Software Process and Measurement Cast

This week we discuss the Manifesto for Organizational Agility with Jeff Bubolz and Chad Beier. Jeff and Chad developed the manifesto to help organizations get agile and stay agile. Many organizations rush into agile finding early success that turns sour a few months or years down the road. This pattern is indisputable. The Manifesto seeks to highlight the core issues that lead to this pattern (you will also want to listen to the interview with Bob Galen on SPaMCAST 748 due to be posted on 26 March).

You can read the Manifesto for Organizational Agility at http://bit.ly/3mOnBaU

Chad and Jeff’s Bios:

Chad is an organizational agility advisor and external change agent with Wisconsin Agility and Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org. He promotes organizational agility and positive pressure for change through speaking, advising, coaching, and training.

Jeff is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org, organizational agility advisor, podcast host, and speaker. Jeff brings storytelling, a broad array of experience, along with a collaborative approach to teaching and speaking.

Contact information and More:

Wisconsin Agility: https://www.wisconsinagility.com/

Agile Wire Podcast (one of my favorites): https://www.wisconsinagility.com/pages/the-agile-wire-podcast

Chad Beier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadbeier/

Chad Beier’s Agile Songs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrE4EJKhiUtc3j5aAnRlskg

Jeff Bubolz: linkedin.com/in/jeffbubolz

Re-read Saturday News!

Chapter 19 of Extraordinary Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond is titled “ Setting Up a Badass Agile Coaching Community of Practice.” I have strong opinions about Communities of Practice (CoP). They can be a very valuable tool, when done well, for supporting movements within an organization. As Mr. Galen points out, a CoP, is a place for learning and feedback. Done poorly they are invasive and harmful. CoPs will get like-minded people together to learn, support each other, interact, and become a community.

Buy a copy and upgrade your coaching skills - Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond

Previous Installments:

Week 18: Setting Up a Badass Agile Coaching Community of Practice - http://bit.ly/3JyPT27

Week 17: Dojo Practices - http://bit.ly/3FlftW7

Week 16: Badass Agile Coach’s Guide to Starting Your Day - http://bit.ly/3Y4Kcgy

Week 15: Situational Awareness as a Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3KnoJMv

Next SPaMCAST

We will continue our exploration of fatalism’s impact on change in organizations (listen to the essay in SPaMCAST 745). Fatalism does not have to be permanent. How that transition away from fatalism can be made varies depending on context. In the next installment in this series, we will look at a few approaches to tackling this problem.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who will bring his Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the podcast.

Fatalism stops process improvement and agile transformations in their tracks. One of the definitions of fatalism is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable. Just accepting the status quo because it is the status quo isn’t pragmatism it is stagnation.

We also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his To Tell A Story column to the podcast. Sign up for his free newsletter (https://forms.aweber.com/form/73/322717473.htm ) and get a copy of the ebook on agile requirements we discussed.

Re-read Saturday News!

Chapter 18 of Extraordinary Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond is titled “Dojo Practice for the Badass Agile Coach.” The coaching dojo in Chapter 18 has a much smaller footprint than other dojos I have participated in and is easily implementable. I ran two this week and have plans for several more.

Buy a copy and upgrade your coaching skills - Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond

Week 17: Dojo Practices - http://bit.ly/3FlftW7

Week 16: Badass Agile Coach’s Guide to Starting Your Day - http://bit.ly/3Y4Kcgy

Week 15: Situational Awareness as a Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3KnoJMv

Next SPaMCAST

The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature a conversation with Jeff Bubolz and Chad Beier. We discussed their Manifesto for Organizational Agility (

Agility.https://www.wisconsinagility.com/pages/organizational-agility-manifesto ) - a new manifesto for the dynamic world of work.

This week Nikhil Nandagopal and I talked about building teams. Teams are the heart and soul of software development in all of its many aspects. Nikhil provides pragmatic advice for organizing people into teams. We also discussed the democratization of coding that low-code platforms deliver.

Nikhil Nandagopal, a co-founder of Appsmith, leads the development of the company’s product – the first open-source low-code platform for developers. He is a software engineer and entrepreneur with 10 years of experience building apps.

Nikhil’s GitHub

Website: https://app.appsmith.com/applications

Nikhil’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/nikhil-nandagopal-05534241

Twitter NikilNandagopal

Re-read Saturday News!

Chapter 17 of Extraordinary Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond is titled “The Badass Agile Coach’s Guide to Starting Your Day” which provides a structure or ritual for beginning each coaching day. I almost see this as a macro planning arc that Bob has recommended for all coaching sessions.

Thinking about Christmas presents for your coaching friends? (302 days from today!) Buy a copy and beat the rush - Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond

Week 16: Badass Agile Coach’s Guide to Starting Your Day - http://bit.ly/3Y4Kcgy

Week 15: Situational Awareness as a Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3KnoJMv

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation, knowledge, and building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, I want to talk about one of the great enemies of change - fatalism. Phrases like “that's not our culture” or “that won’t work here” are discussion killers.

We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his To Tell A Story column to the podcast.

This week, we take a detour thanks to Extraordinary Badass Agile Coaching. Over the past two chapters, the book has drilled us on recognizing and adapting to situational nuances as a crucial skill for effective coaching. I will admit that my first few years of coaching were formulaic. I did not spend the needed time to understand and address nuances of context or differences in individuals' journeys through life. I do not remember when I learned that roles and situations change the trajectory of coaching, as does the starting point of the person or persons you are coaching. At some point, I got the point. In this chapter, diversity is an omnibus term used to describe inclusiveness across a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, life experiences, and more. Galen-Personick focuses on four specific areas. Rather than recounting the four, what struck me during this read was the impact privilege has on both delivering and being coached. That’s what I discuss in today’s podcast.

Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the podcast. This week we communicated on the topic of communication.

Re-read Saturday News!

Chapter 16 of Extraordinary Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond is titled Situational Awareness as a Badass Agile Coach. This chapter is written by Rhiannon Galen-Personick and focuses on diversity awareness. The author uses four areas of diversity to help coaches think through their biases, the biases of the people they are coaching, and the biases of the teams around them. This is in an effort to teach all of us to be better coaches and, dare I say, people.

Week 15: Situational Awareness as a Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3KnoJMv

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation, knowledge, and building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, Nikhil Nandagopal and I talked about building teams. Teams are the heart and soul of software development in all of its many aspects.

