Archives

Fearless Change

Mary Lynn Manns is visiting Agile-Carolinas in Charlotte next week. As many of you will know, Dr. Manns is the co-author of Fearless Change, along with Linda Rising. This is a great book about getting people to adopt a new idea (eg, lean-agile-scrum). So, I wanted to take this opportunity, in thanks, to praise the […]

Read More »

We can’t go any faster Captain!

With many Scrum teams, they reach the point of attacking all the obvious impediments. And the impediments, at least in their minds, are all fixed. And they say, in effect, “we can’t make it go any faster Captain!” As that actor with the Scottish accent would say in the original Star Trek. What’s wrong with […]

Read More »

Release Planning & the Early Warning System

Building complex innovative products is, of course, hard. In that context, what is the purpose of Release Planning in Scrum/Agile? I will not provide a complete explanation here, but will give a few key ideas. A consensus view of the ‘same’ elephant. I want all the team members to see the whole product and to […]

Read More »

Respect

I just led a course in Charleston mostly for people working in/on government or military projects. I was asked many good questions, and I was not able, in the time allotted (two days) to answer them all as well as the questions deserved. I have other clients who also have very difficult situations to deal […]

Read More »

King of Anything

Sara Bareilles, whose music I have enjoyed, has a new song: King of Anything. I think you will like it. You might be asking: Why is he talking about this song here? And the answer: In work, we must recognize the importance of freedom and self-organization. For their own sake (these are human rights, after […]

Read More »

Little’s Second Law

Little’s Law is a nice idea that tells us we want small batches of work. Smaller, always smaller. See here for a start. This is from a John Little at Case Western Reserve, and it’s fairly old. Unrelated: One day the following phrase came to me: “People are remarkably good at doing what they want […]

Read More »

Freedom and Responsibility

Now I want to start talking explicitly about freedom and responsibility — the twins. For most normal people, freedom and responsibility come together. That is, we are only free when we accept responsibility. This may seem like a paradox, like saying, “We are only free when we become a slave,” but it is not. If […]

Read More »

Thank You!

I am back from a visit to Lima, Peru. And from New York, Newark and Sarratoga Springs. Freud said that life is about arbeitung und lieben — work and love. To me, these words have started to intermingle. At a deep level, I think we wish that those we love know we have tried to […]

Read More »

Happy Independence Day!

First, a word about happiness. I am sure I don’t know everything about happiness, but I am still quite sure it is important. Mr. Jefferson included in his draft, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Jeff Sutherland says, “If they aren’t having fun [with Scrum], they aren’t doing it right.” Serious fun, fun that […]

Read More »

An Intro to Business Value Engineering

On June 30, 2010, while I was in Montreal giving a CSM course, I joined the Scrum User Group and gave a new, somewhat different, presentation on BV engineering. The group seemed to like it, so I am making the point in a more practical, concrete way. Click here to see my presentation.

Read More »