tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54505420160496693642009-07-15T10:51:12.616-04:00Learn >> Adapt >> Deliver >> A Blog on Agile Leadership and Project ManagementMike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-82837787751660736162009-07-13T09:33:00.008-04:002009-07-13T09:58:05.826-04:002009-07-13T09:58:05.826-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sls4JdrW_PI/AAAAAAAAEb0/8BUO0PoCj0M/s1600-h/blackwhitediagonal"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sls4JdrW_PI/AAAAAAAAEb0/8BUO0PoCj0M/s200/blackwhitediagonal" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357937916923804914" /></a>It's been fun the past few months to watch Kanban get some traction out in the community. It seems that my Google Reader is full of agile guys talking about Kanban. If you are <a href="http://www.agilemanagement.net/">David Anderson</a>... this has to bring a little smile to your face. David and a few others have done a great job generating quite a lot of energy around this topic.<div><br />One of the things I found really interesting over the weeked was the words some folks were using to describe the value of Kanban. They were using words like 'increased visibility' and 'buidling trust' with the business. While I wouldn't argue with any of that... I was struggling to figure out how the benefits of Kanban were any different from how we would describe the benefits of Scrum?<br /><br />If both methods 'increase visibility' and 'build trust'... there has to be something more. In my opinion... the key difference between Kanban and Scrum is that <b>Kanban makes explicit what Scrum leaves implicit</b>.<br /><br />Let me explain...<br /><br />Scrum takes the approach that the team is a <b>black box</b>. The business puts requirements in... and after some predetermined amount of time... they get working software out. Within that black box... the team gets to self-organize... they get to self-manage. The business gets to decide what... the team gets to decide how. The processes inside the team are abstracted from the business AND from management.<br /><br />Kanban takes the approach that the team is a <b>white box</b>. The business puts requirements in... but rather than leave it up to the team to figure out how best to deliver the work... management plays a role in defining the work. There are explicit workflows... work in process limits... and visual controls that track the flow of value through the team. Kanban gives managers a role helping to deliver working software.<br /><br />One of the earliest agile books I ever read was Mary Poppendieck's 'Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit". Not long after that I read David Anderson's "Agile Management for Software Engineering". Lean thinking and theory of constraints were just built into the very fabric of how I thought about and managed agile teams. As Kanban started capturing mindshare over the past few months... I found myself wondering what was so new.<br /><br />We teach Scrum teams not to wait to the end of the iteration to deliver features to the product owner. We want to see linear increase in story completion during the sprint. We talk to each other everyday to identifty and remove impediments. When one team member is struggling to get something delivered... we are encouraged to help them get finished before we start on something new.<br /><br />Scrum teams should be constantly focused on getting to done. I would argue that there is a bunch of single piece flow thinking up underneath a well run Scrum team. I would suggest that there are some implied work in process limits at play. I would suggest that effective Scrum teams are continuously indentifying and elevating constraints. For some teams... in some environments... it probably makes a ton of sense to make all these implicit controls in Scrum explicit by using a Kanban. Is it necessary in every environment? That's where I am not totally sold. </div><div><br /></div><div>For now... for me... Kanban becomes another tool to help teams predictably deliver working software in the face of uncertainty.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>For another view of this... go check out Dennis Steven's <a href="http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/07/12/uncovering-better-ways-of-developing-software-by-doing-it-and-helping-others-do-it/">post</a> on 'Uncovering Better Ways of Delivering Software and Helping Others do it'. It is a good look at how Kanban can help teams get better at delivering software without some of bad attitudes toward management that Scrum can sometimes encourage. Dennis might be a little more sold on Kanban that I am ;-)</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate" style="text-decoration: none; ">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div> </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-8283778775166073616?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3pHaUv3CYWd0XAvaNQgSgEAYXxU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3pHaUv3CYWd0XAvaNQgSgEAYXxU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3pHaUv3CYWd0XAvaNQgSgEAYXxU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3pHaUv3CYWd0XAvaNQgSgEAYXxU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=50Jp8iDOQPo:nvN0KV4pdB8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/50Jp8iDOQPo" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com9http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/scrum-or-kanban-its-not-black-or-white.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-51403051619370983732009-07-12T16:10:00.007-04:002009-07-12T16:23:49.321-04:002009-07-12T16:23:49.321-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlpElLA5SBI/AAAAAAAAEbc/Wr4KBYnnUsM/s1600-h/600px-Information_icon4.svg.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlpElLA5SBI/AAAAAAAAEbc/Wr4KBYnnUsM/s200/600px-Information_icon4.svg.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357670112113018898" /></a>But hang on a sec! You might be thinking that you have all the information you need... and if I have all the information I need... there is no need to hold off making that decision. Right?<div><br /></div><div>The problem with making a decision early is that you don't always know what you don't know. By buying some extra time... by deferring an option until closer to its expiry... you create an opportunity to learn MORE information... information you probably didn't even know would come available. <div><br /></div><div>You might even end up with some new options... and guess what... those new options have value too! And that is the real rub... it's not just the value of the of the options that you have now... it's also the value of the options that have not yet presented themselves. There are times when it makes sense to decide early... but make sure you know why. Fear of the unknown is not really a good reason to decide early. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you are deciding early because you think you know everything... you might be closing off options you didn't even know you had. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate" style="text-decoration: none; ">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-5140305161937098373?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cBRbGAtNJM0_3rVVykPL7q7G1Fw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cBRbGAtNJM0_3rVVykPL7q7G1Fw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cBRbGAtNJM0_3rVVykPL7q7G1Fw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cBRbGAtNJM0_3rVVykPL7q7G1Fw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HiYYG1tQ4wU:pKkeP9ovDqA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/HiYYG1tQ4wU" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/but-what-if-i-already-know-everything.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-43164068181716266362009-07-08T10:43:00.015-04:002009-07-09T10:55:25.788-04:002009-07-09T10:55:25.788-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlSxbLAIaZI/AAAAAAAAEbE/8nO8fe9NBQk/s1600-h/geddy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlSxbLAIaZI/AAAAAAAAEbE/8nO8fe9NBQk/s200/geddy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356100937218288018" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlSxS9Dfi4I/AAAAAAAAEa8/UWi3axBoBd8/s1600-h/geddy.jpg"></a><div>"<i>If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice</i>" - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Geddy</span> Lee, Rush</div><div><br /></div><div>Real Option theory tells us that our choices have value. In other words... the choices we make have an economic impact. Real Options also tells us that our options expire. That means we don't have an unlimited amount of time to make a decision. Playing the Real Options game involves figuring out just how long our options will be available... and using that time to gather as much information as possible... so we can make a better decision. <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>Earlier this year my wife and I were faced with a pretty tough decision. We were trying to figure out where to send our kids to school. The previous few years we had been running a small private school and our kids went there. We decided that our school was too much effort to run and no longer the best educational alternative for our kids... so we had a decision to make.</div><div><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>As we were trying to figure all this out... we identified three primary options that met with our educational goals... and were in alignment with our personal finances:</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><ol><li>Continue to run our current school and send our kids there</li><li>Send our kids to a top notch public school that was nearby but out of our district</li><li>Send our kids to the nearby public school</li></ol></div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>Back in January we needed a plan but didn't have all the information. The pressure was mounting <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">because</span> if we wanted to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">pursue</span> option #2, we had to apply and pay a rather hefty deposit. Pay the deposit and the option stays open... don't pay the deposit and the option expires. We decided to pay the deposit... not <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">because</span> we were sure we wanted to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">pursue</span> option #2... but <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">because</span> it was worth the money to keep the option open a little longer while we figured things out. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>What made the discussion interesting... and maybe even relevant our discussion here around barriers to agile adoption... was the difference between how I handle uncertainty and how my wife handles uncertainty. I am <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">definitely</span> the risk taker in our marriage... my wife likes to keep things pretty stable. On most things that is a great balance.... but sometimes when it comes to assessing risks and the best way to manage risk... sometimes we don't see eye to eye.</div> <div><br /></div><div>My wife's initial reaction was to commit to option #2... communicate our decision to disband option #1... and eliminate option #3 from <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">consideration</span>. The problem was that if option #2 didn't work out we would no longer have option #1 available. There was no economic value to locking in our decision early... but my wife's need for certainty would have caused us to commit before we had all the information. By waiting... by <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">purchasing</span> more time... we ended up with more information and that helped us make a more informed decision. </div><div><br /></div><div>Its that fundamental need for certainty... and it is a need... is what makes the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">c<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">onversation</span> difficult.</span></div><div><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>As a community... we are trying to get folks to embrace change and to embrace uncertainty. We've got to recognize that we might be asking folks to embrace more uncertainty that they can likely handle. <b>The reality is simply that many folks would rather be wrong than be uncertain. </b> If you are working with folks that are not risk takers... if you are working with people that value operating in highly predictable <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">environments</span>... Real Options can give you <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">language</span> to help them see value in deferring some subset of their decisions. </div><div><br /></div><div>Making decisions early has an economic impact to our projects. If we can quantify that cost in terms of real dollars and risk probability... we might have a chance to change how people think about change and uncertainty. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2008/07/understanding-real-options.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Understanding</span> Real Options</a> - Mike <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Cottmeyer</span>, July 2008</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate" style="text-decoration: none;">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-4316406818171626636?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qv_Gu4ETpENINVrGwhUSNTYeKiA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qv_Gu4ETpENINVrGwhUSNTYeKiA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qv_Gu4ETpENINVrGwhUSNTYeKiA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qv_Gu4ETpENINVrGwhUSNTYeKiA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=teFNZgl5LsA:SOWYcFOkPPk:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/teFNZgl5LsA" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com4http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/id-rather-be-wrong.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-68165853196905435852009-07-07T11:02:00.008-04:002009-07-08T08:21:48.045-04:002009-07-08T08:21:48.045-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlNkiSCp1wI/AAAAAAAAEa0/kQXX_CRhKiA/s1600-h/writing-color.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 185px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlNkiSCp1wI/AAAAAAAAEa0/kQXX_CRhKiA/s200/writing-color.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355734921994950402" /></a>Man... time sure does fly. I was looking over some old posts and realized that I started writing this blog almost two years ago. That got me thinking a little bit about blog writing and how my writing has changed over the past few years. I thought I'd take a moment to explore what I've learned and maybe share a few experiences.<div><div><br /></div><div>The first six months or so this blog was in existence I was too busy to do much writing... I had a day job... I had a family to raise... there was just no time to sit down for hours on end to write. I wanted to write... I just didn't make it happen. I generated something like 3 posts in those first few months. When I look back on it... if I am really honest with myself... I was really just concerned about looking stupid in public. </div><div><br /></div><div> It took weeks to write a post because I wanted everything to be perfect... I couldn't let anything go.