There Is No Spotify Model for Scaling Agile
Recently a client told me that they were adopting the Spotify Model. Which sounded great at first. Spotify has published some great articles and videos about how they have grown…
How Technology Managers can Succeed as Agile Leaders
An interview with David Sohmer, Financial Services Technology and Agile Leader In this video interview, David Sohmer talks about how technology managers can embrace agile ways of working, support their…
How Agile Leaders Create Agility – 3 Key Steps
The Scrum Alliance recently partnered with Forbes Insights to conduct a study of Agile Leaders and Agile Transformation success. The study was published as "The Elusive Agile Enterprise" in November,…
Agile Leader Role During an Agile Transformation
What is the Agile Leader Role during an Agile Transformation? Agile Transformations are a popular activity right now. If you are an agile leader, you may be wondering what is…
Will Your Agile Transformation Improve Employee Engagement?
I’ve been looking into employee engagement ever since hearing Marcus Buckingham of Gallup speak about it at a conference about 8 years ago. It is hard to overlook; Gallup keeps…
Why Self-Organizing Teams are Better
Many people are confused about the concept of self-organizing teams. They either equate it with anarchy or confuse self-organizing with self-forming, self-directed or self-managing. What does self-organizing really mean and…
For High Performing Teams, Stop Assigning People to Multiple Teams
In an effort to do more with less, most organizations take their best people and assign them to multiple projects. This approach rarely leads to high performing teams and actually…
Don’t Use The Scrum Framework with Distributed Teams!
Recent studies show that 3 out of 4 Software Development Teams using the Scrum Framework are distributed, meaning that at least some of the team members are not in the…
Don’t Overlook Safety for High Performing Teams
Most leaders would claim that they want high performing teams but many of them don't know what it takes to create them. In some cases, leaders actually behave in ways…
The Myth of the Agile Project Manager
Between Santa Claus, Big Foot and the Agile Project Manager, which exists? Few people argue for the existence of Big Foot or Santa Claus, though most believe that Agile Project…
Another Great Benefit of Agile Transformation
A few months ago I had a conversation with a development manager whose teams had transitioned to Scrum earlier in the year. The development manager said he was really happy…
5 Key Differences Between Agile Adoption & Agile Transformation
A common question that participants ask me during my Agile training courses is what is the difference between Agile Transformation and Adoption. It's a great question. I see five key…
Stop Hovering Over Your High Performing Teams
Most everyone says they want high performing teams, but struggle with creating them. The 5th Agile Principle says to hire motivated people and empower and trust them. The opposite of…
Succeed with the Scrum Framework: Don’t Break These 7 Rules
I find that many of my clients today are trying to improve their use of the Scrum Framework. Many of them are missing out on the benefits of Scrum without…
Tips for an Effective Daily Scrum Meeting
The daily Scrum Meeting is the most frequent meeting in the Scrum Framework, making it important to be done well. There are some common patterns of problems with the daily…
How Do You Motivate Agile Teams to Become High-Performing Teams?
Most people have no idea how to motivate agile teams or create high performing teams. And even if you tell them, they don't seem to remember or care. I've had…