL of your ScrumBan questions.

Here are 5 techniques to help you be a better Scrum Manager:

Understand the Culture
Establish a North Star
Amplify the Vision
Meet People Where They Are
Learn To Help Resolve Impediments

Product owners have difficult jobs. They spend part of their time understanding where customers, users, and the market want them to go. They spend part of their time working with teams. This pull between outward-facing and inward-facing demands is just one reason the job can be challenging.

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/roles/product-owner?__s=rwvhpj3hb8jfkece4j94&utm_source=drip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The+Product+Owner+Does+Not+Need+to+Be+The+Sole+Source+of+Knowledge

Do you have famous quotes that inspire or move you? I took time in 2022 to record 9 quotes that helped uplift or move me when I needed them most. I hope you enjoy the list!

Analysts should recognize, analyze, engage, and help manage new inbound work
Analysts should ensure the solution as built aligns with business outcomes
Analysts should oversee the design and build of non-technology components
Analysts should work to help capture and transfer knowledge value
The Analyst is the MOST critical piece for Agile Organizations to achieve Agile success

Make Analysts part of your Agile transformation in 2023!

What do you know about the Stable Framework? Here is a list of the various Stable Certifications:

Certified Stable Associate

Certified Stable Process Owner

Certified Stable Master Chief

Certified Stable Scrum Master

Certified Stable Scrum Product Owner Certified Stable Hybrid Product Owner Certified Stable Software Estimator

How does a cross country drive relate to making and keeping sprint goals? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what makes both of these successful.

One of our subscribers asked us to review an article by Amith Lokugamage called What Makes an Agile Mindset Different. He did a great job on the posting and covered many important topics. Here is what stood out MOST to me:

Create an agile mindset: Be willing to try something new and bet on the ideas that you believe in.

Embrace continuous improvement: Innovation is all about improving, so it’s essential to continually improve and develop new products or services.

Value innovation and have a culture of creativity: This will encourage your team members to come up with creative ideas, which might not work out or even be rejected, but it will push them to try often, which is essential for innovation.

https://medium.com/@amithl86/what-makes-an-agile-mindset-different-5175081b41e0

Here is a list of 5 things you can do to help your new year's resolutions stick:

Keep your goals small
Make the goals measurable
Be realistic about goals
Formulate an incremental plan
Above all else, Stay Positive

Has Agile become Tinder? We need to stop with the mentality that Agile adoption is a fast food menu. We can no longer just swipe left or swipe right without consequence. You would not do this on a dating app, why would you do in on critical projects? Here are 5 Agile non-negotiables:

Begin with a clear vision and strategy
Separate the people from the work and align the people into teams that make sense based on the size of the organization and the type of work that you do
Focus on Product Ownership and align the work in such a way that is is easily consumable
Limit the amount of Work In Progress
Track and measure product, project, and team progress / success

Many moons ago I made an offer to my students. If any of them had an Agile related topic worthy of discussion, I would entertain allowing them to pirate the podcast and take over an episode. My dear friend Preston took me up on this offer. He is a military veteran and his story is quite impressive. Enjoy!

A recent email from Mike Cohn covers the top 10 mistakes ScrumMasters commonly make:

Trying to facilitate meetings using someone else's style
Holding meetings or events at the wrong time
Telling people what to do
Staying Silent
Not asking enough questions
Forgoing the usual meetings due to team size
Not 'pushing' the team a little harder towards improvements they commit to make
Allowing too much solutioning in the Daily Scrum meeting.
Letting a story into a sprint without enough clarity
Not letting go of mistakes

Do not rush the retrospective
Make the meeting interesting
Make the meeting safe
Make the meeting mandatory
Reflect on and check action items
Retrospect the retrospective
Make certain EVERYONE has a voice

https://medium.com/similarweb-engineering/do-you-feel-your-sprint-retrospective-could-be-a-lot-better-18d683f18380 - Liora Korni

And the TOP 5 are......

I Get Knocked Down But I Get Up Again
5 Tips To Become An Exceptional Product Owner
11 Laws of Agile Estimation
What Is A High Performing Team? - Mike Cohn
7 Things You Should Do During Sprint Planning

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what services teams do and how their ScrumBan Approach helps organizations be successful with Agile.

We know the goal of using Scrum is to release at least 1 Product Increment per sprint. When releasing a product increment, the entire team must agree and have the same understanding of what the quality standards are for releasing the product.

In other words, DOD is a standard requirement documentation created and approved by the SCRUM team to ensure product quality at the time of release. DOD is Lifetime documentation that can be updated by the Scrum Team to ensure the quality of Product increments at each Sprint. There are several companies that have made DOD or minimum DOD as a guideline in the SCRUM team. But the DOD can be updated or added if the SCRUM team feels that something should be added so that the quality of the product increment is better.

The following are few key practices that can help us to cultivate Product mindset:

Focusing on the Customer
Delivering #Business #Value
Continuous #Innovation
Shorter time to Market
Frequent #feedback
relentless Delivery
Actively managing the Requirements with focus on flexibility
Value driven metrics over vanity metrics

Story points are a unit of measure for expressing an estimate of the overall effort that will be required to fully implement a product backlog item or any other piece of work.

When we estimate with story points, we assign a point value to each item. The raw values we assign are unimportant: Some teams use a modified fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13); others use a doubling sequence (1, 2, 4, 8, 16).

What matters are the relative values. A user story that is assigned two story points should be twice as much effort as a one-point story. It should also be two-thirds the effort of a story that is estimated as three story points.

Instead of assigning 1, 2 and 3, that team could instead have assigned 100, 200 and 300. Or 1 million, 2 million and 3 million. It is the ratios that matter, not the actual numbers.

One of the main reasons story points are so valuable is that they allow team members with different skill levels to communicate about and agree on an estimate. Instead of arguing about how long it might take each team member personally to do something, teams instead can quickly say that this user story is about twice or three times as much effort as that user story. With story points, it’s all relative.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Light The World is an INCREDIBLE document that is posted each year by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

https://uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/acp/bc/cp/Europe/Area%20Images/2022/ltw/LTW_22-calendar-UK-eng.pdf

Each day we are asked this holiday season to do something to help make the world a better place.

Today we are asked to Share the light. Be a beacon unto others and find a way to uplift them by telling a story that motivates them to do better and to be better.

Light The World is an INCREDIBLE document that is posted each year by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

https://uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/acp/bc/cp/Europe/Area%20Images/2022/ltw/LTW_22-calendar-UK-eng.pdf

Each day we are asked this holiday season to do something to help make the world a better place.

Today we are asked to find time to dedicate to being with those we care the most about. Whether it be family, extended family, friends, or neighbors, find ways to make things right and dedicate time to uplift others.

Light The World is an INCREDIBLE document that is posted each year by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

https://uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/acp/bc/cp/Europe/Area%20Images/2022/ltw/LTW_22-calendar-UK-eng.pdf

Each day we are asked this holiday season to do something to help make the world a better place.

Today we are asked to share a holiday treat. I know our kitchen is always busy with cooking and baking this time of year. What treat can you share with others? Do you have a plan to uplift someone today?

Light The World is an INCREDIBLE document that is posted each year by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

https://uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/acp/bc/cp/Europe/Area%20Images/2022/ltw/LTW_22-calendar-UK-eng.pdf

Each day we are asked this holiday season to do something to help make the world a better place.

Today we are asked to light our brain's reward center. When you are kind to others, your brain lights up as if you were the recipient and not the giver. We are reminded today that kindness is free and it goes a long way, especially when we are serving others.

Light The World is an INCREDIBLE document that is posted each year by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

https://uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/acp/bc/cp/Europe/Area%20Images/2022/ltw/LTW_22-calendar-UK-eng.pdf

Each day we are asked this holiday season to do something to help make the world a better place.

Today we are asked to look at the world around us and capture an image of something that we find beautiful to capture on social media.

Good Better or Best Use of Our Time? How Do We Leverage Our Talents to Uplift Others? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the BEST ways to use our time this holiday season to uplift and inspire others.

The 7 Stage Roadmap To Achieve Business Value - It looks a LOT like Agile...

Vision & North Star
Roadmapping
Release Planning
Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum
Sprint Review & Demo
Sprint Retrospective

These are the way to successful business outcomes

How Do We Get Started With STABLE?

Review the Stable framework book with your teams
Create a process asset library
Create a system schedule
Create a system backlog
Create a performance console
Create a kanban board
Create historical logs
Create customer satisfaction surveys and histograms
Create slam charts
Create a cumulative system performance chart
Systematize value streams
Determine length of master cycle
Establish master cycle meetings
Establish inter-department meetings
Establish an alert system
Set up a training log
Set up a suggestion box

Then GET STARTED!!

Is It True That Different Types of Product Owners Exist? I think not. Join us as we explore an article by John Coleman that eludes to differences in the PO Role.

Transforming Useless Retrospectives Into Powerful Ones:

Great Sprint Retrospectives can significantly transform teams for the better.

Bad Sprint Retrospectives end without any explicit action on how to become a better team.

That Scrum Master transformed our team. Looking back seems obvious to me, but I was clueless about our mistakes.

Getting feasible actions out of a retrospective and getting them done helps teams to learn and improve.

With agile retrospectives, the team drives their own actions!

The Top 10 Needs Men Have In Relationships:

Men need to feel needed
Men need to feel supported
Men need stability
Men need a teammate
Men need humor
Men need to give to you
Men need to feel appreciated
Men need intimacy
Men need their own identity
Men need to be loved for who they really are

How Do We Hold The PERFECT Daily Scrum Meeting! Here are guidelines that I use to make certain this happens;

Daily Meeting 15 minutes or less per day - (30 seconds per person not to exceed 15 minutes)
Same time same place same zoom or teams link everyday
No pontificating to solve problems - problems that can be resolved in 30 seconds or less should be resolved
No electronics of any kind - Yes this includes the Jira Board
No Pen or paper to record - no output to the meeting
Team rules/guidelines should be clearly posted
Do not be late
Fines go to a reputable charity
Team stands in a circle
Visitors around the outside as they do not participate
Visitors follow the same rules to be present
Always end on time
Stick to the REAL three questions
Allow exceptions for remote teams

What is STABLE Operations and how can applying the Stable framework help you be successful in disaster recovery? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the importance of disaster recovery and how it applies both inside and outside of technology.

What Is a Team Lead and What Do they Do? What is the difference between a tech lead, engineering lead, or lead software engineer? Is team lead a title? A role? A position? Do we need to go out and hire someone with this title? Is it even needed? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore and discuss what this really means.

When we celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Rohatsu, Eid al-Adha, Festivus or merely the winter solstice by spending time with our teammates (ideally helping others), good things are bound to result. And that will help all of us succeed with more than just agile,

5 Ways To Light The World - How do you go about making a difference? For the month of December, each Friday, we will post a selection of ideas that you can do to Light the World and fill it with love!

Executive Agile - The Real Elephant In The Room - What does Agile Leadership really look like? How can you make certain you are doing the best you can? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what Agile Leaders do.

STABLE - What Makes Stable Tick... Did you know that Stable is Hybrid?

You heard it right... In the Stable Framework book multiple chapters cover various hybrid implementations including but not limited to:

Stable in Operations
Stable in Implementation
Stable in DevOps
Stable in DevSecOps
Stable in Product Development
Stable in Agile Framework
Stable in Portfolio Management

The Top 5 Tips to Increase Your Professional and Personal Productivity:

Close browser tabs after one hour of not using them
Turn off all notifications
Block out your time in balance
Eliminate meetings
Limit Work In Progress (WIP)

Something For Nothing - The Art of Giving - I recently taught a class for the military as part of our AgileDad Giving back workshop series and the results were nothing short of AMAZING!! It was so great to be surrounded with students who appreciated every breath that I shared and were prepared to so all they could to take the teaching and apply them both in their personal and professional lives.

This begs the question, what can you do to give back? How can you impact the lives of others?

Black Friday... Are All Of Your Accounts In The Black? Check your balances and get your life in order..

A Celebration of Thanksgiving...

We invest in stocks, invest in business, invest in relationships, and invest in family... Do we take the time to invest in ourselves? What does the self-investment loop look like?

What Does An Agile Coach Do All Day? What would you do if I told you that there is no list? Will you make one yourself?

SAFe is UnSAFe? - I think not... Joim V. Lee Henson as we explore an article calling out the nuances of SAFe.

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what inspires you and how you can be uplifted to inspire others.

In a recent article by Alex Griffith, Stop Hiring Scrum Masters, Hire Value Delivery Leaders Instead, he discusses a strange phenomena. For years I have seen people create new frameworks, add to existing frameworks, and find ways to change up what should be very simple frameworks. In this episode I feel what Alex is trying to say and give you my two cents.

It is not everyday that you celebrate your fifty-first birthday! I thought it would be fun to share Twenty life lessons that have brought me fulfillment:

Lead with love
Serve others
Show gratitude
Seek happiness
Inspire others
Be prepared
Practice kindness
Uplift others
Express empathy
Always be honest
Give freely
Never judge
Share your talents
Ignite passion
Be humble
Embrace change
Raise awareness
Be strong
Have faith
Live, love, and dream

Here we go again.. Yet another episode with what feels like an impossible result... In all actuality, I have only carried over 2 items from one sprint to the next in my entire 19 year career! This means it IS possible if you do these three things:

Establish a sound team working agreement
Learn to INVEST in solid User Stories
Maximize team communication & commitment

I recently received an email from Mike Cohn discussing techniques to NEVER deliver an Agile project late. At first I must admit, I was a perfect combination of excited to learn and extremely doubtful in the ability to do this. After some reading and discussion, I have determined that this is indeed possible..

Thank you to all Veterans Everywhere..

What Should Be Included in a Team Working Agreement? Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss what items could be incorporated into a team working agreement:

Honor & Pride
Over-Communication
Early is On Time
No Heroes
Win or Lose as a Team
Embrace Constraints
The Penalty Box
Own Our Quality
Thrive On Deadlines
Welcome & Own Our Challenges

STABLE - Defining Personal Leadership

In Chapter 13 of The STABLE Framework book, the master chief section, Mike Berry discusses Personal Leadership. Here are the 4 key principles:

Communication & Networking Skills
A Strong Work Ethic
Good Decision Making Skills
The Ability To Deliver Results WITH Your Team

You Call That a User Story? Sometimes this topic drives me completely bonkers! There are far too many people who claim to have the silver bullet answer to defining and consuming the perfect story. Spandex approach, one size fits all, is almost always a BAD idea!

Research, Research, Research..: The most important thing most of the story writer do wrong. For writing stories you can not follow the formal requirement elicitation method always. Most of the time users will not be able to tell you what they but you need to find out. But how? First create the persona. Here you will understand the paint point that you are trying to solve. From the persona you will get for whom you are building and their goals. Then with the data collected from many user persona sit with your stakeholders (Product owners, Dev team). At that point the ideas and analysis will come into stories.
Make the stories short and concise: A story will be meaningless if you can not finish it in one sprint. So you need to make it short and precise.
Follow the three C’s of user story: The three C’s of user story is Card, Conversation and Confirmation. From the card where you are creating story, then having a conversation with the stakeholders and then confirm it with the acceptance criteria.
Agility is prime goal: Don’t follow your story blindly. If it needs change, change it, the best stories comes with iterations, not with rigidity.
Don’t be technical: User story document should not have technical details of “how a server will work” or “How a button will work”. It is a explanation of behavior not SRS or any technical document.
Create a priority and order: Generally each story should be independent to each other. But if it has a tail and keep them in order and of course set priority which story you want to finish first and which one you want last.
Why can’t we just write features or task instead : Users stories and tasks are different. User story is “What” and Task is “How”. User story describes a piece of functionality in the perspective of users and tasks are how you will deliver the story.

How DEEP is Your Product Backlog? Join V. Lee Henson as we review and article by Teodora Todrova where she discusses the acronym DEEP and why it is so critical for teams to understand and monitor their Product Backlog...

D = Detailed Appropriately

E = Estimated

E = Emergent

P = Prioritzed

Can increasing our gratitude improve our physical, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing? How does this connect to our personal productivity and health? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore how all of this ties together and accept his November challenge to show gratitude.

A Daily Standup Subscriber recently asked for me to review this article from Tom Whiteley. He did a great job in explaining and I almost feel like he got inside my head. :)

Take a listen and do share your thoughts.

There are MANY types of leadership styles. Some come naturally and others must be learned. At the end of the day, it is quite the science. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the following leadership styles:

Transformational Leadership
Transactional Leadership
Autocratic Leadership
Democratic Leadership
Bureaucratic Leadership
Laissez-Faire Leadership
Servant Leadership

Key Stakeholder, Stakeholder, Interested Party - What Is The Difference & How Do We Control WIP?

In this episode join V. Lee Henson as we explore the differences between these three roles and how they each impact organizational, team, and individual WIP.

Happy Halloween Everyone! Enjoy this SCARY Agile episode. Try not to SCREAM!!!

Celebrate with me as my oldest daughter turns 22 and learn what makes her the greatest daughter EVER!!

When asked what facilitation is, I have heard Scrum masters describe it as

Sending meeting invites and booking conference rooms,
Starting and ending the events on time,
Creating reports or sending out M.o.M and
Ordering refreshments and pizzas

Is this really facilitation?

Facilitation originates from the Latin word facile, which means ‘to make it easy.’

The facilitator is thus the person who makes things easier for others.

Facilitation is a stance that is closely associated with the Scrum master role, primarily

Facilitate the events as needed or requested.
Facilitate stakeholder collaboration as needed or requested.

The intent of the Scrum master’s stance as a facilitator should be to enable self-management and increase the team’s effectiveness to achieve better outcomes.

The outcome is the team’s responsibility when facilitating events, and the Scrum master is there to help arrive at it.

By facilitating events, the Scrum master helps tap into the team’s collective intelligence and ensures the team’s ownership and commitment to it.

Though Scrum masters are knowledgeable and have a contingent interest in the outcome, they do not let this influence the team’s work or the decisions.

To be an effective facilitator, the Scrum master takes a neutral stance regarding content and the intended outcome.

The Scrum master, however, is not neutral to the decision-making process and actively contributes by diagnosing and intervening as needed.

The facilitator role of the Scrum master is particularly beneficial given the complexity of the work the teams are dealing with and the cross-functional team’s diverse perspectives and interests.

The Scrum master will take on diverse perspectives of creativity, consensus, collaboration, and creative conflict resolution to create and sustain a participatory environment for the teams to engage, design, and own their outcomes.

Effective facilitation of the Scrum master tackles the power dynamics in the team and provides an environment where all voices and perspectives are heard and have influence.

The Scrum master, as a facilitator, enables self-management by setting up a participatory approach to decision-making and moving away from cascading decisions of the traditional top-down approach.

Facilitation enables collective ownership, improves capability building, and dramatically increases the probability of successful team and organizational change.

The typical pattern seen in great facilitators is their unwavering belief that

People are intelligent, resourceful, and desirous of doing the right thing.
The title of an individual has no bearing on their ability to add value.
A team’s decisions are far superior to those of a lone individual.

The key indicator of effective facilitation is when the team feels they did the work and are accountable for the outcome.

Agile teams are self-organized, which means they operate with the absence of central authority. Dev Managers often ask, "So what's my role?"

If your Development Manager is not the Product Owner, or the Scrum Master, or a contributing pig or chicken, they are left asking the obvious question, "What do I do?"

The legacy answer was to "stay out of the teams way!" Agile enthusiasts agree this is the standard answer for a team governing itself. However clever, this answer left the industry with a puzzle.

Now, finallly, the puzzle is solved.

The Stable Framework™, an out-of-the-box quality framework that can be dropped into Agile, provides the answer.

As the Master Chief, the Development Manager assumes their rightful place as the quality champion. They are responsible for seeing to it that requirement reviews, architecture reviews, code reviews, estimation procedures, and all necessary testing gets completed using the best structural safeguards known to the team.

Business outcomes Those are metrics related to the organization’s goals like:
increase revenue
lower operating costs
grow market share
grow profit margin
reduce churn rate

Business outcomes allow the company’s stakeholders to track the company’s progress (e.g., “profit margin grows by 5%”).

Business outcomes are lagging indicators. On top of that, product teams typically cannot influence them directly, so they need to be translated into product outcomes.

Product outcomes At the product level, we may decide that a way to decrease the churn rate (impact a business outcome) is to increase customer engagement, measured, for example, as the total number of hours customers watch videos every month.

As Joshua Seiden noticed in Outcomes over Output, these outcomes are always associated with a change in human behavior. He defined outcomes as “a change in human behavior that drives business results.”

An example of the product outcome may be the following metric change: “every month, customers spend, on average, 30 minutes more watching videos.”

Both business and product outcomes outlined above align with Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres.

Customer outcomes Customers do not care about the Output (features). The three types of customer outcomes, as defined in the Product-Led Growth by Wes Bush, are:
Functional outcomes. The core tasks the customer wants to get done. For a car, it’s traveling from point A to B.
Emotional outcomes. How do customers want to feel or avoid feeling as a result of using your product? Is it safety, freedom, joy, taking care of the environment, or adrenaline?
Social outcomes. How do customers want to be perceived by others by using your product? What does Tesla tell others about your status or values?

Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself

Outcomes Over Output: Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success

Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value

7 great ScrumMaster Interview questions:

Question 1: How would you organize the Sprint Planning?

Question 2: What factors should a Scrum Team consider at the Sprint Planning to determine a feasible Sprint Goal?

Question 3: Is it acceptable for the Product Owner to introduce a business objective for the upcoming Sprint that resembles a list of random work items?

Question 4: Is it okay to use a ‘Definition of Ready?’

Question 5: Is it a helpful idea for the Developers to plan all work for the whole length of the Sprint during Sprint Planning?

Question 6: Your organization highly values when deliveries match forecasts. Is that something worrisome?

Question 7: Should a Scrum Master worry about the utilization rate of the Developers?

Can I get a Hell Yeah? I recently had the privilege and honor of meeting and presenting at a conference with none other than Phil Barth. Many of you have said that I may be the most interesting person on the planet. I learned today that this is not true. Phil has appeared on Who wants to be a millionaire, written a best selling book, and has a son in a rock band! His message was inspirational and it is available in Kindle and AudioBook format for FREE on Amazon! You need to check this guy out as he is one of my Heroes!

A product owner is generally either the visionary behind a product or a representative of the users and customers. This means the product owner is perfectly positioned to write the product backlog.

I don’t, however, think a product backlog should be written entirely by the product owner. Others such as team members, users, stakeholders, customers, and so on should be encouraged to contribute their ideas to the product backlog.

The good ideas they contribute will be prioritized highly by the product owner and be developed.

No matter how talented the product owner, it is unreasonable to expect them to think of everything. Developers, users, and others will bring different perspectives that will lead them to think of backlog items beyond what the product owner would have identified.

I think a study cited by Chip and Dan Heath in their book Switch helps illustrate this. In the study, people associated with a university were asked to brainstorm all the ideas they could for solving the university’s chronic parking problem.

Researchers eliminated “wacky or impractical options.” (For example, I would have suggested hiring aliens to use their UFOs to move cars to off-campus parking locations.)

On average, each study participant identified only 30% of the full set of ideas that were generated. In other words, no one person can be expected to come up with more than about a third of the possible options.

Product owners can probably do better than 30%. They are, after all, usually the experts on their product. But I think this study supports having anyone willing contribute to the product backlog.

That can be as simple as a stakeholder emailing an idea to the product owner. Or it can happen more formally in a story-writing workshop in which stakeholders, users, team members, and the product owner collaborate to generate product backlog items.

In general, the more people who are thinking about a product the better—but the product owner should definitely write some of the product backlog items

Every organization, everywhere is trying to achieve Operational Excellence, whether they have the vocabulary for it or not. Operational Excellence is delivering exactly what your customers need (effectiveness), with a minimum of byproduct (efficiency).

The Agile Mindset helps organizations achieve the first goal. The Stable Mindset helps organizations achieve the second goal.

Agile is about close customer feedback, short feedback loops, prioritizing value, and planning at multiple levels to support quick changes where necessary. Stable is about removing human failure from the execution process.

A typical IT organization wastes about 35% of its work efforts redoing work that wasn’t done correctly the first time. Some groups report 50%, or as much as 80% of their efforts are attributed to this “Hidden Factory.” When expressed as a dollar amount, the effects are alarming.

The Stable Framework™ was designed to combat this problem. It’s a combination of the latest Agile and Lean techniques and provides a simple, but robust Quality Management System “in a box.” Heavy emphasis is placed on customer and supplier relationships, and Kaizen-based continuous improvement. Altogether, these tools provide organizations with the transparency and conscientiousness needed to execute the right steps, the right way, every time. .

Stable can be used to compliment a Scrum development team, or it can be implemented as a complete substitute for Scrum. In addition to Development, Stable is applicable in Operations, Implementation, DevOps, and any other work containing repeatable process steps.

The Stable Framework™ is comprised of one Process Asset Library, two roles, three domains, four core meetings within a repeating time-box, and five quality principles. Taken together, they form a tool-set enabling IT groups to perform six process improvement fundamentals.

Just a quick update from the PMBA Conference in Boston. Please enjoy!

Learn about SAFe from our resident Scaled Agile Expert Jacob Anderson. In this episode he explores Values 9 and 10.

9 – Decentralize decision-making

Achieving fast value delivery requires decentralized decision-making. This reduces delays, improves product development flow, enables faster feedback, and creates more innovative solutions designed by those closest to the local knowledge. However, some decisions are strategic, global, and have economies of scale that justify centralized decision-making. Since both types of decisions occur, creating a reliable decision-making framework is a critical step in empowering employees and ensuring a fast flow of value.

10 – Organize around value

Many enterprises today are organized around principles developed during the last century. In the name of intended efficiency, most are organized around functional expertise. But in the digital age, the only sustainable competitive advantage is the speed with which an organization can respond to the needs of its customers with new and innovative solutions. These solutions require cooperation amongst all the functional areas, with their incumbent dependencies, handoffs, waste and delays. Instead, Business Agility demands that enterprises organize around value to deliver more quickly. And when market and customer demands change, the enterprise must quickly and seamlessly reorganize around that new value flow.

How good are your communication skills? Join V. Lee Henson LIVE from the Delta Sky Club as we explore ways to communicate better.

