Agile-Lean Ireland (ALI) Podcast: Recent Episodes

Agile-Lean Ireland

Join our new ALI Podcast to listen to talks and stories from our community and meetups.

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An Exciting Online Meetup in partnership with Businessmap, as a part of the Reinvention in Action event series!

Hear the real story of Ding - a global mobile top-up platform. Our special guest, Catherine Lane, will share her insights on the Agile journey, highlighting the wins, losses, and challenges to overcome in Agile transformations.

· Learn from a top industry expert
· Network with Agile professionals
· Enjoy an engaging and informative virtual session

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to gain valuable insights and connect with like-minded professionals.

Come along to learn from top guest speakers, network, pitch for new job opportunities, have a beer, and have some fun along the way. 🚀
https://www.agileleanireland.org/

Businessmap offers the most flexible software platform for outcomes-driven enterprise agility. The unmatched functionality consolidates multiple tools into one, enabling affordable deployment at scale, visibility across all projects/portfolios, and alignment on goals, to deliver quality work faster. https://businessmap.io/

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We've been having a blast experimenting with AI tools to prepare for hashtag#ALI2024!

In addition to our serious work, we decided to have a little fun and created the official ALI Song. 🎵 Give it a listen and let us know what you think! 👇

We're excited to continue exploring the possibilities of AI to enhance our work and bring a little joy along the way.

Stay tuned for more AI-powered surprises as we gear up for #ALI2024! 🎉

Get your tickets at www.agileleanireland.org

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Distilled from the brand new Scrum Anti-patterns Guide, Stefan Wolpers highlights the top twelve Agile anti-patterns jeopardizing project success.

Join for a journey through common pitfalls like precise estimates, dogmatism, oversized backlogs, and the illusion of autonomy, and learn actionable insights for overcoming these challenges.

Stefan Wolpers
Speaker bio: Embarking on a Scrum career unintentionally in 2006, Stefan was initiated as a Scrum Master for a small German startup. Lacking initial knowledge but employing careful observation, note-taking, and dialogue, the author embraced the role and learned from the team’s experiences. Eighteen years into his Scrum journey, Stefan maintains an unwavering appetite for learning, humbled by the vast knowledge shared within the agile community. Recognizing newcomers’ overwhelming challenges in this field due to scarce formal education, he aspires to provide guidance, emphasizing a pragmatic, common-sense approach grounded in observing human interaction and collaboration. Since 2019, Stefan has served as a Professional Scrum Trainer for Scrum.org.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Product owners often struggle to translate their big ideas into small user stories that the team can deliver in a sprint. When a user story is too big, it is harder to understand, estimate, and implement successfully. Some teams break the ‘business story’ into ‘technical stories’ but this doesn’t solve the problem because most or all of the technical stories need to be completed before there is anything meaningful for the stakeholders. This session will teach you 4 simple, yet powerful techniques to break big stories into smaller stories that are meaningful to stakeholders and deliver business value.

About Chris Sims
Chris Sims is a certified scrum trainer, agile coach, and recovering C++ developer who helps organizations improve their productivity and happiness.

Chris is the founder and product owner of Agile Learning Labs and the co-author of two best-selling scrum books: The Elements of Scrum and Scrum: a Breathtakingly Brief and Agile Introduction. More of their writing can be found on the Agile Learning Labs blog.
Before starting Agile Learning Labs in 2007, Chris made a living in roles such as: scrum master, product owner, engineering manager, project manager, software engineer, musician, and auto mechanic.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Eric, a distinguished Army veteran whose remarkable career journey, beginning at West Point and culminating in brigade command in Army recruiting, has been characterized by leadership excellence. Eric's military service includes being the honour graduate of the Army Ranger School, leading infantry company and battalion commands in Afghanistan, and instilling a passion for developing leaders.

In 2020, driven by his commitment to leadership development, Eric founded Arrowhead Leadership Consulting. His love for building relationships and nurturing personal and professional growth in leaders is at the core of Arrowhead's vision and values. Eric's goal is clear: to impact lives by empowering individuals to become better leaders.
You can discover Eric's insights and leadership wisdom on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lopezonleadership1962

Eric’s talk “Mission Command 2.0" delves into the evolution of leadership philosophy within the army. Eric explores the necessity of modernizing the mission command leadership philosophy to align with the emotional intelligence paradigm and address the needs of new generations.

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Gavin, a seasoned leader with 18 years of experience spearheading medical device development projects. Currently serving as the CTO at Bluedrop Medical, a cutting-edge start-up focused on revolutionizing healthcare, Gavin is at the forefront of developing an innovative solution to monitor the early signs of diabetic foot ulcers.

Gavin's wealth of experience extends beyond Bluedrop Medical. As the former CTO of VASGARD Medical, a start-up specialized in electronic wound devices, and a former editor at Medgadget, Gavin brings a diverse perspective to the intersection of technology and healthcare.

Gavin’s talk is titled “Incubating an agile organisation”. The talk provides an overview of how Bluedrop Medical have leveraged a team-oriented culture to evolve a growing agile organization. It illustrates how a relatively small organization effectively manages a variety of disparate programs across compliance, software development, systems engineering, manufacturing and fundamental research.

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Live music, parodies, and Agile. This is not your usual talk. In this wild mix of ingredients, we will explore together some very common challenges in the Agile world.

How? From the perspective of a Scrum Master who is embarking on a wild journey, full of ups and downs, making mistakes and learning throughout the path. About the parodies? They will set the tone (pun intended) of each step of this journey. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride in this mad session. This will be energetic, funny, and relevant.

