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August 13, 2021
Visualising Progress at Daily Standup

In the standup, we had a (brief) team discussion about tracking progress. I reacted against Jira because a) I dislike the user interface as it's a collaboration killer, and b) we aren't a software development or IT support team. Standup game visualises progress Three weeks later, team members Sam Thomas and @HughHadfield demonstrated this way […]

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February 21, 2021
Engagement Model

Engagement Model for Digital Transformation / Agile Adoption Consultancy template for improvement and organisational development work A proven approach used by external consultancy firms. This engagement model is appropriate for internal improvement initiatives and Centres of Excellence. As an embedded coach or improvement lead, it’s important to realise you are effectively providing a consulting service […]

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February 21, 2021
Agile Delivery is a challenge for organisations like yours

Achieving Agile Delivery is the toughest challenge of an executive career, no matter if it’s called digital transformation, adoption, or DevOps. The reality behind the highly-polished powerpoint decks and magazine stories is that despite fortunes being spent over many years, Agile is ‘out of reach’ to many leaders and managers. The evidence shows that challenges remain unresolved in many […]

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October 3, 2020
The Agile Confessional - Episode 1, Russ Lewis

What a priviledge to be the inaugral guest in Giles Lindsay's latest podcast adventure. We had great fun and it was a real blast! "Welcome to The Agile Confessional, a podcast that shares fun confessions from people who’ve spent a large part of their career working in the agile world. Hear the mistakes they made […]

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September 19, 2020
The Perfect Ten: Ep 5: Agility

Marilise de Villiers, host and author of Your Bullyproof Life, interviewed fellow coach, Andrea Darabos, and myself about Agilty. Specifically, what it mean in the workplace as one of 10 skills organisations need to develop to thrive.

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September 9, 2020
Context is Key

Every organisation has a particular set of problems created by the thinking system employed by its managers.Humble leaders seek ways to improve themselves and their management teams. By opening themselves to learning and self-discovery, they see the flaws in their systems. This brings understanding, which makes what needs to change quite obvious.This is the normal […]

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July 3, 2020
New Normal: FGS Panel Discussion

I joined FGS CEO, Peter Stroud and his guests discussing “the new normal”; James Hall, Global Storage Chief Technologist at HPE Frank Purcell, Operational Services Manager at Islington Council What you cant see is the wine-tasting that followed. Pete sent each of us a case of half-bottles of wine from Berry Bros. It was great.

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February 16, 2020
Managers don’t make difficult decisions

Contrary to popular belief, managers are not there to ‘make difficult decisions’. What makes a decision difficult usually, is a lack of information. What makes a decision dangerous is the lack of knowledge of how to use that information. If a manager selects one item from a list of choices or approves an initiative instead […]

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December 8, 2019
Agile Delivery: you Want it, you Need it, but you Can’t Have it

Agile Delivery means putting value in your customer’s hands in weeks not years. It also means being able to change your mind about what you want to deliver, as often as the market demands.

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December 11, 2017
Too much Agile Guidance for C-Suite

One key action: Agile Guidance for C-Suite leadership If my job title was a three-letter acronym and the first letter was a “C”, I might be un-festively fed-up with people telling me how to run my agile digital transformation. Two more ‘top ten something-or other things CEOs and CIOs should worry about’ appeared last week, […]

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December 7, 2017
Two Agile Metrics for DevOps Teams & their Managers

After almost two years of frustratingly slow progress, the DevOps transformation leaders at MIB (Massive Investment Bank, whose name is interesting but not important) are re-evaluating their choice of key performance indicators (KPIs). They’ve been using just two Agile metrics to measure DevOps progress, the number of releases made per month and the number of […]

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August 9, 2016
Manager Role for Enterprise Agility Agile 2016 conference

This session explores the top 10 “good practices” in good agile and good management that help medium and large organizations reach enterprise agility. See the video here: https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/sessions/the-manager-role-for-enterprise-agility-this-is-what-good-looks-like/ Abstract/Description If you follow Scrum, XP, or the scaled versions of the same, it’s difficult to see the point of managers in an agile workplace. Teams get […]

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December 3, 2023
In praise of rights licensing bots

I was at the digital transformation summit in Berlin last week when I got a scary "unlicensed use" email from a rights licensing lawyer. The rights licensing bot service sent me a screenshot of the page and the cartoon I was alleged to have used. I say alleged because I didn't recognise the cartoon or […]

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June 22, 2016
Writing an Agile Article for a Proper Journal

The work of the agile business analyst is never done is one of the conclusions reached in my first agile article for online journal InfoQ User Stories Are Placeholders for Requirements. At 3500 words plus five key take-away points, and with editorial and peer-review by the wonderful agile writer and educator Ben Linders, this was […]

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March 26, 2023
What is contextual ambidexterity?

Contextual ambidexterity is a culture that expects exceptional performance in both innovation and operation, overturning the illusion that it is either/or. Contextual ambidexterity is agile for managers.

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