4 Ways to Fox Cross-Functional Teams - Mike Cohn

1) Get managers to buy in to cross functionality

2) Identify and address missing skills

3) Assuage concerns that cross-functional teams make everyone a generalist

4) Broaden or Shrink the team's responsibilities

Relish in the joy of knowing that you have mastered cross-functional teams.

The STABLE Framework - Redirection

Redirection is a critical technique that guides the team on the path of accountability and helps leaders be more aware of how to handle when someone does not understand and how to reward team members publicly when they exceed expectations.

Why Is There No Project Manager On a Scrum Team?

Because they don't need one... The Project Manager Role gets broken out across the set of three Scrum Accountabilities.

Output Oriented vs. Outcome Oriented Scrum Teams p Which is Better?

There actually is a time and a place for both! Join V. Lee Henson as we have a lively discussion regarding the how and the why behind this principle.

Giving & Receiving Service - 80 Hours With No Electricity...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, we were left with downed trees, a completely broken fence, and no power or water for 80 hours. How do you survive and thrive under such conditions? You find ways to serve and uplift others..

Why Is the Daily Scrum Time-Boxed To Fifteen Minutes?

Because the scrum guide says so? LOL.. Not really. Whether we discuss attention span, how long a person can plank for, the content of each team members report, or the age of accountability, no single answer will prevail as to why. This episode will allow you to better understand what to look for and what to look out for.

The STABLE Framework - The Team Empowerment Model

The team empowerment model is an INCREDIBLE tool that the Stable framework introduces. It includes 6 very important steps:

Bring Objectives, Constraints, and Dependencies to the Team
Challenge the Team to Come Up With the Solution
Provide High-Focus Engagement and Support To Be Sure the Team is Working Towards the Goal
Equip the Team For Success
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
Use Positive Psychology

Scrum Guide 2020 Throwback - Does Individual Accountability Create Silos?

Referring back to an article that was first published in December 2020, we discuss issues with specific name designations and how the battle of words could be eroding our chance to initiate higher performance and allow teams to work more closely together.

Does Scrum Team Composition Change in Small & Large Organizations? Of course it does, but it does not need to introduce additional complexity and context switching. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss what works and what we have seen work through years of Agile Coaching experience...

You heard correctly... AgileDad is at it again with a 100% Free Scrum Alliance Workshop for Military Veterans! Details can be found at AgileDad.Com/military

I’m often asked a question that is impossible to answer. It’s something like, “What camera settings should I use when filming Bigfoot?” That question is impossible to answer because Bigfoot doesn’t exist. (Or does he?)

It is similarly impossible to answer, “What do I do when a team won’t self organize?” This can’t be answered because a team that is allowed to self organize will self organize. A team may, for example, decide its former tech lead must approve all designs or will review all code before it’s checked in.

In most cases, these would not be good results of a team self organizing. But the team has self organized. I think of it similar to the school dances I attended when I was 13 and 14. We boys would stand against the wall with only a brave few venturing to ask someone to dance.

We’d self organized. Not well, but we had.

Perhaps the real question I’m often asked, then, is what to do when a team self organizes in a sub-optimal manner. Here are three things to try if you suspect your team has organized suboptimally.

First, refuse to step in and make decisions for the team. Some teams are reluctant to embrace self organization. When told they have authority over how work gets done, these teams will often wait for someone to make decisions for them.

When you see this happen, resist the temptation to make the decision. Either wait silently for them to decide or reiterate that the decision is theirs and you’ll support them in whatever they decide.

Second, amplify or dampen differences among team members. Imagine a team of clones. How clones decide to organize around their work doesn’t matter because each close is identical in all ways to all other clones.

Our team members are not clones; there are differences among them. These differences include technical expertise, domain knowledge, power, gender, race, education, connections to others in the company, problem-solving approach, and so on. The types and degrees of these differences influence how a team self organizes.

When you suspect a team has not organized itself well, amplify or dampen differences among team members. For example, consider a team composed of individuals who each favor quick decision making, sometimes to the detriment of making good decisions. Look for an opportunity to add a team member with a different decision-making style.

Third, praise appropriate behavior. Praising appropriate behavior will encourage more of that behavior. If a team member makes a decision that would have been left to a manager in the pre-agile past, praise that team member.

More importantly, offer that praise regardless of whether the decision turns out to be the right one. Perhaps add a short discussion regarding how it might be possible to make a better decision next time. But first you’ll want to commend the person (publicly, if possible) for going beyond traditional responsibilities.

Without self-organization, teams remain overly directed by managers. This leads to a team feeling less ownership of (and attachment to) its goals. Self-organizing teams move more quickly due to a greater sense of investment in their work. Getting a team to embrace self-organizing frees managers for other work and benefits the organization and the job satisfaction of team members, enabling the team to succeed with agile,

Today we will learn about the three domains in STABLE Framework. The three domains are shared by each role and include the Future, the Present, and the Past Domains. We have to plan our work ahead of time before we can measure the results of our work. The Future Domain contains information we'll need to access in the future. The Present Domain contains current work in process.

Does Agile & Scrum have an Achilles Heel? The answer is simply YES! Even though we get advice from the Scrum Guide and from several other resources about how to avoid it, the truth is out there and if we are not careful we just may discover it. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore elements of trust and why it is critical.

Join V. Lee Henson and his new friend Ola as for the first time ever we do a Q&A episode to learn how to make this dramatic transition. Three questions will lead you down the path of discovery and enlightenment.

Ok.. Confession time.. I LOVE AGT! This season was AMAZING! The winner The Mayyas were a all female dance group from Lebanon. What they did onstage was incredible and the example they can be to us is even MORE Powerful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD0doCSkBY8

What are we supposed to do when we are writing technical system level stories? How do we show context and that each is adding value? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore ideas to help make this process better.

Let's explore The STABLE Framework together. Today we study the 2 stable roles:

Stable Master Chief

Stable Process Owner

Who are they and what do they do?

A recent student in an Advanced ScrumMaster course asked if he should become a RTE and if that would advance his career. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what the differences are and if this transition really makes sense.

Here are some things you can try when you encounter a team that has stopped trying to improve.

Hold Regular Retrospectives

Encourage team members to reassert their commitment to holding a retrospective at the end of each iteration or at least once a month.

Some teams forgo retrospectives with the attitude that whenever a team member notices an opportunity to improve, they’ll share it. This rarely works because there are always more pressing needs and the improvement idea gets put aside. A dedicated time to discuss improvements each iteration works far better than discussing ideas as they’re conceptualized.

Focus the Team on Improvements They Can Make

Don’t perpetually ask the team to fix the impossible or even the improbable. Team members will become frustrated (and understandably so!) when they raise an issue again and again in retrospectives but the situation remains unchanged.

For example, if a new team member is needed but you’ve been told there’s no budget for one, don’t bring it up every retrospective. Instead, put a reminder in your calendar to ask about it again, perhaps in a few months.

Attempt Only a Few Improvements at a Time

Don’t try to improve too many things at once. Retrospectives can generate lots of improvement ideas. A team might be tempted to take on all of them simultaneously. Don’t. Instead, have team members agree on one to three things that they will make serious efforts to improve in the coming iteration.

Choose Improvements People Are Ready to Make

Encourage team members to select only those items they sincerely wish to fix. I once worked with a team that thought they should do code inspections. Every retrospective, they agreed they’d start. They never did.

I encouraged them to admit it was not something they were really ready to change and to focus instead on changes they were deeply willing to make.

The best teams are willing to try new things. Encourage this mindset by having the team reflect on their process. Experimenting with possible improvements every iteration is the way to succeed with agile,

How do you find the perfect soulmate? How do you discover what you like and dislike? Is it possible to have manifest destiny in relationships? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore personal and professional relationships and how to make the most out of goodness.

What is the career path for the Scrum Master role? Do they always become an Agile Coach? Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this journey and what you can expect to find.

As we continue to delve onto sustained continual improvement, today we will visit:

Measuring the cost savings of quality
Won't heavy process slow us down?
Good vs bad processes

Could it be true? Are we reverting back to traditional project management? Or are we just discovering that poor agile leads to greater oversight and governance? Join V. Lee Henson for a lively discussion about not chasing Scrummerfalls. (Please thick to the Agile and the Scrum that you're used to)

Issue Driven Design... Anyone See The Problem? LOL.. I do hope so! Yet many organizations still dwell on issues and problems and expect new work to just fall into place. Here is a short list of challenges we see as a result of having an issue driven mindset:

Harder to follow Scrum — When Product and Sprint Goals are an afterthought, following the Scrum Guide feels artificial and forced. When teams feel forced to define a Sprint Goal, or a PO feels pressed to define Product Goals, the door is open to casting further doubt about the process.
Harder to keep the eye on the ball — deriving meaning from issues can make Product Owners and teams lose sight of their ultimate purpose. A Backlog dominated by user requests & feature ideas is short-term-minded and can distract you from pursuing your long-term vision, or may even repress the need to define a vision. Who needs a vision when the Backlog is full of planned features for years to come?
Harder for teams to achieve a high degree of collaboration — a collection of loosely related issues is not conducive to collaboration.
Encourages a feature-factory mindset— when productivity is measured by how many issues are done you can create an illusion of progress while the vision remains as distant as ever. Instead of “how many issues did we finish” and “how many features did we add”, ask “how many goals were achieved?”, and “are we getting visibly closer to the vision?”
Harder to collaborate with stakeholders — A Backlog full of short-term concerns leads to low-level discussion and understanding of the Product. Reviews feel ineffectual & less impactful as the Backlog doesn’t reflect the right level of concern and doesn’t offer meaningful choices. A review shouldn’t ask “what’s the next user request to implement?”, but rather “what’s the next goal to focus on?”.

I found a REALLY great tribute to September 11th on of all places National Geographic Kids!

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/remembering-september-11

I hope that you can take a moment to reflect and show love to others.

When will Scrum ever die? A recent student sent me a blog post to review that was published by a professional scrum trainer. After careful review my hope was that things would go down a path to call out the evolution of Agile to support Scrum, but sometimes things do NOT go as planned...

Join us as we discuss more about the stable framework and dive deeper into sustained continual improvement.

Training quality programs
Non-conforming product management
The incident avoidance register

Is there truly a magic metric to measure team performance? Is it velocity? How about lines of code delivered? Do we have a real answer to this question? I believe it is the TPS Report.. (Don't forget the cover sheet... I can get you a copy of the memo) Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what we can and should be measuring.

Have you heard of a team working agreement before?

If you’ve been working in an Agile team, chances are your team has created them during the formation of the project and scrum teams. They’re probably posted on a wall in your team’s shared space if you work face-to-face. And if you’re in a remote team, they’re probably saved in a file-sharing system.

Team working agreements are a good idea. But often, that’s just what happens to them — they remain to be just an idea, filed, pasted on a wall, and forgotten.

https://medium.com/better-teams-better-you/does-your-team-have-team-agreements-6abf5321e71a

Here are the top 10 tips to get a more restful nights sleep:

Get out and work out - This is a two-parter. It may seem obvious, but going outside during the day matters, as our bodies use daylight as one signal to tell our brains when to be awake and when to be asleep.
Drink less alcohol - That third nip of gin — or whatever poison you pick and whatever number is your line-crosser — might feel good at the time, but you will pay for it, with a greater need to pee. There is solid evidence that while alcohol induces sleep it messes with the brain’s “homeostasis,” which regulates the sleep/wake cycle and causes you to wake up in the middle of the night. If you wake up with a headache, you clearly drank enough to ruin your sleep
Avoid caffeine - This is an obvious no-no before bedtime, but applies even earlier in the evening. A study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that caffeine even 6 hours before bedtime “can have significant, disruptive effects on sleep.”
Check your meds - Some medications can affect sleep. Read the label!
Go Dark - Before Thomas Edison ruined it for all of us, humans fell asleep largely in darkness, depending on the moon’s phase and notwithstanding some candlelight. Since we are, after all, animals, we’re biologically attuned to sleeping in the dark. Lesson: Pull the shades or get an eye mask.
Watch timing of naps - If you love a good nap, go for it. There’s evidence for and against the value of napping, but most expert advice, including this detailed batch from the Mayo Clinic, leans toward supporting naps if they seem to work for you.
Be Chill / Chill Out - A dark and quiet bedroom is a given necessity. But a cool bedroom, with bedding that invites snuggling, can be helpful, too. There’s not a lot of hard science on this. But in one analysis, the thinking is that a cool head poking out from under a warm comforter leads to better sleep. Try setting the thermostat to 65 degrees or so, and experiment with this one.
Stay on time - Sleeping in on weekends can be part of a vicious cycle that keeps you up late on, say, Sunday night, and leaves you tired at work on Monday. Experts recommend staying within an hour or so of the same bedtime seven nights a week.
Eat early - Avoid heavy meals a couple hours before bedtime. There seems to be broad agreement on this advice, though I was unable to find any scientific basis for the claim.
Eat well - More broadly, if you’re overweight, losing some pounds can improve sleep. One study found that overweight adults spend more time in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep — the dreamy phase characterized by faster heart and breathing rates and less restorative sleep.

The goal of MVP, as defined by Eric Ries, is to validate critical assumptions about the product idea and get maximum validated learning with minimal effort. The value of MVP is to learn as quickly as possible, minimize risk and increase your chances of success by experimenting.

Creating value for customers is not the goal. This is because creating products, e.g., writing software, is one of the most expensive ways to verify a business model. If the assumptions turned out wrong, the work performed over many iterations could be wasteful.

Join V. Lee Henson as we review this article by Pawel Huryn that was published in June 2022.

https://huryn.medium.com/mvp-is-not-what-you-think-7b22eacb7d3a

Join us as we continue to explore The STABLE framework! In this episode we discuss the 5 Stable Principles:

Anything repeatable can be improved
Improvement requires repetition, reflection, and change
Sustained improvement requires systematization
Improve systems, respect people
Speak using data

https://www.amazon.com/Stable-FrameworkTM-Operational-Implementation-Development/dp/0692144005/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WRV96PESTAJ1&keywords=the+stable+framework&qid=1661608331&sprefix=the+stable+framework%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-1

One way to increase energy is to ensure teams have what London Business School Professor Lynda Gratton called an igniting purpose. No one’s passion is ignited by “meet the important deadline.” Similarly, a bonus for meeting a deadline may motivate in the short term but bonuses do not ignite passion.

Passion is ignited when team members share an intrinsic purpose.They can envision users’ lives being improved by what they’re building.

Understanding the difference between Intentional and Unintentional debt can be challenging! Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the 7 deadly sins of technical debt.

https://www.agiledad.com/_files/ugd/a58352_3070a0c5fdfe412e8e430a85ef216d9e.pdf

Unintended features or gold plating
Poorly designed architecture
Lack of product backlog management and visibility
Outdated defects and bugs
Lack of test automation or optimization
Lack of coding & testing standard
Missing refactoring opportunities and peer review

Denzel Washington gave some pretty sound advice when he said Dreams without goals are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the journey and the arrival of seeing dreams through to fruition.

MUST watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FB9i7P9Zs4

What does a VP of Product do?

Product vision/direction and alignment to that direction
Overall product roadmap prioritization and communication
Team management, coaching, and growth
Cross company feedback and alignment
Managing dependencies, resources, and risk mitigation for products/features you’re building and launching

Are you interested in learning about the STABLE Framework and how it helps us do Agile better? Today we will study The Hidden Factory. What is it andhow does it help us identify and eliminate waste.

One of the most common mistakes I see when organizations attempt to scale is the struggle to gather meaningful feedback and reporting metrics. It is so important that we do not track things at the individual level yet I see it happening everywhere I visit. How can we solve this issue and make scaling SEXY again?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss an email I got from Mike Cohn where he talks about the importance of Limiting WIP, Little's Law and how we should stop starting and start finishing work!

What does a song from 1984 teach us as a precursor to the Agile Manifesto? It teaches us to treat people with dignity and respect. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss ways to choose our words more wisely.

What are the top 5 tips to host a perfect Retrospective?

Set the stage
Evaluate goals and last actions
Generate Insights
Define new actions
Properly close the retrospective

MANY people have asked me how Agile works at Tesla? With the help of Joe Justice and some team members from Tesla, I was able to pull some sneak peeks at what they do to get things done.

Giving teams problems to solve instead of specific tasks —I focused on the goals but not on how to achieve them. In the case of OKR, I asked my teams to propose key results (KR).
Inviting them to co-create goals — On top of that, I understood that leaders should invite others to co-create goals. I have repeatedly found that engineers often have the best ideas (“What”).
Showing trust instead of exercising control — This may seem not easy at first. I learned to delegate and trust much more than I felt comfortable with. The results surprised me.
Letting others work however they need to — The people closest to the problem know what they need to solve it—no more detailed procedures and instructions.
Encouraging experimentation and learning from mistakes — As a former developer, I often tried to cut corners, especially when working with people just starting their careers. But I have concluded that sometimes we should allow others to make mistakes.
Communicating vision and strategy regularly — It is crucial that everyone can identify with the mission, understand the goals, and feel confident they are going in the right direction.

What are the 6 Concrete Ways to Improve Collaboration? I thought you would never ask.... Join us as we review this article from Alessandro Zanetti - https://medium.com/serious-scrum/scrum-master-6-concrete-ways-to-improve-collaboration-45f01ca630f8 where we learn the six techniques that really are effective:

Work with clear goals
Improve sprint planning
Create the culture of asking why
Coach how to give feedback
Use positive language
Celebrate success

Is all hope lost? Or is it not too late for us to refocus and truly have hope for our future? In this Agile- Not so agile episode of The Daily Standup Podcast, you will learn the three tips to help you regain hope in humanity.

Find something to keep you grounded spiritually and emotionally
Lose yourself in the service of others
Find ways to filter out negative inputs and bias

Remember it is our responsibility to intertwine the fabric of our story with the fabric of others stories to create a beautiful tapestry called life! People truly are inherently good and want to do and be their very best.

For all of you who asked about Stable Framework, here is a super fun episode with the creator of the STABLE Framework!

What is the difference between Fire Fighting Vs Fire Prevention and why is it important for us to understand both? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to idetify the problem and what to do to solve it!

In a recent article by David Pereira, he discussed: I’d be a billionaire if I’d get a dime every time a developer complained about Scrum events. Recently, I noticed an increased resistance towards Scrum. Developers challenge whether the framework helps them get their work done or gets in the way. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the keys to optimizing meetings.

Don't forget to go to the AgileDad Website where you can download The Agile Meetings Playbook!

https://medium.com/@scrummastered/scrum-master-vs-agile-coach-what-8217-s-the-difference-2f1ba5051ba8

Identification and understanding of roles has long plagued many Agile Organizations. There seems to be a great deal of confusion about what a ScrumMaster really does and how it differs from what a coach does. I also have seen organizations severely minimize the ScrumMaster role and try to implement the single internal coach solution, both of which are VERY bad! In this episode we explore the differences and set the record straight.

One of the most asked questions I have gotten recently is how do I become an Agile coach? I do not know that anyone has broken down all of the steps and shared just how long it really takes to see these things come to pass. Join V. Lee Henson as we discover what it takes and how to get there.

What sparks great joy for you? Do you seek Joy? When you find joy, do you share it? Learn how to multiply and share joy with others. It will make you the better person.

Agile Coaching Myth - It Takes a LONG Time To See Results From Agile Coaching - Does it really? I have seen changes almost immediately after hitting the ground! Join us as we review an article published by John McFadyen and discuss what really works and how to get there.

https://medium.com/@johniainmcfadyen/agile-coaching-myth-4-it-takes-a-long-time-to-see-results-from-agile-coaching-93a0a54a4f44

Does It Make Sense for Developers to Wear the Scrum Master’s Hat? Of course I believe you already know what my answer is going to be... Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss an article written by Dave Pereira and what we can do to make certain this never happens.

https://medium.com/serious-scrum/does-it-make-sense-for-developers-to-wear-the-scrum-masters-hat-a42d0c138a2e

What are the 6 most desired business outcomes? Many organizations struggle to get their head around tangible outcomes. Here is a list and explanation of the top 6 winners:

Predictability
Improved Quality of Software or Product
Cost Savings
Early ROI
Product Fit
Innovation

As the pandemic wanes, many teams are still not back in the office—some not every day and some not at all. Other teams were remote pre-pandemic and always will be. Whether your team is distributed temporarily or it’s your default, your team members need time to get to know one another personally.

When teams are in-person, they get to know one another through their daily interactions. You and I get in the elevator together and ask each other innocuous but friendly questions: Do anything this weekend? How old are your kids now? And so on. This type of water-cooler conversation doesn’t happen as naturally with distributed teams.

Here’s one way you can encourage some casual chitchat. Every so often, throw the daily scrum timebox out the window and start the day with a little facilitated small talk.

I’ve gone so far as to tell teams that their daily scrums are required to start with five minutes of mandatory small talk. No mention of the project is allowed. Team members share anecdotes about their hobbies, what their kids did the night before, the great movie they saw, and things like that.

After that mandatory five minutes chatting, we start the normal part of the daily scrum, which is timeboxed to a further fifteen minutes.

One of my favorite things to hear about during this part of a daily scrum is how team members in a different country will be celebrating a holiday.

When on the phone with members of a London-based team recently, I got to find out what the Queen’s Jubilee was all about. (Seventy years as Queen–can you believe it?) Until hearing more about some holidays from coworkers, I had no idea what the festivities were like or why they were important.

I’ve learned about all manner of holidays from working with distributed teams this way. More importantly, though, I learned little details about the lives of my remote teammates. And that helped us all work together better.

So while I fully support a fifteen-minute timebox to the daily scrum, for some teams, I will occasionally break that rule by starting with five minutes of mandatory small talk.

I suggest you try it. I bet you’ll learn a great deal more about your remote teammates and find yourselves more naturally able to be honest and comfortable with each other in all of your interactions–which will help all of you succeed with agile. ~ Mike Cohn

If you ONLY had 30 seconds.. What would you say about yourself? How would you represent who you are and what you want?

These days, we are so overwhelmed with everything ‘Agile’ that it’s easy to forget that not everyone is aware of all the terminology. Especially being an Agile Coach slash Scrum Master it’s easy — through occupational deformation — to get a blind spot for your own bullshit bingo.

The other day, I told someone to contact the Product Owner in order to get a User Story on the Backlog, so it could be refined during a refinement session, get pokered, and then picked up in a coming sprint.

The vacant look and deadly silence on the other end of the screen made me realize my waterfall of Agile words was leaps and bounds too far for someone who has never interacted with an Agile team.

So, what is ‘Agile’ then? Libraries could be filled with books on Agile, but let me suffice with what Agile means to me in a nutshell:

The idea behind an Agile way of working is an organization that is able — as a whole — to respond to all rapid changes organizations have to deal with these days — changes in the sales market, the technique, the labor market, the legislation, the societal changes, etc. You need an Agile mindset in the entire organization to get the best results — which entails: empowering people, working iteratively in as short as possible cycles, focusing on delivering as much value as possible in as short a time as possible, and embracing transparency.

Whether you use the Agile framework of Scrum, or Kanban, or SAFe, or your own mix like Spotify does, the basics are the above. Because more and more organizations worldwide adopt an Agile way of working you see a widening taking place. Where at first there were mostly IT departments in IT-focused organizations that started ‘Scrumming’, throughout the years a widening has been taking root to, for instance, sales and marketing departments. After the tech companies, other sorts of organizations also started experimenting with Agile, like construction companies, schools, and even healthcare organizations.

Next to the widening, there has also been a deepening. Where Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches were at first often developers or testers that did the Agile stuff as a side job, we have seen a growth towards full-time coaching. Many achieve coaching diplomas and delve into related disciplines, like psychology.

The coaching of teams and entire organizations usually has less to do with content than with the functioning of individuals in those teams and organizations. The dynamics of a team are mainly determined by the way of working together of the team members. Experienced Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches know that they benefit more from good coaching techniques than from profound knowledge of the ticketing system of the concerning organization.

Through the widening and deepening, the Agile way of working keeps getting better and more robust. Already more than 20 years going strong and still not fully developed — Agile is not easy to do right, but the rewards in value for the organization and for the people is more than worth it.

https://patrickheller.medium.com/agile-more-than-20-years-a-buzzword-55a3ee44cbe3

This is a question that gets asked all of the time. How do I deal with inbound interruptions to my Sprint? Start by understanding the three categories and knowing what to do with each one.

Way too often I hear about teams that are consistently carrying over work from one sprint to the next. How do we stop this practice from occurring? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore three tips to never allow this to happen again.

Do your sprint planning meetings drag on and on? Do you joke that the team must be trying to plan a marathon rather than a sprint?

You are not alone.

Some teams struggle with planning because they aren’t taking the time to refine. You can read about some ways to tackle that problem in this blog.

But today let’s help the teams that struggle with planning because they are just trying too hard to get it perfect. There’s no need to be perfect. Going into too much detail with each product backlog item or trying to estimate too precisely wastes everyone’s time without adding value to the sprint.

Perfect sprint planning does not mean the team has thought of every task. Perfect sprint planning means the team has perfectly figured out what set of product backlog items they can do during the sprint.

Think about that for a moment and let it sink in. Being perfect is not thinking of every task. Being perfect is knowing the right set of product backlog items that can be delivered in a sprint.

In my experience, a team doing a good job of sprint planning will identify only about two-thirds of all the tasks its members will do during the sprint. So the team leaves the meeting having failed to identify about one third of all the tasks they’ll do that sprint.

And this is a good thing. The team could spend more time planning the sprint and identify more of the work, but it’s not worth the extra time. Teams typically don’t miss the big to-dos, just the little ones. That’s why there’s no need to try to think of every small task.

Here’s something to try next sprint to see how you’re doing. Start by measuring the percentage of tasks your team identifies during sprint planning.

This is an easy metric to collect. Simply count the number of tasks identified during sprint planning and then count the number of tasks that have been identified by the end of the sprint. Divide, and you’ve got the percentage your team is identifying during sprint planning.

Did you find your team is identifying more than two-thirds during sprint planning? First, congratulate them on doing such a great job of identifying work that needs to be done. Then try shortening their sprint planning meetings. They can probably get by with spending a bit less time in sprint planning.

But if you do the math and find your team identifies only half of the eventual tasks during sprint planning, your team will probably benefit from spending a little more time in the sprint planning meeting. The team is underestimating the effort required to complete the product backlog items, which means they are probably bringing in more work than they can deliver.