<br /><br />The guy I was working for at the time gave me the best advice ever... he told me to <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">get over it</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span> That's easier said that done... but you know what... that is just what I did. I got over it and started writing. It helped that I changed jobs and got out of the daily grind of project management. It also helped that I have the support of VersionOne and a bigger platform to share my ideas. Even with all that... it took some time to get good at generating content without spending hours and hours doing it.<br /><br />Writing is a skill that can be learned... there are processes you can follow and you can get better. You can get better capturing ideas... you can get better writing quality content... and you can get better getting those ideas on your blog faster. After some 150 posts, several whitepapers, and a couple of longer reports... I feel like I have learned a few things about the process of writing.... at least blog writing. I want to share a few tips with all you would-be bloggers to help you get started.<br /><br /><b>1. Keep an idea inventory</b><br /><br />I am always on the lookout for good blog ideas. Not many areas of my life are really off limits. As you might imagine, most of my ideas come from interactions with clients and other folks out in the agile community. A lot of my posts though are influenced by my family... my involvement in Boy Scouts... and by my friends at church. Whenever you get a good idea... actually, any idea... write it down.<br /><br /><b>2. Set a fixed amount of time to write</b><br /><br />Try to limit your writing to two hours. When you are just getting started, this bit of advice might be hard to follow. The idea is that you want to set limits and create a little pressure to perform. It is easier to sit down and write when you can allocate a set amount of time and know you won't be interrupted. It's also helpful to know that you can't just sit there forever staring at a blank page... you've got to write something!<br /><br /><b>3. Write down your key point</b><br /><br />There is nothing worse that reading a rambling post where the author doesn't know what he wants to say. Start writing your post by jotting down a sentence or two that helps you stay focused on the significant point you want to get across. Also... as you start writing... plan to communicate your key point in the first paragraph or so. Personally, I lose interest if I am not sure where you going. You're writing a blog post... not a suspense novel.<br /><br /><b>4. Start brainstorming content</b><br /><br />Once you know your key point... start writing down ideas that support your key point. At this stage, don't worry about sentence structure, grammar, sequence or flow. You just want to get the ideas out of your head. More often than not it's the formality of the language that is preventing you from getting your ideas down on paper. If you can just get the ideas written down... after a paragraph or two... you'll probably find that the structure of the post will start taking shape in your head.<br /><br /><b>5. Actually write the post</b><br /><br />Now that you know your key idea and have some supporting content... start actually writing your post. The focus at this step is to organize your thoughts and begin getting the ideas into a coherent sequence and paragraph structure. You are telling a story... it should have a beginning, middle, and end. Spend some time cutting and pasting the ideas around to make sure you've got the right story in the right order. Start roughing in your ideas using actual sentences. The post does not need to be perfect... but you should begin to have a pretty good idea of how you are going to make your point and how the post is going to flow.<br /><br /><b>6. Proof-read and proof-read again</b><br /><br />After you have all your ideas in sentence and paragraph structure... go back and reread it to make sure it is all making sense. Sometimes when you are working on the parts of the post, it is easy to lose sight of the whole story. At this step you are fine tuning the order of ideas, sentence structure, paragraph breaks, headings, spelling and punctuation. Focus on flow, clarity, and final presentation.<br /><br /><b>7. Publish your post</b><br /><br />Try to find some sort of interesting graphic that supports the key idea behind the post and makes the article a little more visually appealing. Now just load your post into your publishing tool ... preview the post... make any final formatting changes. Now you are ready to post.<div><br /></div><div>Good luck and let me know how it goes!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-6816585319690543585?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oWm-wGrjNgYzkj1pyYu7gw7ziRQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oWm-wGrjNgYzkj1pyYu7gw7ziRQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oWm-wGrjNgYzkj1pyYu7gw7ziRQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oWm-wGrjNgYzkj1pyYu7gw7ziRQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=ib0-l9iybxE:_OfpYv7E6e4:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/ib0-l9iybxE" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com5http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/7-tips-to-get-started-blog-writing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-74575974498711795572009-07-06T10:06:00.005-04:002009-07-06T13:32:14.939-04:002009-07-06T13:32:14.939-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlIJjK-0NPI/AAAAAAAAEas/TMWCFoiZfEY/s1600-h/bridge_troll.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlIJjK-0NPI/AAAAAAAAEas/TMWCFoiZfEY/s200/bridge_troll.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355353406744835314" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/is-your-organization-out-of-alignment.html">Post before last</a>... I made the point that companies often have a hard time adopting agile because their management structures are not in alignment with their corporate objectives. We have project managers and resource managers and product managers. We have teams of specialists matrixed into product teams and project teams and component teams.<br /><br />Each team has its own set of objectives... their own sets of metrics... and each are pulling the company in oftentimes competing directions. To create an agile organization... we need to get our core systems in alignment... we need to move toward common goals and objectives.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Legislation and Policy versus Intent</span><br /><br />Paul Boos did a nice <a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/is-your-organization-out-of-alignment.html">reply</a> to my post and brought up a great point. Sometimes all those policies and metrics and such are self-inflicted. Paul works in the government and tells a great story about how legislation transforms from some idea with some worthy intent into a set of misguided policies and metrics at the department and agency levels.<br /><br />Congress passes a law stating that government IT projects must have an Enterprise Architecture. The Office of Management and Budget then decides that all departments have to use their common architectural framework to be in compliance with the law Congress just passed. When Paul's particular department gets a hold of the legislation... and the guidance from the OMB... they determine that all technical decisions have to be passed through their governance committees. It's a way to make sure the USDA complies with the regulation coming down from on high. Now when Paul's specific agency get's a hold of the policy decision... they determine that the team is only allowed to use specific technologies that are already approved by the USDA and the OMB.<div><br /></div><div><i>(NOTE: I slightly revised the previous paragraph to more closely reflect Paul's intent, and the way the government actually works... this is an oversimplified example by the way ;-)</i><br /><br />The intent of the law was to foster collaboration and reuse between departments but gets implemented as a set of draconian policies that limit creativity and innovation. What would happen if we could rethink some of the policy and metrics and focus more on the desired outcomes?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Corporate Audits</span><br /><br />Before I joined VersionOne I worked for CheckFree Corporation here in Atlanta (since acquired by Fiserv). Our PMO had put all these big tollgates in place so that our projects could pass audit. As our team was trying to drive agile into the organization... we would constantly get push back because our agile projects couldn't pass audit given we didn't have the right documentation at the right time to pass the formal tollgates.<br /><br />Come to find out... the auditors didn't care about our tollgates... they only cared about our paperwork because we told them that was the process we used to create software. They didn't care that we used waterfall or PMI or RUP or whatever... they just cared that we followed the processes we had said we were going to follow. If we told them we were changing our process... they would hold us accountable to the new standard... and as a matter of fact... that is just what we did.<br /><br />We took a fresh look at the audit process and established a framework that could be configured project to project. The new framework enabled traditional software lifecycles and agile lifecycles to coexist and both were able to pass an audit. By focusing on what we needed to accomplish... rather than how it was being accomplished... we were able to focus on optimizing the outcome rather than optimizing the existing processes we were using to get the outcome.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monkeys and Bananas</span><br /><br />Have you guys ever heard the story of the Monkeys and the Bananas? I sourced the story <a href="http://paws.kettering.edu/~jhuggins/humor/banana.html">here</a>... it is relevant to our conversation so here goes...<br /><br />Start with a cage containing five monkeys.<br /><br />Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.<br /><br />After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.<br /><br />Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.<br /><br />After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.<br /><br />Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.<br /><br />Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.<br /><br />After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Are we Overly Compliant?</span><br /><br />So... how much of what we are doing is because we're a bunch of monkeys that don't know any better? How much of what we are doing is because it's the way things have always been done? How much of what we are doing is based on our interpretation of the law rather than from a firm understanding of the intent behind the law?<br /><br />Have we taken the time to really assess these constraints and figure out what needs to change to accommodate our agile transformation?<br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-7457597449871179557?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BRsrkC_6Xu14sNslxgnl2AFEpGw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BRsrkC_6Xu14sNslxgnl2AFEpGw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BRsrkC_6Xu14sNslxgnl2AFEpGw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BRsrkC_6Xu14sNslxgnl2AFEpGw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=cvZUM3q1HQ8:k1KMYCarixk:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/cvZUM3q1HQ8" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com5http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/are-we-overly-compliant.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-72246323686705237592009-07-06T08:48:00.003-04:002009-07-06T08:55:15.896-04:002009-07-06T08:55:15.896-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlHzE8Sah4I/AAAAAAAAEac/9toUcD6ZD7c/s1600-h/mulberry.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlHzE8Sah4I/AAAAAAAAEac/9toUcD6ZD7c/s200/mulberry.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355328698148620162" border="0" /></a>Sunday morning I took off to do a little hiking at <a href="http://urbanbaboon.blogspot.com/2007/03/little-mulberry-park.html">Little Mulberry Park</a>. On my way I stopped at Starbucks for my morning coffee. <br /><br />Lady: Good morning, welcome to Starbucks, what can I get for you today<br /><br />Me: Good morning, I'll have a Venti Pike's Place with extra creme<br /><br />Lady: Great, would you like anything else with that, a blueberry scone maybe?<br /><br />Me: That sounds delicious but I think I am going to pass.<br /><br />Lady: Okay then, your total is $2.24 you can pull around to pick up your order.<br /><br />Me: Thanks very much!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlHz_JA9CMI/AAAAAAAAEak/Ni6EJLa9IwE/s1600-h/starbucks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 147px; height: 149px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SlHz_JA9CMI/AAAAAAAAEak/Ni6EJLa9IwE/s200/starbucks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355329697997457602" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This conversation was almost idenitical to every other conversation I have had in a Starbucks drive through. It was like we were reading a script... she knew what she was going to say... I knew what I was going to say.<br /><br />It was predictable but created the opportunity for both of us to learn something new. For some reason yesterday... I found our little dance oddly reassuring.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-7224632368670523759?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JklWCJp1QOsbVgMio4RILwiu6ZM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JklWCJp1QOsbVgMio4RILwiu6ZM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JklWCJp1QOsbVgMio4RILwiu6ZM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JklWCJp1QOsbVgMio4RILwiu6ZM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=7-vOPQYscto:G8duvpPVLr0:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/7-vOPQYscto" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/dancing-at-starbucks.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-26972223406322333422009-07-03T14:51:00.009-04:002009-07-03T16:41:38.250-04:002009-07-03T16:41:38.250-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sk5VRZAT8ZI/AAAAAAAAEXU/Mkz5R4Pp1VE/s1600-h/skel1"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 199px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sk5VRZAT8ZI/AAAAAAAAEXU/Mkz5R4Pp1VE/s200/skel1" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354310764248428946" /></a>Today is a good day. We got the kids up early... went out for a big country breakfast at Papa Jack's... and then drove up to South Carolina to pick up a mess of really awesome fireworks. You can't get really good fireworks here in Georgia... and since the South Carolina border is only about 90 miles North of Atlanta... we decided to make a trip. We've got about 20 lbs. of ribs basting in the oven... which should be ready in about an hour... so needless to say... but I'll say it again... it is a good day.<br /><br />While we were driving this morning I got to thinking about my post from yesterday and why people fail to adopt agile in a meaningful way. We were talking about how often people fail to consider the human side of change. We tend to think in terms of process and practices... we don't think as much about the fears that are holding people back and preventing them from letting go. That said... and this was what was nagging me a bit... it's not fair to imply that fear, uncertainty and doubt are the ONLY reasons we struggle to adopt agile... often there are other factors at play<div><br /><b>Our Trip to Disney World and Mike's Back Problem</b></div><div><b><br /></b>I want to tell you guys a little story. </div><div><br /></div><div>Up until last year... we used to take the kids to Disney World every October. Disney is great family fun and I highly recommend it. The only reason we didn't go last year was that the kids were getting older and decided they wanted to try something new. Last year we went on a cruise to Mexico.... but I digress. Back to the point... the last time we went to Disney for vacation... I threw my back out the day before we left. I had never experienced anything like it. I've always been pretty healthy and have never had a back problem. I didn't know what to do and it sucked... sucked bad!