The Daily Standup

AI Is Changing The Economics of Software Development - Mike Cohn

5 Ways High Performers Disrupt Team HarmonyHigh performers rarely disrupt teams on purpose. More often, disruption happens because they move faster than the systems, processes, or people around them. Their confidence, speed, and problem-solving ability can subtly change how work gets done and how others show up.The problem isn’t their performance. It’s their speed and capability that invisibly reshape team dynamics. Teammates begin working around them instead of with them. And gradually, they become the team’s single point of dependency, which is great for short-term results but not for the long term. When strong performance starts disrupting team harmony, knowing how to guide it in a way that maintains both results and collaboration.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Scrum The Toyota WayScrum is everywhere.Most Product Owners understand the framework well. We manage backlogs, prioritize items, attend ceremonies, and track progress sprint after sprint.And still, many products struggle.Value takes too long to reach customers. Teams deliver features that are rarely used. Defects appear late. Dependencies and waiting time quietly erode delivery speed.This is not because Scrum is broken.It’s because Scrum alone does not address flow and waste deeply enough. That’s where Scrum the Toyota Way (STW) fundamentally changes how Product Ownership works.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

A Single Act of Kindness..You know those days when you feel like you’re barely holding it together, but you still smile at the cashier, still help the person in front of you, still try to be kind—while secretly wondering if anyone even sees how hard you’re trying?This is a story about a mom like that…
And a stranger who decided her quiet kindness was worth changing her life for.It’s an ordinary afternoon in San Diego.
Fluorescent grocery store lights, kids negotiating for snacks, carts squeaking down the aisles. It’s the kind of place where everyone is close together, but no one really feels seen.In the middle of it all is Janae, a mom of four.
You can picture her: one kid in the cart, another hanging onto the side, two more orbiting like moons—bumping into displays, asking a million questions, reminding her every thirty seconds that they’re hungry, tired, or both.What nobody in that store knows is that money has been tight.
Tight enough that every item in her cart has already been mentally weighed against a bill waiting at home. Tight enough that she’s done the math three times and is still a little nervous about what the total might be.But she’s doing what moms do: pushing forward, getting it done, making it look manageable on the outside.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

7 Strategies to Motivate and Retain EmployeesEmployee motivation and retention remain two of the most critical pillars of organizational success, yet they are among the hardest ones to sustain. Competitive salaries and benefits might open the door to top talent, but they’re no longer enough to keep people inspired and motivated.As workplaces evolve rapidly, employees want more than just a paycheck. They want purpose, recognition, and a sense of belonging. They look for growth opportunities, flexibility, and a culture that values their contributions.If you’ve noticed signs of disengagement or fear losing your top performers, it’s time to act — not with grand gestures, but with thoughtful, consistent actions that make people feel seen, supported, and inspired.Below are seven practical and powerful strategies to motivate your employees and build a loyal, high-performing workforce.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Most Underrated Advantage of Short Sprints - Mike CohnA recent Gallup survey found that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are engaged at work.
For comparison, Gallup’s overall engagement numbers are often around 30%.
That’s a striking gap.
It suggests something many leaders overlook: performance may depend less on changing team structure and more on improving feedback inside the structure you already have.
When results lag, organizations often reach for the org chart. They reorganize teams, redraw reporting lines, or debate how many teams a coach or Scrum Master should work with.
Sometimes those changes help. But they rarely go far if feedback is infrequent, unclear, or missing altogether.
Feedback isn’t just a management technique. It’s a strategic advantage.
And agile teams have been building that advantage into the way they work for years.
 When people talk about one- or two-week sprints, they usually focus on speed.
 

• “We need to move faster.”
• “We need more output.”
• “We need shorter release cycles.”

But speed isn’t the real advantage of short sprints.
The advantage is shortening the time between action and learning.
A sprint isn’t a delivery cycle. It’s a feedback cycle.
Each sprint gives a team a natural point to stop and ask:
 

• Did we build the right thing?
• Did we misunderstand the need?
• Are we still aligned with stakeholders?
• Are we learning what we hoped to learn?

The shorter the sprint, the shorter the gap between assumption and validation.
That’s not about velocity. That’s about reducing risk.
 
