Agile in Action with Bill Raymond: Recent Episodes
Bill Raymond
The Agile in Action podcast is hosted by Bill Raymond and features top industry leaders who share how they are adopting agile techniques to gain a competitive edge. The show features authors, agile practitioners, and teams working in the trenches that are eager to share how they are delivering a high level of value to their customers.
Bill is an award-winning speaker, agile transformation leader, consultant, author, and trainer. Bill runs two popular podcasts, the Agile in Action Podcast with Bill Raymond and the T-Suite Podcast. Bill is the CEO of Cambermast, a strategic business consulting firm that helps clients deliver their most critical projects.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamraymond Blog: https://www.cambermast.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/billraymonde Agile in Action: https://www.agileinaction.com
Unlock the Power of Human-Centric AI for Your Business.
In this episode of Agile in Action, host Bill Raymond sits down with Bill Ryan, founder and partner at Sync(d) AI, to explore how businesses can leverage AI to work smarter, not harder.
Discover how AI is transforming the way small businesses operate, from creating comprehensive marketing plans in hours instead of weeks, to implementing intelligent agentic workflows that automate repetitive tasks while keeping humans in the loop.
What you will learn:
✅ The human-centric approach to AI implementation that enhances rather than replaces your team
✅ How agentic AI and autonomous workflows can streamline business processes
✅ Real-world examples, including how a global bottling company uses AI to optimize inventory and reduce environmental impact
✅ Practical steps to get started with AI in your organization
✅ The importance of governance and responsible AI use
Whether you're a company of 10 looking to punch above your weight or an established business ready to scale, this conversation offers actionable insights on implementing AI thoughtfully and effectively. Key Takeaway: Start small, choose one problem to solve, and build from there.
Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/MfImeEij4XY
In this episode of the Agile and Action Podcast, Bill chats with Bhavneet Chahal, Co-founder and CEO of GoSkills, about how AI is reshaping online learning and development. Bhavneet shares how GoSkills took the bite-sized learning approach seriously way back in 2013 and why it still holds strong today. Instead of hour-long snoozefests, they focus on 3 to 5 minute lessons that come with cheat sheets, quizzes, and exercises. Bhav also explains how their platform integrates AI to help trainers build courses, generate lesson plans, and even make course titles pop. But she’s quick to add that AI should assist, not replace, human quality and insight.
The conversation dives into how AI isn’t a threat to structured learning but actually helps enhance it. While ChatGPT and YouTube are great for quick answers, structured platforms like GoSkills offer guided learning that actually sticks. They’ve rolled out tools like Genie and Ask AI to boost productivity and personalize the learning experience without losing quality. Bhav shares her thoughts on how AI can help not just with content creation but also strategy, marketing, and even spotting hidden opportunities from raw data. Her hot tip for trainers and instructional designers: learn how to use AI to polish and sell your course, not just build it.
What You'll Learn
- Why micro-learning still wins in adult education
- How AI can help you build and market better courses
- The difference between using AI for quick answers vs structured learning
- How GoSkills uses AI to find trends and shape future content
- Tips for trainers to stay competitive using AI tools in course design and promotion
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It’s the same thing with projects." — Luke Pivac
In this episode of the Agile in Action Podcast, Bill Raymond chats with Luke Pivac, co-author of Learn Agile and Scrum in Two Hours.
They talk about why Agile is more about mindset than rigid frameworks, the shift from traditional project management to Agile practices, and how teams adapted to remote work during the pandemic. Luke shares his personal journey into Agile, why Scrum works, and how Agile principles help teams stay resilient, especially in uncertain times.
What you will learn: ✅ Why a strong Agile mindset beats just following a framework
✅ How daily standups and retrospectives can transform a team’s dynamics
✅ The difference between Agile and traditional project management (hint: flexibility wins)
✅ How Agile principles help teams adapt during crises (like COVID-19)
✅ How AI can complement Agile practices (but not replace human creativity and problem-solving)
Luke on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukepivac
Learn Agile and Scrum in 2 Hours: https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Agile-Scrum-Hours-Beginners/dp/0994169345
In this Agile in Action Podcast episode, Professor Adam Boddison, CEO of the Association for Project Management (APM), discusses the evolving role of project professionals in a rapidly changing world. He emphasizes the critical importance of project professionals in delivering societal and organizational change, advocating for their broader recognition beyond technical roles to strategic leadership positions. The conversation touches on the need to redefine success in project management, the challenges posed by global talent shortages, the inclusion of agile methodologies under the project professional umbrella, and the value of stakeholder engagement, continuous learning, and benefit realization. Boddison also makes a case for integrating project management as a core component of leadership training and suggests that roles like Chief Operating Officer may need to evolve into Chief Project or Transformation Officers to better align with today’s change-driven business landscape.
What You Will Learn:
- The strategic role of project professionals: Why project professionals are more than just process experts—they are essential to executing organizational strategy and managing change effectively across sectors.
- The need to redefine project success: How modern project management requires focus on benefits realization and adaptability, rather than strict adherence to initial plans.
- Bridging the project profession and the C-suite: Why project management deserves a seat at the executive table and how roles like COO may need to evolve to reflect a greater emphasis on transformation.
- Building project capability and maturity: The importance of upskilling both intentional and “accidental” project professionals and using lessons learned to inform future projects.
Relevant URLs:
- Association for Project Management (APM): https://www.apm.org.uk
- Agile in Action Podcast: https://agileinaction.com
- Adam Boddison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamboddison
🎥 Watch now: https://youtu.be/yBw6bnP8YV0 Today, we are honored to have Captain Jon Haase on the podcast. Captain Jon Haase is a Navy Program Manager at the Navy Expeditionary Missions Program Office (or PMS 408) in NAVSEA and actively promotes AI readiness and innovation within the defense sector.
In this episode, host Bill Raymond and Captain Jon Haase explore integrating AI and Agile methodologies to tackle the unique challenges in highly regulated federal government environments. They share real-world applications, touching on the latest trends in defense robotics and how AI technologies, field testing, and agility improve mission success rates.
In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ How AI can enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency ✅ The impact of Agile methodologies in defense robotics projects ✅ Navigating the challenges of working in regulated government environments 🎉 How combining AI and Agile drives innovation in military robotics
🎥 Watch now: https://youtu.be/XUv3SHoXgK0 Bill Raymond chats with Vazgen Tadevosyan and Edik Baghdasaryan about their bold move from running a consulting firm to developing their gaming product. This episode is a masterclass in navigating significant business shifts without losing focus. Vazgen and Edik dive deep into their journey, sharing the lessons learned from balancing consulting services with product development. From overcoming technical challenges to keeping their team motivated, they provide actionable insights for anyone considering a similar pivot or looking to succeed in a highly competitive industry. ✅ Discover the challenges of scaling and the importance of domain-specific expertise ✅ Learn how to maintain client trust while pivoting your business ✅ Hear how they tackled team dynamics and flexibility during their transition 🎉 Get inspired by their passion for gaming and how it fueled their new venture
🎥 Watch Now: 🌪️ Living with complexity and an exploration of the Cynefin framework Douglas Squirrel, author of Agile Conversations, joins Bill Raymond on the Agile in Action podcast. Douglas discusses the misconceptions around agility in tech teams and the importance of experimentation in complex environments. Bill and Douglas discuss the benefits of rapid experimentation, handling complexity and chaos, and avoiding common pitfalls in software development. In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ The Cynefin framework for managing complexity ✅ The importance of experimentation in software teams ✅ How to avoid common development pitfalls 🎉 Strategies to make tech teams more profitable
🎥 Watch now: https://youtu.be/N9u-dsvOhSU
Are you feeling trapped because your product is not delivering value?
Guest David Pereira shares how to untrap your team by prioritizing customer needs and behaviors over backlog grooming, focusing on adding value.
David and Bill will equip you with practical, actionable tips and strategies. You’ll learn how to measure the value delivered by a product or feature and why having honest conversations with customers is crucial to gaining a deeper understanding of their needs. Untrapping your product teams and creating products that deliver value will become a tangible goal.
In this podcast, you will learn:
✅ How to understand customer needs and behaviors
✅ Strategies for prioritizing features
✅ The importance of incremental change over perfection
🚀 Untrap your product teams to re-focus on value
For this podcast's transcript, to reach David, and much more, visit the Agile in Action website:
https://agileinaction.com
🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gw4zl-cYiao
🤔 Running an AI project? Be prepared to think a little differently.
Bill Raymond interviews Paolo Sammicheli, author of Scrum in AI. They discuss the unique differences between typical software development and AI product teams. Paolo shares insights on building AI models, the importance of diverse skills in AI teams, challenges in data preparation, the role of product ownership in AI projects, and using Scrum patterns for scaling effectively.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The difference between software and AI teams
✅ The importance of subject matter expertise in AI teams
✅ The cross-functional nature of AI teams
🎉 How to effectively scale and manage Scrum AI teams
To contact Paolo, access transcripts, and much more, visit:
https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2024/04/30/scaling-ai-product-teams.html
🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FoTL1KKyRws
Gil Broza shares how Non-software teams can use agile principles to transform how they deliver customer value.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ How Agile principles apply to non-software teams
✅ Common challenges and solutions for implementing Agile outside of tech
✅ Strategies for fostering an Agile mindset in any team
🎉 The transformative power of Agile for team dynamics and project management
Use the following link to receive a free chapter of Gil's book, contact Gil, read the transcription, and much more:
https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2024/04/16/can-agile-transform-non-software-teams-too.html
🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pQk7wUP4k-U
Today, Anton Skornyakov, Certified Scrum Trainer, co-founder, and managing director of Agile.coach, will help you navigate the complexities of delivering value in your projects, regardless of the industry. In this episode, Anton and Bill Raymond dive into the art of slicing work into manageable pieces to deliver immediate value. Drawing from diverse examples like software development, house renovation, and public housing projects, we explore how agile principles can be applied in various contexts to enhance adaptability, risk management, and prioritization. In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ The importance of breaking down work into smaller, value-delivering pieces. ✅ Strategies for prioritizing tasks to address risks and uncertainties. 🎉 How to apply agile principles beyond software development to achieve continuous improvement. 🍕 Slice up your project to deliver more value! 🎯 Today, Anton Skornyakov, Certified Scrum Trainer, co-founder, and managing director of Agile.coach, will help you navigate the complexities of delivering value in your projects, regardless of the industry. In this episode, Anton and Bill Raymond dive into the art of slicing work into manageable pieces to deliver immediate value. Drawing from diverse examples like software development, house renovation, and public housing projects, we explore how agile principles can be applied in various contexts to enhance adaptability, risk management, and prioritization. In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ The importance of breaking down work into smaller, value-delivering pieces. ✅ Strategies for prioritizing tasks to address risks and uncertainties. 🎉 How to apply agileprinciples beyond software development to achieve continuous improvement.
🎥 Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/WZZ7xCR-g0I
Today, Paulo Caroli, an author, speaker, and advisor at Thoughtworks, shares the transformative power of retrospectives in fostering continuous improvement within agile teams. Learn how retrospectives are the cornerstone for continuous improvement, enabling teams to reflect, learn, and grow. 🌱 In this podcast, you will learn: ✅ The role of retrospectives in identifying and addressing team issues ✅ How to design and structure great retrospectives 🚀 Practical strategies for improving team morale and collaboration through retrospectives
🎥 Watch now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eAViv1Q873Q
With James Murphy, Founder of Afterburner and Managing Partner at Afterburner Capital
🎙️ How can fighter pilot strategies change the way we deliver success?
In today's podcast, James Murphy, a former fighter pilot turned entrepreneur, shares his journey from the cockpit to the boardroom. Discover how the concept of debriefs, derived from the military and part of Flawless Execution, transforms businesses to increase value.
Murph shares the critical role of debriefs in achieving success, emphasizing its power as a tool for continuous improvement and strategic alignment. Through real-world stories, Murph and Bill share how debriefs foster a culture of truth, accountability, and growth.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
🎉 The importance of a nameless, rankless debrief that uncovers the truth and drives team performance
🏆 How debriefs turned around the Giants (a U.S. football team) to win the Super Bowl
✅ The significance of debriefing in avoiding task saturation and enhancing team performance
✅ How debriefs can facilitate adaptive learning, enabling teams to pivot and improve strategies based on real-world outcomes quickly
🎥 Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/YZLtetknfK4
🚀 The human still decides, while the AI provides Aaron Upright, Co-founder and Head of Marketing at ZenHub, shares how ZenHub is adding innovative AI solutions into their product to promote development team efficiency.
