Agile Product Owner is a Bad Bad Idea (via Maarten Dalmijn) Two heavy hitters — Mary Poppendieck and Mike Cohn — have recently stated that the product owner (PO) role is a proxy between the people doing the work and…
Radical Candor – Part 12
This week we started Chapter 7 (team). Formatting note: I’m trying to strike a balance of codifying the useful tips the book covers, but we as a group skip because we don’t have anything noteworthy. Sentences in italics are those…
Professional Development – 2020 – Week 36
Agile Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 4.5 Distilled (via Wade Chandler) Part of my professional development as Director of Agile Coaches is to understand what tools and frameworks exist in the Agile space. SAFe is a framework for doing Agile beyond…
Summary: SAFe 4.5 Distilled
Upon starting my role as Director of Agile Coaches at Lirio, I learned that many of the development teams were using parts of Essential SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), as the leaders of those teams had done so at their previous…
Radical Candor – Part 11
This week we wrapped up Chapter 6 (guidance). Formatting note: I’m trying to strike a balance of codifying the useful tips the book covers, but we as a group skip because we don’t have anything noteworthy. Paragraphs in italics are…
Professional Development – 2020 – Week 35
Agile Is 2020 a Gold Rush Year for New Scrum Masters? (via Mountain Goat Software) Many businesses need less convincing that Agile frameworks are helpful, so having people to facilitate Agile workflows are in higher demand. Some people may move…
Radical Candor – Part 10
This week we covered several more sections of Chapter 6 (guidance). Management “Fix-It” Weeks “…a system was created where people could log annoying management issues. If, for example, it took too long to get expense reports approved, you could file…
Professional Development – 2020 – Week 34
Agile Leadership vs. Management (via Leading Agile) Manage the system, lead the people. Instead of telling people how to move faster, remove the blockers that are slowing the system down. Leadership — the ability to motivate and inspire those around…
Radical Candor – Part 9
This week we finished Chapter 5 (relationships — an approach to establishing trust with your direct reports), and started Chapter 6 (guidance). Chapter 5 (continued) Respect boundaries “…a real hug may be the world’s most effective way to show you…
Professional Development – 2020 – Week 33
Agile Agile Project Management with Kanban (via Wade Chandler) Each vertical swim lane is split into active and done. I get that this creates buffers between states, but (1) why not have to-do/doing/done for each state? What not change the…