This week, Jorgen Hesselberg discusses the efficacy of assessments in helping to guide an agile journey. Assessments are a tool to help coaches coach and to answer the question of where are we in our journey toward being more agile.

Jorgen last appeared in SPaMCAST 557 in 2019 (http://bit.ly/2MiBw4K ).

Jorgen Hesselberg is the author of Unlocking Agility and co-founder of Comparative Agility, a leading agile assessment, and continuous improvement platform. A proven thought leader of numerous successful enterprise transformation efforts since 2009, Jorgen provides strategic guidance, executive counsel, and coaching to some of the world’s most respected companies, both as an internal change agent and an external consultant. He has trained thousands of people on agile and Scrum, disruptive innovation, and enterprise transformation strategy.

Contact Information

Email: jorgen@comparativeagility.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jhesselberg

Comparative Agility: https://www.comparativeagility.com/product/

Re-read Saturday News!

Chapters 14 and 15 of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond are titled Badass Role-Based Coaching and Context-Based Coaching. Written by Jennifer Fields, the chapters explore role-based and context-based coaching dynamics. The two chapters are intertwined; I view roles as a specialized type of context. Jennifer presents several scenarios in both chapters on how she would approach coaching events for different roles and contexts.

Week 1: Badass Role-Based Coaching and Context-Based Coaching - http://bit.ly/3IjYEfU

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation, knowledge, and building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, we continue our journey into the use of flow metrics to plan work. Next week we will tackle something more complex.

We will also return to the QA corner with the regular version of Mr. Barriault’s column.

Planning is an important component of getting work done. Planning is not, however, creating and delivering work. Minimizing the amount of time spent planning but not under planning is almost mind-numbingly difficult. Flow metrics are tools to maximize the value of planning while minimizing the time spent on planning. Over the next few entries in the Software Process and Measurement Blog, we will explore several examples of using flow metrics in planning.

We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast. Susan provides guidance on navigating environments that are not pristinely agile in a pragmatic fashion.

Re-read Saturday News!

Chapter 13 of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond is titled Badass Pair-Coaching. Over the years I have had many opportunities to participate in pair coaching, although fewer over the past few years. I miss pair coaching; it pushes me to expand my horizons and up my game. What about you?

Week 13: Badass Pair-Coaching - http://bit.ly/3Y51J9f

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Jorgen Hesselberg returns to the podcast to discuss the efficacy of assessments in helping to guide an agile journey. Assessments are a tool to help coaches coach and to answer the question of where are we in our journey toward being more agile.

Jorgen appeared in SPaMCAST 557 in 2019 ( http://bit.ly/2MiBw4K )

Today we begin year 17 of the Software Process and Measurement Cast with a presentation that Jeremy Berriault did at IdeaFest 2020. The presentation covered using supply chain concepts in an agile environment. When I originally recorded the session, I felt the idea was interesting but not very useful. But I am a bit of a packrat; I don’t throw anything away. Last week I listened to the presentation again. This time I could see that the idea of using supply chain concepts is a great approach to implementing value chains and mirrors why flow metrics are such a valuable concept. Jeremy was just a bit ahead of the rest of the world.

Note, the recording is not perfect. There is some external noise from unmuted microphones in the feed. I think the bit of interference does not diminish the message. The content is great; stay with it and you will have a lot to think about.

The slides: (see www.spamcast.net

Jeremy’s website: https://berriaultandassociates.com/

Re-read Saturday News!

This week Chapter 12 of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond focuses on language. Language is both essential and a deterrent for creating understanding. This is a provocative statement, but the truth of the statement is not open for debate.

Week 12: Badass Agile Coaching in the Language of the Client

- http://bit.ly/3jg6VI6

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Using flow metrics to plan in Kanban and Scrum environments. Flow metrics are incredibly useful metrics for value streams and value chains. They are equally useful at the team level — and in some cases even more powerful.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast.

Today we revisit the topic of empathy as we mark the last show in year 16. As coaches and leaders, we are taught that being empathetic is critical. However, the blanket statement that we need to walk a mile in someone else's shoes is not all rainbows and kittens.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast. Jon and I continue our conversation on flow and its importance for teams and leaders.

Re-read Saturday News!

This week Chapter 11 of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond looks up. Even if you focus your agile coaching practice on teams you will need to coach up the managerial and executive hierarchy of the team.

Week 11 - Coaching Up - http://bit.ly/3ZWo6z1

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Using flow metrics to plan in Kanban and Scrum environments. Flow metrics are thought of as incredible metrics for value streams and value chains. They are equally useful at the team level — and in some cases even more powerful.

We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner column to the podcast.

Luis Gonçalves returns to the Software Process and Measurement Cast to discuss his new book, Product First. We also talked about organizational mastery and change. Become a beta reader of Product First at http://bit.ly/3ZwQHL7

Luis last joined us on SPaMCAST 718 , we discussed OKRs.

Luis’s Bio

Luis Gonçalves is an Entrepreneur, Best Seller Author, and International Keynote Speaker.

When consulting he works exclusively with Entrepreneurs, Founders, and Senior Leaders on the implementation of his game-changing "ADAPT Methodology".

By following the "ADAPT Methodology" Executive Leaders will be able to transform their traditional project-oriented companies into modern digital product companies.

OKR Guide: https://adaptmethodology.com/okr-guide-en

Website: https://adaptmethodology.com/

Website: evolution4all.com

Podcast: https://adaptmethodology.com/podcast/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/luismsg

Re-read Saturday News!

This week Chapter 10 of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond enumerates the four meta-skills in the Coaching Growth Wheel. They are:
Leadership, Change Artistry, Inspiration, and Role Modeling.
These four skills underpin the model and I strongly recommend a close reading of the chapter.

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Using flow metrics to plan in Kanban and Scrum environments. Flow metrics are thought of as incredible metrics for value streams and value chains. They are equally useful at the team level — and in some cases even more powerful.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.

A funny thing happened on the way to this week’s Software Process and Measurement Cast, I was asked about managing risk in Agile. In preparation for answering the question, I reviewed and updated some of my work on the topic. So instead of flow metrics, we have an essay on risk. That is just the chance you take when you ask me a question. Note -- I have a great question on risk to ask Susan Parente, @techriskmanager, the next time we record.

