Archives

Impediments: Orlando May 2015

During class in Orlando, the following impediments were identified.  Some duplications, I think, perhaps partly due to the way we/they did it. Bulky process Silos Customer rep with no mandate Blame game [Need] one more person on site with Front End [skills] Lack of motivation [Lack of] knowledge of new technology Delivery pressure, customer expectations […]

Sprint Planning Meeting – The Basics

Note: I wrote a similar but different blog post on this same subject later.  This one says some useful things that one does not, and vice versa.  Might challenge your mind usefully to compare and contrast.  See here. At the beginning of each sprint is a Sprint Planning Meeting (SPM). Minor point: The SPM is […]

Do we really believe in autonomy at work?

How autonomous should knowledge workers be?  A lot? If we believe this, where does this lead us?  That’s the theme of this post. Earlier the subject line of this post included ‘freedom.’  This word carries more emotional energy, and requires discussion of other issues.  Hence, the change. And do we, the workers and the managers […]

Why the Yogi Berra jokes? Why the music? Why all the questions and sarcasm in class?

I want to explain the techniques I use in the CSM class, or at least something about them. First, some people really like these techniques, and want to know more. Second, sadly, a few people find the techniques annoying, especially the first day.  In general this is a small percentage of people, but in some […]

Proposal: Scaling Workshop

This is the first in a series on new ideas to make your practice of Agile more successful. Do a scaling workshop The idea is a 2 day workshop with the right people in your company, focused on the scaling topic. First, scaling can mean many different things, and in the workshop we like to […]

Managers : Impediments

It should not be confusing how to manage in Scrum (agile). Let’s put a scope on this. We are talking about the management of innovation, using Teams. Not the management of BAU or regular production or whatever your firm calls that. I am less sure these principles (below) apply in those cases, but I do […]

What is culture? When do we start to change it?

Some of us in the Agile community think:  an organization’s culture needs to change before agile can be fully adopted. This certainly seems to be true. Let’s define this more precisely.  The idea is this: Before a company can realize the full and extreme benefits of lean-agile-scrum, it must change its corporate culture to be […]

Enabling Specifications

I recommend using the ‘Enabling Specification’ practice. This is NOT part of the bare framework of Scrum. But it is a frequently recommended practice. Typically recommended. This is: Just-enough, just-in-time documentation. Meaning that the implementers in the Scrum Team have enough information to build the user story correctly the first time. Or at least they […]

The Team is primary

There has been a lot of discussion in the community lately about scaling.  With specific discussion of the SAFe and LeSS frameworks. I don’t have a strong opinion on many of the issues. I do think each scaling situation is different.  I do think the music (the values and principles inside the players) is at […]

Sample Impediments (RDU)

Just did a course in Raleigh-Durham.  Here are some impediments the group identified…. Lack of people Turnover in staff Unclear scope Requirements changing too much Cutting corners Lack of communication with customer Bureaucracy – pessimistic stakeholders Poor morale Manage by fear Budget (insufficient) Lack of visibility Lack of management skill Dependencies (other projects) Traceability (lack […]