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Join Fred Deichler as he recounts his transformative journey from Development Manager to Agile Coach, guided by a set of crucial competencies. Through the lens of the Agile Coaching Growth Wheel, Fred will demonstrate how these competencies align with common roles in the Agile landscape today. This interactive session will delve into key aspects of the 21 competencies, covering areas like Self Mastery, Foundational Skills, and Mindsets, among others. Learn how to create your own Growth Wheel and chart a focused path for your career development.

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In the realm of team dynamics, understanding behavioural preference is paramount. Enter the world of personality colours: Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. Each color provides a lens to view not just individual motivations and strengths, but also how they interplay in a team setting.

Red personalities, with their assertiveness and drive, often lead the charge, setting the pace and direction. They thrive on challenges and are quick decision-makers.

Blue personalities, meticulous and thoughtful, ensure that every detail is considered, making them invaluable in planning and execution phases. Their analytical nature complements the Reds by providing depth and structure.

Yellow personalities infuse teams with creativity and enthusiasm. Their adaptability and spontaneous nature can spark innovation, making them crucial during brainstorming sessions or when a fresh perspective is needed.

Meanwhile, Green personalities, with their nurturing and harmonious nature, play the role of team glue. They ensure cohesion, mediate conflicts, and provide the emotional support that teams often need during stressful times.

We all have all four energies within us, simply in different orders of preference. By recognizing and valuing these colour personalities, teams can optimize collaboration. Leaders can assign roles that play to each member's strengths, ensuring not just task completion, but also team harmony. This talk will delve into the practical applications of personality colours in team settings, offering insights on building resilient, harmonious, and high-performing teams through the power of understanding.

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The biggest challenge for anyone leading Agile change (or any change) is to successfully transform culture and change human behaviour, enabling team members to learn more efficient ways of working and collaborating so that they can deliver business value and ROI earlier.
This is where managers and agile leaders may be missing a vital component... working on building their core coaching skills and competencies. Many people mistakenly believe that coaching is all about giving instruction, guidance, telling people what to do. That can be useful sometimes, but it doesn't encourage team members to be more self-sufficient, to problem-solve for themselves, to have more agency and empowerment when it comes to how they work. This is where real coaching can help.

Join us for an interactive session to get a taste of the top 3 coaching skills that can help you become a more impactful leader and maximise your influence.... to ensure there's clarity, commitment and accountability. Whether you're a leader or team member, you'll take away some practical tips for having more impactful conversations with your colleagues and clients - and who doesn't want that?!
Aimed at: Project & Programme Managers, Agile Leaders & Coaches, Agile Team members

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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In this enlightening episode of ALI shorts, inspired by Josh Seiden's acclaimed article, we embark on a metaphorical journey through a vast forest. Using the allegory of individual trees representing outputs and the entire forest signifying outcomes, we challenge listeners to consider the broader, interconnected impact of their efforts. Drawing parallels between planting a single tree and introducing a new business feature, we stress the importance of understanding and measuring the true value of our contributions. Beyond mere deliverables, the episode underscores the significance of holistic growth, sustainability, and adaptability in today's dynamic business landscape. Join us as we reflect on the question: Are we merely planting trees, or are we nurturing an entire forest?

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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In this episode of ALI Shorts, we dive deep into the world of agile HR practices. HR managers and leaders are facing a rapidly changing talent landscape, much like navigating through turbulent waters. Our host guides you through specific actions that HR managers can take to implement agile recruitment solutions.

Imagine a river of skill demands, with unpredictable twists and turns. By 2030, 85% of today's jobs will be entirely new. To successfully navigate this dynamic terrain, HR managers must cultivate an agile culture within their organization, invest in cutting-edge technology, tailor recruitment models, integrate tech effectively, and balance it with personalized training.

Discover how HR managers can enhance the candidate experience through AI-enabled applicant tracking systems and create structured roadmaps for technology adoption. Learn how fostering an agile learning culture and building high-touch relationships can help your organization thrive in the ever-evolving talent landscape.

Tune in to this episode for actionable insights that will empower HR managers to steer their recruitment efforts in the right direction and adapt to the changing currents of the job market.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Welcome to "ALI Shorts: Your Agile Art Gallery of Tech Transformation." In this episode, we step into the future of tech-powered artistry, envisioning a dynamic gallery where UI/UX and AI choreograph a mesmerizing dance of innovation. Picture a realm where AI breathes life into UI/UX, offering immersive experiences through VR and AR, transforming user engagement. Discover a world where AI animations and interactive characters respond to emotions, painting a truly alive digital experience. The future unfolds with voice commands, gestures, and seamless interactions, orchestrated by AI, akin to evolving art techniques. However, mastering this AI artistry requires continuous learning and adaptation, as designers refine their craft to create technological masterpieces. Join us as we embrace the evolving canvas of user experience, painting it with the bold strokes of AI-powered creativity in this vibrant digital gallery of tomorrow.

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Welcome to ALI Shorts, where we unravel the symphony of Artificial Intelligence in the orchestra of modern enterprise. In this episode, we explore the convergence of AI and IT operations through the powerful conductor, AIOps.

AIOps, or Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations, is akin to the master conductor of a grand orchestra. It integrates AI, analytics, and machine learning to harmonize and optimize IT processes, ensuring a seamless performance.

Imagine your enterprise as a musical masterpiece. The Agile methodology and Agile coaches act as the maestros, refining each section to adapt swiftly to changing notes. And AIOps? It's the conductor, synchronizing the orchestra, bringing order to the complexity.

Through AIOps, businesses can automate event monitoring, ingest and analyze vast data streams, and filter out the noise, ensuring only the most relevant data is utilized. It's like conducting a seamless performance amidst a vast orchestra of IT processes.

