Agile is not meant to be a building up – of process and complexity, or rules, or even ‘methodology’. It is meant to be a stripping away – down to the essential mindsets and practices that actually get things done.

Processes don’t make people better – right mindsets and the behaviours that flow out of them do.

Believe it or not, up until 2018, I had no exposure to the conferencing scene whatsoever. So what kept me from participating, and what did I learn once I started?

1. Just because its a conference, doesn’t mean it’s good.

2. Beware the sales pitch disguised as education.

3. Like any other information, you have to examine the sources.

4. There seems to be a trend toward over-complicating concepts in order to make them presentation-worthy.

5. Some of the best information at a conference happens in the after-discussion

If you actually want to get more predictable results in projects/product development, you have to work towards ‘Done’. Find out why words like ‘workING’, ‘meetING’, ‘plannING’ and other ING words mask true progress and blockers, and what you can do to change how we talk about progress.

-People often ask “what’s the best way?”.

-There is no best way. Your job as a leader is to help teams find their own way.

-Creating doctrine is useless

-Create habits instead.

-Figure out the habits that work for you and your team.-This is true of everything… Definition of done, definition of ready, story content and structure, how to incorporate testing or user interface sprints, etc.