Author: Shahin Sheidaei

Episode 10 – Agile is Over (Or Not) with Allen Holub

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, Allen joined Shahin to talk about what truly Agile is in today’s world of Software Development.

Topics

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Agile or Not
    • Agile is nothing more than Better Software Better
    • What is Real Agile Thinking? Reasons to Avoid Agile
    • Fake Agile, Dark Agile (Foe Agile)
    • Trust is the heart of agile
    • SAFE v.s. Scrum; Kanban Board Assumes Linear Process
  • Agile in The Time of Corona
    • Scrum’s Response to Corona
    • Remote Working Went Bad – More Silos
    • The Complexity Of Working From Home
    • Work Is A Human Activity
  • Challenges of Successful Agile Transformation in Large Organization (And Typically Failures)
    • Experiments Failure in Big Organizations; PMO and Agile Failure Pattern
    • ING Transformation Story (New Zealand) + Home Depot
    • Dunbar Number
  • Agile Architecture
    • Architecture Process Code Culture Connected for True Agile
    • Mob Moves Forward Even If Individual Has To Drop Out And Come Back In
  • Social Software Development & Mentorship

People & Resources:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people and/or resources:

Books

People:

About Allen:

Allen Holub (https://holub.com, @allenholub, allen@holub.com) is an internationally recognized software architect and Agile-transformation consultant. He speaks internationally about these topics and agile-friendly implementation technology (like microservices) and architecture. He provides in-depth consulting and training in those areas. He excels at building highly functional Lean/Agile organizations and designing and building robust, highly scalable software suitable for agile environments. He’s worn every hat from CTO to grunt programmer and is an expert-level programmer in many languages and platforms.

Allen is widely published. His works include 10 books, hundreds of articles in publications ranging from Dr. Dobb’s Journal to IBM DeveloperWorks), and video classes for agilitry.com (Agility with Allen), Pluralsight (Swift in Depth, Picturing Architecture, Object-Oriented Design), O’Reilly (Design Patterns in the Real World) and forthcoming on Lynda/LinkedIn.

Modern Management: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success with Johanna Rothman

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

Agile approaches have downplayed the role of management. Too many people say, “We don’t need no stinkin’ managers.” On the contrary. We need managers to create and refine the agile culture and create leadership capability across the organization. Without modern management, any agile transformation dies a quick and ugly death. Instead, it’s time to invite managers to change their behaviors to transform to an agile culture. Learn to see and create management excellence for your agile culture.

In this session, Johanna Rothman talked about the myths, traps, and illusions that prevent management from achieving leadership excellence and agility. She showed us actions to bypass several of these myths, traps, and illusions; How to learn which management behaviors to change, to serve the agile team or organization; and learn ways to invite your or your manager’s thinking patterns to change.

Presentation

Alternative Source for Presentation

Session

Many enthusiasts joined us from around the world to learn from Johanna. You can find a screenshot of the presentation below.

Lean Agile Network Session with Johanna Rothman

Podcast

You can also listen to Johanna Rothman’s talk with Shahin on the Lean On Agile Show.

https://www.meetup.com/LeanAgileNetwork/events/271254561/

Episode 9 – Disruption & Learning with Jamie Good

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, Jamie joined Shahin to talk about the recent disruption all of us are experiencing.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Cognitive overload, learning tips, and personal disruptions
  • Disruptions in our professional lives and the following: Instagram Influencers, Lonely Planet, etc.
  • Responding to Change and Agile transformation at the time of covid19
  • Creative ways of teaching then and now: SMS based learning
  • Psychic Entropy: a state of mind where your thoughts cannot flow to have concrete ideas but are stuck in the same state of thought like a Merry go Round.

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

Peter Aceto

We cited the following resources:

Episode 8 – Agile & the Fluency of It Talk With Diana Larsen

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this Episode, Diana joined Shahin to talk about Agile Fluency and other related topics.

Diana Larsen

We conversed about and around the following topics:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

Rebecca Wirfs-Brock – Linda Rising – Esther Derby – Klaus Leopold (LeanOnAgile Show with Klaus) – Joshua Kerievsky – Ward Cunningham – Norman Kerth – Allison Pollard – Alistair Cockburn – Ron Jeffries – Arlo Belshee – Martin Fowler – James Shore

We cited the following resources:

By Diana & Co-Authors:

By Other Authors:

About Diana:

As co-founder and chief connector, Diana Larsen collaborates in leadership of the Agile Fluency® Project. Diana co-authored the books Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great; Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams; Five Rules for Accelerated Learning; and the seminal whitepaper and eBook “Agile Fluency Model: A Brief Guide to Success with Agile.” For 20+ years, she led the practice area for Agile software development, leading & managing teams, and guiding Agile transitions at FutureWorks Consulting. Through the Agile Fluency Project’s programs for supporting and mentoring agile coaches and consultants, Diana shares the wisdom she’s gained in over 30 years of working with leaders, teams, and organizations. She delivers keynote talks and workshops at conferences around the world.