We also have a visit from Tony Timbol. Tony discusses agile requirements in an installment of his To Tell A Story column. Check out Tony at http://tonytimbol.com/

Re-read Saturday News!

This week we tackle Chapters 8 and 9. These chapters of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond are titled An Agile Coaching Story, Parts 1 and 2. They are written by Mark Summers of Beliminal and provide great advice on how to prepare and execute coaching events.

Week 9 - Agile Coaching Story, Parts 1 and 2 - https://bit.ly/3jQ2m7a

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Luis Gonçalves is back to discuss his new book! Luis and I had a great time talking about shifting from projects to product thinking, organizational mastery, and more!

Today we share our year-end panel discussion with the SPaMcast contributors and occasionally our dogs (once one gets going everyone needs to get in on the action). The topic this year is engagement. Is being on two calls at once, engagement? Does just being present tick the engagement box? Patterns and antipatterns abound, but Is engagement really that important?

The panelists for this installment are:

Jeremy Berriault linkedin.com/in/jeremy-berriault-mba

Jeremy Willets linkedin.com/in/jeremywillets

Susan Parente linkedin.com/in/susanparente

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Using flow metrics to plan in Kanban and Scrum environments. Flow metrics are thought of as incredible metrics for value streams and value chains. They are equally useful at the team level -- and in some cases even more powerful.

We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his “To Tell A Story” column to the podcast.

Over the years we have explored a wide range of books on Saturdays. Sometimes our re-reads reflect the real world outside software development. For example, in 2018 we re-read Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, the story of Theranos and Elizabeth Anne Holmes. This year Ms. Holmes went to prison. While I don’t expect prison sentences for the subjects in the books we read in 2022, I expect the knowledge in the books we tackled to have a broader impact on the world.

In the past year, we have re-read 3.4 books – 40% is the progress on the current book according to Kindle. Links to all of the read entries can be found in the show notes.

I am looking forward to reading and learning with all of you in 2023.

This week we also have a visit from Susan Parente and her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. Susan and I discussed how a newly minted Scrum Master can get up to speed quickly.

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Every year I host a panel discussion with the columnists and other SPaMcast contributors. We will cap 2022 with a spirited discussion on the importance of engagement. Is it all that its cracked up to be or not?

While preparing for this week’s podcast I ran across a recording of a presentation I did at IDEAfest 2020. The topic was the seven macro trends driving software development behavior. The presentation was crafted just at the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic but the topics are still relevant, perhaps even more relevant than they were in March 2020. So to make a long story short, I re-edited the recording and decided to share the talk with those that weren’t at IDEAfest 2020 or have blanked the last two years from their memory.

I will also post the presentation in the feed for your pleasure and to spark conversation.

Re-read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 6 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link - buy a copy or two and give them to friends). Chapter 6 of Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond is titled, Badass Agile Coaching Operating System. There are several important concepts to explore in this chapter all wrapped into the metaphor of a computer operating system.

Previous Entries in Our Re-read:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

Week 3: The Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3Eu0qJu

Week 4: Agile Coaching Frameworks - http://bit.ly/3Ok60S7

Week 5: Badass Agile Coaching Agreements - https://bit.ly/3iylnKM

Week 6: Badass Agile Coach Arcs - https://bit.ly/3W4Mzzg

Week 7: Badass Agile Coaching Operating System - https://bit.ly/3hCZ86s

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 735 feature an essay on using flow metrics to plan either an epic or a sprint. Simply put the process generates a ton of knowledge and is dead simple . . . why aren’t you using it now?

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente and her Not A Scrumdamentalist column

The SPaMCAST 733 features a reflection on a reflection. As I was reading Chapter 5 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (check out the re-read at https://bit.ly/3W4Mzzg ) and retrospecting on my own behavior, I replayed some past coaching experiences. The point today is less the linkage to our current re-read than the confluence of continued learning and reflection.

We also have a visit from Mr. Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy and I talk about coaches who let their own biases run away with them.

Re-read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 5 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link - buy a copy or two and give them to friends). Chapter 5 is titled Badass Agile Coaching Arcs. Coaching and conversations are highly intertwined activities. I am at a loss as to how I would coach without actively interacting with people. I think the idea of a conversation arc is something I naturally understood or perhaps the concept percolated in my mind from sales training (haven’t I strongly suggested sales training?). The idea of an arc to a coaching conversation makes perfect sense.

Previous Entries in Our Re-read:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

Week 3: The Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3Eu0qJu

Week 4: Agile Coaching Frameworks - http://bit.ly/3Ok60S7

Week 5: Badass Agile Coaching Agreements - https://bit.ly/3iylnKM

Week 6: Badass Agile Coach Arcs - https://bit.ly/3W4Mzzg

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 734 will feature a lightly edited version of the SPaMCASTs annual holiday panel. We are going to talk about engagement and whether being engaged is as important to organizations as it is to all of us in the agile and lean consulting industry.

The SPaMCAST 732 features our interview with Robert Cooke. Robert and I discussed the role of software development in delivering value in non-software product organizations.

Robert Cooke is the Founder and Principal Architect at 3Forge, a New York-based provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. 3Forge has achieved significant growth over the years as a result of increasing demand for its award-winning, web-based browser AMI platform.

Today, AMI is deployed at three of the five largest global banks, and nearly 20 percent of global equities flow through the platform. 3Forge also has provided its services to hedge funds, broker-dealers, and other financial services firms. The company is the leading provider of “performance at scale” data management systems.

Robert’s accomplishments have spanned electronic trading, middle and back office, regulatory reporting, compliance, and risk management.

Website: https://www.3forge.com/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robert-cooke-a7835b69

Re-read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 4 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link). Chapter 4, Badass Agile Coaching Agreements, focuses on the need for and structure of…coaching agreements (hence the name of the chapter :)). I use coaching agreements on a regular basis. They are an excellent idea. Galen states, “My point being: never, ever coach without establishing an agreement.”

Previous Entries in Our Re-read:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

Week 3: The Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3Eu0qJu

Week 4: Agile Coaching Frameworks - http://bit.ly/3Ok60S7

Week 5: Badass Agile Coaching Agreements - https://bit.ly/3iylnKM

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 733 continues our answer to the question: if one product owner is good, aren’t two, three, or four better?

We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his wide-ranging QA corner to the podcast.

