Agile Complexification Inverter

Guest post by: Tracy Gibson  ( tracy@gibson.name ) "If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living." ~ Gail Shelly Long-term results are the impact of coaching. We all want to improve our life in an area of career and work, money and wealth, people and relationships, health and wellbeing, and/or learning and growing. Yet how often have we vowed to change and sooner or later, the resolve that we have to start has waned or the methods chosen seem too hard. That wavering moment is where coaching steps in and strengthens our resolve. A good coach is someone who is an expert at helping others create positive change in their lives. For some clients, the positive change they most want may be focused on personal goals such as relationships, time management, work-life balance, stress reduction, simplification, health, etc., but other clients may be more interested in professional or business goals such as leadership, getting a pr...

A fractal flower pattern I find Scrum practices to be very self-similar at various scales of granularity. For example the Sprint appears to start with a planning sessions. Yet within the flow of a sprinting team the planning sessions actually starts with a Sprint Review and Process Retrospective and only then do we look into the future. So in the big picture, planning starts with review. Just like in the Scrum Standup meeting - the 3 questions - it starts with a review. What did you get done (past tense)? Next, what will you do (future tense)? And last, what impedes your progress (current tense)? The Scrum Standup meeting has a flow of past, future, now. When laid out end to end sprints have a similar pattern: Review & Retro (past), followed by Planning (future), followed by sprinting or doing the work (every day, the now). This self similar pattern can be found in many of the Scrum practices. Practices that mature agile teams use to deliver working tested product increments...

I was in a CMMI adoption process meeting today and I might have argued that the Scrum Retrospective activity (process step) is more important than the Scrum Planning activity.  Yet, know-one took the bait.  What would be a better piece of bait? We were discussing what process steps we should define to meet CMMI something something... and the list on the board look like: Sprint planning backlog grooming release planning project planning risk mitigation planning [note - only one is a Scrum activity] I was trying to point out that as a subset of Scrum practices this list is interesting, yet not sufficient. I believe that planning is way less important that the activity of reflection (learning).  I could refer you to some wonderful quotes by US Army Generals about the uselessness of plans .  But let me skip that meme and jump to the assertion that Retrospectives are more important that planning activities. WHY? Because with just that one practice, Retr...

Ever wonder about the usability testing that all those inventions of Q in the 007 movies must go through? Well, so did Ben Judy and he presented his finding at the Big(D)esign conference this year.   Watch the video:   http://www.bondusability.com

How do you want to learn about Agile/Scrum?  This question is a 21st century problem.  Only a few years ago (last century) there was practically one way to learn a new skill or domain of knowledge - study via the printed page, e.g. buy a book.  But today we have alternative ways.  And yes they very well may be better at teaching than books.  Heck, I know a woman that learned English by watching cartoon network in Poland. So when people want to learn about Scrum (or Agile - they are not the same thing) I typically ask how they would like to learn.  Do you want a book, or a google search term, or perhaps a video?  Most people are responding to the question with a request for a video. Scrum Training Series (dot-com) Here's my best resource:   http://scrumtrainingseries.com .  The Scrum Training Series is 6 video cartoons that follow a new team into the daily activities and learning of a newly forming team with a Scrum Trainer (facilitato...

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.  I agree, every countries nuclear weapons are for peaceful purpose.  The Soviet Unions stock pile were to offset the US stock pile and look at the peace that has existed for 70 years.  The Iranian weapons may lead to the middle east version of detente - a peaceful purpose - through the capability of force, to offset the Israelis undeclared nuclear stock pile. The problem I have with this cognitive dissonance is that no one will speak of it.  The politicians will not look at the history and acknowledge the facts, nor the intent of policies, nor that actions that were taken by countries.  The press never questions the rhetoric "for peaceful purposes."   Take a look at the facts.  The US, the only nations to use nuclear weapons in war, used only 2 warheads in it's whole history for non-peaceful purposes.  And of its 7,700 warheads produced gives it a stunning batting average of 999...

Avast ye land lubbers... I not be taking a knock on me nogging.  It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19th. So hoist up yer sails and join in da FUNIN. http://www.talklikeapirate.com/ http://www.talklikeapirate.com/howto.html The five A's - Pirate Lesson - all the talkin a pirate needs. Mango Language Lessons

What philosophy do you use when hiring new members for the team? The tendency for many teams is to create an interview hazing process.  Requiring interviewees to run a gauntlet of silly questions, riddles, etc.  Is it not obvious that this will result in a poor hiring decision? If you ask an experienced, knowledgable HR person they can tell you how poor the hiring process really is.  Ask a researcher and they will tell you that it is one of the poorest business process for producing the desired results.  Yet almost every organization continues this tried, but not true process. Google, being a big data company has done it's own research on the topic.  Read the results. In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss There are many reasons people choose to leave a company, here is one top three list: Disengaged with organizational mission Lack of respect for co-workers A terrible boss Google found...

