Dear World,

This may be the most heartfelt post I’ve put down on this site in a long long while. I’ve sorry I’ve been gone so long my much beloved Agile community! I’ve been on the grind, helping clients build wonderful software, working with some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve trained thousands on better techniques in software development practices, spoken in multiple continents and locations built with dreams. I’ve made so many friendships and so many long lasting relationships. Again, I’m sorry I’ve been gone.

The wonderful joys of training and coaching Agile!

The grind is heads down. And for those that know, I crush work. I work hard at my craft. I love that part of the learning process. I love what I do, sincerely, and as I told my boss and my team at one our team meetings, “I feel so good when I help people in companies achieve the impossible.” – Well, it’s time to do the impossible myself. It’s about damn time.

I’ve always had a passion for entrepreneurship my entire life. It’s been something that never has left me. Even as I went through all my education becoming a trained scientist, 3 Masters Degrees, building startup companies, failing epically, getting lucky with two wonderful acquisitions, marrying the best woman in the world and having 2 perfect children, and lastly, continuing to change the world the best way I can 1 by 1 person at a time in large and small companies… I always go back to my core desire: to Build. I must build. I shall build.

It’s Not Complicated

Most everyone I know, sees me as either 1 of 3 things:

• Scientist and Agile Consultant
• Startup Entrepreneur
• Car Enthusiast

The better part of my career has been applying the learnings as an organizational scientist to help companies build products and services using the philosophy of Agile and it’s various frameworks. I always consider myself a scientist first. Solving complex problems has always been something I excelled at. I can see patterns in systems and enjoy solving them even more. This career has been more than fulfilling, even punching out a book on it in 2012 with the largest business book publisher in the world. I have achieved not only wonderful success but been a part of my clients success time and time again. That feeling… can never fade. Ever.

I also love automotive engineering (watch me buy a Lamborghini Huracan with Bitcoin). Which, shouldn’t take you too long to realize why. I love solving problems. I love creating beautiful machines that I can enjoy on track and on the road. There is almost nothing more fulfilling in seeing your own work in something that only you can enjoy more than anyone in the world. It’s yours. 100% Yours. As I look at the automotive wonders before me in my garage, the question always moves to: “How do I increase downforce? // How do I maximize air flow? // Let’s try different codes to change chip settings in my car to make it faster? // etc etc.” I love building. I love inventing. I love learning. It’s in my God-given DNA .

It’s Complex

I love solving complex problems. I love helping others do it. I teach them how. I walk with them as they find amazing realizations, not only about how to build products better, but realizations about themselves . How they can not only better themselves, but also achieve the desires of their employer. How they can find inner strength and courage to take responsibility, be accountable, speak truth, and grow personally in leaps and bounds. It is an amazing sight. It really is. It’s the best.

I also work with the best colleagues in the entire Agile world. Believe me when I say it. I’ve found myself side-by-side with some of the ‘luminaries’ and ‘gurus’ in the business. I’ve never been overly impressed. The people I work with at my company, Agile for All, are the smartest, the most creative, and passionate Agile coaches in. the. world. I wouldn’t have joined them if they weren’t the best.

Words like: Sprint, cadence, scrum, xp, agile, retrospectives, reviews … they all come to mind.

More powerful words come to mind: Execute quickly. Learn quickly. We learn through failure. Fail early fail often. Execute, execute execute!

Well, it’s about time to eat my own dog food. I teach and coach all of that. I see that it works. I wouldn’t coach people on it if I didn’t see it actually work. It does. Agile is the king when it comes to development philosophy with such amazing support frameworks like systems thinking, organizational design, learning theory, behavior science, and more. The tapestry of frameworks that fit within the Agile Manifesto are infinite as they are extravagant.

And that makes this situation I’m in even more complex, infinite, and wonderfully extravagant at the same time. This is my manifesto.

I can no longer teach what I coach thousands on without being the true scientist that I AM.

I must execute. I must experiment. I must live what I believe to be true. If Agile truly is as powerful a mechanism to change small companies… and large complex companies… then (the hypothesis is), it can work in the MOST COMPLEX system ever created by God . It’s time to change human life.

It’s time to change me .

I’m going to try what I’m calling a “ agile life experiment,” and do the biggest 180 imaginable… iterating through the learning, retrospecting, improving, day-by-day… practicing what I preach. Doing it with Agile.

I’m embarking into a world where I know very very little. Going from being an ‘expert’ in software development to a complete noob in a new career… jeez… Let’s do this, together .

I’m going to build a venture-funded cryptocurrency startup.

The mission: Radical Transparency

My promise:

• To show you everything I’m learning!
• I’ve never promised that I’m objective, but I do promise I’ll be fair and truthful in all I do and learn
• To have the most fun ever

I say all this with the greatest anxiety and a fear like none other. The doubts are incredible: Can I do this? // Shit, I’ve failed before… but the failures have always been in the same industry: Technology and Product Development. // What if I fail? // Will I completely tank my career? // What will my 88000 twitter followers think of me? // Will they unfollow me? // What will people (who know me) think of me? // What will they say? // What will my clients say?

I believe in my heart, and tell my clients and friends to always tell the truth, even when it hurts. Even with your boss. Even with your co-workers. Even, your spouse. Radical transparency is the key to unlocking so much potential in your company, culture, and life.

It’s time to be 100% radically transparent with the world. I have no idea what I’m doing … but I’m going to science the shit out of this experiment in video and bitcoin and f*cking change my life. I won’t stop consulting… I’m just embarking on a new adventure in which I know literally nothing about…

[Join me.]

All the best,

ps