Luke Pivac, a colleague from New Zealand, interviewed me last week. Here’s the video: We discussed several topics: My recent Unemployed Agilists posts. (That link just goes to the first post) My most recent book: Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility. Luke very kindly included (automatically generated) subtitles, which […]
I started this series by discussing why managers didn’t perceive the value of agile coaches and Scrum Masters in Part 1, resulting in layoffs.) Then, in Part 2, I asked those unemployed agilists to review their functional skills, the skills people need to do a product development job well. While those skills are useful, they
If you’re an unemployed agilist, you are not alone. There way too many of you. But the causes and solutions might not be clear to you. That’s why Part 1 of this series discusses your value and what managers want and need. That part discusses why managers see agile coaches and Scrum Masters as staff
You’re an unemployed agilist. And even if you can find an agile coaching or Scrum Master job, the pay is so terrible, you don’t want to take it. That’s because potential employers think these jobs are staff positions. Your previous managers and potential managers don’t see the value of someone in your position. That’s because
Every day, I hear more stories of agile coaches or Scrum Masters losing their jobs. Why? Several reasons: No manager cares about “agile” even if they care about agility. So, selling “agile” into the organization doesn’t create any traction for change. Agile coaches and Scrum Masters are staff positions, not “line” jobs. Worse, many agile
In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1, I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency, where we watch the flow of the work, not the people doing tasks. Too few organizations can do that. Then I offered three suggestions for teams in any lifecycle in Effective Agility: Three
In Effective Agility Requires Cultural Changes: Part 1, I said that real agile approaches require cultural change to focus on flow efficiency, where we focus on watching the work, not the people. Too few organizations can do that. But teams can change how they work—in any approach. Here are three suggestions to emulate flow efficiency
Brandon, a senior leader, asked, “What is all this hype about agile frameworks and models and practices? Do I really need all that stuff?” I shook my head and grinned. “Nope. Instead, practice this: make change easy, so you can learn from it. That allows you to change again and faster. Especially for management.” “That’s
Every minute, it seems as if someone is talking about how great ChatGPT is. It’s going to revolutionize the world! I agree— I am sure AI will revolutionize the world. At some point. But I think it’s going to remove all those busy-work jobs, not the jobs where we, as humans, offer value. Here’s a
On the ANE panel last night, an agile coach asked, “What’s my path forward as an agile coach? What do I do next?” That’s a great question and one each coach might ask, to make sure they continue to add value to the client. (Internal or external, all coaches have clients.) I said that if