Agile Without Social Engineering

In 2006, Ivor Jacobson famously summarized, "Most important, agile is about social engineering."  And indeed one of the things that makes so many agilists so darned loveable is that we are, as a friend of mine put it yesterday, "the kind of people who want to create a work place where you can go and still be a human being."  Not a "resource," not an "FTE," but a human!  It's an inspiring dream!

Automated Agile Testing Is Needed, And Someone Needs To Decide To Do It

Did you wake up this morning and think to yourself, "gee, I think I'd like to try some agile today?"  Allow me to leap between you and your coffee to announce that your adoption...
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Fixed Bid Agile Without Cognitive Dissonance

I've been following a LinkedIn forum discussion with interest entitled "Could we use Agile methodology with a fixed bid contract."  There are some quick, snappy answers to the question...
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6 Steps To Success With Your Executive Boss

You probably think it's simple.  Your boss wants "good news."  The way it will work is three steps: You will do "a good job" at your job You will tell your boss They will reward...
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Agile Expects More Than Scrum: A Bulletin From The World of Rugby

Are you tired of being lectured by "Pure Scrum" fanatics?  Some people are so quick to judge!  They will tell you "that's not agile!" or "that's a smell!" when: you have a defined...
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A Corporate Agile 10-point Checklist

I'm pretty sure my few remaining friends in the "small, collocated team agile" community are going to desert me after this, but I actually have a checklist of 10 things to think about...
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Einstein’s Sailboat: 3 Ways To Speed Learning for Agile Newbies

Albert Einstein turns out to have been both an awesomely brilliant physicist and an enthusiastic but comically bad sailor.  Apparently, he spent whole summers amusing his neighbors...
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Two words for Agile Business Analysts: Pan and Zoom

Do you have trouble wrapping your arms around the question "what do Agile Business Analysts do?"  I figured it out today!  And I will tell you!  And as a special bonus, I figured...
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The Agile Lumberjack: Why Batched Requirements Are Not As Sensible As You Think

Let's say you're a Business Analyst, and you're okay.  You've done your job for years.  You are a subject matter expert in your own right, and you get the job done.  Suddenly,...
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Your Agile Transformation Needs to Start with a Quiet Phase

by Elena M Yatzeck, 27 September 2012
The Agile Blogosphere

From a really great blog post on agile adoption:  http://smoovejazz.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/an-agile-approach-for-adopting-agile-practices/ I've observed some different agile transformation...
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Hands Across the Conference Table: Coordinating Simultaneous Agile Work Streams

Most of the people I interact with are unequivocally excited about the opportunity to try agile for the first time. Not. Most people have doubts. And one of the top questions I often...
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How To Build an Agile Executive Dashboard

You get a lot of woo-woo hand-waving when you ask a typical large-scale organizational change manager what they would put on the executive dashboard to show that their program is effective. "That's...
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How To Write A One-Page Proposal to an Executive

One day you may need to communicate with an executive. Pro tip 1:  executives do not have time for you to dim the lights and show them forty slides with charts composed of animated...
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How Do You Vote Someone Off of Your Agile Team?

One of the conundrums of agile conversion is that although you are ordered by management to "self-organize," you don't get to pick your own team.  You may not have pictured it this...
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W.A.I.T.: Crucial Consulting Advice

So you want to be a consultant.  You probably think this will involve yourself talking and your client respectfully listening.  Your client will put you in front of her team to present...
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Lead and Lag Measures for Agile Transformation

"Oh for goodness sake, you put it in upside down!" "I'm sorry, Secret. I thought the pointy end went in first." -Secret Squirrel and Morrocco Mole, Secret Squirrel I'm always excited...
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