Featured
Distributed SAFe® PI Planning Timeline Example
This is a generic Large Solution Train timeline example for organizing an ART launch and/or PI Planning.
https://time.graphics/line/268585
If you read it and found some value. Please share it:
Extremists and the hate SAFe machine
September 2019 trolls update
It seems that hate and jealously knows no bounds with some people. They simply cannot practice what they preach and be respectful, therefore diminishing any rational argument they would make. Here are a few new in the cast of characters that troll the SAFe with misrepresentations and outright hateful comments.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6585263102634311680?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A6585263102634311680%2C6585372081599377408%29
The problem with trolls
I updated the title of the article. I have observed a pattern over the past year or so of Scrum Alliance aligned folks like Certified Scrum Trainers (CST) and other certified Scrum folks writing articles and posts of varying degrees of criticism from valid debates over ideas (rare) to mostly disparaging misrepresentations, to openly hostile, to outright extremist comments like the picture above. I changed the article title to properly address not all CST’s. The original title was meant to address the pattern observed by many people in the industry of several unnamed CST’s making hateful comments about SAFe and the people behind the SAFe.
Remember, hate comes in many forms. All of it is bad, and unacceptable. I’ve lost count of the number of people that I have known, loved, and like that have died or suffered from cancer (and parasites). Attributing those words to the good people behind the SAFe is absolutely abhorrent, evil behavior. The picture above is just the latest attack. So, I apologize for the original generalization.
There are also two parts to this article. The first part addresses the hateful opening comment from Alexey. The second challenges the misrepresentations of the SAFe. These are separate discussions. Debating ideas is necessary. We should not ever accept hateful words or behavior.
Why bother?
Let me start by explaining why I even bother debating with hateful people in the first place. Because we must confront evil in the world. Yes, at its root this is evil, misguided behavior. If we want to move ideas forward to innovation they must be challenged in a respectful, professional manner.
Anyone that starts out a conversation by saying you or your thing is a “cancer and parasite” isn’t actually looking for conversation. They are being hateful and are probably ignorant on the topic of debate. If this were a political topic then perhaps the bad behavior could be expected because it has been normalized for millennia. Does it make it right? Emphatically, no.
I find it disturbing that extremists and their ilk who are supposedly exemplars for the Agile Manifesto and values of Scrum openly display behavior that is antithetical to the Agile Manifesto and Scrum. After all, “RESPECT” is a value of Scrum. And the manifesto has a clear purpose, “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.“
Read the rest of this entry »If you read it and found some value. Please share it:
13th Annual State of Agile Report – LeSS is less.
The newest VersionOne (13th) Annual State of Agile Report was recently released. Last year the report was published on April 9, 2018. This year the report was published on May 7, 2019. As I had reported earlier I will compare and contrast the various scaling frameworks growth and shrinkage and also discuss the missing elements for organizational transformation and whether or not the industry at large is addressing those challenges.
The newest VersionOne 13th Annual State of Agile Report was released on May 7, 2019. Over the past few years I have been comparing interesting trends in the State of Agile Report where I have compared the growth of scaling frameworks and methods to each other year over year.
Read the rest of this entry »If you read it and found some value. Please share it:
Retrospectives @Scale within SAFe® portfolio context
Did you know that the value of facilitating retrospectives is also valuable at scale? In other words, facilitating cross-organizational retrospectives. Improvement is necessary to create better business outcomes. Relentless improvement should be a prime directive in every Lean-Agile organization.
In particular, if you are working within a Lean-Agile SAFe® portfolio you may be familiar with some of the following retrospectives. Others may not be so obvious. The point of which is that we should retro our performance for significant activities/ceremonies. When there are obvious bottlenecks in the system, do a retro, and use wisdom when this is not the case. And remember the easiest way to fail at a retrospective is to neglect to create improvement stories that make their way into the backlog. Read the rest of this entry »
If you read it and found some value. Please share it:
AOS Group Coaching – Week 10 – Marshall Guillory
Video Posted on
An extended discussion about the importance of specific leadership & executive support (Deming – knowing the way) of organization transformations from the ongoing Agile Online Summit.
If you read it and found some value. Please share it:
Blogagility Learns: Feedback Loop Markers – Org Mindset Enterprise Coach Class Panel
Video Posted on
Prosperity has its benefits. I was blessed with the opportunity to visit beautiful Boulder, CO last week to learn about the Org Mindset body of knowledge from my vlog buddy Alex Yakyma. I promised a few folks I would create a vlog review of the course. I will pull that story in my next iteration. First, I have to pass the exam by next Tuesday! Read the rest of this entry »
If you read it and found some value. Please share it:
vlog #6 – A discussion on Lean Portfolio Management (LPfM) with Alex Yakyma
Video Posted on
Big Lake Software sponsored a video log on the topic of Lean Portfolio Management with Alex Yakyma, Founder of Org Mindset, author of “The Rollout”, and Marshall Guillory, Principal Consultant, Enterprise Agility Coach and author at blogagility.com.
This vlog is longer than the normal 2-3 minutes for hard hitting, short timebox coaching videos. The discussion covers quite a bit of ground on five primary topics within LPfM at a fair depth for a little over 32 minutes.
Part 1 Topics:
- Define what LPfM is first, in the context of a Lean-Agile transformation or an org mostly demonstrating Lean behavior / Agile behavior
- Is it necessary for every impl. / organization
- What size fits? Enterprise? Startups?
- Understanding a business’s portfolio(s) relationship between strategy and value streams / mapping
- Impediments to implementing LPfM”?
- How to get in front of forecasting with the portfolio coupled with the idea of exploration and validated learning at the highest level in the org.
- Options thinking and embracing variability and uncertainty at the portfolio level; exploiting economic opportunities.