Bill and Aaron share real-world examples of how AI can complement teams, how to prioritize AI projects, and the importance of customer feedback and testing.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The transformative role of AI in enhancing agile team efficiency
✅ Strategies for seamless workflow management in software development teams
✅ Innovations in sprint planning and reviews through AI integration
🎉 Upholding values and ethics in AI implementation for project management
🔮 Future-proof skills by Blending tech fluency with business strategy
Sophia Matveeva, CEO of Tech for Non-Techies, shares the importance of business leaders learning to speak tech to succeed in this Digital Age.
Sophia emphasizes the need for a collaborative ecosystem where tech and business fluently interact, enhancing product development and driving business outcomes.
Here is what you will learn:
✅ Bridging the gap between technical and non-technical professionals ✅ Why modern education systems must evolve to meet the demands of the digital age ✅ The impact of AI and other technological disruptions on job markets and how they pave the way for new skills and opportunities 🎉 Next steps you can take to begin learning how to work with technical teams
Watch this podcast on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/u5Ghsi6r9Uc
⏫ Making the shift from an individual contributor to a leader
In today's podcast, Luke Pivac, Delivery Lead at Westpac and author of An Agile Playbook for Technical Communicators, joins the podcast. Luke shares valuable lessons that will help new or aspiring leaders transition from a role as an individual agile team contributor.
Luke and Bill share stories and advice that will resonate with you to grow and improve your leadership skills. If you are a leader hiring or promoting team members, you will find this conversation invaluable to provide a successful transition for that new role!
✅ Working above the waterline to emphasize the importance of strategic thinking and leadership in Agile environments
✅ Bridging communication gaps by translating complex technical solutions into business impacts
✅ Adapting to unexpected changes while maintaining agile values
🎉 Advice for Aspiring Agile Leaders stepping into new leadership
🌎 View the transcript, Luke's contact information, and more on the Agile in Action website
https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2024/01/23/career-progression-working-above-the-waterline.html
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Guest Presentation 01:41 Understanding Agile: Luke's Perspective 03:55 Luke's Journey from Technical Writer to Scrum Master 05:48 Concept of Working Above the Waterline 08:31 Bridging the Gap: Communicating with Leadership 12:30 The Consultant Experience: A Different Perspective 17:58 Adapting to Change: The Agile Way 24:44 Advice for New Leaders in Agile Environments 29:28 Conclusion and Contact Information
🌱 Cultivate success by leading with dignity with your internship programs. Robert Khoury, CEO of Agile Rainmakers, discusses his new book, "Internship Management: Principles for Designing an Exceptional Internship." In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ The nine principles to creating a great internship program ✅ How to foster a positive, enriching environment for continuous learning and growth ✅ The importance of 'dignity' in internships for a respectful and growth-centric experience. 🎉 Real-world examples to help you build a world-class internship program
🎥 Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/4ObSAa2jREM
About this episode
Jack Skeels, founder of AgencyAgile, shares valuable insights on agile leadership in the Agile in Action with Bill Raymond Podcast. Jack discusses the transformative power of teams and productivity through the lens of his new book, "Unmanaged."
Bill Raymond and Jack discuss the hidden costs of management and how a manager can focus their role on growth and empowering teams.
In today's podcast, you will learn:
✅ How to embrace "Unmanagement," redefine traditional management, and boost team autonomy and creativity
✅ The cost of management by recognizing how over-management can hinder productivity
✅ How you can empower teams by encouraging self-management for better problem-solving and efficiency
🎉 Communication methods to prevent misunderstandings and project delays
🤿 Dive into the waterfall, return to sure with 💨 agility We are thrilled to have David Abodunrin, Agile Coach and Scrum Master, discuss his transition from waterfall to agility on today's podcast. David and Bill share stories based on their experience to explore the inherent challenges and rewards in shifting from predictive, waterfall project management to adaptive agile approaches. This podcast is an important listen if you embark on a similar journey. Here's what you will learn: ✅ The challenges one faces while transitioning from Waterfall to Agile ✅ The factors that distinguish a scrum master from a project manager ✅ Understand the concept of "team wisdom" and its significance in Agile 🎉 Learn how effective agility can lead to better outcomes, faster delivery, and improved team dynamics
🤝 Unlock the full potential of your AI and ML teams
We are excited to welcome Christos Hadjinikolis, Software Engineer at Vortexa, to discuss his journey from a purely data science role to software engineering.
Christos and Bill Raymond discuss these two unique roles and the importance of connecting them as a team to deliver repeatable and sustainable data pipelines and software solutions to meet customer needs.
Here is what you will learn:
✅ The role of data scientists
✅ The role of software engineering in machine learning efforts
✅ Collaboration challenges when data scientists and software engineers are not collaborating to deploy ML and AI solutions
🎉 The unique roles each team member plays to ensure consistency and maintainability
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction 00:11 Christos Hadjinikolis' Background 01:00 The Role of a Data Scientist 02:59 The Role of a Machine Learning Engineer 03:48 Collaboration Between Data Scientists and Engineers 07:56 Challenges in Productionizing Data Science Models 10:11 Christos' Transition from Data Scientist to Engineer 25:24 Successful Integration of Data Science and Engineering Teams 27:11 Driving Success for Data Science and Engineering Teams 32:58 Conclusion and Final Remarks
🎙️ Learn how to cultivate 🥇 excellence in leadership and organizational cultures In today's podcast, Chuck Mollor, best-selling author of The Rise of the Agile Leader, will explore the importance of leadership and culture in driving organizational success. Chuck and Bill discuss the five drivers of effective leadership: integrity, innovation, urgency, engagement, and direction. These drivers are essential for creating an agile organization that adapts and thrives in a rapidly changing business landscape. By understanding and implementing these drivers, leaders can cultivate a culture of excellence that attracts and retains top talent, fosters innovation, and drives business growth. Here is what you will learn: ✅ The meaning of leadership and culture and how they are interconnected ✅ The characteristics of an agile leader and how to develop agile leadership skills ✅ The importance of creating a culture of agility and how to build it ✅ The five drivers of effective leadership: integrity, innovation, urgency, engagement, and direction 🎉 The significance of direction and how to set a clear sense of purpose and vision for your organization
🎥 Watch now YouTube: https://youtu.be/FjMbVuAyWzg
Unpack the essentials of embodied agile leadership so you can thrive amidst constant change
In today's podcast, we share this insightful conversation with leadership agility expert Pamela Meyer about her latest book, "Staying in the Game: Leading and Learning with Agility for a Dynamic Future."
Pamela and Bill share practical advice for how leaders can cultivate the mindsets and practices needed to stay agile, resilient, and continuously learning amidst constant change.
Here is what you will learn:
✅ The four dynamics for staying agile: meaningful identity, community, competition, and commitment
✅ Why leaders need a learning vs. controlling mindset
✅ Examples of agile leaders in action
🎉 How to avoid losing momentum by connecting to your intrinsic motivations
🎥 This podcast is available in 4K video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/yVetSg_l-QI
🎙️ Indispensable guidance for leaders in the throws of digital transformation
Pia Wendelbo, CEO of Scandinavian Change Agents, provides insights to help you successfully navigate digital transformation in your organization. Pia will explain how you must take a holistic view beyond implementing new technology.
You will learn critical leadership traits like getting the big picture view, anticipating failure points, and understanding the neuroscience and habits required to change behaviors. Pia and I share stories and practical guidance to help you effectively deliver change.
Here is what you will learn:
✅ The importance of taking a holistic view of digital transformation
✅ The positive team impacts when you create a safe space for learning and growth
✅ The role of neuroscience and behavioral design thinking in understanding how people thrive in change
🎉 Critical leadership traits and strategies needed for a successful digital transformation effort
Included in this video:
00:00 Pia Wendelbo 00:00 Introduction 00:13 Introducing Pia Wendelbo 02:41 What is digital transformation 05:26 Focus on the slack 10:11 Do not ignore potential failure 12:44 Leadership traits in digital transformation efforts 15:49 The importance of training 19:02 The neuroscience of digital transformation 25:08 Takeaways 29:08 Wrap up and how to contact Pia Wendelbo
🎙️ Delivering value starts with alignment
We are excited to introduce you to Jonathon Hensley, CEO of Emerge Interactive and Author of Alignment, to share the importance of delivering value through alignment and how it can lead to successful product development.
Jonathon and Bill explore the concepts of alignment in the context of value creation to create products that meet customers' needs. By sharing stories and real-world examples, Jonathon shares the four levels of alignment and the importance of each.
Here is what you will learn:
✅ The importance of individual alignment and how it contributes to employee engagement and motivation
✅ The role of team alignment in solving problems effectively and delivering on product promises
✅ The significance of organizational alignment in prioritizing efforts and empowering individuals within the organization
🎉 How market alignment focuses on understanding customer motivations and creating genuine connections with them
🎙️ Focus 🧘, Customer 🧍, and Collaboration 🤝 are major drivers for success in Elavon / US Bank's shift to Agility
In today's podcast, Jan Otterbach talks about the importance of behavioral change when adopting agile principles.
Working at Elavon Europe / US Bank, Jan's team focuses on behavioral change, thinking about new ways to work, and building teams from a place of trust and psychological safety. All that has paid off by adding value for the bank and being recognized with a prestigious Agile Business Consortium 🏆 award.
Sharing real-world examples, Jan Otterbach and Bill Raymond discuss the real potential of agile, including organizational units outside the traditional software development roles.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ Why the Elavon Europe / US Bank team is making the shift to agile
✅ How they started their journey and where we are today
✅ How they successfully delivered value to their vendors in record time
🎉 The three behaviors they focus on every day (and believe you should too)
🎙️ How well do you know your users and the problems you can solve for them?
We are excited to have Debbie Levitt, Founder of Delta CX and author of Customers Know You Suck, as a guest on today's podcast.
Bill and Debbie share relatable stories highlighting the challenges of maintaining a customer-centric focus, the need for early research and testing, and the importance of accountability in delivering high-quality products.
Here is what you will learn: ✅ How to measure success ✅ The costs of poor quality ✅ The importance of having a problem statement ✅ How to break the cycle of mediocrity and create better products 🎉 How to ensure that teams remain customer-focused!
🎙️ Are you switched 💡 on to lead with compassionate accountability?
Today, we are excited to introduce you to Dr. Nate Regier, Ph.D., who will share how to lead with compassionate accountability to build better relations and improve success.
Dr. Regier and Bill Raymond get vulnerable, sharing personal stories about leadership and growth. Dr. Regier connects these stories to the three switches of the compassionate mindset, covered in the book Compassionate Accountability.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The definition and importance of compassion and accountability
✅ Building trust and unifying teams through compassion and shared struggles
✅ Dealing with behaviors while preserving dignity and bringing people closer together
✅ The three switches of a compassionate mindset (Value, Capability, and Responsibility)
🎉 Overcoming personal and team barriers that prevent compassionate accountability
🎙️ When do you use 🤖 AI? Let's find out in this informative interview
Today, we are thrilled to have Jay Palat as a guest who will help you decide when to use artificial intelligence and machine learning for your organization.
Jay and Bill discuss how Machine Learning and AI work using real-world examples without technical jargon. Jay then helps you decide when to use tried-and-true software development techniques vs. adopting AI capabilities.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The definition of ML and AI
✅ The differences between traditional software development vs. AI systems
✅ Real-world examples that exemplify the proper use of AI
✅ Real-world examples of how AI cannot meet your expectations of value
🎉 The people and processes required for successful AI adoption
🎙️ Small teams with big dreams get the work done! 💡🚀🏆🎉
👉 Featuring a plug for Bill Raymond's upcoming AI Virtual Summit
We are delighted to have Tatiana Maldonado, COO at Network After Work, on today's podcast to speak about teamwork, networking, and running a small business.
Network After Work is a small business with a small team, serving 87 cities with thousands of members. They help individuals, small businesses, and large corporations network to get work done and form lasting business relationships. Tatiana and Bill pull back the curtain to discuss how the team runs at Network After Work.
Since Bill will speak at Network After Work's upcoming AI Summit, we will share how we use AI to be more productive.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ Tatiana's role as COO at Network After Work
✅ The history of Network After Work
✅ How teams must work from a place of trust
✅ The mindset for hiring people into your team
🎉 How we use AI to get work done faster
🎙️ Reflect, improve, repeat, and enjoy the benefits of improved team collaboration
We are thrilled to have Aino Vonge Corry as a guest to share how retrospectives can foster team collaboration.
