Thoughts
YOU COULD NOT STEP TWICE INTO THE SAME RIVER
A collection of writing on agile principles, coaching, and leadership. A place to explore the connections between our everyday world and work life. Rarely is there truth here - as my thinking and perspective evolves.
Value in a Complex System
While value may obey some simple Newtonian laws in a vacuum, value in the real world is rooted in complexity theory.
Learning to Fly
“ … but the skills most valuable are those that result in the ability to experiment quickly.”
The Agile Dentist
Finding key behaviours we look for on agile teams .. at the dentist’s office.
Organizational Climate Change
The decay of our personal time and attention follows a similar path to climate decay due to value extraction.
The Value of Learning
“… but the value of learning whether we are solving the right problems the right way.”
Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Backlog
“… but it remains a list of problems that represent a body of work (with an overall goal) and those problems are prioritized by value.”
Scrum Alliance - Progress on Transforming the World of Work
“We need the customers of the organizations that use Scrum to see the value of Scrum and WANT their products developed using Scrum … ”
An-Isotropic Scaling
“… we need to keep focused on the problem we are trying to solve, rather than simply uniformly scaling a system that works in its current situation.”
Coaching Symbiosis
“Coaching is an unending journey for both parties, and if you're not learning from the people you work with, you're probably not coaching.”
Project Grammar
“Focusing on projections of the desired outcome, based on present data or trends, is how we truly manage risk on a project”
When You’re Up to your ass in Alligators
“Of course the best solution to the problem of how to effectively drain the swamp is to prevent the swamp from forming in the first place.”
Pragmatic Moneyball
"Baseball team owners think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn't be to buy players but to buy wins and in order to buy wins you need to buy runs."
Agile at the Masters
“They seem to place more value on what has been accomplished for certain rather than what the potential for the future might hold.”
Thoughts on ‘Potentially Shippable’
“Ideally it is simply a business decision whether there is enough value to actually warrant shipping.”
It’s ALWAYS been the Problem
With this context, the team is much better equipped to be able to produce solutions appropriate for the target personae and any decisions … can be made in the context of the user and the business value.
Self-Organizing Teams at Quarry Bistro
“Naomi has often said that the reason is that the team has an innate ability to do two things: prioritize their work and look out for each other.”
But WHY, Dad?
“Asking 'why' is perhaps the most valuable of all questions both in life and software development / product management.”
Games of Incomplete Information
In the end, it's the experienced teams and card players that are able to raise their stakes and their games as they are able to continually adjust their plans mid-play.