Agile Complexification Inverter

I've never met a Scrum team that was highly performant (one commonly stated end goal) that did not have a highly engaged and participatory Product Owner.  I've also not met one person that can do all that that role requires for Scrum teams and the business.  Yes, Scrum's model simplification may mislead organizations into believing that the role is one and only one person.  It was designed this way for very valid reasons - to quit thrashing teams and increasing focus, also a form of limiting work in process, the concept of the PO as the one-ringable-neck responsible for the ROI of the team. However this simplification rarely addresses the needs of the total business.  Here's a great article on the expansion of this simplification. The Product Manager vs Product Owner   by John Peltier I've worked with numerous teams in my 10 years of guiding Agile transitions.  And reflecting upon all those teams, there success levels, the customer & te...

I'm angry.  I'm as angry as a hornet's nest that just got hit by a rock thrown by a 10 year old that has no idea what they just did.  Oh, there may be no intent of harm, but someone is getting stung. Here's the current situation.  A 70+ year old person I know woke up a few days ago and fell in the bathroom.  We will call her M.  M was knocked unconscious for a moment.  M's spouse responded and called 911, the medics arrived and took M into the Forsyth County Hospital in Winston-Salem.  The medics were wonderful, very courteous and professional.  M was throwing up and had vertigo on the way to the hospital.  At the hospital she was treated and admitted for tests and observations.  When I talked to M, and she described the event it appeared to me that she had not had a stroke, they had done a CT scan and it was normal.  I'm not a doctor, and have no medical training, yet I've never played a doctor on TV. ...

Oh you gotta to try this ....   Bullet-Journal. An organization system for daily journaling.  Perfect for the agile coach that loves the tactical analog system of sticky notes.  Did you catch that - it is NOT an App! Bullet Journal - the analog system for sticky lovers Watch the video and jump start 2014 with a journaling system to keep your stickies organized. "Bullet - Journal - for the list-maker, the note-takers, the Post-It note pilots, the track-keepers, and the dabbling doodlers.  Bullet journal is for those who feel there are few platforms as powerful as the blank paper page.  It's an analog system for the digital age that will help you organize the present, record the past, and plan for the future." I'm in - start mine yesterday.  I have the authority to make modification to the system (I'm a supper-user on this platform).  I'll let you know how they work out. david@koontz.name

Wish there was an App for That! As every cycle passes back through the beginning it must first go through the ending... so let's first see if I made any progress in last year's long forgotten new year's resolution .  It was to create a learning plan and bet back into the beginner's shoes.  To become a newbie on some new tech and experience the frustration and excitement of learning a new tech skill. All in all I did very well.  I did create a learning plan.  And like all plans it was great to have one and worthless after a little bit of learning proved it to be a poor plan (almost like I created it out of ignorance - oh, yeah - I did!).  Yet, it did provide a direction and increased the motivation as I could measure the progress and see where it was directing me in the wrong direction (or a direction I no longer desired to go). I did learn the basics of RubyMotion (an iOS tool chain - development stack for iPhone apps). RubyMotion.com  Ran a f...