Minimum Viable DevOps
There seems to be a growing misinterpretation of DevOps. When we hear the word DevOps, the first thing that comes to our mind is automation; continuous deployment, continuous build, and associated toolsets or we think of development and operations teams sitting together. Even when we search DevOps in google, you can get results such as […]
Agile Leadership Canvas – Cultivating Agile Mindset and Culture
We don’t have to pull the plants to make them grow. We have to just nurture them with water & soil and allow enough sunlight to fall on them (remove impediments), they will grow and bear fruits, quite efficiently. Leaders’ role is like that of farmers. They need to create an environment where people thrive […]
CHOW #168 – Stress in Agile?!
Anand is a software engineer who had started his career a couple of years ago in a large multinational software organization. Most of his work there had been in teams which had adopted a somewhat waterfallish approach for development. As the teams approached release deadlines, the pressure and stress were almost unbearable – 80+ hours […]
Governance in Agile and the role of Management – some perspectives
Over the last several years of my Agile coaching experience, I have been asked many times about how governance works with Agile and what metrics should management use to ensure the “appropriate” level of governance. While I must admit that I often used to wonder why these should be such difficult questions, I also realized […]
Chow #161 – Transitioning in as an agile coach
Pradeep is an experienced manager in the financial sector. He’s considered an expert in onboarding team members and being a buddy for several team members. His organization has set itself on a business agility transformation path. Pradeep wanted to apply for the agile coach role. He has been working as a team member in scrum […]
Seven Tenets of Agile Knowledge Transition Methodology
When I started my transition journey, it was for a part of a large knowledge transfer of work from ABN Amro to Infosys a decade back. As I have long been associated with knowledge transfers, I observe many mistakes repeated. This blog is to share the essence of my learnings’ and capture the key tenets […]
Chow #158 – Demand vs Capacity
Ajit is a scrum master with some experience in leading an agile team. He has been assigned to a new team and he finds the team in the middle of their first sprint planning meeting. The product owner (PO) is relatively new to his role and has gone through the required training. He has prepared […]
Chow # 157 – How many statuses do I need?
Chirag was a new lateral joinee to one of the teams that I had coached. After his first week, Chirag approached me with a question: How many statuses should I define in my workflow, so that I know where exactly a story is, so that I can intervene as a scrum master. In my previous […]
CHOW #150 – What is the first Red pill?
Project Manager Chuck has just formed a new Agile team to develop a new generation diagnostics software for diesel engines based on real-time big data coming from field installations across the country – a mission-critical and technologically challenging work. The team reports to Chuck and he in turn reports to Mary Anne. Mary Anne is […]
Agile: The Journey starts with me!
Authored by McGee – Agile Coach (These statements are strictly personal and are not those of any Company or Organization) Last week I found myself in a discussion on agile leadership. I believe agile transformations can only be successful if the leader is fully bought in, fully supports the transformation and develops an “Agile Mind-set” […]