The annual Thanksgiving holiday in the US was a few days ago providing space to reflect and give thanks to everyone involved in the 16-plus years history of the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog and podcast. There is a lot to be thankful and grateful for, this week we put the spotlight on everyone that makes the SPaMCAST possible.

Also, Jon M Quigley brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the podcast. Jon and I discuss the idea of flow.

Re-read Saturday News

This week we are taking a break from our re-read of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link).

Previous Entries in Our Re-read:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

Week 3: The Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3Eu0qJu

Week 4: Agile Coaching Frameworks - http://bit.ly/3Ok60S7

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 732 features our interview with Robert Cooke. Robert and I discuss the role of software development in delivering value.

The SPaMCAST 730 features our conversation with Ramzi Marjaba. Ramzi and I discussed the role of a sales engineer. The role solves customers' problems and is a bridge between customers and technical teams. With all that going for it, why is it a forgotten job path for people with deep technical acumen?

Ramzi is an established Sales Engineer and the Founder of We The Sales Engineers and found his calling in helping people change their lives for the better, either by breaking into the difficult world of Sales Engineering or upskilling their current skill levels to get that pay raise and promotion.

Contact Information

Website https://wethesalesengineers.com/ or wetheses.com

Ramzi’s LinkedIn Profile linkedin.com/in/ramzimarjaba

Email rmarjaba@gmail.com

Podcast https://apple.co/3EdrUlb

Twitter WeTheSEs

Re-read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 3 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link). In Chapter 3, Agile Coaching Framework, the authors create a line in the sand stating “professional badass agile coaching needs to support and model a multivariate framework that supports all aspects (stances) of our craft. ”

Week 4: Agile Coaching Frameworks - http://bit.ly/3Ok60S7

Previous Weeks:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

Week 3: The Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3Eu0qJu

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 731 continues our answer to the question: if one product owner is good, aren’t two, three, or four better?

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.

This week we go back to basics and answer a listener’s question (name and a bit of the context changed to protect the involved parties). In the essay this week we discuss why it is a rotten idea to have a functional product owner and a technical product owner. When it comes to product owners the old adage, “the more the merrier," does not hold.

Also, we have an installment of Tony Timbol’s “To Tell A Story” column. In this installment, Tony discusses how to synchronize team-level agile with a waterfall requirements process. This is one of those scenarios that when you run into it you will need to find a way to deal with it until more of the organization embraces agile.

Re-read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 2 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link). Chapter 2, T he Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach , focuses on the most important part of a coach's arsenal of superpowers: their mindset.

This Week:

Week 3: The Mindset of the Badass Agile Coach - http://bit.ly/3Eu0qJu

Previous Weeks:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge, building to establishing a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 730 features our interview with Ramzi Marjaba. Ramzi and I discussed the role of a sales engineer and why this is a forgotten job path for people with deep technical acumen.

SPaMCAST 728 features a discussion with Anjali Leon and Nadezhda Belousova. We discussed their new model, Product Leadership Stances. One of my takeaways was how powerful the model was in helping to develop an understanding of product leadership and then highlighting gaps in how the role is practiced in organizations.

Anjali and Nadezhda’s Bios!

Anjali Leon is an Agility, Product, and Professional Coach, Collaboration Facilitator, and Trusted Strategic Advisor. Through her boutique coaching and consulting practice, PPL Coach, She brings her years of experience in technology, leadership, and Agile to help her clients adapt, innovate, and thrive in the new-normal business environment - where the meaning of ‘winning’ is quickly being redefined as integrating better business outcomes and our collective well-being. You can experience Anjali’s authentic head, hearts and hands approach to product, people, and personal leadership through one of her unique value-driven and values-based coaching programs, workshops, and training.

Anjali is an accredited trainer through ICAgile and ProKanban, is a trained co-active coach and is a committed lifelong learner. She is recognized as an inspiring speaker, conference organizer, and community leader. She is co-creator of Product Leadership Stances™, co-founder of HitRefresh – a resilience-building practice, founder of Empowering South Florida Women in Agile, and member of the advisory board for ProKanban.org .

Anjali’s Profile linkedin.com/in/anjali-leon

Website ppl-coach.com (Company)

Twitter thepplcoach4U
awakencoach
AnjaliLeon

Nadezhda Belousova is an Integral Master Coach™ and an independent Enterprise Business Agility Strategist who deeply cares about high-performing scalable businesses with human-centric approach and sustainability at heart. She brings a combination of psychology, multiple professional coaching approaches (ORSC, Solution-Focused coaching, Clean Language, etc.), years of extensive hands-on consulting experience in various industries, and a can-do-all mindset. Nadezhda sees organizations holistically as living systems and enables them to unleash their potential – to evolve, to re-invent themselves, to thrive. She runs a boutique organizational coaching and management consulting practice serving her clients worldwide from Berlin, Germany. Nadezhda is a mentor, speaker and a passionate contributor to a number of professional communities (European Organizational Design Forum, Agile Alliance, Business Agility Institute, etc.).

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadezhdabelousova

Product Leadership Website: https://www.productleadershipstances.com/

Re-read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 1 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link). Chapter 1, Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching , is an overview of the book including thoughts on how to read it and a whole lot more.

This Week:

Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs

Previous Weeks:

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In the SPaMCAST 729 let's go back to basics and discuss why it is a rotten idea to have a functional product owner and a technical product owner.

Tony Timbol will also bring his “To Tell A Story” column to the podcast.

In SPaMCAST 727 we discuss the assumptions behind Little’s Law and Neglected WIP. Some of the assumptions you can cheat to generate useful conversations but there are limits and you need to be upfront about what you are doing.

We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast. In this installment, Susan answers a listener's question about the complications of a team with 2 developers and 5 managers.

Re-read Saturday News

This week we begin our re-read of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). This week we begin with a few notes on the logistics of the read and then review the two Forewords.

Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In SPaMCAST 728 we will feature our discussion of product leadership stances with Anjali Leon and Nadezhda Belousova. Developing an understanding of product leadership stances will highlight product leadership gaps and strengthen your product focus.

.

In SPaMCAST 726 Mr. Allan Kelly returns! We discussed the fact that backlogs often become dumping grounds. Allan suggested an energetic solution. We also discussed OKRs and whether they are related to backlogs. Are OKRs the chicken or the egg?

Allan Kelly advises and mentors managers and teams in using agile approaches and OKRs to accelerate delivery, meet deadlines and execute against strategy. He believes these approaches benefit businesses and create more fulfilling work environments.