Join us as we dive deeper into this digital symphony. Stay tuned for more episodes where we explore the ever-evolving landscape of AI and its profound impact on enterprises. Until next time, keep orchestrating and embracing the agility of the digital melody.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Welcome to "ALI Shorts," where we delve into the Agile landscape, navigating its complexities to unearth valuable insights. In this episode, we're setting our sights on user-story mapping, a potent tool for Agile teams.

Traditional product development often feels like a dense forest of business documents, lacking a clear route. But fear not, user-story mapping is the Agile team's GPS through this wilderness. It offers a lightweight alternative to chart a digital product's interactions, akin to a GPS guiding through uncharted terrain.

User-story mapping, also known as story maps, operates as our GPS in the Agile wilderness. This lean UX-mapping method employs sticky notes and sketches to plot the course users take within a digital product.

Much like a GPS segments a journey, a user-story map segments a product's journey into activities, steps, and details. These represent high-level tasks, subtasks, and the nitty-gritty interactions, respectively.

In the Agile world, user stories are our navigation waypoints. They describe features or tasks from the user's perspective, aiding efficient navigation. User-story mapping transforms these waypoints into a navigational route, allowing teams to discuss and elaborate on them, eventually adding them to the product backlog.

Creating a user-story map is akin to planning a group road trip, a collaborative effort essential to ensure a smooth journey. It's about establishing context and constructing the map using physical or digital tools, assigning distinct colors for visual clarity.

User-story mapping vs. customer-journey mapping offers distinct perspectives, focusing on the product and user, respectively. While they complement each other, they serve different navigational purposes, enabling Agile teams to choose the right tool for their specific journey.

With user-story maps as our reliable GPS, we can embark on our Agile journey with confidence. They improve collaboration, aid backlog creation, guide minimum-viable-product slicing, and identify risky assumptions. User-story maps are the trusted GPS in the Agile wilderness, encouraging user-centered discussions and efficient prioritization.

Thank you for joining us on this journey through the Agile landscape, exploring the power of user-story mapping. Just like a well-calibrated GPS, user-story mapping guides Agile teams through product development, ensuring a smooth and efficient journey. Until next time, keep mapping those stories and navigating towards success in the Agile wilderness. Stay Agile, stay innovative!

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Lean Inception is a framework that combines Design Thinking and Lean Startup, helping teams and organisations have breakthrough thinking and finding the MVP (Minimum Viable Product), to validate a hypothesis and be lean and fast on product development.

It supports bringing people together, aligning their thoughts and understanding the problem that needs to be resolved.

In this talk, I will cover the core of the methodology and why it has been so important to her and her customers, while building products.

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Let’s not fool ourselves, leading a business in today’s world is highly complex. The rate of change is exponential and this will more than likely only speed up. The world we operate in is complex with known unknowns as well as unknown unknowns. We are still extricating ourselves from the COVID-19 pandemic and now we are dealing with Russian invasion of Ukraine which is having an impact globally e.g. the price of fuel and power skyrocketing. Add into that mix the global supply chain challenges, global warming, extremism, nationalism, etc. and you have a perfect storm of uncertainty that leaders need to navigate their organisations through. To be successful in this world, organisations need to anticipate and adapt to change, learn and pivot and deliver at speed. Not only do they face the challenges highlighted above, in most organisations they also face employing outdated management techniques, growing talent shortages, broken value chains, inflexible operating models, etc. The changes in how we managed organisations has only changed logarithmically and is not a great deal different to how we managed 30 years ago, when the world we operated in was a different place. We have seen the rise of new ways of working and they have definitely assisted in modernising management practices. One only has to consider how many organisations have embraced agile to realise that we are trying new ways to keep up with the rate of change. There are challenges though, including still believing that there is a one-size fits all model for organising the work in the organisation; still using the thinking of the past to address the challenges of now; embracing ERP systems that limit our ability to be flexible; believing that automation is the panacea for success, etc. So how do we address these challenges in this highly complex world? I read and research a great deal and I could not find holistic solutions that addressed the challenges faced. I thus, together with my colleagues at Be Agile, developed The Elastic Organisation™ thinking framework. At its core, The Elastic Organisation™ enables an organisation to build a solid architecture designed to deliver optimum value to its customers, shareholders, employees and community. Whilst this architecture is solid enough to stand up to the rigours of operating in this complex world, it is also flexible enough to confidently meet any significant challenges that it will encounter such as COVID-19.

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In this episode of "Agile Shorts," we join the thrilling relay race of Agile and DhevOps. Picture them as the dynamic duo of software development relay racing, passing the baton seamlessly. Agile sprints ahead, aligning products with customer needs, while DhevOps supports, promoting collaboration between development and IT operations. This synergy, known as Agile DhevOps, is like a relay team sprinting together to deliver value to customers faster. Discover how these runners, with distinct goals, create a perfect relay team, emphasizing testing and automation for stability. They draw inspiration from Lean philosophies, standardize communication, and enhance collaboration for improved product releases and higher customer satisfaction. Join us in exploring the relay race benefits and challenges of integrating Agile and DhevOps, and how this trend is transforming businesses. Stay tuned for more relay race insights in the world of Agile and DhevOps integration on "Agile Shorts."

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In this episode, we're diving into the art of prioritising product projects using the RICE framework. Imagine your product ideas as delectable dishes on a menu, each with its own flavor and appeal. Join us as we explore how to assess the reach, impact, confidence, and effort of your product initiatives, just like choosing the perfect dish from a restaurant menu. Discover the secret recipe to serving up successful projects that leave your customers craving for more. Whether you're a seasoned product manager or just getting started, this episode will help you make informed decisions and create a roadmap that satisfies all your stakeholders' appetites.

