Digital Tools for Sprint Backlog

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A while ago, I ran into a couple of posts written by Bas Vodde on the LeSS blog in January 2020: Digital tools considered harmful – Sprint Backlog (https://less.works/blog/2020/01/10/digital-tools-considered-harmful-sprint-backlog.html) Digital tools considered harmful – Jira (https://less.works/blog/2020/01/16/digital-tools-considered-harmful-jira.html) These posts were written just as COVID was beginning to explode worldwide, so while what is written in there … Weiterlesen …

How to slowly destroy your organisation

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  How to slowly destroy your organisation Here is a tip if you want to destroy your organisation: keep adding roles! I’ve seen it in many companies, and it is a typical slippery slope! Let’s discuss why and what the alternatives are. Back to the “beginning”: the agile team Think of a small company. Just … Weiterlesen …

Transformation „energy“

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One interesting observation I made several times during “agile transformation initiatives” is that they seem to be activated by a sort of “organisational energy” that drives the change. This lasts for a certain amount of time, but then it usually fades and is eventually gone. Here is how it works prototypically: Phase 1: “Recognise Incompetence” … Weiterlesen …

Laws, Sausages and Sprints

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Update: I got some comments regarding this post that made me realise I was a victim of bias when writing it. It might seem I am arguing for an isolation of the developers. Absolutely not: anybody who heard me on the topic knows I am an advocate of direct communication between developers and stakeholders. This … Weiterlesen …

For agile at scale, use actionable principles instead

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It seems the battleground where agile consulting companies are trying to win something has moved to the “scaling” domain: what methods/frameworks/tools/… could we use to bring agility to larger organisations. The topic is fascinating and important, but the answers we’re getting from the market are, in most cases, pretty disappointing, as many “solutions” seem designed … Weiterlesen …

The retrospective: is not about you, dear facilitator!

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This is the fourth article in a mini-retrospectives series. In the previous ones I wrote about how retrospectives should be done at regular intervals, but also in other occasions and how the retrospective could be done in different groups than just the team and that sometimes changes happen even without an action item being clearly … Weiterlesen …

Retrospectives: „Tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly“…

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This is the third article in a mini-retrospectives series. In the previous ones I wrote about how retrospectives should be done at regular intervals, but also in other occasions and how the retrospective could be done in different groups than just the team. In this post I will continue to challenge the 12th principle of … Weiterlesen …

Retrospectives: “The Team reflects”… more or less?

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This is the second article in a mini-retrospectives series. In the previous one I talked about how retrospectives should be done at regular intervals, but also in other occasions. In this post I will continue to challenge the 12th principle of the agile manifesto to explain other ways to spice up your retrospectives. The 12th … Weiterlesen …

Retrospectives: “At regular intervals”… or not?

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This is the first in a series of posts about how to moderate retrospectives creatively. Traditionally the retrospective in agile software development is the reflection done at the end of the iteration. Principle twelve of the Agile Manifesto says “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts … Weiterlesen …

„Scaling“ the team – part two

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In the previous post I introduced you to Solution Focused scales and how they can be used in a one-to-one scenario. Now we’ll extend this to a team context, but first, here are some tips… Tips on using scales A constructivistic approach is important also when using scales: whatever numbers the client chooses, it must … Weiterlesen …

„Scaling“ the team – part one

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No, this post is not about increasing the size of your development team, but about how to establish some measurements in your team – typically during the retrospectives, but not only – to support continuous improvement: let’s talk about Solution Focused Scales. I already discussed this technique in my Solution Focus presentation, but listening to … Weiterlesen …