Archives

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 […]

Delivering Solutions

As I was saying earlier, in all my clients there is this divide between business and technology. “I’m a business guy, not a technology guy.” “Oh, I work in IT; go ask the business folks that.” This is not a helpful distinction. The customer does not want business or technology or even a product. The […]

Have Compassion

Today I was in a meeting with business and technology folks, and I started talking about customer collaboration over contract negotiation. (Many will recognize this line from the Agile Manifesto.) I talked about how there is distrust, tension and misunderstanding between the business side and the technology side. Well, at least on Day One, every […]

Keeping with the Beat

Where would I go to find the latest information on Agile and Lean? What if you had a question and wanted expert advice? Try these “boards.” Sign up. They are free. ScrumDev Extreme Programming Agile Project Management Lean Software Development Industrial XP I am a particular fan of the last one. Its theme is applying […]