By knowing the percentage of tasks your team identifies during sprint planning and by remaining focused on the true purpose of sprint planning—selecting the right set of product backlog items to bring into a sprint and discussing them just enough to successfully implement them—you can help your team succeed with agile,

What are the top three things that you can do to be a better listener?

Show Empathy
Truly Understand the issue
Avoid Instant Solutions

We all know that we don't talk about Bruno, but here is a short list of 6 other things that should not be discussed at work with leadership or ANYONE:

You hate someone in your department or team
Anything Political
Bad things about your last manager or job
Your personal situation at home
It's Not my fault
That is not part of my job!

In this episode we review a blog post from Meera Patel that discusses the top 5 tips to creating meaningful product roadmaps:

Identify & Involve the Correct Stakeholders
Tie Every Piece to the Long-Term Strategy
Design to Scale Logically
Create a Clear, Concise Visual
Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!

https://productcoalition.com/5-tips-to-creating-a-meaningful-product-roadmap-a5d46d3505f9

Here is a list of the top 6 books every PO should read:

Essential Scrum by Ken Rubin
User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton
Scrum - The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time - Jeff Patton
The Stable Framework by Michael J Berry
Product Roadmaps by Bruce McCarthy

BONUS Books: Agile Estimating & Planning by Mike Cohn & Getting Things Done by David Allen

What are the top 5 Leadership Attributes that help drive Agile success? Whether you are a leader of teams of companies, this list of five, (with a bonus number 6), will help you stay focused on the things that really make Agile happen in your organization.

Be Passionate about the Vision & Strategy for your organization and why you selected to do Agile! Be Excited!
Be prepared - Know that Agile is not a magic potion to make things faster and better instantly and make certain all leaders know this.
Understand - Learn how to best communicate the passion in your ideas.
Do NOT be a head nodder - Learn to engage in active listening and strive to understand and be empathetic.
Encourage Face to Face Interactions and get out of the way. Allow teams and groups to FOCUS.
(BONUS) - Lead with intent not specific instructions.

Building & Sharing What You Have - Time, Talents, and Gifts - In this episode we focus on enablement vs empowerment and how we can share and benefit from each.

What Comes After Agile? You will have to listen to find out... And then I am still not certain you will believe it!

It should be blatantly obvious that Story Mapping and Backlog Refinement are Critical components that add to Agile Success! What are the key reasons we are facilitating these meetings and do they really make a difference? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore why this is so important nad how to keep things in context.

Are Agile Deadline Evil? Many say yes.. i say it depends on the context. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore Deadline Driven Design and the impact it can have on teams.

How can we possibly narrow down the hundreds of Agile books to a single list of five that every ScrumMaster should read? Like this:

Essential Scrum by Ken Rubin
Succeeding With Agile by Mike Cohn
Scrum The Art of Doing Twice The Work In Half The Time by Jeff Sutherland
The Elements of Scrum by Chris Sims & Hillary Louise Johnson
Agile Retrospectives by Esther Derby & Diana Larsen

This inspirational story is one that is well known... But how often do we forget to take the time to sharpen oir saw before we try to cut down an entire forest? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the story and the solution!

What are the best and worst ways to measure team success? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what metrics really matter!

Your product vision ultimately answers the questions “why are we building this?” and “where is it headed in the future?” It’s the magnetic north for your team, and provides both a clearly defined direction for the team to build towards as well as a more ephemeral guide that whispers in the ears of every team member when they are faced with a fork in the road, and wonder which direction to go.

Why does product vision matter to your engineers?

Your engineers will feel significantly more connected to the mission of the company/product.
It sparks the big ideas.
It guides the small decisions.

How do I better communicate the product vision?

Document your product vision!
Use Pictures.
Tag your tickets/stories.
Talk about it often.
Update it often.

https://productcoalition.com/why-your-engineers-are-hungry-for-your-product-vision-1d7b2dba72f

What do you do when Scrum just is NOT enough? It is intended to be a framework, but so is SAFe? Do we bite the bullet and switch to something larger? Or do we stick with the smaller framework and build upon it?

On this Independence Day, Agile leaders should be focused on and fighting for impact! Join the team at AgileDad as we celebrate Independence Day with you and your leaders!

Who would have thought that I would craft a Friday episode around a quote from Katy Perry? Standing For Nothing = Falling For Everything! Do not let the world around you influence who you are and or how you feel. Stand above the clouds and do what you can to make a difference!

As a kid, I enjoyed visiting my grandparents. My dad’s parents were an eight-hour car trip away but we’d make the trek a few times a year.

On many of those trips, my grandmother would host extended family dinners, usually with quite a crowd in attendance.

She served a great many dishes for those dinners, including some things from “the old country.” And some of those dishes looked quite unappealing to my young palate.

But Grandma insisted we children try everything. As a matter of fact, she insisted we try two bites of everything. If we didn’t like it, we didn’t need to eat more. But we always had to eat two bites. Grandma’s theory was that things often taste much better on the second bite.

I’ve found that Grandma’s logic applies equally well to changes teams make as a result of their retrospectives. I encourage teams to try new things for two sprints before deciding whether the change is good and worth continuing or not.

Suppose, for example, a team decides to switch from two- to one-week sprints. That will undoubtedly feel a little strange at first. I tell that team not to discuss how the change went in the first retrospective following the change.

I want them to save that discussion for after the second sprint. At that point they’ll have a much better feel for whether the change was good. They’ll be able to assess the effects of the change rather than just the discomfort of making a change.

When I was young, I did as my grandmother required: I sampled each strange, new dish twice. Not surprisingly, my opinion never changed between bites. If I didn’t like the taste of the first bite, it never got better with the second bite. I was a kid, after all.

But I have seen agile teams embrace after a second sprint the changes they might have rejected after a first sprint. That willingness to really try new things is critical for teams to succeed with agile,

Mike

I frequently get asked about Agile Contracts and how we should fund/budget for Agile products and projects. Let this no longer be a mystery! This 'no crystal ball' required approach will lead you to the how and why behind Agile Budgeting practices.

How important is the definition of done and what kind of things should in include? How about:

Acceptance criteria are verified during testing
Code creation tasks completed
Testing completed and signed
Regression testing has been reviewed and passed
Code reviews conducted
Defects are in an “acceptable” state to the Product Owner
User story accepted by the product owner
Regression tests run and passed
Automated unit tests are checked in

What is a release plan and why is it such an important part of our Agile implementation? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we did deep in the archives and discuss how release planning can make or break your implementation.

What can we learn from a bundle of sticks? Join V. Lee Henson from AgileDad as we share an inspiring story about a man, his 4 sons, and a bundle of sticks that was unbreakable!

Why are the Scrum Values so important? Is it critical that we memorize these and share them with our teams? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss why the Scrum Values ADD Value!

This is the age old question... Which practice works best? Which is the silver bullet solution ?Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the 4 phases to complete a product or project and the importance of investing in each.

Are data driven retrospectives really a thing? I suppose they are, but I see this as an opportunity to really demonize and weaponize metrics to force a renewed push for equalization and optimum efficiency instead of focusing on outcome and impact which are the real 2 metrics we should be tracking.

Here are the Top 10 Tricks:

Have a clear purpose objective and intent for the meeting
Invite the right people to your meeting
Prepare a detailed agenda
Nail the logistics
Always start on time
Stay on Track
Define how decisions will be reached
Make certain outcomes and conclusions are clearly stated
Assign action items and Stick to timelines
Follow-up after the meeting

Sam and Tom were identical twins. They were so identical that even their mother found it difficult to distinguish one from the other.

But apart from their looks, the two boys couldn’t be any more different. The first young boy, Sam, had no problems making friends. Meanwhile, the other little boy, Tom, was bad at keeping them. Sam loved sweets but Tom loved spicy food. Sam was mommy’s pet and Tom was daddy’s pet.

Sam was generous and selfless. Tom had a very bad temper and was very greedy.

This is where this motivational story gets interesting.

As Sam and Tom grew up, their father wanted to share his fortune equally amongst them. However, Tom did not agree and he argued that whoever proved to be more intelligent and strong would have to get a bigger share of the wealth.

Sam agreed. Their father decided to organize a competition between the two. He asked the two sons to walk as long as they could and return home before sunset. The wealth would be divided in proportion to the distance covered. As a rule of the competition, they were not permitted to carry a watch to keep track of the time.

The following day, Sam and Tom set out to walk. It was a rather sunny day. Sam walked slowly and steadily, while Tom broke into a sprint as he was bent on winning the race and winning a greater portion of his father’s wealth.

Sam knew that it would be ideal to walk as far as possible until noon then head home by noon as it would take the same amount of time to walk back home. And so he did.

However, Tom—with his greed to earn more wealth—did not attempt to return home even after mid-noon. He walked twice as long as Sam and thought he would still be able to return home before sunset. He hurried back when he saw the sun turn orange. Unfortunately, he could not even make it halfway. Darkness slowly engulfed his path and he had to drag his tired feet back home.

He had lost the race because of his greed.

Learn with AgileDad as we explore an article published by Ted Bauer - Most Execs Don't Know What Strategy Is where we discover the importance of the Agile Press release and how the AgileDad Leadership Agility Playbook allows leaders to gain focus onto what is most important.

What are the top 5 concerns every product backlog should address?

People: The agile team and stakeholders( how we can improve peer-to-peer communication, reduce stakeholders’ interference, improve the team morale, create a better working agreement, etc.)

Product: The product Increment, features, bug fixes ( any issue needed to build, improve the actual product, etc.).

Process: The agile approach, ceremonies, artifacts( How can we enhance our cycle time, reduce handoffs, reduce work in progress, reduce bugs in production, better definition of ready, etc.)

Place: The team where it is placed to develop the product( How can we improve the workplace, less noise, more osmotic communication, more whiteboard, more light, have a quiet room., etc.).

Production: Means of production (write scripts to improve the speed of the continuous delivery, purchase another IDE, get a new development machine, get a tool to automate the UI test, etc.).

As the story goes...

Carl is a Product Owner. He works with three Scrum Teams. He’s concerned about the productivity of one of the teams because the Velocity is lower than the Velocity from other teams. This is why he decides to raise this with Sarah, the Scrum Master. What does he do to solve the issue?

Finally!! The team at MentorMate have acknowledged and discussed the differences between a PO and a BA and why BOTH are important to your Agile implementation.

https://mentormate.medium.com/product-owner-vs-business-analyst-the-importance-of-both-d813c31320d5

Are you quick to judge? How can we become a people with less bias and focus on the talents and gifts of others? Join V. Lee Henson for this uplifting episode where we formulate how the world can be a different better place.

In this episode we review an article by John Hartley where he is petitioning for organizations to stop using velocity to measure teams. While I understand the intent of what John is proposing, I feel there must needs be a better way, such as... Using Velocity!

Here are the top 3 things you should avoid saying as a PM:

1) Saying Yes Straightaway

2) Saying No Straightaway

3) Becoming a Taskmaster Without Context

https://johnmicahreid.medium.com/3-things-to-avoid-saying-as-a-product-manager-4b0d37e9e56

Agile Burndown charts are the WORST! They force us to focus on output instead of outcome and or impact. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss why this is an issue and what you can do to better track sprint progress.

How does QA work in your organization? Are they a separate team? Do they assign a single individual to the team? Or are your teams completely cross-functional? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore how teams and QA should co-mingle and learn how QA is supposed to function.

How can we spread more joy in this world that is filled with so much negativity? Tell a Dad joke.. AgileDad is VERY good at those.

Help teams engage by learning to do what in the trenches:

1) Understand and leverage Team Working Agreements

2) Identify Silos and work through them

3) Implement Team John for honing of skills

4) Allow the Agile Coach to remove obstacles that the team cannot remove themselves

5) Allow teams to create a common purpose and goal

6) Incentivize teamwork & Collaboration

7) Let teams decide how to manage value flow

In This Episode of Agile In The Trenches we focus on the best ways to help teams embrace change:

1) Commit to goals, not plans or scope

2) Try pair programming, peer review, and mob programming to increase collaboration

3) Allow team members space to breathe

4) Try 'no meeting zones'

5) Do not overfill sprints. Leave space for innovation

6) Make certain backlog items are sliced very small

7) Limit WIP and stay focused

In this Agile In The Trenches episode we learn how to overcome imposed deadlines and how to regain our focus:

1) Demo or deliver value more frequently

2) Avoid the middle man

3) Stop over or under planning

4) Provide incremental and iterative value

5) Use failure as a chance to adapt

6) Bring teams and planners together

7) Build products and services together a s partners

In the United States, we celebrate Memorial Day on the Last Monday in May each year. What is Memorial Day? How did it start? Why do we celebrate this day in history? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore and learn more about this topic.

Some things are worth holding on to.. Other things are important to let go. Which things do we choose to hold tight and how do they impact is spiritually and emotionally? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad, as we review the story and think a little deeper.

Join us as we review an AMAZING article by Ronald RC :

1) Never Split The Difference

2) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

3) Drive

4) Pre-suasion

5) Escaping The Build Trap

https://medium.com/@rcaste91/5-non-agile-books-that-leveled-up-my-scrum-master-skills-cf5527f513fe

What happens when one of your favorite students ever reaches out to you and asks you to review what many may consider the most cringeworthy article on Agile ever written? You graciously review it and try not to let your blood pressure get too high!

The age old question.. Which technique is best for estimation and forecasting? Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we get this all hammered out and give you the answer you seek once and for all.

8 Ways To Be a More Effective Leader

1) Show Empathy

2) Be The Ultimate Communicator - Learn to Listen

3) Accept & Embrace Change

4) Prepare and Share a Clear Vision & Execution Strategy

5) Develop Your Followers

6) Communicate Clear & realistic Expectations

7) Failure is a Good Thing

8) Continue Your Education

3 Techniques to Influence People Logical Appeals (Head) Logical appeals tap into people’s rational and intellectual positions. You present an argument for the best choice of action based on organizational benefits, personal benefits, or both, appealing to people’s minds.

Emotional Appeals (Heart) Emotional appeals connect your message, goal, or project to individual goals and values. An idea that promotes a person’s feelings of well-being, service, or sense of belonging tugs at the heartstrings and has a good chance of gaining support.

Cooperative Appeals (Hands) Cooperative appeals involve collaboration (what will you do together?), consultation (what ideas do other people have?), and alliances (who already supports you or has the credibility you need?). Working together to accomplish a mutually important goal extends a hand to others in the organization and is an extremely effective way of influencing.

Leaders who effectively use these influencing tactics can achieve their goals and objectives more successfully than leaders who lack that ability, regardless of where they sit in an organization.

1. Agility

The teams’ ability to react to changes in requirements, development time issues and organizational pivots. You can also consider this as reactiveness to change.

Predictability This accounts for commitments made v/s what is actually delivered at a fixed point in time. If the team commits to delivery N number of items in the to-do list in X days, predictability is how close to N the team reaches on an average.

It is of course impossible in real world scenarios to delivery N items as was committed since engineering complexities, process dependancies and people factors come into play. There is also the matter of our inability to estimate the size of the work to be done.

Efficiency Efficiency looks at how many work packets or items were delivered by the team v/s how much they could have delivered. It is obviously hard to say how much they could have delivered, but you can look at it as a relative (across methods) area.

A perfectly efficient team utilizes all their time in delivering items. This is of course impossible as the same factors that plague predictability plague this area too.

I was asked by a subscriber to review an article from Didem Kolulisa titled 'How Do I Become an Agile Coach?'

https://didem-kolukisa.medium.com/how-do-i-become-an-agile-coach-23f5af1abece

She offered 4 questions and 4 lessons to help you see just how far along you are and allows you to test your clout to see if you are ready to take on the challenges of becoming a team or enterprise coach.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet - Romeo & Juliet

Does the word developer bother you? Are you ready to rise up in protest and fight for a different title? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what alternate words are and if they should be an option.

Join us as we review a recent Mike Cohn Blog post about High Performing Teams..

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/what-is-a-high-performing-agile-team

“Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home. There’s a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water’s edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her.

This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her. As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in fact a small trap. There were three turtles, unharmed, slowly walking around the base of the trap. She had a fourth turtle in her lap that she was carefully scrubbing with a spongy brush.

‘Hello,’ I said. ‘I see you here every Sunday morning. If you don’t mind my nosiness, I’d love to know what you’re doing with these turtles.’

She smiled. ‘I’m cleaning off their shells,” she replied. “Anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim. It can also corrode and weaken the shell over time.’

‘Wow! That’s really nice of you!’ I exclaimed.

She went on: ‘I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning, relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out. It’s my own strange way of making a difference.’

‘But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?’ I asked.

‘Yep, sadly, they do,’ she replied.

I scratched my head. ‘Well then, don’t you think your time could be better spent? I mean, I think your efforts are kind and all, but there are fresh water turtles living in lakes all around the world. And 99% of these turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells. So, no offense… but how exactly are your localized efforts here truly making a difference?’

The woman giggled aloud. She then looked down at the turtle in her lap, scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell, and said, ‘Sweetie, if this little guy could talk, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world.'”

A recent student in my Advanced Product Owner Workshop taught me about the concept of building a Team Motivation MAP

M = Mastery:

denotes the inclination of people to become a better version of themselves in any given field. Also, the skills that any individual wants to improve what they do next in a continuous manner.

The Scrum Master strives to master the application of Scrum in order to foster a psychologically safe environment where the efficacy of value delivery is realized at all levels of the organization.

Influencing and inspiring people to embrace Scrum to improve and sustain it.
Exploring creative ways to engage people while performing work.
Building enduring professional relationships during interactions with Scrum Team(s) and stakeholders.

The Product Owner strives to master his Product management skills in order to maximize and optimize the value of the Product.

Relentless focus on exploring creative ways to communicate product vision and roadmap.
Identifying impactful interventions to improve the adoption of product features for sustainable growth.
Improving product discovery techniques to better understand the customer experience as a whole.

The Developers strive to master their software craftsmanship in order to deliver high-quality products for their end customers.

Learn and build emergent engineering architecture and practices to improve product quality.
Identify ways to innovate the product features in the marketplace to improve time to market and generate business value.

A = Autonomy:

refers to the choice of freedom provided to people. So that they will self-select ways to achieve the outcomes that create enduring impacts.

The Scrum Master needs the environment with autonomy to devise and experiment with initiatives. To build awareness and co-create paradigm shift towards contemporary management techniques. So that people become aware of their improvement areas and unlock their potential with several unlearning and learning moments. This paves way for them to gain mastery on their path towards becoming a self-managing team.

The Product Owner requires autonomy to take key decisions to maximize product value and optimize the value resulting from the work delivered by the Developers associated with the Scrum Team. So that (s)he gets the appropriate environment required to improve accountability and nurture the Product Ownership to the next level.

The Developers require autonomy to improve development standards and sustain built-in quality while building product increment(s) every Sprint. They must be guided and supported with relevant tools and resources to deliver value. This helps in reducing the accumulated technical debt within the product and fosters their cross-functional skillset and improves self-management capabilities.

P = Purpose:

Let's face it, we are all SO TIRED of online meetings via Zoom, Teams, etc. The truth is there are some phrases we are all tired of hearing as well. Here is a short list:

“We’ll wait five minutes for everyone to get here.” This disrespects the time of people who arrived on time. And it discourages a timeliness culture. Most of the time, you should start the meeting without the tardy people. But there are occasionally good reasons why someone is late. If you must wait, you could begin with quick tone-setting exercises. For example, ask everyone to write down their goal for the meeting. It doesn’t have to be made public, but it is valuable to create a practice of thinking about your purposes before a meeting. You can also start by asking everyone to eliminate one distraction. That distraction could be moving something from their desk, shutting a window on their computer, or opening a window in their room.

“You’re on mute!” This is a quick way to tell a speaker we can’t hear them. But this is usually said simultaneously by a chorus of people . It has become annoying, making the muted person feel dumb.

Saying “If you’re speaking, I can’t hear you,” is a friendlier, more supportive alternative. Rather than making the muted speaker feel foolish, this tells them that you genuinely want to hear what they have to say.

“Let’s talk about this offline.” This phrase dismisses someone’s idea, putting them off forever. It is also nonsensical because the follow-up will inevitably take place online. Why not say something like, “That’s an important issue that goes outside the scope of this meeting. Let’s talk about it when we’re finished here.”

“We’re flying the plane while it’s being built.” Many of us have heard this metaphor in meetings. But it should prompt a host of questions from the audience. Is the project moving so fast that we won’t be able to recognize or debate its flaws? Is this an excuse for poor performance?

When you’re tempted to use this phrase, be explicit by communicating the project elements that we’ve figured out, what we’re now working on, what we don’t know yet, and how we plan to make changes based on what we discover. That will give people a clearer understanding of the development.

“I’ll give you ten minutes of your life back!” I’ll end by returning to this phrase because it’s one I’d like to never hear again. I don’t mind when meetings end early. But we should look forward to our next meeting when they are well-run, well-structured, and unexpectedly short. So we should emphasize that at the end of the meeting.

When you are tempted to give your team a few “minutes of their life back,” think about saying, “Wow. We finished 10 minutes early because everyone worked so hard. Thank you very much for being here and taking part.” This straightforward rephrasing has the potential to redefine how people leave your meetings and feel about the next one.

A recent article by Gabor Csomak discusses how doing fewer story points will over time increase your velocity. The concepts presented are on point, but a clear discussion needs to be had regarding the use of the words Capacity and Velocity as they are not interchangeable.

https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/why-committing-to-less-story-points-will-increase-your-velocity-d821380c6c5

What are the 5 tips to be an exceptional product owner? I am glad you asked:

1) Master Soft Skills - Human Interaction

2) Fundamental PO Skills - Behavioral Driven

3) Team Skills - Team Engagement & Management

4) Product Skills - The PO Skills one would expect to see...

5) Technical Mastery Skills - If you are working in a tech environment..

Do you know and appreciate your friends? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn the tale of two friends that encountered a bear and what they did to stick together. Did their friendship stand this awful test?

Celebrating Cinco De Mayo Inspiring Quotes To Help Us Do Better

May the fourth be with you. As we celebrate this day where all things should be Star Wars related, here are 4 lessons that can be applied to both our Agile and daily lives:

Lesson #1 — It’s never too late to do the right thing Lesson #2 — Everyone has a good side and a bad side Lesson #3 — Stillness is the key

Lesson #4 — Fear is a deadly motivator

The question of proper backlog management has come up quite a bit in our recent coaching sessions. Many organizations are attempting ScrumBan but do they truly know what they are getting themselves into? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the concept of a team backlog and working Kanban flow within a sprint.

Here are some practical pointers for putting this principle to work.

Great leaders see more than results as their goal. Indeed, good animal health and welfare outcomes are the results we seek. Achieving these desired outcomes requires that team members work together. High-performing teams prioritize the development of trusting relationships as their foundation.
As a leader, your presence during a crisis makes a difference. A leader’s primary purpose is not to direct or judge their teams’ actions during a crisis. Instead, the leader’s role is to be present and care for the people’s needs. They can provide a calm, steady hand. Their presence shows that the team is not alone in these high-pressure situations. Even if you can’t be present on site, find substantive ways to support and care for your teams.
The principle is as important in daily work as it is during a crisis. We need to prove to our teams that their well-being is a higher priority than the situation at hand. Remember, circumstances are temporary, but relationships carry us through the long haul. The best leaders know this and grow stronger when they see others succeed in their daily work.
Slow down and be ready to serve. When I started as a veterinarian, I was always in a rush trying to complete the list of things I needed to do. I was productive, but only in a selfish way. I was too busy to see the needs of others around me. Slowing down helped me be available for others and their needs.

https://medium.com/management-matters/people-relationships-and-result-fa90f7bd166d

“Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the boiled eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. ‘Daughter, what do you see?’

‘Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,’ she hastily replied.

‘Look closer,’ he said, ‘and touch the potatoes.’ She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

‘Father, what does this mean?’ she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.

However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

‘Which are you,’ he asked his daughter. ‘When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?’

Have you ever read an article and just found it Cringe Worthy? Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we explore what we can do to make this meeting advice better and more well informed.

This is a great review of a recent article by Vincenzo Lanza about when he created AgileManifestoButCool.Com

UX work becomes a skill that can be collaborated on during the sprint by the Developers, now including the UX specialist. Think of some typical UX activities:

User research
Persona development
Information architecture
Wireframing
Prototyping
User testing
Business Problem Statements
Writing hypothesis
Designing experiments
Usabilty testing

1. Don’t be obsessive about metrics

2. Automate everything

3. Focus on removing impediment-removal

4. Reduce size of work items

5. Experiment with WIP limits

6. Pay down technical debt

7. Experiment with pair-work

How do you know when you need 4 new tires and how long you can wait to change them? Do you make Good Better or Best choices? Join us today and help a friend realize their fullest potential.

Challenge yourself to do the following 5 things:

1) Find your spiritual path. Get on it. Stay on it.

2) Discover the joy of gratitude and daily repentance.

3) Learn about your faith and how it works. What is your light?

4) Seek and expect miracles.

5) End conflict in your personal and professional life.

1) Split The Product Backlog

2) Reduce The Product Backlog Scope

3) Hide The Details

4) Aggregate The Details

5) Eliminate Dead items

Of course the ScrumMaster needs to be a people person... Right? I vote yes, but others have voted no... Join V. Lee Henson as we take this journey to figure things out.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as he reviews what could be the most cryptic blog post ever!! Please listen in and help me figure out what this guy is trying to say.

Here are the top 7 reasons:

1) Management/Leadership Issues

2) No Growth Opportunity

3) Lack of Engagement

4) Poor Communication

5) Dogmatic Work Policies

6) Lack of Vision & Strategy

7) Individual Burnout

This episode features a story called The Room which is a celebration of Easter.

Vanilla Ice was the ULTIMATE Innovative Disruptor! He beckoned us to STOP, COLLABORATE, and LISTEN. The Spice Girls taught us how to focus only on what we really really want, and 50 Cent wants us all to be In Da Club but how do all of these artists lead us to a growth mindset? Join us for a LAUGH OUT LOUD presentation with more music references than one can imagine possible in this one hour throw down and have a BLAST while you learn. How do we become innovative disruptors? Building a culture of psychological safety where radical candor rules and people love where they work is no easy undertaking.

The short answer is YES! They are part of the team and they should attend. This may be the SHORTEST episode ever of the daily standup podcast!

