Jim Benson has a new book titled, The Collaboration Equation. Jim states that collaboration “is the base of the human condition, we need other people in order to live, but always seem to be at odds with each other.” Jim also states that unless you are striving for improvement, you are unprofessional. I really like talking to Jim; Jim is a force of nature.  Jim’s career path has taken him through government agencies, Fortune 10 corporations, and start-ups. Through them all, his passion has remained consistent – applying new technologies to workgroups. In each case asking how they can be leveraged to collaborate and cooperate more effectively. Jim loves ideas, creation, and building opportunities. He loves working with teams who are passionate about the future, pushing boundaries, and inclusion. His goal with all technologies is to increase beneficial contact between people and reduce the bureaucratic noise which so often tends to increase costs and destroy creativity. Jim is the author of the Shingo Research Award-winning book (use the link to buy a copy and support the podcast). He is a noted expert in business process, personal work management, and the application of Lean to personal work and life. Jim believes that the best process is the least process necessary to achieve goals. He has zero tolerance for process waste. All said, Jim enjoys helping people and teams work out sticky problems, an advocate of people actually seeing their work, and inventing new ways to work at the intersection of Lean thinking, brain science, and leadership. Contact Jim Twitter: LinkedIn: Personal Kanban: Modus Cooperandi: Re-read Saturday News We are talking the week off on our re-read Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line - buy a copy). I was traveling to Nashville for Agile 2022 (let me know if you are here).  Next week we will be back on track but in the interim remember to buy a copy of and read along. Previous Installments Week 1: -   Week 2: -   Week 3: -     Next SPaMCAST  We will map our basic flow metrics palttet a simple organizational hierarchy. Some metrics tell us where we were and some tell us where we are going. This essay reflects work that Jeremy WIllets and I are exploring.  We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the Software Process and Measurement Cast.