Allan is a keynote conference speaker and author of several books including "Succeeding with OKRs in Agile", "The Art of Agile Product Ownership" and "Business Patterns for Software Developers". He blogs at allankelly.net and can be contacted there or on Linkedin, https://www.linkedin.com/in/allankellynet/

Re-read Saturday News

We complete our re-read of the classic Coaching Agile Teams this week with a few final thoughts. I view Coaching Agile Teams as a tale of two themes. The first is a book of philosophy and the second is a how-to book full of techniques. The full value of this book requires two readings. The first time I read the book, I took the how-to path. This time the philosophies of agile coaching were more important to me than any individual technique.

Next week we start our re-read of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). This will be less of a re-read than it will be me trying to stay one or two chapters ahead because I am reading the book for the first time. We will begin with a few notes on the logistics of the read and then we will review the front matter.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Week 8: Coach As Teache r - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc

Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor - https://bit.ly/3fXoHOs

Week 12: Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes - https://bit.ly/3T0FluQ

Week 13: When Will I Get There? and It’s Your Journey - https://bit.ly/3MAe00v

Week 14: Final Thoughts - https://bit.ly/3z6zJaA

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In SPaMCAST 727 we will discuss the assumptions behind Little’s Law and Neglected WIP. Some of the assumptions you can cheat on and still get valuable information.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast.

One of the most common problems teams face is starting more work than they complete. Neglected WIP is the gap between all the work you say you are working on and the stuff you are doing. The natural vagaries of office life can cause an item to get stuck due to someone being out sick or because your co-worker hit the lottery - stuff happens. A little might be ok, but more is bad. When neglected WIP passes that hurdle, real flow time will increase and velocity will slow. The combination of getting less work done and taking longer at it is a prescription for your stakeholders to start looking for torches and pitchforks.

We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the podcast. In this installment, we discussed the QA Lead’s role in agile teams. So just what does a QA Lead do in an agile team . . . Jeremy has some ideas.

Re-read Saturday News

I am going to combine the conversation of Chapters 12 and 13 of Coaching Agile Teams this week because there is a common core in these two chapters. Chapter 12, When Will I Get There?, discusses when will you know that you have become an Agile Coach, and Chapter 13, It’s Your Journey, discusses the journey several coaches have taken to get there. Chapter 12 plots the journey and Chapter 13 provides several travelogues.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Logistics Note: Next week we will wrap up Coaching Agile Teams and then on to Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Week 8: Coach As Teache r - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc

Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor - https://bit.ly/3fXoHOs

Week 12: Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes - https://bit.ly/3T0FluQ

Week 13: When Will I Get There? and It’s Your Journey - https://bit.ly/3MAe00v

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In SPaMCAST 726 we will chat with Mr. Allan Kelly. I missed talking to Allan so we covered a wide range of topics including OKRs, Product Backlogs, and remote working. Allan brings incredible insight to the podcast.

This week we feature an interview with Indus Khaitan, Founder & CEO at Quolum. A few of the topics covered include:
Why do organizations need help in consuming SaaS at scale efficiently? How can looking carefully at how you are using Saas save organizations tons of money? How can organizations refocus on delivering value rather than on overhead? What does it take to take a vision and make it a going concern, more than once?
Indus Khaitan is the founder of Quolum. Quolum helps companies manage their SaaS spend. He started Bitzer Mobile, a mobile security startup that Oracle acquired. Earlier, he led growth at Chargebee. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Indus’ Profile: linkedin.com/in/khaitan

Websites:

angel.co/1ndus (AngelList Profile)

quolum.com (Company)

Email: khaitan@gmail.com

Twitter: 1ndus

Podcast: Chief Future Officer

Re-read Saturday News

This week we reread Chapter 11 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ). Chapter 11, Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes, begins Part 3 of Coaching Agile Teams. Part 3 titled “ Getting More for Yourself.” Chapter 11 hits the topic of failure head-on, sharing both failure and success modes. Anyone that has been in the business of agile coach (coach, Scrum Master, manager, or others) for more than a few years and has pushed the boundaries of culture will have failures on their CV. Coaching is hard, training and continuous learning are important but not enough. A coach without experience is a trainee. A wide range of experience, which opens the door to successes and failures, is a learning opportunity that classes and webinars can’t deliver.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Logistics Note: We will combine the discussion of the last two chapters in this book and then follow that with a recap before starting. Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Week 8: Coach As Teache r - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc

Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor - https://bit.ly/3fXoHOs

Week 12 Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes - https://bit.ly/3T0FluQ

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

In SPaMCAST 725 we delve deeper into the concept of neglected WIP highlighting the calculation and a quick case study’ette so you can see the concept in action.

We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault from the QA Corner.

SPaMCAST 723 features our essay on neglected WIP. Work that has been started and is now just sitting around is neglected. Running a team or organization above their natural level WIP for any length of time causes flow velocity (throughput) to slow and flow time (cycle time) to increase. When there is too much work, people try all sorts of techniques to get work done. Multitasking is the grandfather of them all and we all know how that turns out (need a hint – badly). In the end, all approaches to trying to do too many ends up with some things being juggled and ignored. That is neglected WIP.

We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development Column. In this column Jon and I discuss time. Speaking of time, this is a lost episode…we started the episode discussing snow, last year's snow. We talked last week and were discussing when the first snow will be this year. Sometimes time flys and sometimes it doesn’t .

Re-read Saturday News

This week we reread Chapter 10 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ). The chapter is titled Coach as Coordination Conductor . The two most important items for me during this read of chapter 10 are found in the first part of this chapter. Reflecting back on my previous cover-to-cover read, I think that the number of great facilitation techniques in this chapter caused me to overlook two very important concepts. The first is an approach for differentiating collaboration and coordination. The approach is simple but very powerful. Why would any coach care about observing the difference? Because the two concepts are different and are useful in different scenarios.

Logistics Note: We have three more chapters in this book which we will follow with a recap before starting. Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Week 8: Coach As Teache r - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will feature an interview with Indus Khaitan, Founder & CEO at Quolum. Indus and I talked about SaaS, controlling SaaS spending, and serial entrepreneurship.

We are back with new content this week! The bears did not eat us as we trekked in three national parks. We did see bears but kept a respectable distance from them. Today the SPaMCAST 722 features an interview with Scott Showalter, Agile Career Accelerator. We discussed the definition of an agile coach. Building on that definition we wrestled with how to scale the business of agile coaching.

