Badass Agile

In this episode, I’ll ask you how you stretch….how do you get out of your comfort zone and do things that make you bigger and better?   Look for your weaknesses and uncomfortable moments, because the opportunity to grow and become more live within them.  Public speaking, networking, journalling, working out….what do you struggle with?  Don’t neglect the signs and signals in the form...

100 Episodes in, I thought it was a good time to stop and express my gratitude and to reflect on what we’ve accomplished so far….and what I’ve learned.. Our growth and reach after 2 years has been truly staggering. THANK YOU ALL!!! I’m still very attached to my original vision of creating 1) A resource for fellow agilists and leaders on how to become more agile, not necessarily on how to do scrum...

In the second part of my interview with Artida Karaj, we get specific about the How of frameworkless transformation. She drops a ton of cool wisdom in this part, including: Start with leaders. Without C-Level buy-in, its just talk. Co-create goals – internal team members and leadership Create the environment for innovation by creating an outcome culture – the solution matters less than...

This week, I meet with coach, colleague, and friend Ardita Karaj to discuss her take on large enterprise transformation. Ardita is very well known in the international Agile community. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her in the past and I admire her enthusiasm, intelligence and empathetic approach to Agile. She also has a no-nonsense approach to and instinct for business. My favourite...

When you’re slumping, your normal routines and methods don’t work (hence the slump). Try this the next time you’re struggling to get your energy, enthusiasm or creativity going: Surround yourself with inspiration Break your routine to get some flow going – knock something off your list, even if you break the rule of ‘highest value targets first’ Lean on your network – talk to peo...

“How can a financial institution bring regulators along the Agile journey, to help them realize that Agile actually reduces risk?” – Julio Sanchez Tough one. No quick fix. Finserv doesn’t like to shake up longstanding regulations and traditions. It’s a highly regulated industry. The problem is that you have no levers to influence regulators. They don’t have to change, at least no...

An easy way to accelerate learning and development – not to mention your effectiveness as a leader – is to do more scary things. If you don’t flex the muscle of acting the face of fear, you’ll never get better at being courageous, and you’ll never be able to lead others – especially if you’re asking others to take risks and let go of certainty and safety. Choose something you fea...

What helps Agile scale and spread even more than practice excellence? How you evangelize. It’s not enough to to be Agile amid your teams – a transformation demands ongoing and deepening conversation at every level, in every area. Have your elevator speed ready, and start meeting people Create situations that increase contact with the people in every corner of the org – lunch and learns...

Question 1 – When coaching teams when should you have one on ones with the individuals and when could having one on ones impact self organizing teams and creating silos? Team coaching is about coaching performance in the room: How they interact, operate, flow. Can you make that flow more efficient? Individual coaching – Should always do it for executives and individual agile leaders be...

This week, let’s remember one of our most important fundamentals….the ability to leap. It’s a skill we don’t teach in school – to be ready when you’re not ready, to forget all of your doubts and fears and just GO. It’s a habit, in the sense that the more we do it, the easier it becomes, so what can you do to leap this week? What have you been avoiding?

Collecting our lessons learned and sharing them with others is a tribal behaviour that predates formal education. Let’s talk about how to apply this in our team practices In experimental cultures, you are always accumulating learning. Long before the internet and even formal education, we had a tradition of sharing that wisdom among the tribe – at work, we have largely lost that tradition Le...

Notice, Do Differently, Reflect Drown the Fear and Reduce the Fear Reducing means rehearsing, exposing, inoculating Part of exposing and rehearsing is about skill building You must also rehearse the skill of being courageous – knowing when you have to leap and LEAPING.

People love to complain and blame. Learn to see from the other’s perspective. We are all doing the best we can. Leaders do not gossip. Realize that as a leader others follow your example, so it is important for you to go first. Be the exemplar of refusing to gossip, to hate, to blame. Be elegant and powerful.

So what did we learn from the practical yet unofficial use of Agile at the small business level? To disrupt like a startup, you have to act like one. Focus on value, plan and invest lean for effective, rapid cycles The minute you execute you should be adjusting Make commitments and investments (including decisions) at the last possible moment You literally have to break the cycle of traditional pl...

The cinematic antihero is in possession of mythical, almost unattainable qualities that make them larger than life. But…if you look more closely, there are a few lessons to be learned from our big-screen idols – what to believe, how to carry yourself, and how to act in the face of opposition.

There’s such a thing as too much.  At this point, there’s only so much discussing and explaining around Agility that i can handle, after which point, I’m kind of over it.   Now, I feel the need to take the conversation someplace else.  But where? • Like Driving a car, i don’t need to focus on fine motor skills anymore.  It’s time to use my skill to go new places • The space is crowded with too muc...

This is a long one, so make sure you’re on Wifi! Had a great time at Agile and Beyond this year, and as I was chilling with the speakers Thursday afternoon, we decided to record some cool conversations and thoughts from my colleagues.  A real privilege to get some rapid insights from this crew. Here Are the Interview Notes in order of appearance: Nayan Hajratwala, Agile And Beyond Co-organiz...

You bring too many people to low value meetings You don’t push decisions and accountability down, so ‘decision makers’ are in high demand and block teams – they can’t get where they need to be fast enough to enable a willing group, if there is such a thing You don’t celebrate, reward and otherwise encourage willing people As a result, things sit around, largely undone, with really great inte...

If you expect Agile, and your message, to spread, you need to be very good at setting targets and crushing them. You can’t do that using traditional big-business time management.   You’ll need to: – Decline meetings or limit them to 30 minutes OR LESS unless its team time – group work, facilitation – Block time IN YOUR CALENDAR to do your most important work – uninterrupted...

Recently, I sat down with Carl Oxham, Tax Partner with PwC Canada about the topic he is most passionate about – emotional intelligence and it’s growing importance in leadership.  In this discussion, we get specific about why EI is becoming a hotter topic, how to get good at it, and why it matters for Agile.  Carl is an engaging, knowledgeable and gifted speaker – this was a f...

“What else might work?” is to customer delight what “Yes, and…” is to improv.  Great solutions are the result of breaking rules; forays into unknown, even forbidden territory.  This flies in the face of compliance with established conventions and designs.  Finding or making new ways is neither cost nor risk-free, but if you want the payoffs of Agile thinking and doing, you must acce...