Category Archives: Change Management

Killing Babies or Sizzling Steak?

I thought I would share this story, with one or two key metaphors.  Perhaps useful to you.  I use the story in classes quite a bit. *** OK, the PO is trying to optimize on the Pareto idea (80-20, the vital few). (More about the Pareto idea elsewhere.) It is Feb 1.  At the beginning […]

Read More »

John Kotter Explains the 8 Steps to Create Successful Change

Here is a slide show and voice over by John Kotter (our best expert on change) talking about how to get organizations to change.  Watch and listen here.  [This was a link, and it is broken now.]  About 7 minutes. [We can send you now to the 8 steps page at Kotter International.] Here is […]

Read More »

A list summarizing Scrum

The list below is not self-explanatory, but it covers the key ideas one has to know and execute on to do Scrum professionally.  Of course, becoming proficient at doing them at the highest level (at the rugby World Cup level) is a lifetime’s work.  Rugby is a simple game with simple rules, but to reach […]

Read More »

Minimum Definition of ‘Agile’: Scrum-Butt Test

First, let’s assume that we believe that our firm needs a good agile transformation to achieve important business goals. Perhaps these goals are: (a) faster time to market, (b) more creativity in the product, and (c) greater productivity.  (In any case, not ‘Agile’ for agile’s sake.) One method to achieve more success from the agile […]

Read More »

Kanban Question

A colleague asks:  “We are an out-sourcing firm and have a client who does not have a Product Backlog. In fact, they often can’t prepare enough items (stories) for even a full Sprint Backlog. (2 week Sprints).  He is not used to Scrum or any other Agile approach. I am thinking of using Kanban with […]

Read More »

Why Do Scrum?

If we hear about Scrum and want to convince some managers to do it, how should we present the benefits of this approach? The 2011 Agile Survey by Version One gives some ideas.  See it here: http://agileconsortium.pbworks.com/w/page/51511217/2011%20State%20of%20Agile%20Survey Typically the biggest idea is: faster time to market.  And this is a very powerful idea. But it is […]

Read More »

Agile Transformation – 1

I was leading an Intermediate CSPO course last week in Winston-Salem. There were some good questions. One theme was about the agile transformation. The idea is simple, and has many names.  One way to say it: Only by transforming the culture and many of the current ‘ways of doing things’ can a firm realize the […]

Read More »

Scrum Team in Waterfall Land! What to do?

The real question sent to me was: What are some tips for integrating our SCRUM model with non-Scrum groups who will not be adopting the process? One can go many places with this question, and there could be other questions within this question. For now, let me answer two questions. 1. In general the culture […]

Read More »

“Leader’s Guide to Radical Management”

I just got a copy of “The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management” by Stephen Denning. I recommend it. It is not so hard to learn Scrum and apply it to one team, but I always hear that, in any large-ish organization, “We need to change the culture.” OK then, one way is to read and […]

Read More »

Additional ideas: adopting lean-agile

This topic (adopting Lean-Agile) is being discussed here and many places. I think I will be discussing it with a senior executive in Canada on Monday, so, very pertinent for me and likely many others. A lot of smart people in that discussion (I know some of them personally). A number of great ideas were […]

Read More »