When converting to Scrum or other Agile techniques, managers often wonder whether it will really improve productivity.  The whole process seems chaotic, so how can teams be more productive than traditional project management and development practices? This is the story of three teams in the same department and how we were able to measure their […]

Four years ago, I needed to design a Scrum board to use with my teams.  Teams moved around a lot, so I wanted something I could enlarge and laminate so we could easily roll up the scrum boards and move them.  We also didn’t have to depend on having white boards or cork boards in […]

A few months ago, I decided to embrace reality.  I decided to volunteer for the Community Editorial Board for Project Management Institute (PMI) Agile Community of Practice.   While I have been a member of the PMI for many years, I never pursued my project management certification (PMP).  I work in one of the few industries […]

This month I am working closely with one of our production teams to help fix some process issues.  I thought I would discuss my approach each week as a sort of diary on improving an Agile process.  Out of respect to the project team, I can’t give any context or details of the project itself.  […]

I would never have predicted that a mug from a university summer job would become an important coaching tool for software developers, managers and executives more than fifteen years later!   Two programmers dubbed what is now my pen holder the Mug of Truth after I referred to the wise words from Confucius written on it […]

This weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Agile Manifesto. Part of 10 Years Agile was to reflect on the progress of Agile over the years and the conversations on Twitter have been fascinating.  I thought it was a good time to reflect on my own journey with Agile. I first heard […]