A CEO asked me: “I can see how the teams and the product lines will operate with an Agile mindset, but at my level, how do I manage differently? How do I work with the other executives?”
Here is my quick (“elevator pitch”) summary:
And… how would you tell? Here is a story from Gil.
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Imagine you’ve been asked to join another Agile team. The person in charge meets you and during the introductory conversation, says “Mondays, we have the planning ceremony at 10. The other main ceremonies are on Friday afternoons…”
Rewind to where the person said “ceremony.” Did you feel excited? curious? nervous? unenthusiastic?
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Almost every organization is now showing interest in Agile. We seem to have all the ingredients for effective transformations: well-known practices, detailed processes, ever-improving tools, extensive literature, myriad certifications, and many consultants. How is it, then, that so few organizations are truly agile?READ MORE
Everyone who tries to adopt Agile in their organization quickly realizes that the change extends beyond the team, project/program, and value stream. It affects management too. But how? More specifically, what should managers focus on to support the change to Agile?
Try this sometime:
Survey your team members anonymously: “What’s the purpose of our daily standup?” (or daily Scrum, whatever you call it).
You might be surprised by the number of materially different answers you’ll get.
And then, you should be concerned over how many of those answers include words such as “updates” or “status.”
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.
How does a group of managers truly become a management team, especially one that builds an Agile culture? READ MORE
At a technology company, the CEO called the VP Sales in and say, “I want Sales to be more like the tech team.”
Wait, what? Technology teams as the model of behavior?
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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