Of course they should... Oh wait no they should not... .But what about this situation? Let me tell you, this has been a heated topic. I have been teaching a LOT of PO Classes and we have had this discussion quite a few times. Join V. Lee Henson to see where he landed on this topic...

Do you understand the purpose of the Sprint Goal? What is it and how do we create it? The sprint goal should be a SMART goal. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss what a Sprint Goal is and why it is so critical to team success.

Do you understand others needs and stop to listen to what they have to say? Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we explore what we can do to better understand and empathize with others.

Last week I did a FREE Webinar about Certifications. Here are the results of having the webinar. Many voices were spoken..

Here are the 5 Anti-Patters for User Story Estimation:

1) Settling on the average

2) Deferring to the most senior member of the team

3) Skipping the definition of done

4) Unrealistic estimates

5) Equating points to time

Time based estimation is WRONG and it SUCKS!

What are the tips and best practices to master to make remote working environments work for our teams? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we explore what makes remote teams tick and how we can still get company culture while working from home.

I had someone point out an AMAZING article to me that says in order to do proper Agile, you should have ZER meetings and ZERO accountability. It is our job to give the team the work and get out of the way. How do you feel about that?

I fell and busted up both of my legs at the Magic Kingdom. Learn more about this crazy experience and what I learned from it.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the Eight Things You Should Be Doing During The Sprint Review, (DEMO).

1) Put the product in the hands of your user and stakeholder as much as possible

2) Gather feedback

3) Show progress relative to the product

4) Discuss what to do next

5) Adapt the product goal and product backlog

6) Show useful metrics

7) Keep it informal

8) Mix up facilitation

Join V. Lee Henson as we review an article by Sander Dur titled 7 Things You Should Do During Sprint Planning. Here is the list that we will cover:

Use feedback coming out of the Sprint Review
Reassess any remaining work from the last Sprint
Use the timebox to refine Product Backlog Items
Invite Subject Matter Experts
Relate the objective to Product Goals
Plan improvement items coming out of the Sprint Retrospective
Identify Dependencies (if you have not already)

https://medium.com/serious-scrum/10-things-to-do-during-the-sprint-planning-862fba7ebf33

Many people do Agile by the books. Even more people apply Agile to everything they do. Join us as we discover what Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Michelle Obama, Thomas Edison, Mae Jemison, John Wooden, and V. Lee Henson all have in common when it comes to Agile implementation.

Come celebrate with V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 broadcasted episodes of the Podcast:

5) Re-Energize Your Daily Standup

4) 3 Resolutions for 2022

3) 11 Laws of Agile Estimation

2) Mike Cohn - Understanding The Agile Revolution

1) The BEST Compliment I Have Ever Received

Thanks for listening and for subscribing!

When we lose someone we love, we are often stricken with grief and enter a place of mourning. What can we do that is even better and how can we celebrate someone we care deeply about's amazing journey? Know that you are loved and focus on the GOOD!

Have you ever wondered why people either HATE or do NOT attend your Demo / Review? Join us as we review a blog post from the legendary Mike Cohn listing of the Top 7 Ways to Get Stakeholders to Attend Sprint Reviews

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/top-7-ways-to-get-stakeholders-to-attend-sprint-reviews?

What are the 5 steps to having a perfectly prioritized Product Backlog?

Call a meeting with the right RATS
Brainstorm with the POBAFATA
Eliminate waste and duplicate effort
Identify a top 30 list
Conduct Rapid Release Planning

What is OSR? (Objective Stack Ranking) and how does it allow us to achieve the perfectly rank ordered backlog? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we discuss how Strategic Priority, Consumer Desire, and Technological Feasibility all play a role into objective sorting and how we can balance all of these to come to a stack ranked backlog.

A great SME is often hard to come by. One trend I have noticed is even when we identify the SME, sometimes we do not want tp hear what they have to say because they may be more right than we are. This begs the question, Should we talk about Bruno?

Join us for this inspirational journey as Steve learns what is means to sacrifice for every person in his class....

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The pop history version of St. Patrick’s Day tells us we are celebrating him driving the snakes out of Ireland.

If you could, what would you have someone come drive out of your agile process or your agile adoption?

Would you drive out someone forcing you to standardize things that don’t need to be standardized? I once worked in an organization that had mandated all daily scrums for all teams had to happen between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. A popular book says all daily scrums must be conducted left to right.

Or would you drive out daily scrums altogether? A lot of people don’t like the idea of meeting daily. “It hurts productivity,” they’ll tell me. Indeed, for probably 10 minutes a day, people are getting less done. But for the rest of the day, hopefully, people feel energized having heard what their colleagues are doing. Or they’ve avoided a mistake that could have been made if everyone didn’t talk once a day as a full group. Or each person feels a small, nice amount of peer pressure to not show up at tomorrow’s daily scrum without some progress to report, even if minimal some days.

Maybe you’d get rid of iterations or sprints and go for more of a Kanban approach.

Or maybe you want to get rid of estimates and go #NoEstimates.

Is There a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow? Because St. Patrick was Irish, it’s impossible for me to think of his day without also thinking about leprechauns.

I know leprechauns aren’t real. But neither are Nessie, Big Foot, mermaids, and nonfat, delicious cheesecake. But that doesn’t stop a small part of me from wishing that they were.

Who wouldn’t love to follow a leprechaun to the end of a rainbow where the leprechaun would be forced to give you his pot of gold.

A pot of gold is great, but what is even better to find at the end of a rainbow would be all the benefits a thriving agile adoption can bring an organization.

Projects in agile organizations are more likely to be delivered successfully. They’ll deliver more value at a lower cost with greater predictability and lower risk. Users and customers are therefore happier. Team members are more productive and happier. These are other benefits of agile are reported in the 13th Annual State of Agile Report.

What Do You Think? I’d love to know two things this St. Patrick’s Day:

What benefits have you experienced with agile?
You probably don’t need to drive snakes out of your agile approach. But what would you like to drive out of it?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below and have a happy St. Patrick’s Day.

https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/why-scrum-is-better-than-anything-youll-find-at-the-end-of-a-rainbow

Many CSM and CSPO participants have recently asked, why is the sprint backlog even relevant? If we are trying to avoid time based estimation practices, how does this help us achieve our goals? Join V. Lee Henson as we discover the real value behind the Sprint Backlog and the Sprint Goal.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore a recent article that reviews the top five questions you should be asking to determine if Scrum is right for your team.

There are three signs that backlog refinement is NOT going your way:

Backlog items are consistently too large and the need to break them down is persistent

Product Owner does not have a clear product goal. They have not taken the time to create an Agile Press Release

Backlog items are entering conversation without the correct level of detail.

How bad can peer pressure really be? What impact does it have on us as individuals, families, and teams?

Should we be using Velocity or Capacity during the Sprint Planning meeting? The answer is a resounding YES! Join V. Lee Henson, president and founder of AgileDad as we explore when it is best to use which calculation.

Keep team members happy
Diversity & inclusion matters
Solve multi-timezone drama
Allow teams to innovate
Evaluate and pivot as needed

Agile:

Helps teams take responsibility

Helps teams learn and grow

Improves communication and collaboration

Fosters freedom to experiment and be creative

Focuses on removing roadblocks

Reduces stress

Makes teams more adaptable

Fosters transparency in the workplace

Enables teams to be trusted

We have all heard the expression that there is a difference between doing Agile and being Agile... What does that really mean? Many organizations try to start by implementing cultural and procedural changes before addressing core issues. The key to success is to address the issues first and allow Agile to do some of the work for you instilling the rest of the framework for you.

How can three marbles make you the richest person on the planet? Wealth comes in all forms. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss true wealth and what we can do to make a difference.

We should all be familiar with William Wake's INVEST model to ensure a story meets the definition of ready to be assessed and sized by the team. Were you aware that people have dissected it to the point of finding quirks in the model? Join V. Lee Henson as we review as article published by Kevin Bendeler to discuss and conclude what is real and what is not real.

https://kevinbendeler.medium.com/three-quirks-of-the-invest-model-c2de20f555eb

Did you know that Agile is not a FIX ALL solution? There are plenty of things that Agile does NOT fix...

Agile does not fix poor leadership

Agile does not fix poor management

Agile does not fix lack of engagement

Agile does not fix company political games

Agile does not fix people’s ego

Agile does not fix command-and-control culture

Agile does not fix poor behaviors, culture and mindset

Agile does not fix over-allocation of people

Agile does not fix lack of focus & commitment

Agile does not fix poor customer focus

Agile does not fix poor process workflow

Agile does not fix poor communication/collaboration

Agile does not fix the lack of collaboration between Business & IT

Agile does not fix lack of people’s motivation

Agile does not fix poor HR compensation process that does not set the right people’s behavior

I know what you are thinking.. Clickbait right? What if I told you that I was serious? This episode talks about what nobody else seems to want to be talking about. How will waterfall emerge again? Is it truly still the GOLD Standard of project management? The movie the Office sheds light on how we can make Innotech a better company to work for.

What Agile Metrics should we be tracking? Here is a list of the top 3 things that matter and the top 3 things to avoid tracking:

Do:

Cumulative Flow Diagram

Agile Burnup Chart

Agile Earned Value

Dont:

Time Based ANYTHING

Individual Level Reporting

Burndown Chart (Unless your team is brand new)

How well do you handle your emotions? Are you one who harbors your feelings and lets things build up? Or are you better at expressing your feelings and being open with others? This story will help you understand how to better cope with negative energy.

Why do people ALWAYS remember to WHINE but always forget the cheese? (The cheese is a solution) Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the 5 Scrum Anti-Patterns:

Blaming

Individualism

Timidity

Contempt

Hoarding

One of our Daily Standup subscribers recently asked me to review an article published in late January by Keven Bendeler titled I Don't Like SAFe. Join V. Lee Henson as we dissect this article and talk about the symptoms behind the article that require coaching that were no actual fault of the SAFe Implementation.

Do numbers really have meaning. It does not take a numerologist to figure our that only ONCE in our lifetime will we experience 02/22/2022. I do not claim to be an exert on numbers, but I do claim that the challenge you will find here is to understand the power of 2 and do your share to uplift another.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we host Chris Diller as part of our Agile Expert Series. In this episode we explore how gaming and Agile work together. Learn from Scrum Alliance Certified Team Coach and profound Agilist Chris Diller how gaming can improve your Agile Implementation. You can learn more about Chris by visiting:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cddiller/

https://www.DillerCoaching.com

https://www.AgileGamesTwinCities.com

Let him know you learned about him from The Daily Standup Podcast!

Do you believe in miracles? Join us in this episode where we describe 2 completely different types of miracles and what we can do to better understand and engage in them.

In this virtual age, many individuals and teams have become disheartened by the daily standup meeting. In this episode we join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what we should be doing to keep the standup high energy and on point.

Those of you who know me well know that I am all about spreading the love. In this review of a recent blog post submitted by one of our listeners, I toll a different spin in identifying why these 8 techniques FAIL in most organizations that try them.

What are the top 10 metrics Agile Leaders should be tracking?

Predictability
Quality
Speed
Productivity
Market Responsiveness
Customer Satisfaction
Innovation
Continuous Improvement
Employee Engagement
Outcome Over Output

What do you LOVE about Agile? Join us for this special Valentines Day episode where we get all mushy about what we love about Agile and why you should love these things too!

What does it take to be a true champion? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the journey of a female high school basketball team and what it took for them to win something much bigger than the State Championship.

I was recently asked to review and article published in November 2021 titled 10 Commandments for PMOs Introducing Agile. I thought the article was amazing just as it was written. I did add a little color commentary to bring it to life, but here are the 10 commandments:

Practice What Thou Preach
Thou Shalt Not Ask For Stuff That Thou Will Not Use
Thou Shalt Not Govern Form Behind a Desk
Thous Shalt Not Underestimate The Power of Story Points
Thou Shall Not Call Your Project Agile When It is Clearly NOT
Thou Shalt Not Exceed Capacity
Thou Shalt Not Depend on Software
Thou Shalt Not Treat Agile Like a Noun
Thou Shalt Not Waste Lessons Learned In Sprints
Thou Shalt Not Work In Isolation

https://fatimahabbouchi.medium.com/10-commandments-for-pmos-introducing-agile-1aaee39ae64b

I had a recent student ask me Why do we even need a roadmap? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what the purpose of good roadmaps are...

I hear the question all of the time.. How do we know when it is appropriate to use Agile to execute projects instead of a more traditional method? You need to know the Seven Questions to ask:

1) What is your Appetite for Risk?

2) What is your Tolerance for upfront uncertainty?

3) How clear are the requirements from the stakeholders?

4) What is the urgency to deliver business value?

5) How many stakeholders do we need to collaborate with?

6) How stiff is the formality of the contractual agreement?

7) What is the experience of the implementation team?

A recent article titled An Open Letter to Scrum Masters by Rameez Kakodker really piqued my attention! It was written in PURE AgileDad Craftsmanship and is as snarky as you might imagine it to be. Join V. Lee Henson as we review the article and show it some LOVE!

How many minutes do we have to exist? If you know the answer to this question please let me know so that I can plan accordingly. The truth is none of us know the answer, yet we waste so much time dong things that d NOT add value. The time to FOCUS is now!

People and organizations are inherently risk averse and do not like the word change. If this is true, how do we get people to understand and accept changes? There are 5 areas we need to carefully consider:

Communication
Engagement
Transparency
Beliefs & Bias
Outcome Driven

Much like a mystic unicorn, the definition of done is talked about nearly as much as the mythical creature. This is your chance to finally learn about the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How behind a great definition of done.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we have thoughtful discussion about the current state of Agile Leadership.

To start, decide what absolutely does NOT need to be addressed! One of our subscribers asked us to review the article posted on Jan 13th by Janna Bastow titled How to Clean Up a Big Messy Product Backlog. In this article she discusses the steps needed to clean up and maintain your backlog including:

Gather ALL of the information
Get the information organized
Get the work all in one repository
Make the Backlog actionable
Create a plan

How we spend our time is critical to our success both at home and at work. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the difference between good, better, and the best ways for us to spend our time. As we will learn, it is impossible to have all three.

This may be the MOST controversial podcast episodes I have ever completed! I was asked by a subscriber to review and article that was published in Nov. of 2021 called Dialing In Your Agile Sprint Efficiency. (https://medium.com/@rylerhockenbury/dialing-in-your-agile-sprint-efficiency-cf4435ba09f9) While I do not think the listener was trying intentionally to get this type of reaction from me, I for the first time in a very long time was FLOORED by the poor advice given in this article. I am curious to hear your feedback in the comments.

One of our subscribers reached out to us at LearnMore@AgileDad.Com with the following question: When is it okay to delegate in Agile? Is it a healthy practice? Where do I draw the line? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the three levels of delegation and when it is indeed safe to delegate.

The Sound of Silence (Disturbed Version) may be one of my favorite songs. The truth is that silence in many cases can level the playing field and can even be deafening at times. Join V. Lee Henson as we learn more about how to leverage Questions, Problems, Actions, and Exploration to have better and more meaningful retrospectives.

Did someone just use Kaizen and Toxic in the same sentence? Yes... I did! I feel like in many cases the concept of continuous improvement could be killing teams and organizations. Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we identify the top three secrets to avoid abusing Kaizen.

Anyone who knows me will be quick to tell you that humility is not always my thing. I am not very good at many things, but the talents that I have perfected are some of the best in the industry. For 2022, I took some time to write down 10 lessons that I can learn from being more humble and I have decided to share those with you.

Many ScrumMasters struggle each day in an attempt to do EVERYTHING that the job requires in addition to so much more! How can we focus on what we really should be doing and avoid burnout? Even ScrumMasters need a little self-love and some therapy!

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore:

5 psychological effects that are important in Scrum and how you can support them:

chunking — divide the project into smaller chunks called sprints.
support the building of Confidence and create Commitment.

— track the progress with the help of Kanban boards and burn down charts.

help the team to identify with the product vision and their work
make sure that the team believes in the success of the product
connect the worlds of high-level thinking and low-level thinking through communication, facilitation, and process adherence.

This question came in from one of our subscribers. They asked, why do you always publish the top 5 ways to do something? Or the three helpful tips to make a change. Although on the surface the answer may feel simple, (consumption of information in smaller consumable chunks), we dug a little deeper and discovered that there are much larger reasons why it is good to consume work and answer questions in very small increments. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore why we do this and how it can help you.

In this review of an article by Steven Deneir, we discuss the top 5 ways a ScrumMaster can support adaptation:

Support your Scrum Team with Product Backlog management. Are the adaptations made in this area bringing the team closer to their goals? What else could the team do to make it even better?
Support your Scrum Team with reaching their quality goals. Are the adaptations they are making in their processes and tools supporting this? What else could the team do to make it even better?
Support your Scrum Team in cross-functionality. Are they growing their skills in a way that helps them reach their goals? What else could they do?
Support the organization in their interactions with the Scrum Team. Are the adaptations they are making to their interactions really helping the Scrum Team and the organization reaching the goals? What else could they do?
Support the Scrum Team in taking time needed to reflect. And out of the whole list of next steps the team could make, decide as Scrum Master what you feel is most valuable and what you want to bring to their attention.

https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/how-scrum-master-supports-adaptation-back-foundations-scrum-framework-33

It's a brand new year and a brand new opportunity to do a little self improvement. Here are 5 SIMPLE things you can do right NOW to improve your life!

5) Evaluate your inner circle

4) Accept advice and criticism

3) Spend wisely

2) Maximize relationships

1) Set clear and attainable goals

Did you know that the level of understanding you have with regard to the Agile Roles directly correlates with your level of Agile Maturity? When you can easily breakdown each role and acknowledge what responsibilities lie with each, this will allow for greater Agile focus and execution.

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we review a great article from David Burkus that tells us about the 3 elements of a great team culture which include:

Common Understanding Psychological Safety Prosocial Purpose

https://davidburkus.medium.com/3-elements-of-a-great-team-culture-10553ba46e4b

When organizations are trying to transition from Waterfall to Agile they often struggle to get a few key foundational pieces in place and this leads to major Agile Pitfalls. Today we will discuss 5 of the most commonly encountered Agile Transformation pitfalls:

1) Placing Output Over Outcome

2) Abuse & Overuse of Agile Metrics

3) Rituals/Customs Over Culture

4) Tools and Data Valued More Than Principles

5) Process and Framework Dogma Over Pragmatism

Have you ever wondered if you really know who your target customer really is? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the real difference behind having empathy maps and clear personas to improve your Agile journey.

Did you make a New Year Resolution for 2022? Join AgileDad as we review a recent post by Russell M Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he invites is to consider his three suggestions as things we can do in 2022:

1) Resolve to strengthen your foundation

2) Resolve to be kind to others

3) Resolve to be resolute

I also briefly cover the three tolls you need to be successful in life in this not to miss episode.

In this episode we review an article published by Maarten Dalmijn called the 11 laws of Agile estimation:

The work still takes the same amount of time regardless of the accuracy of your estimate.
No matter what you do, estimates can never be fully trusted.
Imposing estimates on others is a recipe for disaster.
Estimates become more reliable closer to the completion of the project. This is also when they are the least useful.
The more you worry about your estimates, the more certain you can be you have bigger things you should be worrying about instead.
When you suck at building software, your estimates will suck. When you’re great at building software, your estimates will be mediocre.
The biggest value in estimating isn’t the estimate but to check if there is common understanding.
Keeping things simple is the best way to increase the accuracy of estimates.
Building something increases the accuracy of estimates more than talking about building it.
Breaking all the work down to the smallest details to arrive at a better estimate means you will deliver the project later than if you hadn’t done that.
Punishing wrong estimates is often like punishing a kid for something they don’t and can’t know yet.

Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, especially when it comes to software estimation. In 1943, at a casino in the USA, the color red won 32 times in a row. It’s easy to fool yourself that there’s some kind of pattern, but this is a classic example of the Gambler’s fallacy

Let's see... You are on an Agile Website, listening to an Agile podcast, asking one of the most prolific Agile Coaches on the planet if Agile or Waterfall is better? The answer WILL 100% surprise you! Agile is NOT always better. Listen now to learn more!

Product Ownership is by far the most difficult role within the Agile framework. This means as you might expect, mistakes are part of the job. Here we identify the top 5 mistakes Product Owners make:

1) Taking Over Meetings - Becoming a Project Manager

2) Creating/Allowing Interruptions

3) No Time For The Team

4) Being The People Pleaser

5) Not Allowing Outside Help - POBAFATA

Have you ever wondered how to make a New Years Resolution Stick? How do these resolutions tie to Agile and what would a successful C-Level Shark Tank Executive tell you to do in order to be successful? Learn all this and more in todays Daily Standup.

So many things have happened in 2021! It is hard to believe how fast this year has blown by! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we wrap up 2021 and look forward to a prosperous and safe 2022.

Who Do you Trust? How do you know you can Trust them? What attributes lead you down the path of trust? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what trust really means and how we can use the 4 Cores of Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, and Results to better apply worth and competence. It is great to be trusted!

Scrumpy Dad NAILED this one! In this episode we learn how to use the WADE Matrix to help a teenager get better organized and learn how to focus on the things that are in her control.

WADE Matrix -

W = What

A = Analog

D = Digital

E = Execute

https://forge.medium.com/sorting-it-all-out-ab0766570bf4

In an effort to create personal productivity, David Allen published a book called Getting Things Done. This book has been a cornerstone in both my personal and professional life. In a followup episode to RATS in your Agile Meetings, it is critical that we have ways to identify and be certain that meetings are providing value both personally and professionally.

Join V. Lee Henson in this episode as we review and explore an article recently published by Maria Chec on medium discussing what makes an Awesome Agile coach. We will explore why people are so confused and show you the things that should be measured.

https://mariachec.medium.com/

Merry Christmas to you and your Family from the Team at AgileDad!

No greater gift is ever given than the gift of gratitude! When you are sincerely grateful for something or someone, it places you in a position of humility. I feel like in this season we could all use a little humility!

How do we know when we have made it to the top? When we can make the time to lose ourselves in the service of others. Join V. Lee Henson as we study how service can impact you both personally and professionally.

How does music soothe the soul? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how music could unlock a key to happiness in our lives.

There is GREAT power in the Story we tell. How does the story we tell really impact others? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore why it is important to swim at 11:30 PM on a Disney Cruise. Making lasting memories makes a world of difference.

How far do we go to create and possess wealth? What does wealth really mean? On this inspirational Friday join Lee Henson as he explores what wealth really means and how it is easier to find wealth in the most simple places.

Do your teams spend countless hours putting out fires instead of providing value? How can we justify fire prevention if the leadership teams do not see the value that it provides? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore more an ounce of fire prevention yields POUNDS of pure VALUE!

As someone who personally holds the PMP credential, I can tell you that I do still feel that the principles that I have learned as part of the certification strengthen me as an Agile Coach! The teachings can and should be applied together.

I know what you are thinking… How can there only be a single mistake? The truth is there really is primarily ONLY one mistake most companies make. Join V Lee Henson and learn why if you have a chance to shuffle the people or shuffle the work, why you should ALWAYS shuffle the work and create a scope of LIMITED WIP that the well formed teams can swarm to.

Have you ever heard the term Agile Spike? A spike is indeed REAL and it is a time boxed type of backlog item that is used to conduct research and / or evaluate a system to make a decision based on knowledge gathering. Join V. Lee Henson as we dive in and discuss how Spikes impact you.

Are you leveraging the talents that you have been blessed with? Or are you hiding those talents under the guise that you are not good enough to share what you know. This is the season where we can be of service to others and Light The World for others!

NAILED IT.. In this recent article from Susan Stavitzki, we explore the concept of why it is important to have different types of product managers including a Customer Product Manager, (BA) Strategic Product Manager , (FA) And a Technical Product Manager, (TA) in order to have proper coverage. But, how can you be proficient in all three?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review a recent blog post article from Christiaan Verwijs where we discuss why it is so important to descale:

Scaling Scrum Is HARD

The Mirroring Hypothesis
Don’t Scale Up Development Teams, Descale The Product
Strategies for Descaling
Benefits of Descaling

Yikes… The part of this story that is so sad is that it is true. Personally, I have been to many companies where that are taking work from long winded documents, breaking into 2-week milestones, naming the milestones sprints, and calling that work Agile. Here are the three SIGNS that things are not going right and what you can do to resolve those.

Preheat the Sprint to 350 Degrees

Mix the following 6 ingredients

Motivation
Growth Mindset
Communication
Transparence & Visibility
Self Organized Teams
Direct Contact With Stakeholders

Once Shaken, (Not Stirred)…

Place in a 10X10 Glass baking Dish and Cook for no more than 2 weeks

Enjoy a warm slice of Agile Goodness with a side of Apple Cider

How much does your glass of water weigh? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore just how heavy your burden is....

One Agile concept that is often overlooked is Agile Roadmapping. I truly believe when used properly, that roadmapping could be the missing communication link to solve forecasting and expectation setting issues. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the importance of Roadmapping and the impact a good one can have on the organization.

I cannot believe it is 2021 and we are still struggling to understand what value a ScrumMaster provides to a team, and or organization! This role is often the MOST misunderstood and people quickly devalue what a ScrumMaster really does to help teams be successful. Let’s take a moment to measure what a ScrumMaster should really be doing and why this journey is so important.

Individuals and teams often struggle with interpretation of how to balance what the product owner is asking for vs. leadership expectations. The truth is, both of these are indeed different. Leadership wants to deal with risk management and have the ability to forecast. What they really care about the most is:

What am I going to get?
When am I going to get it?
How much is it going to cost?

These three questions should easily be answered by a strong product owner.

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we meet with the one and only Vendy, (It is kinda like Prince, Madonna, and or Cher… You know the drill), as she talks with us about the state of social media and how Agility and social media truly go hand in hand.

Why does success suck?

5,126 failed prototypes to show for 15 years worth of savings and you’d think Sir James Dyson would have pulled the pin on his invention. Instead, he pulled the bag – and prototype number 5,127 went on to become the best-selling bagless vacuum in the USA. According to Forbes, Dyson now employs 650 engineers and scientists, and boasts more than 560 patents. In an interview with Entrepreneur, he said of success: “You never learn from success, but you do learn from failure. (When I created the Dual Cyclone vacuum), I started out with a simple idea, and by the end, it got more audacious and interesting. I got to a place I never could have imagined because I learned what worked and didn’t work.”

