Blog: Agile & Business

Ideas behind Agile Planning: Iterative and Incremental

September 8, 2020

When we start the work (and the plan) we do not know everything. As I have suggested, if we know half of everything we need to know (to have a perfect plan) that, in my experience, would be a better-than-average start. So, we start. And we start with the notion that the plan will never […]

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AC: Starting a Great Team

September 3, 2020

This Agile Carolinas session we will discuss some sub-topics. As before, we will use open space-like rules. Main topic: How to start a great team? Some possible sub-topics (you will get to decide that day): What are the prerequisites? How to gather a great team. What would make a great first project How can the […]

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Webinar: Creating A Real Team & Better Sprint Planning Meeting

September 1, 2020

This is another in our Webinar Series. Two Topics: Creating a Real Team. What is a real team and how do you help create one. A better Sprint Planning Meeting Running a better Sprint Planning Meeting.  Who to include, how to prepare, what steps to include. *** I will present some ideas. Briefly.  And attendees […]

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Ideas Behind Agile Planning: Adapting Better

August 20, 2020

In 2001, “Responding to Change over Following a Plan” seemed like a pretty aggressive step. (That is the last of the four Agile Manifesto lines.) Today, from a customer’s viewpoint, it is not enough. Customers want a better adaptation to change, and not just attitude or relatively obvious things like more or faster releases. They want […]

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Ideas Behind Agile Planning: Responding to Change

August 19, 2020

The line from the Agile Manifesto is: “Responding to Change over Following a Plan.” But let’s take this further in two main ways. 1) Change can be good. To me, in Waterfall, we always thought of change as bad. It was mainly bad because it forced us (eventually) to change the plan which was a lot of […]

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Agile Carolinas: Open Space Topic – Agile Transformation

August 18, 2020

Agile Carolinas has recently had some awesome meetings on this topic of Agile Transformation. Now we want to do an Open Space event on the subject.   Topics might be: * Dealing with middle-level resistance * Getting stable teams * Getting teams set up well for success (the team, the product vision, the situation) * […]

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Ideas Behind Agile Planning: Get Everyone Involved

August 17, 2020

OK, it sounds good, get everyone involved. But what does it mean? And why do we suggest it? It means many things. Here are some: Everyone gets to contribute. Eleven heads are better than one. Get everyone on the same page at the same time. Visibility. Everyone can see it at the same time. We can […]

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Ideas Behind Agile Planning: Prioritize Our Stupidity

August 13, 2020

We could phrase this as “prioritize our learning,” but I find it fun and a good chuckle to be humble enough to admit we are stupid. Human beings, at least in regard to planning, are stupid in two ways: (1) incompletely informed, and (2) we just do stupid things. But I am referring particularly to the initial […]

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Webinar: Aggressively Attacking Impediments & Using BV Points

August 13, 2020

I just did a Webinar on this topic. Below is the PDF of of the Keynote I used.  

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Ideas Behind Agile Planning: Speedy

August 13, 2020

General George Patton said: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” Part of this is an acceptance that all plans are imperfect and are based on incomplete information, including incomplete information about the future. We do the best we can to plan in a quick time-box, and […]

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