Note - I mispronounced Scott’s name at the beginning of the interview, rather than re-record the faux pax, it triggered a great story so I left it in.

Scott is an active enterprise agile coach working in the trenches with execs and leaders at a Fortune 10 organization, and what he has learned throughout the journey of his career is that what feels impossible only becomes achievable once we shift our perspective.

Scott has a passion for helping people design, grow and automate their products and their lives so that they can focus on what's truly important and have a greater impact on this planet. He coaches IT professionals and entrepreneurs on income growth and career advancement, and on the weekends he has been known to perform laugh-out-loud stand-up comedy.

Scott’s LinkedIn Profile linkedin.com/in/scottrageous

Website scottshowalter.com (Personal)

Twitter scottrageous

Re-read Saturday News

During the last few weeks, I have read and reread Chapter 9 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ). The chapter titled Coach as Conflict Navigator talks about the value and danger of conflict. What stuck with me was the model of levels of conflict and how at a certain point there can be no constructive outcome. Teams aside, scary thoughts for the world we live in.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Week 8: Coach As Teache r - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Next week SPaMCAST 723 will feature an essay on neglected WIP. Work that has been started and is now just sitting around is neglected.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development Column.

The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have:

Jeremy Berriault from SPaMCAST 571 Jiu-Jitsu and Teams, Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2pCtlHI

Susan Parente from SPaMCAST 556 Agile In Name Only, Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2JRGTFk

Tony TImbol from SPaMCAST 692 Agile Requirements, Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3hng3WY

Enjoy!

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Re-read Saturday News

I am packaging this show well ahead of time therefore all I can say for sure about the re-read is to remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we are back…unless bears have eaten me (I've been hiking in the Rockies). SPaMCAST 722 will feature an interview with Scott Showalter, Agile Career Accelerator. We discussed the definition of an agile coach. Building on that definition we wrestled with how to scale the business of agile coaching.

The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have:

Jon M Quigley - SPaMCAST 397 – Project Strategy - Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3pLztbU (Note: this was Jon’s debut column and he doesn’t know I am slipping this in.)

Susan Parente and Jon M Quigley- SPaMCAST 585 - Most Agile Transformations Ignore Technical Skills - Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2Haa4CE

Enjoy!

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Re-read Saturday News

I am packaging this show well ahead of time therefore all I can say for sure about the re-read is to remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we feature more of Jeremy Berriault, Susan Parente, and Tony Timbol.

The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have:

Jeremy Berriault - Your Scrum Master Is Not Yout Team Admin from SPaMCAST 705 Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3wXIguD

Tony Timbol - Agile Requirement Lifecycle from SPaMCAST 709 - Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3OnjHyJ

Susan Parente - Virtual Agile from SPaMCAST 589 - Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2PVUP59

Enjoy!

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Re-read Saturday News

I am packaging this show well ahead of time therefore all I can say for sure about the re-read is to remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we feature Jon M Quigley and Jon and Susan Parente together (a Jon and Susan-polza?)

Earlier this year I attended Agile 2022; It was a fantastic conference. One of the undercurrent themes was the use of OKRs (objectives and key results for the uninitiated) to enable agility, align organizations, and cure Covid. There is no such thing as a silver bullet, especially with the wide range of interpretations of what an OKR is and how to apply them. Luis Gonçalves retunes to the podcast to set us straight.

Luis’s Bio

Luis Gonçalves is an Entrepreneur, Best Seller Author, and International Keynote Speaker.

When consulting he works exclusively with Entrepreneurs, Founders, and Senior Leaders on the implementation of his game-changing "ADAPT Methodology".

By following the "ADAPT Methodology" Executive Leaders will be able to transform their traditional project-oriented companies into modern digital product companies.

OKR Guide: https://adaptmethodology.com/okr-guide-en

Website: https://adaptmethodology.com/

Website: evolution4all.com

Podcast: https://adaptmethodology.com/podcast/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/luismsg

Re-read Saturday News

This week, Chapter 7 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins. While observing and facilitating might be the most prolific coach activities, at times teaching takes front and center. Teaching encompasses a wide range of behaviors, but the goal is always the same - to elevate the person or team you are teaching. Teachers are there to help PEOPLE to become better at something.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Week 8: Coach As Teache r - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST will be on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. For the next three weeks, we will serve you the best of the best.

Flow Load has a special place in flow metrics, it is a leading indicator of value delivery as exhibited in flow velocity (throughput) and flow time. We review one experiment and propose another. In the end, you either control work entry or it controls you.

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available) which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Also this week we are joined by Tony TImbol and his To Tell A Story column. In this installment, Tony focuses on the impact of delayed requirements on agile teams.

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Re-read Saturday News

Chapter 6 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins is titled Coach as Facilitator. As a coach, I suspect I spend more time facilitating and observing than playing any other sub-role. Chapter 6 provides a number of gems that piqued my interest more during this read than in the first.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY

Next SPaMCAST

SPaMCAST 718 features our most recent discussion with Luis Gonçalves. Luis and I talked about OKRs. We will cover the gamut; the good, the bad, and the OMG they’ve turned into annual reviews all in one session!

Luis last appeared on the cast in SPaMCAST 670 .

This week Jeff Perry and I discussed learning how to consciously guide your technology career. We are all problem solvers, and Jeff provides a ton of hard-won advice. We also wrestled with the difference between a series of jobs and a career.

Jeff’s Bio:

Jeff Perry is the founder of More Than Engineering and serves as a leadership and career coach for engineers and technology professionals.

His innovative programs and coaching help people take a mindful, intentional, and purposeful approach to career transitions, leadership, and personal development goals.

Listeners of the SPaMCAST can find some free resources including the Career Clarity Checklist at https://www.engineeringcareeraccelerator.com/spamcast . They can also find and follow Jeff on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcperry/ .

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Re-read Saturday News

Chapter 5 begins Part 2 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and is titled Coach as Coach-Mentor. During my initial reading of this book, I found Part 2 the most immediately useful. During this re-read, I reflect less on techniques to engage people and teams and more on engagements that I have had and where my remit and my behavior took me off track.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi

Next SPaMCAST

SPaMCAST 717 we will focus on why Work in Process, flow load, is the leading indicator of flow metrics.

We will also be joined by Tony TImbol who brings his To Tell A Story column to the podcast.

