“The more you know who you are and what you want, the less you let things upset you.” That’s a quote from the 2003 movie “Lost in Translation” starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. When I started thinking about this post, the title of that movie came to mind. The problem with Agile is that… … Continue reading Your Agile Is Not My Agile
As a coach, my greatest moment of joy occurs when my coachee connects with me. That moment when we both arrive on the same page in the coachee’s story of growth and improvement. For some, the moment is instantaneous, as soon as we meet. For others, the moment takes more work to arrive at but, … Continue reading Ignition!
I just finished watching season three of AppleTV’s “The Morning Show”. It’s about the behind-the-scenes trials and tribulations of a fictional commercial broadcast television network and media company called UBA. In season three, a billionaire tech entrepreneur conspires to takeover UBA and sell it off for parts by liquidating all its assets including its content … Continue reading Nothing Lasts Forever
What do you get when you combine Lean Manufacturing and Marie Kondo? Answer: 5S What is 5S? 5S is a lean methodology that results in an organized, uncluttered, clean workplace both physically and mentally. A workplace that nurtures and sustains quality, productivity and improvement. Each of the five S’s represents a Japanese word phonetically starting … Continue reading Using Lean’s 5S Methodology as a Change Tool
When you’re asked a question, what do you do? You have two options: You can either answer. Or not answer. Right? I recently observed a Scrum Master feel pressured to answer every question hurled his way by his team members. To offer solutions to every problem raised. Even though many of the questions and problems: … Continue reading Must Questions Always Be Answered?
Contract work can be very lucrative. Whether it be as a ‘contractor’, coming in to to do a pre-defined set of tasks or as a ‘consultant’ coming in to solve or advise on a known problem or objective. Contract work can also be fraught with uncertainty. Contract workers are usually the first to be let … Continue reading How Does Your Organization Treat Contract Workers?
I hate KIA (“Know It All”) managers! There, I said it. You know the type. Those who relish any opportunity to dominate conversations. To show everyone how much they know and how little everyone else knows. To solve everyone’s problems for them whether they needed help or not. Like the Fountains of Bellagio in Las … Continue reading Glimpses Into Servant Leadership
Management tends to get a bad rap whenever Agile ways of working are discussed. Sometimes this is warranted and other times it is not. One narrative is the manager who basks in the glory of their own magnificence. Those managers may very well deserve to be a lightning rod for criticism and blame when empowered … Continue reading Is Management a Security Blanket or Straitjacket?
What separates a great performance from an average, ho-hum performance? In a word - “feeling”. Do you feel me? This is true whether you’re watching a virtuoso musical performance or a game of hockey. You can literally feel what the great performers are feeling as they crescendo their craft. Tears flowing down the cheek of … Continue reading Once More With Feeling
One of the first practices an Agile Scrum team agrees upon is when they will work together. The time and duration each day, they will interact, collaborate and inspire each other on the team’s backlog of work and its common goals. This includes participating in team meetings, pair programming or simply being available and accessible … Continue reading Core Hours
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