Agile Coach Journal

Agile Transition Part 2: Success Factors

A number of success factors for Agile Transition are important to emphasize because they represent structural and, in many cases, cultural shifts from traditional software development and management environments. Most organizations miss many of these, thinking that they are simply changing the way that software is written and tested. There is so much more to this transition than just plugging in a new process. In fact, the technology shift is often the easiest part. The transition will go better if everyone is aware of these factors from the start. (more…)

Agile Transition Part 1: It Takes More Than Training

Many companies start their shift to Agile by bringing in a trainer. It’s a good idea, but it is not enough. Agile adoption is not like putting a new set of tires on your car. Before too long, you are going to have to redesign the car because people will be sitting in different places and the engine will be using new, more powerful fuel. Your organization is going to change and the change will be quicker and more successful if you go about it deliberately. (more…)

How to Run A Coaches Clinic

Here is a link to my recipe for running a Coaches Clinic at a conference. My experience is with Agile Software Development conferences but this structure could be used for any conference that has people seeking a little coaching help. The last page of the paper also describes an alternate format used by some of my Certified Scrum Coach colleagues.

How to Run a Coaches Clinic (more…)

What People Are Asking About Scrum

I recently had the pleasure to facilitate my third Coaches Clinic at an Agile conference. Here are some things that people asked about. (more…)

Managing Technical Dependencies

A common question asked in large enterprises when they start transitioning to Agile is “What about dependencies?” When we talk about incremental development, evolutionary design and simple solutions some people get nervous. “But our system is huge and complicated!” we hear. How can we apply Agile to something with a lot of cross-dependencies or external dependencies? Or even dependencies between Agile Teams? (more…)

A Simple Tool for Prioritizing Features

Prioritization of desired product functionality is often ad-hoc. Balancing the needs of all stakeholders is a challenge. A client recently shared a technique for gaining consensus on priorities and gave me permission to share it. (more…)