influence

agile, MPD

Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 3: How to Create Allies

To summarize: your agile transformation is stuck. You’ve thought about your why, as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why. You’ve started to measure possibilities. You have an idea of who you might talk with as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 2: Who to Approach. Now, how do you create allies so you can unwedge […]

agile, MPD

Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 2: Who to Approach

To summarize: your agile transformation is stuck. You’ve thought about your why, as in Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why.  You have some idea for measurements. Maybe you’ve even started to measure to capture the data. Now, it’s time to talk to people across the organization. The question is this: Who do you talk

agile, MPD

Becoming an Agile Leader, Part 1: Define Your Why

What does it mean to be an agile leader? Here’s what I’ve seen work: The leader recognizes a problem the organization needs to solve. There may be many problems, and the leader extricates one to start. The leader explores options with the people involved. Often, the leader asks this question, “What is the smallest change

newsletter

Being An Agile Leader

Being an Agile Leader People tell me agile is past mainstream now, into the late adopters. I don’t buy it. Oh, agile has jumped the shark and made it into our vernacular. The result: I too often see agile as something the teams should do, without management using agile to improve the environment or their

MPD, project management

Highlight Risks When Reporting Defects

A reader asked me this question: “How do I report on the 1000 (or so) defects in our system? I have 10 minutes on the status call.” If you are working on a legacy application where the team was not able—for any number of reasons—to maintain technical excellence, you might have a problem like this. So

agile, MPD

Influential Agile Leader, May 9-10, 2017

Is your agile transition proceeding well? Or, is it stuck in places? Maybe the teams aren’t improving. Maybe no one knows “how to get it all done.” Maybe you’re tired and don’t know how you’ll find the energy to continue. Or,  you can’t understand how to engage your management or their management in creating an

newsletter

Build Your Agile Leadership

Build Your Agile Leadership In your organization, agile has helped your teams improve their value delivery. Although the teams retrospect, you expected more improvement. You think your agile journey might be stuck. Maybe it’s time for you to build a culture of agile leadership. Tip 1. Make your work transparent. Do other people know what

newsletter

Feeling Alone on Your Agile Journey?

Feeling Alone on Your Agile Journey? Do you feel as if you are waving the agile flag and no one cares? You know what you, your team, and your management needs to do. No one seems to be able to put your suggestions into practice. Worse, sometimes, it looks as if no one cares, except

agile, MPD

Stuck in the Middle with Your Agile Transformation? Part 1

Here’s something I see in many organizations: Management wants to “control and manage” the projects/efforts/work (whatever they call it) in the same way they did before the organization started agile. They want Gantt charts. They want commitments. They want assurances that the work will proceed in the same way they thought of it before the

agile, MPD

Stuck in the Middle with Your Agile Transformation? Part 2

In Stuck in the Middle, Part 1, I discussed possible management problems with agile. Those aren’t the only stuck problems I see. Sometimes, I see team problems. What if the teams are “almost agile”—they still have too many experts, their stories are too big, they don’t always deliver value on a regular basis? You know

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