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In this episode, we dive deep into the lush and vibrant world of "The Blooming Garden of Opportunity." We explore the concept of a growth mindset through the enchanting analogy of gardening, revealing how nurturing this mindset can lead to bountiful personal and organizational growth. Join us as we plow through misconceptions, weed out fixed-mindset triggers, and provide the essential gardening tools to cultivate a mindset that truly blossoms. Tune in to discover the secrets of cultivating a thriving garden of opportunity in your life and work.

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Welcome to another episode of ALI Shorts, where we simplify Agile concepts. Today, we're exploring Value Stream Mapping. Imagine it as optimizing your Agile process like perfecting a recipe. Just like cooking, you identify bottlenecks in your process and make it more efficient. This ensures value delivery to customers is faster. So, whether in your kitchen or at work, Value Stream Mapping is your recipe for success. 

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As we all settle into the post-Covid era, it's clear that working from home, or WFH, has transformed into a marathon of endurance and adaptability. We'll discuss how employees are seeking the autonomy and flexibility that come with WFH and how organizations are embracing this marathon to attract top talent and avoid the pitfalls of the Turnover Tsunami and The Great Resignation.

But how does this remote work marathon truly impact an employee's ability to perform effectively? Join us as we uncover the twists and turns in this journey. We'll share insights from Microsoft's experiment, which dove deep into the causal relationship between remote work and collaboration practices. Discover how remote work has changed the way employees interact, and why this marathon can be a challenge for organizations aiming to foster innovation.

In this marathon, we'll also find solutions in intentional design, such as 'virtual water cooler' events. These informal, synchronous pit stops offer a refreshing break in the marathon of Zoom meetings and enhance collaboration without the fatigue of traditional meetings. We'll explore how HR professionals can play a role in orchestrating these pit stops, ensuring that the marathon of remote work remains balanced and innovative.

So, lace up your running shoes and join us as we navigate the marathon of remote work, discovering the importance of endurance, balance, and collaboration in this evolving landscape. Don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with your fellow marathoners (colleagues) as we continue this exciting journey into the future of work.

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Join us in this episode of ALI Shorts as we delve into the captivating world of crafting environments that transcend profit-focused mindsets and nurture purpose-driven companies. In today's business landscape, the notion that companies should embody more than just financial gains is widely acknowledged. However, the true challenge lies in transforming these aspirations into tangible reality.

Drawing inspiration from real success stories, including the remarkable resurgence of Best Buy, we explore the essential components that lay the foundation for a company's purpose to flourish. Imagine a workplace where employees are invigorated by a noble mission, where personal growth seamlessly aligns with the company's overarching purpose. We liken emotions to rainbows, enriching the landscape of purpose-driven endeavors. Discover how an environment of "human enchantment" can spark remarkable transformations, as seen in Best Buy's revitalisation.

In this episode, we journey through the six core ingredients that foster an environment conducive to human enchantment. From connecting personal aspirations to the company's purpose, nurturing genuine human bonds, and fostering psychological safety to granting autonomy and nurturing learning spaces, each ingredient forms a vital piece of the puzzle.

Join us as we explore the significance of creating an atmosphere that allows human magic to thrive. Embrace the art of building authentic connections, even in remote work settings, and learn how businesses can adapt and evolve in the face of challenges. Whether you're a seasoned executive, a team leader, or an aspiring entrepreneur, this episode will inspire you to craft an environment that nurtures both the growth of your workforce and the realisation of your company's purpose.

Tune in to ALI Shorts for insights, anecdotes, and practical advice on unleashing human enchantment and fostering purpose-driven success in your business journey.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Welcome to "Agile-Lean Ireland Shorts." In this episode, we uncover the vital role of emotional intelligence in Agile teams. Discover why it's more than a buzzword – it's essential for success.

Emotional intelligence involves recognizing, managing, and positively using emotions. We explore its impact on Agile, from stress navigation to empathetic communication.

Imagine leading an Agile team; your emotions shape the team's strength. We discuss why emotional intelligence is key for effective leadership.

Breaking it down, we cover self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management – the pillars of emotional intelligence.

Explore the repercussions of a technically skilled yet emotionally lacking team member. Learn how emotional intelligence fosters open communication, vital in Agile's transparent environment.

Start with self-awareness, a foundation to enhance emotional intelligence. Find linked resources for further learning.

In a nutshell, emotional intelligence drives Agile leadership and teamwork. Remember, emotions guide the team's direction.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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In this episode, we explore the synergy between the agile movement and psychological safety. The host underscores the crucial intersection for software development and team dynamics.

Agile is hailed as flexible software development, prioritizing individuals and interactions. But the journey isn't always smooth; failure often stems from a lack of psychological safety. This safety allows fearless expression of ideas and challenges, akin to dancing without missteps.

The roadmap to psychological safety involves inclusion, learning, contribution, and becoming a challenger. Five actionable tips follow: crafting a shared vision, clarifying roles, fostering feedback, endorsing experimentation, and celebrating wins.

Ultimately, this episode highlights that agile's success rests on nurturing psychological safety - a cornerstone for team excellence.

