Tag: Agile

Episode 24 – Kanban Ninja, Leadership Retreat and New Open Space

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, ⁠⁠Shahin⁠⁠ talks about Kanban Ninja, KLR and New Open Space.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • Insights from attending Kanban Leadership Retreat in San Diego
  • Customized open space format for efficient topic selection and discussion.
  • “Kanban ninjas” session in KLR23 to teach techniques for using Kanban method without telling people, focusing on efficiency and effectiveness
  • Techniques to smooth burndown chart in scrum fashion, including “look right, look up, look left” rule.
  • Encouraging team members to take ownership of tasks by providing excuses for not completing them.
  • Discussing techniques like “last one to the meeting” and “CFD with arrival and departure rates” to improve team productivity and time management.
  • Encouraging teams to celebrate small victories and identify areas for improvement.
  • Assume positive intent keeps a healthy atmosphere in the team.
  • Introducing a color-coding voting technique to help teams identify areas for improvement in Kanban maturity model.
  • Discussing techniques like “What do you really do well?” to uncover sources of dissatisfaction in a team conversation.

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Job Title: Experienced Agile Coach

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

Are you an experienced Agile Coach looking for a new and exciting opportunity? Elevate Change, a leading firm specializing in organizational transformation and agile practices, is seeking a talented individual to join our team as an Experienced Agile Coach. If you are passionate about driving Agile transformations, fostering collaboration, and empowering teams, this could be the perfect role for you.

About Elevate Change:
Elevate Change is a forward-thinking consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations embrace agility and drive meaningful change. We partner with clients across industries to enhance their ability to adapt, innovate, and thrive in a rapidly changing business landscape. Our team of experts brings deep knowledge and experience in Agile methodologies, Lean practices, and organizational transformation, enabling our clients to achieve sustainable growth and success.

Role Overview:
As an Experienced Agile Coach at Elevate Change, you will play a pivotal role in guiding organizations through their Agile journey. You will work closely with leadership teams, product owners, Scrum Masters, and development teams, fostering an environment of continuous improvement and Agile excellence. Your primary focus will be on coaching and mentoring teams to adopt Agile principles, practices, and frameworks while ensuring the successful delivery of projects and initiatives.

Responsibilities:
– Collaborate with clients to assess their current Agile maturity and develop customized Agile transformation strategies.
– Provide hands-on coaching to teams and individuals, enabling them to understand and apply Agile principles and practices effectively.
– Conduct Agile training sessions and workshops for various stakeholders, including executives, managers, and team members.
– Facilitate Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
– Identify and resolve impediments, foster transparency, and promote a culture of continuous improvement within teams.
– Collaborate with other Agile Coaches and cross-functional teams to share best practices and drive consistency across projects.
– Help teams measure and track their progress using Agile metrics, providing guidance on how to improve their performance.
– Stay updated with the latest trends and advancements in Agile methodologies and share knowledge within the organization.

Qualifications:
– Minimum of 5 years of experience as an Agile Coach or in a similar role, driving Agile transformations in complex environments.
– Strong expertise in Agile methodologies, such as Scrum, Kanban, and Lean.
– Proven track record of coaching and mentoring teams to adopt Agile practices and deliver high-quality results.
– Excellent facilitation, communication, and interpersonal skills to effectively engage with stakeholders at all levels.
– Solid understanding of software development processes and principles.
– Certifications such as Kanban Management Professional (KMP), Kanban Coaching Professional (KCP), and Team Kanban Practitioner (TKP) are highly desirable.
– Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a related field is preferred.

Join Elevate Change:
At Elevate Change, we value innovation, collaboration, and a relentless commitment to excellence. As an Experienced Agile Coach, you will have the opportunity to work with industry-leading organizations, influence their transformational journey, and make a significant impact on their success. We offer a dynamic and inclusive work environment that encourages professional growth, provides ample learning opportunities, and recognizes and rewards outstanding performance.

If you are passionate about Agile methodologies, have a proven track record in driving Agile transformations, and thrive in a collaborative and fast-paced environment, we would love to hear from you. Elevate Change is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds.

To apply, please submit your resume, a cover letter outlining your relevant experience, and any relevant certifications to careers@elevatechange.co. Please include “Experienced Agile Coach Application” in the subject line.

We appreciate all applications, but only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further consideration.

Thank you for considering a career with Elevate Change.

Episode 18 – Lean Change, Modern Change and Agile Change with Jason Little

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, Jason joined Shahin to talk about Lean Change, Modern Change and Agile Change and much more.

The following has been topics of our conversation:

  • Lean Change Management
  • Modern Change Management
  • Agile in Startup and Large Orgs, and in Different Pockets
  • Lean Startup Machine
  • Enterprise Aware
  • Exceptional Change
  • Who is Responsible for Change?
  • That Change Show

The followings we have referenced:

  • Becoming a Change Artist – Jerry Weinberg
  • Are your lights on?
  • The secrets of consulting
  • The psychology of computer programming
  • Virginia Satir Ecosystem
  • MIT’s Leading Organization Change

Episode 16 – Practical Agile with Ricardo Lee

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

In this episode, Ricardo joined Shahin to talk about Practical Agile; and indulge in an in-depth conversation on Agile through time from trenches to executives, and much more.