Personal Kanban: Work Together or Fall Apart with Jim Benson

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

[arve url=”https://youtu.be/nhbpwlNtUO0″ /]

About the Session:

We all have to work together. In a time of unexpected sequestration, there is a drive for us all to become individual silos, each plugging away at home. But, in order for professionals to have agency, build a quality product, and end the day fulfilled, they need to have clarity of expectation of themselves and their teammates. Rapid feedback loops are crucial for giving people clarity.  This can only come from collaboration.  We will not survive as armies of one.

Jim Benson will discuss collaboration, uncertainty, and team-centered approaches to create focal points for uncertainty, allow people to deal with complexity, reduce stress,  and focus more.

 

Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life

About Jim Benson:

Jim Benson is the creator of Personal Kanban and Lean Coffee, two intuitive systems that calm complexities in work, highlight unknown elements, and allow focused professional responses. His background as a civil engineer in the management of Megaprojects and owning software companies has led him to always focus on what the team needs to navigate uncertainty, understand quality, and collaboratively self-manage. Currently, through his consulting at Modus Cooperandi and his on-line school at Modus Institute, Jim is actively pursuing how to best implement collaborative, professional, and humane systems of work.

 

Jim Benson

Resources:

 

Episode 7 – Non Software Agile Talk with Gil Broza

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this Episode, Shahin and Gil talked about recent events, working from home, and Gil’s new book of Agile for Non-Software Teams.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Agility (small a Agile)
  • Working remotely
  • Designing your Agile 
  • Need for Agile in Marketing
  • Agile for Non-Software Teams
  • Lean and Agile
  • Modern Agile
We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

We cited the following resources:

Additional links for the show notes:

About Gil:
Gil Broza can help you increase organizational agility and team performance with minimal risk and thrashing. Dozens of companies seeking transformations, makeovers, or improvements have relied on his pragmatic, modern, and respectful support for customizing Agile in their contexts. These days, several of the world’s largest organizations are having him train hundreds of their managers in technology and business (up to SVP/CIO level) on practical Agile leadership. He is the author of three acclaimed books, The Human Side of Agile, The Agile Mind-Set, and the ground-breaking new Agile for Non-Software Teams.

Forecasting using Data – Using historical data for better demand, capacity, and planning forecasts with Troy Magennis

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLKRf39lg7Q” /]

Using historical data for better demand, capacity, and planning forecasts.

This talk explains how to forecast capacity or delivery dates using a team’s historical data. Probabilistic forecasting allows planning to take into account uncertainty and things that might happen (risks) and help communicate those plans to others.

We will cover:

  • The goals and practicality of forecasting using data
  • Learn when it is safe to forecast using historical data (and when it isn’t)
  • Learn how to forecast expected future values from data trends
  • Learn how to predict how much work will be done by the desired date
  • Learn about the most significant system impacts that cause the most impact on delivery plans 

By the end of this talk, you will know how to start forecasting and be able to explain to others why it works.

About Troy

Troy Magennis is a seasoned IT professional and executive, having helped deliver valuable software to customers at scale since 1994. In 2011 he founded Focused Objective, which has become the leader and trusted brand for Agile metrics and probabilistic forecasting. He regularly keynotes at Agile conferences eager to share his passion for using data in better ways to improve business outcomes. Previous clients include Walmart, Microsoft, Skype, Sabre Airline Solutions, Siemens Healthcare.

Troy currently consults and trains organizations wanting to improve decision making for IT through Agile and Lean thinking and tools, applying Scrum and Lean techniques appropriately and where they are going to make this most significant benefit through quantitative rigor.
You can contact him: troy.magennis@focusedobjective.com and follow him on twitter: @t_magennis.

Episode 6 – Passion Talk with Bob Galen

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, Shahin and Bob talked about Passion.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

We cited the following resources:

Bob’s blog, site, podcast, and book (one of them)

Software Endgames

Episode 5 – Agile Alliance Talk with Declan Whelan

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, Shahin and Declan talked about Agile Alliance.

Some of the topic covered are as follow:

We mentioned the following people:

How to contact Declan:

Continuous delivery of awesomeness: Why technical excellence is most important – Shawn Button & Declan Whalen

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

Customers now expect continuous delivery of features, making them more awesome every day. Cloud computing and modern tools help, but that’s not enough. We need to improve our human interactions and day-to-day work. Learn how to help your business, management, and teams see the importance of technical improvement. Understand how your team can achieve Continuous Delivery through constant attention to technical excellence.