Principle Based Agile/Scrum Adoption
I’m a pragmatist. I need things to make sense. So, when something like principles are introduced to me, I start to ponder questions like… What…
Category: Principles
Peter Drucker ’s view is integral to the values of Scrum
Peter Drucker said, “Concentration is the key to economic results. No other principles of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of…
Scrum as an agent of culture change part 2
In part one of this series, we defined culture. We also described why it is both critical and hard to work on. Finally, we left…
20 Common Logical Fallacies – Don’t Be a Victim!
Faulty thinking is part of life. We’re not perfect, nor do we think perfectly. It is, however, helpful to identify faulty thinking in our own…
New to agile? Remember to respect people
One of the Lean Principles is “Respect People.” I think it may be the most important lean principle. When I teach a course and get…
New to agile? Keep it very simple
When dealing with an agile implementation, particularly in the case of a new agile team, we often make things too complex and difficult. We tend…
Agile antipattern: Treating symptoms not causes
Agile teams often get to a point where they have a number of problems which must be addressed. During retrospectives these items keep coming up…
New to Agile? Use a Rules of Engagement document.
How do we work together? Seems like a simple question, right? How wrong you could be! For an agile team, working together is vitally important,…
Agile antipattern: Hiding unfortunate truths
“Unfortunate truths” are things which are true – unfortunately! I’ve heard the phrase used by defense lawyers and I have to admit it is pretty…
Agile anti-pattern: Going to longer iterations
This is another common theme among teams just starting with agile. It usually goes something like this: The team has an unsuccessful iteration. They determine…
New to agile? Do the simplest thing that works – THEN STOP!
As an agile trainer and coach I often see new teams struggle with a simple question: “How much to do on a user story?” A lot…
New to agile? Tips for better daily stand-ups
As an agile coach I have attended a lot of daily stand-up meetings. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been in a meeting…
New to agile? Remember to eliminate waste
When I teach any agile course I start out with the principles of lean that Mary and Tom Poppendieck have written about in their books. …
New to agile? Remember one thing: Just enough, just in time
If you lived through the past few decades you have undoubtedly heard the time “Just in Time” (JIT) as applied to manufacturing. This is the…
Holistic vs. Dogmatic Agile Definition – Results Matter!
I originally wrote about this topic in our September email newsletter. In that article I was trying to explain the difference between two specific types…
Agile teams and Microsoft Outlook – churn, baby, churn!
Many agile organizations use Microsoft Outlook as their email client of choice. I have to admit that I do as well (full disclosure – I…