Aino and Bill Raymond share stories and reflect on their careers to share how agile retrospectives provide a platform for teams to reflect on their work, learn from their experiences, and continuously improve their processes.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The definition of a retrospective
✅ How to avoid negativity
✅ Who should run retrospectives
✅ What to expect as a result of a retrospective
🎉 The core tenets of running a successful retrospective
🎙️ Superior user experiences will fuel your business 🚀 growth
Satyam Kantamneni, author of User Experience Design: A Practical Playbook to Fuel Business Growth joins Bill Raymond in today's podcast. Satyam Satyam Kantamneni, the author of User Experience Design: A Practical Playbook to Fuel Business Growth, joins Bill Raymond in today's podcast. Satyam shares the importance of a user-centric culture as a competitive advantage. Whether you build a product or offer a service, you will learn how your users will learn how thoughtfully curating a user's experience can give you a competitive edge.
es as a competitive advantage
Throughout the podcast, Satyam and Bill Raymond share stories and real-life examples that bring these concepts to life and inspire you to adopt these ideas.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The definition of a user experience (or UX)
✅ How to use the BV.D system to transform your organization
✅ Practical advice for making incremental user-centric improvements
🎉 Making a case for Chief Experience Office (or CXO)
🎙️ Keep teams in sync and that product 🚆 train moving using a visual Kanban board
Eric Brechner joins the podcast today to discuss how you can manage team or personal work using Kanban.
Throughout the discussion, Eric and Bill Raymond share stories and examples that explain best practices and guidelines you can use to deliver teamwork more effectively.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ What is a Kanban board (and how you pronounce it)
✅ Using columns to arrange your work visually
✅ How to define columns
✅ How to define work and "done rules"
🎉 Introduce Kanban boards to your teams!
Change, complexity, and unpredictability require a new approach to leadership.
In today's podcast, Zazana (Zuzi) Šochová will share how leaders can embrace complexity and create a safe space for their teams to deliver innovative solutions.
Zuzi and Bill share stories and leadership advice that will help leaders learn how to:
✅ Operate for complexity and unpredictability ✅ Give space for teams to find their way ✅ Enable creativity and innovation ✅ Create a space for trust, transparency, and openness ✅ Consider your personal growth
🎙️ Align your actions with and purpose to 🏆 achieve personal agility
We are excited to have Peter B. Stevens, creator of The Personal Agility System, as a guest on today's podcast. Peter shares how reflecting on your personal goals will help you on your path to agility.
Both Peter and Bill share personal stories and life lessons we hope you can take as inspiration on your personal agility journey.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The meaning of personal agility
✅ How to unlock your purpose
✅ How to build clarity and purpose for your personal life and career
🎉 How to get "unstuck" if you do not have a clear path
Agilists are ideal candidates to run complex 🤖 AI efforts
We are thrilled to introduce you to a machine learning and artificial intelligence leader, Zorina Alliata, Sr Global Machine Learning Strategist, Amazon, Chair AI Committee at AnitaB.org, Georgetown University Adjunct Faculty.
Sharing real-world projects and stories, Zorina and Bill Raymond cover a wide array of topics, from defining AI and machine learning to building AI solutions and measuring their success.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ What machine learning and AI can do to improve your business ✅ How AI works without any technical jargon ✅ Metrics to ensure your AI efforts will be successful 🎉 The roles required to deliver AI solutions with agility successfully
It is time to measure 👏🏽 team success with customer-focused, value-driven 📈 metrics In today's podcast, we are thrilled to have Dave Witkin, Founder, and Managing Principal at Packaged Agile, join us for a lively discussion on metrics that matter for team success. If your primary measure of team success is velocity and story points, I propose you shift that to customer-focused, value-driven metrics. In today's podcast, Bill and Dave share stories and examples of metrics that can help you drive customer success. In this podcast, you will learn: ✅ The definition of value-based delivery ✅ A case study on how the wrong metrics can lead to flawed outcomes ✅ Important agile metrics that matter less ✅ Important team metrics that matter more and focus on the customer 🎉 How to make the shift from agile metrics to customer-driven value-based metrics Transcript, links, and more details are available here: https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2023/05/09/using-metrics-to-drive-value-delivery.html
🎖️Military veterans' unique skills make them well-suited as 🎯 agilists ⤵️ We are excited to have Mike Whitaker as a guest on today's podcast. Mike shares his experience moving from the military to the private corporate sector. He shares relatable stories to help any veteran better understand corporate agility. Mike also shares how corporations can better understand the value veterans can bring to their teams. In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ Why military veterans uniquely qualified to be agilists ✅ The mindset shift from the military to the private sector ✅ How veterans can translate military lingo and experience into relatable civilian terms ✅ How companies unfamiliar with the military can get the most out of an interview with a veteran 🎉 How to learn and use agile for career development ## Transcript (transcripts are auto-generated, so please excuse the brevity) ### Intro clip Bill Raymond: Maybe you could just give your personal perspective on agility. Mike Whitaker: Yeah. So, for me, agility, I love it. Mike Whitaker: It allowed me to see the results a lot quicker. ItI did something a few months before, and six months later ended up in the presidential review. Mike Whitaker: I'm like, I did that six months ago. Wow, can we get some, you know, some feedback a little more early and often? So that was huge for me. And being able to have that and then to adjust quickly to things that come up.So . Finding agile and my perspective on it, man, it really was eye-opening to come from such a waterfall organization no matter where you went. Mike Whitaker: You know. It's amazing. ### Intro Speaker: Welcome to the Agile in Action Podcast with Bill Raymond. Bill will explore how business disruptors are adopting agile techniques to gain a competitive advantage in this fast-paced technology driven market. ### Introducing Mike Whitaker Bill Raymond: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, I'm joined by Mike Whitaker, coach, associate consultant and SPC at Applied Frameworks. Bill Raymond: Hi Mike. How are you today? Mike Whitaker: Wonderful, wonderful. How are you? Bill Raymond: I'm doing great, thank you. I'm looking forward to the conversation. ### The veteran, natural agilist you are looking for Bill Raymond: We're going to talk about how veterans can be the natural agilist that you're looking for. Before we get started, could you share a little bit about yourself? Mike Whitaker: Sure, sure. First, I'd like to say thank you for this opportunity. I enjoy your podcast, enjoy this platform, learned a lot from it. But yeah, so a little bit about me. I am a military veteran, served in the Army for over 14 yearsin military intelligence field and cybersecurity. Um, I was a Warrant Officer, so technically a specialist in my field. Mike Whitaker: And really enjoyed my time and learned a lot there. Moved over to the contracting side of the government and worked in that space for a little while, for a few years. Taught some courses for cybersecurity, cyber planning along the way, which was really, really awesome. Mike Whitaker: And then moved into the agile space. And man, I've loved it and enjoying the opportunity to be able to do that. So it's a little bit about me. Again, work with the Applied Frameworks, our leaders Luke and Jason, they're amazing for giving us this opportunity to even to be in this space. Bill Raymond: Oh, cyber, so you probably have so many great stories you can never share. Mike Whitaker: Exactly, a whole lot. Yeah, for sure. Bill Raymond: Well, we want to talk about how veterans can be a natural agilist that you're looking for, but I think if we're going to talk about that, we should talk a little bit about kind of the mindset or mentality that you might have if you're working in the military. Could you give a little bit of a background on that? Mike Whitaker: Yeah, sure. So, being in the military is probably one of the, I would say it was greatest experiences I had work-wise. One, because you get the opportunity to work with so many different people, ages, creeds, backgrounds, ethnicity, from so many diverse experiences all at the same time, right? Mike Whitaker: So it's, your mindset has to be ready to shift into their way of doing things. Because the military is very rigid in how they're doing things. you're going to have to do it their way or it's just not going to work. So be prepared to follow their system and fall into order. Mike Whitaker: It's really, really effective because they have set it up in a way that everybody can succeed, right? So, as long as you're willing to follow those things, right? So being very disciplined, understanding that everybody on the team is important no matter what your job is, right? Mike Whitaker: We're all there to help each other succeed. It's set up that way, and be very open to receiving feedback about what you're doing, right? The things that work and the things that don't work, it's going to come across. And not trying to change the mode or change how we do things too drastically because it's that way for a reason. Mike Whitaker: So that's the kind of mindset that you have to have. There's a whole lot of training opportunities, you're going to get so many opportunities to be successful, to learn your job, to learn your trade, to be in a space where you get to apply what you're learnig, right away, immediately. Mike Whitaker: And not have to go, you know, we spend some jobs training wise, you can spend up to a year and a half, almost two years, but you're going to be able to apply those things immediately when you get into the workforce. So that's the really cool part about being in the military, actually learning a specialty and getting that experience. Bill Raymond: Yeah. That's great. You shared a lot with me when we met beforehand about the amount of training that you do receive. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, right? But I guess I was taken aback by just how much you received. Mike Whitaker: Yeah. So for example, you know, being in, once you get into leadership spaces, there's an opportunity to lead in every area. The job that I had, there's an intermediate basic course and then there's an intermediate and a senior level course and then there's one above that, right? Mike Whitaker: So there's even, there's so many different ranges of opportunities to get there. And as you move through the ranks, you get more and more leadership experience, more and more training. They're big on making sure that you have what you need to be successful. They're not just going to call you a leader and then not equip you. Mike Whitaker: So that's one thing that you know, they're really good at is equipping every person and giving them the shot to get to the next level. Giving them a shot to be able to really grow as a person if you're applying those things. Something like backwards planning, that's what we call it instead of reverse engineering something. Mike Whitaker: Right. So it's big in the military. We start with the end in mind. All of that stuff is key. Leadership-wise, you're learning how to lead at every level, from small team to the next team to on up through the elements to eventually where if you worked your way through it, you could be leading thousands as a general. Right? Mike Whitaker: In every space you get an opportunity to be trained. Bill Raymond: I think about some of the work that I did in order to grow in my career and very much most of it was me deciding that I needed some training and then seeking it out. I think it's great that, I think that we're going to talk a little bit about the corporate world next, but I think that might be one good example of where maybe the corporate world can use a few lessons from what the military does. ### Working in the corporate world Mike Whitaker: Right, right. Bill Raymond: So with that in mind, can you share a little bit about what it's like working in the corporate world for you now that you've moved out of the military and into the corporate world, and what some of the major cultural differences might be? Mike Whitaker: Yeah, sure. So, for me it was a bit of a shock coming from being told what to do to giving opportunities to say where I want to go. So it's good and bad, almost to an extent, is I have to change my understanding and my mindset. Like, oh, so you're telling me I don't have to do it that way, I don't have, oh, whatever you want to do to make it successful. Here's some suggestions. Mike Whitaker: So that mindset I had to shift to, okay, understanding where do I want to go? Where do I want to be? How do I want to move about? Because there's so many different aspects of what I could do, which I'm used to because I never did the same job twice being in the military. Even though I had the same job the whole way, there's so many different levels of it. But coming into the corporate world, I really had to change my mindset around, okay, this is my boss, but he's not giving me orders. And I'm like, oh yeah, you're starting on Monday. Mike Whitaker: And I come, it's like, get to it. It's like, get to what? I don't understand. Right? I'm used to you giving me a task so I can go handle that. So it was different to have a boss, but a person is not bossy, right? That person is not, hey, you will do this, this is, and I didn't necessarily understand the mission all the way, the end goal all the way, I had to go do some research and find out, oh, this is what we're trying to do and here's the skills that I bring to the table to be able to fill the gaps, right? To be able to get us to the next level. So that mindset was completely different. And then, the company I'm with, is great about training. So they're giving us those opportunities to do that. But me being able to pick where I want to go, which is different, right? Instead of having a predetermined path for if I want to get to a certain space. And it's like, no, you can pick which way you want to go, there's a lot of different opportunities and then utilized it the right way. Mike Whitaker: So that was different. And man, the culture shock is not every company has this, I've been a part of a couple different ones. But the unity that comes from military, right? That common bond that we have of all going through basic training or whatever, or being deployed together in places that are not so great or doing things not so fun, is cold, is wet, we're all in here, and what we call it in the military is being in the suck. Mike Whitaker: Because it's what it is and we're all in together and it bonds us. And it's just different not to have that immediately in the corporate world. Not being able to relate to, you know, automatically I go to a new unit in the military, I can relate to some people, oh, you deployed here. Yeah, I did too. Mike Whitaker: This is what I went through. And now we got the common bond. But corporate world was different for me because I didn't come up behind a desk or the mission that we had in most cases for me were literally life and death, right? The things that we're giving could injure, could take life or it could save lives, right? Based on the information. So it's a little different in that way. That everything is not about, you know, I'm not making decisions that could have a national security implication. So the culture, the shift, it's like, okay, and at a whole 'nother level and it's still just as important, right? Mike Whitaker: But just having that mindset shift was, was key. ### Mind