The Daily Standup

Shake Your BA... The Importance of Understanding the POBAFATADay 1 of the PMBA Toronto Conference! I am certain it will be AMAZING! What does a BA do and why are they the most important part of the POBAFATA. 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 Works With People Who Don’t Actually Need AgileIn a disciplinary society, authority structures dominate. People follow rules, and work is organized through hierarchy and control. Factories, bureaucracies, and military systems are classic examples.In the achievement society the logic changes. And people are no longer told “You must.” Instead they are told “You can.”And this message sounds especially attractive for people who were born and raised in a disciplinary environment, and who dreamed about freedom. Freedom as ability to work without micromanaging, hyper-control and pressure. “Just let me do my job…”Anyway, “You can” at first it feels liberating. But there is a twist: the individual becomes both boss and worker at the same time. People begin to push themselves, optimize themselves, measure themselves. Han calls this the rise of the self-entrepreneur.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/

Let’s play a quick round of Two Truths and a Lie.
Here are three statements about agile. Two are true. One is false.
Read them over and see if you can spot the lie before I reveal it.
 

1. Agile teams should be willing to change their plan for the sprint if they discover a better way to meet the sprint goal.
2. Estimation in agile is most useful for helping teams forecast and make trade-offs, not for holding individuals accountable.
3. A team that consistently finishes every planned story in every sprint is demonstrating a healthy, predictable agile process.
   The lie is #3.
   That statement sounds responsible, disciplined, and maybe even a little impressive. Which is exactly why it fools people.
   It reflects a common misunderstanding of agile: the idea that a good team is one that is always comfortable, always certain, and always exactly on plan.
   But healthy agile teams are not defined by perfect adherence to a prediction. They are defined by how well they pursue outcomes, adapt to what they learn, and make sensible decisions in the presence of uncertainty.
   Let’s look at each statement.
   

A sprint plan should guide the team, but it should not trap the team. At the start of a sprint, the team creates the best plan it can with the information available at that moment.
Once the sprint begins, though, the team learns more. A technical approach that seemed promising turns out to be awkward. A dependency proves easier than expected. A simpler solution emerges. Or a conversation reveals a better way to achieve the intended outcome.
When that happens, a good agile team should be willing to adjust. The important thing to preserve is the sprint goal rather than every detail of the original plan.
The goal provides focus. The selected stories, tasks, and implementation approach are simply the team’s current best thinking about how to reach that goal. If the team discovers a better path, it should take it.
Changing the plan during a sprint is not a sign of weak discipline. In many cases, it is evidence that the team is paying attention and responding intelligently to what it learns.
Teams get into trouble when they stick to the initial plan even after new information shows a better way forward. Agile works best when teams stay committed to the goal while remaining flexible about how to achieve it.
Estimation is most helpful when it supports planning and decision-making. Teams estimate so they can answer practical questions like these:
 

• How much work can we likely take on?
• When might a larger effort be completed?
• If we add this item, what will need to move?
• Are we taking on too much uncertainty at once?

Those are valuable questions, and estimation can help teams answer them.
Where estimation becomes far less useful is when it is turned into a tool for judging individual performance.
Once estimates are used to hold individuals accountable, people naturally become more defensive with them. Estimates get padded. Uncertainty gets hidden. Conversations become less honest. The numbers may still exist, but they stop helping the team make good decisions.
That is why I prefer to keep estimation focused on decision-making. Estimates do not need to be exact to be useful. They only need to be good enough to help a team forecast, weigh options, and recognize when it may be taking on too much.
 
A team that finishes every planned story in every sprint may look predictable. But if that happens all the time, I would not automatically consider it a sign of health. In fact, I would probably wonder whether the team is planning too conservatively.
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/

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!On a warm May morning, a young boy named Mateo stood at the edge of a dusty field in Cinco de Mayo celebration. Music filled the air, families gathered, and bright colors danced in the wind, but Mateo felt small.He watched others perform traditional dances, speak proudly of their heritage, and laugh with confidence. Mateo, however, carried quiet doubts. His family had struggled. He felt behind. Invisible.His grandmother noticed.She gently took his hand and pointed toward the small Mexican flag waving in the breeze.
“Do you know why we celebrate today?” she asked.Mateo shrugged. “A battle… I think?”She smiled. “Yes. But not just any battle. It was a moment when a small, underestimated group stood against one of the most powerful armies in the world… and won.”Mateo looked up, curious.“They weren’t supposed to win,” she continued. “They didn’t have the best weapons, the biggest numbers, or the easiest path. But they had something stronger, belief, courage, and heart.”She paused, then looked directly into his eyes.
“Sound familiar?”Mateo felt something shift.“All of us,” she said softly, “face moments where we feel outmatched. Where life tells us we’re too small, too late, too behind. But this day reminds us… victory doesn’t belong to the biggest. It belongs to those who refuse to quit.”Later that day, Mateo stepped into the crowd, not perfectly, not confidently but bravely. He joined the dance. Missed a few steps. Laughed. Kept going.And something powerful happened.No one saw a boy who didn’t belong.
They saw someone who showed up.That’s the spirit of Cinco de Mayo.Not just a celebration of a historic victory, but a reminder that:

• You don’t have to be the strongest to win
• You don’t have to be perfect to begin
• And you don’t have to feel ready to take your next step

You just have to believe… and keep moving forward.🔥 Today, whatever battle you're facing, step into it with courage.
Because history isn’t made by those who wait…
…it’s made by those who show up.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/

You Have a Vision For Your Team - Agile Leadership GapWhat is the Agile Leadership Gap? 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 Beauty of Positive NetworkingSometimes we just need to be with people. Other times we can be all peopled out. 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/

Project Summit Business Analyst World 2026 - Orlando Day3I got to ROCK the Leadership workshop for the first time and it got RAVE Reviews! WooHoo! 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/

Project Summit Business Analyst World 2026 - Orlando Day 2Here is a summary of Day 2 of the conference.

Project Summit Business Analyst World 2026 - Orlando Day 1Here is a summary of the conference day 1!
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 Change Management Is Today’s Leadership“No, I don’t want it.”Too bad, because the next change is on the way.And you know, it won’t wait for you. You need to wake up and take action. Arg. Grrr. You can play a pirate, but there is no way to avoid it.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/