This is how a functional organisational design will kill your agility. Small company’s — beaware! — It’s against policy … There isn’t a workflow for that.. It can’t be done … That’s not allowed … It will never be approved … Sounds familiar? If so, chances are you are working for a larger organisation which has done the typical approach of decomposed key operations into functions…

Avoid unnecessary frustration, despair or delays — Frustration, Despair, Delays Endless meetings talking about the same thing? Nothing ever gets settled — at least not for long? Lack of clear technical direction? Can’t determine if or when a decision has been made? Team getting frustrated with their own ability to agree things? Sounds like yet another team is getting bogged…

Assurance and Agile — two words not commonly seen together, and for good reason. But there is a solution … — Assurance and Agile — two words not commonly seen together, and for good reason. The early and iterative delivery of product increments using Agile, constantly reviewed and inspected, provides vastly more oversight than any traditional assurance approach could ever hope to achieve. Inspection and Adaptation is at the heart of…

I sometimes find that teams struggle to plan with any degree of accuracy even a week or two ahead. Teams working on products with a high… — I sometimes find that teams struggle to plan with any degree of accuracy even a week or two ahead. Teams working on products with a high degree of complexity, or operating in chaotic environments (e.g. support) struggle to forward plan to a level of accuracy that adds much value. If…

10 contracting approaches for agile projects — In a capitalist system, customers want value, suppliers want profit. In the delivery of bespoke (IT) products to customers, Agile has become the defacto approach to delivering value, but how do you satisy a supplier’s desire for profit without hampering the delivery of value? The Status Quo

If you do one thing well as a Scrum Master, a fresh and engaging retrospective must be high up the list of priorities. I find games are a… — If you do one thing well as a Scrum Master, a fresh and engaging retrospective must be high up the list of priorities. I find games are a great way to lightening things up and to spark insghtful conversation. …

Reminiscing back to the beginning of my software developer career, code reviews were a regular, and if I’m being honest, tortuous… — Reminiscing back to the beginning of my software developer career, code reviews were a regular, and if I’m being honest, tortuous experience. As a young precocious software developer (in C) who thought he knew more than he did, I regularly treated reviews as if they were an episode of the…

What does Agile mean in a non Software environment … — When delivering Agile training, I sometimes get asked the question “what is Agile?”. To this question there are a number of stock answers typically given: It is 4 Values, 12 Principles and a large number of Practices, It is not just Scrum, It is mindset … (zen-like silence), It is…

Here are a few great techniques to slow down any organisation … — Here are a few great techniques to slow down any organisation, although you may find you are inadvertently experiencing them already: Reliance on email — Change depends on lengthy unstructured email conversations (potentially with large attachments). In fact, email conversations drives your entire organisation. You frequently need to resend or…