Many years ago, I stumbled into "agile" and instantly found myself at home. I felt like I was part of "a small group who could change the world", to paraphrase Margaret Read. Originally, I thought it was an approach to running projects based on reality rather than theory. A few years later, I realised that… Continue reading Remember that agile thing?
Tag: agile
Do I know your team better than you do?
I was pondering the value of team coaching recently. My conclusion was that coaches are awesome and you should definitely hire them. If you are a hiring manager then there is no need to read on - just be assured that you will get a positive ROI on agile coaches - the more you have… Continue reading Do I know your team better than you do?
Time, energy or focus?
I was thinking about time management and I realised I was just sitting there, letting my mind wander. Is that good time management? When people talk about time management I often assume they mean "planning how to allocate our time." I think that is valuable, because I have often found myself the victim of my… Continue reading Time, energy or focus?
Should we do a PIR?
One thing that defines good agile teams is the habit of "learning from feedback." This idea is not something agile teams invented though, even if it is core to being agile. I imagine that cavemen gave each other feedback on their hunting and gathering techniques and continually improved, as measured by not being hungry and… Continue reading Should we do a PIR?
Agile coaches – special forces or catering corps?
I was talking to someone recently about becoming an agile coach. I am an agile coach so I told them that coaching is a cool thing to do and agile is a cool thing to be involved in. Annoyingly though, they are already agile and their team is already working well as a unit. They… Continue reading Agile coaches – special forces or catering corps?
Goal trees and goal wording
I set different goals, sometimes as small as a todo list item, such as "reschedule meeting" and sometimes as large as "Expand human settlement to at least 3 new star systems". Some goals are tracked diligently, while other are simply ticked off a list when they are achieved. Some are incredibly short term (do before… Continue reading Goal trees and goal wording
Why are people backing away from agile (theory 2) – who is the tool?
I recently ran a coaching session for a team who have been adopting agile. They were struggling to gain value from some of the practices and felt a little guilty, but I was impressed with how they collaborated, focused on what mattered and took accountability for delivery. I told them that they were actually pretty… Continue reading Why are people backing away from agile (theory 2) – who is the tool?
Agile starting in kindergarten?
Earlier this year my daughter came to work with me. Although she was only 6 years old at the time, she came to co-deliver a day in the agile coaching course that I was running. It was interesting to watch as she explained the growth mindset, "golden conversations" and the importance of mixing both persistence… Continue reading Agile starting in kindergarten?
A slightly modified release planning game – the lost alphabet 2018 version
I invented a release planning game many years ago and I have used it in training quite a few times. Then Eduardo Meira Peres invented a much simpler version. Teams must use sprints to recreate the alphabet after society forgot how to spell words. The game covers concepts like sprints, velocity and adaptive planning in… Continue reading A slightly modified release planning game – the lost alphabet 2018 version
Agile versus knowledge part one – stories are great
Last week I gave a talk for business analysts in Sydney on "documentation for agile teams" My talk did not really contain anything too radical, but it did draw a reasonable crowd, with 80 business analysts making time to come after a full day of work. So why did 80 people turn up when, being… Continue reading Agile versus knowledge part one – stories are great
James King 