LiminalArc SoundNotes

A few weeks ago Dave Nicolette put up a blog post in FieldNotes called "Putting the Journey Into Journeyman" ( https://tinyurl.com/ybehorv7 ). I really enjoyed the post and wanted to ask Dave some additional questions about the idea of a Journeyman, how to reach that state, and what happens once you get there. In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave and I discuss what a Journeyman is, and what a Journ...

In almost every CSM or CSPO class that Dave teaches he gets asked to explain the difference between Scrum and Kanban. So, in this episode of SoundNotes, Jessica Wolfe, Derek Huether, and  Dave take turns responding to the question and detailing some of the main differences between two of the most popular approaches to Agile. If you'd like to reach out to Jessica, Derek or Dave for more—here's thei...

“Culture is just the boogeyman people use when they don't know how to articulate an organizational change management strategy that executives will buy into.” ~ Mike Cottmeyer In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile CEO, Mike Cottmeyer shares his thoughts on why we need to stop blaming culture when organizations are unable to adopt Agile. During the interview, Mike and Dave dig into the reasons...

This episode of SoundNotes features a question submitted by a student in one of Dave's recent CSPO classes. Maheesh’s question centers on how to apply Scrum on a project that involves BI reporting and ETL. Since Jessica Wolfe and Derek Huether both have far more experience in that type of work than Dave does, he asked them to help him respond to the question. Here's the question we got from Mahees...

After co-teaching a CSM class in Atlanta earlier this week, Tim Wise and Dave Prior sat down to talk about  Empathy in Agile. During their conversation, they dug into why empathy is such an important factor in developing an Agile mindset, working with teams, building trust, and helping your organization adopt an Agile approach to work. Tim and Dave also offer some advice on: How you can go about t...

This episode of SoundNotes is all about Vision Statements. Dave Prior offers his thoughts on why they're so critical to the success of your team and how to go about putting one together. One of the most important things a Product Owner can do to help the Development Team deliver value for the customer is to make sure they have clarity on the context of the problem they are trying to solve. If the...

In this episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, Derek Huether and Dave Prior take on the topic of Leading and Lagging Indicators. During the podcast they discuss how Key Performance indicators can help guide you towards an understanding of what to track with the expectation that it will create a certain result in the future (leading indicators), and what to measure in order to confirm if that result...

In this week's episode of SoundNotes, Derek Huether and Dave Prior respond to a question from a student who works in a long-standing supply chain organization that wants to move to Agile, but has questions about how to get started. Here's the question: I took your scrum master class and your product owner class a couple weeks ago and I got a lot out of it. Thanks so much for everything you did for...

This week Jessica Wolfe and Dave Prior respond to a question about how to be an effective ScrumMaster when you are not in the same location as your team. To complicate matters even more, try stepping into the ScrumMaster role in place of an SM who was colocated with part of the team.  If that doesn’t seem challenging enough—try two Product Qwners working with the team. Here is the question: My Scr...

As organizations continue to grow and evolve in their practice of Agile, what they expect from Agile transformation coaches continues to evolve as well. Ten years ago, an Agile coach was someone who had enough experience working with Agile to help others pick up the basic habits and avoid some common mistakes. Today, we need a lot more. In this episode of SoundNotes, Mike Cottmeyer talks with Dave...

We frequently get questions from clients who are transitioning to Agile when they begin working through the challenge of determining which roles are the best fit for individuals in their organization. Since many of our clients begin their Agile journey by taking on Scrum, the question usually shows up as: Who should I make a Product Owner and who should I make a ScrumMaster? While there is no lock...

Jessica and Dave take a look at the Sprint Report template Dave uses in his CSM and CSPO classes. Using the report as a starting point, Jessica and Dave talk through the most valuable data points for new Scrum Teams as well as additional variables which are an important part of tracking the information that matters as your team learns to work together and gets better at delivering value for their...