Quotes from this session:

  • Coach please come on in, help us with this. That’s the dream scenario.
  • Never hire Agile Coaches that are gonna tell you what they are going to do to make things better.
  • The one thing I recommend is never to be a hero!
  • Hiring for Leader: I am hiring you for how you think. I can teach you what you do not know. But I can’t teach you how to think.

The following has been topics of our conversation:

  • Scrum Fit and/or Kanban Fit
  • CSP through times – Scrum Alliance
  • Coaching & Consulting Stories
  • 10 years of Agile
  • How to start Agile
  • Don’t stop at Scrum

The following books we have referenced:

We mentioned the following people:

Contact Information:

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/

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.

Agile Emergent Speaker with Nawaz & Liberating Structures with Shahin & Bola

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

Lean Agile Network (LAN), previously known as Agile Lunch, is bringing you the first-ever series of Agile Emergent Speaker featuring Nawaz Butt.

Please join us for an hour of conversation, discussion and learning with Shahin, Nawaz, and Bola.

Nawaz is going to talk about Scrum Values for the first half.

Then we are going to facilitate an introduction to Liberating Structure. The audience is then going to participate in a Liberating-Structure activity. The outcome will help us to shape the future of Lean Agile Network.

Lean Agile Network – Nawaz + Shahin + BolaDownload

[wonderplugin_pdf src=”https://www.leanagilecan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Lean-Agile-Network-Nawaz-Shahin-Bola.pdf” width=”100%” height=”600px” style=”border:0;”]

Courage with Paul Carvalho

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

What do Scrum and Extreme Programming have in common? Courage is a requirement for success. Let’s explore what this means to us and our interactions with others; and how it can elevate our performance towards joy and success. Agile begins with values. Let us begin with courage.

An Agile Approach to Change Management with Dave Sharrock

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

Business agility is more than the organization’s IT shop adopting an agile delivery method. Business agility depends on three core capabilities: rapid delivery, strategic sensing, and customer rapport. As such it builds resilience to change as a strategic imperative and eventually it allows businesses to build a strategic advantage in driving change.

Investments in “agile” from an IT perspective will not increase business agility. So what does a company need in order to successfully drive change rather than react to it?

Dave will talk about how creating a resilient organization starts with rapid delivery and why many major organizations are turning their attention to less costly on-demand releases. We’ll look at how customer rapport is the new driver of operational efficiency, where not building something is invariably cheaper than optimizing the operational cost of building anything at all.

The Alternative to Leading with Agile Practice Adoption; with Jeff Anderson

Posted on by Shahin Sheidaei

Description:

Agile practices are great, however as a coach and consultant it is becoming increasingly apparent that it is incredibly challenging to coach teams to use many agile practices in a correct way that is sustainable over time.

During this talk I’ll go get vet my experience s over the last two year with a large number of teams and coaches trying to improve their maturity. I have been observing the same teams going through a repetitive boom and bust agile maturity cycle as coaches come and go from teams. I’ve seen it take an incredible amount of effort to get teams to work with relatively simple agile practices with precision and skill. Once a coach leaves a team, I have witnessed back sliding in terms of adoption.

In this session Ill ask how can we help teams to increase their ability to self organize and collaborate without constant input and protection from an agile coach? How can we encourage teams to adopt amazing agile practices with enthusiasm and in a thoughtful way. How can we help team sustain their maturity and not abandon agile once the coach leaves?

Over the last six months I have been experimenting with a “Naked Kanban” approach that fully immerses the entire team, their management, and customers into a flow oriented mindset. This approach emphasizes bringing flow of work, and the lack of flow of work front and center to the entire team, and empowering the team to truly fix their flow. Coaches have been instructed not teach new practices, and in fact to resist introducing new practices even when asked, until teams can demonstrate the impact new practices will have on their flow of work.

The early results are encouraging, teams are adopting slower, but in a far more sustainable way. The collective intelligence of teams are improving. So is collaboration and respect. I’ll go through these results in detail, as well as the challenges still to come, of which many remain.

About Jeff:
My mission in life is to help technology knowledge workers be awesome at what they do. Having been in the market since 1994, I have transitioned my initial passion for agile software engineering to provide advisory services to clients that want to thrive in a world of uncertainty and learning.

Over the last several years I have been running an Agile/Lean transformation service to help clients move from command and control towards feedback and self organization.

Our team has a solid track record coaching teams on foundational agile practices, guiding end to end organizational transformation to embrace a more agile mindset, and focused coaching of product and operations teams on how to embrace design thinking and validated learning.

I admit to an unbridled enthusiasm for any method or practice that bring creativity and joy to the value creation process, and get a kick out of turning leading edge thinking into contextualized, practical tools.

I also love to supercharge complex workshops through a combination of crowd awareness, passion, and above all humour. I’ll often iterate over a vast array of models/workshops in real time to adapt to the crowd’s thinking and evolving goal of the session.

My most important skill is growing the talent around me. I continue to provide passionate, motivated people with a suite of leading edge skills that take their leadership to the next level.