<br /><br />My kids we ready to go to Disney... my wife was ready to go to Disney... so we went to Disney. I spent the first two days walking the park... riding rides... and trying my best to have fun... but in reality I was pretty miserable. It's kind of funny... when I look back at the pictures from those two days... I had a smile on my face... but I can see the pain coming through the smile. Back problems are no fun at all.</div><div><br />The morning of day three I finally had enough. We were at Disney's Animal Kingdom and my wife looked over at me and told me I had to go to a doctor. Not knowing what the heck a doctor was going to do to get me through my vacation... short of prescribing some pain killers which I did not want.. I decided to go to a chiropractor. To that point in my life I had never been to a chiropractor and I wasn't sure what to expect...</div><div><br />Long story short... the chiropractor told me that my spine and pelvis were not where they were supposed to be and it was putting pressure on a nerve in my lower back. He did a minor adjustment and I was functional and relatively pain free the rest of the week. Good news is that I haven't had a problem since... the chiropractor found and fixed the root cause... I was out of alignment.<br /><br />I had the desire to go to Disney... I had a great attitude... I tried to keep a smile on my face... I wasn't afraid to ride the roller coasters... the problem was it just hurt. My body was not in proper alignment to take advantage of all the fun that Disney had to offer. A bunch of the companies I work with are kind of the same way. They want to do agile... they want the business benefit... they want to change... its just that their organizational structure is not in proper alignment to get the full benefits. It's like being at Disney with a back problem. </div><div><b><br /><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sk5UjbWx5fI/AAAAAAAAEW8/t0-h2Ru15-Y/s200/skel2" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 167px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354309974605555186" />How do organizations get out of alignment?</b></div><div><b><br /></b>Our organizational hierarchies provide the basic infrastructure in which we operate... in which we run our business... that is our foundation. On that foundation we have many forces that pull that structure in lots of different directions.<br /><br />We have projects run by project managers with schedules, budget constraints, and performance objectives. We have managers that manage teams of specialists... the managers are incented to optimize individual performance and get maximum productivity from each team member. We have products that have their own set of managers... each responsible for managing their markets and trying to get as many revenue generating features in their products as possible.<br /><br />We spin up teams to do projects... so we have a project team view. We have to mange the component architecture outside the context of any single project... so we have an archtiectural view. Projects might also be part of a program or a portfolio, team members are matrixed across multiple projects, products, and architectural sub-components... all of which put different pressures on the enterprise. Its amazing to me sometimes that we manage to get anything done.</div><div><br />Steven Covey in his book The 8th Habit talks about how so few people in a company feel they understand the objectives of the organization... that that they are working on the most important stuff... or that they are pulling in the same direction as their co-workers. Covey compares this to a soccer team where: <div><ul><li>4 of the 11 players on the field would know which goal is theirs</li><li>Only two of the 11 would care</li><li>Only two of the 11 would know what position they play and know exactly what they are supposed to do</li><li>9 players are competing against their own team</li></ul><b>Getting on the Same Page </b></div><div><br />So... while the people issues are really, really important... it is also important that the organization get in alignment if we are going to make a serious go at widespread agile adoption. That means putting some thought into how we create teams... what we have them work on... how we measure their performance... and how we have them work together. Its a matter of aligning the structures of our organization and then aligning team to support those structures. That is fundamentally what will make an agile organzation work. </div><div><br /></div><div>Like most things... that kind of change doesn't happen overnight... but realizing this is a problem is more than half the battle.</div><div><br /></div><div>BTW - Here is a picture of our fireworks stash we picked up today... pretty awesome!</div><div><br /></div><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sk5VMEF_WfI/AAAAAAAAEXM/IHtmrUCXo0s/s200/photo.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354310672735754738" /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-2697222340632233342?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cKJBcdW4A2fbCt4ID6l4KTmW8lY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cKJBcdW4A2fbCt4ID6l4KTmW8lY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cKJBcdW4A2fbCt4ID6l4KTmW8lY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cKJBcdW4A2fbCt4ID6l4KTmW8lY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=VCnNmkZjJ6g:HtW8nwXt0i8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/VCnNmkZjJ6g" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com2http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/is-your-organization-out-of-alignment.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-49247596869538579622009-07-02T08:41:00.005-04:002009-07-02T08:52:03.788-04:002009-07-02T08:52:03.788-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Skyr4b5cGKI/AAAAAAAAEWc/t7y8QDKOCiI/s1600-h/successfail.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Skyr4b5cGKI/AAAAAAAAEWc/t7y8QDKOCiI/s200/successfail.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353843043086375074" /></a>Okay... <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">you're</span> a few months into your agile <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">roll-out</span>. You did all the right stuff before you got started. Got sign-off from the execs... check... got team members trained... check... identified a pilot project... check... hired an agile coach... check. Why then... after all this time, effort, and money... are we still struggling with the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">fundamentals</span>? Why can't we seem to get over the hump?<br /><br />It seems that there is always someone... sometimes there are a lot of someones... that just don't seem to get it. They just can't let go of their trusted <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">MRD</span>... they can't seem to get past the idea that agile teams don't do <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Gantt</span> charts. These folks want to know exactly when their project is going to be done... what it is going to cost... and what they are going to get for their money.<br /><br />How do we respond to these people?<i> Hey... agile can't be any worse that what we are doing now? Agile is all about trust... you just need to trust that this new way of doing things is better. Just give us a few sprints and we'll prove to you that this new way works. I promise, you'll like it.</i><br /><br />Put yourself in that other person's shoes for a moment... your Product Manager was promoted and given big fat raises based on the insight and detailed analysis she put in those MR docs. The VP of Engineering got where he is today by making sure systems were designed fully up front. The Director of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">PMO</span> has built his entire career around applying the processes found in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">PMBOK</span>...not to mention the bonus he got for becoming a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">PMP</span> in the first place.<br /><br />These folks know something is broken... they know that we are making product development too hard...that is whey they let the team give this agile stuff a try in the first place. The problem is that... at the end of day... these folks are on the hook for making sure the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">organization</span> delivers. When they are under pressure they fall back to what they know. They dance with the girl they came with.<br /><br />It's important when we introduce something new that we spend some time figuring out what the people around us need to be successful. These folks have families... they have kids in college... they have financial obligations. You are not just asking them to change... you are asking them to put their livelihood at risk. People don't resist change <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">because</span> they are bad people or <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">because</span> they just don't get it. Chances are... at some level... they are afraid.<br /><br />More than likely... there is some fundamental concern that you have not addressed. Until you understand what your detractors need to be successful... and work to satisfy that need... on their terms... they are going to continue to stand in your way. They will continue to hold you back and resist the changes you are trying to implement. If you had so much to lose... you'd probably do the same thing.<br /><br />Trust me doesn't cut it until you have earned that trust. Agile will help you get there... but you know what... you might have to let them have their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Gantt</span> chart... you might have to let them have their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">MRD</span>... until you can make it safe for them to let it go. <br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-4924759686953857962?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BWncAsQtXz3mDlPRix68WF9gZLo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BWncAsQtXz3mDlPRix68WF9gZLo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BWncAsQtXz3mDlPRix68WF9gZLo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BWncAsQtXz3mDlPRix68WF9gZLo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=_BZOdCqpZi4:SF9xgZQAe5E:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/_BZOdCqpZi4" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com3http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/07/why-are-you-failing-with-agile.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-30453902597566286502009-06-29T09:18:00.004-04:002009-06-29T09:27:39.410-04:002009-06-29T09:27:39.410-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkjA6UiUMwI/AAAAAAAAEPw/jpT-1tsPuvc/s1600-h/top200"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 113px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkjA6UiUMwI/AAAAAAAAEPw/jpT-1tsPuvc/s200/top200" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352740265307419394" /></a>It's that time again. Jurgen Appelo has released his latest installment of the top 100... make that top 200... blogs for software developers. I mean... if 100 top blogs is good... 200 must be better... right? Well... I was excited because now that there were 200 slots... I had a good chance to make the list. Come to find out I didn't need the extra spots after all... Leading Agile jumped all the way from 105 to 56. Not bad... so thanks everyone for paying attention. Check out Jurgen's site... <a href="http://www.noop.nl/2009/06/top-200-blogs-for-developers-q2-2009.html">www.noop.nl</a> for the full list of excellent blogs.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-3045390259756628650?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jk1lHIwP5lyoaHzV7ucs0SmKTu8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jk1lHIwP5lyoaHzV7ucs0SmKTu8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jk1lHIwP5lyoaHzV7ucs0SmKTu8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jk1lHIwP5lyoaHzV7ucs0SmKTu8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=BW-rEQlTYAA:synGGM_v8Ww:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/BW-rEQlTYAA" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/jurgen-appelos-top-200-blogs-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-48214620124458165522009-06-28T11:47:00.006-04:002009-06-28T12:13:28.624-04:002009-06-28T12:13:28.624-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkeROHO-HcI/AAAAAAAAEPg/JT5Ucff5flw/s1600-h/bloodhound.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkeROHO-HcI/AAAAAAAAEPg/JT5Ucff5flw/s200/bloodhound.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352406353799159234" /></a>...but it sure will change how you do project management.<br /><br />I've got this talk called the <a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/agile-pmp-presentation.html">Agile PMP: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks</a>. The first time I delivered the talk was last year at the Agile Development Practices conference in Orlando. So far this year I've done the talk for a few local groups here in Atlanta and then out in Vegas at the Better Software Conference and Expo. Later this year I'll deliver the talk at Agile 2009 in Chicago, the PMI Global Congress in Orlando, and the Agile Development Practices Conference... also in Orlando.<br /><br />I've been pretty pleased with how well the talk has been received by conference selection committees and by the attendance at the shows. The talk works because it helps people understand Agile in the context of what they already know. We talk a bit about what is the same... and we use that commonality to explore what is different. At the end of the day... regardless of whether we choose to a traditional approach or an agile approach... we still have to deal with the fundamentals of project management.<br /><br />Agile projects have to have a way of dealing with the triple constraints... there has to be some concept of time... some concept of cost... and some concept of scope. We have to manage risk... decide how we are going to communicate... and how we are going manage quality. How we go about doing these things on an Agile project might be different, but we need to have a shared understanding of how all this stuff is going to be accomplished. By helping folks understand Agile in the context of the PMI process groups and knowledge areas... we provide a solid baseline of understanding.<br /><br />My core message centers around the triple constraints and our typical assumptions about uncertainty. Most traditionally managed software projects begin by defining what we are going to build... by defining scope. Once we know what we want to build... then we'll assess the requirements to see how much it is going to cost and how long it is going to take. There is always some acknowledgement of time and cost constraints up front... and there is negotiation with the stakeholders to get the three variables to converge... but starting with scope causes many software projects to start slow and finish even slower.