In this episode of LeadingAgile's SoundNotes, Derek Heuther and Dave Prior take on a question Derek received from a student in one of his recent classes: What do you do, as a developer if the planned task cannot be resolved, or can not result in a potentially shippable product by the end of the Sprint? For an audio only version of the podcast click here. Contacting Derek If you’d like to contact D...

Many of us start out the new year by making resolutions that we hope will help us become the better version of ourselves. In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Jessica Wolfe and Dave Prior talk through some ideas you can use with your team to help them renew their focus on delivering value not just for the customer, but for the individual team members themselves. If you or your team are st...

In this week’s podcast, LeadingAgile’s Jim Hayden and Tim Wise join Dave to respond to questions submitted by students from our CSM and CSPO classes: Question 1: How PBIs Get Into The Product Backlog "Quick question. I was wondering if you had any ideas around a process for getting items into a backlog? I currently just stepped into a role and one of the first things I'm wanting to tackle is a pro...

In this week's SoundNotes,  LeadingAgile’s Tom Churchwell and Matt Fischer join Dave to respond to two questions submitted by students of our Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Product Owner classes. STUDENT QUESTIONS Question 1: "How do you see the way companies, after long years of waterfall, trying to move to Agile in few weeks?" Question 2: "How does a ScrumMaster correct a development...

The Scrum Alliance’s Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) designation is changing on Jan 1, 2018. If you meet the qualifications for the current version of CSP, applying before it expires on December 31, 2017 may provide you with a much easier path to the practitioner level of certification offered by the Scrum Alliance. You’ll find details on the current version of CSP here: https://www.scrumallian...

In October, LeadingAgile SVP, Scott Sehlhorst spent some time talking with Dave about the importance of Personas and Proto-Personas and how to use them. In this episode of SoundNotes, Scott is back to talk about Empathy Maps, how they work, why they are so valuable and how to create one. During the conversation, Scott and Dave talk through each step of creating an Empathy Map. The podcast is one o...

For this episode of SoundNotes, we’re back with more of the questions submitted by recent  CSM and CSPO students. In this week’s podcast, Jessica Wolfe and Dave Prior respond to the following questions: Question 1: What is the desired relationship interaction between the Scrum Master and Development Managers with regard to developers who are participating on a scrum team, and how does that impact...

One of the best parts of working at LeadingAgile is the continual focus on helping the brilliant people who work here amplify their ability to deliver value for customers. We have a weekly call where we focus on different aspects of the work we do and how we can get better at delivering on the LeadingAgile approach so that our customers can achieve their goals. In a recent call Mike Cottmeyer walk...

For this episode of SoundNotes, we reached out to some of the students who have taken CSM and CSPO classes over the last few months. We got a lot of great questions and will be responding to them over the next few weeks. This week, Derek Huether and Dave Prior respond to these two questions: Question 1: My team seems to have a problem with estimating and understanding the estimating concepts.  The...

If you have ever considered moving into consulting, this podcast is for you. In this podcast, In this interview, Rick Austin, John Tanner and Dave Prior talk about what it is like working as a traveling consultant for LeadingAgile. They discuss how it changes the focus of your work, what it takes to be good at it, how it impacts your personal life and some of the things you have to do to maintain...

This is a explaination of the new tool I introduced at the 2017 Digital PM Summit . The session I led was called Hacking Agile for Digital Agencies and the canvas tool I built for the session is intended to help Digital Agencies understand more about why they want to use Agile practices in the first place, how they are expected to help and what they are willing to risk in order to achieve some lev...

Scott Sehlhorst, SVP and Executive Consultant at Leading Agile, goes deep on Personas in this episode of SoundNotes. During the interview Scott and Dave discuss the difference between Proto-Personas and actual Personas, the importance of empathy maps and how to help management understand that making the investment in developing personas is a great way to reduce risk. This is the first of several p...

When you think of the annual Agile conference, you usually think about speakers and content. However, Paul Hammond wants to augment the content at the conference with the answers to your questions and one-on-one time with experts from around the industry. That’s why, this year, the conference includes Agile Therapy. Learn more in this video with Paul and Chris Li.