Parkinson's Law states that "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". It epitomizes all that is negative about traditional management thinking. What if we were to replace the word "Work" with the word "Value"?[…]
Author: Frank Leong
Reflections on Walden Pond
In 1845, the American essayist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau ran an experiment. It was chronicled in his book “Walden”. He wanted to break away from what he characterized as “the mass of men lead(ing) lives of quiet desperation” – the proverbial “rat race” of the times. [...]
A Legacy of Butterflies
As Agile coaches and change agents, we often chat about what it takes for an Agile transformation to succeed and scale in an organization. At a macro level, culture change and management support are often cited as key enablers. Changing culture and management mindset takes a long time. If we were to look underneath that, what would we see at a micro level? At the level of each individual making up the culture of an organization? [...]
When Does Pride Become a Deadly Sin?
Pride is a double-edged sword. At it’s best, it leads to self-respect and camaraderie. At its worst, it harbors arrogance and segregation. Management especially is prone to the dark side of pride. As a traditional manager, I was rewarded for nerves of steel, grace under pressure and flawless execution. I often struggled with transparency of my thoughts and deeds when I didn’t have the answers. […]
Starting in the Moment
When it rains, it pours! I’ve been so busy serving my clients that I’ve neglected one of my loves – writing. So, I’m going to run an experiment. Rather than write as if I’m running marathons, I’m going to start running sprints. “Starting in the Moment” will be a regular series of short, in-the-moment, from the trenches learnings and koans. [..]
Measuring Success
“Working software” is the definitive measure of an Agile software team’s performance. It represents the net result of all the hard behind-the-demos conversations, collaboration and work within the team. It represents where the team is on its journey towards its purpose. It’s tangible. You can see it, touch it and feel it. But it wasn’t enough [...]
The Fruits of Autonomy, Purpose & Mastery
The teams had moved in to their beautiful new space encouraging collocated collaboration. And they had started to perform and deliver at a committable cadence. Yet we had this nagging feeling it wasn’t going to be enough. Like the eternal flame that burns in front of Canada’s Parliament Building in Ottawa [...]
A New Space
With the predisposition of millennials to all things digital including showing up on the web as avatars, the notion of physical face-to-face conversation seems to be a thing of the past. Never mind face-to-face conversations, I can’t even remember the last time [...]
The Evolution of Team
The heart of Agile is the self-organizing team but how does that team come to be?Ideally through self-selection by a group of people rallying around (with) not only a common purpose but also a shared set of values. Too often this is not the case. Teams are often thrown [...]
Behind Every Great Transition…
For those familiar with Agile, a lot is said about the importance of external and dedicated Agile coaching in reducing the time to transition. Without an Agile coach, transitions can take 2-3 times longer to succeed if at all. However, even with an Agile coach the high winds and rough waters [...]
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