Training Does not Equate to a Learning Organization

In a recent discussion it became apparent to me that there may be a fundamental misunderstanding about what it is that defines a learning organization. The discussion was centered on how to help drive agile adoption throughout an organization. My revelation about the misunderstanding came when the individual mentioned that attempts have been made in the past to “institute organizational learning by bringing in agile training and supporting those who desired to attend. The organization was also supportive of individuals pursuing advanced degrees.” First, let’s discuss what a learning organization “is not”. Sending individuals, or teams, or departments to training... Read More»

First Things First: Scale Agile Values and Principles

Over the past few years there’s been an interest in scaling agile to the enterprise. The desire to scale agile seems to have intensified over the last year. Almost without exception, every conference remotely related to software development and/or project management seems to have some presentation on the topic of scaling agile. While I don’t believe this is a bad thing, per se, I believe it misses the point on three levels. First, almost all of the discussions I’ve heard and most everything I read refers to scaling a process. I can understand why so many are looking at the... Read More»

Scrum is not Difficult; Abandoning the Familiar Is

Scrum is one of the easiest frameworks to understand. I’ve heard it said that, while Scrum is easily understood, it’s difficult to do. While teams and organizations do struggle with Scrum, I tend to disagree with the wholesale statement that Scrum is difficult to do. One of the reasons I believe this statement came about is that teams and organizations aren’t realizing the benefits they originally expected they’d receive when first adopting Scrum. The Scrum framework is intentionally lightweight and easily understood. Struggling to implement something that’s easily understood is indicative of different issues. Before I get too deep into... Read More»

Agility Does Not Exist in the Absence of Organizational Learning

I've become increasingly convinced that a lack of learning is one of the largest inhibitors of agile transformation results. One can argue that we are at, or nearing, the end of the knowledge era. Knowledge is ubiquitous. Simple possession of knowledge is not sufficient for either the individual or the organization. Today's rapidly changing business climate requires the coalescing of knowledge and experience into rapid learning that can be applied to problems and opportunities we can leverage for business value–quickly. The amplification of learning is a key principle in lean and agile methods. However, this is where traditional organizations making... Read More»

An Open Letter to Executives Leading Agile Transformations

Dear Executive, Let me congratulate you on your decision to introduce agile methods within your organization. It is a wise decision that holds incredible potential for your employees, your company, and its customers. If you are just beginning your improvement, or are yet to begin, the journey upon which you are about to embark is one that will be well worth the effort. And it will take effort—long, arduous, and at times frustrating effort. Although Machiavellians do exist, my experience is that they are exceedingly rare. In general, people are good, honest, and hard-working and really want to do the... Read More»

Retrospectives and Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

The tension is palpable and suffocating, as if a pillow is being held over my face in anticipation of drawing my last breath. The last team member enters the room and it’s time to begin. “Welcome to the sprint retrospective,” I say with conviction. Perhaps I’m trying to convince myself that I’m emotionally ready. Or, maybe I’m trying to be an insulator to the electricity of anticipation coursing through the team room. Welcome to the retrospective. For me, and many other coaches or ScrumMasters, the sprint review is the most difficult undertakings. Yet, in my view, it is one of... Read More»

Story Maps - Your Path to Product Success

Personally, I tend to grasp things better visually. Tell me the directions to your house and, while I'll get there, it will probably take me longer and cause me more frustration than if you had also provided a map. It can also be helpful to create a map of functionality when developing products. In their simplest form, products are bundles of functionality that end users utilize for benefit. Early in the agile product development life cycle it can be very difficult to develop an initial prioritized product backlog of user stories. The story map is one tool we can use... Read More»

Scrum is Not the Goal

Every day I witness teams doing Scrum, each operating at varying levels of maturity. Scrum is a great way of working because, as a lightweight framework, it dictates nothing about how the actual work inside of a sprint is done. It does provide a number of roles, ceremonies, and artifacts, but stops short of instructing a team how to do its work. How the works actually gets done is determined by a number of factors such as how the team self-organizes, interacts, and how the individual members relate to one another. Sometimes a weakness is simply a strength overdone. I... Read More»

Agile Project Management, Yes! Agile Project Manager, No!

There are two primary camps in the agile community concerning the role of project managers. One camp, the agile purist, contends there is no project manager in agile; while the other, whom we’ll refer to for purposes of this discussion as the traditionalist, argues that there is absolutely a place in agile for the project manager. My colleague and fellow blogger Kent McDonald explored the topic in two blog posts (1, 2) and I also contributed an earlier post on the topic. First, to ensure we’re all on the same page I will give an overview of the argument from... Read More»

Time Management Mythology

I recently heard a story told that recounted the experience of a teacher who was demonstrating the concept of volume. The teacher filled a glass jar with rocks and asked her class if it was full. The class responded enthusiastically and with certainty—yes! She then took sand and poured it into the jar and it filled the space between the rocks. She then asked, “How about now, is the container full?” Once again, with a little less certainty this time, the class responded, yes! She then poured water into the jar which filled the space between the sand, thereby occupying... Read More»