A funny thing happened on the way to the essay this week. I was distracted by feedback from a colleague on a workshop Jeremy Willets and I developed and delivered this week. We discuss why the phrase work entry describes how work gets to teams and organizations, and why “work intake” masks problems in the real world.

We also have a visit from Susan Parente and her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. This month Susan answers a listener's question about whether it makes sense for a Scrum Master to also play other roles on a team.

Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com .

Re-read Saturday News

Chapter 4 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins , discusses the idea that a team, individual, or organization follows a path from a learner to mastery to a teacher using the Shu Ha Ri metaphor. The concept of Shu Ha Ri represents a continuum of learning. In martial arts or any demonstrable activity, practitioners must learn and practice before they can take the next step forward. Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset, postulated that even the most gifted athletes need an open mindset to succeed in the long run. To progress across the continuum of learning everyone needs to put in the work. I suspect that for many, the Shu state is the hardest to accept because we all want to believe we are special and we are all impatient to meet the prize of mastery.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 ) and read along!

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa

Next SPaMCAST

The SPaMCAST 716 features our interview with Jeff Perry. Jeff and I talked about consciously guiding a career in technology. We also wrestled with the difference between a series of jobs and a career. Jeff delivers a ton of hard-won advice.

Today Jonathon Wright will shift us…right? After decades of listening to the mantra shift left, you probably think you are entering the twilight zone. Maybe, but not on our account! Jonathan and I talked about putting customers first, testing AI, quality, and leadership.

Jonathon Wright is the Chief Technology Evangelist and heads up Solution Engineering (R&D) for Eggplant a Keysight Technologies company. He is a strategic thought leader and distinguished technology evangelist. He specializes in emerging technologies, innovation, and automation, and has more than 25 years of international commercial experience within global organizations.

Jonathon combines his extensive practical experience and leadership with insights into real-world adoption of Cognitive Engineering (Enterprise A.I. and AIOps). Thus, he is frequently in demand as a speaker at international conferences such as TEDx, Gartner, Oracle, AI Summit, ITWeb, EuroSTAR, STAREast, STARWest, UKSTAR, Guild Conferences, Swiss Testing Days, Unicom, DevOps Summit, TestExpo, and Vivit Community. Jonathon also hosts the QA lead (based in Canada) and is the author of several award-winning books (2010 – 2022) the latest with Rex Black on ‘AI for Software Testing.

Podcast: https://theqalead.com/podcasts/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/automation

Twitter: @Jonathon_Wright

Webpage: https://www.keysight.com/zz/en/home.html

Upcoming Events

Jeremy Willets and I have been accepted as speakers for this year’s Path to Agility! Our workshop is titled “Managing Work Entry: How the Mushy Middle is Killing Your Agility.” I’m very excited to be part of this wonderful conference and hope to reconnect with long-time colleagues at a fabulous venue — The Ohio Union at The Ohio State University. See you soon Columbus!

August 1 - 2 in Columbus, Ohio

Register Today: https://bit.ly/3otqg7u

Re-read Saturday News

I am still recovering from a Covid infection I picked up at or getting to Agile 2022. All in all I have been lucky (and prepared) and have weathered a mild brush with this disease. My chest still feels like I was mugged, but every day I am getting better. The lack of self-awareness that I was getting sick until things were full-blown is fairly startling. It was more startling when I was re-reading Chapter 3 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 - buy a copy) again this week in preparation to write this essay.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n

Next SPaMCAST

We will map the attributes of flow explored in SPaMCAST 708 to a basic palette of flow metrics. This will complete the circle defining flow, establishing basic attributes, and then identifying how to measure flow through its attributes.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who will bring her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast!

Today’s cast is a very short podcast. Over the past week, I spent an amazing week at Agile 2022. My goal was to be re-radicalized. I reconnected with friends, made new friends, learned a new set of personal pronouns (while not for me, they really work well), picked up a bunch of swag, learned a ton, got re-energized and re-radicalized, and got Covid19. I could have done without the latter. I will get better, but right now it is moving up on my personal least fun thing to do list. I told Jeremy Berriault (you will hear from him later) that Covid is somewhere between the sixth and seventh least fun thing I've ever been involved with. It was a solid #7 yesterday. With luck, things will be back to normal soon.

All that aside, the money shot presentation (for me) was given by Bethany Andres-Beck, titled “A Radical Culture of Culture Building.” Zie rocked it. The combination of small group influencing techniques combined with anarchist meeting design, community activism from the civil rights era, and the women’s movent was simply brilliant. Better yet, none of it was pie in the sky theory but the relating of an experience report. I need to talk hir into appearing on the podcast. This presentation was worth the price of admission for me.

I will share more in the near future.

This week we return to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault to discuss who is responsible for quality. In many organizations quality is on QA’s shoulders, should it be?

Upcoming Event

Jeremy Willets and I have been accepted as speakers for this year’s Path to Agility! Our workshop is titled “Managing Work Entry: How the Mushy Middle is Killing Your Agility.” I’m very excited to be part of this wonderful conference and hope to reconnect with long-time colleagues at a fabulous venue — The Ohio Union at The Ohio State University. See you soon Columbus!

August 1 - 2 in Columbus, Ohio

Register Today: https://bit.ly/3otqg7u

Re-read Saturday News

We WILL be back next week barring any catastrophes. Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and read along.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will feature our interview with Jonathan Wright. Jonathan and I will discuss shifting right. If, after decades of listening to the mantra shift left, you just experienced whiplash, I understand.

Jim Benson has a new book titled, The Collaboration Equation. Jim states that collaboration “is the base of the human condition, we need other people in order to live, but always seem to be at odds with each other.” Jim also states that unless you are striving for improvement, you are unprofessional. I really like talking to Jim; Jim is a force of nature.

Jim’s career path has taken him through government agencies, Fortune 10 corporations, and start-ups. Through them all, his passion has remained consistent – applying new technologies to workgroups. In each case asking how they can be leveraged to collaborate and cooperate more effectively. Jim loves ideas, creation, and building opportunities. He loves working with teams who are passionate about the future, pushing boundaries, and inclusion. His goal with all technologies is to increase beneficial contact between people and reduce the bureaucratic noise which so often tends to increase costs and destroy creativity.