Inspired by  Agile Doesn’t Work Without Psychological Safety - Timothy R. Clark

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The talk is about prioritization techniques and RICE framework for prioritizing product backlogs. This will be a highly interactive session, so come prepared to participate and engage in the conversation.
The RICE framework can be used to prioritize features or ideas based on their importance. The higher the RICE score, the more important the feature or idea is. The RICE framework can help teams make more informed decisions about which features or ideas to work on first. It can also help teams track their progress and make sure they are working on the most important things.
The talk session will cover the following topics:

Various ways to prioritize your product backlog
What is the RICE framework?
How to use the RICE framework to prioritize product backlogs
Examples of how the RICE framework has been used in the real world
Tips for using the RICE framework effectively
The session will be of interest to anyone who is involved in/working with Agile teams and will provide participants with the tools they need to prioritize their work more effectively and make a bigger impact on their customers

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Recorded on Wednesday, June 24, 2020We are delighted to invite you to our next virtual meetup on Organizational and HR Agility.

Our guest speakers for this session are highly experienced Agile HR practitioners, leaders, and experts, who will share with us their experience and learnings, particularly with regard to organisational and HR agility in these Covid times - and beyond.

Speakers:

  1. Niamh McNamara is currently an Enterprise Product Owner & Global Process Owner Performance Management at Novartis. Niamh was previously Head of People & Organization Novartis Global Service Centre. Niamh will discuss the Novartis journey with Organisational Agility and her own experience of leading the global reform and redesign of Performance Management for Novartis using Agile principles and practices.
  2. Fabiola Eyholzer is the CEO of Just Leading Solutions, a New York-based consultancy for Lean | Agile People Operations. Fabiola is an international consultant and leader in helping enterprises to accelerate their agile transformations and agile people operations. Fabiola is no stranger to the ALI community and will be giving a talk at ALI2020 later this year.

We look forward to you joining us for what will be an engaging and insightful session.

If you have any questions re. this session, please do not hesitate to contact Kevin Empey or Joanna Koprowicz (hosts).

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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In today's fast-paced and constantly changing business landscape, companies must be able to innovate quickly and adapt to new challenges. Agile methodologies are becoming increasingly popular as they offer a flexible and iterative delivery method. However, a growth mindset can be the missing link that elevates the effectiveness of Agile ways of working.

A growth mindset is a belief that intelligence, skills, and abilities can be developed through hard work, dedication, and continuous learning. It contrasts with a fixed mindset that assumes that these qualities are innate and unchangeable. In an Agile environment, a growth mindset can empower individuals and teams to embrace challenges, experiment with new ideas, and learn from failures.

This talk will explore the benefits of a growth mindset in an Agile ways of working. We will discuss how a growth mindset can foster innovation and creativity, promote collaboration and communication, and enhance the ability to respond to change. We will also provide practical tips and strategies for cultivating a growth mindset within teams, such as seeking feedback, embracing challenges, and celebrating progress.

Joanna Koprowicz

Joanna is a passionate Agile Enthusiast who has made it her mission to bring positive change to a wide range of organisations and sectors. With a strong background in business and technology, Joanna has developed an impressive career in consulting, coaching, and leadership development, helping start-ups and multinational corporations alike to reach new heights.

Joanna's work has spanned many industries, including the Financial Sector, the Travel Industry, Aviation, E-learning, and Gaming. Her focus is always on helping teams to grow and improve, delivering work on the next level and creating sustainable, highly-efficient teams.
In addition to her work as a consultant and coach, Joanna is a professional coach and one of the co-organizers of Agile-Lean Ireland Community. She has also helped to coordinate Agile-Lean events internationally, including the Global Scrum Gathering in Vienna.

Joanna's academic background includes a Masters in Project Management from University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Business School. She has also earned numerous Agile certifications and is a provider of Agile and Lean training and consulting to clients of Enterprise Ireland, IDA, and the Local Enterprise Offices. She is authorized by the International Consortium for Agile to run the certified ICP-AHR (Agile HR) and ICP- LEA (Agile Leadership) trainings.

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Description: In this episode, we discuss the article "The Agile C-Suite" from Harvard Business Review. The article argues that traditional hierarchical structures in organizations are no longer sufficient in today's fast-paced and constantly changing business environment. Instead, leaders in the C-Suite need to adopt a more agile approach to better respond to challenges and opportunities. We provide a detailed summary of the article and highlight key insights, including the importance of building a culture that encourages agility and innovation, the role of communication and collaboration in driving success, and the need for continuous learning and experimentation.

If you're interested in learning more about how to lead with agility, we highly recommend giving this article a read.

Show notes:

  • Introduction: ALI shares his thoughts on "The Agile C-Suite" article from Harvard Business Review and why he believes it's relevant to our community.
  • Summary: We provide a detailed summary of the article, including key insights, examples of successful agile practices, and the importance of building an agile culture.
  • Discussion: We discuss the implications of the article and share our own experiences with leading with agility.
  • Conclusion: We wrap up the episode by emphasizing the importance of agility in today's business environment and encouraging our listeners to share their thoughts and feedback.
  • Additional resources: We provide links to the article and any other relevant resources mentioned in the episode.
  • Contact information: We encourage our listeners to reach out with any feedback or suggestions for future episodes.

We hope you find this episode informative and insightful. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review if you enjoyed it!

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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The effects of the shift to hybrid work

Enabled by new technologies and informed by the experiences during COVID pandemic, many employees would like to continue working remotely. Many companies, on the contrary, would like to see their employees back to the office. In this context, hybrid work is often proposed as a solution that meets the interests of both employees and employers and captures the benefits of both remote and in-office work. But is it indeed “the best of both worlds”?

In this research seminar, Dr. Andreeva will discuss her ongoing research on the effects of the mass-scale shift to hybrid work. For example, what happens in a team, when some of your team members work mostly from the office, while others work mostly from home? How do work arrangements of the employees – in the office, hybrid or remote - influence their experiences at work and their performance? How do organisations manage the shift to hybrid work? The talk will explore the emerging evidence on these issues and discuss implications for individual employees and organisations.