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the top five ways to be a more effective project manager. I am grateful for project management foundations that lead me to think in a more Agile Way.

Be an EXCELLENT Communicator - Understand the rules for best communication
Be a GREAT leader - This is the KEY to project management
Use Data to drive decisions - Manage the process, not the people
Set realistic expectations - Do not be afraid to say no
Promote trust and transparency - Focus on continuous improvement

Today we will discuss five powerful ways that you can improve execution of your retrospective. These techniques are not the only five ways, but I am grateful that there is more than one way to perform an AMAZING retro!

The good, The bad, and The Ugly
Timeline Retrospective
Hot Air Balloon
A Christmas Carol
The Three Little Pigs

Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss why he is grateful for understanding these anti-patterns and what you can take away from acknowledging them:

The Oversized Backlog
Misaligned Incentives
The Developers Code Fallacy
Product Owner by Proxy
Hardening Sprints
The HIPPO
Dogmatism
No Fail Culture
Micromanagement
No Clear Vision or Goal

Whether you take the time to formulate a story in order to relate to the principles or you just straight up memorize what they are and why they are so critical is not what is most important. What IS Most important is that you live by these principles and support them. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss these principles and why I am kicking off the week of Agile Gratitude here.

Many companies are known for giving back a portion of their proceeds to the community. What are they doing different and how do they benefit from doing so? Join V. Lee Henson to learn more about what AgileDad does to make a difference and follow in the footsteps of many great organizations.

Mike Cohn says that a BIG part of planning is predicting. The author of this article disagrees. Where will my heart land? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the article and lend clarification on where we stand with regard to this interesting topic.

ScrumMasters need to master Scrum - According to the Scrum Guide, a Scrum Master is accountable for two things:

“The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization.” —Scrum Guide 2020

And:

“The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework.” —Scrum Guide 2020

To be able to help people understand Scrum, you need to have a solid understanding of Scrum yourself. The same can be said about the accountability for the team’s effectiveness working with Scrum.

Sprint goals are the heartbeat of Scrum and are the common denominator between many Scrum Events

Sprint — Time-box during which the Development Team attempts to build a Product Increment to achieve the Sprint Goal
Sprint Planning — Selecting the Product Backlog Items and creating a plan to meet the Sprint Goal crafted during this meeting
Daily Scrum — Optimizing the probability of reaching the Sprint Goal
Sprint Review — Gaining feedback on the Product Increment that was built to meet the Sprint Goal
Sprint Retrospective — Inspect how the last Sprint went with regard to people, relationships, process, and tools. Because in all other events, the Sprint Goal plays a pivotal role, and the purpose of this event is to reflect on the overall process, it definitely includes the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Retrospective covers how well the Sprint Goals were set and understood, and how the team adjusted their plans to make meeting the Sprint Goal possible.

In addition, you are only allowed to make changes during the Sprint as long as the Sprint Goal is not at risk. The only reason for canceling a Sprint is when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. The Sprint Goal dictates which changes are allowed and whether the Sprint still matters. That’s how vital the Sprint Goal is when you use Scrum.

We miss all of these things by not being in the office:

Current work (what just happened, what’s coming up?)
Future events (e.g., a presentation, a customer appointment)
Current mood (e.g., anger after a problematic customer meeting, joy about positive feedback)
Difficulties/obstacles
Colleagues offer support when someone reports difficulties
Exchange of knowledge
Further education/training
Work process improvements
Private matters (family, leisure time, etc.)

Have you ever heard of the four agreements?

If you are trying to improve your leadership effectiveness or personal happiness and well-being, these four agreements will lead you down the path of personal and professional fulfillment:

Be impeccable with your word
Don’t take anything personally
Don’t make assumptions
Always do your best

Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements

Veterans and the DOD have ben exploring Agile for a number of years. We at AgileDad salute them for the effort and bring light to how business Agility has really come a long way and what the future looks like for Agile in the armed forces.

Do you really know what the three pillars are? Even better, do you know what they mean? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the three pillars and what they really mean.

Inspection
Adaptation
Transparency

Teams are the core underlying unit when it comes to Agile success. Often times they can be hindered by a misinterpretation of what is or is not pure Agile. Here are three areas that are often misunderstood:

The Agile Manifesto - ALL Left and NO right
Forgetting about the 12 Principles that support the manifesto
Agile Speed Bumps - Slowing down in order to speed up

What does it mean to PACE your Agile Transformation? Many organizations dive in head first and trust that the business will grab hold of and latch on to true business agility. The myth is that Agile is a one size fits all model and that there is a clear path that organizations take to GROW. There are 4 key areas where companies can assess and and improve in order to make Agile a more smooth transition:

Predictability
Adaptability
Convergence
Emergence

Does your temper get the best of you? Do you feel like others make you angry? If you answered yes to either of these, this is the episode for you. Learn the importance of controlling your anger and how it impact others.

I recently set off a firestorm on LinkedIn with the question, Which Scaled Method of Agile is Best? One answer truly surprised me. Many people said do not Scale Agile at any cost. Could this really be true? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what it means to scale vs not scale at all. Who is most right?

How do teams become high performing? Is it great leadership, a magic formula or luck? In today's episode, Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, shares a metaphor by Lyssa Adkins to help explain how a team can grow into high performance and bear valuable fruit for their organization.

Have you ever heard of the concept of internal and external product owners existing on an Agile project? Is this a myth? Or is it a reality waiting to happen? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to best understand the difference in this self created mess.

Have you ever heard of the Agile Tolerance Threshold? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what it means and why it should be an important part of your Agile implementation.

Be willing to change
Stop making excuses
Stop being angry
Be a role model
Forgive someone
Listen to people
Be honest
Do something you don’t want to do
Surprise someone special

Do teams and organizations understand and honor commitments? How is it any different than just announcing and forecasting what will be done? Teams have a special kind of commintment that they should always be mindful of.

Commit to improve
Commit to maximize value
Commit to transparency
Commit to long-term objectives

Scrum is a reason to be committed, not an excuse to avoid responsibilities

I feel this topic has far more questions than answers: Do we need them? Do they really help? Why does everyone insist that we have one? Etc... Let us help you navigate what comes next as we explore what makes for a great coaching engagement.

I have been asked MANY times for a reliable way to measure the Agile Health of an organization. While there are many scorecards and radar that provide information, are they truly measuring what matters the most? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the best ways to measure health and GROW!

How important is it that we as trainers, coaches, leaders, or even scrummasters meet the team and or organization right where they are on their Agile journey? Great coaches figure out where the best touchpoint is to start and follow up with regular inspection to determine the next best steps for that team and or organization. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore why we are different is so popular and whether we are really all that different after all.

Dave West, President of Scrum.org wrote a beautiful article regarding kindness. I gave it a quick read and felt it was so important to identify the parallels and how they fit into our everyday lives. Do you have what it takes to truly be kind?

Have you ever thought to yourself, where does Agile really begin? I have been struggling so much with our Agile implementation that I am at a loss of where to even start! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what it is like to trace back to the root of where Agile came into the mix.

Why can't you do it?
Why can't you set your monkey free?
Always giving into it
Do you love the monkey or do you love me?

The great late George Michael wrote the song Monkey many years ago. How and when should teams do everyting they can to get the monkey off of their back? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we figure out when it is best to get the monkey off your back and when it is best for the SM to just deal with the monkey.

Celebrate the 26th official birthday of Scrum with Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org and V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we assess what has changed and what has remained the same as Scrum implementatons continue to press forward.

http://www.Scrum.Org

https://scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/drupal/2016-09/Scrum%20OOPSLA%201995.pdf

Join Lee Henson and Mike Vizdos for this very special episode of the Agile Expert series where we discuss the conundrum of dealing with the "New Hybrid" business model. Are there things we can do to make a difference?

Mike is a fellow CST and provides training mentoring and consulting. Head over and learn more at michaelvizdos.com

Have you ever wondered why the words Disney and Family always seem to flow together? Do you have a favorite Disney Classic? What has it taught you? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what a few Disney movies had to teach us and how we can apply this to both our Agile and personal lives.

Have you ever wondered just what the best appraoch is to fund an Agile Project? Many leaders have struggled with this concept for as long as I have done Agile. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we tackle this issue and get you all squared away financially. This is an episode NOT to miss!

Join V. Lee Henson As we discuss how a Sprint should be a race to the finish and what you can learn from Outdoor cart racing and how this ties to having a strong Agile Coach.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and founder of AgileDad as we do a review of a recently published blog post by Zuzi Sochova, a fellow Certified Scrum Trainer. Is there truly a difference between estimating and forecasting? If so, which is better and are there times where one is better than the other? Tune in and learn what the Agile Experts have to say about this matter!

In this episode of the Agile Expert Series we join Mark Levison, a Certified Scrum Trainer and principal Agile Coach of Agile Pain Relief Consulting. With over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, he has been learning and teaching Agile since 2001. Introducing Scrum, Lean, and Agile methods to many organizations, from government departments and banks to healthcare and software companies, Mark has coached professionals throughout Canada.

Today we will discuss how and why poor retrospective practices lead to poor business agility. Grab your morning beverage and enjoy one of our most pragmatic episodes to date!

https://agilepainrelief.com/guide-to-effective-agile-retrospectives

https://agilepainrelief.com/blog/scrum-by-example.html

It's Friday, time for our Agile not-so-Agile episode of the Podcast.

How much time do you spend on your phone?

What impression are you leaving upon your friends and family?

Join Kim Dickerson, Agile coach from AgileDad as she shares how technology impacts relationships with those that we love.

Not everyone feels like they need advice from Jeff Bezos, but this article highlighted 12 amazing pieces of advice from Jeff that we can actually all use. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we breakdown each nugget of advice over the next two days. (Article shared by Business Insider)

Build a dreamy business
Create more than you consume
Maintain individuality
Do more than just discuss projected outputs
Look long term instead of striving for instant gratification

Not everyone feels like they need advice from Jeff Bezos, but this article highlighted 12 amazing pieces of advice from Jeff that we can actually all use. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we breakdown each nugget of advice over the next two days. (Article shared by Business Insider)

Failure is Important
Work & life should not be a balancing game
Focus your business on what will not change long term
Business ideas should have some element of risk
Delight your customers
Fear your customers, NOT your competition
Make key decisions before the afternoon

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top five things you can do in order to improve your backlog prioritization in order to achieve maximum impact.

Ask Why and Say No
Treat Defects as part of the backlog
Avoid stories with little or no user value
Leverage hypothesis in order to become predictive
Rely on the BAFATA to assist the PO in completing Objective Stack Ranking

In this episode of the Agile Expert Series we Join Kellie Tyler, Head of Agile Practices at Bitt and Part of the Organizing Board of Utah Agile. Today we discuss Psychological safety and what impact is has on establishing culture and on the Agile community as a whole.

Thanks for joining us for our Agile/Not-So-Agile episode of The Daily Standup Podcast where we discuss how to live your best life in just a few easy steps:

Try visualization
Find your purpose
Aim for growth
Prioritize health
Take action
Figure out your finances
Nurture your environment
Consider your routine
Serve others
Become spiritually grounded

The trillion dollar question for any organization I train or coach at is do story points provide any value? And if so, how do we benefit from the value accordingly? Learn what Ron Jefferies, Ken Schwaber, Jim Highsmith, Martin Fowler, and Alistair Cockburn had to say regarding the use and abuse of story points!

With COVID and its variants still lurking in our lives, more and more people are seeking employment in non-traditional methods. Jin Kim Dickerson, Full time recruiter and AgileDad Coach as she explores with you how to avoid predatory recruiters and give you the tips you need to know that you are engaging the right person and company.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 objections to Scrum and how handle each with dignity.

Too many meetings—we don’t have time! (Scrum events actually SAVE time.)
We can’t deliver working software in less than one month! (You can if you deliver smaller pieces)
We have deadlines; we can’t use Scrum! (Scrum increases the probability of meeting deadlines.)
We need to PLAN! There’s no PLANNING in Scrum. (Scrum Teams actually PLAN more)
Our management team will never go for it (They might with the right approach)

It is time for the next installment of our Agile Expert Series where we are joined by the author of Amazon Best Selling book Essential Scrum, Ken Rubin. Ken is the Principal of Innolution and has been part of the Agile movement from the very onset of Agile. Join us for a discussion around how dependencies are killing your agility!

Join A VERY Special 8-hour course (two ½-day sessions) on October 27-28, 2021 Dependencies Are Killing Your Agility: Learn to Fight Back

Listeners of the Agile Dad podcast can get a 15% discount on the class if they use the code agiledad15 during checkout!

https://innolution.com/

Before you listen to this episode, pull off of the road if you are driving. Grab a tissue… (or two). Join us as we explore some crazy powerful techniques to uplift others in a time of need. You are special, you are powerful, you are loved!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNfMs2ZWvzM

How do you know that your organizational culture is shifting to a growth mindset? Here are the top five KPI’s that show that the change is in motion:

Recognition that complexity and uncertainty lead to unfocused solutions
Understanding that the use of Agile allows teams & organizations to iterate product and service solutions
Realization that empirical process allows you to more sharply inspect and adapt quickly and transparently
Learning through introspection how Agile promotes a true growth mindset - Learn as you go
Limiting work in progress, (WIP Limits), thereby learning to focus on outcome over output - Less is More!!

Join Kim Dickerson, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad as she puts a SPIN on a previous AgileDad Podcast topic and points out the Top 5 Things every employee wants to hear:

1) I appreciate you / job well done.
2) Do you have an idea or opinion to help us improve our product or service?
3) Confidence
4) Strengths
5) Understanding Weaknesses

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the 5 trademarks of an Agile Organization! Where does your company stand? How many of the five do you portray?

North Star Embodied Across the Organization
Create a Network of Empowered Teams
Rapid Decision Making & Learning Cycles
Dynamic Teams That Ignite Passion
Next Generation Products and Services

What challenges does Agile face as a whole? How do we navigate the constant change of Agile? Is there a lack of good Product Owners out there? Join V. Lee Henson & Mike Cohn as they explore what Agile means today and where Agile is headed in the future.

Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss this Agile/Not-So-Agile topic regarding the 7 pillars for self improvement:

1) Form Good Habits
2) Set SMART Goals
3) Activate a System
4) Emotional Self Regulation
5) Understand How Learning Works
6) Discover Values & Meaning
7) Internalize Thoughts & Beliefs

Who is the actor in your User Stories? Is it just a User, Product Owner or System? In this episode, Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, shares her tips for identifying and better defining your end users in your user stories.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the right way to write a User Story:

Identify The Target Persona
Understand BDD & HDD
INVEST in Good Stories
Write Strong Acceptance Criteria

Join our Agile Experts Roxana Radulescu & Veronica Stewart as we discuss the modern workplace and what it means to Agile.

Roxana Radulescu 15+ years in corporate learning & development executive level, top legal consulting, now Founder of All Personal training, coaching & consulting, working with millennial emerging leaders to help them become dream bosses and build dream teams. Find out more about Roxana’s work at https://personalskillscoach.com/.

Veronica Stewart 15+ years working with agile transformations within companies, Founder of Ingenious Agile and an Enterprise Agility Coach| OKRs |Business Agility & Performance Coaching. Find out more about Veronica’s work at https://ingeniousagile.com/

They are co-hosts of the Game Changing Work Live Show, where it’s all about transforming the modern workplace. Join them live on their LinkedIn profiles and subscribe to the Game Changing Work YouTube channel.

Website: https://www.gamechangingwork.com/

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we pay tribute on this 20th anniversary of the September 11th destruction at the World Trade Center and The Pentagon.

Join V. Lee Henson as we review the top 10 things that you need to make part of your everyday ritual!

1) Put your phone on airplane mode before you go to sleep at night
2) Meditate everyday for at least 10 minutes
3) Stretch Everyday... or do yoga, pilates, etc.
4) Practice gratitude daily
5) Keep a daily journal
6) Watch what you eat - Eat to live..
7) Habit forming & habit tracking is a good thing
8) Live Slow and enjoy the ride
9) Listen to one podcast per day - Make it this one
10) Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day
11) Exercise for 30 minutes - (Its a bonus!)

What are the most important aspects of an Epic? In today's episode, Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, shares her top 3 must haves for every Epic.

Goal/Problem Statement
Customer/End User Experience
Targeted release date/timeline

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the top things that people try to handoff to the scrummaster that are not their responsibilities:

1) ScrumMaster works as a proxy between the team and everyone else
2) The ScrumMaster is NOT the sole person to remove impediments
3) ScrumMasters should NOT be the daily scrum manager or lead
4) The ScrumMaster is not the teams administrative assistant or secratary
5) ScrumMasters should never be the Product Owner
6) The ScrumMaster is NEVER the Quality Gatekeeper
7) ScrumMasters are not responsible for monitoring control
8) The ScrumMaster is NOT your chief planning architect
9) ScrumMasters do NOT control the teams schedule - they are NOT the manager

In this edition of The Agile Expert Series we join the very AMAZING Agile Coach and Co-Creator of the Agile Disrupted Podcast Tabassun Haque where we discuss definition of customer needs and the psychology behind wants and needs in general. About Tabassun, In her own words:

Being someone not of arrogance but of sincerity, who only takes pride in the work that is accomplished through a driven sense of determination and perseverance; while knowing that no task nor job is perceived without loyalty and absolute dedication. If I’m confident upon anything as a professional, it is that whatever task I pursue, I wholeheartedly and effectively pursue it with flying colors.

Certified servant leader and true advocate for the Agile Manifesto.

In honor of my daughter becoming a teenager, I thought it would be neat to share another moment in time where the world stopped. I also tied in a more recent local story that helped me believe in humanity once again. Judge not lest ye be judged.

Many organizations that are fairly large in size have both product owners and product managers. Is this ok? What is the difference? What is their associated list of responsibilities? How can I best organize my RACI card so I know who to turn to? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore this interesting topic and help you see the light! Are you the Train Driver or the Track Builder?

What are the most important aspects of a User Story? In today's episode, Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, shares her top 3 must haves for every User Story.

User Statement
Assumptions
Acceptance Criteria

Join V. Lee Henson as we review a recent blog post from Daria Bagina surrounding the term velocity and what it should or should not really mean.. Most teams and organizations have already abused the term to death. What can we do to save velocity or is it already too late?

https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/velocity-made-number

Join V. Lee Henson and Pete Behrens as they discuss the state of leadership in Agile and why or why not top down Agile support should even matter. Pete Behrens develops leaders to transform themselves and their organizations to improve business outcomes.

Pete is the founder of the Agile Leadership Journey, a collaborative community of leadership trainers and coaches built on a philosophy that agile organizations only emerge from agile leaders, and who share a passion to build better leaders.

Pete is the host of the (Re)Learning Leadership Podcast, for leaders, by leaders. Podcast episodes explore real leader stories and experts who help diagnose them for all of us to learn to be better leaders.

As a thought leader in agile leadership, Pete is a Certified Agile Leadership (CAL) Educator, a Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC) and former Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). For the Scrum Alliance, Pete co-developed the CEC program in 2007 and the CAL program in 2016.

Have you ever had one of those moments where the whole world feels like it is standing still so that you can completely absorb and appreciate that one moment in time?

Believe it or not, there are some unusual times where Agile may NOT be the best option! Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the following examples where Agile may not apply:

Fast and frequent changes are not needed
Digital transformation not needed for the type of product or service
Existing solution is stable and providing key benefits
The market is stable and predictable
Failure or mistakes could cause irreparable harm
Making late changes is cost prohibitive
Stakeholders or Product Owner unavailable to collaborate
End recipients cannot use the product until it is completely done
Problems are easy to tackle sequentially based on urgency

Should you take advantage of the Scrum Certifications even if you are not technical? Join Kim Dickerson as she shares the story of her Agile journey and how the learned principles can be applied to just about any job and even at home!

How can we tell if we are really going about doing Agile the right way or if we are acting in Agile by name only? Join V. Lee Henson as he discusses some of the signs that you are in need of a strong Agile coach or trainer to help your organization:

Neglecting stakeholder feedback
Release, delivery, and or deployment is painful at best
Change requests are unjustified
Changes are not well accepted by the team
QA Is not a coherent part of the process
Lack of communication causes loads of rework
Nonessential ideas are internally promoted
Managers & Leaders talk way more than they listen
Excessive review layers exist
Too many meetings where the team is required to attend
The best people are sliced over a zillion things in flight
Managers overturn team decisions
Everything is a number one priority

In this episode of the Agile Expert Series, V. Lee Henson invites Richard Lawrence to chat about his specialty of all things BDD and the impact this has in the Agile Community.

Richard’s superpower is bringing together seemingly unrelated fields and ideas to create new possibilities. Drawing on a diverse background in software development, engineering, anthropology, design, and political science, Richard trains and coaches people to collaborate more effectively with other people to solve complex, meaningful problems.

Richard is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer, as well as a certified trainer of the accelerated learning method, Training from the Back of the Room. His book, Behavior-Driven Development with Cucumber, was published by Addison-Wesley in 2019 (for more information, visit bddwithcucumber.com).

On this life journey Friday episode of The Daily Standup, V. Lee Henson reveals the most difficult question he has ever been asked and how he turned his answer to this question into a personal quest to help build better relationships with all those he came into contact with.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the top 5 things we hate about Scrum and how we can discover that our greatest weakness could also be our greatest strength.

Scrum is relentless
Scrum puts too much responsibility in a single person
Whenever Scrum fails, you’re not doing Scrum
Most Scrum Masters struggle in their role
Scrum is difficult to scale

How do you want to be remembered? How can you start living now to build your personal legacy? Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, as she shares her reasons for leaving and living a personal legacy.

Rebecca wants to plant a mid-sized tree in her backyard. In order to do this, she needs to dig a hole roughly the size of a five gallon bucket. She has a few options she’s considering:

Buying nothing and using her hands
Buying and using a shovel
Buying and using a tractor

How does Rebecca make this decision?

Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss the risk, opportunity cost, and other factors that go into making sound product decisions.

Join us for our first installment of the Agile Expert Series featuring Jim York from FoxHedge Ltd. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we interview and collaborate with none other than Certified Agile Coach Jim York from FoxHedge! In this PREVIEW, we learn that Jim is quite the authority on all things Product Ownership related and will help us understand if product ownership really does matter...

Jim York is the Co-Founder of FoxHedge. He helps individuals, teams and organizations achieve their goals. For over 25 years, Jim has mentored and coached leaders and teams at all levels of the organization. Jim holds both Certified Agile Coach credentials (Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Team Coach?) and the Certified Scrum Trainer® credential from the Scrum Alliance, one of only a handful of individuals worldwide to hold all three top level certifications

For the FULL Agile Expert Interview, join us on the AgileDad YouTube Channel to get the full 25 minute version including some pretty great real world examples!
http://www.youtube.com/c/agiledad

Formula One Mechanics are known all over the world for their precision and ability to take apart and engine, and reassemble it with poise and dexterity. They are also known for the fine tuning of the precision engine and for the power they create with their very own hands.

Heart Surgeons are also known all over the world for their precision and ability to work on a heart and get things tuned to precision with simple tools and their own hands.

What is the core difference between the two and which one are you? Join V. Lee Henson , President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore and found out where you rest on the spectrum.

What are the top five things you think leaders want to hear? The list may not be as straight forward as you may think. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what leaders really hope you will say and how you can make a bigger splash within your organization.

Here’s what I think…
I need help -or- I have a problem
I disagree
It’s My Fault
I just did it

How can you share the generosity and kindness you have received to others? Why should you? Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, as she discusses the idea of paying it forward and how giving to others can give you many positive benefits as well.

The Scrum Guide released in November 2020 states that “the product goal describes a future state of the product … [It] is the long-term objective for the Scrum team.” It also suggests that “the product goal is in the product backlog. The rest of the product backlog emerges to define ‘what’ will fulfill the product goal.” The product owner is accountable for “developing and explicitly communicating the product goal.” The entire Scrum team is “focused on one … product goal” at a time.

If this definition leaves you scratching your head, don’t worry. Scrum is a simple framework designed to facilitate the development of complex products. It does not intend to prescribe how the practices it offers should be applied. A product goal is best used to describe a specific and measurable benefit or outcome a product should create in the course of the next two to six months.

www.romanpichler.com

Are all ScrumMasters the same? If not what is different? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what the differences are between all of these certifications and titles. Who's Your ScrumMaster?

Unfortunately, we all encounter conflict in our lives, both at home and at work. How we handle conflict can directly impact our on personal happiness and the wellbeing of others. Join V. Lee Henson and explore how dealing with conflict can yield a world of difference to those around you.

Go ahead and say it…. Change is never easy, but it is worth it! Why do we struggle so much with new ideas when we are supposed to be the best in the world at inspecting and adapting? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we figure out how to solve this World Class Issue

Make experiments small
Value learning and insights
Make experiments transparent
Roll back by default
Begin with the end in mind
Create Psychological Safety
Have a growth mindset focused on continuous improvement

Are you a perfectionist? Why do so many of us feel the need to be perfect? Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, as she discusses the idea of perfection and how it can limit you from making progress on your goals.

Being a leader in an organization can certainly be taxing! Leaders are constantly approached from all sides to create new ideas, formalize solutions, solve problems, and create opportunities. This means it is in your best interest to surround yourself with the best individuals to assist you with these responsibilities. In order to do the right things, you often need to know what NOT to do first.

Don’t Govern with a “Death By Rules” Mentality
Don’t anger easily
Don’t bother your people during their time off
Don’t misrepresent truth
Don’t criticize publicly or praise privately
Don’t put yourself first
Don’t be inconsistent with expectations
Don’t spy
Don’t make people do things just so you look good
Don’t micromanage

Have you ever wanted to build the perfect product or service? Or have you ever thought to yourself that you could build a better mousetrap? Did Henry Ford truly succeed when he started his first business? How can we better focus on problems and not jump straight to solutions? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore these questions and learn the 5 ways to say no:

Show them the data — Be Clear If this is a Problem or a Solution
Nail Your Customer Problem first. Write it down by framing the customer problem using a Problem Hypothesis Template.
Test the riskiest assumptions from your customer problem using Quantitative & Qualitative data.
Come up with at least 3–4 Solutions
Offer to test the solutions with using MVP’s

Do you give 100% all the time? Ask yourself, do I always work and operate with 100% integrity and put all of my effort into the most important things? Next ask yourself, does everyone around me act with such honesty and integrity? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we find out whether you share 95% or ALL of your marbles in all that you do.

