November 18, 2014

0 Comments

Adjust Your Sails

Sailboat and mountains

  I have been catching up with old friends lately. Over the years, everyone has had shifts of the wind in their lives. It is always inspiring to hear their stories about how they adjusted their sails. Some have ended up in unexpectedly successful places. Others are still on their journeys but are going in […]

Continue reading...

November 16, 2014

0 Comments

Agility At Spotify

Diagram of Spotify's Engineering Culture

While there has recently been a lot of debate surrounding Spotify’s business model, their product development practices and culture have been getting a lot of positive buzz in the Agile community. Earlier this year, Henrik Kniberg posted two videos on Spotify’s technology blog that describes how the team works. They are inspiring and should be watched […]

Continue reading...

November 15, 2014

3 Comments

Project Management Lesson From Star Wars

Axis Agile Stormtroopers Doing Sprint Retrospective

When asked what I do, I often tell people “I’m on the Dark Side” as a reference to an engineer’s view of management and/or project management. Little did I realize what Darth Vader’s role was in the construction of the Death Star! I have watched the classic Star Wars movies multiple times and only thought […]

Continue reading...

November 14, 2014

0 Comments

Creating A Culture Of Trust

Wallaby eating from hand

According to Great Place To Work, from 2004-2008 the top 100 high trust companies out performed the next 100 by 43% in terms of revenue. In 2009, the year after the start of the global economic crisis, that grew to 126%. Building trust in your organization has a real impact on the business. During her presentation, […]

Continue reading...

November 13, 2014

0 Comments

Portfolio Planning With Benefits Maps and Triggers

Building benefit maps at #bscadc pic.twitter.com/6GVx3sDbgF — David Hussman (@davidhussman) November 12, 2014 Inspired by the presentation on coaching and leading Agility to further my product thinking, I decided to learn a lightweight way to set portfolio strategy and priorities. In his presentation, Simplify Project and Portfolio Planning With “Real Options”, Matt Barcomb explained the need for […]

Continue reading...

November 12, 2014

0 Comments

Learning Kanban Fundamentals: Kanban Racing Challenge

Racing remote control car around an obstacle course

“The Kanban Racing Challenge is an immersive workshop where you learn the basic practices of a Kanban team by building an obstacle course for radio-controlled cars.” Really? Build an obstacle course, race a remote-controlled car and practice Kanban in a half-day workshop? Sign me up! This was the first time Nate Oster ran the Kanban Racing […]

Continue reading...