The Speaker
Dr. Tatiana Andreeva is an Associate Professor in Management and Organizational Behavior and Research Director at the School of Business, Maynooth University, Ireland. Her ongoing research projects explore how the shift to remote and hybrid work influences knowledge sharing and collaboration in organisations – what challenges companies face and how to address them. Tatiana’s work has been published in leading international academic journals such as Human Resource Management Journal, Human Resource Management and Journal of World Business, amongst others, as well as in the business media outlets. Prior to joining academia, Tatiana worked in management consulting and in HR.

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If Agile is a “Copernican revolution in management,” as Ed Denning suggests, is it also a “Copernican revolution in leadership? That question spawns more questions before we can answer it meaningfully. Is management (the quality of managing) different in leadership (the quality of leading)? Are managers (people who manage) also leaders (people who lead)? Who are the managers (which people manage)? Who are the leaders (which people lead)?

In this workshop, we’ll address how to begin answering these questions for yourself, by introducing participants to “leadership models” and “how to build yours.” The session will be practical because we learn by doing; it will be interactive because we learn faster when interacting (doing) with others. The session will be thought-provoking because only you can develop a leadership model that’s your own.

The first learning objective will be focused on revealing and reflecting back to you on what your assumptions and understandings of leadership might be. Some of these assumptions may be unconscious, based on biases, or both. This section will be interactive using real-time questions to solicit data and feedback to help open our thinking about leadership. At the end of this section, participants will have tools to reflect on their leadership assumptions and some of those assumptions explored and declared.

The second learning objective will be focused on how we traditionally study and teach leadership, and why those established practices make no sense in the Agile/Lean organization. This section will be a short lecture, using a statistical model to expose the limited utility of our traditional approaches to understanding and developing leadership in the organization. At the end of this session, participants will have some tools for beginning to tease out what they think “leadership” is, what is “good” leadership, what is “bad” leadership, and who the leaders are in their organization – as well as some references to continue this reflection going forward.

The third section will introduce leadership as a systems model, including a meta-model for defining and improving that model. This section will involve an interactive group breakout exercise. At the end of this session, participants will have a good start on their unique leadership model to help them “show up with leadership in the moment” or perhaps not – because the task at have may fall outside the boundary of our leadership system.

Speaker: Christopher Curley

An ICE-CE, Chapter Leader ("People Manager") at a global financial institution serving a team of Agile Coaches, a graduate of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, with degrees in political science and history, and a student of leadership for the past thirty years (James MacGreggor Burner, Barbara Kellerman, Ahmed Sidky, Bela Banathy, Chris Argyris, et al.) I introduced this topic on Marsha Acker's "Defining Moments of Leadership" podcast.

Certified Agile Coaching expert (ICE-CE), Program (SPC 4, PMP), and Team (CSM) Leader with +15 year history of delivering quality products, improving the efficiency of processes, and developing performing teams, spanning Fortune 100 enterprises to mid-sized technology, manufacturing, and financial sectors. Led Agile/Lean transition and adoption across the enterprise, including hardware design teams, software development teams, infrastructure services, business operations teams, manufacturing, and marketing.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccurley/

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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In this session, we'll dive into the concept of a stress mindset and explore how it can impact our lives in profound ways. Drawing recent psychological research, we'll learn about the two different stress mindsets: the "threat" mindset and the "challenge" mindset. We'll also explore how each mindset can impact our bodies, our emotions, and our performance.

Find Olesya here: https://www.olesyaluraschi.com/

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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In this presentation, we will discuss our firsthand experiences of constructing agile testing methodologies through the utilization of BDD (Behavior Driven Development) and example mapping. Our aim is to minimize gaps and functional errors while enhancing lead time.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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SCRUM at War

Inspection of how society, army, and business can survive and win by following basic SCRUM values and an Agile approach, with examples from the Russian war against Ukraine.

Oleksandr Buratynskyi

Oleksandr Buratynskyi, Organizational Consultant & Certified Agile Professional (PAL-I, ACC) / Scrum Master (PSM) with 10+ years of international expertise of Embedding innovation into organizations, 
successful Agile implementation, facilitation, coaching, mentoring, teaching in Agile, SCRUM (LeSS), Kanban, startup pivot, culture creator with extensive Quality Assurance background

(Slice, GlobalLogic, Luxoft, Credit-Suisse, UBS, tTravel, Slated, Competera, Innovecs, Emerge, agiledrive).

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Product Discovery is a mindset and a continuous process for validating hypotheses and gathering empirical evidence on the value of new product features BEFORE developing them. When applied properly it can reduce the risk of losing time, human talent, and money in functionalities that, when implemented, might not be as attractive, feasible, or profitable as expected.

In this session, Ricardo Colusso will describe the key elements of Product Discovery, share some real-world examples and experiences,and then we will work in subteams for applying some key concepts and tools.

Ricardo Colusso is a Senior Product Owner and Product Management coach with 25 years of experience working across Latin America, the United States and European countries.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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We all know that great leaders have great networks. Most of us realize that we should be networking more. But so often we don't. In this Linkedin live you will learn what the key components are to creating an amazing network and what you have been missing in previous attempts at networking. This will allow you to stop wasting time engaging in networking that doesn't result in deep connections and instead foster connections that will be resilient and meaningful.

