2021 was a good year for reading. I definitely read more books for pleasure than for work this year, so I blew past my goal of 125 books much earlier in the year than usual. and the year is not over! I have a few I’m still hoping to finish before the new year begins.… Continue reading Reading List 2021
Tag: agile
First Inaugural Women In Agile Conference at Business Agility Midwest 2019
On Tuesday, November 5th, 2019, the afternoon before Business Agility Midwest 2019, the Women in Agile (WIA) conference here in Columbus gathered nearly 80 women and allies to learn and share our experience and knowledge with each other. Keynote Maureen Metcalf, CEO of The Innovative Leadership Institute, whose podcast airs on Voice America and author… Continue reading First Inaugural Women In Agile Conference at Business Agility Midwest 2019
Do No Harm
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
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.
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
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
The Importance of Done
A team I have been working with recently has reached a milestone. When I first started working with this team, most work would get to “development complete” but would linger in QA for multiple sprints or would not pass Product Owner approval so the work never got to “done.” This particular team had experienced a… Continue reading The Importance of Done
Don’t Be a Jerk
From 2008 to 2010, I had the unique experience of working overseas in Sweden. It was a fantastic opportunity, and I learned a lot about how cultural norms can differ. Workplace norms are not the same everywhere in the world – and this was surprising to me. I had assumed that working in IT would… Continue reading Don’t Be a Jerk
Fail Early
On the subject of fail early – I had a great lesson in this in the fall of 2013. I went to a shooting range for a social event. I participated in 3 rounds at three different locations. It was the first time I had ever held a gun let alone shot one, and I… Continue reading Fail Early