Beyond the box, beyond the resume

As a candidate for a role, how do we communicate our potential for broader value (beyond the needs of the role) to the organization? As a recruiter or hiring manager, how do we communicate our openness (or not?) to people who have broader value beyond the immediate role? As I write this, I am in the search for my next role. A LinkedIn Comment from Jerome Ware inspired me to take a deeper look at...

Catalyzing Leadership with the help of Liberating Structures

What's one way in which we might catalyze and amplify the leadership in our organization? Not just "big L" leadership (the leadership associated with position and role in the organization) but "leaderfulness" or "small l" leadership (leadership as an everywhere phenomenon)? Today I'm drawing on two main sources, and working with one small piece of how the two together can help in this catalyzing...

Standing for the Gap

Who are you as a leader? Who are you as a transformation leader? “Who am I as a transformation leader?” – this was the question put to me and the other participants in the wrap-up of Michael Hamman’s and Michael Spayd’s Enterprise Coach Mastercamp. Together, we had journeyed through different lenses for making sense of the organization, its leaders, its systems, and the...

The (invisible?) influence of structures

When I walked into the room, I noticed the haphazard arrangement... 3 short rows of 4 chairs each here... a circle of chairs over there... a couple of comfy couches and chairs surrounding a coffee table in that corner... 4 chairs around a small table... and some chairs in random locations, as if shaken up like a cupful of dice and somehow landing on their feet. I sat in the front of the 3 short...

The Tyranny of Technical Debt – an Analogy

In conversations regarding technical debt (and technical improvement), I often hear that there is an understanding gap between technical people and business people. As an experiment, I thought it would be interesting to attempt to bridge that gap by illustrating what technical debt looks like, with an analogy. The Conversation Setting: "Widgets Inc.", a manufacturing company that makes...

Is your build-up chart misleading you?

In The Humble Build-Up Chart – Communicating with Stakeholders, I discussed how a build-up chart can be used to show progress and projections – to achieve communication with stakeholders. Today, I’d like to address a couple of ways in which a build-up chart can be misleading. Done-ness? In Why Scrum requires completely “Done” software every Sprint, Christiaan Verwijs digs...

Estimation Revisited (Part 3)

In Part 1 of Revisiting Estimations, I explored some challenges and underlying concepts relating to estimates and projections. In Part 2, I more deeply explored Uncertainty, Complexity, and Stakeholder Questions. In Part 3, I explore some guidance for leaders and managers… Guidance for leaders and managers... When a software project is "late", estimates/projections increase...

Estimation Revisited (Part 2)

In Part 1 of Revisiting Estimations, I explored some challenges and underlying concepts relating to estimates and projections. In this blog post, I more deeply explore Uncertainty, Complexity, and Stakeholder Questions. Dealing with Uncertainty in Estimates An established stable team that has been doing (its own) estimates and tracking its velocity can make reasonable forward looking...

Estimation Revisited (Part 1)

In a previous blog post, I explored the challenge of wanting to be agile, but also wanting certainty. One place this shows up is in how we deal with estimation. In this blog post I take a deeper look at estimation and projections. At ISE, we have an Agile Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP is a place where we share learning and support each other. Attendees include Scrum Masters,...

Raising the Bar on Remote Collaboration

I've noticed a significant shift in my work and the work of my organization where much of our collaboration includes people who are not in the same location. I've also begun to notice the impact of differing approaches to remote collaboration. Collaboration matters. Whether we are directly involved in the development of software/product, or working with other organizational functions, the...