Olesya is a Harvard-educated Leadership and High-Performance Coach. Her work lies in helping people achieve their full potential and utilizing psychological science to achieve their goals. Her areas of focus are optimal performance, motivation, neuropsychology, and stress optimization. Her clients are from Microsoft, Amazon, Accenture, as well as entrepreneurs and start-up founders. She was previously Head of Marketing at the Institute of Coaching, Harvard Medical School, and continues to serve as an advisor to Seattle area start-ups.

https://www.olesyaluraschi.com/ & https://www.olesyaluraschi.com/mastermind/

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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LeSS-Huge Adoption Case Study

Join James Carpenter and his mysterious co-presenter as they present highlights from a LeSS-Huge adoption effort at a large multi-national networking and server hardware company. After a quick walk-through of the case study excerpts, James and Mitya will focus on participant questions inspired by the extensive diagrams available in the pre-read content.

* PLEASE PREPARE BY READING PRE-READ CONTENT *
Please skim the case study by reading the following:

  • Synopsis section
  • All figures and associated captions
  • Conclusion section

https://less.works/case-studies/large-server-hardware-company

Colourful information-rich context for the discussions is provided in the many graphics found in the pre-read content. Nuances regarding challenges from executive management changes, clever requirement area boundary definitions, complex engineering challenges, and the political dynamics of a multi-national engineering organization can all be seen in the figures and captions provided in the pre-read content

Speakers:
James Carpenter is a LeSS certified trainer, coach software engineer, and author who grew up on a Texas dairy farm. His coaching is grounded by the many years he spent as a hands-on software engineer and manager, along with a great deal of academic study, and in-the-trenches transformation work. He is focused on large LeSS and LeSS-Huge organizational transformations. His book "Forging Change: Agile Restructuring in Practice" is available in both e-book and print formats from most bookstores including Amazon (http://amzn.com/1732875111).

Mitya is an extremely talented senior engineering manager. He has extensive hands-on experience as both a hardware and firmware engineer. He was a pivotal director-level manager involved in the LeSS-Huge adoption being discussed. More concrete and glowing details have been omitted in an effort to protect the anonymity of the end client being discussed.

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Have you continuously set a goal for yourself with the best intention but just can't seem to stick to it? Learn why we fail at goals and how to use our own psychology to achieve and stick to goals.

Olesya is a Harvard-educated Leadership and High-Performance Coach. Her work lies in helping people achieve their full potential and utilizing psychological science to achieve their goals. Her areas of focus are optimal performance, motivation, neuropsychology, and stress optimization. Her clients are from Microsoft, Amazon, Accenture, as well as entrepreneurs and start-up founders. She was previously Head of Marketing at the Institute of Coaching, Harvard Medical School, and continues to serve as an advisor to Seattle area start-ups.

https://www.olesyaluraschi.com/

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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There is a better way to set goals that are backed by psychological science, the issue is most of us don't do this. Learn how to set better goals for 2023 in this video.

Olesya is a Harvard-educated Leadership and High-Performance Coach. Her work lies in helping people achieve their full potential and utilizing psychological science to achieve their goals. Her areas of focus are optimal performance, motivation, neuropsychology, and stress optimization. Her clients are from Microsoft, Amazon, Accenture, as well as entrepreneurs and start-up founders. She was previously Head of Marketing at the Institute of Coaching, Harvard Medical School, and continues to serve as an advisor to Seattle area start-ups.

https://www.olesyaluraschi.com/

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Meet Madison Arnholt an experienced global project manager and now Intuitive Life Coach with over 500+ hours of experience coaching clients all over the world tap into their intuition and heal energy blocks so they can live a more aligned, fulfilling life.

Madison began her spiritual growth journey and self-healing 8 years ago. Her unique approach combines intuition, mindset, energetics, emotional release and manifestation all refined through her own transformation from sexual trauma, eating disorders, severe anxiety, chronic back pain, eczema, sleeping only 2 hours a night to thriving CEO, spiritual life coach and wife.

She’s on a mission to help you overcome what’s holding you back so you can THRIVE in all areas of your life.

Madison’s Certifications: Project Management Professional (PMP), Inner Voice Facilitator, NLP Practitioner, Life & Success Coach, Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner, TIME Techniques Practitioner, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

What’s covered in the episode:

  • What is intuition?
  • What happens if we trust our intuition
  • Why should we follow our intuition?
  • The 4 most common ways your intuition will communicate with you
  • 6 ways to tap into your intuition and strengthen your connection
  • Ways to get out of your head and into your body
  • The power of releasing emotion stuck in the body (what Eckhart Tolle calls the “pain-body”)

Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

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Our friends at Lean Business Ireland have allowed us to share our very own Joanna's talk at the Lean Business Ireland conference about Methods & Systems. 

Stream Facilitator: Ciarán Crosbie - Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 
Speaker 1: Seamus Doran - Assistant Head of Economic Development & Enterprise - Carlow LEO 
Speaker 2: Dr. Eileen Diskin - Innovation Academy - UCD 
Speaker 3: Joanna Koprowicz – Founder - Agile Lean Ireland 

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Vessy Tasheva
Founder & CEO of Vessy.com (global DEIB and Mental Health consultancy)

Originally Bulgarian and based out of Ireland, I work with clients across Europe and North America such as Soundcloud, Reward Gateway, Typeform and more, and now expanding in Latin America.

I authored two editions of my independent international Diversity in the Workplace Report (2019 edition featuring 10 companies from 10 countries: vessy.com/diversity and 2020 edition featuring 10 companies from 10 industries: vessy.com/2020), along with a whitepaper on How To Drive Measurable Results in D&I with OKRs.

I was named by Hive Learning as one of 2019’s most influential D&I Leaders globally and as one of the UK’s most influential D&I leaders in 2020. In 2021 I was listed by Onalytica in Top 50 D&I Influencers globally. In 2021, Vessy.com was featured in Top 10 of Emerging Diversity & Inclusion Companies in Europe by Manage HR Magazine.