shift set when looking for a corporate job Bill Raymond: Before we get into the whole agile conversation, I'd love to just get your perspective on providing maybe some, we do have people that are active military and we have people that are veterans here, that are listeners. Bill Raymond: Maybe you could share some of your own advice around how you might look for a corporate job. Mike Whitaker: Yeah. So first is, understand that you have value, right? And that value, although in the military a lot of times is not understood because of the way we word things in our resume, the things that, you know, we say we have different terminology. And just because I may not be called a Scrum Master, for example,in the military, doesn't mean I didn't serve in that capacity. So being able to relate my job experience to what the corporate world is looking for, right? And understanding that there's more value, you have a lot more value than you think in these spaces because you already have the work ethic, you already have the discipline it takes to be able to do things. Mike Whitaker: And a lot of times what we do is we take the first thing that's thrown at us instead of really going out there to see our options. It's like, oh, somebody wants me, I got to take it, you know? Slow down, let's look at what the company is trying to accomplish and if that aligns with where you're trying to go, right? Mike Whitaker: And the things that you want to do, is there opportunities for you to grow? There are opportunities for you to lead. There are opportunities for you to get into a different space and you know, are the leaders really leading you? Because we're used to a different type of leadership in the military, right? Mike Whitaker: Can you find a leader that cares? Can you find a company that's going to care about your wellbeing? I've worked for all sorts where they were all about the money and others are like, man, we care about you. Which is really cool. So finding out what that looks like. Some people can't handle big corporate. Mike Whitaker: It's not what they're looking for, they're just another number. Some people need the smaller company and you know, because of that, others don't like the small companies. They want to be with the big security of the major corporation. So finding out what's really, really important to you and is it going to be best for your family? Mike Whitaker: Having that work-life balance is key, especially coming from the military, out the military where they own you pretty much 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365, they can make you come to work at the drop of a dime. But here they don't own you so much, and your time. So finding out what's important to you. Is it about you having the time you need to be with family or the things that you want to do in life? Mike Whitaker: Or is it about you just working and work, work, work, trying to work it to the bone and get you everything about you? So that is some of the things that I look for when it came down to it, I worked for both major corporations and smaller ones. So just got to find out what's best for you. ### Finding the language Bill Raymond: That's great advice and I loved your thoughts also about the language that you used. You know, I suppose that if I were looking to, I don't know, if there was some person in HR in the military that saw my resume, they'd probably look and say, what on earth are these terms? And we probably received the same thing on the corporate world. Bill Raymond: What on earth are these terms that you're using? So finding the language I think is also important. I could tell you that, we did actually,when I was actively hiring at a larger job that I had, we would very often receive resumes we didn't understand the language that they were using, that the veterans were using in their resume, and it was hard to kind of relate that back. Bill Raymond: And, you know, I think the power of words really helps a lot when you're writing a resume. Doesn't necessarily mean that you have to say, just change the title. Sometimes what it means is like how you're relating yourself to the people on the receiving end. Mike Whitaker: Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. I went through that. My first round of resumes was terrible. I talked about the awards I got, I talked to, I received, I talked about, you know, as a CW2 or as a senior NCO or whatever. All of those things that means nothing to people, right? That don't understand the lingo. Mike Whitaker: And as soon as I was able to translate it with the help of my beautiful wife, she's amazing at writing, right? She's like, oh no, let's translate it to corporate speaking. I'm like, oh... I got hit after hit after hit after hit. And people really understood the things that I was doing. I'm like, I got it, right? Mike Whitaker: So we just learned to talk in a different way. There's military shorthand and that's how we wrote resumes, as well. Because we used to write in all of our evaluations in shorthand. So that's how we think we write our resumes too. And it's not the same. Bill Raymond: That's really good advice. Thank you for that. I appreciate that little diversion there. Mike Whitaker: Yeah, for sure. ### Personal perspective on agility Bill Raymond: Now we're going to talk about agilists and agility, but maybe you could just give your personal perspective on agility. Mike Whitaker: Yeah. So, for me, agility, I love it. From the time that I heard about it, I'm like, I knew that there was a better way of doing this, right? Coming from such a waterfall environment, which is the military very well is right, waterfall. It's something that I've been looking for. You know, the warrant officers, they always say, we always say we are the rebels of the military. Mike Whitaker: Right? When, I don't want to do it your way, you tell me, you know, there's a picture of a bird sitting on a fence line with a line through it, and the warrant officer is the bird sitting right next to it on the fence, right? We're those people that's going to break the rules and not want to do it the traditional way because we see that there's a better way of doing things. Mike Whitaker: So when I found agile, I'm like, this is it, right? This is something I looked for in my whole career, for us to be able to process things faster and not waste money. We always talk about not wasting money. How can we get to this product better and get our, you know, get what we need to get to our customers, to our clients, to the war fighter, to the person on the ground. Mike Whitaker: And then every decision coming from top down. I'm like, man, you don't even understand the implications of what you're asking us to do, right? So that, it's really important that you allow us to make these decisions at the lowest level. Not everything, right, obviously, but the small things. Mike Whitaker: And coming from having this is the right answer. No, we're not doing it that way. We're doing it this way. It's like, man, so when I found it, I'm like, oh, there is a better way. I knew it. So it was really eye-opening for me. It made me want to dive in, really to be able to get to that, right? Mike Whitaker: So I love a space where I can automatically adapt to it. So it wasn't a terrible transition for me because I was looking for the new, I was looking for a way to have better results in a quicker way without having to overtax people. Mike Whitaker: It allowed me to see things a lot quicker, see the results a lot quicker. It came from a world again, where I didn't see results maybe for five or six months of the things that I did, sometimes longer. I did something a couple months, you know, a few months before, and six months later ended up in the presidential review. Mike Whitaker: I'm like, I did that six months ago. Wow, can we get some, you know, some feedback a little more early and often? And that would be amazing, right? So that was huge for me. And being able to have that and then to adjust quickly to things that come up. Now we do that. The military does it well when we're at war, literally. Or you have to, because the enemy's not going to do exactly always what we predict on the battlefield. So that adjustment comes in war itself, but it doesn't always come on the back end where things are, you know, where the factory is rolling in the back end to get to that other space. Mike Whitaker: So finding agile and my perspective on it, man, it really was eye-opening to come from such a waterfall organization no matter where you went. Mike Whitaker: You know. It's amazing. ### Waterfall from a military perspective Bill Raymond: Can you dig a little bit deeper into that? When you say waterfall, what do you mean from, if you will, a military perspective? Mike Whitaker: Yeah. So most of the decisions that are made, I'm not going to say all, most decisions that are made from the commander. Now, they do hold the responsibility for every decision that's made, but that doesn't mean that they have, you know, all of the ins and outs of how we do stuff, do things, right? Mike Whitaker: So for example, I was deployed and the commander comes and says, Hey, I want to do this. I want this from, I want to get this right now. So the officer comes in, he is like, hey, the colonel says he wants this. And I was like, he can't have that, that's illegal. And he was like, no, we're going to do it. Mike Whitaker: No sir, that's illegal. What he's looking for is this. No, you need to go do what he said. And I was like, can we step outside real quick? Because he said it in front of my people, right? I was the leader and I was like, hey, can we step outside? No. Chief, you're going to do what I said. And I said, okay, Sir, come on outside. Mike Whitaker: So I said, hey Sir, that's illegal. We can't do that. What he's really looking for, is this information here. He's like, no, he is not. I'll go tell him myself. So I go into the Colonel's office and, Hey, sir, what you asked for, is it legal? What you're looking for is this? Yeah, just do that. Something so simple dude, I'm trying to tell you how to do the job correctly and keep us all out of jail. Mike Whitaker: I'm not going to jail for anybody, right? So those spaces, when if I didn't know my job well enough and didn't have enough guts to go to the person, right? In a such a waterfall world, I could have been reprimanded really hard on it. Matter of fact, I did get in trouble for it just, you know, trouble. Mike Whitaker: Right. So my leader at a different organization was like, Hey, glad you did it, but you got to do it a different way. You have to follow it. You know? And I'm like, sir, but he's like, I got it. You were right, but you were wrong. And I'm like, man, so coming from, you know, a space like that where really you're not open, they're not open to feedback, and I still got in trouble even though I did the right thing, right? Not, you know, trouble, it didn't hurt, affect anything but something like that, right? And meaning waterfall too, I can change how I process without asking anybody because I'm trying to make my mark as a leader. So for example, you know, there's no shot on those generals and SAR majors that make the decisions to change uniforms, but a lot of times it's for a bullet. It's for eval bullet. Oh yeah. Mike Whitaker: Time to change. So yeah, I'm the one that changed the military to go towards this, you know, so. Things like that, that just doesn't make a lot of sense in my opinion. Right. Coming from the low man up, looking at it like, man, you're changing the way we do things, and this is not even the best way. Mike Whitaker: He didn't ask the people doing it, the recommendation, right? So that's what I mean by waterfall. ### Agility in corporate environment Bill Raymond: And so now you're focused on agility in a corporate environment. And that's all very different. We still of course, have leaders that will tell us that we need to do something, and hopefully it's not illegal, but I do think that when people do that, we have a tendency to just say, well, we have to go do that thing that leader said. Bill Raymond: But when we move into this world of agility, we're not just talking about teams here. We're talking about how we all interact as a team and that team is also the leadership team as well. And so we start to see this shift in how requests come to you. It's about asking for, can you accomplish something and this is a value that we want and then you have to try and figure out the way to deliver it. Bill Raymond: Is that your experience as well? Mike Whitaker: Yes. And that's probably my favorite. I don't necessarily need you to cook the eggs for me. Just tell me that you want eggs, right? I don't need you to do, and I love that when a leader can come in and say, Hey, here's what I want, as long as you don't break the rules of what it's supposed to be followed or I don't care how you get it. And is it possible to get it? Right, asking those questions. And that's so key. Matter of fact, we're on with a client and to see their, when their leadership came in and had the buy-in, you could see the light come on with the rest of everybody else, all their employees. Mike Whitaker: They're like, oh, if he or she's in here, and they're saying it, oh man we got to do it, they have our backs, right? So it's super important as leaders, especially in the agile world, to have their back and show the people that, hey, we're agile too, right? And we trust you. Mike Whitaker: We hired you for a reason. We believe in the work that you do and let's go forward with this thing and rock. So it's cool, very cool to see. Bill Raymond: What I'm getting is that you're getting to use more of your creative side. Mike Whitaker: Definitely. Right. I love the fact that I can change how things go, right? Which is really cool. I love that part. ### Thinhs to learn or unlearn when moving from military to agile space Bill Raymond: That's great. And I guess if someone's looking to get into this space and they're moving out of the military, they're saying, I want a corporate job or whatever, I want to be in the agile space. What are some things you need to learn or unlearn? Mike Whitaker: Yeah. So first, unlearn the fact that somebody's going to give you all the answers. Bill Raymond: So you have to really want to tell people what you try to do and then find a mentor that's going to help you get to that space. There's a lot of different avenues to go about, right? So you can go to different Scrum master classes, you can go to SAFe classes, you can jump on all the different podcasts like this one and just start having a conversation with people, right? Mike Whitaker: It's really cool how, what I love about this community, agile community, I don't care if you're Scrum or SAFe, everybody's open and wants to share their knowledge and help you get to where to get to. Help you find ways to be able to get there, right? Which is really cool. Mike Whitaker: And I love that part. The next thing I would tell them to do is, get out there and take as many courses as you can, but don't just rely on the courses, right? Try to find a way to get some experience and apply it while you're still in the military, and in just your life in general. Mike Whitaker: Because now, these things, these principles are applicable just about everywhere that I found, so that's what I love about the agile space, that you can do that. Mike Whitaker: And lastly, I would say, don't be afraid to say you don't know. I don't have the answers, but I'm willing to learn. And people usually respect, I found that they respected that more than a person that's going to, for lack of a better term, you know, make up stuff to get through there, right. BS their way to an answer and if they're in this space, they understand he or she doesn't really know what they're talking about. So just don't be afraid to say, I don't know, but I'm willing to learn and put it out there. Mike Whitaker: For me, I had to go take courses on my own. I was willing to spend my own money to go be able to do it. There's nothing wrong with that. It's different from the military, for sure. And people already want you to be certified in some cases, in some places to, in order for them to see that you're serious about it. Mike Whitaker: But in the end, I find that the knowledge that you get from it is way more important than the money and you'll get your return. Bill Raymond: Yeah, actually that one, and I think I made it clear here, but I was never in the military. But you