Have you ever wondered what makes successful product teams click? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore these 4 AMAZING traits:

1) They build Vision & Strategy from deep customer insight
2) They do not let an Org chart define them
3) They stick to specific function and operate at a manageable size
4) They operate based on trust and cohesion

What is going well for you? What is not going so well? In today's fifth episode of Living Agile, join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, as she shares the benefits of slowing down and pausing for reflection so you can ask questions that keep your actions aligned with your goals.

Formula 1 teams are the pinnacle of agility. Working with teams that exceed 200 people, they must quickly adapt their entire way of working between races. Races that are, on average, just two weeks apart.

Although Formula 1 is operating on a hypercompetitive level, with unimaginable budgets, there are a lot of things that Scrum Teams can learn from those teams. Here are my three favorite lessons.

1) Even the slightest improvement makes a difference
2) Celebrate Success
3) Continuously experiment to validate assumptions

Are you the person that goes out of their way trying to make everyone happy? Do you feel so tired at the end of the day just from trying so hard to keep the peace? People pleasing is not about whether you are a good person or not. join V. Lee Henson as we explore the top three ways to overcome this distraction:

1) The Pause
2) The Pulse Check
3) The Straight Shot

"When you say no, you are simply saying no to one option. When you say yes, you are saying no to every other option! No is a decision, Yes is a responsibility! Be careful what and who you say yes to. It will shape your effort, your day, your career, and even your life!"

How strong is your desire to be successful? How is your relationship with family and friends? Do you want true happiness as much as you want to breathe? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we hav ea candid discussion about what it means to breathe!

1) Skip The Excuses
2) Stop Being Interested and Start Being Committed
3) Know EXAXCTLY Why You Want Your Dream
4) Focus With Laser Precision

What if you only had ONE chance to introduce Agile into your organization and make it work? Don't BLOW your shot. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the Acronym BLOW and how it can make you a better leader:

B = Belief - You need to believe in the people, all of them, and their ability to build incredible products or services.
L = Leadership - Do you have cognitive bias? Or do you approach everything with an open growth mindset? Are you solid on your vision and how you will fulfill your strategy?
O = Opportunity - Are you aware of what opportunities are going to help you focus on what is best to do strategically for the organization?
W = Worth - Ar eyou treating people with dignity and respect? Do you know and appreciate the value of surrounding yourself with powerful & motivated people?

What is your vision of an ideal life? How can you prepare yourself best to pursue it? In today's fourth episode of Living Agile, join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad, as she shares her personal tips for focusing on a goal and building resilience to negativity that might deter you.

What is the Secret Key to holding the perfect Agile Meetings / Ceremonies? Join V. Lee Henson as we learn and discuss what the acronym RATS really means:

R = Roster - Do we have a clear roster / list of mandatory and or optional attendees and their associated roles?
A = Agenda - I have often told my coaches no agenda = no meeting. We need to have a clear & Focused agenda.
T = Timebox - All meetings should be held to a strict time standard. The meeting only runs for the agreed upon term.
S = Setting/Schedule - Is your meeting being held in the correct format? In-person vs online? Are you holding the meeting at the best time for attendees?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn more about what it means to be LASER Focused! If you find that your organization is in a slump with regard to your Agile implementation, this is the episode for you! We will learn answer the following questions: Which tenants of Lean help you regain the greatest focus? Are you doing Agile in name only? How are you Scaling and what does that really mean for you r product or service? How do you currently handle Emergency Response and what should you really be doing?

A commencment speech given by Admiral William H McRaven sets the tone for what quite possibly could be one of the greatest motivational speeches ever given. He explains to the graduates, using personal references the top ten things that they could do to change the world:

1) Start the day with a task completed
2) Find someone to help you through life
3) Respect everyone
4) Life is not always fair, move forward
5) Don't be afraid to fail often
6) Take Risks
7) Face down the bullies
8) Step up when times are the toughest
9) Lift up the downtrodden
10) Never give up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuIGBCF9jc

This is a great question that was submitted by a Daily Standup Podcast Subscriber. I feel like I am seeing more and more where organizations and product owners specifically are waiting until the 11th hour to validate work completed during the sprint only to find that the work either does not truly meet the acceptance criteria, or that the work was simply not ready for demo. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss how to solve this issue in a very simple and elegant way.

Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad on the third episode of an eight part series on Living Agile. How do you feel about change? Is your fear of change keeping you from reaching your goals? Learn how embracing change, a growth mindset and being comfortable being uncomfortable can help you reach your goals or overcome challenges.

Does your leadership feel like it is falling off just a little? Are you caught in what many are calling the pandemic blur? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what the signs are that you could use an Agile Leadership Summit:

1) You have a lack of clarity in your own role
2) Your teams gets easily frustrated
3) Your teams benchmarks for success feel blurred

Have you ever had trouble saying no to a stakeholder request? What if they are in a highly influential position or status? Join V, Lee Henson as we explore a recent article from fellow Scrummer Roman Pichler which highlights these top five tips:

1) Don’t Feel Bad about Saying No
2) Empathise with the Stakeholder
3) Reframe the Conversation
4) Don’t Rush the Decision
5) Try to Find Common Ground, but Don’t Split the Difference

Join V. Lee Henson , President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how you can truly become more productive. Being busy has nothing to do with being productive. Frantically running around all day has nothing to do with making fast, focused progress towards the most important goals. In fact, busyness is often a smokescreen for real productivity.

1) Cut Out The Inessential
2) Prioritization Requires Slowing Down
3) Decide Proactively What Not To Do

We have all been to that one Sprint Demo that is slated for 30-45 minutes and it runs for four hours as we review every single backlog item individually in no particular sequence in such a way that it makes it super difficult to understand the true value of the sprint results. Did we reach the Sprint Goal? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to have an AMAZING Review Bazaar and how this will make your demo the best that it can be!

Have you ever asked yourself now what? Or felt like your goals were just too big to be achievable? Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad on the second episode of an eight part series on Living Agile. Do you have BIG dreams but have no idea how to start pursuing them? Or do you have some challenge to face and don't feel like you are equipped to overcome it? Learn how Sara used agile and scientific methods to gain the knowledge and experience she needed and how you can do the same.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work for Google and be doing Agile? Join V. Lee Henson as we go on a journey with Lucy Yin to learn about her experience as a Product Manager at Google Health.

1) The “Googley” ethos is real and awesome
2) Google is a large bureaucracy, launching something takes a village
3) Core PM skills

How to own and launch products made for millions
How to set a higher standard or pivot the team to something new
How to relentlessly hunt down and flesh out new roadmap opportunities
How to focus on metrics, metrics, metrics
How to motivate a team
How to scale a product organization

Do you have a preamble for your Agile Constitution? Do you have an Agile Centre of Excellence in place? Are your teams free to choose how to build the highest quality product or service? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the sights and sounds of Agile Freedom.

Have you ever felt pressured that you could not do something? Or that you were not good enough? Do individuals, media, outside forces of evil drive you to stay quiet and not make the most of who you are and who you could be? The answer comes from one of the most unlikely places. Disney/Pixar Luca teaches us the concept of Silenzio Bruno!

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become an AgileDad Coach? Have you ever asked yourself how you could truly master the responsibilities of being a world class ScrumMaster? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we discuss what skills we really should focus on in a three part series.

Part 3:

5) Be an EXCELLENT Communicator
6) Make it personal with the team.

Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach for AgileDad on the first episode of an eight part series on Living Agile. What motivates you? Do you know what truly makes you happy? Learn why knowing yourself will empower you to make all of your dreams come true.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become an AgileDad Coach? Have you ever asked yourself how you could truly master the responsibilities of being a world class ScrumMaster? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we discuss what skills we really should focus on in a three part series.

Part 2:

3) Ask the right more powerful questions
4) Prepare what is needed for success

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become an AgileDad Coach? Have you ever asked yourself how you could truly master the responsibilities of being a world class ScrumMaster? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we discuss what skills we really should focus on in a three part series.

Part 1:

1) Do not be afraid to introduce and talk openly about your battle scars
2) Understand the needs of individuals, teams and organizations

Do you know what drives you? What makes you happy to be alive and makes you a better person? Are you doing what you can to leave the world better than when you arrived? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn how to better use the FORCE to guide and drive our daily lives.

A listener asked me to review an AMAZING blog post by Adrian Baker titled Be an Inspirational Agile Leader.

Goals in Scrum
WHY Statement and the Backlog
Sprint Planning
Inspirational Scrum Master
Inspirational Agile Transformation

Can you tell if something is the real deal or if it is too good to be true? Join Sara Bierman, AgileDad Business Agility Coach as we explore how we know if something is the real deal or not. This is a great Agile, Personal, and or Business lesson! Is it the Real Deal? Or is it NO Deal?

I have recently seen MANY teams struggle woth work carrying over from one sprint to the next. My good friends at Agilemania asked that I review the top ten reasons this happens:

1) The team fails to inspect and adapt based on learnings from the precious sprint or release
2) Having people step in as the "proxy" product owner when things are not moving in the right direction or when decisions are not made fast enough.
3) No T-Shaped Teams. Suffering caused by inter-team and intra-team dependencies
4) No regular updates to the Sprint Backlog - No use of visual indicators
5) No Proper backlog refinement/grooming prior to sprint planning
6) Nearly Done Work Syndrome (NDWS) It is a terrible disease
7) Limited or missing definition of done
8) Teams as working groups and not well formed teams. Focus is on individual performance and lacks team accountability
9) Abuse of how in-sprint interruptions are handled. Trying to squeeze in unplanned work
10) Teams using TIME to forecast instead of points. I cannot believe this is still even an issue!

Can you believe it? We hit a HUGE milestone! Episode 300! Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach and V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad for this VERY special episode where we discuss the AgileDad coaching difference and straight up celebrate our 300th Daily Standup Podcast Episode.

The ONLY true path to happiness is in helping others find the happiness they deserve. Join V. Lee Henson in this Agile not so Agile episode of The Daily Standup where we learn:

Helping others brings us happiness for three reasons:

Diversion: When you worry less about your own needs–in this case, finding your own balloon–the stress of that hunt decreases. Taking your focus away from the fact that you can’t find your own balloon lets you divert your attention away from your own problem. The feeling of compassion replaces the feeling of need.
Perspective: Having concern for other people helps us remember that we are all facing similar problems in life–no matter what the individual severity of the issue is. Sometimes when we are focused on our own issues, they get put into perspective when we encounter the true suffering of others. It’s easy to then realize the excess amount of attention we’ve been giving our own problems. Having compassion helps us put our problems into perspective.
Connection: Connecting with others by helping them can bring happiness into your life. Humans are social beings that need to have positive connections with other people in order to be happy. Connecting with other people enriches our lives and gives us a sense of fulfillment.

I recently had the honor of reading an article that was published by Jay Rahman regarding the 5 foolproof steps to become a Product Owner. If only it were so easy and pragmatic. I neither agreed or disagreed with everything that was stated as a whole, I simply felt that gaps still existed that needed to be discussed and that nothing simple is really so simple...

1) Get Reading
2) Get Training
3) Get Community
4) Get Experience
5) Get Coaching & Mentorship

No problem right? LOL

Do you have the Courage to listen to this episode of The Daily Standup Podcast all about Courage? This almost feels like inception... Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach from AgileDad as she breaks down what it really means to be courageous and the steps we need to take to get there.

Do I have to pick just one? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what the most important parts of the team working agreement should be and how we should incorporate those into our teams.

A Daily Standup Subscriber has questions regarding logistics around when to have standups, how to avoid no meting Fridays, and how to tie in quarterly planning initiatives. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what you should do if you find yourself in these types of situations.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review what a MVD is and how we can achieve one!

The 5 P's of the MVD:

Be clear about the purpose

Understand the purpose of having a minimum viable day, and keep this in mind at all times.

Here are some key qualities that make up the MVD:

Delivers some value: Achieve some small things that count as a win. Gain some rest time.
Lean: Do the absolute minimum. Prioritization is key (see below).
Shipped: Do the day and get through it. Don’t give up.
Insightful: Use it as a learning exercise. Be curious, even if you don’t feel like doing much else.
Prioritize (ruthlessly)

As in product management, you have to be ruthless at prioritizing your deliverables in the minimum viable day. The key to success here is using the MoSCoW principle.

So, what does this mean in practice? Essentially, for your MVD, you want to focus only on the must-haveactions/outputs that you absolutely must do to prevent chaos from breaking out.

Here are some suggestions for “must have” things to do on your MVD:

Send your most important emails.
Do that one big meeting that you absolutely cannot postpone.
Bake in some self-care must-haves as well. I would advise walking, stretching, or eating a cake.

Here are your “won’t have/won’t do” items:

Literally anything that can be done tomorrow instead.
Beat self up.
Postpone anything that can be done tomorrow

As mentioned above, it’s important to be clear about what can be postponed to another day. For high performers like yourself, this might feel a bit uncomfortable. But remember, we’re on an MVD here.

What can I do tomorrow/next week, when I gave regained my energy?
Who do I need to be honest with about how I’m feeling today so they can help me move a few things off my plate?
Who could stand in for me?
What can be binned off altogether that I shouldn’t have been doing anyway? (This one’s a goodie.)
Measure performance based on your original objectives

Do not be tempted to measure your day based on different success measurements than the ones you set out:

Did I do the day?
Did I not kill anyone?
Do I feel okay?
Can I do tomorrow? (That is, did the product — you — not fully break and fall over so that we can iterate tomorrow?)
Ponder: Reflect, be curious

In product management, the purpose of launching a minimum viable product is to learn from customer feedback and iterate on it in the next release. Once the product is launched and the feedback is in, product managers will analyze and brainstorm on what the data means for future development.

In your minimum viable day, it’s valuable to use the time to ponder—that is, to be curious and reflect:

Maybe use some of the day to be reflective about why you’re feeling run down and how you can avoid anxiety days in the future.
Maybe reflect on what’s going well and what you might want to achieve the rest of the week if you feel up to it.
Maybe reflect on what you want to achieve longer term and which priorities you want to adhere to (the MoSCoW principle for life).

Journaling. Meditation (basically just put on a timer for 10 mins and close your eyes and breathe). These are your friends today.

Change is real, the question is how ready are you and your organization for impending chnge? How do you get people moving and keep them moving? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what change really means and how to get started / keep moving.

Join AgileDad Business Agility Coach Sara Bierman as she explores the most sacred of the five Scrum values, commitment. Do you make and keep your personal commitments? Or is it easier for you to manage and complete commitments that you make to others? Often times the team is counting on you to do what you say and that makes things easier. How can we apply Focus, Openness, and Respect to get to commitment? I guess you will need to listen to learn more.

Take a moment and explore the 7 signs that point towards your ability to be an emotionally intelligent leader. This episode is guaranteed to help you grow both personally and professionally.

1. You’re able to articulate emotional experiences.
2. You can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses easily (including yours).
3. You’ve historically been a good judge of character.
4. People come to you for advice or support.
5. You can let things go.
6. You generally know how others are feeling.
7. You accept other beliefs, work styles and perspectives.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293826

How do you build teams in a high growth organization? What is the best way to assemble your teams without causing a mutiny on the bounty? Can teams reach high performing? Does team size get affected? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we evaluate what the best way is to make it through organizational growth.

https://jchyip.medium.com/why-its-difficult-to-build-teams-in-high-growth-organisations-e1aee8446337

Acting on the outcome map.

Having decided on an agreed outcome map, teams are now ready to act. Teams take the output of the outcome map, and bring it back to the Story map.

The Story Map should reflect the chosen course of action.

Release slices or outcomes are placed to the left of the story map in order. The cards on the right are reordered and sliced further to defined the minimum work required to achieve the desired outcome.

These cards now form the basis for execution with your chosen delivery framework.

Completing any outcome completes a single OODA loop and provides some information that influences future decisions. A team focused on learning will use this information to drive the next decision loop.

These activities can easily be completed within a few hours, and set an agreed direction of one or two months.

Accelerating through the OODA loop by regularly reviewing and revising the Risk Impact map and the Outcome map will ensure teams adjusts their direction based on the changing realities of their environment.

With so many factors affecting delivery, this approach should help your teams to apply a basic OODA loop ensuring that they are always making the best possible decisions available to them.

Decide on a good course of action

After having observed the environment and oriented on what is important it can still be difficult to decide on a course of action and understand how it links to achieving longer term goals.

Which strategy of the many available is the best one to use to move forward?

The technique I’ve found the most effective in this space I have named Outcome Mapping.

Using an “envision the end state” approach this technique helps teams decide on an immediate course of action in order to achieve a longer term goal. (This approach is also used in other techniques such as The Future, Backwards and the Toyota Kata to help set direction in complex problem domains).

Outcome Mapping is as simple as drawing a single line starting at now, and ending in the future. Leaders and stakeholders are asked to use post-it notes to identify any key milestones that exist. This effectively sets constraints for the team that they need to achieve. For example a milestone might be “Ship the product by end Mar 2017”, “Be ready for a trade show on 15th Jan 2017” or even “Onboard 5 new engineers by Dec 2016”.

These constraints set an identified end state and when combined with outcome mapping, enables a team to have broad flexibility in determining appropriate action given their environment.

Within the defined constraints, teams are then asked to identify the outcomes that they would deliver in order to meet the desired end state.

For some teams it may help to provide a simple frame for outcomes.

What would a team implement?
What information would they get back from?
What would it validate for them?

Some teams will define a sequential set of outcomes, but other teams will add parallel sets of outcomes identifying work that can be done in parallel, by other teams members or even other teams.

The main benefit of having a plan is its ability to align a team around a course of action, so be flexible with how the plan is created. As long as it is visible and intuitive to the team, there are really nothing that you shouldn’t allow them to do here.

With outcomes defined, it is now highly valuable to ask the team to group outcomes into mini milestones. These mini milestones help identify what a releasable slices is and the mid horizon goals that define what a team is trying to achieve during that period.

I use a 1st Release, 2nd Release, Everything else approach to get teams into the mindset of planning regularly. This helps them avoid attempting to define the mythical perfect plan, and get into a regular cycle of planning out what they are currently working on, and what they thing they will work on next.

Depending on the type of work release slices can really be anything.

Greenfield products often have customer validation, development of prototypes and/or steel threads as the first goals. In established products these are more likely to look like enhancing specific areas of the product, or improving or expanding existing customer journeys.

Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results

Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach from AgileDad as we dig deeper into what Aretha Franklin may have REALLY meant when she belted out RESPECT.

The Elements of OODA

The OODA loop is comprised of 4 majors elements:
Observe — Orient — Decide — Act

In a team environment I explain these four elements as

Observe — Understand the environment
Orient — Align on what is important
Decide — Agree on a good course of action
Act — Do it

Orient on what’s important

To me the things you really want to keep an eye on when trying to ship a new product are the factors that could significantly affect delivery be it positively or negatively.

Putting my finance hat on, all of these can be classified as risks because they relate to an uncertainty of some kind.

With that in mind, my favourite approach to orient is the Risk Impact map.

Because it is so simple, it is also extremely powerful.

The Risk Impact map is a tried and tested favourite within traditional project management. Blended with a little bit of design thinking though you can really push its application. Primed with a few simple risk categories, both customer and delivery centric risks can be explored.

Teams are asked to raise any risks they have in any one of four categories.

Desirability — Will a customer want it?
Feasibility — Can we technically build it given our current environment?
Viability — If we build it, will we be able to make money from it?
Consumability — Will a customer be able to find it and consume it?

By providing this starting frame we shift thinking away from mainly feasibility orient risks towards a holistic systems view that helps expose additional risks that would typically remain hidden.

In practice you’ll find risks don’t fit in neat boxes so it’s ok to just pick any of the categories that suits. It’s more important to capture risks and expose them, than it is to perfectly categorise them.

Because your information about the environment is imperfect, don’t worry about finding every risk possible. What your team captures are likely the things that trouble them the most. As long as you revisit the risk map regularly you can operate effectively with a high rate of uncertainty.

With the map completed, teams are challenged with thinking about the smallest thing that can be done to de-risk items that have been identified as the most likely and impactful.

Visually, teams are tasked with taking the items in the top right quadrant and doing the least amount of work possible to shift these left or down.

With this in mind, it’s now time to decide on a plan.

The Elements of OODA

The OODA loop is comprised of 4 majors elements:
Observe — Orient — Decide — Act

In a team environment I explain these four elements as

Observe — Understand the environment
Orient — Align on what is important
Decide — Agree on a good course of action
Act — Do it

In complex changing environments enabling these 4 elements to occur quickly and effectively can allow teams to leverage their broad range of skills and experiences to increase the likelihood of successful delivery.

Although there are different ways to do each of these steps, irrespective of the way you choose, I would encourage you to use something to anchor a team’s focus and visualise what is discussed. This will help enable complex interactions to emerge which would otherwise not occur.

Observing the environment

My preferred approach for observing the environment is Jeff Patton’s Story Mapping approach. This technique has become the defacto standard for visualising product backlogs, and helps teams focus on how a customer interacts with the system.

Story Mapping is awesome as it encourages, amongst other things

Storytelling as a technique to flush out any gaps in the environment
A two dimensional backlog enabling better visualisation of priorities and dependencies

It also happens to be an awesome way to observe the environment and what a team will need to deliver to create value.

I recently received an email from Richard Branson talking about the importance of family in all that we do. Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what Richard has to say and how it can make us better people.

Do you truly understand and Value Openness? Are you honest and open in all of your communications? Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Guru & AgileDad Coach as she takes you on a journey to learn why Openness is the Key to success!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore why hard working teams are often rewarded with more to do instead of receiving a better incentive.

Last week during a CSM Class, one of my students Charity had a brave observation regarding Product Ownership and Limiting WIP. Her observation was that when we say yes to something, we are in essence saying no to something different. Join V Lee Henson as we learn more about how this impacts all that we do.

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we have a lesson in integrity and what it means to truly stand by your word.

As a ScrumMaster, how do you handle the act of juggling multiple teams. I quite honestly have never been good at physical juggling whether it be balls, clubs, rings, knives or even chainsaws. Mental juggling has not proved to be easier. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what it takes to get you ready to work with multiple teams.

Join Sara Bierman, Enterprise Agility Coach in part one of this five part series focusing on the Scrum values, Focus. Learn what it really means to have and maintain focus on your projects and in your life!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review a recent blog post from Stefan on Scrum.org where he highlights 4 priciples that lead to ScrumMaster success. It is uncanny how these principles directly align with the 12 step program.

Last week I taught a private Agile Fundamentals course and I had a student tell me that her key takeaway was that time based estimates are truly a waste of time. I realized at this moment just how profound that statement was and asked permission to translate it into a podcast episode. Join V. Lee Henson and his team of interior painters as we explore why individual time based effort measurement is truly a flawed proposition.

Join V, Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to live with and best understand adversity. Master the three techniques that will allow you to understand approach and understand adversity.

Here are the top 5 reasons for NOT bevoming a Product Manager:

No credit, just blame.
No certainty, just ambiguity.
No clear end to your work day, just a decision to stop working.
No perfection, just shipping.
No sympathy or appreciation, just people wanting more from you. Or less.

Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach from AgileDad as she shares her journey to becoming an Agile Coach. This content rich adventure includes tips and tricks to help you on your journey to best overcome personal and physical obstacles and become the informal educator that you never dreamed to be!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top five steps you can take to best understand and become a powerful leader.

How small is small enough? Do you know how detailed you should be when breaking down stories? Join V. Lee Henson as we review a recent blog post from Mike Cohn where we discover the right amount of detail needed for breaking down items. The examples are timely and really make story sizing relatable.

Welcome to another Friday Episode of The Daily Standup - Today we will wxplore what it means to think outside the box to overcome common objections and obstacles. Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we embark on this journey of enlightenment.

Product management is not an easy ask of anyone. It requires tons of time and attention to detail. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 overlooked skills that typically do exist and are never discussed.

1) Have Product Sense
2) Be An Empath
3) Be Naive
4) Use 1st Principle Thinking
5) Be Emotionally Strong

This VERY SPECIAL edition of the AgileDad Daily Standup Podcast features one of our premier coaches, Sara Bierman. Join Sara as she uplifts and educates you about why this holiday holds a special place in her heart and what you can do in celebration of this special day.

Buenos días señoras y señores. Es hora del podcast diario de standup. Sin más demora, comencemos. Es hora de aprender más sobre cómo podemos hacer que las retrospectivas sean más inclusivas. Únase a V. Lee Henson, presidente y fundador de AgileDad, mientras exploramos cómo lograr que las personas estén más abiertas al cambio y se relacionen mejor con los gerentes de producto.

May The Fourth Be With You!

Someone directed me to a blog post by Jusitn, a Product Manager for the Microsoft Azure Team. In this post he descibed the keys he would want to know if he were asked to start all over again. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore each of these:

Rule #1) Product Management is a function of non-dedicated roles & personal ownership
Rule #2) Product Management requires a breadth of capability & patching depth of knowledge
Rule #3) Product Management is ana always will be about people

https://medium.com/swlh/if-i-could-relearn-product-management-1929d9d2c1a0

One of my recent CSPO students Johnny asked what is the difference between a good product owner and a great one? What are the top attributes a Product owner should seek to follow. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the top 3 attributes:

1) Become a MASTER Facilitator
2) Align The Vision & Strategy
3) Create Well Defined Backlog Items

Today's episode focuses on honesty and integrity. It also teaches us the value of a pound of really great butter! Join V. Lee Henson for this Agile not so Agile Episode.

Building Trust With Remote Teams is NOT easy, but for now it is the new norm. Tune in to this episode where we discuss ten strategies that will help you build a culture of trust and psychological safety with your teams!

1) Mitigate Team Stress
2) Serve Feedback Sandwiches
3) Get To Know Your Team
4) Set Clear Goals & Objectives
5) Be Competent Yet Vulnerable
6) Freshen Up Your Virtual Meetings
7) Be Consistent
8) Go Above & Beyond
9) Publicly Recognize Success
10) Use The FORCE

Have you ever considered or asked yourself what is the difference between a product owner and a product manager? Are you wondering what it tales to become a Kick Buttowski Product Manager? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what it takes!

