I’ve seen a number of posts recently saying that micromanagement isn’t as bad as we might think it is. Instead, micromanagement might actually help the person who’s the subject of that micromanagement. Sorry, no. Well, not sorry at all. Still No. Heck, NO. NO to all micromanagement. If any manager has micromanaged you, you know […]
Do you ever want to bounce ideas off someone else? Or learn the way they approach a particular problem? I’m not talking about anyone’s specific capabilities. Instead, we can enhance our abilities by working with someone else. That brings its problem: How do you choose that learning partner? I’ve worked with several partners as a
Back in January 2020, I led a Hudson Bay Start to create/build a consulting practice. I’m happy to say it was a success. Not because everyone became a consultant. However, the people who chose to consult found their ways to succeed. And, even more importantly, some people decided not to consult yet. Those folks continue
I’m conducting a Hudson Bay Start for a new offering: a Consulting Workshop. What do I mean? Several people have asked me for help in creating or sustaining their consulting practices. Since I’ve done that for 25 years, I know what works for me. I know the strategies behind how I work. We can translate
I’ve met a number of agile coaches recently. They tell me they’re hired as Scrum coaches or as Scrum Masters. They see their job as “better Scrum.” It would be lovely if that was their one and only job. However, many of these coaches work in organizations just starting a cultural transformation. Even though the
I spoke with an aspiring coach earlier this week. He asked me if people I ever coached were “resistant.” I don’t label people as “resistant.” If I need to label them, I think about this term, “People with data I should hear.” I like to think about what people resist, especially people in technical organizations.
Part of what makes an agile transformation difficult is the cultural change required. That’s what makes an agile transformation a journey. A client said to me, “I want the agile. The agile is good stuff: faster delivery of smaller stuff that we can get revenue for. I want it now. How fast can I get
I’ve been thinking more about possible measurements in an agile transformation journey. The first Possible Measurements post focuses on product throughput measurements. This post will focus on measurements you might see when the culture changes with an agile transformation. Again, do start with your why. Without knowing why you want to use agile approaches throughout the organization,
“What should I measure???” is one of the questions I see when I work with people going through an agile transformation. Too often, managers measure people as individuals. (Traditional measurements focus on resource efficiency instead of flow efficiency.) Resource efficiency measures don’t measure what the organization delivers or what prevents the organization from delivering. This
If you read my scaling agile series, you can see that becoming an agile organization requires seeing your organization as a system with a culture. You can start with teams, move to programs and the product part of the organization. If you don’t also address the cultural problems of rewards, you won’t continue with your