I recently encountered strong senior leadership resistance to changing and improving a poorly written set of Program Features. The product of an expensive workshop facilitated by a top management consulting firm over a year ago, using physical Post-It notes on a whiteboard. Each Post-it note was then digitally transcribed as Program Features into a software … Continue reading We Dare Not Change
The title of this post is one of my wife’s favourite sayings. It’s her justification for not wanting to get pulled into a situation that didn’t concern her. The saying is based on a Polish proverb that actually states it the other way around, “Not my circus, not my monkeys” I prefer my wife’s version. … Continue reading Not My Monkeys, Not My Circus
How often have you started with a perfectly formed Scrum team? Dedicated? Stable? Small? Cross-functional? Self-managing? If you’re lucky, this is a non-issue; if you’re not, what can you do to arrive there? I’ve witnessed two basic options: Complain, moan and bitch. Get over it and get on with it. In Pareto fashion, based on … Continue reading Surprise! Your Scrum Team Is Not Perfect
When I look at the sprint burndown chart for some Scrum teams, I see a shape that resembles a hockey stick with shaft held horizontal and toe pointing down. No work completing throughout most of the sprint and then a sudden flurry of completed work items during the last few days of the sprint as … Continue reading Burndown: What Good Looks Like
Digital remote collaboration tools enable human remote work environments. They are indispensable for agile ways of working. They provide a virtual way of fulfilling the Agile Manifesto’s Principle #6: “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation” I used to think “face-to-face” meant it had … Continue reading Lo-Tech Is (Still) King
One of my most memorable music videos from the 80s is Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time” recorded in 1986. The song tells the story of a person who has had enough of a small town where people think small and use small words. So, he leaves to make his way to the big, big city to … Continue reading Big Batch Big Bang
I’m a bit of a pack-rat. Meaning I find it hard to throw anything away. I used to be a compulsive pack-rat saving everything I ever acquired. My rationale was usually one or more of the following. One day I may need it It’s a collectable - a memento of a special occasion It was … Continue reading Why “Throwaway” Is Ok
Thinking about how I was going to explain the agile term “Done-Done” led me off on a tangent which I’m now going to take you on too. I’ve used the phrase “Done like dinner” in the past without really understanding its original meaning. It sounded cool and catchy. And so, I started using it to … Continue reading Done-Done? How About Ready-Ready?
Recently, my son took us out to Lucie, a Toronto haute cuisine restaurant to celebrate my birthday. My wife and I aren’t the “fine dining” types but our son wanted to treat us to something special for my birthday. Coincidentally, we had just binge watched the first three season’s of FX’s The Bear. And so, … Continue reading Start With A Tasting Menu
For organizations moving away from traditional ways of working to Agile ways of working, one of the first questions to answer is, “How will we communicate the work that needs to get done?” Most organizations have traditionally used some form of a written Business Requirements Document (BRD). A large and very detailed tome usually researched … Continue reading Where’s The “User” In User Story?
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