Note: I had a technical problem with my site and lost this post, even though I had published it. This is the restoration. If you subscribe to my feed, you might see this twice. I’ve been working with some clients who are trying to find the magic way to slice and dice their project portfolios. […]
At the Influential Agile Leader workshop earlier this year, I led a session about scaling and how you might think about it. I introduced the topic and explained that “scaling” might not be the answer. My experience is that when people use frameworks for larger efforts, they experience these unexpected side effects: The framework actions
Summary: Too often, customers have a “fake certainty” about the problems they want to solve. They might not have defined the real problem, but they have frequently defined the solution anyway. The risk is that we might build the wrong thing. When the product owner works with the customers to define the problem, then works
We have many words for people who shepherd the business value of a product. The many words aren’t a problem, as long as we can all agree on what these various people are and they take responsibility for. When we don’t agree, we run the risk of not managing our strategy, not thinking in terms
Most of my clients struggle with their agile transformation. The teams love agile approaches because they can work on their release frequency and technical excellence. The senior managers love the agile promise because they can see how agile approaches help the teams release a more constant flow of value. They can see the benefits of
Especially when we use agile approaches, we want to be close to our customer. If you’ve ever had a chance to sit with a customer, you’ve learned how effectively (and fast!) the team and the customer learn from each other. And, too few teams have any access to any customers. Most of their customer information
Some of my clients have struggled with their project governance as they move to agile approaches. In the past, they’ve asked for estimates and costs—by requirement—and then tracked the variance for those estimates and costs. The governance people do not record assumptions. They only record estimates and actuals. They want to “measure” the project success
I’m a shepherd for the XP2019 and Agile2019 conferences. I read the proposals, offer feedback, and then shepherd the papers through to completion once we accept the proposals. I love reading experiences. I’m a total sucker for them. Why? Because they’re short stories that reflect the Satir Change Model, the image here. If you’re trying
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
When we manage product development for organizations, we work for hire. The company hires you, pays you a wage, and in return, your intellectual property belongs to them. When you’re creating a product larger than one person can create, this is an excellent proposition. While “one person” may have had the original idea, we need