The Shocking Truth about Firefighting in I.T. Organizations!
Why are there so many IT people out there who have the feeling they’re actually a firefighter? Why do they have the feeling to be jumping from one burning house to another? Why do they have the feeling work is driven by fire alarms? Why is it that the loudest voice in the office, the […]
How to fix Scrum teams that are terrible at estimating and forecasting?
First of all, we should ask ourselves: “Why do we estimate?”. In a lot of cases it’s because of the wrong reasons, but let us assume we are in a context where estimates are needed. What would that context look like? A Large-Scale setting where a Rolling Wave Plan is used by other parts in the organization (sales, […]
Re-Thinking the Organization: Sociocracy 3.0 – Reversify – LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum)
If you are not moving at the speed of the marketplace you’re already dead – you just haven’t stopped breathing yet. – Jack Welch The organizational structure in which most of us operate today can be quite an obstacle to respond adequately to a fast-changing business environment. In fact, traditional organizational structures are not designed […]
21 New Year’s Resolutions for Scrum Masters
The end of the year is nearby, time for some New Year’s resolutions! Last year we provided some help to get started for busy Scrum Product Owners, this year we want to support busy Scrum Masters. Here are 21 new year’s resolutions to get you started Stop being a representative for the teams you work with, […]
How organizations go nuts?
It is amazing how easily organizations go nuts in the sense of complicated structures, amount of roles, process and so on and the reasons are very obvious. Organizations with money to spend will make mistakes by going for quick solutions and not allowing their teams to find more appropriate ways to deal with issues at […]
Calling Dedicated Agile Coaches / Scrum Masters…ready to accelerate and amplify!
Well hi there! Are you actively effecting change today by making workplace cultures more friendly for humans? Do you long to play out loud – more often and intensely – with others who care deeply about Agile principles? Are you prepared to revise what you already know as a coach and Scrum Master and continually […]
12 enemies of adaptability and what to do about it
Hierarchy Top-down, control based hierarchies discourage individual initiative, lead to slower reaction times, and divert energy to “managing up” or what is called politics. These politics will optimize your organization to CYA (Cover Your Ass), loss of productivity, and an aversion of risk, resulting in a standstill culture. Fear Command-and-control systems lead to organizations filled with […]
Stop Managing Dependencies!
Dependencies in Software Development have been an issue since decades and lots of practices have been built to “manage” them, creating an environment that becomes more complicated with longer time-to-market times as dependencies grow (or the product/solution grows). This is creating an illusion and no dependency management is alwys the only answer! Coordination to remove dependencies […]
20 New Year’s Resolutions for Scrum Product Owners
The end of the year is nearby, time for some New Year’s resolutions! As I experienced a lot of stress within the role of Scrum Product Owner, and as I know you’re busy, I’m going to help you get started… Here are 20 New Year’s resolutions to get you started: Update the product’s vision (or […]
A Horror Story: Efficiency is Killing Productivity
Are you working in product development? Creative work? Research? Or any other domain where brains are the main asset? YES? Then this story is for you! It’s called: “Efficiency in organisations has become counterproductive!“ Take the holy grail of efficiency: Clarity – Measurements – Accountability, it makes human efforts derail! And yes, I’ve been tricked into […]