know, I will say that was one big one that I had to unlearn was when I don't know an answer. I'm one of those people that really kind of always wants to have the answer for someone. And that's a hard one to unlearn, if you will. Bill Raymond: And just saying, I don't have the answer, but let me go see if I can find it. I don't have the answer, let me talk to my colleagues. Because I know for me personally, I actually get defensive and I have to mentally put myself in this special space where I don't do that because the minute you ask me something and I don't have the answer, I just sort of start deflecting and I have to be very careful about that. Mike Whitaker: Yeah. Yeah. I found early from being an instructor, one of the, I forget his name, a buddy of mine, he was, and he was instructing longer than me and I was like, Hey man, I love with how you do in the classroom, teach me some stuff. He's like, first thing out his mouth was, never be afraid to tell the students you don't know, but you'll find the answer. Mike Whitaker: He said, you're fine. You get way more credibility with them than if you go and just make up something or try to act like you know it all. I was like, oh, okay. You know, simple enough, because I'm willing to listen to you and based on what you told me, that's the first thing he told me. He said, as an instructor, you will lose the whole room, if ... so, I just applied that to everything. I say it's difficult for me too, coming from being a warrant officer, which is a subject matter expert. We know the answers, Hey Chief, what's this? Hey, if nobody else knows, Chief knows we got to find it and I got to have it. So coming into a space where I'm like, yep... Mike Whitaker: So what's the difference between it? For example, I had one interview. What's the difference between LEAN and SAFe? And I was like, Ooh, LEAN and agile. And I'm like, oh, I have no idea. Hey, I'm going to be honest with you guys, I have no clue. Oh, just take a stab. You know, a mentor of mine told me don't make up answers, even if you think you can. Mike Whitaker: So I'd much rather say, I don't know, and be willing to learn than I would tell you anything at all about it. Because I have no experience, I have no idea, no idea what the difference is. I can respect that. I was like, hopefully I didn't lose the job, you know, based on that one answer, but that's how I was taught to answer the questions. Mike Whitaker: And I can find out for sure, but in this space, especially in the interview, what are you going to do? Give me five minutes to go look it up so I can come get the answer? No. That's big, right? That for you to have that transparency to say it's tough. Bill Raymond: That's really good advice. Bill Raymond: I guess the final thing that we wanted to talk about here is, if someone is looking to hire a veteran, what are some of the things that they should be looking for? Is there advice you can share? Is there some input you could provide that would help someone that's a hiring manager really think through how to interact with you? Mike Whitaker: Yeah, sure. 1. Asking about their actual experiences and being able to find what you're looking for through those. A lot of times we're not taught that our experiences really matter, right? And it's really, it really is difficult to translate. So, because you're the hiring person, understand that the language that they're going to use might be a little different, but the principle behind what they're doing is the same, right? Mike Whitaker: It is probably what you're looking for. If you're looking for a leader, you can find that a person, you know, somebody in the military that went through the ranks from E5 to E9 has probably had, and they were in the military for 20 years, 25 years. Over 20 years of leading easily, and he could be 45 years old, right? Mike Whitaker: So it's like, man, how do you have over 20 years or whatever, how do you have 10,000 hours of leading? Well, I've been in leadership literally outside of the first two or three years of my career the entire time, right? I'm always leading people. So finding those ways to say, oh, okay, I'm looking for a strong leader, somebody that can make a difference here, not being afraid to stand on their morals, not afraid to stand, you know, on this person's disciplined enough to... yeah, sure you can, you know, call references. You can, you know, they're going to show up on time. You know, they're going to be there when they need to. Giving them an opportunity to share the things that are important to them. Mike Whitaker: And from that, you can usually gather whether or not they'll be a great fit for what you're looking for. And then that's my experience when it comes to military folks, they'll tell you if you ask the right question, right? And if you're willing to say, so tell me what's the, you know, the thing that impacted you the most, but it was tough for you. Mike Whitaker: When was the last time you led somebody and it didn't go well? There's plenty of, you know, we have all of us have those examples of,for me for instance, when I first became an E5, and I was 20 years old, not even old enough to drink. I'm the one that's the leader. Mike Whitaker: Everybody on my team was older than me and married and I was single and young, right? So I had to learn how to lead a bunch of people that knew more than I did for one about life and didn't have anything in common with me. So having that experience at such a young age taught me a lot about how to lead people and how to, and I've screwed it up royally. Mike Whitaker: Right, you know, I can give you some stories about that, but just looking for that, those little nuances to get what you're trying to get out of those veterans and I'll give it to you. Bill Raymond: Yeah, it's really all about shared experience, isn't it? There are many stories that you could share that will still allow you to relate to the role that they're looking to hire. Mike Whitaker: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Bill Raymond: This has been a great conversation. I really appreciate this. Bill Raymond: This is actually one of our first conversations where we are trying to provide insight for people that are looking to change their roles and move into something new that might even be a little bit scary too. And I really appreciate all the thought that you put into this. Bill Raymond: Mike Whitaker, is there any way people might be able to reach out to you if they want to have a further conversation with you? Mike Whitaker: Yeah, for sure. You can check Linkedin, you can put my name in Mike Whitaker, and I'm always available. Reach out there. Bill Raymond: Wonderful, and I'll make sure that it's on the agileinaction.com podcast. And of course, if you're in an app right now listening to this podcast, just go down to the show notes, the description, and you'll see a link to how to reach Mike there as well. Bill Raymond: Mike, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Mike Whitaker: Oh, thank you so much. This has been great. You're such a gracious host, I appreciate all the time and effort and man, I look forward to hearing it. Bill Raymond: Yeah, I do too. Thank you. ### Outro Bill Raymond: Thank you for listening to the Agile and Action Podcast with Bill Raymond. Subscribe now to stay current on the latest trends in team, organization, and agile techniques. Please take a moment to rate and comment to help us grow our community. This podcast is produced in affiliation with Cambermast LLC, and our executive producer is Reama Dagasan. Speaker: If there is a topic you would like Bill to cover, contact him directly at bill.Raymond@agileinaction.com.
Don't spend 💰 $10 million for a 💵 $1 million solution on your next procurement 👇
Today, John Stenbeck, a best-selling author and a leader in the (U.S.) Government contracting space talks about how to define agile procurements.
John and Bill share examples and personal stories that help assess the right delivery approach for federal procurements.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The procurement process ✅ An agile decision-making process ✅ The procurement team's perspective ✅ The contractor's perspective ✅ Delivering successful proposals for complex systems 🎉 Concrete examples to deliver the best solutions
🎧Listen now Agile in Action website: https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2023/04/25/introducing-agile-government-procurement.html Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3e35K9O Google: https://bit.ly/3sFYpBe Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3e40d34
Don't spend 💰 $10 million for a 💵 $1 million solution on your next procurement 👇
Today, John Stenbeck, a best-selling author and a leader in the (U.S.) Government contracting space talks about how to define agile procurements.
John and Bill share examples and personal stories that help assess the right delivery approach for federal procurements.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The procurement process
✅ An agile decision-making process
✅ The procurement team's perspective
✅ The contractor's perspective
✅ Delivering successful proposals for complex systems
🎉 Concrete examples to deliver the best solutions
The drive to business agility never ends, but there are inflection points ⤵️
Evan Leybourn and Martin Foster review the changes, trends, predictive indicators, and insight that form a global view of organizations' business agility journey.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The purpose and design of the Business Agility report
✅ Global trends in business agility
✅ Predictive indicators
✅ Time to benefit
✅ Challenges in achieving sustainable business agility
🔭 Changes we see on the horizon
What makes the ultimate internship program? A foundation of dignity, respect, and a crystal-clear vision for victory! ⚡️💯🎯 Today, Bill Raymond welcomes Robert J Khoury, CEO at Agile Rainmakers and author of How to Intern Successfully. Robert shares years of invaluable knowledge to help you build the best internship program possible. Robert covers everything from finding great interns and providing them with a safe and valuable learning experience to creating lasting business relationships. In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ The underlying principles of a great internship program ✅ Interviewing and onboarding interns ✅ How to define achievable deliverables ✅ Coaching and supporting interns 🎉 Defining a discrete victory for interns to be proud of
Stop repeating all those work tasks ⤵️ In today's podcast, Phil Simon, Author of the book Low-Code/No-Code, shares how you can automate your work as a citizen developer. In this podcast, you will learn the following: ✅ What is low code/no code? ✅ What is a citizen developer? ✅ Opportunities to automate repetitive work ✅ Case studies to inspire you ✅ How IT can embrace the low code/no code revolution
Rather than pushing uncertainty away, embrace it! ⤵️
Today, Bill Raymond speaks with guest Jonas Neumann, who will cover various software development and agile topics.
In this podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The promise of agile in software development
✅ How organizations can adopt agile
✅ Breaking down planning and budgeting barriers
✅ Dealing with uncertainty
✅ Measuring work based on value
✅ How to foster fun, safe, and effective software development teams
For a hotel brand to succeed, leadership must embrace innovation.
Today, Are Morch joins Bill Raymond to discuss agility and digital change in the hotel industry.
While we may still be amidst significant change and disruption, hotels still have plenty of opportunities to embrace digital transformation. In this podcast episode, you will learn the following:
✅ The latest innovations in hotels
✅ How to identify and lead change
✅ The importance of community outreach
✅ How to embrace change
✅ Re-thinking and re-educating your teams
In today's bonus podcast, we are excited to have Marsha Acker, CEO of Team Catapult, back again!
We are excited to be part of Marsha's journey by helping to launch her latest book: Build your Model for leading change. Here at the Agile in Action podcast, we want to offer you the best resources to help you with your career, so this is not a paid advertisement.
Marsha and Bill Raymond discuss essential topics you will learn, including:
✅ What is a model for change?
✅ The four types of models
✅ Examples of models
✅ Ways to build your model
✅ How Marsha and Bill work on their models
🔁 Podcast Swap! More than 70% of AI projects fail. Learn how not to be a statistic ⤵️
Kathleen Walch and Ron Schmelzer, hosts of Cognilytica's AI Today podcast, share how you can deliver successful artificial intelligence projects.
Additionally, Bill Raymond will appear on the AI Today podcast, sharing his thoughts on using agile techniques to deliver these complex solutions.
In today's Agile in Action podcast, you will learn the following:
✅ The seven patterns of AI ✅ Why AI projects typically fail ✅ How to successfully deliver AI projects ✅ The importance of data roles on AI teams ✅ Six iterations for creating an AI solution
Why is emotional intelligence so important for agile teams?
Dr. Tan Trung (John) Luong, Sr. Expert Consultant at Orianda Solutions AG, will help answer that question.
Having written an essential article on Springer Media and pulling from years of personal experience, Dr. John shares stories and expertise with Bill Raymond to help you learn:
✅ The definition of emotional intelligence (or EI) ✅ Why EI is important within agile teams ✅ Why is Emotional intelligence important ✅ The four dimensions of emotional intelligence ✅ How you can lead EI initiatives in your organization
The Scrum Master helps the whole organization become more agile.
Today, Daria Bagina, Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org and ScrumMastered.com, joins us for another episode in our Seasons of Scrum series. Daria shares the importance of a Scrum Master in leadership and with teams.
Daria and Bill Raymond share stories and examples to help you learn:
✅ What is agile and agility ✅ Scrum roles ✅ The role of the Scrum Master ✅ Traits of a Scrum Master ✅ The Scrum Master's role in organizational change ✅ Tips for hiring a Scrum Master
Agile change is not something you can only deploy in your organization. Setting goals, building relationships, and collaborating are critical to agile transformations.
In today's podcast, Michal Idzikowski shares how you can successfully introduce agile change into your organization.
Michal and Bill share stories and examples that will help you learn: ✅ What is an agile organization ✅ What effective agile organizational change looks like ✅ Competencies versus roles ✅ Reducing complexity ✅ Mistakes to avoid ✅ Using a Scrum Studio for greenfield agile adoption ✅ Working with agile supporters and detractors
Whether you are delivering products or projects, agile delivery with Scrum can work. But how do you do it successfully?
Today's podcast is the second of a 2-part series with Nader K Rad, who shares the core concepts of Scrum.
Bill and Nader share ideas and stories to help you learn:
✅ A recap of the primary Scrum roles, artifacts, and meetings ✅ How to know if Scrum will work for your organization ✅ The importance of leadership in the change process ✅ Common challenges you will face ✅ Important takeaways if you want to start your Scrum journey
About this podcast Scrum and project management are not at odds with each other. Today, Nader K Rad introduces Scrum and the differences between predictive and adaptive systems on the Agile in Action with Bill Raymond podcast.
\While sharing these concepts, Bill and Nader share stories and examples that will help you learn:
✅ The basic concepts of Scrum ✅ How Scrum compares to predictive systems ✅ Scrum ceremonies ✅ Scrum roles ✅ How to choose between predictive and adaptive systems
In today's podcast, we wrap up 2022 with some thank yous, some fantastic statistics about the podcast's growth, and some exciting updates about things to come.
Links:
Bill on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamraymond/
The Agile in Action with Bill Raymond podcast on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/74129270
We are excited to announce that the most listened-to podcast for 2022 was our interview with Jeff Gothelf on the topic of Objectives and Key Results (or OKRs). We are excited to share this rebroadcast to celebrate that milestone and introduce our new listeners to the topic!
