There is a massive difference between being a group of people who work together and being a high-performing team. It doesn’t matter if you are working in an agile organization or one that is more traditional, a group of people who share an understanding of how they work, why they work, and how they can show up and support one another every day are going to achieve greater things than those who lack that understanding.

If this is something your team is struggling to develop, this podcast will provide a case study of how you and the people you work with can begin to develop the type of connection they need to rise and thrive together. In this podcast, Erich Hahn joins me to talk through the experience he and his team had in working through the Modus Right Environment Exercises (REE). Erich and have both been through the Modus Institute’s Lean Agile Visual Management program where we went through Modus Right Environment Exercises with teams and saw firsthand how they transform the way people form as a team. Whether you are starting up with a new team, or are working on one that has become a bit stuck, these tools will deeply impact how you engage with one another.

One note, before you watch or listen to the podcast, the names of these tools will be familiar, but they are not the same ones you’ve used in the past. As you’ll see in the interview, Modus Institute uses these tools in a unique way that provides layers of insight that you would not gain otherwise.

This podcast was originally recorded in video. You can find the video version here: https://youtu.be/Pp7BXnjZMh0

To Learn More About Modus Right Environment Exercises and Lean Agile Visual Management:

Modus Institute: https://www.modusinstitute.com

The Collaboration Equation: https://www.collaboration-equation.com

Free Modus Public Forum: https://bit.ly/3JfzgbL

If you’d like to contact Erich with follow-up questions:

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3ybPgFp

Email: [email protected]

PMI Fellow Ricardo Vargas joins me in this episode of the podcast to talk about Artificial Intelligence, Chat GPT, and the Future of Project Management. During our conversation, I got the chance to dig deeper into some of the ideas raised in his recent HBR article "How AI Will Transform Project Management." Whether you are working in a traditional organization or one that has adopted agile, the work of managing work is going to go through some pretty intense changes in the coming years. This interview is guaranteed to give you ideas about how to prepare yourself for the future of project management.

If you'd prefer to watch a video version of this interview you can find it here: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/74024/artificial-intelligence-and-project-management-with-ricardo-vargas

You can find the HBR article "How AI Will Transform Project Management"

here: https://hbr.org/2023/02/how-ai-will-transform-project-management

Contacting Ricardo

Web: https://ricardo-vargas.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardovargas/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/rvvargas

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rvvargas

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, my good friend Chris Li joins me for a conversation about Sprint Goals. While Chris and I are aligned on the importance of having a Sprint Goal, we approach the creation of it in different ways. During this conversation, you’ll get a detailed breakdown of how each of us shows up for the Sprint Goal conversation, when, and how it happens.

If you would prefer to check out a video version of this interview it can be found here: https://youtu.be/UxZypEeuFww

Contacting Chris

Web: www.sparkplugagility.com/

Twitter: twitter.com/realchrisli

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/realchrisli/

Email: [email protected]

And if you have any feedback for me on the podcast, or are interested in signing up for one of my CSM or CSPO classes: https://linktr.ee/mrsungo

In “Lead Without Blame: Building Resilient Learning Teams” Diana Larsen and Tricia Broderick present tools, techniques, and strategies you can employ to transform the way you approach leading teams. Throughout the book, they present case studies and examples from their own experiences that showcase the impact you can have by fostering a psychologically safe environment that supports collaborative learning, autonomy, and purpose.

In this episode of the podcast, Tricia Broderick joins me to talk about the book, why she and Diana chose to write it, and how this approach can help your high-performing team take the next step towards becoming a resilient collaborative learning team.

This interview was originally recorded in video. You can find that version here: bit.ly/3GwO2rg

You can find Lead Without Blame here: bit.ly/3wOCdJ7

If you’d like to contact Tricia:

Web: https://igniteii.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tricia-broderick

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, I am joined by a very special guest, Christine Li, for a conversation I have been waiting to record for quite a while now.

Backstory

I am closing in on 30 years of work in Project Management and for most of that time, I, like many of you, have been talking smack about Frederick Taylor. My opinions were based on the things I learned from others along the way and were (obviously) deeply informed by moving from traditional PM over to Agile. As far as I was concerned, this guy was the birth of work misery.

But over the past few years, I’ve started to develop this weird compulsion to stick up for the good bits that came out of his work. I mean, literally, no one working in project management or agile would have a job without this guy. You can also make an argument that without him the United States never would have made it through WWII.

Even though I was willing to have Taylor’s back in an argument, there was one thing missing…

I had never actually read his work.

CUE ALL THE PM SHAME!

So I did. I read The Principles of Scientific Management. And, to my shock, not only was it easy to read, but it was fun to read how this guy figured out the things he figured out. Yes, there are a few critical issues with his approach (and they are big issues), but there is a TON of good stuff in there that we all ignore because he’s such an easy target.

(And I really want to go back in time and get hired as SPEED BOSS)

After reading it, I was at a lunch and happened to mention my newfound Taylor Fanboy-ness and Christine Li showed up like Yoda, deep with the PM history geek. She took me to school and that is where this conversation starts.

My hope is that even if you think Frederick Taylor is the Sauron of Project Management, you’ll give this a listen. Maybe it will challenge your understanding of him and his work. Maybe it will (I hope) entice you to read his work. And even if you’ve read his work and can see the good in it, the things Christine shares will level up your understanding as well.

I am very grateful to her for making time for this. It was a really fun conversation.

