Thoughts
YOU COULD NOT STEP TWICE INTO THE SAME RIVER
A collection of writing related to agile principles, coaching, and leadership. A place to explore the connections between our everyday world and work life. Rarely is there truth here - as my thinking and perspective evolves.
Do More with Less (Noise) - Part 3 of 3
What I’ve seen over the last 25 years are leaders who want to do more with less but aren’t prepared to change their organizational structure or culture to accommodate that desire. Consequently, it’s PEOPLE (and their families) who suffer the physical and psychological burden of constant context switching and noisy communication.
Do More with Less (Noise) - Part 2 of 3
Not having agreed-upon communication conventions increases the noise in the system and incurs daily costs of delay and more context switching, which in turn lengthens time-to-value.
Do More with Less (Noise)
The way to ACCOMPLISH more with less, is to DO less to accomplish more. For most people the best way to deliver more is to change two things: 1) focus on fewer goals at any given time and 2) simplify the communication surrounding those goals.
Value in a Complex System
While value may obey some simple Newtonian laws in a vacuum, value in the real world is rooted in complexity theory.
Learning to Fly
“ … but the skills most valuable are those that result in the ability to experiment quickly.”
Why many “Agile Transformations” are Doomed!
Look out for standardization and treating ‘agile’ as the goal.
The Agile Dentist
Finding key behaviours we look for on agile teams .. at the dentist’s office.
The Value of Learning
“… but the value of learning whether we are solving the right problems the right way.”
Sapiens, Revolution, and empty Maps
“We need to be comfortable WITHOUT fully populated schedules and plans. We need to have more empty spaces in our maps.”
Billy Goat
“All too often people and organizations are either unwilling or not enabled to learn new techniques in their core skills.”
Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Backlog
“… but it remains a list of problems that represent a body of work (with an overall goal) and those problems are prioritized by value.”
Scrum Alliance - Progress on Transforming the World of Work
“We need the customers of the organizations that use Scrum to see the value of Scrum and WANT their products developed using Scrum … ”
Catalytic Poisoning: Coaches and Chemicals
“Knowing when you, as a catalyst, have been inhibited is one of the many coaching skills necessary to ensure that your clients’ transformations continue to evolve.”
An-Isotropic Scaling
“… we need to keep focused on the problem we are trying to solve, rather than simply uniformly scaling a system that works in its current situation.”
Coaching Symbiosis
“Coaching is an unending journey for both parties, and if you're not learning from the people you work with, you're probably not coaching.”
Iterative / Incremental delivery to get to the Moon!
The iterative and incremental approach to one of the greatest feats of all time.
An Agile Mindset in House Construction
“… building NEW software is not analagous to building a house, it's analogous to building a housing subdivision.”
Agile Education
“Educators on the forefront of their field have long understood the need to transform education into a two-way conversation between teachers and students.”
Project Grammar
“Focusing on projections of the desired outcome, based on present data or trends, is how we truly manage risk on a project”
When You’re Up to your ass in Alligators
“Of course the best solution to the problem of how to effectively drain the swamp is to prevent the swamp from forming in the first place.”