A problem is (also) a question to be answered or solved. Especially by reasoning or calculating Cambridge Dictionary – https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/problem I love problem solving I love to help others to learn to solve problems. But there is a problem with this. When I say problem I often mean “a puzzle to be solved” or “a thing to understand” but I think what people hear is: A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome. The first thing that came up when I googled “meaning of problem” This is a bad starting point … Continue reading I see coaching values as a “problem” which is why I am so passionate about it

I strongly believe that coaching teams (and leaders) is a great idea. I think an agile coach can do a lot more than increase velocity with a team or have decent stand-ups.  I also read a lot about different approaches to coaching and like to hone my craft as a coach so that I can become an expert coach. Sadly though, I often remember my father’s old joke that the definition of an expert is that they come to know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. So I sometimes questions when my expertise … Continue reading When is ignorance better than clarity?

Some time ago, I was wondering why I was noticing people moving away from agile approaches (and cultures). One of my theories was that people were neglecting “craftsmanship” when coaching agile teams. I am an agile coach and I often explain to people that agile coaching is about helping teams build the capability to interact better together and better adapt to change. I also say that we are all about helping people discover, pursue and share value. Alas, some stakeholders thing that agile coaching is really about implementing agile best practices from the big agile book of correct behaviour. But … Continue reading Maybe our definition of coach is too narrow

Some people have amazing leadership skills such as communicating a clear vision or aligning people to a cause. I did not receive those awesome gifts, but I did inherit a super power that often comes in handy – managing Bureaucracy. For example, I like to have meetings that are effective. This probably does not seem like a super power to you – but nor should meetings be a terrible curse. When people encounter Scrum, they are often shocked that there are so many meetings (OK we hide the fact by calling them ceremonies, events, rituals, celebrations or something, but they … Continue reading Keeping people on track in meetings

I have been talking to people at work about measuring performance lately and it got me thinking about how we use metrics to understand our work in an agile context. In some ways, results are results and impediments are impediments, so maybe the way we measure things is based on what we measure and not how we work. In other ways though, the way we work and even our attitude to work will impact what we measure, how we measure it and what we learn from it. I often tell people that in agile teams we try to measure the … Continue reading Ranting and raving about agile metrics

The tennis is on in Australia and I guess people are being distracted by a lot of things that have nothing to do with the game. I assume though, that the players are staying focused on playing the best game that they can – and hopefully winning if they are good enough to have a chance. That bit is similar to work at the moment – there are so many distractions going on around me that I think I could spend the whole day doom-scrolling. However, I am likely to be more successful (and happier) if I can be a … Continue reading One goal or many

It is a new year and so I am returning to my blog, which has been neglected for a couple of months. Perhaps I should set myself a typical goal to keep me focused, something like Write 2 blog articles a month; or Publish 2 blog articles by the end of February 2022 These are action based goals and the outcomes are pretty clear. They might even be smart goals because they are pretty specific and they can be measured. In fact I can even predict that I will be 50% complete in attaining the second goal by the time … Continue reading Improvement goals – verbs, adverbs or adjectives?