In today’s podcast, Jeff Gothelf shares the importance of Objectives and Key Results (or OKRs). Jeff shares the proper way to define OKRs, sharing relatable stories that help you think through how to use them effectively.
In the podcast, Jeff shares how to define and use OKRs. Using solid examples, Jeff shares the following topics with Bill:
✅ How to define OKRs based on strategic goals
✅ How leadership defines OKRs for their business
✅ Understand how teams align to OKRs with leadership
✅ How to measure our success in meeting our objectives
✅ Leadership advice to successfully implement OKRs
Thank you for listening to the Agile in Action Podcast. We are taking a short break and will be back on Tuesday, December 6.
Starting a new company as a Scrum Master, Aysegul encountered obstacles that you may also encounter.
In today's Agile in Action podcast, Aysegul shares a 30, 60, and 90-day roadmap to help you integrate into your new role or a new company as a Scrum master. Here are some of the topics Aysegul and Bill discuss:
✅ 30-days (Observation) Get to know your teams, company, domains, and culture
✅ 60-days (Testing) Implement some solutions you believe will improve team effectiveness and product delivery, including monitoring the success. Get to know other Scrum Masters to learn their best practices
✅ 90-days (Monitoring, continuous improvement) Continue observing and implementing new ideas and more significant changes to improve business agility
✅ Advice on how to build trust with your team, meeting with stakeholders, having one-on-ones, reading whatever you can to enhance your knowledge, and gathering feedback to increase confidence in your credibility
When someone says they are amidst a 200,000-person agile transformation effort, you ask for their advice, so we did!
Today's guest, Hrishikesh Karekar is an Agile Leader at Capgemini India, author, and serial Medium contributor. Hrishikesh is here to share how leaders can enable successful agile transformations.
Hrishikesh and Bill Raymond talk about the critical success factors that drive success change, including:
✅ Building successful agile transformation teams
✅ Creating and communicating a flexible roadmap
✅ Defining and aligning KPIs that reflect the goals of the business
✅ Advice for executives starting their agile transformation journey
Link to the podcast on the Agile in Action podcast website:
https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2022/11/08/the-critical-role-of-leadership-and-change-management-with-agile-transformations.html
Links Hrishikesh Karekar * Hrishikesh on LinkedIn * Hrishikesh on Medium * Capgemini * Scrum.org * SAFe
Sponsor: Spoke and Wheel * Get 10% off a Psychological Safety Assessment
Please take a minute to connect with us on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-in-action-with-bill-raymond-podcast
Please take a minute to connect with us on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-in-action-with-bill-raymond-podcast
Today, we speak with Fred Fowler, Founder and CEO of Silicon Scrum, Best Selling Author on SCRUM, Professional Scrum Master Level III, and SCRUM Advisor
Fred will share his leadership experience to help you successfully implement SCRUM and agility in your organization.
Today's sponsor is Spoke and Wheel
Support this podcast by contacting Spoke and Wheel for a Psychological Safety assessment:
https://www.spokeandwheel.co/assess
When you sign up for the free call, mention the Agile and Action podcast to receive a 10% discount on your psychological safety assessment.
Contact Fred
Website:
www.siliconvalleyscrum.com
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fmfainc/
Today, we speak with Fred Fowler, Founder and CEO of Silicon Scrum, Best Selling Author on SCRUM, Professional Scrum Master Level III, and SCRUM Advisor
Fred will share his leadership experience to help you successfully implement SCRUM and agility in your organization.
Today's sponsor is Spoke and Wheel
Support this podcast by contacting Spoke and Wheel for a Psychological Safety assessment:
https://www.spokeandwheel.co/assess
When you sign up for the free call, mention the Agile and Action podcast to receive a 10% discount on your psychological safety assessment.
Contact Fred
Website:
www.siliconvalleyscrum.com
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fmfainc/
In today's podcast, we introduce our Season of SCRUM series, that will last from late 2022 to early 2023.
In today's podcast, we introduce our Season of SCRUM series, that will last from late 2022 to early 2023.
Successful change management is the result of navigating people through resistance. Laurie Sudbrink makes the case that leadership must come from a place of GRIT: generosity, respect, integrity, and truth.
Laurie shares that GRIT is not a formula but takes the form of empathy, vulnerability, taking part in the change, understanding emotional responses, and taking conscious actions based on your beliefs.
Successful change management is the result of navigating people through resistance. Laurie Sudbrink makes the case that leadership must come from a place of GRIT: generosity, respect, integrity, and truth.
Laurie shares that GRIT is not a formula but takes the form of empathy, vulnerability, taking part in the change, understanding emotional responses, and taking conscious actions based on your beliefs.
Nate Greenberg, Director of Information Technology for Mono County and the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, joins the podcast today. Nate shares how he and his team operated before and after the pandemic and shares essential lessons from the drastic changes he and his team had to make.
Nate shares how the team adopted agile techniques and used them for emergency response software, building moves, and a data center move.
Nate Greenberg on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-greenberg-7581b723/
Quickbase low code platform used by Nate's team
https://www.quickbase.com
Mono County and Mammoth Lakes, California
https://www.monocounty.ca.gov/economic/page/mammoth-lakes
In today's podcast, Reama Dagasan shares how she interprets agile in her role as CEO of Pastabiz. Reama is also our executive producer and shares some lighthearted stories about the Agile in Action podcast in a 2-year retrospective with Bill.
Links from today's Podcast
Reama's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reamadagasan/
Pastabiz
https://www.pastabiz.com/
Sarah Shewell podcast interview
https://agileinaction.com/agile-in-action-podcast/2021/01/11/agile-teams-embracing-company-culture-while-working-remotely.html
External technology firms can complement your internal expertise and result in a lasting partnership. In today's podcast, Mark Balbes, Ph.D., shares how World Wide Technology builds mutual trust with its customers to deliver positive outcomes.
Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-balbes/
The Agile Architect
https://adtmag.com/agile
Worldwide Technology
https://www.wwt.com
Kanban
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development)
SCRUM
https://www.scrum.org
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development
https://agilemanifesto.org
Change is pervasive, perpetual, and exponential. Organizational efficiency is often hidden behind a veneer of busyness. Effective leaders embrace agile values and build a safe space for teams to succeed.
In today's podcast, Lyssa Adkins shares the mindset executive leaders should consider if they want to embrace agile values.
Today, we are excited to announce that we have reached 10,000 active listeners, are celebrating our 2-year anniversary, and will provide transcripts for all new podcasts.
Shifting to organizational agility can mean making a tectonic shift in how you structure your business and empower teams. In today's podcast, leading author and Agilist, Dr. Thomas Grisham shares proven examples to help leaders through their transformation to agility. Links: Website https://thomasgrisham.com LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-thomas-grisham-b247b629/ Book Cross-Cultural Leadership: (XLQ) https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Cultural-Leadership-XLQ-Thomas-Grisham/dp/3639068688
Shifting to organizational agility can mean making a tectonic shift in how you structure your business and empower teams. In today's podcast, leading author and Agilist, Dr. Thomas Grisham shares proven examples to help leaders through their transformation to agility. Links from this podcast Dr. Thomas Grisham's website https://thomasgrisham.com LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-thomas-grisham-b247b629/ Book Cross-Cultural Leadership: (XLQ) https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Cultural-Leadership-XLQ-Thomas-Grisham/dp/3639068688
Today, I am excited to share a conversation with Christina Wodtke, a celebrity in agile leadership and team dynamics. Christina is the author of popular books like The Team that Managed Itself and Radical Focus. Christina brings a wealth of agile knowledge in the agile space, having worked with tech companies like LinkedIn, Zynga, and Yahoo!, not to mention having founded three startups.
Christina is an executive leadership coach who teaches techniques to create high-performing teams at the prestigious Stanford University.
I am excited to share that Christina will share her new thoughts and ideas concerning nimble and stable teams.
In this conversation, you will hear Christina talk about the importance of Psychological Safety. If you are unfamiliar with the topic, I suggest you locate the podcast just before the one you are listening to now. It is titled Building a Culture of Psychological Safety and contains a fantastic conversation with Alla Weinberg as an introduction to the topic.
Christina will also talk frequently about OKRs -- or objectives and key results. If you are unfamiliar with the topic, you can listen to my conversation with Christina's friend and colleague, Jeff Gothelf. You can find that conversation in the Agile in Action podcast titled "Introducing Objectives and Key Results."
Psychological Safety Episode
Objectives and Key Results Episode
The team that managed itself
Radical focus
Website
Building a culture of psychological safety reduces fear, celebrates failures, and provides a safe space for your teams to communicate. In today's podcast, Bill speaks with Alla Weinberg, where they share the importance of physical, emotional, and psychological safety in the workplace. Links:
Book
Website
Mark Kilby, author, and remote agile guide shares the challenges of leading globally distributed agile teams. Mark then offers practical advice such as respecting time zones, embracing cultural differences, and enabling team collaboration.
Book
Website
Kanban
Josh Seiden is an acclaimed author in the lean and agile space, focusing on product design. Today, Josh shares how outcome-driven design can change human behavior, translating into improved customer value.
Book
Website
In today's podcast, Marsha Acker shares the art and science of facilitation. Marsha shares stories and ideas that will help you run more efficient, outcome-driven meetings.
Book
Dan Ionita, a Researcher with a Ph.D. in risk assessment, shares a model for integrated security into modern agile software management teams. Dan shares case studies and practical guidance for assessing and prioritizing security needs in your organization's culture. More importantly, Dan shares why organizations must incorporate security into their culture.
Article
In today's podcast, Jeff Gothelf shares the importance of Objectives and Key Results (or OKRs). Jeff shares the proper way to define OKRs, sharing relatable stories that help you think through how to use them effectively.
Website
Books
In today's Agile in Action podcast, Bill Raymond talks with Sandy Mamoli and David Mole about helping people excel through the process of team self-selection.
Creating Great Teams: How Self-Selection Lets People Excel
Website
On today's podcast, Bill speaks with Jutta Eckstein, who shares her passion for sustainability and concerns that agile may increase our carbon footprint. Jutta shares how you can make a difference in your personal life and career using the three pillars of sustainability: People, Planet, and Profit.
Article: Leveraging the Agile Manifesto for More Sustainability
Website
Sustainability
Do you feel your voice is not heard on important topics or meetings? As a leader, do you want to elicit your teams' best possible guidance and ideas?
Today, Dr. Becky Winkler, a corporate psychologist, covers both topics with unambiguous advice for leaders to make the space for their teams and how you can drive out your inner saboteur to show up and be a part of the conversation. This is a lively one, so grab a cup of your favorite beverage, sit back, and enjoy the ride!
Improve your ability to learn
As you improve your products, so should the customer experience. Today, Jurgen Appelo and Bill Raymond talk about the need for customer experience leadership.
SHIFTUP
Website
Startup, Scaleup, Screwup (book)
Recommended reading: Team Topologies
In today's podcast, you will learn what a feature factory roadmap looks like and how to avoid them. Ryan Dawson, Principal Data Consultant at ThoughtWorks, shares the mindset and thought process you can take to build a roadmap that solves problems and focuses on outcomes.
From Feature Factory to Empowered Team article
Continuing our "Agile in..." series, we talk to Emily Disque and Laura Pike Seeley from the renowned design and architecture firm HKS, Inc. You will learn how their Global Knowledge Services (GKS) team drives knowledge strategy in support of HKS' values and priorities.
You'll learn how GKS collaborates with designers, researchers and technical staff to formalize knowledge surrounding essential topics, including sustainability, transformation and brain health. Finally, you will learn how GKS uses agile principles and methods to affect company-wide change through a radical commitment to transparency and psychological safety.
About Emily Disque
Emily is the Director of Global Knowledge Services at HKS, Inc., an international architecture firm. Driven by an interest in design research and the business of architecture, she leads teams toward solutions to improve design decision-making and business rigor. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, and has a background as a product owner and knowledge services professional.
About Laura Pike Seeley
Laura is a design librarian and knowledge services professional currently serving as Knowledge Program Manager at HKS, Inc., a leading global architecture firm headquartered in Dallas. In this role, Laura helps guide the firm’s knowledge strategy by championing knowledge building and sharing, information organization and findability, and employee experience within the digital workplace. After graduating from Texas A&M University, Laura earned her Master of Library and Information Science (MS) and Master of Arts in History (MA) from Simmons College in Boston. Her interest in the digital workplace follows naturally from her background in corporate library services, where effective outreach and communications, information and resource organization, and a constant focus on the user experience were key drivers of success. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and two sons.
Emily's LinkedIn
Laura's LinkedIn
In today's podcast, Linda Parker Gates from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University talks about organizational agility. Linda shares the importance of an execution-first mentality, setting a vision while being nimble enough to make course corrections, and the importance of data-driven decision making.