<br /><br />The problem happens when we go off and decide what we want to build without any idea of what it is going to take to build it. We create a wish list of things we'd like to have in the release and product managers get married to the ideas early on. It becomes tough to see how we can deliver value to market without everything we have spent all this time and energy to specify for the development team. I have worked on projects that needed to be delivered in six months and the product team created over five years worth of requirements.<br /><br />When you push back... the discussion usually goes something like... well just do the estimate and tell us how much we can get. The problem is that it takes time to learn enough about the set of possible solutions to actually do an estimate... there might be technical dependencies... there are clearly resource dependencies... so evaluating a multi-year project to determine what can be delivered in the next six months can be a huge waste of time and resources. This problem is further compounded by changing market needs and the fact that software has a tendency to evolve... a lot... as it is actually built.<br /><br />We create a false sense of certainty about what it is we are going to build and when we can get it done. Once time and cost commitments are made... being married to a fixed set of requirements is going to get in trouble. There has to be some room to negotiate as we go.<br /><br />While Agile is not a project management methodology... it does impact how we do project management... mainly because Agile is going to have us make a different set of assumptions about our project constraints. Now... just like anything... these new assumptions and constraints need to be validated in your specific environment... but in general... on Agile projects we are going to decide that scope is not the primary driver. Rather than starting with scope... we are going to start with time and cost. We decide first when we need to go to market and how much we are willing to spend to get a product out the door.<br /><br />Rather than create a giant wish list of features... we are going to start defining features to fill the time and money allotted. When we have filled up the time... and planned to spend all the money... we have to decide if we have a release that could be taken to market. There is a very subtle difference at play. There is still negotiation... still an assessment of the viability of the release... its just that we don't spend time assessing features that have no chance in hell of actually getting implemented.<br /><br />In effect, we are talking about what agilists call product planning and release planning. We create a product plan... a roadmap... that gives us some confidence around what the customer is going to get... when they are going to get it... and what it will cost. The main difference is that we are starting with time and cost and figuring out what we are going to build within those pre-defined constraints.<br /><br />Just because we started with time and cost... that does not mean that we can fix scope... we need some room due to our new assumptions about the certainty of our estimates and the stability of our requirements. Again... we are going to start with the notion that time and cost are our primary constraints and that we'll want to fine tune the scope as we go to deliver the greatest business benefit possible. Because we deliver working code on short cycles... and we have empirical evidence of our progress... we can constantly evaluate how we are doing against where we hoped to be. The project stakeholders have the ability to control the project... either by adjusting scope... or by adjusting the time and cost constraints... in real time as the project is progressing.<br /><br />If at any time we learn that the business objectives and ROI targets cannot be met... we have the opportunity to kill the project... or radically alter its course... having invested as little as possible to make that decision. We are using the real data... being generated by real teams... writing real software... to provide feedback into the higher level roadmap. It really does put the business back in the driver seat. This idea that we are just going to start building software and let the backlog emerge.. the architecture emerge... and product emerge isn't workable in most contexts.<br /><br />With all the talk of late regarding Kanban and single piece flow... I wonder if we will lose the ability to make any kind of commitment back to the business. I think that in some contexts... this is probably appropriate. In many though... we will still need to have the concept of roadmaps... vision... release plans... and product backlogs. I don't see these things as waste... but more as an acceptable level of overhead to give the business some idea of what they are going to get... when they are going to get it... and what it will cost when we get there.<br /><br />So... again... we find that Agile is not a one size fits all strategy. We have to use our brain... we have to use ALL the tools and practices and principles we have at our disposal... we have to come up with the best approach to deliver the project given the constraints the business has imposed. At the end of the day... we are still doing project management... its just that agile changes the game a bit and introduces a new set of tools... and a new set of assumptions... and a new set of constraints which we'll use to deliver projects in more uncertain environments. <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-4821462012445816552?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Quo11ZgB8QWdiv9BlR8Dw1dC1c/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Quo11ZgB8QWdiv9BlR8Dw1dC1c/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Quo11ZgB8QWdiv9BlR8Dw1dC1c/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Quo11ZgB8QWdiv9BlR8Dw1dC1c/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=UlJyREphI_4:0UWTNuaCLvg:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/UlJyREphI_4" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com7http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/yes-agile-isnt-project-managment.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-89660195073693461132009-06-23T13:38:00.005-04:002009-06-23T13:58:14.816-04:002009-06-23T13:58:14.816-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkEXQILq10I/AAAAAAAADgo/orF4kOJvhOc/s1600-h/tag_v1_2.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 55px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkEXQILq10I/AAAAAAAADgo/orF4kOJvhOc/s400/tag_v1_2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350583398134634306" border="0" /></a>Think of this post as a quick public service announcement for all you folks out there looking to comp some free Agile training ;-)<br /><br />Over the next month or so... VersionOne is hosting a series of free webinars on Agile Project Management and Agile Best Practices. These talks are done by several of the leading thinkers in the agile community and... given that they are free... and during lunch... there is no reason not to attend ;-) The following is a quick summary what's coming up. You can visit the <a href="http://www.versionone.com/agile_webinars.asp">VersionOneResources</a> page to get more information, to see archived talks, and to register.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">June 24th we have Pete Behrens from Trail Ridge Consulting doing a talk on </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Agile Program Management and Scaling Agile Projects</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span><br /><br />Agile Project Management has driven successful results throughout thousands of projects across the globe through various frameworks like Scrum, Extreme Programming and others. Agile development, quality and project-level practices are allowing teams to react more quickly to changing market and business conditions, meeting customer needs more directly, and driving profits or cost savings sooner. Most organizations are experimenting with agile approaches on one or more projects within their portfolio.<br /><br />The challenge, however, remains in the coordination across larger organizations aligning many projects, products and teams to deliver complex interdependent programs successfully. This presentation shares Agile Program Management Best Practices to guide project and program managers in larger organizations working across these boundaries to deliver complex programs. These best practices have been leveraged by programs with over 30 teams with hundreds of people (Larger programs are divided into subprograms and replicate similar practices). This presentation addresses best practices for program setup, goals, and investment; organizational team structures and work breakdown; and program coordination, tracking, dependencies, risk, and release predictability.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 1st, we have David Hussman doing his talk on </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pragmatic </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personas. </span><br /><br />Personas have that stickiness that sticks. With a pragmatic focus, this session covers simple and powerful techniques for crafting personas and using them to drive value into your development stream. The session will start with an overview of what personas are and how they provide value. We will create personas and discuss possible sources of information and potential authors. Once we have created a few personas, we will explore how they can be used to craft stories, create acceptance tests and help keep the user’s experience in the minds of the development community.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 22nd we have Sanjiv Augustine doing his talk on the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Agile </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">PMO</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">: From Process Police to Adaptive Governance</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span><br /><br />How should we scale Agile methods beyond individual projects? How can PMOs avoid being process police and instead truly support Scrum teams, enable enterprise rollout of Agile methods, and sustain long-term Scrum adoption?<br /><br />Learn how industry leaders are scaling Agile with Agile PMOs that:<br /><ul><li>Support and empower agile teams through training, coaching, and organizational obstacle removal</li><li>Track project portfolios using Agile tracking techniques</li><li>Bring lean discipline to project prioritization</li><li>Move towards a stable teams model of resource management</li></ul>Sanjiv will share principles and techniques for an Agile PMO, and discuss how those concepts are being applied in the industry to scale Scrum through adaptive governance of programs and portfolios.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 29th we have Michele Sliger doing her talk on </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beginning with Values</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span><br /><br />Agile adoptions can only be successful if corporate values match the values outlined in the Agile Manifesto and in agile frameworks such as XP and Scrum. In this presentation, Michele Sliger discusses the importance of values and the role they play in driving behavior. You'll understand the real meaning behind the often heard "agile is value-driven, not plan-driven" phrase. You’ll find out how to determine what your company values, and how to compare that to agile values and what to do if they are different. Most importantly, learn how to apply what you’ve learned in your own situation. See how to define values at the team level, a must in order to ensure effective working relationships and that the right actions are taken by everyone to achieve iteration goals. You’ll learn visioning exercises that you can conduct with your team, and on your own - so you can better understand what you personally value and what you plan to do about it.<br /><br />All of these folks are among the best at what they do and all are excellent presenters... you won't want to miss these talks.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-8966019507369346113?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N-zqlZmo57I_KhdsXcVSBwOuvqE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N-zqlZmo57I_KhdsXcVSBwOuvqE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N-zqlZmo57I_KhdsXcVSBwOuvqE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/N-zqlZmo57I_KhdsXcVSBwOuvqE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=KzTz6B-HEco:DT4C8wW7Qf4:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/KzTz6B-HEco" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/versionone-agile-project-management-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-17397520877984739552009-06-23T09:01:00.008-04:002009-06-23T13:09:38.987-04:002009-06-23T13:09:38.987-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkDUtzFSXzI/AAAAAAAADgg/icpI9fRQhMA/s1600-h/raineymountain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SkDUtzFSXzI/AAAAAAAADgg/icpI9fRQhMA/s400/raineymountain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350510240587734834" border="0" /></a>I can't believe it has been over two weeks since I did my last blog post. Longer than that if you are an Agile Chronicles reader. The past few weeks have been a bit nuts.<br /><br />As you guys know... the week before last I was in Vegas to do my Agile PMP talk. The talk went well but it is always entertaining to see how the dynamic in the room changes depending on who decides to speak up. I need to get better at avoiding language that can set people off ;-) Anyway... every time I get to deliver this presentation in front of people it helps sharpen the message.<br /><br />The Agile PMP talk just got picked up by the PMI Global Congress in October... so I better get better fast. I am not expecting that crowd to show any mercy!<br /><br />Last week I was with my two older boys at Rainey Mountain Scout Camp. Camp sure has changed since I was a kid. I didn't have a cell signal the whole week but there were several wifi hotspots around so I was not without some connectivity. After getting the troop off to classes... I spent each morning online and then each afternoon hiking in the North Georgia mountains. I would rather sleep in a tent than a swanky hotel... so life was good.<br /><br />Before I left... we talked a bit about how it is so easy to get focused on how we are getting work done and to lose focus on what we are actually delivering. That problem has to be pretty universal... it applies to software teams and complex organizations... it also applies to scout troops. Are we here to build committees and sign paperwork or to help boys become young men? When we start focusing on how things are going to get done... it is easy to lose focus on what is really important. But... I digress.<br /><br />Some of my writing focus lately has been directed in places other than this blog:<br /><br />Next month I am publishing my first executive report for the Cutter Consortium. I did the report with my good friend <a href="http://www.dennisstevens.com/">Dennis Stevens</a>. Dennis is a really smart guy and we pushed each other on the ideas in this paper. The report is only available to Cutter Consortium subscribers but maybe we'll have a raffle here on Leading Agile to give out a hard copy.<br /><br />I've also done a short whitepaper for <a href="http://www.versionone.com/">VersionOne</a> on the role of the <a href="http://pm.versionone.com/whitepaper_AgilePM.html">Agile Project Manager</a>. It is an introductory piece but you guys might want to check it out. The paper talks not so much about Agile Project Management... but more about the new skills a Project Manager needs in an agile environment and how they need to think about their role a little differently. This paper can be downloaded for the low, low cost of giving the VersionOne sales team your contact information.