Whenever I explore a new field I like to get an overview of how things got to be the way they are – A short timeline of how we’ve arrived at the “state of the art”. What happened when, so that everything is what it is today? The following is my current state of knowledge …
Category Archives: Agile / Lean
“It can’t be done!” O RLY?
It makes me sad when a PO presents a new story and the first thing out of a developer’s mouth is “It can’t be done!”*. A story is meant to be the basis of a discussion – “It can’t be done!” is harmful to this discussion. As long as there is no timeframe attached to the …
Want Change? Make “your” way the easiest way
If you want to establish new ways to do things (i.e. processes), make sure that this new way is the easiest route for people to reach their goal. If the old way is easier, the new one won’t ever be adopted. Example: There is a new way to handle support, designed to let the developers …
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Tribal Leadership – The 1-Page Cheat Sheet
Behold, the 1-page cheat sheet for “Tribal Leadership”: Download as PDF or buy as a poster from Zazzle.com Don’t need a fancy PDF, just text is enough? — Summary of leveling up a tribe — A TRIBE is a naturally ocurring group of 20-150 people, e.g. a small company or a department ina large company. …
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Being Heard – The Power of Acknowledgment
It might seem trivial, but one of the key learnings from my time as a scrum master is that people long to be heard. Being understood by someone else, validates the speaker. Listening says “I care. I take time and pay attention to you. You are important! Your take on things is valuable.”
Brainstorming vs. BrainstormingBut
Like there’s Scrum and ScrumBut, most “brainstorming” sessions I ever took part in were BrainstormingBut sessions, instead of true brainstorming. They didn’t adhere to the key rules of a true brainstorming, namely: Defer judgement Aim for quantity Up until I was well into my 20s, every “brainstorming” I had ever participated in, had violated at …
What is this “Agile Mindset” anyway?
UPDATE 2013: There’s a condensed, infographic-y version here If you’re new to the agile world, what are behaviors to look for? In the chart you find examples of what I deem “agile” and “not quite so agile” behavior. These are, of course, completely subjective! Also I think there are rather too many scales. What would …
Don’t keep stuck to your daily routine
There’s a certain type of quiet movie that I like a lot. It usually starts with a stranger entering a closed group, e.g. a village and the dynamics that enfold because of it. “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert“, “Fried Green Tomatoes” or “Kitchen Stories” are excellent examples. Did you ever stop to …
Assess your agile engineering practices
Some weeks ago I read a slide deck by Jeff Nielsen about “Five Key Numbers to Gauge your Agile Engineering Efforts“. Even though using agile engineering practices is no goal in itself, the practices are usually helpful in reaching the ultimate goal of useful software. That’s why I compiled the five numbers into a single …
Scrum Master Emergency Kit
The other day at work, I was asked to moderate an impromptu meeting and while I gathered markers and stickie notes to rush to the meeting, I thought how nice it would be to have a ready-packed kit. Something to just grab and you’re good to go for basic moderation. As white boards and flip …