A feeling has been rising in me over the last year about how agilists choose to speak and behave. At Path to Agility in 2017, it became overwhelming in a moment when a conversation I was a part of took an unexpected turn. If I had not seen Tim Ottinger‘s opening keynote on aggressive curiosity,… Continue reading Do No Harm
Articles
The importance of time
It’s an interesting quandary. Organizations say they want to get better and see benefits from agile, but they don’t want it to cost them any time. Things worth doing rarely work that way.
100 Books for 2017
I set a personal goal of reading 50 books this year and finished double my goal. Included in my list were fiction, non-fiction, personal and work related books, as well as things I just wanted to learn more about. How I did it: I set a goal in Goodreads and tracked my progress there. Set… Continue reading 100 Books for 2017
Agile Principles for Everyone
Based on the 12 Agile Principles and adapted for any delivered value. Early and continuous delivery of the most valuable work. Welcome and manage change. It happens. When work can be broken up and delivered in smaller (but valuable and usable) chunks, do it. Work directly with your customer daily throughout projects. Use motivated individuals.… Continue reading Agile Principles for Everyone
Best Practice: Impediment Backlog
At it’s simplest the backlog is a list of work we want to do. There are several types: Sprint Backlog: The work team(s) have committed to do in a sprint, or the work that is prioritized to start first in Lean / Kanban. Product Backlog: All of the work that has been requested to do… Continue reading Best Practice: Impediment Backlog
Common Retrospective Challenges
I often hear about poorly run retrospectives. Below, I’ll describe a few different common problems and some ways I have addressed them. Beyond what I list below, you may want to learn more abut how good facilitation can help any team. Common Challenge #1: Skipping The Retrospective The most common challenge for the practice of… Continue reading Common Retrospective Challenges
In Gratitude
As a young, single mother of twins, I embarked on my software engineering journey really because I considered myself to be “good with computers,” and because I was searching for a way to provide for my children. I set out at the local community college to study Computer Information Systems, and Programming more specifically, thinking… Continue reading In Gratitude
Retrospectives for Everyone – CodeMash 2016 – Resources
Materials Slides: Retrospectives for Everyone Photos from Session The Path to Nirvana 1: Now The Path to Nirvana 2: Next Step The Path to Nirvana 3: Ideal State The Flying High Technique Resources Online Retrospective How-Tos 7 Step Agenda for an Effective Retrospective: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/7-step-agenda-effective-retrospective Ben Linders: Designing Valuable Retrospectives: http://www.benlinders.com/2014/designing-valuable-agile-retrospectives/ Ben Linders: Which Questions do… Continue reading Retrospectives for Everyone – CodeMash 2016 – Resources
Materials from “Yes, It’s Alive” CodeMash KidzMash Presentation
For those of you who were interested in my daughter and I’s presentation on Fermentation for KidzMash and wanted more information, we put this post together for you. Kombucha Recipe Materials Needed Sugar (Refined white sugar ferments faster than organic and less quickly minimally refined sugar) Organic Tea SCOBY (optional) Distilled Water Clean Jar Coffee… Continue reading Materials from “Yes, It’s Alive” CodeMash KidzMash Presentation
Do Agile Right
There’s no right way to do Agile but there are plenty of wrong ones. Chet Rong, the world’s worst Agile Coach (via Atlassian) offers some examples of the wrong way to do Agile that never cease to give me some chuckles (follow him on Twitter) . The main focus in adopting Agile for an organization… Continue reading Do Agile Right