<br /><br />Lastly, keep your eyes peeled for a screen cast I put together on agile adoption. Naming talks is not really my strong suit. The screen cast is on adopting agile... but more fundamentally it is about teams... and how to build organizations around teams... and how to decide what teams work on... and how to throttle work through the organization in a way that creates flow. So while this is an agile talk... it also hits on things like capability analyis and lean scheduling in the enterprise.<br /><br />I'll shoot a link once we have the presentation up and publicly available. Hopefully, I'll get back in the groove of writing this week... still have lot's to say ;-)<br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-1739752087798473955?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/R6Hv72OGINs3ZSSo428fgvgfZeY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/R6Hv72OGINs3ZSSo428fgvgfZeY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/R6Hv72OGINs3ZSSo428fgvgfZeY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/R6Hv72OGINs3ZSSo428fgvgfZeY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=jJCsMA81zH4:wyFv8doQIHY:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/jJCsMA81zH4" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/catching-back-up.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-52409760993285961012009-06-08T09:55:00.004-04:002009-06-08T10:01:10.147-04:002009-06-08T10:01:10.147-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Si0ZjJEzvoI/AAAAAAAADaE/LCL9i5YQ4Ow/s1600-h/las_vegas.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Si0ZjJEzvoI/AAAAAAAADaE/LCL9i5YQ4Ow/s400/las_vegas.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344956424280850050" /></a>Okay... so this is a throwaway post. <div><br /></div><div>I am on the plane to Vegas with my wife and decided to try out the Delta WiFi service in route. While I am up here it is my goal to write a blog post (done), Twitter (done), and chat with some friends over Facebook (done). I might check LinkedIn and then dip into my VersionOne email for a little while. You just gotta love where technology is headed... can't even get a connectivity free existence on the airplane anymore. <div><br /></div><div>It was only $12.95 for the entire duration of a 4-hour flight. I can remember those onboard cell phones that used to cost like $9.95 a minute. Might see if I can use Skype to call my kids!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-5240976099328596101?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ir9T3odAv21t9u9VV5VkhDnYvSs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ir9T3odAv21t9u9VV5VkhDnYvSs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ir9T3odAv21t9u9VV5VkhDnYvSs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ir9T3odAv21t9u9VV5VkhDnYvSs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=uc40rmfVoeg:HmxuiJs_DNQ:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/uc40rmfVoeg" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com1http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/on-my-way-to-vegas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-70581592615607390082009-06-07T16:25:00.007-04:002009-06-07T16:34:29.080-04:002009-06-07T16:34:29.080-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Siwifs6s7aI/AAAAAAAADZ8/FS3dH09Kscg/s1600-h/photo-771596.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Siwifs6s7aI/AAAAAAAADZ8/FS3dH09Kscg/s200/photo-771596.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344684785810599330" border="0" /></a>Last year I did a post called <a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2008/02/at-peace-with-paper.html">At Peace With Paper</a>... in it I describe my affinity for paper planning devices... and how over the years... with all my cool electronic gadgets... I have been unable to resist the allure of my leather bound day planner. A few months later... I did a post called <a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2008/07/iphone-and-blackberries.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">iPhones</span> and Blackberries</a>... where I talk about moving from my trusted Blackberry to the yet unproven iPhone 2.0.<br /><br />Well here we are a year later and I haven't put my iPhone on eBay... although I thought about it more than once... and furthermore... I may have finally kicked my Franklin Covey habit. How did this happen? Let me explain...<br /><br />As you might imagine... especially if you follow me on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">TripIt</span>... my travel schedule can get pretty hectic. Shoot... it is not just my travel schedule... it is life. I value being able to have access to my data anytime and anywhere... no matter what device I happen to be on... and no matter what I am doing. Long story short... a couple of products converged for me that have pretty much revolutionized my ability to stay organized on the go.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">iPhone 2.0</span><br /><br />So... this is the on-the-go platform... the enabler. All of the problems with the iPhone are still there... no cut and paste... no email search... no real keyboard... no background listening for non-native apps... it goes on an on. What had made the iPhone totally sticky for me are the apps... not just any apps though... apps that have web based counterparts and sync their data to the cloud.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Evernote</span></span><br /><br />The first application that really got me was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Evernote</span>. If you not familiar with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Evernote</span>... it is a free hosted application that allows you to store files... clip websites... record voice notes... and almost anything else you might envision saving up into the cloud. That is and of itself is cool... but it also has a client for the iPhone and I can email stuff to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Evernote</span> too! Anything I save to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Evernote</span> I can take with me on the iPhone. There is also a fat client for the PC and a version that runs from a U3 jump drive. I have my data... anytime... anywhere... from any device I happen to be working on.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ToodleDo</span></span><br /><br />This is really the one that has been revolutionary for me. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ToodleDo</span> is a hosted site that allows you to track and manage your <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">todo</span> list. Wait you say... why not just track your <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">todo</span> list in Outlook? Many of my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">todo's</span> come in the form of email. I have always wanted the ability to forward email to my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">todo</span> list... and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">ToodleDo</span> allows me to do this. The iPhone version is wonderful... and as you might imagine... my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">todo</span> list is kept up to date in both places. Awesome<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Jott</span></span><br /><br />And here is the glue... I don't have much use for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Jott's</span> iPhone app... but here is what <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Jott</span> does that is totally cool. I can call <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Jott</span> from my cell phone and tell the service I want to send a note to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Toodledo</span>. It will transcribe my note and add it to my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">todo</span> list automatically. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Jott</span> also has integrations with other apps... but <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">ToodleDo</span> is the real winner. I just don't need to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Jott</span> to Twitter... but the application will do it if I ever get the urge.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Google Calendar</span><br /><br />This just keeps getting better and better. I have my iPhone sync to my Outlook calendar and my Outlook calendar sync to Google Calendar. The cool thing is that on Google Calendar I can add my wife's calendar and she can add mine. I can also unify my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">TripIt</span> calendar and any other .<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">ICS</span> calendars I find particularly interesting. Much... much better than keeping separate calendars in our own paper systems... or even electronic systems.<br /><br />It's not perfect yet... I think that iPhone 3.0 is going to help simplify my calendaring setup and give me more functionality. iPhone 3.0 is going to fix many of my frustrations with the core platform... I hear it will have cut and paste, email search, and background listening. The fact these apps all talk to each other is really the killer concept. The fact that they have multiple clients depending on what I am doing at that moment is even cooler. I am totally <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">geeked</span> to see what these companies do over the next few years.<br /><br />I still carry my paper planner with me... but find I use it much less often. There are days when I miss my Blackberry... but 3.0 should fix that. Life in the cloud is pretty good so far.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-7058159261560739008?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GUidhfucfQ-UIw1q0-cFHw7JrsE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GUidhfucfQ-UIw1q0-cFHw7JrsE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GUidhfucfQ-UIw1q0-cFHw7JrsE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GUidhfucfQ-UIw1q0-cFHw7JrsE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=-WkVrYUs6lk:jDAy4r-Dx6E:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/-WkVrYUs6lk" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com10http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/productivity-in-cloud.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-68523656777148334152009-06-06T17:45:00.008-04:002009-06-07T14:35:03.267-04:002009-06-07T14:35:03.267-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sirn09pAJdI/AAAAAAAADZk/HF0_uT_3JaE/s1600-h/step1.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 156px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sirn09pAJdI/AAAAAAAADZk/HF0_uT_3JaE/s200/step1.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344338804914267602" /></a>Sometimes I think we are missing the point. <div><br /></div><div>I am becoming more and more convinced that building organizations around teams is the real secret to building agile organizations. How we setup our teams, what we have them work on, and how they work together with other teams... all determine how well value will be created for our business and ultimately our customers.<br /><br />Some things are really important about teams... and some things just aren't. Getting straight about what we are are actually trying to accomplish with our teams will help us get past some of the dogma, methodology battles, and Scrumdamentalism that is preventing us from incrementally adopting agile practices. Is our goal to adopt Scrum or is our goal greater business agility?<br /><br /><b>Important Stuff about Teams...</b><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams Deliver Value</span><br /><br />Sometimes this means that teams work on cross functional threads of working software. Sometimes it means that teams deliver services that will be consumed by another part of the organization. Teams might be part of the business and handle billing... or marketing... or sales. I only care about teams being cross functional in the sense that the team needs to have what it need to deliver the value is was created to deliver.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams are Accountable</span><br /><br />Teams make and meet commitments and are responsible for delivering on those commitments. They are accountable for outcomes. I don't care so much how they deliver those outcomes... assuming that they operate within moral and ethical boundaries... I care that teams do what they say they are going to do and deliver the outcomes that they promise to the business<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams are Predictable</span><br /><br />Over time, the business should be able to provide specific inputs and get reasonably predictable outputs. Throughput should trend up... and we should know why it is trending up. If throughput is trending down... we should be able to assess and understand why it is trending down. If throughput is variable... it should at least have a reasonably predictable rolling average. If teams aren't predictable... we can't plan anything.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams get Better</span><br /><br />We need to have some mechanism in place for getting better over time. This could be a sprint retrospective... or it might be a Kanban board. We can rely on the knowledge and creativity of the team to improve... or managers can use specific tools that help make problems visible and help the correct the problems. It cannot be okay to accept mediocrity.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams are Transparent</span><br /><br />The business needs to be able to understand exactly what the team is working on and how the deliverables relate to the objectives of the business. The business needs to understand what problems the team is having so that they can help get them resolved. Team performance metrics need to be visible and explainable<br /><br /><b>Not so Important Stuff about Teams...</b><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams have Product Owners</span><br /><br />I am probably going to get myself in trouble here... but I don't think that the Product Owner is all that important. It is important to have a well groomed product backlog. It is important to have someone to answer questions for the team on behalf of the business or the customers. It is important that the business is accountable for making decisions in a timely manner and giving guidance to the team.<br /><br />If that can be done by a single person called a Product Owner... so be it. All I know is that it needs to happen.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams have ScrumMasters</span><br /><br />Again... going to get in trouble. What I really need is someone to help the team stay on track... to maintain the vision... to help remove impediments... and to collaborate with the team to help them improve. If this is a ScrumMaster, great. It might be a resource manager that fills this role... it might be a project manager. It might be a good dev lead or a product architect.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams do Daily Standup Meetings</span><br /><br />What I really need is communication between team members. I have worked with teams that all sat in the same space... worked together daily... and always knew what was going on. If a daily standup meeting adds value... do it. Just remember why you are doing it and if you are getting the outcome that you need. Communication... transparency... shared accountability... those are the important things.