Iteration 2019 has begun and we’re starting off the year with an episode of SoundNotes where, LeadingAgile CEO and Founder, Mike Cottmeyer shares what's on his mind as we begin the new year.

During the interview Mike talks about some of the trends he’s been paying attention to in and around the Agile space, the changes he sees coming down the pike, and how that's influencing his focus and expectations for the next 12 months. Oh.. and… Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Whitepaper - https://www.leadingagile.com/whitepaper/

WakeUp Warrior.com http://wakeupwarriormovie.com

If you’d like to contact Mike you can reach him at:

• LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/

A few weeks ago, Dennis Stevens and I recorded a podcast called Building an Organizational System That Can Embrace Change. The podcast introduced three critical concepts which we are exploring at a deeper level in additional interviews.

In this episode of SoundNotes, Dennis Stevens, LeadingAgile’s co-founder and Chief Methodologist, and Dave Prior, dig into one of those key concepts:

How to design an execution model that can provide feedback which can then be incorporated back into the strategic planning.

If you're involved in making strategic decisions and planning at the program and portfolio level, there is a lot of valuable information here about how to reduce risk and create greater optionality for your organization.

• Web: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dennis-stevens/

While many organizations would like to adopt an Agile approach, there are certain types that—due to the nature of their work and their relationship with the client—are not an easy fit with a process like Scrum. In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile Senior Consultants AJ Sanford and Andrew Fuqua explore how Process Maps and Value Stream Maps can help you gain greater clarity on where there are practices that need tuning and how Agile might be able to help. During the conversation, AJ, Andrew, and Dave also discuss the difference between Value Stream Maps and Process Maps and when one may be more helpful than another.

If you'd like check out this sample Process Map. 

• Learning to Seeby Mike Rother

• Web: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/aj-sanford/

LeadingAgile has grown significantly over the past few years. Along the way, we’ve found that one of the most critical elements of growing successfully is how we introduce new folks to the company and how we approach helping organizations Transform.

In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave is joined by Betsy Layman and Matt Smith—two of the latest additions to the LeadingAgile family. Both Betsy and Matt started their on-boarding process a few weeks ago as Expedition Lead and Transformation Lead, respectively. Together, they discuss the difference between these roles, what it's like to go through LeadingAgile’s on-boarding process, and how it helps to position our new team members for success.

To learn more about joining LeadingAgile - Click Here

• Web: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/betsy-layman/

This episode of SoundNotes features LeadingAgile’s Chief Methodologist and Co-Founder, Dennis Stevens, and focuses on how to build an organization that can embrace change.  The interview provides an overview of some of the key capabilities an Agile organization needs to accelerate learning, increase optionality, and improve their decision making including:

• How to incorporate market sensing capabilities into strategic planning

The interview digs into some of the steps an organization will need to take to develop these abilities and the challenges that come along with it. We also explore the impact on organizations that can’t remove all their internal dependencies, prioritizing risk to support learning, and the need for an organizational information broker that can collect and interpret the information coming out of the teams, so that the right information can be delivered back to the strategic level.

This is a heavy topic, so we’re planning on recording a few additional podcasts that will dig deeper in each of these individual topics.

Web: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dennis-stevens/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dennisstevens

Email: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/

One of the most important things you can do for your team is to make sure you have a clearly defined, and well-documented, Definition of Done.

If you’ve ever seen footage of the flight control center when NASA launches a rocket you’ve seen a great example of a Definition of Done. Imagine what it would be like if NASA didn’t have all those stations that had to report in with “Go for launch” or “No Go for launch”. Imagine how that would work if we assumed we all had the same understanding of what "Ready for Launch" actually meant?

In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave Prior is giving a tutorial on how to create a Definition of Done for your team. If you're following Scrum as it's defined, then “done” and potentially shippable are intended to be the same thing. Unfortunately, for many organizations, this isn't something that holds true. For example, your team may require additional integration testing that is done by a separate team and happens outside the Sprint. Yes, it’s dysfunctional from a Scrum perspective. Yes, you should try to fix it, but sometimes you’ve got what you’ve got and you're too fully consumed with other battles.

Over the course of the podcast, Dave talks about having clarity on three different levels of done. Here's what the three levels look like:

1. Work that is “done” and can be presented to the Product Owner for Acceptance - this is an agreement between the PO and the Dev Team.

Example:

• Code Complete

2. Work that is “done” and can be presented to Stakeholders in the Sprint Review

Example:

• Work has been presented to Product Owner

3. Work that is “done” and can be actually shipped to customers.

Example:

• Published to Stage Server

If you don’t have a clearly defined, well-documented Definition of Done that you're updating every Sprint, you're putting your team and your organization in danger. If you don't already have a Definition of Done, you need one...and you need it now! In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave walks you through the creation of a Definition of Done.

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

• LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/

Earlier this month, Dave sat down for another Q&A with our CEO, Mike Cottmeyer. Prior to recording, we asked the audience to submit their questions via a sign up sheet, and Dave collected some questions from the students in his certified Scrum training classes. However, when people get to asking questions about Agile, Mike has found that the questions are often the wrong question. In order to get the right answer from a wrong question, you have to go back what Mike calls "first principles." Learn more about first principles, and Mike's latest thoughts on Agile Transformation in this episode of SoundNotes Live.

If you’d like to contact Mike you can reach him at:

• LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/

Once again, Mike and Dave sat down to discuss some of Mike's latest thoughts on Agile Transformation and answer questions that we received from the audience. Some of the topics discussed were: Agile PMO, velocity, and governance just to name a few.

These live Q&A sessions will be recurring, so make sure you're on the lookout for the next installment.

For more of Mike's latest thoughts on Agile Transformation, you can check out his latest white paper, here:

Contacting Mike

LeadingAgile: www.leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/

Contacting Dave

LeadingAgile: www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to [email protected]

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

In this week’s episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, we’ve got an interview/case study of sorts. Marty Bradley, Greg King, and Jessica Wolfe share the story of how they were able to leverage tooling and reporting in support of the transformation effort at one of LeadingAgile’s clients. In telling the story, they explain what was in place when they began the transformation, the data elements they used to help create awareness and transparency at the beginning of the project, and how the reporting evolved over time. They also discuss how some of the more popular metrics, like velocity, cannot tell a story alone. Understanding what is actually happening may require that you examine  multiple data points at the same time.

If you’d like to get in touch with Marty, Greg, Jessica or Dave, here is how to reach them...

Web: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/marty-bradley/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AskCoachMarty

Email: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/greg-king/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/greguf96

Email: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jessica-wolfe/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thejessicawolfe

Email: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/

Back in September, Mike and Dave got together for our first ever live Q&A. The conversation was streamed on Facebook, so they were able to answer some viewer questions, as well as questions Dave had been collecting, beforehand, in his CSM and CSPO classes. We're planning on making the live Q&A a recurring event, so make sure you're on the lookout for the next one. We want to answer all of your burning, Agile related questions.

If you’d like to contact Mike you can reach him at:

• LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/