Contact the Software Engineering Institute via email: info(at)sei.cmu.edu
Show Me Agility: Agile Strategy Execution
Today, Chris Jones, partner at Silicon Valley Product Group and co-author of the book Empowered joins us to talk about the shift to agility and a product-focused culture.
Chris shares how too many times, we focus on delivering a project that we assume has a beginning, middle, and end when we should look at it differently. Successful organizations treat such efforts as a product where there is not necessarily a planned end in mind. There are full-time product teams that are hyper-focused on delivering customer-focused solutions to problems.
"Empowered"
In today's podcast, I speak with Glenn Gow, The CEO Therapist and a CEO Coach. If your organization is unclear about its intended objectives, you will not achieve alignment. That misalignment can have tangible costs, such as not meeting revenue targets, reduced customer value, or reduced employee satisfaction. Glenn shares how CEOs and senior leaders should define measurable Objectives and Key Results. Glenn also shares how to align the organization to those OKRs and ensure accountability.
Website
"Measure What Matters"
Some of us love swirling in the abyss of the unknown, while others need direction, clarity, and specificity. Ambiguity can lead to behaviors that drive an organization to falter, lose its competitive edge, or lose disillusioned employees.
In today's podcast, Linda Varrell shares how to identify and recognize ambiguity. Linda then shares the tools, techniques, and best practices to reduce ambiguity in the workplace.
Broadreach Public Relations
Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Laura Pirro came to learn some agile concepts taking a course while at Ghent University. The course teacher said agile is primarily for software development and did not apply to R&D. Laura decided to learn more about agile and found that R&D projects could benefit from the ideas.
Without using the word "agile," Laura started implementing some of the modern ideas brought to us by organizations like Scrum.org. Laura introduced regular, shorter meetings with the leads on projects (also called standup meetings). Laura also started developing smaller pieces of the overall R&D work with her colleagues by writing smaller, manageable elements of the comprehensive paper and then iterating on that (also called MVPs, or minimum viable products).
Now working for Yara International, Laura shares insights and real-world examples that may inspire you as a student or working in the private sector.
How agile project management can work for your research
Manifesto for Agile Software Development
SCRUM
KanBan Board
Developing governmental policies can be a long and arduous task. At Citizens Advice, they streamline that process and use agile techniques to share ideas sooner, improve feedback loops, and focus on outputs.
End State: 9 Ways Society is Broken - and how we can fix it
Can you do agile policy work?
@jamestplunkett
Very often, we refer to agile as supporting a product-focused operating model. So, what is that operating model and what might it look like? Blake Bassett defines an operating model and then shares how you can consider creating your own. Blake shares how to consider building a model by using the following topic areas:
- Goals and measures of success
- Team principles
- Development process
- Workflow
- Activities
- Decision-making
- Communication
Blake on Medium
Moving at the speed of trust
Agile teams often think differently than more traditional project planning efforts. Gone are months-long project schedules with tasks, milestones, and resource plans. In place of that are autonomous teams that define a value-driven backlog of work, and they schedule that work in short iterations (or sprints) over 1-4 weeks.
Those teams will estimate the work and determine what can be done based on value and capacity for the upcoming iteration. Rather than detail the hours the teams work, they plan with story points.
Links:
Mountain Goat Software
Agile Estimating and Planning
In today's lively conversation with Adam Jennison, Enterprise Agile Consultant, you will learn how agile teams estimate their work and track how well they performed based on the estimate. You will also learn how to implement these concepts in your team, no matter what type of work you do.
If you come from a traditional project management background, you are likely familiar with the process of defining tasks, assigning resources, and estimating hours.
As organizations continue their shift to product-centric work, agile teams will define what they can accomplish in short iterations (or sprints). Those iterations typically run 1-4 weeks. An agile team will look at the backlog of work and determine what they will do based on criteria like value, risk, and hours to complete. Rather than estimating individual hours for each person, the team will agree to story points. When the iteration is complete, you can use a velocity metric to determine how well they did against the plan.
If you are unfamiliar with story points and velocity, do not fret. Adam explains it all with ease and shares some great stories along the way.
Leading Agile:
Website
A Word on Velocity:
Article
Adam's LinkedIn:
The Da Vinci Code:
Watch here
James Shore is the author of The Art of Agile Development. Today, he is announcing the generally availability of the book and shares what you will learn. In the text below, you will find the description of the book, including a link to get a copy for yourself.
Most companies developing software employ something they call "Agile." But there's widespread misunderstanding of what Agile is and how to use it. If you want to improve your software development team's agility, this comprehensive guidebook's clear, concrete, and detailed guidance explains what to do and why, and when to make trade-offs.
In this thorough update of the classic Agile how-to guide, James Shore provides no-nonsense advice on Agile adoption, planning, development, delivery, and management taken from over two decades of Agile experience. He brings the latest ideas from Extreme Programming, Scrum, Lean, DevOps, and more into a cohesive whole. Learn how to successfully bring Agile development to your team and organization--or discover why Agile might not be for you.
This book explains how to:
- Improve agility: create the conditions necessary for Agile to succeed and scale in your organization
- Focus on value: work as a team, understand priorities, provide visibility, and improve continuously
- Deliver software reliably: share ownership, decrease development costs, evolve designs, and deploy continuously
- Optimize value: take ownership of product plans, budgets, and experiments--and produce market-leading software
Get your copy of The Art of Agile Development, 2nd Edition:
Book
James' LinkedIn:
James' Twitter:
Contact James:
Website
Fast Agile:
Website
LESS, large scale SCRUM:
Website
Organizations that want to be more agile will often create small, autonomous teams that can deliver faster. The structure for those teams often looks similar to those defined by SCRUM. However, what happens when many SCRUM teams, maybe 20, 30, or more, need to work on coordinated release efforts? That is a problem the Scaled Agile Framework (or SAFe) may need to answer.
In today's podcast, I speak with Sander Dur, Agile Coach, SCRUM Trainer, Licensed SAFe Trainer, and the Podcast host at "Mastering Agility". Sander will walk you through a lightweight conversation of what SAFe is, introducing some of the differences between SAFe and SCRUM, and then we talk about what it means to move toward agility.
Sander's LinkedIn:
Mastering Agility:
Website
Sander's Medium:
Website
SCRUM:
SCRUM
Do you have outdated or complex business flows that are hindering your ability to deliver more value to your customers at a faster pace? Today's podcast guest, Steve Pereira, "The Value Stream Guy" and creator of "Flow Engineering," will share how to "Marie Kondo" your processes.
Steve shares the following concepts while we talk about some real-world examples:
Design your outcomes
Measure your workflow
Visualize dependencies
Fix your capability gaps
Start, scale, and sustain
Steve's LinkedIn:
Visible:
Visible
Value Stream Maps:
Maps
The Flow Collective:
Website
Conway's Law:
Law
Have you ever opened up an app that you love, just to be bothered by that one critical feature that hardly works, feels too slow, or is just frustrating to use? Chances are, the developers that wrote that code are all too aware of the problem. Maybe the code is too complex to fix without re-writing it, or perhaps their priorities shift to some other newer and shinier feature of the product. We call problems like this technical debt, and it is a growing problem that we must address.
In today's podcast, I speak with Alex Omeyer, Co-founder and CEO of Stepsize. Alex walks us through the various types of technical debt teams can accumulate. We then talk about how technical debt can impact teams, morale, and the customer's end product.
Alex proposes solutions to drive down technical debt by incorporating it directly into the development lifecycle. His organization, Stepsize, makes it easier to track technical debt and provide traceability, so the process ties directly into the standard tools developers use daily.
Alexandre's LinkedIn:
Stepsize Website:
Website
Alexandre's Twitter:
Alexandre's Medium article on technical debt:
Article
Alexandre's YouTube video on technical debt:
Video
Product Lifecycle Management, especially for large and complex products like automobiles, is ripe for re-invention. Organizations adopt agile techniques and focus on smaller, more focused teams to deliver more competitive and customer-centric solutions at near breakneck speeds.
Imagine building a car, for example. Tracking all the parts from vendors around the world would be hard enough. Now, imagine all the silicon and software in a modern car to manage everything from acceleration and breaking to climate controls and music. All that hardware and software have must work in unison, and you need to track all the parts and dependencies in a centralized database.
Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), there is rarely no centralized database. Most organizations have multiple software products to manage parts, vendors, and software. That is where the Openness certification comes in, and Michael Hertwig is sharing how it works.
Michael's LinkedIn:
Link to Certification of Openness article:
Article
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering:
Fraunhofer
I am willing to bet that the happiest teams feel they are working toward an objective that will delight their customers and move the needle on their product.
In today's podcast, I speak with Anthony Murphy, Director and founding member of the Association of Product Professionals. He shares how organizations and teams can define a winning product strategy. He also shares the differences between a vision, a strategy, and a roadmap.
LinkedIn:
Ant's LinkedIn
Medium:
Ant's Medium Page
Website:
Ant's website
Association of Product Professionals:
Website
In today's podcast, I have a lively discussion with David Pereira, Head of Product at Virtual Identity, who makes a bold proposal for a Product Manifesto.
David shares that while the Manifesto for Agile Software Development helped us change how we work, we now need a product manifesto to define how we deliver value.
David's LinkedIn:
Link to Product Manifesto Article:
Article
Link to Manifesto for Agile Software Development:
Agile Manifesto
In our latest ""Agile for..."" series, we talk to Andrea Fryrear about Agile for Marketing. We discuss the unique structure of a marketing organization and the opportunities to reduce complexity and introduce agile methods.
We talk about the pitfalls of simply ""going agile"" with existing frameworks, how to keep the focus on strategic work (without forgetting keep-the-lights-on work), and how to reduce work efforts by at least 30%.
Contact Andrea via LinkedIn:
Visit Andrea's website:
AgileSherpas
Find Andrea's book here:
Mastering Marketing Agility
Friend of the podcast, Luis Goncalves, returns to introduce his new book, ADAPT. You will learn the five pillars that describe how to transform your company for the digital age, along with an example of actual companies using Luis' concepts.
If you are a regular listener to the Agile in Action podcast, you can use the link below to get a digital copy of the book for only $.99. The offer only lasts from Wednesday, September 22 through Thursday, September 23.
Link to the ADAPT Book:
ADAPT Book
Contact Luis on:
The Evolution4All Website:
Evolution4All
The ADAPT Website:
ADAPT
Are you mad at your current stage-gate hardware process? Then let Dorian Simpson and Gary Hinkle introduce you to something that will make you feel good with MAHD -- or Modified Agile for Hardware Development Framework.
Dorian and Gary will share how stage-gate, detailed process flows, and hierarchical organizational structures can slow the pace of innovation and rarely map to the reality of getting work done. Then, they will show you how to introduce an agile-first framework that puts customer value and teams first.
Agile for Hardware Website
Dorian's LinkedIn
Gary's LinkedIn
e-Book Download
As a researcher, Loreal Jiles has interviewed large and small organizations to learn the challenges and changes affecting finance. In doing that research, she discovered momentum to progress from data stewardship to value creation through deeper collaborations. Not surprisingly -- especially given the pandemic -- there is a significant shift to finance adapting to a fast pace of change.
With this change in mind, Loreal proposes that Finance organizations consider agility to react to change, scale for efficient operations, and empower multi-disciplinary teams.
In today's podcast, Loreal shares examples of how agile can help finance teams streamline risk management, improve financial planning & analysis functions, reduce the pain and increase the efficiency of internal audits, and much more.
Institute of Management Accountants
My IMA's Agile site
We are excited to share the Agile in Action with Bill Raymond podcast is one year old! We are celebrating this by updating our website and interviewing some exciting new guests.
The podcast will return with weekly guests starting August 31, 2021.
In the meantime, we would like to ask that you take a moment to rate us 5-stars on your favorite podcast app. If you have an extra minute, then a quick review would also help. Believe it or not, that simple action helps us a lot.
Thank you from Bill and Reama!
Today, I speak with James Shore, author of The Art of Agile, Development. We talk about the Agile Fluency Model he developed alongside Diana Larsen.
When you re-organize teams with a focus on agility, changes will not happen overnight. Teams will have to get used to new tools, processes, and interpersonal dynamics.
Bruce Tuckman created a model that recognizes specific team dynamics. The model proposes that teams go through several stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing. If you have ever been in a large team meeting to make critical business changes or are part of a re-org, you will be familiar with that model.
Re-structuring for agility means you will not only see the four phases of the Tuckman model but another as well. That is where James Shore and Diana Larsen come in. They designed a model to appreciate the cultural shift in how your teams gain fluency in delivering more value faster, and they call it the Agile Fluency Model.
Business agility represents the continuous and purposeful change you make to deliver more value to your customers and gain a competitive edge. Very often, we use frameworks that guide how to be more agile.