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Teams have Planning Rituals</span><br /><br />The team needs time to plan. They need time to get their head around the problem and coordinate the work. They need a time to inspect and adapt. This might come in the form of a sprint planning meeting and a sprint review. It might be done ad-hoc as a individual requirement is moved from the backlog into the in-process queue.<br /><br /><b>Do We Care About What or How?</b><br /><br />When folks are just getting started with Agile... it is easy to get caught up in the how. How are we going to plan... how are we going to meet... how are we going to review outcomes... how are we going to ensure accountability. We need to focus on what the team is going to deliver, and the attributes of that delivery that are important to the business.<br /><br />It is extremely important that a team delivers something of value on short cycles... that they are accountable... that they value predictability... that they get better over time... and that they are transparent to the business. To the extent that Product Owners, ScrumMasters, daily stand-up meetings, and planning meetings help me get there... they are useful tools might get included.<br /><br />These things could be out of sync with your organization and actually impede your ability to adopt agile. You might need to think about what you're really trying to accomplish and come up with some situationally specific strategy to build teams... and to get teams predictable. </div><div><br /></div><div>It might be unreasonable to ask the business to take a Product Manager and turn them into a Product Owner. It should be perfectly reasonable to ask them to make sure teams have the requirements they need to build software... requirements that accommodate change... help mitigate risk... and deliver value better and faster back to the business<br /><br />So my question... are you more concerned about adopting specific agile practices or doing what it takes to build well functioning teams?</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-6852365677714833415?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0XRTCvonlzb3GfaDKLMEW8YeC_I/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0XRTCvonlzb3GfaDKLMEW8YeC_I/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0XRTCvonlzb3GfaDKLMEW8YeC_I/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0XRTCvonlzb3GfaDKLMEW8YeC_I/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=AI9WM7mHagI:2UztlvRgcLM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/AI9WM7mHagI" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com18http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/what-do-you-value.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-10706182983735524642009-06-02T09:58:00.004-04:002009-06-02T10:03:48.372-04:002009-06-02T10:03:48.372-04:00Okay... while I am publishing presentations today, here is the one that I am doing next week at the SQE Better software conference in Vegas. I'm also doing this talk at Agile 2009 and again at the SQE Agile Development Practices Conference in Orlando. It's nice to have a presentation that I get to do live more than once... I finally feel like I am getting good a delivering it ;-)<br /><div style="width: 425px; text-align: left;" id="__ss_1254123"><a style="margin: 12px 0pt 3px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; display: block; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/mcottmeyer/the-agile-pmp-v2?type=powerpoint" title="The Agile PMP v2">The Agile PMP v2</a><object style="margin: 0px;" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=theagilepmp-090406074846-phpapp01&amp;stripped_title=the-agile-pmp-v2"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=theagilepmp-090406074846-phpapp01&amp;stripped_title=the-agile-pmp-v2" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,arial; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">OpenOffice presentations</a> from <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/mcottmeyer">Mike Cottmeyer</a>.</div></div><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-1070618298373552464?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iibWDWnr8d936CCCnM8obuJkFmo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iibWDWnr8d936CCCnM8obuJkFmo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iibWDWnr8d936CCCnM8obuJkFmo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iibWDWnr8d936CCCnM8obuJkFmo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=FabcGvqOG20:BeH8YnqMFBA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/FabcGvqOG20" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com3http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/agile-pmp-presentation.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-74777607975787289452009-06-02T09:39:00.003-04:002009-06-02T09:48:36.766-04:002009-06-02T09:48:36.766-04:00<div style="width: 425px; text-align: left;" id="__ss_1521562">Last night I had a great opportunity to deliver this slide deck to the Turner Agile User Group here in Atlanta. The talk was on Adopting Agile in the Enterprise. I am still working on the overall message and consider the presentation in beta. This will end up being the deck that I do for the Oredev conference in Malmo later this year.<br /><a style="margin: 12px 0pt 3px; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; display: block; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/mcottmeyer/adopting-agile-1521562?type=presentation" title="Adopting Agile">Adopting Agile</a><object style="margin: 0px;" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=adoptingagile-090602083539-phpapp02&amp;stripped_title=adopting-agile-1521562"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=adoptingagile-090602083539-phpapp02&amp;stripped_title=adopting-agile-1521562" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,arial; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">OpenOffice presentations</a> from <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/mcottmeyer">Mike Cottmeyer</a>.</div></div><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' 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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/sxfxixfRL9A" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com3http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/06/adopting-agile.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-48892888636385512092009-05-30T13:21:00.000-04:002009-05-30T13:27:06.622-04:002009-05-30T13:27:06.622-04:00<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SiFsaqEQSPI/AAAAAAAADXM/FKMVQPI83nQ/s1600-h/photo-726623.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SiFsaqEQSPI/AAAAAAAADXM/FKMVQPI83nQ/s320/photo-726623.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341669838262651122" /></a></p>Just thought I&#39;d share with you guys what NOT blogging looks like for <br>me this weekend.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-4889288863638551209?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k_BJTBp7m-I8dNiFSLWXF9KOT40/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k_BJTBp7m-I8dNiFSLWXF9KOT40/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k_BJTBp7m-I8dNiFSLWXF9KOT40/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k_BJTBp7m-I8dNiFSLWXF9KOT40/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=x3t1sV_tHlQ:PwW5m7oDXGg:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/x3t1sV_tHlQ" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com3http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/not-blogging-today.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-52524699285313356592009-05-27T10:26:00.006-04:002009-05-27T10:53:43.284-04:002009-05-27T10:53:43.284-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sh1N9Q3qLuI/AAAAAAAADV8/1-16elXFh9w/s1600-h/Emailfooter2009.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 90px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Sh1N9Q3qLuI/AAAAAAAADV8/1-16elXFh9w/s400/Emailfooter2009.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340510448027053794" /></a>I got an interesting invitation to head to Malmo, Sweden this year for the Oredev 2009 conference. I'll be doing two talks in the agile track... one on scaling agile and the other an experience report based on the coaching gig I did earlier this year. Regular readers will recognize some of the topics I plan to speak about.<br /><b><div><br /></div>The Manager’s Guide to Agile Adoption</b><div><br />Agile methodologies are helping teams deliver software faster and with much higher quality than ever before. Given the success of agile at the team level, many managers are exploring the possibility of implementing these methodologies across the entire product delivery organization. These managers launch their adoption efforts only to uncover many common myths, misperceptions, and obstacles that derail their efforts before they really get started.<br /><br /></div><div>Organizations fail to become agile because they don’t understand what makes agile teams work. Breaking past traditional organizational constraints, even the constraints imposed by some of the better known agile methodologies, will free managers to create situationally specific strategies that support the formation of teams and enable them to deliver both reliably and consistently back to the business. Agile teams become the building blocks of agile organizations. </div><div><br />This talk will explore a roadmap for agile adoption that begins with teams and demonstrates how teams work together to deliver more complex projects and portfolios. Mike will expand the team concept to include capabilities and show how capabilities can be organized to optimize value across the enterprise value stream. At each step of the adoption process, Mike will demonstrate how to choose the policies, practices, and metrics that create learning and drive sustainable organizational change. </div><div><br /><b>Agile Adoption past the Team – An Experience Report</b></div><div><br />Discussions of agile often assume that there is a single team, assigned to a single product, with a single dedicated customer guiding all the product decisions. In reality, many organizations are building complex products that require the efforts of more than one development team. When teams have to coordinate to deliver a highly integrated product, the product owner’s job often becomes too big for a single person. </div><div><br />Not all the interesting scalability problems are reserved for the enterprise. Product Owners have challenges when trying to coordinate the deliverables for only four or five dependent development teams. Quite a few organizations are expanding the role of Product Owner to include Product Owner Teams and Product Owner Teams with Architects. These teams work in partnership with the Product Owner to maintain the product backlog and drive integrated decision making.</div><div><br />This talk explores a 3 month coaching engagement where the customer needed to coordinate requirements and design across five highly dependent development teams. Mike will show how the teams went from zero to hyper-productivity in a matter of sprints by implementing solid engineering practices and deploying a Product Owner team to coordinate deliverables across the entire product delivery organization.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Speaker Bio</b></div><br />Mike Cottmeyer is a product consultant and agile evangelist for VersionOne. Prior to joining VersionOne, Mike was a senior project manager for CheckFree Corporation where he led a portfolio of projects for their online banking and bill payment business unit. Mike has 20 years of experience leading IT initiatives using a combination of traditional, agile, and lean project management best practices. <div><br /></div><div>Mike is a certified PMP Project Manager and a certified ScrumMaster. He co-created the DSDM Agile Project Leader certification and holds Foundation, Practitioner, and Examiner level certificates. Mike is an honorary member of the DSDM Consortium and a founder of the Lean Software and Systems Consortium. </div><div><br /></div><div>Mike speaks internationally on the topic of Agile Project Management and writes for several blogs including <a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/">http://www.leadingagile.com</a> and <a href="http://blog.versionone.net/">http://blog.versionone.net</a> and occasionally for <a href="http://wwwagilesoftwaredevelopment.com/">http://www.agilesoftwaredevelopment.com</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-5252469928531335659?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GRVLSRRLRvWAOLPJanrG9CSCRjg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GRVLSRRLRvWAOLPJanrG9CSCRjg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GRVLSRRLRvWAOLPJanrG9CSCRjg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GRVLSRRLRvWAOLPJanrG9CSCRjg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=xQGoBrOycJk:W3dB6oPiKbY:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/xQGoBrOycJk" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/oredev-2009-malmo-sweden.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-50224626898287609352009-05-26T10:27:00.005-04:002009-05-26T11:41:29.991-04:002009-05-26T11:41:29.991-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Shv9BxPTGiI/AAAAAAAADV0/ixQwQaWBmdw/s1600-h/AgilePaloozaHeader.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 70px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/Shv9BxPTGiI/AAAAAAAADV0/ixQwQaWBmdw/s400/AgilePaloozaHeader.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340139990017055266" border="0" /></a>Are you going to be anywhere near San Francisco, CA on May 29th? You need to find a way to get to <a href="http://www.agilepalooza.com/">AgilePalooza</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.agilepalooza.com/">AgilePalooza</a> is the first of a series of not-for-profit community events presented by <a href="http://www.versionone.com/">VersionOne</a>. It is meant to be a fun, low cost gathering that brings internationally recognized <a href="http://www.agilepalooza.com/bios.html">coaches and trainers</a> into community for a day of learning and advancing agile methods. None of the speakers are paid to present or participate...they are offering up their services simply to support the agile community. For the ridiculously low price of $69... attendees will get a full day of agile learning, breakfast, lunch and good times. If there are any funds left over after the event they will go directly back into the <a href="http://www.agilepalooza.com/">AgilePalooza</a> program or be donated to the local agile user groups supporting <a href="http://www.agilepalooza.com/">AgilePalooza</a>.<br /><br />Go to <a href="http://www.agilepalooza.com/">http://www.agilepalooza.com</a> for more information and to register. Where else can you get this kind of Agile love for only $69?<br /><br /><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-5022462689828760935?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/O2H-cjqfQaoGrt6Ix5hUcRMUjck/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/O2H-cjqfQaoGrt6Ix5hUcRMUjck/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/O2H-cjqfQaoGrt6Ix5hUcRMUjck/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/O2H-cjqfQaoGrt6Ix5hUcRMUjck/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=4dHCn43_21Q:Oj6c_SmU0ao:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/4dHCn43_21Q" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/agilepalooza.