Agile Complexification Inverter

Many companies have initiatives to become innovative.  There are some companies that don't appear to need a leadership sponsor to get competitive innovation - wonder why.  Perhaps they have some fundamental aspect to their organization that allows them to be creative.  What would be those aspects? Why It Feels Like We're Falling Behind It can take years to notice a life-changing invention.  - Motley Fool It took the world a few years to recognize that the Wright brothers had flown the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, NC (first flight in Dec. 1903 to 1908 public demonstrations). Here's my research on the topic of creativity. The musical group OK-Go! describes their process to achieve creativity - and the math behind the wonder and surprise they are reliably able to deliver. An awesome lesson in discovery - planning to play - to achieve innovation. Predicting Creativity in the Wild -- a research paper on the use of sociometric monitoring of teams by Sociom...

I'm working with a large networking (telecommunication) company on a mission critical new initiative to replace existing B2B account services functions that are siloed and separate with a new sexy UI where all the services are aggregated in one portal.  The development has been underway for over one year.  It is touted as an "agile" program.  Yet an interesting impediment has never been resolved.  That is the internal WiFi/Lan systems appear to be overloaded with the strain of development, over utilized with the number of people that are squeezed into the floor plan (I call the sardine can).  This system fails quite frequently, it is a well know impediment to sprints being completed, stories integrated into the build, builds tested, access to the QA server, etc.  Yet this impediment remains after months and continued growth of the program. I wonder if the problem is that management feels that they can't do anything about infrastructure at one of the large...

"The 21st Century is when it all changes.  You've got to be ready."  -- Capt'n Jack Harkness What does a 21st Century company look like?  Here's some principles, some templates, some examples.  I believe the 21st century will see a movement toward companies being good social citizens (not money focused) these movements are already starting and we are only 14 years into this century.  Movements such as Conscious Capitalism, Sustainability, Triple Bottom Line, Lean/Agile, etc. I intend to work for one of these new breed of companies before the decade is done. A look at the No Manager movement at Treehouse  a learning company focused on learning... No Managers: Why We Removed Bosses at Treehouse How to set priorities, create budgets and do project management in a #NoManager company How salaries, career progression and reviews work in a #NoManager company How to communicate in a #NoManager company Kotter's 21st C Org Model Here's ...

Software nightmare stories are very common - but one thing I've learned by listening to these stories over the years is the technologist must be optimist at heart.  Why - because they deal constantly with tons of failure.  And out of those failures they create innovative disruptive new sectors of the world economy (sometimes, case in point the Apple Newton and then the iPod and iPhone). Let's look at a few case studies. Time has just published a look at the Obama Healthcare rescue team.  Code Red by Steven Brill "What were the tech problems?  Where they beyond repair? Nothing I saw was beyond repair.  Yes, it was messed up.  Software wasn't built to talk to other software, stuff like that.  A lot of that,"  Abbott continues, "was because they had made the most basic mistake you can ever make.  The government is not used to shipping products to consumers.  You never open a service like this to everyone at once.  You open i...

Your Wish List is not a Scrum Backlog. I've seen lots of list that are referred to as a backlog.  List on paper, in spreadsheets, in powerpoint, on whiteboards, wrapped in a rubber band on index cards - they can take many forms - yet the form is not what makes a wish list into a backlog.  So what are the necessary and sufficient attributes of a backlog? A list becomes a backlog when: the items are sized (estimated) by the Development Team that will implement the item the items are ordered (prioritized) by the Product Owner by delivery order the items are visible (instantly) to the team and the stakeholders in this ordered list the stories in the list are understood to the team (well enough for sizing) items that reference additional information or requirements are easily obtained (wireframes/mock ups/technical specification/etc. via a well known location) This list of elements of an effective backlog follows from the principle of transparency -- the team shoul...

Many coaches suggest that teamwork starts with trust.  Simon Sinek would have us believe that there is a perquisite for trust:  followers feel safe . That feeling of safety builds trust, and that trust sets the environment for teamwork. Do your team members feel safe?  If the project succeeds or fails do they still have a job on your team?  Answer no to that one simple question and you have your answer to why collaboration and teamwork is a challenge in your organization. Work toward changing that and you are demonstrating leadership. Did your software development organization follow the lead of many Agile companies and create a large open space floor plan with rows of cheep tables and expensive chairs?  Did this environment create the collaboration that it was intended to?  I've been in several companies recently that believe they have an Agile environment - this is far from the truth.  Let's look at what they really have and wha...

I've been reading the futurist Ray Kurzweil's latest book ( book's web site ). I find his theories fascinating.  He has quite a record for predicting the future (see ch. 10  The Law of Accelerating Returns - How my predictions are fairing at KurzweilAI.net). Kurzweil's model of the neocortex described in detail in this book,  The Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind, may be sufficient to build a Artificial Intelligence.  This computer mind system may be capable of demonstrating the emergent property of intelligence.  And then by extension the emergent property of consciousness. The sections on hidden Markov models, hierarchical architecture, and evolutionary genetic algorithms are worth reading if your into software design.  If you wonder why Apple released Siri before it was perfect, this book will give you the reason.  Kurzweil and company are the innovators of speech recognition. Apple Had No Choice But To Release Siri As An Imperfect Prod...

I'm working with a large client that has adopted the classic user story format for the backlog. "As a user , I want some feature  so that I receive this benefit ." Yet, I'm sure that it is not delivering the desired shared understanding that throwing out the classic business requirements document and adopting the scrum/XP user story practice is designed to deliver. So if your groups user stories have become just a piece of boiler plate language to satisfy some agile coach's requirement - maybe you should reflect upon the desired reason for user stories rather than requirements documentation so many years ago.  User stories do work.  But you have to tell a story.  Few authors are good enough to tell a story in one sentence. @davidakoontz @dayleyagile Card, Conversation, Confirmation. Card contents irrelevant. http://t.co/IIUdJJmxA1 — Ron Jeffries (@RonJeffries) May 15, 2014 Here Ron is pointing to one of the XP practices that were very successful in...

Here's an exercise for the leadership - expand this simple backlog and track it until the project is completed - the project is to launch a team. Goal:  lauch a new team;  success criteria - doing sprint 1 and releasing a product increment Stories:  -  An "Order" to create team  -  Business to deliver Purpose / Vision for new team  -  Team Roster  -  Team Infrastructure  -  Mutate Wishlist into a Product Backlog (visible to team, sized, prioritized by delivery order)  -  Team Launch Workshop Here is agile42's advice on creating a great team. Here's a video documentary of how one of the Tech Industry's greatest visionary purposely built his next company.  Built from the heart, with passion, because they all wanted to make a difference in the world. I suggest your team watch this video - discuss how they can be like the founders of NeXT.  What similarities does your team have with th...

Visual.ly Infographic Understanding why an organization thinks it needs to change is enlightening.  Many times the people at the bottom ranks of the organization have no idea the driving forces that necessitate a change.   As a group brainstorm a list of possible reasons for the change. Dialogue on the difference between change and transition.  How long does change take?  What is a transition?   Bridges Transition Model :  Ending - Neutral Zone - New Beginning. Dialogue on the difference between satisfiers and dissatisfaction in the workplace (Herzberg's  Two-Factor theory ). See Gallup's Q12 Employee Engagement survey . First just capture all the reasons that might be the answer to - Why change? Typical reasons (if you need to prime the pump - or when the answers slow down - throw one of these out to head in a different direction). Current process just doesn’t work Decrease time to market for new products Cost reducti...