For Further Reading

The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Taylor bit.ly/3H8XtPG

Scientific Management; a History and Criticism by Horace Drury https://bit.ly/3QFhEIr

Contacting Christine

Web: https://www.sparkplugagility.com

Email: [email protected]

A few weeks ago while I was teaching a CSM class, I got a Slack message from Ron Quartel pointing me to a tweet by Ryan Ripley. The tweet said “If you are sitting in a Scrum Training class and the trainer starts teaching Story Points, you should 1. Get up. 2. Demand Your Money Back, and 3. Walk out. You're wasting your time.

Here is a link to the tweet: https://bit.ly/3XsfPAP

I should mention I was just about to cover Story Points and I used Ryan's tweet in class as part of our conversation.

As soon as I saw Ryan's tweet, I DM'd him asking if we could do a podcast about it. I did this because A) I have a lot of respect for Ryan and value his opinion, B) earlier in my career I spent about 4 years fighting against Story Points, C) I do teach them in class because I believe that (used properly) they can be incredibly valuable to a Scrum Team, and D) I love getting into debates on topics I feel strongly about with really smart people who might be able to change my mind

So this podcast is Ryan and I talking through his reason for throwing shade on Story Points, my reasons for standing up for them, and the reasons I feel comfortable saying that we are aligned about why Story Points are good AND evil.

This podcast was originally recorded in video. If you'd prefer that version you can find it here: https://youtu.be/-ja1oFv5Et0

Contacting Ryan:

Web: https://AgileforHumans.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AgileforHumans

Fixing Your Scrum by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller: https://amzn.to/3Qyjs5S

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanripley/

Derek Huether is back for this episode and we’re focusing on Value Stream Management. Value Stream Mapping is about understanding all the steps from the inception of an idea to putting something valuable in a customer's hands, and using that information to optimize the flow of value through the system. But, within a business, you will have many value streams and we need to understand how best to coordinate those streams to optimize the overall value generated by the company across multiple value streams. If your brain is wired for traditional project management, you could think of this as creating a system that optimizes a portfolio management level view of all the value streams in the org.

During the interview, Derek and I explore why Value Stream Management is so important, how it works, the connection to Value Stream Mapping, and how you can get started with it.

This podcast was originally recorded as a video. You can find that version here:

https://youtu.be/nxGvpnWgoIM

Contacting Derek


Web: www.derekhuether.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/derekhuether/
Twitter: twitter.com/derekhuether
Email: [email protected]

Derek’s Amazon Page: https://bit.ly/3GPEQQQ

Gil Broza has been a guest on this podcast a number of times in the past. He’s the author of several books that focus on Agile, including The Human Side of Agile and Agile for Non-Software Teams. Gil is a teacher, lecturer, and the founder of 3PVantage. He also helps organizations transform to Agile, and he’s developed a new tool called Square that can be used to assess your value delivery so that you can make an intentional, well-informed choice about which improvements are the right ones to pursue. The tool is simple to use and you can perform an assessment in just a few minutes. During this interview, Gil explains why he created the tool, how it works, and how it can help you take a holistic look at how you handle Product Development so that you can make strategic choices about how and when to improve your ability to deliver value.

If you’d like to learn more about Square:

https://3pvantage.com/improve-your-value-delivery/

Contacting Gil

Web: https://3pvantage.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gilbroza

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/gilbroza

So you’ve made the decision that you want to get a job as a Scrum Master. Maybe you’re working on an agile team and want to switch roles, or maybe you’re moving from a field where agile has no presence. If you don’t already have experience working in an environment that has adopted Scrum, then the big question is… how do you land the gig.

In this episode, I am joined by my good friend Richard Cheng to talk about how to get started working as a Scrum Master. We both run across a lot of people in our classes that are trying to find a way to transition into the Scrum Master role. We also meet a lot of people who have decided they want to make a career change and feel like being the Scrum Master for a Scrum Team might be a good fit. During the interview Richard and discuss what the role actually entails, some common misconceptions about it, key differences between being a Project Manager and being a Scrum Master, the pros and cons of the job, and ways you can how you get started on the path towards getting your first official job as Scrum Master.

There have been a lot of dramatic changes in the technology space lately, and a lot of people have been making a decision to leave their company job and become an independent consultant working in Agile. Richard is a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile Coach and he recently made this choice and has gone out on his own. Towards the end of the interview, he also shares what led him to make this choice to become an independent consultant and the steps he's taking to establish himself. If you are considering a similar move, his experience working through this transition could provide some valuable insights for you.

Contacting Richard

Web: https://www.agilityprimesolutions.com

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcheng/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardkcheng

Ok, so you’re a newly minted Certified Scrum Master (or Certified Scrum Product Owner), now what? How do you get started applying what you learned in class? What if the organization you work in is still primarily waterfall? What if you were the one person sent to take a 2-day class so you can transform the rest of the company and teach them to “do agile”? What if you went for the certification as your first step in trying to find your way out of the waterfall and into a healthier way of working?

In this episode of the podcast, Jeff Howey joins me to talk about what happens when you get your CSM or CSPO certification, what it means for the newly certified, and what it says to the rest of the world of work. We talk about how to get started using what you learned in class including what to do if your day job doesn’t offer you opportunities to begin experimenting with the things you learned about in Scrum training.

If you are having trouble figuring out how to get started, this discussion should give you plenty of ideas and hope as you take the initial steps of putting into practice what you learned in class.

If you’d like to contact Jeff Howey.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhowey/