The Magic of 1-Day Sprints
How long should your sprints be? Generally, 1-2 weeks, with a preference towards a shorter sprint. But that’s not what I’m writing about today. I…
Author: Richard Lawrence
Longtime co-owner of Agile For All, Richard left in October 2020 to co-found Humanizing Work.
He trains and coaches people to collaborate more effectively with other people to solve complex, meaningful problems. He draws on a diverse background in software development, engineering, anthropology, and political science. Richard is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer, as well as a certified trainer of the accelerated learning method, Training from the Back of the Room. His book, Behavior-Driven Development with Cucumber, was published by Addison-Wesley in 2019 (for more information, visit bddwithcucumber.com).
Lessons from 14 Years of Agile Homeschooling for Families Suddenly in the Middle of It
My wife and I have homeschooled our boys for 14 years. Two started university this school year, returning home last week when their campus closed.…
Three Categories of Infrastructure Work (and why you don’t need it all right now)
I encourage my clients to find and focus on the core value of whatever they’re creating. What is it that doesn’t yet exist in the…
Story Splitting Poster Now Available in Portuguese
Working in small increments of value—good user stories—is the key habit that makes the rest of Agile Software Development work. But people everywhere struggle to…
Humanizing Work Show Season 2 Finale: What Are the Top Characteristics That Make a Team Great? We’re Asking the Adobe Audition Team.
Industry leader, @Adobe, is known for its innovation in the creative industry, allowing creatives to do what they do best with the help of innovative…
Humanizing Work Show: All Teams Can Learn from Scrum & XP Practices
Great models for building a strong and healthy team include regularly reviewing the work and how it’s being done to improve going forward, creating structures…
Humanizing Work Show: Team Toxins and the Pathway Back to Health
Trust is a key component in any healthy team. Business outcomes soar and individuals thrive when trust is at the team’s core. But what builds…
Humanizing Work Show: What Can Jazz Teach Us About Teams? Everything.
Think about it. When people are paying attention to what other people are doing in a more present and engaged way, it frees them up…
Humanizing Work Show Season 2 Premiere
Most meaningful work happens in teams so to further expand the Humanizing Work movement and conversation we are taking season 2 to focus on teams.…
Story Splitting Poster Now in Polish
My popular How to Split a User Story flowchart has already been translated to French, German, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Hungarian. Thanks to work from…
Humanizing Work Season 1 Finale: Why Now?
Why now? What conditions in the world make this the right time for a Humanizing Work movement? There are two key shifts that have happened…
Humanizing Work Show Ep.4: Growth Is Essential
Growth is one of the core things that motivates people in all aspects of their life. “Work that doesn’t provide opportunities for growth is dehumanizing.”…
Humanizing Work Show Ep. 3: What Drives Motivation
When you think about what motivates someone within their job or work it tends to go back to what their connection is to the purpose…
Humanizing Work Show Ep.2: The Relationship (or Conflict) Between Ease and Meaning at Work
“This is why successful serial entrepreneurs, even after a big exit, go on to start something else, not because they need the money, but because…
Work Should Fit People
This week, we launched the Humanizing Work Show. In episode 1, we summarize what we mean by Humanizing Work and where the phrase came from. Humanizing Work…
Why a Prerequisite Course?
Participants in our courses are sometimes surprised to find out that they have work to do in advance of the course. Most of our live,…
Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions for 2018
“This year,” says your friend (who’s never run a 5K), “I’m going to do a marathon.” “Yeah? How are you going to do that?” you…
Story Splitting in Hungarian (or, Hogyan daraboljuk a User Story-kat)
Thanks to Janos Facsko, Istvan Margetin, and Andrea Török of Sprint Consulting, my story splitting poster is now available in Hungarian.
“Growing Your Facilitation Skills” Slides
For those who were in my recent Agile Boulder or Agile Arizona sessions on “Growing Your Facilitation Skills,” here are the slides and handout to…
How to Give Clear Instructions When Facilitating
It’s a classic facilitation blunder: You start giving instructions for an activity, and as you’re talking, people begin the activity. You try to reel in…