Monthly Archives: July 2009

Learning more

If you are looking to do some more learning, may I suggest these resources. Many rooms to visit, many different kinds of resources. It includes people of many persuasions. But all of them, in one way or another, are saying the same thing: “Go, and do. Better than we have done yet, you will do. […]

One impediment at a time

Why is it important to focus attention on one thing at a time, one impediment? Well, there are many reasons. But let’s take a few. First, get something completed. So often we try to do “everything” and nothing gets done. Second, we need fast feedback. For example, sometimes our “improvement” is a stupid idea. Only […]

Thinking for Yourself

Here is a great blog post by Kenji Hiranabe about why thinking for yourself in your specific context is important in Lean. In the picture to the right is Mr. Satoshi Kuroiwa, the chairman of the Association for Support for Economic Sustainable Development in Japan.     

Hold the mirror

How do we get managers to change? You know, if it were not for them, everything would be just fine. [smile] We got this question in a class on Friday. (The question did not include the second snarky sentence, at least not explicitly.) My immediate answer, maybe an intuition, was to quote part of this: […]

Defining Business Value // #2 Customer Smile

Imagine that you want to make a new camera. And in the first release you will make 1,000 cameras and basically “give them away” — to key influences, etc. So, all of that work makes the customer smile. Imagine that the picture to the right is not of Scarlett Johansson. It’s just a girl, and […]

What is Scrum?

I am excited to be giving a Certified ScrumMaster course with Jeff Sutherland next week in Richmond, Virginia. So, I was thinking: What is the essence of Scrum if you would play the game well? (Remember that Scrum is named for the Scrum formation in Rugby. We often show a video of the famous All […]

Value of Training (CSPO)

What’s Scrum training worth? I am about to lead a Certified Scrum Product Owner course. (2 days in NYC and a bit later in Saratoga Springs.) The question comes up: What is this course worth? I explain this in more detail in the course, but here’s the summary. In the course we talk about many […]

Defining Business Value // #1 Risk

I hear many people complain that it is hard to define Business Value, so they won’t do it. Or, they won’t try any harder to do it. That it is hard and always changing is true. That fact does not, though, give us sufficient reason not to work hard to get better. I won’t reiterate […]

Freedom

Man is born free, and everywhere is in chains. Rousseau, certainly a man of some well-known weaknesses, was brilliant to say this, just a few years ago now. Of course, it was then far from literally correct. And he said this as a citizen of Geneva, arguably one of the places on this planet with […]

New, special Classes – I’m excited

I am particularly excited about the following courses or workshops. One: Jeff Sutherland in Richmond, VA. Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) course. Dr. Sutherland (he has a PhD) is a great guy and of course the co-creator of Scrum. I always learn more when I do these courses with him. This a great advanced course for many […]