In April 2020 I launched a video course on Inclusive Leadership on SocialTalent, learning platform, where the course ranked as #2 in the Most Watched course for the month of May.

In the last 11 years, prior to being a founder, I have worked as Chief Strategy Officer of a talent tech startup, as well as in various roles across product, marketing, and culture in companies between 4 and 800 employees.

Our team is growing - check out the careers page on Vessy.com

After completing a certified course in Psychotherapy & Counselling with PCI College in Ireland and authoring a paper on Intersectionality, Privilege, and Otherness in Psychotherapy, I am now studying in Trinity College in Dublin to complete a masters of science in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in order to examine D&I in the field of psychotherapy and to develop an intersectional approach to D&I through mental health as a unifying factor for all employees in an increasingly polarized world.

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Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as a concept has been around for a while. Many companies set out to work with OKRs and implement the seemingly simple idea in their organization - often enough without a clear answer to the most important question: “To what ultimate end?”.
So it’s time to dig a little deeper! In this meetup, Natalija will invite you to look at OKRs in the context of current business challenges and complexity and broaden your perspective around the “simple idea”!
Through examples, case studies and discussions, we will explore;

OKRs in the context of complexity
Different development patterns of OKRs in organizations
how to link actual business problems to OKRs
Making an informed decision whether OKRs are worth pursuing for you > Designing an OKR System that works for your organization
And of course we will leave enough time at the end for all you Q&As.

Speaker's Bio:
Natalija is an organizational development coach and OKR expert. She supports companies wanting to increase focus, autonomy, and value creation to identify and prioritize their challenges, set valuable goals and continuously improve. She has been working within People Development and Transformation since 2010 before starting her own business offering an entire ecosystem of training and coaching focusing on Leadership &
Responsibility, Objectives & Key Results and Agile HR & Learning.
In 2020, she published the practical book “OKRs at the center: How to drive change with goals and create the organization you want” together with Sonja Mewes via Sense & Respond Press. Today the learning and development programs supporting organizations with OKRs and more are united in the OATC Academy!

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Talk Description:
Adaptive/Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) is key to effectively becoming an agile organisation and can be considered one of the pillars of business agility. In this talk Shane introduces the key ideas around LPM, discusses the 12 principles of Lean Portfolio Management from ICAgile, how they translate into an adaptive strategy and from there into effective execution and some common pitfalls to avoid when shifting to an adaptive portfolio.

Speaker's Bio:
Over the last 35+ years Shane has been a practitioner and leader of developers, testers, trainers, project managers and business analysts, helping teams to deliver results that align with overall business objectives. He spent 20+ years as a professional trainer, coach and consultant specialising in Agile practices, business analysis, project management, requirements, testing methodologies in Australia, New Zealand and around the world. He has worked with large and small organisations, from individual teams to large transformations all around the world, across all levels of Information Technology and software intensive product development.
Shane was a director of the Agile Alliance from 2011 to 2016 and was the founding Chair of Agile Alliance New Zealand. He is co-chair of the Agile Alliance Agile Coaching Ethics initiative, working to produce a code of ethical conduct for agile coaching. He is an ICF registered Professional Coach.

He leads the Culture and Methods editorial team for InfoQ.com where he hosts the weekly InfoQ Culture Podcast. He is co-author of the recent book #noprojects - A Culture of Continuous Value, available on Amazon and from InfoQ

He was the Director of Community Development for ICAgile from 2017 to 2022. He has re-joined SoftEd as the Head of Global Delivery from February 2022.
“I firmly believe that humanistic way of working and the agile mindset are desperately needed in organisations all around the globe today. Taking agile values and principles beyond software is important and making sure they are properly embedded is absolutely crucial for success – we’re in an industry that touches every aspect of people’s lives and massively influences society as a whole and I want to be a part of making sure that industry is both ethical and sustainable.”

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There are different levels of leaders, each of which require different tactics to influence. Jason will describe the differences he's seen between leaders at different levels (leaders of individual contributers, leaders of leaders, leaders of leaders of leaders) and then explore different tactics that seem to work better or worse for each level.

Speaker's Bio
Jason is a Staff Agile Coach at Spotify NYC and has been there since 2015 supporting Spotify Advertising, mostly around managing the effects of scaling and supporting leadership teams. Prior to Spotify, he was a Principal Consultant at ThoughtWorks since 2001, mostly in Australia. While there, he supported and was a committer on the CruiseControl Open Source continuous integration server. He first encountered Extreme Programming in 1999.
He mostly writes on Twitter (@jchyip) and Medium (https://jchyip.medium.com). His most popular writing seems to be "It's Not Just Standing Up: Patterns for Daily Standup Meetings" (https://www.martinfowler.com/articles/itsNotJustStandingUp.html) and "Why T-Shaped People" (https://jchyip.medium.com/why-t-shaped-people-e8706198e437)

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Every day, we make hundreds of decisions. With that in mind, even a minor improvement in your decision-making abilities can drastically alter your long-term trajectory. Despite this, the majority of people do not bother to develop those abilities.

In this workshop, you will learn how to make better decisions and also feel better more sure in the decisions you make. We will engage in exercises to clarify any current decisions you are struggling with so come with a decision in mind you would like to work on.

Speaker:
Olesya is a Harvard-educated Leadership and High-Performance Coach. Her work lies in helping people achieve their full potential and utilizing psychological science to achieve their goals. Her areas of focus are optimal performance, motivation, neuropsychology, and stress optimization. Her clients are from Microsoft, Amazon, Accenture, as well as entrepreneurs and startup founders. She was previously Head of Marketing at the Institute of Coaching, Harvard Medical School, and continues to serve as an advisor to Seattle area startups.