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Being Agile without fitting a mould

A few weeks ago I started helping out at one of the most Agile tech companies I’ve ever seen.

I looked into their current state. On the surface, they use a mix of Scrum and Kanban ideas that wouldn’t pass muster by the standards of either approach. Some practices are done loosely, while others are absent.

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The Making of a Great Agile Management Team (27-min audio interview)

How does a group of managers truly become a management team, especially one that builds an Agile culture? READ MORE

How to Become Agile Outside of Software?

Recent story from a technology company: The CEO, seeing the software teams’ outcomes from being Agile, wanted the sales team to work in an Agile manner as well. In fact, he told the VP Sales to be more like the tech teams.

A few years ago, this would have been quite a shocker. Technology teams as the model of behavior? Yet, that’s becoming more and more the case, because Agile teams have a different impact on business: they work with the whole product in mind, make more strategic trade-offs, are more transparent and responsive, and so on.

So how does a non-software group/department/unit adopt Agile?

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Imposing Agile Is a Non-Starter

For years, whenever people wanted to know about my Agile coaching practice, one thing I would bring up was, “I only coach the willing.”

Sometimes they would chuckle or nod understandingly. Yet, more often, they didn’t realize why I was saying this. I’m a professional coach, wouldn’t I coach everyone?
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Agile Just Makes Sense… Why Don’t They Get It?!

In my courses, I use various activities to examine and drive home Agile’s many principles. Ones that usually trigger deep conversations include getting to “done,” feedback, collaboration, and effectiveness before efficiency. Many senior managers attend my courses, and almost every time, one of them will ask:

“Aren’t these principles just a common-sense way to work?”READ MORE

The Silent Killer in Your Agile Implementation

Suppose you have Agile teams and things look good. Folks work on important initiatives, do high-value work, get feedback regularly, and deliver finished products/services to their intended consumers frequently.

Question: How long before things start to break down?
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“Agile Amped” Interview with Gil Broza on the Agile Mindset (39-min podcast)

Howard Sublett, host of the Agile Amped podcast, interviewed Gil Broza in May 2018. Gil discussed mind-set (both personal and organizational), why an unchanged mind-set is the key reason for failure of Agile transformations, and how to help leaders with the change.

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Gil’s #1 Advice for New Agile Teams

Let’s say you’re joining a newly formed Agile team. Whether as a member or a leader, how can you help your team succeed?READ MORE

Agile: Speeding up Technical Work Is not the Goal

Organizations are used to concentrating their technology workers in specialized units, such as IT or Product Development. This approach enables them to focus on their specialties and to establish their own methods and processes. As a side effect, it also creates a vendor-consumer dynamic. And once this dynamic is in place, managers on both sides start wondering, can the technical people work faster?

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“Agile for Humans” Podcast with Gil Broza on the Agile Mindset (14-min mp3)

At the 2016 Path to Agility conference in Columbus, Gil gave the keynote Being Agile: Having the Mindset that Delivers. Ryan Ripley, host of the Agile for Humans podcast, interviewed him about this topic.

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