Badass Agile

One of the main causes of Agile failure is an organizations refusal to get behind (ie, to ‘value’) Agile values.

When there is no living instance of these concepts in the organizations, they don’t get modelled, and subsequently don’t spread.  You also need to actively promote and reward right behaviours based on those values.

Interactions with other people can be complex and challenging because people do things differently. Here’s a tool to add to your toolbox… When you want to simplify communications, create rails.

Rails are all about providing lightweight structure – just enough to promote right action and effective communication

Scrum is full of examples of simple rails – story formats (“as a _ I want to _ so I can _”), and stand-up 3-question protocol, for example

The secret to good rails is that they do not inhibit free discussion, are minimally invasive, and lead people to providing the right information or taking right action in the shortest time possible

They should also be simple, easy to remember and use

Most important, you can’t have rails on everything. Experiment with creating and tweaking your own to suit your team and situation.

There are two things you always need to be doing consistently – getting coaching, and coaching others to make them better. It starts with surrounding yourself with people better than you.

The people you spend the most time with have a profound impact on your life and success

Minimize the time you spend around people who complain, blame, and quit

Seek out mentors – you can look within the agile community for writers and other leaders you admire. If you don’t know any, create some community action in your nearest metro or town and find people whose experience you could learn from

Don’t forget…you yourself will become a mentor as well. Plan to coach other coaches and practitioners as you grow and gain experience.

In this episode, I’ll ask you how you stretch….how do you get out of your comfort zone and do things that make you bigger and better?   Look for your weaknesses and uncomfortable moments, because the opportunity to grow and become more live within them.  Public speaking, networking, journalling, working out….what do you struggle with?  Don’t neglect the signs and signals in the form of little failures and peeves–they are gifts….if you choose to give them your focus.  Try it today–this could be an important lesson for your teammates and colleagues that you as a coach can keep in your toolkit.

100 Episodes in, I thought it was a good time to stop and express my gratitude and to reflect on what we’ve accomplished so far….and what I’ve learned..

Our growth and reach after 2 years has been truly staggering. THANK YOU ALL!!!

I’m still very attached to my original vision of creating 1) A resource for fellow agilists and leaders on how to become more agile, not necessarily on how to do scrum and 2) Creating an elite tribe of leaders who understand how to be successful in the board room and in the team room and beyond.

The #1 thing I learned….JUST GO. Consistency matters more than anything else in life. This applies not only to your agile practice, but to every area of endeavour.

Consistency means showing up ever day, but also IMPROVING every day.

Simplicity matters. To add massive value, you have to constantly improve and automate your processes.

Here are some other things I learned about kicking ass in general:

Never ever ask for permission. Be who you are. Your unique voice is your value

Figure out your distinction – what do you do better than anyone else in the world. Your true fans will find you.

You have to have the courage to be unswayed by someone else’s opinion.

Your real currency in the agile world is not your ability to do ’the practices’ to perfection, but rather the unique values and voice you bring to the party.

Never prioritize knowledge or perfection, and never hoard knowledge. Give your best stuff away for free.

What creates true believers is the emotional connection you make with your tribe.

Focus on the one thing you can do today that gets you closer to your achieving your goals and dreams. Keep it small, but do it every day.

Don’t forget–stay humble!

In the second part of my interview with Artida Karaj, we get specific about the How of frameworkless transformation. She drops a ton of cool wisdom in this part, including:

Start with leaders. Without C-Level buy-in, its just talk.

Co-create goals – internal team members and leadership

Create the environment for innovation by creating an outcome culture – the solution matters less than the results. Allow collaboration, decision making, trying and learning, people growth

Allow that this will take time – years, not weeks or months – to mature and expand fully

Create enablers – people who can spread the word

Enforce ‘customer seat at the table’ – the customer is not a LOS, it is the actual customer.

Technology is not a cost centre, it is a partner