The Daily Standup

How To Know What You Want What do you want? This is a difficult question to answer because for most, what they want is only a matter of how they feel. Their feelings and emotions are an intuitive guide; beckoning them to desire and be attracted to some things while forsaking and being repulsed by other things. The only problem with this is that most people don’t know what they want; rather, they know what other people seem to have. According to the theory of Memetic desire, much of what we want is the result of what other people have. Our single friends all get into relationships and suddenly we want to be in a relationship. Our friends all get the new iPhone and suddenly we want to make an upgrade. Our social instinct to “fit in” means that we largely mimic what others model. If you are basing what you want on how you feel then you are likely to be misled to pursue what it seems other people have. 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/

Leadership Is the Big Gaping Hole In the Agile Manifesto From time to time, people will declare Agile dead. On December 1st, Cliff Berg declared Agile dead in a viral post on LinkedIn. Personally, I think declaring a tool like Agile dead because it doesn’t work is like declaring a pencil dead because it doesn’t turn us all into Michelangelos. A tool enhances human capabilities. A tool is only as powerful as the people using it. But declaring things dead can be a good way to see what is wrong with it, maybe redesign it. In his post, Cliff stated that “Agile is dead … but companies still need agility.” Agile is dead, long live agility. 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/

Hey Scrum Master... Are you my manager? - Mike Cohn Back when my girls were small, I used to read Dr. Seuss books to them. Together, we giggled over the antics in the Cat in the Hat and shed a few tears over the destruction in The Lorax.
But a question I got asked in a class recently brought me back to another childhood classic from the Dr. Seuss brand, “Are You My Mother?” It’s a simple story about a newly hatched baby bird that sets out on a quest to find their mother. (Don’t worry, the baby bird is eventually reunited with their actual mother.)
I think newly hatched Scrum teams (and sometimes the people forming those teams) can feel as lost as the baby bird in that story. Why? Because without fail, one of the first questions they ask of or about their Scrum Master is, “Are you my manager?”
In the words of the book, the correct answer is, “No. I am not your manager. I am a Scrum Master.”
The confusion is natural because good Scrum Masters do perform some of the same functions good managers do:
 

• They motivate and encourage people to do their best work.
• They look out for the team’s mental health by avoiding excessive deadline pressure.
• They remove impediments to progress.
• They improve a team's collaboration and teamwork and more.

• Scrum Masters don't assign tasks or allocate people to projects
• They don't pick due dates for tasks or projects
• And, most importantly, Scrum Masters do not assume responsibility for a team's work. The responsibility for the team’s work resides with the team members.

But Scrum Masters are unlike managers, too:
 
If you find your teammates acting as though the Scrum Master is their manager, discuss it immediately rather than waiting for a retrospective. Quickly getting on the same page about how Scrum roles compare to traditional roles will help you and your team succeed with agile,
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Should Stories Carry Over From One Spring To the Next? - NO Common sense would advise us that we should attempt to only consume the number of stories that can reasonably fit inside of a sprint. I have seen in many cases where teams either do NOT honor WIP limits and take on too much work or they Under-Commit and Over Deliver. Neither of these are what we are shooting for. We should attempt to commit and deliver. No under... No Over... 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/

How to Deliver Value Faster with Agile Agile Methodologies are not set in stone, and certain ceremonies help with reflection and improvements. There are others that, in some situations, reduce the fast pace of delivery. We also need to understand how to identify what is working and what is not working. At this point, there is no reason to measure twice and cut once. Sometimes, what to measure or cut is not visible because the team or the company needs more direction toward what’s important. We need a purpose to move forward at the organizational level. Individual contributors usually only have little to say in this manner. By focusing on individuals, there will be team improvement and company improvement. We need to start with ourselves to promote similar behavior in others. It’s important to note that providing value doesn’t mean releasing a product or feature to the public. If something is valuable but has yet to be shared, it’s not benefiting anyone.
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25 Things You Can Do To Simplify Your Life!

1. Do what you love to do.
2. Determine what “enough” means for you and your family.
3. Define what “success” means for you and your family.
4. Reduce the clutter in your home.
5. Work where you live or live where you work. 
6. Eat the same breakfast every day. 
7. Have a work uniform.
8. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
9. Get rid of all your toxic relationships.
10. Let go of your past. 
11. Plan your week on Friday.
12. End each day by writing your to-do list for the following day.
13. Start every morning by reading your to-do list. 
14. Save everything in the cloud.
15. Open no more than five tabs on your computer.
16. Use a journal to declutter your mind. 
17. Learn how to say no.
18. Simplify your workout routine.
19. Slow Down.
20. Get rid of most of your credit cards
21. Stop Watching The News.
22. Reread some old books.
23. Take a day off every week. 
24. Set up automatic payments.
25. Delete 90% of apps on your phone.

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Can Scrum Be Tweaked or Changed? - Yes BUT.. Should we really be changing things? Is what we are seeing a symptom or the real problem that we are trying to solve? Join V. Lee Henson as we more deeply explore how and when we should pivot or make adjustments.
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/

Top 3 Ways To Excel in Remote Leadership Remote work is not something new. It has been around since LONG BEFROE the pandemic was a thought. Many organizations have found success embracing a remote work culture, yet many have floundered. Here are the top three ways leaders can excel in a remote setting:
1. People have to want to do it 2. Leadership styles need to adapt 3. The secret of good bonding
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/

Active Listening - A Silent SuperPower! Have you ever zoned out mid-conversation, fingers itching for your phone, brain choreographing your next groundbreaking product feature? We all have. But in the whirlwind world of product management, where ideas zip around like bees in a garden, there’s a superpower often overlooked: active listening. This episode delves into why active listening is an indispensable tool in your product management arsenal and how it can profoundly influence your approach to user engagement, team collaboration, and product development.
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Are You a Great Leader? Many Realities Exist at The Same Time People who have trouble accepting and respecting this fact turn out to be poor leaders. They tend to speak more than they listen. But the greatest leaders know how to do this one thing. They’re able to feel the discomfort of holding opposing realities at the same time in the mind. Without reaction. Without fear. This discomfort is cognitive dissonance. 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/