Early Scrum teams often worked like this:
Sprint, sprint, sprint… then release.
That pattern made sense at the time in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was a huge improvement over what had come before. But it meant some feedback arrived in a big, delayed batch after the release.
Over time, many teams evolved to:
Sprint, release, sprint, release.
And today, many modern teams have gone further still. They release whenever it makes sense—sometimes multiple times per sprint, sometimes many times per day.
In other words, modern agile teams have largely decoupled sprints from releases.
So if sprints aren’t primarily about shipping anymore, what are they for?
Sprints provide a reliable cadence for feedback and alignment—even when delivery happens continuously.
 Many organizations treat the Sprint Review as a demo.
It’s not.
It’s where reality gets a vote.
The Sprint Review is where the team inspects what was built with the people who care about it, and adjusts course based on what they learn.
When that meeting becomes optional, rushed, or performative, you don’t just lose a ceremony. You lose your learning loop. And you start optimizing for finishing work instead of finishing the right work.
If weekly feedback really is one of the biggest drivers of engagement and performance—as Gallup’s numbers suggest—then the Sprint Review isn’t overhead. It’s how you reduce rework, prevent expensive surprises, and stay aligned with what actually matters.
 Of course, simply running one-week sprints doesn’t guarantee meaningful feedback.
Stakeholders can skip reviews.
Teams can ignore input.
The conversation can stay superficial.
Short cycles create the opportunity for feedback. Leaders decide whether to use it.
That’s where the advantage lives.
If you’re running one- or two-week sprints, ask yourself:
Are we using sprints as delivery deadlines—or as learning deadlines?
Because the real power of agile isn’t producing more every two weeks.
It’s learning more every two weeks.
And that’s a competitive advantage that will help you succeed with agile,How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Agile Anti-Patterns That Are Impacting Your VelocityVelocity is not vanity. It is feedback. When velocity stops reflecting reality, the team loses the ability to learn and improve. Velocity that lies is worse than no velocity at all. The goal here is clarity, speed, and humane work rhythms.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Sprint Goals DON'T Work - Or Do They? Sprint Goals sound beautifully simple.Set a goal for the team, organize the work around it, track progress daily, and finish with success.Sounds easy enough. And that’s exactly why it’s so hard.Behind this deceptively simple concept hides one of the most difficult ideas in Agile. As the Scrum Guide says:“Scrum is lightweight, simple to understand, difficult to master.”Sprint Goals are the perfect example of that. Even when you think you’re doing them right, you’re probably not.On the surface, Sprint Goals add a lot of value. And therefore, make a lot of sense. But do you really need them?What if I told you, there is a better way?How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Moment Everything Changed - A Shoutout To HumanityIn late 2025, what began as an ordinary beach day at Bondi became a living, breathing argument for why humanity is still worth believing in.​Bondi Beach was crowded—families, tourists, locals all spread along the sand, kids playing at the shoreline while surfers watched the swells further out. The ocean looked deceptively calm, but beneath the surface a strong rip current had formed, one of those invisible rivers that can drag even strong swimmers out in seconds.​A few swimmers drifted farther than they meant to.
Then, almost in unison, their body language shifted—arms flailing, heads dipping under, that unmistakable look of panic when people realize they’re not just tired, they’re in real trouble. Shouts carried over the sound of the waves: people on the sand pointing, yelling for help, some frozen, some fumbling for their phones.​In that chaos, one person didn’t hesitate.Ahmed Al‑Ahmed, an ordinary beachgoer that day, saw the struggle and stripped off what he needed to, sprinting straight into the water. He had no rescue board, no flotation device, no backup—just a gut‑deep conviction that he couldn’t stand there watching while people disappeared under the water.​He fought his way through the surf toward the nearest struggling swimmer, timing his breaths between waves, pushing past the shock of cold, the drag of the current, the sting of salt in his eyes. When he reached the first person—a stranger, gasping, eyes wide with terror—he wrapped an arm around them and kicked hard, angling diagonally to escape the rip, dragging them inch by inch back toward safety.​On the shore, lifeguards were already launching into action, but the current was pulling more than one person out. Most people would have gotten that first swimmer in and collapsed. Ahmed did something else.​He turned around and went back.Witnesses later described watching him make multiple trips into the danger zone, each time more exhausted than the last, each time choosing to go anyway. He helped pull more swimmers—some barely conscious, some crying, some shaking with shock—back toward the reach of lifeguards and other helpers who were now in the water too.​Every time he came in, the safe choice was to stop.
He could have told himself: “I’ve done enough. Someone else will get the rest.”
Instead, he treated “enough” as if it didn’t apply when lives were on the line.By the time the rip had released its grip and everyone was accounted for, multiple people were alive who almost certainly would not have survived those minutes without someone intervening that fast and that decisively. Lifeguards later said the rapid response from Ahmed and others bought them those critical breaths, those extra seconds, that made the difference between rescue and recovery.​When it was finally over, Ahmed staggered out of the water, shaking from exertion and adrenaline, and collapsed on the sand. Around him, families were sobbing—parents holding their children like they might never let go again, friends clinging to each other, people staring out at the waves in stunned silence.​Then a different kind of wave began.Beachgoers started approaching him—not with cameras first, but with tears, hugs, and gratitude that words couldn’t quite contain. Some of the very people he had helped pull from the water wrapped their arms around him, drenched and trembling, saying “thank you” over and over as if repetition might somehow be enough.​How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why are managers there at all? - The Agile MindsetJust recently my colleague and friend Zoran Vujkov has drawn my attention to the following clip discussing trends in adoption of agile in large companies. I recommend the clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgBhZIjgTw4&feature=youtu.be) for watching if you already haven’t.Among a lot of information about the speed of agile adoption and critical factors for it, one thing caught my eye — importance of executive sponsorship.
No doubt, this is a very important factor. However, it might be misinterpreted and misused by managers. One of the crucial roles of management in Agile organization is to remove obstacles or impediments that are preventing their teams from being efficient in their work.While this seems obvious, it does happen that managers start being involved into operational things, tactical decisions, even trying to influence, or limit product owners’ roles by making operational decisions and leading the product.This is potentially very dangerous situation as this sort of behavior can be concealed behind the veil of good intentions which sometimes it undoubtedly is (you know the one about the road to ruin being paved by good intentions). Urged by desire to show to the teams that they are committed to agile way of work, managers become a burden and an obstacle.I’m not gonna go into the role of management in agile setup, there’s a good article here on the topic.Here, I would like to remind managers that their role is not to control, direct, create tasks or organize their teams’ daily work. Their main role in agile way of work is to help team develop, create proper environment for the team, set strategic guidelines, believe in their teams and give them freedom to organize their work in the best way they need, know and can.Only with such a help, teams (and with them the whole organization) can be agile.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/