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-24253417774769264942009-05-23T20:35:00.008-04:002009-05-23T22:43:08.099-04:002009-05-23T22:43:08.099-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShiXjphSvTI/AAAAAAAADUE/WYaJAWRHChs/s1600-h/stack_of_books.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 118px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShiXjphSvTI/AAAAAAAADUE/WYaJAWRHChs/s200/stack_of_books.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339183996944432434" /></a><div>Quite frequently I am out talking to traditional project managers or new agile teams that want to learn a little bit more about all this agile stuff. Inevitibly I get asked what books I recommend for folks trying to sharpen their agile chops. Thought I would share a few that I recommend the most with a few words on why I think they are important:</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243124908&amp;sr=8-1">Extreme Programming Explained</a> - Kent Beck</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>This was the first book on agile I ever read and it really is foundational to the whole agile movement. The practices behind XP are the the secret sauce that makes all the agile project management and leadership stuff really hum.</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Project-Management-Microsoft-Professional/dp/073561993X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125014&amp;sr=1-1">Managing Agile Projects with Scrum</a> - Ken Schwaber</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>How can you talk about agile nowadays without knowing something about Scrum? This book does a great job explaining the project management side of Scrum and is a great resource for someone just getting their feet wet with agile. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Estimating-Planning-Robert-Martin/dp/0131479415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125044&amp;sr=1-1">Agile Estimating and Planning</a> - Mike Cohn</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>No one explains agile planning better than Mike Cohn. Release planning... got it. Velocity... got it. Planning poker... got it. If you understand the fundamentals and want to put planning structure around agile, read this book. It is essential for running a disciplined agile project. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/User-Stories-Applied-Development-Addison-Wesley/dp/0321205685/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125077&amp;sr=1-1">User Stories Applied</a> - Mike Cohn</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>Two in a row from Mike Cohn? User stories tend to trip people up. Understanding how to write requirements as functional threads valuable to a customer is hard... this book helps you do it better. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Software-Development-Cooperative-Game/dp/0321482751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125104&amp;sr=1-1">Agile Software Development</a> - Alistair Cockburn</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>I can't have a list of agile books without one from Alistair Cockburn. I probably like this book best, but don't usually recommend it first. It describes software development as a cooperative game... similar to musicians improvising on stage. A bit esoteric, but a brillant piece and a must read for the more advanced practitioner.</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Software-Project-Managers-Agility-Development/dp/0321502752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125147&amp;sr=1-1">Software Project Manager's Bridge to Agility</a> - Michele Sliger and Stacia Broderick</div><div><br /></div><div>This is really the first book that mapped the processes behind the PMBOK with agile methods. These ladies and I really see the world the same way. I am a PMP and this is the one I always recommend when talking to the PMI crowd. It is a must read for the PMP trying to manage an agile project.</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Lean-Agile-Development-Organizational/dp/0321480961/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125173&amp;sr=1-1">Scaling Lean &amp; Agile Development</a> - Bas Vodde and Craig Larman</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>I am not as sold on this one, but it is one of the few that addresses agile at scale. There are a few things I disagree with and I think it is a little dogmatic about taking the feature team approach. It is well written and provides a valid perspecitve on how to scale agile to the enterprise. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Software-Agility-Enterprises-Development/dp/0321458192/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125201&amp;sr=1-1">Scaling Software Agility</a> - Dean Leffingwell</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>In my opinion this is the only book that adequately addresses dealing with agile at scale in a complex enterprise... period. If you are building complex applications, systems of systems, in a large organzation... this book is a must read. This is the one I find myself recommending most frequently as of late. Its the only book that really challenges the idea of a feature team and provides a credible alternative. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Iterative-Development-Addison-Wesley-Technology/dp/032126889X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1243125233&amp;sr=1-1">Managing Iterative Software Development Projects</a> - Kurt Bittner and Ian Spence</div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>This one is a little non-agile... almost RUP... but I think it does a solid job of explaining iterative and incremental software project management... with a bit of a nod to the agile practitioner. </div> <div> </div> <div><br /></div><div>Any others that should be added to this list? Put your recommendation in the comments... but make sure to explain why it needs to be added. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; " /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-2425341777476926494?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BbboFkkclZlARd_aWpxJZFr1du4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BbboFkkclZlARd_aWpxJZFr1du4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BbboFkkclZlARd_aWpxJZFr1du4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BbboFkkclZlARd_aWpxJZFr1du4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HjHM2wifFgk:w1KbmUzqAJc:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/HjHM2wifFgk" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com2http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/books-i-recommend-often.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-63734253761075772912009-05-20T19:29:00.011-04:002009-05-21T14:18:47.810-04:002009-05-21T14:18:47.810-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShSXIvLLKKI/AAAAAAAADT8/2wJdKSqTxJw/s1600-h/adam-lambert-01-2009-02-25.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 164px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShSXIvLLKKI/AAAAAAAADT8/2wJdKSqTxJw/s200/adam-lambert-01-2009-02-25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338057634698963106" border="0" /></a>The American Idol season finale starts in a few minutes and I am really hoping that Adam Lambert pulls it out tonight.... that guy can really sing. Okay... okay... this is not a blog about American Idol... just had to get that off my chest. But in all seriousness... that is what I am planning to do with my evening... watch Adam Lambert take home the crown. Just had to pound out a quick post to get a few questions out into the blogosphere before the Adam Lambert victory party begins. <div><br /></div><div>Okay... really.... no more Adam Lambert... I want to know what you guys think about all this Kanban stuff and how it fits with the rest of agile... <div><br /></div><div>Over the past few days I have been dipping in an out of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Kanban</span> boards and paying a little extra attention to what David Anderson is writing over at <a href="http://www.agilemangmement.net/">www.agilemangmement.net</a>. David did a nice piece this week asking if <a href="http://www.agilemanagement.net/Articles/Weblog/IsKanbanJustaTool.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Kanban</span> is just a tool</a>? The conversation has been great and I appreciate the time and energy everyone is putting into the discussion. I am learning a lot. That said, there was one particular quote in David's last post I would like to discuss:<br /><br /><div> </div> <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">"So </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Kanban</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> (pull) changes the underlying paradigm from project-centric to flow and value-stream centric." - David Anderson<br /><br /></span></div> <div> </div> <div>I'll admit, I am still getting my head around all this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Kanban</span> stuff. If we are using <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Kanban</span> within the sprint to put visibility around the flow of work within the iteration, I get it. If we decide the iteration is waste and decide to go to a total pull system... cool, I get it. If we are able to increment an existing application little bits at a time, I pretty much get it. Are we going too far saying that our industry is moving away from the project-centric paradigm? If that is the case, we need to at least establish context.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Are we working on incremental changes to an existing product? Okay, I get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Kanban</span>. Are we working on a support queue? Okay, I get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Kanban</span>. I can see how <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Kanban</span> is more than a tool in that context... it embodies the values of Lean thinking... pull, flow, value, waste elimination, and continuous improvement. It becomes not just a way of measuring and limiting work in process but a way of thinking about the work itself. In that context, projects don't make a whole lot of sense.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>What I don't get is how we are going to do pull and flow and only work on a single slice of the application at a time when we are doing a large scale system implementation. When we are building an application from the ground up and there is no <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">foundational</span> architecture. When it takes time to established a shared understanding of the overall product vision to converge on an acceptable technical solution. What about when we are working on a system of systems? What if some of those systems are external suppliers of systems that have to integrate with our system?<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>What about when we have incremental investment and have to be done at some given point in time? No release planning? No iteration planning? No product backlog? Have we moved past the triple constraints when our customer expects delivery at a certain time, at a certain cost, with some idea of what they are getting for their dollars? Does Kanban work here too... if so, is it the same Kanban we were talking about before?<br /><br /></div><div> </div> <div>I think that in some ways Scrum is hitting a wall <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">because</span> some of us think that Scrum is the answer to everything. Is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Kanban</span> the new answer to everything? Is it going to replace Scrum and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">XP</span> or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">DSDM</span> or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">AUP</span> or Crystal? I can't even imagine how we can have these conversations without understanding where and when is the best context to apply these principles. I feel like a broken record but there is a time and place for all these techniques. </div> <div> </div> <div><br />There has to be a way to make use of this entire body of knowledge. However you slice it... it is up to us to know how to use all this stuff and choose the best practices for the situations we find ourselves in. Once we see things through that lens, it becomes less about who is right and who is wrong... and more about how to apply this stuff... and when to apply this stuff... and more about how we can move the industry forward the best we collectively know how. </div><div><br /></div><div>Adam Lambert or Kanban... you decide?<br /><br />Addendum 5/21/2009: I was really bummed that Adam didn't win... oh, well.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-6373425376107577291?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/-aVtMk9cHAhPua52xog8qC0hYEg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/-aVtMk9cHAhPua52xog8qC0hYEg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/-aVtMk9cHAhPua52xog8qC0hYEg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/-aVtMk9cHAhPua52xog8qC0hYEg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=QgNTYcoAf1U:_BQzUqtMcKA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/QgNTYcoAf1U" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com8http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/adam-lambert-or-kanban-america-has.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-86995827370241418732009-05-19T15:35:00.004-04:002009-05-19T16:14:03.666-04:002009-05-19T16:14:03.666-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShMKugALa4I/AAAAAAAADTs/mzglBn5_WHA/s1600-h/halfgtm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShMKugALa4I/AAAAAAAADTs/mzglBn5_WHA/s200/halfgtm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337621777345112962" border="0" /></a>It feels like a year ago I did the post <a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/enterprise-constraints-and-feedback.html">Enterprise Constraints and Feedbac</a><a href="http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/enterprise-constraints-and-feedback.html">k</a>. The past few weeks have been filled up with the Lean &amp; Kanban conference and some client work that required my undivided attention. Toward the end of that post, we talked about 6 principles that allow your organization to properly throttle work through your agile enterprise. I wanted to take a moment this afternoon and explore those a bit and see where it takes us:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Make small bets by approving smaller projects</span><br /><br />How many of you guys have been on an 18 month project? How many of you have been on an 18 month project that got killed or totally re-scoped after a year or so? The reality is that in today's economy the uncertainty associated with large scale software development projects is just too high. The longer it takes to get product to market, to get real customer feedback, and to start generating revenue... the more risk you accept as an organization. Given our track record of project failure... smaller projects are less risky projects... and therefore better projects to approve.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Prioritize for finishing projects rather than starting projects</span><br /><br />This is a complicated one. It gets into this whole discussion around keeping work in progress to a minimum and optimizing for the overall throughput of the organization... rather than for optimal resource utilization of the individual. If you are an agile organization, and have bought into the idea of organizing around teams, you should be pretty good with the idea of 'done done'. 