I hope to collect a few good videos from the Agile2013 conference over the next few weeks in this blog posting.  Maybe you could send me your favs. Gil Broza on his work supporting people and " The Human Side of Agile ." Agile 2013 - Peter Saddington - The Science of High Performing Teams I enjoyed Peter's presentation. OK - this one is Linda Rising's Keynote from 2012, The Power of the Agile Mindset .  She held two session on this topic at Agile2013. ... more to come ...

How precise are your estimates?  Are we inferring false precision with those 5 significant digits? I saw an hours estimate for a medium size project at our company just the other day.  I don't remember the actual digits, but that's not the point it was a number like: 4145.8 hours Let's just assume that a team of 7 people will do this project.  How many weeks is this?  I'd guess 4145.8 hr divided by (7 * 40) equals 14.806 weeks.  Or, as a human would say it 15 weeks, give or take. Are those digits really necessary?  No.  Are they even real?  No.  They are just artifacts of inappropriate rounding or truncation.   There is very little doubt that someone could estimate a 4000 hour project down to the quarter of an hour (the implied accuracy of the 0.8 hour).  And if you think they are so good at estimating that they can distinguish between 45 hours and 50 hours for a portion of this project - well, then keep on trucking to the mi...

Agile Tetrahedron Model I was in a workshop just the other day and asked if everyone was aware of the dynamics of the classic project management iron triangle.  While most people had heard of it, it was apparent that few actually understood the dynamics of the model. For a better model than the PM triangle see the Agile Tetrahedron. Perhaps a physical model of the PM triangle would help people to grasp the meaning.  So let's build an adjustable Iron Triangle out of something.  It needs to be inexpensive, made from common items, and build-able in 20 minutes. Here's is how to make a PM iron triangle out of plastic drinking straws. You need: Straws - the bendable kind - multi-colored. Scissors I used 3 yellow straws for the flexible corner pieces.  Cutting the straw just about 2cm beyond the flex on each side.  I cut the straw at an angle.  This makes assemble easier, as you must crimp and slide this piece into...

IDEO - redesigns the classic shopping cart, ABC Nightline looks at how the IDEO process of innovation really works. Steve Jobs on the iPhone/tablet development sequence - which came first? Sir Ken Robinson (TED Talk) Do Schools Kill Creativity? The Myths of Innovation - Scott Berkun's Lecture at CMU The New Rules of Innovation - Carl Bass of Autodesk, Inc. Innovation at Procter & Gamble

Why do humans play games?  Do other animals play?  What value does play create in the propagation of the genes?  Should we play more, play at work, should we play when we are old?    "The average 4 year old laughs 40 times a day;      the average 40 year old laughs 4 times a day." Here are some great videos that describe this phenomena. Why Do We Play Games?   by Vsauce    "The opposite of play is not work, it is depression."     -- Brian Sutton-Smith Stuart Brown:  Play is more than Fun.  TED.com A pioneer in research on play, Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults — and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. (Recorded at Serious Play in May 2008, in Pasadena, California. Duration: 26:42.) The National Institute For Play. Patterns of Play BBC intervi...

I've collected a few videos that I find explain the new paradigm of the 21st century management. Punishment or Reward?  Which is more effective? by Veritasium Discusses the gambler's fallacy and regression to the mean when samples are taken from a normal population.  The importance of control groups in scientific studies. Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation. TED Talk 2009 Dan will demonstrate that what science knows, business does not practice in the 21st century.  Watch this if you are a manager - you've been lawyered ! Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work? Dan Pink: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. RSA Animate Sir Ken Robinson  TED talk:  How to Escape Education's Death Valley Dr. Anita Williams Woolley, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory presented to alumni at Reunion 2013. Most of us are familiar with the idea of "general intelligence" in individuals, b...

I don't think 5 keys need to be ordered.  I've narrowed down a long list of keys, these are the ones that floated to the top.  So these are not in order of importance or steps in adoption; no, you have to do all of these at the same time. Everyone is responsible for teamwork. A culture of experimentation, reflection and learning. Define multiple rhythms - stick to the beat.  Pay attention to the syncopations. Visualize your work - all of it, and in multiple ways (task boards, diagrams, UML, reports, alarms). Get a Product Owner that wants to play ball in the Scrum mentality - or don't even start. I may expand upon the meaning of these bullet points later. What do you think is key for a new organizations Scrum adoption? See Also: ScrumProUK - Simon Morris @Simo_Morris http://scrumprouk.tumblr.com/post/52537981825/my-5-tips-for-scrum-adoption Product Owner in a Nutshell - video by Henrik Kniberg of Crisp. An Agile Adop...