1) Live In The Future
2) Amplify Your Teams
3) Focus On Impact
4) Great PM's Write Well
5) Fast Paced High Quality Decisions
6) Optimize For Learning
7) Execute Impeccably
8) Have Great Product Taste
9) Track What Matters
10) Immerse Yourself in The Product

Are you curious what makes for an effective agile coach? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the top ten things you need to know in order to be the best coach to your teams and organization.

6) Have Courage
7) Take Time To Reflect
8) Introduce the Elephant In the Room
9) Frame Change As an Experiment
10) Match the Team Energy

Are you curious what makes for an effective agile coach? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the top ten things you need to know in order to be the best coach to your teams and organization.

1) Make a Proper introduction
2) Agile is NOT a Religion
3) Demonstrate Respect
4) Step Back and See The BIG Picture
5) Ask Powerful Questions to Spark Ideas

What would it be like to be able to see the world through another person's eyes? Would you be less quick to judge? Would you be more accepting or inclusive? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what it might be like to see the world through the eyes of another.

How on Earth are you doing Today? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how Agile and Earth Day really do go together hand in hand.

Many organizations are struggling to understand how Agile Coaches are providing impact in a remote environment. Still a greater number are trying to implement coaching internally and not leaning on external help when needed. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the differences between these two types of coaches and how to make coaching successful within your organization at every level.

What do you know about the Product Backlog? How far out do you define? What does definition of ready look like? How well should backlog be defined and how often should it be refined? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what it means to have and work a Product backlog.

How on Earth does Agile and Bigfoot go together? A recent blog post challenged that a working Agile organization was a lot like Bigfoot. Many people believe in it and talk about it, yet nobody really believes it is possible! I MAY have a difference in opinion here! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore whether or not the Agile Bigfoot is real and who it might be?

It's finally Friday! This is our chance to explore what really motivates you! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what drives us to do good in the world today:

1) Money & Rewards
2) Desire To Be the Best
3) Helping Others
4) Power & Fame
5) Recognition
6) Passion Within

In our quest to perfect Agile Coaching, it is our responsibility to ask who holds the Infinity Stones and how do we prevent the command and control leader from getting hold of the gauntlet and all of the stones? What does this mean and how does it apply to my Agile Implementation? Join V. Lee Henson as we explore how Marvel directly ties to our quest for the best in business agility.

I have had so many organizations try to argue about the differences in responsibilities across the product owner, product manager, and product leadership roles. Today, join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the differences and cover what is really important when making these distinctions.

If you ONLY listen to ONE Podcast episode ever, make this the one you listen to! What a way to celebrate Episode 250 of The Daily Standup Podcast! Have you ever caught yourself, your team, or your company trying to do "the agile"? Has the light weight framework spiraled out of control and turned into a heavy weight process? Are you finding yourself a slave to the never-ending backlog or the never complete to-do list? Do you struggle with managing time and scope? If you answered yes to ANY of these questions, this is the episode for you! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore all of the aspects of doing better Agile that will change both your personal and or professional life.

What does a true leader look like? Take a moment to join us in a journey where we identify 7 AMAZING leaders! V. Lee Henson -

Are you in a Agile Death Spiral? Do you have things that you see that could be going differently? How is what you are doing being perceived? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this interesting Agile Alliance article.

We can dance if we want to... you can leave your friends behind.. I think you see where this is going. The ScrumMaster should not be responsible for wearing multiple hats yet somehow this always happens! Jpin V. Lee Henson as we discuss how to eliminate the need for this type of corrupted mentality.

Do you ever consider what the Scrum Values really mean and how they can drive value for you personally as well as for your organization? join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review a blog post from Gunther and explore what it means to truly embody the Scrum Values.

Are you suffering from Remote Meeting Fatigue? Does Zoom have you ready to jump out of a window? If so, we can help! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore ways to solve this problem by having Reverse Meetings!

Do you have trouble staying focused in this pandemic ridden world we are in? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 ways that you can gain or regain focus to help you recharge mentally and gain the emotional health benefits that go along with it.

1) Limit Distractions

2) Limit Your Focus

3) Live In the Moment

4) Practice Mindfulness

5) Take Short Breaks

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the top Scrum Anti-Patterns and how we should address them. Special thanks to Micheal Sahota for the inspiration for these episodes!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the top Scrum Anti-Patterns and how we should address them. Special thanks to Micheal Sahota for the inspiration for these episodes!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the top Scrum Anti-Patterns and how we should address them. Special thanks to Micheal Sahota for the inspiration for these episodes!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the top Scrum Anti-Patterns and how we should address them. Special thanks to Micheal Sahota for the inspiration for these episodes!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss overcoming objections and how to focus more on having a growth mindset. Happy Friday!

Have you ever wondered why your company even chose Agile in the first place? What problem are you really trying to solve? What are you trying to make better? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what we really need to know about "the agile" anf how it got here in the first place.

When we were all working in person, observation was EASY for a ScrumMaster. Now that we are all working remotely, this is simply not the case. Join V. Lee Henson. President and founder of AgileDad as we explore a recent blog post from master coach Mark Kirby and identify what the key superpowers are for remote coaching success.

Before the pandemic, many organizations were focused on creating the ideal work environment. Many were remodeling offices in an attempt to create the perfect Agile Workspace. Now that we are mostly working from home, what can we do to foster such an environment? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what needs to be done to create a great remote working environment.

What does it take to make your Agile Transformation work? Will it stand the test of time? Join V. Lee Henson, Presindent and Founder of agileDad as we explore what makes Agile stick incompanies and how you can take a pulse check to see how your company is doing.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how you can tap into the perfect bank account.

Do you ever wonder what the future of Agile might look like? We recently saw a blog post that discussed the top 5 trends that they felt were going to impact Agile in short order. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what we see happening with these 5 trends and what we see for the future of Agile.

1) AGILE TOOLS WILL BE SIMPLER

2) SAFE BECOMES MORE POPULAR

3) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING AS KEY ELEMENTS IN AGILE BEST PRACTICES

4) CONTINUOUS TESTING

5) OUTSIDE OF IT, AGILE IS BEING IMPLEMENTED

6) LEE'S BONUS!! (You need to listen to find out)

Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss whether shorter Sprint Lengths help teams deliver higher quality product quicker whilst all team members are in a remote setting.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the 5 elements you must consider when building a solid definition of ready for your backlog.

Hace you ever wondered what is the best way to eliminate Technical Debt? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we explore a recent blog post from Mike Cohn and discuss the top 3 ways to eliminate technical debt.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad on this inspirational journey to discover who you are regarding the boulder on our path.

One of our AgileDad Alumin, Tom, had written in and asked us to talk about the team anti-pattern of splitting stories and taking credit for partial complete work. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what triggers this action and how to best solve it.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the Top 12 Techniques to become a more effective Agile Coach. We will cover 4 techniques each day over the course of the next three days!

Part 3:

9) Ask Why

10) Break It Down

11) Ask Powerful Questions

12) Challenge Thought Patterns

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the Top 12 Techniques to become a more effective Agile Coach. We will cover 4 techniques each day over the course of the next three days!

Part 2:

5) Be A Pessimist

6) List All The Steps

7) Be The Cheerleader

8) Get A Second Opinion

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the Top 12 Techniques to become a more effective Agile Coach. We will cover 4 techniques each day over the course of the next three days!

Part 1:

1) Silence

2) Holding The Mirror

3) Gathering Alternative Options

4) Grant a Wish

Here is the recap:

Set aside some time to understand the reasons behind your goal. Don't move forward until you can answer these questions:
In what ways does this goal align with my personal values?
How does this goal get me closer to my vision for my future?
What excites me about the goal?
Once you've identified your goal, break it into smaller daily or weekly tasks.
To help determine if this goal is the right size for you, rate your confidence on your ability to achieve it, on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being least confident and 10 most confident. If your confidence level is below a 7, that's a cue to break your goal down to smaller tasks.
Begin tracking so that you have a snapshot of your progress to look back on.
Share your goal with someone else.
Allow yourself to be vulnerable and share your aspirations with someone else. This can create stronger relationships, encouragement and accountability.
Find a role model who practices the goal you aspire to achieve.

Make your goals SMART

Specific. Close your eyes and see yourself doing something. For example, "I can visualize myself eating a vegetable as an afternoon snack each day to help my weight-loss efforts, but I can't see myself simply stepping on a scale and losing weight."
Measurable. Include components that you can track, such as duration or frequency of your walks. Measurable goals can serve as a great marker of progress.
Attainable. This is the Goldilocks rule — find something that's "just right." Your goal should feel like a comfortable stretch; not too much, not too little. Challenge yourself beyond your comfort zone, but not to such a degree that you feel overwhelmed and anxious just thinking about your goal.
Relevant. I believe this is the most important component. Make your goal meaningful and important to you — not your family member, doctor or employer. As much as you may want to accomplish something because someone else wants you to, the most lasting change comes when you identify deeply personal reasons for doing it. Connecting your goals to your values and vision will compel you to make changes.
Time-boxed. Establish a realistic deadline. Having an endpoint will allow you to pause and reflect on successes and key learnings and change course if necessary. Often people move on to the next goal without recognizing and reflecting on their progress.

The questions was originally made in jest, but how many standup meetings should I attend a day Many companies really still suffer from death by meeting. One proposed solution,

As a team member, you will attend one daily stand-up per day. As a member of three teams, you should be attending one daily stand-up per team.

Assuming that each daily stand-up maintains its allocated 15-minute timebox, and you work for a standard 8 hours per day, which includes one 45-minute lunch break and one 15-minute coffee break, that leaves us 7 working hours.

The solution is therefore to become a member of 28 teams and spend all day, every day, doing nothing but attending daily stand-ups.

Wake up, stand up, sleep, repeat.

This is the question that ends all questions. How are we supposed to measure the effectiveness of a ScrumMaster when upwards of 70% of their role consists of servant leadership responsibilities that are difficult to quantify? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore when and how a ScrumMaster should be evaluated on their performance.

Have you ever had one of those days where you are being asked to change something in-sprint in order to meet a release deadline? How far do we go when adapting to change vs following the plan? Do we risj the release to make the needed changes? Do we stick to the release and miss an important feature? Do we create a precedent where we set the stage for people to continually ask for a more frequent release on demand cadence? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what to do in this precarious situation.

There are TONS of articles and people trying to figure out the BEST way to execute a remote standup call. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore 5 things you should be doing and 3 pitfalls you need to look out for.

“How do I change my life?” If you’re asking this question, remember that the one constant thing in our life is change. The more we resist it, the tougher our life becomes. Instead of avoiding it, ask how you can change your life to work with the changes happening around you. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the Top 10 Things You Can Do To Change Your Life Forever...

Experience the Joy of Learning
Live in the Moment
Accept Yourself
Face Your Fears
Start Living a Well-Balanced Life
Do Something That Scares You
Let Go of Regrets
Set Goals
Create a Dream Board
Find Meaning

Many years ago, William Wake discussed the importance of INVEST to write solid backlog items. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the meaning behind invest and why it is still relevant today.

In what we are not affectionately calling the new normal, how do we formulate a stroger definition of done for remote teams? In the past is was easy to pull everyone together and discuss the definition and it was easy to follow up with people who were working just in a nearby area. Distributed teams and team members have changed everything! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn how to do DOD with Globally Distributed Teams.

Many have heard of definition of ready... Is this something that you regularly practice and or understand? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what Dr. Jeff Sutherland had to say about the importance of this definition in Scrum

I am certain you have all seen that one The Far Side cartoon with the school for the gifted and the pull vs. push sign on the door. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore why Pull Agility works so much better than push.

Have you ever wondered why we call Wednesday by that name? join us for this Fun friday Episode where we show you based on research that we discovered how each day of the week got its name and the meaning why in modern times.

As Meghan Trainor would say, my name is no my sign is no my number is no, you need to let it go... Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn this episode the 5 different ways you can say no while working on an Agile Project.

Surprise! At AgileDad we LOVE to get everyone in on the action! Todays very special episode will introduce you to the woman resposible behind the curtains for making the AgileDad Magic happen, my executive admin Kim Dickerson. Today she will help you learn the best tips for formulating the resume recruiters and hiring managers will want to look at.

A recent post on Reddit invited a hearty discussion around which parts of the ScrumMaster role can be automated? This shook me to the core and was certainly worthy of a daily standup conversation. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what to do with this strange thought in this strange world.

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the five types of product value:

1) Commercial Value: “The key questions to ask here is: ‘(With the Product Goal in mind) How does this item increase our revenue or profit?’”

2) Efficiency Value: "The key question to ask is ‘(With the Product Goal in mind) how does this item save us money or time?’”

3) Market Value: "The key question to ask is ‘(With the Product Goal in mind) how does this item allow us to attract more users or customers?’”

4) Customer Value: "The key question to ask here is ‘(With the Product Goal in mind) how does this item increase the likelihood that a customer continues to use our product?’”

5) Future Value: "The key question to ask here is “(With the Product Goal in mind) how does this item save us money or time in the future?”

6) BONUS Value.. No Value - You should avoid these at all cost.

We made it through another week! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the 5 Psychology Rules To Make Your Life Easier.

People Don’t Care As Much As You Think
We Are Constantly Changing Who We Are
Stop Comparing Yourself To Others
Don’t Assume Your Advice Will Be Listened To
You Can Only Control Your Response

I recently had a student named Sana attend a CSM and Advanced CSM. She truly was the shining star in class and I did a little more diffing and discovered that she has MANY accolades and is a HUGE advocate for diversity & inclusiveness as well as a leader in the Women In Agile Movement! This is an interview that you surely will not want to miss.

One of my recent students, Adam Hill, took us up on the Thrift Store Genie Challenge and told us he would make the single change of getting team members to ask themselves 3 questions each day to help them align their focus with their work:

What actual value am I building for my stakeholders?
Who can I connect with to validate my work early and often?
How does this fit within the larger vision?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how these three questions help your team achieve Agile Victory.

A recent article by Mike Cohn discussed the top four problems teams and organizations have with retrospectives. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to overcome these issues.

Is this a trap? Could ScrumMasters and Product Owners have a secret plan to rule the world and eveolve into the managers of old? Join V. Lee Henson, President and founder of AgileDad as we explore how to get teams from ordinary to extraordinary.

Have you ever wondered how one person can get so much done in a day? I get asked this all the time. Join V. Lee Henson and learn the top ten things he does to be more productive.

What are the 3 types of requirements? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we take a trip to the grocery store to best understand how Mike Cohn breaks down the three types.

I know what you are thinking... What kind of madness is this? If you were shopping at a thrift store and bought an exotic magic lamp, complete with a genie inside, but it only had ONE wish, what would be the ONE thing you wish to change regarding your Agile Implementation without fear of getting fired? My answer was teach organiaztions to play Dominoes better. What? Well.. you need to listen to V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad to learn more.

A new generation of people are seeking Agile Certifications. After a quick search, I see of 100 different certifications out there. How does someone know which certificate is right for them and which is a total waste of time and money? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what you need to know to navigate these turbulent certification waters.

Have you ever tried to get from point a to point b? If so, you should be familiar with the product WAZE. Today we will discuss the Top 5 Essential Agile Product Frameworks that are used at Waze and what you can do to apply them successfully. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we embark on this journey of learning.

GSM Framework (Goals, Signals, Metrics)

KPI Graphs Framework (Key Performance Indicators)

HEART Framework (Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, Task)

HOSKR Framework (Hypothesis, Objectives, Signals, Key Results)

OKR Framework (Objectives & Key results)

In a recent CSM training, I received what might be the best compliment I have ever received in my life. I was compared to Randy Pausch. At the time I had no idea who this guy was so my reply was simply thank you. Once I figured out who this guy was and did some research I began to cry. I do not know that any better compliment could have been given. He is a wealth of wisdom and a pillar of all things good... Not to mention he was a Disney Imagineer! His presentation had MANY quotes that moved me as a coach and trainer:

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

Never lose the childlike wonder. Show gratitude... Don't complain; just work harder... Never give up.

I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun, and I'm going to keep having fun every day I've got left.

The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

If I only had three words of advice, they would be, Tell the Truth. If got three more words, I'd add, all the time.

See for yourself:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we dig deep into the tips to help you become a stronger Agile Coach. The truth is, most organizations struggle to embrace true business agility due to a pure lack of understanding the foundational things needed in order for them to be successful. Listen in to the entire three day - three part series where we give you the coaching tools that you need to be successful!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we dig deep into the tips to help you become a stronger Agile Coach. The truth is, most organizations struggle to embrace true business agility due to a pure lack of understanding the foundational things needed in order for them to be successful. Listen in to the entire three day - three part series where we give you the coaching tools that you need to be successful!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we dig deep into the tips to help you become a stronger Agile Coach. The truth is, most organizations struggle to embrace true business agility due to a pure lack of understanding the foundational things needed in order for them to be successful. Listen in to the entire three day - three part series where we give you the coaching tools that you need to be successful!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the best ways to manage and or eliminate dependencies.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 10 ways to feel free in less than 10 minutes!

I think it will take me five days... (Thinking to myself... What will I do with the other 4 days?) Does this sound familiar to you? If it does, it means that you are padding your estimates. My question for you is WHY? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss why this practice happens and what we can do to prevent it from happening again.

What are the top 5 Challenges to being a GREAT ScrumMaster? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 challenges we have seen that you may have t face as a ScrumMaster. Are you prepared to face your Fears?

Do you have trouble saying no? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 tips to help you say no as a product owner.

What can we do to be a better people? One thing I have learned is that by studying the leaders of our past, we can make tomorrow a better day Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore some of Dr. King's most AMAZING quotes and talk about how they can influence us at home and at work.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

How well do you Manage your Time?

Do you plan your work well enough to eliminate waste and reduce the unnecessary? Are your capabilities strong enough to multi-thread and reduce interruptions? In this podcast you will learn the top 5 tips to help you better manage your time.

Is working in a Remote World our new norm?

Are your remote workers distributing their time correctly between home, work and meetings? More and more companies are starting to realize productivity is up and company expenditures are down so this may very well be the new norm! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we figure out what to do in these strange times.

Are estimates ever helpful for Developers/Team Members?

Yes Yes Yes! Estimates can help you be viewed better in the eyes of the stakeholders and over time give you more bargaining power to petition for things you need and maybe even things you want! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we explain some of the logic behind solid estimates.

What is the Definition of Done? Join V. Lee Henson, Presidnet and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this pressing question.

Have you met Acceptance Criteria or the Definition of Done? Definition of Done is common to all of your work...Acceptance Criteria is specific to individual pieces of work.

What is the Definition of Done? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this pressing question.

Have you met Acceptance Criteria or the Definition of Done? Definition of Done is common to all of your work...Acceptance Criteria is specific to individual pieces of work.

Can we apply the Empirical Process to our everyday lives?

The short answer is yes you can. The long answer is you have to be willing to apply Transparency, Inspection and Adaptation. To be successful you will have to be transparent with yourself, be willing to inspect yourself and most importantly be willing to adapt to the changes being made. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we engage in this lively topic.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we journey and discover key ways to fight adversity. With everything going on in the world today it's easy to feel overwhelmed and anxious but in this podcast we have listed 5 ways to work on yourself from the inside out.

A question from Marcus, one of my students, spurred the question do we use the FORCE as we should? Are we truly behaving as ScrumMasters? Or are we just another politician? With mounting civil unrest at the US Capital yesterday, we witnessed the need for the 5 Scrum Values more than you could ever imagine. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what we can do to apply FORCE and make a world of difference.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what makes Agile organizations really tick. These are the top 6 Keys to the Kingdom when it comes to business agility.

How do we resolve Agile estimation issues? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore why good people may not be exactly good at estimating stories.

Have you applied for over 100 ScrumMaster positions and you are not getting traction? Are you not getting called in for interviews and wondering what you are doing wrong? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what you should and should NOT be doing when looking for a job as a ScrumMaster.

2020 will forever be remembered as one of lifes most transformative years. What do we see going forward into 2021? How do we make and keep New Years Resolutions? Join V, Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how we can leverage Agile to make our Resolutions a Reality! As an added BONUS:

Get your ShamWow Here: https://youtu.be/LCf6wvfhX6g

Was 2020 a TOTAL dumpster fire? Or was it actually better than we think? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what made 2020 special and memorable.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the importance of the why behind the what. We need to study and learn what the consumer actually wants first....

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss best ways to reduce and or eliminate communication overhead.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what MVP really means and if it is being abused inside of organizations.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we celebrate this Christmas week with some REALLY fun and exciting Christmas Gift Agile Posts!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we celebrate this Christmas week with some REALLY fun and exciting Christmas Gift Agile Posts!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we celebrate this Christmas week with some REALLY fun and exciting Christmas Gift Agile Posts!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we celebrate this Christmas week with some REALLY fun and exciting Christmas Gift Agile Posts!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we celebrate this Christmas week with some REALLY fun and exciting Christmas Gift Agile Posts!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 3 ways to get all those close to you excited for the upcoming holodays!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the lost art of face to face communication.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore Company culture. If it is not an excuse, could it possibly be an opportunity?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 programming languages of 2020. Time to get your GEEK on!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the Agile way.. A quickstart guide to Agile leadership. I know you will all enjoy learning what leadership could be doing in order to help move things along. This episode will not disappoint.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we explore the top 10 ways to serve someone today! Happy Friday!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we explore the journey of the Agile Story Sherpa. Bob Galen brings a blog post to us reminding us yet again of an Agile Concept that many have been doing all along, but fail to share it with others. Thanks Bob for the gentle nudge.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we explore which ScrumMaster Certification is the best? Both have their merits. Which wins the battle?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder fo AgileDad as we discover what the number one Agility killer is... The answer may just surprise you!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore whether it is a time saver or time killer to have multiple teams attend Agile Meetings...

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the 14 best ways to conquer fear in five minutes.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to bridge the gap and get leaders prepared for the Agile Mindset shift that comes with every Agile implementation.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the three keys to outside in thinking. What does it mean? How does it apply to me? What can I do differently?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the latest SCAM Certification to hit the market and what we can do about it.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review the official 2020 Scrum Guide.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how to make you happy in five minutes or less! Ready.. Set... GO!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Please take a moment to be grateful!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how Agile Metrics work and which ones you should be paying attention to..

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how metrics work and which are the ones you should be focusing on.

Looking for a cool gift? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top Agile books for 2020.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how Happiness has finally been proven to be a good thing by Science!

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn more about the Shu Ha Ri, what it really means and how it can be applied best to Agile Leadership.

Do you have Agile Sins that are weighing on your mind and heart? I recently read an article and listened to a podcast from Ben Linders where he discusses the importance of confessing our Agile sins so we might achieve Agile Absolution. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we go upon this journey.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we enjoy one of Henrik's presentation topics and explore what it means when we hear we want to change, but do not want to change what we are doing or we want better agility, but do not want to change out behaviors.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we enjoy one of Henrik's presentation topics and explore what it means to Focus by stop starting. Lear how to reduce the number of times that you say I don't have time.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore another exciting Agile topic. Today we will explore Friday the 13th at Agile Arizona where we will be presenting how to leverage failure as ann option!

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore another exciting Agile topic. Today we will explore the topic for todays PMI-NUC Luncheon. We will briefly discuss how to better scale your organization and the importance of helping your business GROW.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore another exciting Agile topic. Today we will celebrate a tribute to Veterans. While this topic is not 100% on the Agile Radar, it does tie together military service and Agile Project Management.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore another exciting Agile topic. Today we will explore what we affectionately call the REAL Three Daily Standup Questions and the true value that they bring to the table.

Learn from Mike Cohn all of the tips you need to know and learn how to FAIL with Agile! This is a FUN take on how Agile should NOT be implemented. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this fun-filled article.

Learn from Mike Cohn all of the tips you need to know and learn how to FAIL with Agile! This is a FUN take on how Agile should NOT be implemented. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this fun-filled article.

Is there anything better than earning another CRAPPIE Certification? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what the crap you should be doing!

Taking advice from one of my Advanced ScrumMaster Students. Learn to be a prolific Agile Coach.

How do we achieve true happiness in this time of turmoil? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the keys to true happiness.

Can Agile be applied in a restaurant? Join V. Lee Henson as we do our first ever YouTube LIVE video review of how Agile can be applied outside of software. We will break this down into two parts and review each of the ceremonies as explained.

Can Agile be applied in a restaurant? Join V. Lee Henson as we do our first ever YouTube LIVE video review of how Agile can be applied outside of software. We will break this down into two parts and review each of the ceremonies as explained.

Now that you know about our company, what will the exact date and budget be for completion of our Agile Transformation? If you have not cringed yet, please check your pulse. Is it possible to deliver such an answer with any accuracy at all? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how to best answer this question.

Retrospectives are often either a festival of silence or throw tomatoes at the person who is doing the worst. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss some tips and tricks to get people talking and keep them talking.

It's Friday! Today we visit http://www.actionforhappiness.org/10-keys and review the 10 Keys To Happier Living. What amazed me the most is how she used the Acronym GREAT DREAM, where great focused on what we could impact outside and dream focused on internal impact. This is a SUPER Powerful article! ~ V. Lee Henson

What Does it mean to be an Agile Organization? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review a Techwell article that discusses the 6 keys to be a REAL Agile organization.

Join V. Lee Henson, Presient and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the concept of Project WIP Limits and how these impact successful Agile delivery.

Join V. Lee Henson, Presient and Founder of AgileDad as we explore how in addition to outcome over output, we should also focus our attention on how the customer needs invite real business value. If the customer if perfectly right, but the organization is still struggling with how does this add value, you should reconsider based on the value achieved.

Join V. Lee Henson, Presient and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the masterful art of applying what we have learned. All too often organizations pay for tons of training and coaching and never realize the value of applying what they learned into an Agile Center of Excellence. Learn the secrets to making this happen.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we talk about the importance of Open Space meeting formats and how they can be leveraged to help you find success in both business and personal applications.

Was the Agile Manifesto really the first true declaration of Agile? Or was Aristotle the Agile OG? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we dig deep and find out the true origins of Agile thought process.

Join us as we review a recent article from Bob Galen where we reflect on Kim Scott and her Radical Candor Movement. This is a CANNOT miss episode for ANY Agile Leader. V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad unravels the secrets to being a great person, leader, and ultimately boss.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the importance of continuous problem solving. Do the 5 Why's really work? How should we be solving problems?

Can there be too much transparency? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss this hot topic. Mike Cohn recently wrote a blog post covering this, we are going to review and provide commentary on Mike's findings.