'Done done' means that we don't deliver partially completed work. The only features that count are the ones that are ready to be shipped to the customer.<br /><br />Interleaving a bunch of partially complete projects just makes the overall system deliver value less effectively. If we have three projects in the portfolio that are all planned to take three months each... and I do them one at a time... when will they be done? The first one will be done in three months, the second in six months, and the third in 9 months. What happens if I try to do all three at once? Best case you might deliver the first in 7 months, the second in 8 months, and the third in 9 months. More likely you'll deliver the first one in 12 months and the other two will get killed. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't start projects that you are unable to finish</span><br /><br />Building on this idea of prioritizing for finish rather than start... if there is more than one team that has to work together to deliver a project... or even a MMF... and we can't get all the work 'done done' within the time-frame allotted, don't start it. We usually use some form of logic that goes something like... well, we have this person or this team with nothing to do... let's get them working on the next project. Keeping people busy is not a good reason to start project work.<br /><br />The problem is that starting the next project dilutes the organizational focus from working on the projects that are already in process. Chances are pretty good too that when the other teams free up requirements will have changed or we'll learn something that leads to significant rework. This is tough pill to swallow... but I would rather that idle team go help another constrained team... or even do nothing... rather than start work on a project that is underfunded and low on the priority list.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Work on the highest priority projects first</span><br /><br />All of these are pretty closely related, but if we always prioritize the project that is most valuable to the business... and we always focus on getting projects to 'done done'... and we don't waste effort by working on things that don't have the support of the rest of the organization... we know that we will always be delivering the most valuable features to the business with the least amount of waste from building software that might not ever be consumed. This might mean that teams are idle at times... it might mean that teams need to be redeployed... and it might mean that you need to let some folks go. <br /><br />Make sure to read the next section before you go and start laying folks off from your team... there is hope!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Provide support for those teams that are slowing down your ability to deliver</span><br /><br />If you find that a large part of your organization isn't busy because one particular team is slowing everyone else down... cool, you have just found where you need to go help. An enterprise full of teams building software is a continuously shifting set of constraints just waiting to be optimized. Someone at the Lean/Kanban conference said that a perfectly optimized organization has only one constraint optimized at a given time. An organization with every team optimized is actually the least optimized overall system.<br /><br />Having identified the team that is slowing down your ability to deliver, you have identified where you need to go get better as an organization. By focusing your attention on the team that is preventing the other teams from delivering valuable work to the organization, you are focusing on the area of your development organization that is going to yield the most productivity gains for the overall system. It does not make any sense for a team to get better delivering software if they are not your primary constraint.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Establish an enterprise level velocity</span><br /><br />If each team has a velocity sprint over sprint... and we start making smaller bets... and we prioritize for start... and we don't start things we are not able to finish... and we start working on the highest priorities first... and we elevate our constraints... you know what happens? We can start measuring project velocity across the enterprise just like we measure point velocity within the team.<br /><br />Pretty cool idea... let me know your thoughts on this one.<br /><br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-8699582737024141873?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jz1C9pWXU0rn6NoldqwPqeX2Gao/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jz1C9pWXU0rn6NoldqwPqeX2Gao/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jz1C9pWXU0rn6NoldqwPqeX2Gao/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Jz1C9pWXU0rn6NoldqwPqeX2Gao/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=HP1YTC0jcNM:L0fZ6NSfJh4:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/HP1YTC0jcNM" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/throttling-agile-enterprise.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-40361228786874233132009-05-19T09:00:00.007-04:002009-05-19T09:09:39.687-04:002009-05-19T09:09:39.687-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShKvXvfRtWI/AAAAAAAADTc/97JyEHn2P24/s1600-h/big_banner_atl.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 78px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/ShKvXvfRtWI/AAAAAAAADTc/97JyEHn2P24/s400/big_banner_atl.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337521330806961506" border="0" /></a>There is a FREE event for Product Management types in Atlanta. The first ProductCamp Atlanta will be held Saturday, June 6, 2009 at the GTRI Conference Center (250 14th Street, NW, Atlanta, GA). You can find the details here… <a href="http://barcamp.org/ProductCampAtlanta">http://barcamp.org/ProductCampAtlanta</a>.<br /><br />They are looking for sponsors and session leaders. (Product Manager types LOVE Agile topics). Please forward this post to other people who might able to come to Atlanta for the event. This is going to be really cool, I have done a few barcamp type events and they are great learning opportunities.<br /><br />Right now I am a strong maybe to go... my wife and I are leaving for Vegas (SQE Better Software Conference) the week after so I don't know what is going on with the kiddies that Saturday. If I were not travelling the week after... I would definately take a Saturday to go. I strongly encourage you guys to make this happen!<br /><br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-4036122878687423313?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YfuFu_Lqkxjbc6o2Xa9f9xQLgaQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YfuFu_Lqkxjbc6o2Xa9f9xQLgaQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YfuFu_Lqkxjbc6o2Xa9f9xQLgaQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YfuFu_Lqkxjbc6o2Xa9f9xQLgaQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=8iE7ou5HZOQ:efX1zU8YCh0:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/8iE7ou5HZOQ" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com0http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/productcamp-atlanta.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5450542016049669364.post-30718484134729866512009-05-14T12:10:00.009-04:002009-05-14T13:16:00.355-04:002009-05-14T13:16:00.355-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SgxFFBiP5CI/AAAAAAAADTE/_TdFq2WnSOc/s1600-h/11303812072So19e.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yc4IVtxEgmo/SgxFFBiP5CI/AAAAAAAADTE/_TdFq2WnSOc/s200/11303812072So19e.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335715611140940834" border="0" /></a><div>As you guys know, I was down at the Lean/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Kanban</span> conference last week and got involved in the formation of the Lean Software and Systems Consortium. As a result of all my blogging and Twittering... <a href="http://www.notesfromatooluser.com">Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Levison</span></a>, an agile coach and editor from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">InfoQ</span>... asked me why we needed a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">LeanSSC</span> and why a new certification? It was a great question that needed more than 140 characters so we took the conversation off Twitter and into e-Mail. </div><div><br /></div><div>After responding to Mark... it seemed that you guys might be interested in my response as well. For completeness, I'll give you Mark's question he posted to the Lean/Agile Yahoo! group and then my complete response:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Mark's Note<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />I wasn't at the conference and so all I can do is read the press release. After reading I'm confused.</span></span></div><div> <ol type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal">Why does the world need a Lean Consortium? </li><li class="MsoNormal">What does the Consortium hope to achieve? </li><li class="MsoNormal">Why do we need another certification? </li><li class="MsoNormal">How will this certification be different from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">CSM</span>/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">CSC</span>/CST? </li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal">Confused in Ottawa<br />Mark</p></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">My Response:</span></div><div><br /></div>Hi Mark,<br /><br />I don’t know that I’ll have all the answers here… the organization is brand new…. just barely out of concept… so some of this will shake out over the next few weeks. I can tell you the reason that I was interested in exploring creating a new organization.<br /><br />As it stands right now, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">DSDM</span> Consortium and the Scrum Alliance are the only organizations offering certification. Very few people have heard of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">DSDM</span> certification and clearly the Scrum certification has exploded over the past few years. I like Scrum, I practice Scrum, and while not a CST… I teach Scrum. Scrum is a great small team framework but I do not believe that Scrum by itself is scalable.<br /><br />Most of the teams that are scaling Scrum have expanded the idea of a single Product Owner to the idea of a Product Owner team. This is not part of base Scrum but is essential to coordinate the activities of many teams working in concert. Also, many large organizations are built around large system components, components that are products in themselves… these teams are building integrated systems within large component architectures. Scrum gives no guidance on how to do this.<br /><br />In any organization that is large and complex enough for the feature team model to break down, you have to start looking for effective ways of managing flow across the organization… how to manage work in progress… how to manage constraints… how to manage dependencies. Scrum gives no guidance on these scaling issues… Lean does.<br /><br />There were two primary camps in the room when the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">LeanSSC</span> was formed. There were people that thought of Lean as a discipline unto itself… one with its own body of knowledge. The were also people in the room that felt strongly a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">LeanSSC</span> needs to build on the foundation of agile, embrace what we know, but build lean scaling principles into the fabric of that body of knowledge. Personally, I am hoping the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">LeanSSC</span> takes the latter approach.<br /><br />So to answer your questions directly:<br /><br />1. The world needs a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">LeanSSC</span> because there is an agile body of knowledge that is bigger than what Scrum is prepared to address. By creating an organization that is broader than Scrum, one that can embrace a broader body of knowledge, we have the opportunity to engage academia, corporations, and individuals that are interested in advancing that body of knowledge.<br /><br />2. Some of this will be worked out over the next few weeks but the general idea is to identify the body of knowledge, create a set of Lean/Agile competencies, and provide certification around these competencies. You might also imaging a structure that allows member organizations to contribute to and benefit from the growing collection of intellectual property. Ideally we create a very open system.<br /><br />3. The Scrum certification has been great in leading the software industry to a broader knowledge of Scrum in particular and agile in general. Scrum as it stands now does not meet the needs of the enterprise… people that are making Scrum work in the enterprise are using techniques that are counter to Scrum and certainly not contained in the Scrum training material. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">LeanSSC</span> has the opportunity to broaden the certification track and give companies a path to build a more competent workforce. I can’t imagine that people believe Scrum is all you need to know to build large scale software projects.<br /><br />4. I suspect it will be based on a set of published competencies. I suspect that there will be multiple training courses to address the various competencies. I suspect that any training organization will be able to deliver competency training and that to receive certification in a competency will require a test. I suspect there will be multiple paths through the competencies based on the objectives of the person or persons receiving the training (developer, manager, senior leader). This is not defined yet… but I suspect it will be a much more open system.<br /><br />I would like to reiterate that this is all MY opinion and may not reflect the official position of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">LeanSSC</span> or any of the individual founders. There is a lot of work to do… the formation of the organization is just a first step.<div><br /></div><div>Mike<br /><br /><div>What do you guys think of my response? Does it carry water? Do you think this team of people is off base? I am interested in your opinion....</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeadingAgile" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate">Subscribe to Leading Agile</a><br /></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Mike http://www.leadingagile.com<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5450542016049669364-3071848413472986651?l=www.leadingagile.com'/></div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1EBeH1p8RjcoIHYl5b3JqWKzheo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1EBeH1p8RjcoIHYl5b3JqWKzheo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1EBeH1p8RjcoIHYl5b3JqWKzheo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/1EBeH1p8RjcoIHYl5b3JqWKzheo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:63t7Ie-LG7Y"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=63t7Ie-LG7Y" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:4cEx4HpKnUU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?i=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:4cEx4HpKnUU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?a=3I1eRwQXjIg:jw2dXkCIIIA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LeadingAgile?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LeadingAgile/~4/3I1eRwQXjIg" height="1" width="1"/>Mike Cottmeyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824174740817271111noreply@blogger.com6http://www.leadingagile.com/2009/05/why-leanssc-why-lean-certification.html