The Nokia Test

Nokia (the cell phone maker) uses Scrum. Well, actually it is/was a small Euro 50 billion joint venture called Nokia Siemens Networks. They have developed a test to check whether a team is really using Scrum or just doing what I call Cowboy Agile, or doing Agilefall (talking Agile terms, but really doing mostly waterfall). […]

Carnival of the Agilists – 11/29

Once again we are pleased and humbled to be included within the Carnival of the Agilists collection of blog posts. See here. For all the prior Carnival of the Agilists selections, see here. Enjoy. These are recommended. This is not to say that I would agree with every word of every post, but “two heads […]

“You can observe a lot by just watching”

As some of you may know, I am a fan of Yogi Berra quotes. The guy is amazingly smart, and by saying some things in a ‘stupid’ way, he makes you laugh and the lesson sticks a bit more. Since he was a coach, I can also relate. One of his quotes is: “You can […]

Top Enterprise Impediments – Part 2

This post is a continuation of the previous post on Top Enterprise Impediments. Here we add three more impediments. None or minimal business commitment. This problem is very common. It derives in part from the business people viewing Lean-Agile as a technology initiative. It also derives from the business people believing in magic. I mean: […]

Some Top Enterprise Impediments

I have had several conversations on this topic lately, so I thought I would post some thoughts. Actually, this will take several posts. (And one could argue that many earlier posts are also about this topic.) My aim in the comments below is to identify and describe the main impediments that are most typical in […]

Reading List for CSM Course Nov 5-6

The following are some suggested readings for people in this course, and some others may enjoy also. Again, as always, I recommend that you learn as fast as you can, and mix learning with action. To know and not to do is not to know. Thus, your real knowledge becomes known in how well you […]

Carnival of the Agilistas – 10/30

We are pleased to modestly report that our blog has been included again in the Carnival of the Agilists, this time the 10/30 edition. See here. This listing of “the best Agile blog posts” is quite interesting. See here for the fuller listing. Enjoy!

The Agile Recipe; on second thought…No recipe.

I have been asked recently to provide a recipe for how to do Agile. I am sympathetic with this request, but I feel it misses an important point. First, why am I sympathetic? Well, because I look at Agile as an art form, like playing the violin or learning Hapkido (Korean version of Aikido). It […]

Leadership: Getting us there

We always need leadership to help us through the many hard patches, and on to ultimate success. It is hard to describe a good leader, but some important elements are.. passion for the vision perseverance courage helping others overcome their roadblocks assuring that most of the team is winning and that few things lead to […]

Knowing where to go

To me, the essence of leadership boils down to two things. 1. Knowing what needs to be done. The ability to identify and articulate what needs to be done is enormously useful. In most business situations, it means understanding the customer. It means focus on a few relatively important things. It means explaining this to […]