Racial equity is a HOT topic in today's world. Unfortunately many people still approach this sensitive topic with cognitive bias. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn how to take steps towards a more humanized approach to understanding people and systems.

Many people treat Agile with what I affectionately call the Happy Meal Approach. I need a number 3 combo, large fries, diet coke, and a 3 moth Agile Implementation. Twice the work in half the time is a promise of accelerrated delivery, not a request to do things sloppy. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this sad reality.

At some point in our career, we all face opposition. Sometimes it is opposition to process, other times it is opposition to a person or culture. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the best techniques when it comes to handling opposition.

Whether it is playing a sport or a musical instrument, we have always heard the phrase Practice Makes Perfect... The truth is there really are no Agile shortcuts. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what you really need to do to be a prolific trainer and or coach.

Great news for the Agile community! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn what congress has done to bring Agile to the forefront in an effort to make it the more recognized project management solution. Special shoutout to Jess at Agile Curated for gathering the content this week!

Join V. Lee Henson, President of AgileDad as we explore a fun-filled week of Agile MythBusters. We end this week by defining Chaos and talking about what you can do to limit and even eliminate Chaos from your personal and professional lives.

Join V. Lee Henson, President of AgileDad as we explore a fun-filled week of Agile MythBusters. Scaling Agile has been the point of confusion for MANY organizations. Can Agile Scaling be applied liberally everywhere and in every organization? What do we think about this? This may REALLY Surprise you.

Join V. Lee Henson, President of AgileDad as we explore a fun-filled week of Agile MythBusters. Our Humpday exploration tries to convince us that Agile can fit the same for everyone in every situation. Agile is truly the Spandex of business practice. Does this make sense? This episode may REALLY Surprise you.

Join V. Lee Henson, President of AgileDad as we explore a fun-filled week of Agile MythBusters. For Tuesday, we focus on application of Agile both inside and outside of IT. Does traditional project menagement even play a role in what we are trying to teach? Tune in to find out. This may REALLY Surprise you.

Join V. Lee Henson, President of AgileDad as we explore a fun-filled week of Agile MythBusters. We kick off this week with the Myth that true business agility is all just a bunch of buzzwords and hype. This myth is easily busted as we discover where and when business agility was first mentioned and applied. This may REALLY Surprise you.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we describe Agile Culture and what we reallly may need to implement Agile successfully! Explore the Agile Centre of Excellence.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we address the question, Why Be Agile? What are the benefits? Where is it taking your company?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn what makes an Agile Business? Is your organization maing strides towards business agility? Or will you remain seated on the sidelines?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn the true meaning of business agility. Is your organization doing agile or being Agile?

What an AMAZING time we had at the PMI Tampa Bay Project Management Symposium! We had a great time visiting with old friends and meeting new ones. Please join us today as we review our Keynote presentation on helpin yourself and your business truly GROW.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we define Psychological Safety and specifically how it applies both at work and at home.

Join us as we explore the top eight ways to drive innovation in large organizations. V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad explores how we can leverage creativity as a way to access innovation.

Join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we explore the anti-patterns of the ScrumMaster Role., an all inclusive list of what you should NOT be doing as a ScrumMaster.

What comes after Agile? One of our podcast listeners read an article published by KnowledgeHut in 2019 and was confused... Is this what is next? Or is this just sound Agile. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad to find out.

An avid AgileDad Daily Standup Podcast Subscriber has written in and asked us, is the Scrummaster also a manager? After receiving threats from management inside of her organization for not behaving more like a Scrum Manager, she had grown concerned and reached out to us for answers. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this topic together.

Mental Clarity is Important! Join V. Lee Henson as we expore why Mental Clarity is important and how you can gain focus on the things that really matter in life.

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what makes a GREAT Scrum Team!

What makes a GREAT ScrumMaster? Join V. Lee Henson as he reviews an InfoQ article that describes what makes great Agile Teams. Today we will focus on the role of the ScrumMaster.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what makes a GREAT Product Owner. This might be the BEST menu of what makes a great product owner that has ever existed. We take time today to review an article published by InfoQ that talks about what makes great Agile Teams. Today we focus on GREAT Product Ownership.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the 10 basic Scrum Rules. Since it is Labor Day here in the United States, I did not want to go too crazy with topics for a Monday, I thought it would be nice to refresh on some of the very core Scrum Basics. This list is 10 Must Have pieces to help your Scrum Implementation be successful.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we go back and focus on Agile Foundations. The topic we would like to discuss today focuses on The Three C's. Everything you wanted to know about these topics with AgileDad Stories included at no additional charge.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we go back and focus on Agile Foundations. The topic we would like to discuss today focuses on Agile Thinking. Everything you wanted to know about these topics with AgileDad Stories included at no additional charge.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we go back and focus on Agile Foundations. The topic we would like to discuss today focuses on The Six Scrum Principles. Everything you wanted to know about these topics with AgileDad Stories included at no additional charge.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we go back and focus on Agile Foundations. The topic we would like to discuss today focuses on The 3 Scrum Artifacts. Everything you wanted to know about these topics with AgileDad Stories included at no additional charge.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we go back and focus on Agile Foundations. The topic we would like to discuss today focuses on The Four Agile Ceremonies. Everything you wanted to know about these topics with AgileDad Stories included at no additional charge.

Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 Agile trends of 2020 that fall beyong remote working and COVID. Today we will discuss the Agile Coaching Invasion! There are so many people out there claiming to hold the title of Wold Class Agile Coach or Trainer. How do you know who to take seriously and what should you look for PRIOR to brining someine into your organization?

Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 Agile trends of 2020 that fall beyong remote working and COVID. Today we will discuss Scaling Agile. This topic is one that has really been at the forefront of so many conversations. How do you know when it is appropriate to Scale? How do you decide to hold off. The LAST thing we want is to become part of the Scaling And Failing Experiment.. (SAFE)

Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 Agile trends of 2020 that fall beyong remote working and COVID. Today we will discuss Agile Marketing and how it is one of the VERY HOTTEST trending groups where Agile is being introduced. We also discuss the first and ONLY Agile Marketing Certification.

Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 Agile trends of 2020 that fall beyong remote working and COVID. Today we will discuss Agile leadership roles and what we have seen trending and what has become one of the most confusing parts of any practical Agile implementation.

Join V. Lee Henson. President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the top 5 Agile trends of 2020 that fall beyond remote working and COVID. Today we will discuss Agile beyond IT. While Agile initially drew all of its focus around how it impacted software development and delivery, today we will discuss how Agile is being implemented in all different types of organizations and is breaking the IT only mode!

Welcome to Self improvement week! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we take a journey to discover what we can do to be a better person. In today's episode, we will focus on learning to emulate the best that you see in other. Focusing on othr people's strengths will make you a stronger and more admired person.

Welcome to Self improvement week! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we take a journey to discover what we can do to be a better person. In today's episode, we will focus on understanding you goal and purpose. This will help you focus on setting realistic small and achievable goals.

Welcome to Self improvement week! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we take a journey to discover what we can do to be a better person. In today's episode, we will focus on the story that you tell to the world. What story are you leaving behind? Are you creating a legacy?

Welcome to Self improvement week! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we take a journey to discover what we can do to be a better person. In today's episode, we will focus on the importance of building a solid foundation to become the platform of who you are and what you will stand for.

Welcome to Self improvement week! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we take a journey to discover what we can do to be a better person. In today's episode, we will focus on the meaning of introspectives, why they are important, and how we can practice this to improve who we are.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore items that will help you grow as a ScrumMaster. Today we will discuss the name ScrumMaster. In these crazy times, should the name Scrummaster go away? Is anyone offended by it?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore items that will help you grow as a ScrumMaster. Today we will discuss the other three questions that every ScrumMaster should be asking their team members. This will help you build meaningful relationships and better understand team needs.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore items that will help you grow as a ScrumMaster. Today we will discuss how long it really takes to read a book. The answer is impossible as it depends on the level of interest in the topic, the experience of the reader, the length of the book, etc. How does this impact Agile Teams and Leaders?

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore items that will help you grow as a ScrumMaster. Today we will discuss the mythical man month. Throwing more people at the problem does not always make things better. Explore how we can work together to better organize work instead of constantly adding people.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore items that will help you grow as a ScrumMaster. Today we will discuss the concept of the groan zone and how we as ScrumMasters can recognize team apathy and what we can do to correct it.

It's Friday once again! Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what it means to become a true Agile Leader. Servant Leadership defined.

Join the team at AgileDad as we continue our journey into the Executive Agility Playbook. Today we focus on what you need to know about how to responsibly scale Agile in your organization.

Join the team at AgileDad as we continue our journey into the Executive Agility Playbook. Today we focus on what you need to get started. What should you have in place prior to attempring to implement Agile? Where do you begin?

Join the team at AgileDad as we continue our journey into the Executive Agility Playbook. Today we focus on what you need to know about Agile and why is it important to your organization.

Join the team at AgileDad as we explore EVERYTHING an executive or leader needs to know about Agile Implementation. The Executive Agility Playbook is a powerful tool which allows leadership to see where they should be dedicating their focus and how they can help insure successful implementation across their organization.

Join us as we learn about two SUPER impressive youg men who believe they can change the world one pen at a time!

Many people are confused by the number of Agile Certifications out there. Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as he discusses the PSM Certificate, what it means, and how impactful it is when seeking employment.

One of the most challenging things to do is understand people and master communication. An AgileDad writer requested that we speak more to this topic and address best practices both from a consumer and strategic perspective.

Does Agile work for Marketers? Indeed it does. Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how to apply Agile to Marketing and how you can become certified in Agile Marketing.

Can Agile be applied to talent management? (Human resources)? You bet! In todays episode learn tips and tricks to apply agility to the world of filtering candidates and onboarding new team members!

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the power of music in this Friday episode of The Daily Standup Podcast.

Join the Team at AgileDad as we review steps 10-12 of the AgileDad 12 Steps to Agile Adoption Program.

Join the Team at AgileDad as we review steps 7-9 of the AgileDad 12 Steps to Agile Adoption Program.

Join the Team at AgileDad as we review steps 4-6 of the AgileDad 12 Steps to Agile Adoption Program.

Join the Team at AgileDad as we review steps 1-3 of the AgileDad 12 Steps to Agile Adoption Program.

This week we will focus on the top five things you can do today to help your organization have a more impactful Agile Experience. Topic #5 Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss life and the pursuit of happiness. How can self reflection help us realize our destiny and goals?

This week we will focus on the top five things you can do today to help your organization have a more impactful Agile Experience. Topic #4 Inspect, Adapt, and be Transparent, When I first said this I thought Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce a whole new generation to the power of Vanilla Ice. The Empirical Process maps like poetry to the lyrics of Ice Ice Baby...

This week we will focus on the top five things you can do today to help your organization have a more impactful Agile Experience. Topic #3: Allow Teams to Swarm to Limited WIP! Discover the power of WIP and why it is essential that teams swarm to the work and conquer it together

This week we will focus on the top five things you can do today to help your organization have a more impactful Agile Experience. Topic #2: How to adjust and regulate your team size and why it is best to keep teams consistent. Although people are people, throwing more individuals at an issue often does little to solve the problem. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss the best ways to keep teams and organizations on track.

This week we will focus on the top five things you can do today to help your organization have a more impactful Agile Experience. Topic #1 is Limit the flow of products and projects to gain a better understanding of Work In Progress. Join the Team from AgileDad as we discuss the importance of understanding WIP. We will focus on how to add value without breaking the bank.

Our Friday topic deviates a bit from business agility and draws focus on Physical Wellness & Spiritual Health. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss this very important and often overlooked topic.

What is the Tuckman model and how does it impact teams agility? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we learn more about what helps teams navigate the model and how can a team make it to ans stay high performing. Is that even possible?

Today we will explore what it means to have a team that is well formed, right sized, and t-shaped. This topic also dips into the leading cases for team dysfunction and helps coaches learn tips and tricks both how to diagnose and solve these issues.

Whay is it so important to keep teams consistent? What is the difference between a team and a working group? Join V. Lee Henson President and founder of AgileDad as we explore what we can do to help organizations understand this super important topic.

How do you deal with in-sprint interruptions? Join the team from AgileDad as we explore the very best way to sddress what to do when the sky is falling.

Happy Independence Day! Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as he embarks on a FUN journey to read through some previously posted Agile Content to make you rethink your own organizational Agile Agreement!

(Note: This episode is intended to be humorous and in no way is meant to discredit the founding fathers or their works)

AgileDad Guest blogger Franky Jones raises awareness for Team Enforced Accountability. Join V. Lee Henson as we learn more about what this means and what we need to do to make certain teams understand what their role is in accountability.

Why is Agile So Critical for folks transitioning out of the military? Why is it so crucial for the Vets to learn this? Will it really make a difference in my Resume? Join V. Lee Henson as he explores all of the deatails and gets you all the information that you need in order to be ready for class!

Can Scrum be used in the classroom? You bet! There truly is no way to better teach or create a collaborative learning environment than by using Scrum. Tune in to this episode and learn how it is all possible and what you can do as an educatior to attend an AgileDad workshop for little or no cost!

Have you ever had someone ask you to build them a box? If not, you need to listen to this episode! If so, you need to listen even more closely! Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as he explores what it means to build a simple box.

Let's take a short break from being Agile to talk about the state of the world today and how to be a better person living in it.

Join the team at AgileDad as we explore breaking down Agile Scaling and have an in depth discussion regarding Scaling Frameworks and which one is the best for your organization. Scaling may not even always be the answer. Learn about how to tell if your organization is ready to pull the trigger and if scaling is the right choice.

Join V. Lee Henson as we uncover one of the most avoided Agile topics, how a product or project should be funded. How do we align the money with the work being performed? This topic is most certainly taboo in most companies and is certainly one of the very few things that we avoid at all costs and hope it all just falls into place in the end. We learn to focus on funding solutions and outcomes instead of tangible labeled outputs.

What on Earth is Outcome Driven Delivery? It should be the new tagline for any Agile Business. We should re-align our goals to focus on the outcome with as little output as possible. In this session we learn why this is important and should be a critical part of our Business Agility Toolkit.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we celebrate the release of the long awaited Agile Meetings Playbook!

This meeting playbook was born as a solution to a growing problem we have seen on our coaching engagements. One of the largest bottomless holes that organizations sink valuable resources into is meeting attendance, duration, and frequency. This guide will help eliminate waste. By focusing on having more frequent meetings, for a shorter duration, with a smaller audience, we can spend less time figuring out what we should be doing and more time creating innovative solutions for our customers.

This playbook will help you learn the importance of focusing on outcome over output.

In The Daily Podcast Episode 42 we learn the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything. Although it was not planned, we close out the week with a question regarding finding the best training and coaching for your organization. I will tell you up front that this is a VERY matter of fact approach and is in no way an AgileDad advertisement. While we are very good at what we do, I took a VERY objective approach to answering this question.

The topic of Agile Team Working Agreements seems to be a pressing issue right now. How do we careate a healthy agreement without having the team feel like they are cementing in a set of rules which will enforce team penalty instead of uplifting and adding team value? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore and dive deep into what makes a Team Working Agreement Tick and how to create one from scratch.

Based on the recent free webinar - The 7 Deadly Sins of Technical Debt, a writer asked how do we not lean on the debt sprint and put off debt until the next one instead of addressing it in a timely mannet when it arrives? Does the debt sprint become a crutch? Tune in and learn how the debt sprint is intended to be used and how new debt work is addressed in a more timely fashion.

The current situation seems to be driving more and more organizations to moving some positions permanently remote. I’ve had several colleagues say they don’t believe Agile can survive remotely, I know it can. Love to hear your thoughts on how to maintain or even build mature teams while working remote. Join V. Lee Henson as we address this issue head on and talk about the current state of working remotely and make BOLD predictions for what this might look like in the future.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how to properly use tasks and stories. We will also discover tips for what should be measured and how to make cetain you are continuing to focus on Outcome over Output while still delivering meaningful Agile visual indicators.

Retrospectives might be the most difficult to have and to facilitate for many organizations. They turn into either a festival of silence or a mud-slinging, into the octogon, type of event. There is never a happy medium. Join V. Lee Henson and learn some healthy tips and tricks to make your retrospectives much more powerful.

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore the purpose of the internal review to make certain we have a grasp on meeting the acceptance criteria and having a potentially shippable increment ready for the public demo. Great information empowering great meetings!

Yes you read correctly. In an effort to keep all of our meetings aligned and in order by podcast episode, and by popular demand, we are running with another episode dedicated to the daily standup meeting. Join us in this episode where you will learn and expore what we need to do as a team in order to nail this meeting, thereby making all of our other Agile meetings more clear and enjoyable.

Sprint Planning is the perfect time to align the Scrum team and their work with the will of the product owner for each Sprint increment. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore everyting you need to know about this valuable meeting.

Join AgileDad University as V. Lee Henson chats with you about the ONLY and BEST way to achieve meaningful Agile Estimates. Shoe Size Matters... We will openly discuss the following topics:

Why you should never estimate using time
Who is responsible for sizing and forecasting
What is a Story Point and how is it useful to you
How can we forecast without using time
Can you achieve 85% estimation accuracy
What are initial estimates and do they matter
Should we resize work as we make discovery
When does the estimate stand
How do we make leadership aware

The PO should be willing to spend one hour per week with each team. This will help with communication alignment and allow the PO to get work estimated, broken down, refined, acceptance criteria refined, etc. Basically the team is working closely with product ownership in order to align the work for upcoming sprints. Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore this time saving meeting. juggernaut!

This episode may surely become one of the most listened to episodes in the history of the Daily Standup Podcast! How can we leverage large scale planning to achieve a great forecast without burning out the team in a multi-day meeting? Join V. Lee Henson as we learn how the BIG meeting should flow, who should be there, and how to keep it streamlined!

Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the POBAFATA Backlog Item Creation Workshop. Once we have our head around the scope of the products or projects in flight, the next step is for the Product Owner to hold brainstorming sessions and create backlog items. This episode focuses on the Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? to make this stremalined and effective.

Agile and RoadMapping are often not talked about in the same sentence, but should they be? Having some forecast for future work is critical and roadmapping could unlock the communication key betweeen Agile Product Ownership and the leadership who is striving for predictability. In this episode we will explore the value of a rolling wave roadmap and how this can impact relationship building in a positive way.

What is the difference between Purpose? Vision? Mission? Strategy? and Tactics? At what level should the Vision and Strategy be applied? Is this orgnaization specific? Product Specific? or Both? Join V. Lee Henson President and founder fo AgileDad as we explore why this piece is so critical to a great Agile implementation.

The Technical Analyst is by far the most critical to have in the mix if you ar ebuilding technical products or services. This person often serves as a team lead or an architect that has their head fully engaged on how the product or service functions and is ready to engage to help the team have whet they need from a technical perspective so that they can focus on building what makes sense. Join V. Lee Henson as we embark on this journey of enlightenment as we discover how this analyst can best assist the PO role.

The Functional Analyst puts the word fun in dysfunction! Explore with V. Lee Henson as we learn how this critical role helps the PO best understand business strategy and helps align the Vision and Strategy with the product or service that we are building.

Join V. Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad as we review and discuss the responsibilities of the agile business analyst. Learn how they should always have their thumb on the pulse of the consumer and how this full time assistant helps uplift and support agile product ownership.

The Product Owner role is often the most misunderstood and misinformed role in the entire Agile Framework. Join V. Lee Henson, president and founder of AgileDad as we discuss what the PO role should really be doing and why they should be the most revered role in your organization.

Happy Memorial Day! In the United States, today we remember and show respect for those who have served us and provided us with our civil liberties and freedoms. As we focus on those closest to us, we should also take an opportunity to ask ourselves what we are doing to share our talents to uplift and serve others. Join V. lee Henson as we spend a few moments exploring what we can do to make a difference.

Is it real? Or is it a unicorn? Who wants to be the product manager? How are they any different from the product owner? product lead? product governor? product solutions architect? product evangelist? product ruler? product overlord? product undertaker? product vader? product yoda? product master? product ninja? product wizard? product coach? product professor? product chief? product etc... In this episode V. Lee Henson explores where the need for this role comes from and how it is being applied in organizations.

I have recently seen a resurgence of the project manager role on Agile projects... This episode draws focus to why this is happening and sets the record straight for where the Project Manager Role fits in the Agile Framework. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore the journey of the project manager.

The tribe has spoken... These are not the words you hope to hear if you are on the tv series survivor, but could be the best possible words you could hear if you are in an Agile Orgnaization. It is critical that we empower teams to self regulate and reward them for helping uplift each other. Today we will explore the best ways to achieve this survisor mentality and help the teams become better structured so that the organization can build higher quality products and services. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore part 2 of this episode.

With great power comes great respomsibility. This quote tells us all we need to know about how we treat team members and how we should engage, but are we rewarding the wrong things? Are we punishing teams for things that fall outside of their control? How do we know when we should apply pressure and when we should lay off? This 2 part series will allow us to explore with V. Lee Henson what happens when we reward the correct behaviors and press to remove the bad ones..

So many people are calling for a refund on their 90 day trial of 2020. I even saw one website call for a delete of 2020 or a reboot. This confuses me because I see 2020 as one of the BEST years on record. Yes I realize that people are struggling, and that the pandemic has been horrible. In today's episode learn with V. Lee Henson what we can do to see past all of the fear and strife and see what 2020 has really has to offer!

In today's edition of The Daily Standup we will be discussing the difference between the internal product review and the public product demo. We will explain why both are important and serve a different purpose. The main key is to know and understand the needs of your audience. This allows you to key in on those items of the greatest interest to the participating audience. V. Lee Henson from AgileDad will share some great examples of each and how they can be applied.

In these trying times where budgets are low and desire to learn is high, how can I align myself with an organization that wants to help me be successful in my endeavors? What is the difference between all of the offerings and how do I know I have found the one to best meet my needs? In this episode join V. Lee Henson, President & Founder of AgileDad as we explore the TOP 3 things you need to know in order to align with the right Agile training and coaching organization.

When it comes to building the perfect product or service, how do we know where to draw the line when it comes to features? How do we know where we should allocate funding and where it is better for us to just say no? In this episode we will discuss the journey of a frustrated Product Owner who "knows" and "understands" his customer so well that the product he has asked for has less than 3% market penetration and 96% of the features are never used. What do we do now? ~ V. Lee Henson

ScrumMasters are often known for their ability to resolve and or remove impediments. They are most often described as facilitator. In this episode you will learn the three questions every advanced ScrumMaster or Agile Coach should be asking. V. Lee Henson reveals that these may not be exactly what you expect.

When Agile was still a young framework, we found that people struggled with the idea that they did not need a ton of heavyweight paperwork up front to be successful. In today's episode of The Daily Standup join V. Lee Henson as we explore the new enemy. Bad Agile or dogmatic agility has taken over. In a time where organizations are hyperfocused on quantity, they are all quikly abandoning quality and not allowing for a sustainable build and release framework. In this episode we identify the problem and talk about short term solutions.

As we prepare for Mother's day here in the United States, let's take a moment to celebrate Mother's and the Agile journey that they take us on! This promises to be a VERY funny and uplifting podcast from Lee Henson President and Founder of AgileDad

Daily Standup meetings are often the most abused of all Agile or Scrum Meetings. People attend for all of the wrong reasons and fail to see value in this event. Join AgileDad President and Founder V. Lee Henson as we explore what the daily standup is all about.

Join AgileDad University as V. Lee Henson chats with you about the 9 ways to keep your team members motivated. We will openly discuss the following 9 topics:

Pay People What They Are Worth
Provide Them With a Pleasant Place To Work
Offer Opportunities For Self-Development
Foster Collaboration Within the Team
Encourage Happiness
Don't Punish Failure
Set Clear Goals
Avoid Micro-Management
Eliminate Useless Meetings

Join AgileDad Founder and CEO V. Lee Henson as we explore the 7 Deadly Sins of Technical Debt:

Dealing With Unintended Features - Gold Plating
Poorly Designed Architecture - Scarecrow Architecture
Lack of Product Backlog Management & Inappropriate Visibility
Outdated Defects & Bugs - Clear the Defect Queue
Lack of Automated Testing
Lack of Strong Coding Standards
Lack of Refactoring / Peer Reviews

Join AgileDad President and Founder, V. Lee Henson as we dive into the meaning behind the Scrum Values. We will talk beyond the basics and align how application of these values can personally impact us.

In this edition we will explore the Agile Product Owner Role and spell out a list of reasons why they should have your respect. We will discuss the folowing topics:

PO Anti-Patterns, The Product Owner Triangle, Full Role Description, Product Owner Skills, Product Owner Qualities, Product Owner Attributes, and the supporting cast they need to get things done.

Join V. Lee Henson President of AgileDad as we discuss why focusing on outcome over output is so critical for your Agile implementation to be successful.

Please join V. Lee Henson, founder of AgileDad as we explore the top three organizational issues we encounter when we go out to coach teams:

3) Proper delineation of Agile roles and responsibilities

2) No proper Vision & Strategy alignment at the organizational and product level

1) The inability of the product owner to write backlog items that are clear and concise that are easily consumable by the team and have great acceptance criteria.

While these issues may sound lightweight or easy to tackle on the surface, this is the time where having the help of an outside Agile Coach can really make a difference.

At AgileDad, we frequently get asked if getting the Scrum Alliance Certification is important and if so, why? Join us as we explore certifications in general, what they mean, and why they have value.

One of the very first priniples taught to us in the Agile Manifesto reads Individuals and actions over processes and tools. For those of you who know me well, you know that music is a HUGE part of who I am. It is amazing how much even a simple song can teach us. Many songs even fortell an event in the future. In 1984 we received a message from Depeche Mode that would tie to the 2001 Agile Manifesto, that ties directly to 2020 and who we are today. Join us as we explore this connection.

One of the first things that we discover in many organizations is a lack of soft skills needed to help teams get to high performing. In this edition of The Daily Standup, we will explore why soft skills really do matter and the importance of knowing your team at a deep level.

One of the most common questions I get is how did the name AgileDad come about? Is it related directly to you and how you use agile at home? Is it a reference to being a father figure to companies trying to do Agile?

What better way to kick things off than to share how we got our name with all of you. We will be doing frequent podcasts to bring new and exciting content to you and share stories of our Agile coaching and training journey.