The list of frameworks is endless and full of acronyms, like SCRUM, XP, SaFe, and many more. It can be tempting to select a framework that looks good and start using it. However, there are downsides to that approach.
In today's podcast, I speak with Evan Leybourn, Co-founder and CEO of the Business Agility Institute. We talk about why agility can increase revenues, improve team performance, and retain employees. Evan shares the approach you should take to define what agility means to your organization and balance that with the various frameworks available to you.
In today's podcast I speak with Matt Koball, co-founder of Dropcopter, about the role agile plays in his development of pollinating drone technology to address a shortage of bees. Listen as Matt shares how modern methods of project management and product development addressed an age old issue.
Genius NY
Leadership may define business goals, but how does your product strategy align? Enter the role of a Product Manager. Product Managers identify the strategic objectives and plans for a product and ensure they align closely with leadership's business goals.
Today, I speak to Albert Chen, a Senior Product Manager at Okta and an organizer at the San Francisco chapter of ProductTank. Albert shares his view of the role of a Product Manager, where they belong in the corporate structure, the deliverables they produce, and how they are going about defining markets.
In today’s Agile in Action podcast, I speak with Jose Levy, Director of Cloud Services at OnePlan. We discuss the importance portfolio management processes and software still play in today’s modern organization.
In this podcast, he explains that as organizations embrace agile, leaders must recognize that not every project will use agile techniques. Further, not all teams will use the same applications to manage those projects. Different teams and functions in an organization can coexist on the agile spectrum while working towards a common objective.
https://oneplan.ai/
In today's podcast, I speak with author and coach Peter Koning about redefining leadership. As organizations modernize and shed their siloes, a new culture must emerge that embraces team ownership and change. Peter shares his clear and concise ideas to help leaders and organizations rise to the challenge.
If you would like to contact Peter, here are two links:
Re: lead
Agile presents a shift in how we approach team structures, plan work, and deliver customer value. Richard Spady and Josh Hinkel are leaders in the manufacturing and supply chain space and share how organizations can use agile to gain a competitive advantage and improve operational performance.
In the 1990s, organizations spent billions on large-scale, monolithic software solutions, such as ERP and MRP systems. Now, in the 2000s, innovative new technologies are changing the way we work.
In today's podcast, I speak with Yunpeng Li, Director of Cloud Services at AutoModality. Yunpeng shares the exciting advances AutoModality is making using drones to ensure our safety and how agile and cloud technology makes it possible.
When you think about agile teams, or more specifically, Scrum teams, you will often hear about a role called the Scrum Master. That role is frequently confused, and you will often hear the position referred to as a project manager with a new and modern title.
For some, agile is a brand-new way to work, and therefore a brand new way of structuring your organization. Any organizational change requires new or changed roles, adjusting to a new culture, and shifting focus. That change is never-ending because customer needs, products, and technology will not stop changing our business landscape.
In today's podcast, I speak with Michele Magnardini, Scrum Master at Sage. He talks about the role of a Scrum Master, which helps improve team dynamics and plays a critical role in continuous team improvements. If your organization is considering adopting agile, you likely came across the term Scrum. Agile and Scrum can represent a tectonic shift in how companies work and structure teams. Embracing this change is not a one-and-done project but an entirely new way of working, which means change will be continuous, with regular improvements in support of teams to deliver customer value.
In today's fun and lively conversation Michele makes no assumptions that you are a Scrum expert, walking you through all the basics. You will learn how Scrum works, including the roles, meetings, and artifacts defined by the framework. Then, he shares the critical role of a Scrum Master.
Sadly, many consider the Scrum Master as a project manager with a new, modern title. That cannot be farther from the truth, and you will learn just how important the Scrum Master's role is to that continuous improvement process I share earlier in this post.
Adopting agile can mean sweeping organizational change. Teams remove themselves from silos and re-focus with an intense focus on customer value and iterative design. This shift to agile will inevitably change many departments within an organization. In today's podcast, I talk to Natal Dank, co-author of Agile HR, and we talk about the future of Human Resources, and the benefits agile can bring.
In today's podcast, I speak with Luis Goncalves, who shares how too many organizations still use an industrial age, matrixed structure. Luis shares how to re-think team structures and focus on value streams over projects.
Learn how a successful global payments processor transformed their organization by letting teams form themselves. In this enlightening podcast, Willem-Jan shares how Worldline Global is changing the way teams work. He provides insight into what an organization looks like that will hinder innovation and how teams can self-form to become faster and more agile in the marketplace.
In today's podcast, I speak to Lisa Mabli, Senior Manager of Agile Program Management at Twilio. We discuss the qualities that make up high performing teams and strategies for how new leaders can build and enable their teams.
In this podcast I speak with serial Medium author and agile practitioner, Maarten Dalmijn, to learn the proper way to plan agile sprints. Maarten shares his practices to obtain results while preserving the team's endurance and motivation. We talk about preventing the plan from being the objective and keeping the plan light.
Agile teams need a way to prioritize their work and define customer needs. Very often, that work falls upon a role we refer to as the Product Owner. Shane Drumm, a Product Owner and founder of pm-training.net, shares his story as a product owner on a large multi-national CRM project. He also shares his techniques for working with cross-cultural teams and making sure communication flows across time zones and teams.
Before you adopt agile, you need to know where to start and then continuously measure its success. In today's spirited podcast, I speak with Jim Starrett, Head of Platform Engagement and Adoption at Bottomline Technologies. We talk about how he and his team transform Bottomline's teams to adopt agile techniques, build a roadmap to a successful design, and implement a consistent maturity model.
In today's podcast, I speak with Buoyant CEO William Morgan. We talk about how his flagship opensource project, Linkerd, reduces developers' time to deliver software while improving product quality. We discuss what it is like to manage a business while working with a vibrant community of collaborators in the open source community.
In today’s podcast, I speak with Doctor Tracy Brower, Principal, Applied Research & Consulting at Steelcase. We talk about developing the mindset and the mechanics to create meaning and vitality at work. We talk about developing boundaries to foster a work/life balance working from home and how to build the social capital necessary to stay connected and advance at work.
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3e35K9O
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3e40d34
Google: https://bit.ly/3sFYpBe
In this podcast, I speak to a very important topic on the mindset of leaders adopting agile for their organization. Author Jesse Fewell provides insight into how leaders should focus on outcomes over plans.
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3e35K9O
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3e40d34
Google: https://bit.ly/3sFYpBe
@Reama Dagasan #leadership #podcast #agile #agileteams
In this podcast, I speak with Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick to learn how you can transform your organization using the right conversations. We talk about creating trust and an environment of psychological safety to elicit new ideas that will propel your teams on their agile journey.
Website:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3e35K9O
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3e40d34
Google: https://bit.ly/3sFYpBe
In this podcast, I speak with Doctor John Farlik and discuss the successful implementation of agile in part by gauging where stakeholders fall on the agile-waterfall continuum and working with them at their level. We discuss how planning is a crucial part of agile even when done differently than for a waterfall project.
In this podcast, I speak with Tyler Sellhorn, Director of Customer Experience at Hubstaff. Tyler talks about improving the customer experience while simultaneously migrating to HubSpot to improve the customer journey. He shares how agile teams can be successful while going through a significant change management process.
In this podcast, I speak with Loretta Harland and discuss practical ways to work effectively and efficiently among teams. We talk about the importance of using standard tools across teams to improve flow and increase productivity.
You can reach Loretta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loretta-harland-pmtrailblazer
Loretta is the author of Applying Lean Project Management: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578727994/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
Follow Loretta at:
https://pmtrailblazer.com
In this podcast, I speak with Shane Hastie, Director of Community Development at ICAgile. We talk about the history and future of agile and the growing importance of agile in business outside software development. Shane shares learning paths you can take to become certified and accredited as an agile practitioner.
Follow Shane on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/shanehastie or on Twitter: @shanehastie
Learn more about agile certifications and accreditations from ICAgile at:
https://www.icagile.com
Agile Coaching Ethics Initiative:
https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/initiatives/agile-coaching-ethics
In this episode
Listen as Bill and Sarah Shewell discuss how, in the age of Zoom meetings and remote work, company culture and inclusion matters more then ever. Sarah shares practical tactics she used to elicit cooperation, communication, and the flow of information among various teams.
Sarah Shewell
If you would like to contact Sarah, please reach out to her on her LinkedIn profile at the following address: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-shewell-0986011/
About the Agile in Action podcast:
Reama Dagasan is the executive producer of the Agile in Action Podcast, sponsored in part by Cambermast LLC. If you or someone you know would like to participate in the podcast, please contact Reama at reama.dagasan@cambermast.com. For more details on the show, please visit agileinaction.com and cambermast.com.
Learn how Darrell and Sarah help organizations transform their business to increase performance.
Sarah Elk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahelk/
Darrell Rigby
https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrellrigby/
Doing Agile Right
https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Agile-Right-Transformation-Without/dp/163369870X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=doing+agile+right+sarah+elk+darrell+rigby&qid=1607386717&sr=8-1
In this podcast, I speak with Bethann Zaveson, Director Portfolio Management, IT at AmTrust Financial. Bethann walks us through her career path from more formal frameworks like stage-gate and portfolio management.
Bethann provides valuable insights into how she is transitioning to agile and how it can positively impact the flow of your business.
You can reach out to Bethann on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethannzaveson/
Many agile concepts came from the manufacturing space. Mary and Tom share the decades of experience that brought them to define the term Lean Software Development. As always, they use the power of stories to talk about how organizations need to think differently about how they organize and optimize team flow.
It was a joy listening to them and I hope you enjoy it as well.
You can reach Mary at mary@poppendieck.com or follow her on Twitter @mpoppendieck.
QuickBooks and TurboTax are practically household names. Intuit drives projects large and small to improve customer experiences and find new market opportunities. Adopting agile takes a new mindset and Vincent Abbate is all-in, and shares some rare insight into how teams must work in a fast-paced, customer-driven tech company.
Bill Raymond and his colleague John have a short discussion on various agile frameworks and philosophies, such as kanban, lean manufacturing, scrum, and safe.
Manuel Pais is the co-author of Team Topologies, a book focused on team organization and agile in corporate spaces. He is a lead Editor at Conflux, and the DevOps Lead Editor at InfoQ, where he uses his background in team topologies and DevOps to further ideas on creating an efficient team in the workplace and beyond. Manuel is also an IT Organizational Consultant and trainer, helping clients understand their organizations and accelerate workflow and delivery practices.
Matthew Skelton is the co-author of Team Topologies and several other books. He is also the Founder and Lead Consultant at Conflux, a specialist publisher of practitioner-led techniques for software teams, and the Lead Instigator at SenseConf, a conference held several times a year to share ideas in DevOps and Agile in corporate spaces. Matthew has written several other books on software delivery, and he also runs a blog where he shares his experiences working with teams and creating an environment where teams can grow on an individual and group scale
In this episode… Adopting agile means organizing your teams for efficiency, or as authors Manuel Pais and Matthew Skelton put it, improving team flow. Their book, Team Topologies, is a must-read for any organization that wants to adopt agile.
In this week's episode, host Bill Raymond is joined by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, co-authors of Team Topologies: Organizing Businesses and Technology Teams for Fast Flow. Manuel and Matthew discuss their book and how it addresses the future of autonomous teams and how it helps resolve common problems faced by agile coaches. They delve into the topic of a manager's role in a technology-driven industry, and the importance of flow and streamlined communication channels for organizations. Stay tuned.
William "Bill" Raymond has worked in the project management industry for over 20 years and inspired others to collaborate while bringing several teams together with the Agile Methodology. He is the founder of Cambermast; an award-winning strategic consulting firm focused on helping companies stay relevant in today's fast-paced, technology-driven company. Bill guides his clients through workshops where they learn how to innovate and use the methods of Agile Methodology to collaborate and create solutions through co-creation.
In this episode… How do you incorporate customer feedback into the way you do business? How does it add value to the way you serve your customers and to your own company structure? Change is something many companies resist because of the disruption it can bring about but if you know how to incorporate it well into your company’s systems, it can not only help you stay relevant, it can also open so many doors for you.
Bill Raymond, Founder, and CEO of Cambermast, a consultancy agency that helps companies stay relevant in whatever industry they are in, says that everything you need to know about incorporating change into your business can be found in the Agile Manifesto. The manifesto emphasizes the importance of co-creation and change and it also helps streamline collaboration between consumer and developer through agile techniques.
Join Agile in Action with host Bill Raymond in this episode as he talks to John Corcoran of Rise25 about the history of agile and why it works. Tune in to their discussion on why software developers need feedback from the customers they are creating the product for and how accepting and incorporating change can be a pivotal decision to a company’s success.