Command and control ignores as well as stifles the implicit nature of human beings to deal with uncertainty, change and stress. John Boyd (fighter pilot and military thinker)
Category: Agile
A simple tactic to stop retrospectives becoming BMW sessions
There’s an acronym used within agile circles – BMW. It’s not this: but this: I’m sure you can spot the scrum master. He is the one in the middle trying to maintain a zen-like stateContinue reading
Agile Software Development Landscape
Recently, a work colleague asked me to provide an ‘overview of agile to someone who might need it’. With such an open brief and an ill-defined target audience I thought I’d go generic. I startedContinue reading
Runaround Decision Making Tool
As a facilitator of Agile teams I often find myself using various techniques for decision making (dot voting, fist of five, roman voting, 1-2-4-All) almost on a daily basis. Trouble is, though, whenever I’m usingContinue reading
Dysfunctional Agile Bingo
What is Dysfunctional Agile Bingo? I recently facilitated a lean coffee session on dysfunctional agile as part of our Agile Community of Practice. Some of the attendees were very new to agile but had alreadyContinue reading
How do you avoid soul crushing meetings?
We spend a lot of our time in meetings, some of them completely soul crushing. You come out of a 2 hour session feeling fatigued and frustrated having achieved relatively nothing. But it doesn’t haveContinue reading
The Mexican Standoff Stand-up
In one of my teams retrospectives, we identified a problem with our stand-up running on too long. I challenged the team to come up with a fun way to keep us on time. This teamContinue reading
You gotta have a team Safe Word
According to the urban dictionary a safe word is a term used in bondage play with one or more partners which lets the partners know that play needs to stop or slow down immediately. A safety word can be anyContinue reading
What does an effective Big Visible Information Radiator look like?
I’ve come to realise over time that the most effective Big Visible Information Radiators (BVIRs) are the ones that have the least amount of information on them. I remember the first time I was givenContinue reading
Product Owner Versus Scrum Master
A useful infographic based on Roman Pichler’s article about what makes a great product owner. Feel free to use and abuse as necessary but please credit myself and Roman.
Spotify Playlist for Stand-up Call to Action
Sometimes when your team members are in deep focus on their sprint tasks they are oblivious to the fact that it is time for the daily scrum / stand-up. I’m always looking for ways toContinue reading
What’s the best online tool for facilitating distributed retrospectives?
Conducting retrospectives with a distributed team is more challenging than a co-located one. Its vital that you remove any barriers to collaboration in real time. Besides the obvious requirements of a high bandwidth video andContinue reading
How to Fail as a Product Owner
Here’s an infographic I put together for some recent Product Owner training. Its a light hearted, humorous look at what you should do if you want to fail as a Product Owner. What NOT toContinue reading
Product Owner Responsibilities Infographic
I’ve been messing about (aka trialling) a website for creating infographics (easel.ly). Here’s one I’ve done on Product Owner responsibilities. Feel free to use this but please give me credit!
When is a ScrumMaster no longer needed?
When I’m asked about how long a self organising team needs a ScrumMaster I typically respond with the following quote from Nanny McPhee There is something you should understand about the way I work.Continue reading
Can you tell a ScrumMaster just by the contents of his desk drawer?
I was wondering if it was possible to tell a person’s job by the contents of their desk drawer? I’ve posted mine. I think the contents tell a story that could very well identify myContinue reading