Jim is the author of the Shingo Research Award-winning book Personal Kanban (use the link to buy a copy and support the podcast). He is a noted expert in business process, personal work management, and the application of Lean to personal work and life. Jim believes that the best process is the least process necessary to achieve goals. He has zero tolerance for process waste.

All said, Jim enjoys helping people and teams work out sticky problems, an advocate of people actually seeing their work, and inventing new ways to work at the intersection of Lean thinking, brain science, and leadership.

Contact Jim

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourfounder

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbenson

Personal Kanban: http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/#sthash.MtOA96sV.dpbs

Modus Cooperandi: http://moduscooperandi.com/

Re-read Saturday News

We are talking the week off on our re-read Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 - buy a copy). I was traveling to Nashville for Agile 2022 (let me know if you are here). Next week we will be back on track but in the interim remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and read along.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Next SPaMCAST

We will map our basic flow metrics palttet a simple organizational hierarchy. Some metrics tell us where we were and some tell us where we are going. This essay reflects work that Jeremy WIllets and I are exploring.

We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the Software Process and Measurement Cast.

This week we make a quick side trip. Earlier this week I was asked why I “did” the Re-read Saturday column. Today, I offer a short explanation and highlight the experiments I am running as part of our re-read of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins .

We also have a visit from Jon M. Quigley. In this installment of his Alpha and Omega of Product Development, Jon and I discuss the role of the team lead in agile teams that have coaches, scrum masters, and just might be self-organizing. There is a role but it is not the classic version that is in common use.

Why Do I “Do” Re-read Saturday.

Re-read Saturday is a long-running column featured on my blog (tcagley.wordpress.com) and at tomcagley.com. The books selected for the column are nominated and then voted on by readers. Because most books are selected by the acclaim from readers of the blog, the re-read is sometimes actually the first read for me. During the re-read we read, discuss, and highlight concepts chapter by chapter.

There are three major reasons for the column. One, the column draws eyes. A blog without readers is a diary. Over the years, many of the top 10 annual posts have been from the re-read feature. A second reason, and perhaps the original reason was that I had not read some of these books before and really needed to read them. For some of the other books we have re-read, the re-read drove home the point that memory erodes over time. For example, I am embarrassed to say I had forgotten the story of Herby (check out the re-read of The Goal). Reason two is that the re-read is a forcing function to guide behavior. The books we read and re-read help shape how we behave. The third reason is that the column generates a lot of interaction. I have heard from readers and authors with ideas and opinions. The interactions have certainly improved my understanding of how work is done and how to improve. The level of interaction suggests that the readers get similar benefits.

Recently, I decided to run weekly experiments based on the chapter I am reading. The weekly experiment is another forcing function. Doing the activity drives home a point so it is harder to forget. For example from the re-read of Chapter 2 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins titled Expect High Performance I am focusing on using metaphors to guide behaviors. As an experiment, I am establishing a metaphor for myself. The goal is to see whether having a metaphor changes my behavior. The concept of the weekly experiment might end up being the best reason for me to “do” Re-read Saturday and perhaps the best reason for you, the reader, to participate.

PS -- I am not convinced that the person that asked was really looking for this much information. I actually think they we asking why read books at all when you watch videos which lead us to a different discussion which I will share another day.

Finally, have you downloaded the book referenced in last week's interview? Check out Seeing Money Clearly at www.agileagonist.com

Re-read Saturday News

This week, Chapter 2 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 - buy a copy). The chapter’s title is Expect High Performance. As a coach, you need to have high expectations of yourself and those you are coaching.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and read along.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf

Next SPaMCAST

Jim Benson has a new book titled, The Collaboration Equation. The first sentence in the description of the book is:

“It is the base of the human condition, we need other people in order to live, but always seem to be at odds with each other.”

We went from there,

Daniel Doiron's new book Seeing Money Clearly challenges Agile Centers of Excellence to view decision-making through the lens of Throughput Accounting.

Throughput Accounting is a lot of things:
An accounting system, A financial application, A process of ongoing improvement (POOGI), and First and foremost, the decision-making arm of the Theory of Constraints.
Daniel’s Bio

“I am the only CPA in the world - negative assurance provided - to give a one-day Throughput Accounting class to a CPA chapter (Québec) within the scope of their mandatory Professional Development Program. A few CPA chapters in the world give diluted Throughput Accounting classes in a recorded format and ignore the Five Focusing Steps, thereby disqualifying them from the spirit of Throughput Accounting”, states Doiron.

“For Agile CoEs (Center of Excellence), I wrote the only Throughput Accounting book dealing exclusively with Knowledge Work. It has received rave reviews from the top minds in Throughput Accounting as I have brought numerous novelties never thought of before.”

In short, Seeing Money Clearly :
Teaches CPAs how to make more money now and in the future. Teaches Agile CoEs how to mint money.
Download Seeing Money Clearly at www.agileagonist.com and reach out at daniel_doiron@hotmail.com and on Twitter @AgileAgonist

Re-read Saturday News

This week, Chapter 1 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 - buy a copy). The chapter tackles more than just the question embedded in the title exploring why a coach is needed, the path to becoming a coach, and both the mindsets and skills a coach needs.

Read all of Week 1’s entry https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe and next week we will cover Part 1, Chapter 1: Will I Be A Good Coach.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and read along.

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg

Next SPaMCAST

We will map the attributes of flow explored in SPaMCAST 708 to a basic palette of flow metrics. This will complete the circle defining flow, establishing basic attributes, and then identifying how to measure flow through its attributes.

We will also have a visit from Jon M. Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the cast!

Definitions provide several benefits. The first is that once a definition for an object or concept is agreed upon, it is far easier to have a discussion without getting confused. A second and equally important benefit is that definitions provide a platform for establishing attributes that can be used to describe the object or idea. Attributes are critical because even with a definition we need to communicate and measure nuances. Just think if you only had one word to describe rain or hot; a lot would be lost. Today we identify four basic attributes of flow.

We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his “To Tell A Story” column to the podcast. In this installment, Tony and I talk about agile requirements. They really exist…really!

Re-read Saturday News

This week we began our re-read of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 buy a copy). I am re-reading my Kindle version of the book. The front matter includes Forwards by Mike Cohn, Jim Highsmith, Acknowledgments, Introduction, and a section titled, About the Author. The main body of the book is in three parts comprised of 13 chapters. It is indexed -- useful for reference books! I estimate 16 or 17 weeks to complete the re-read depending on my travel. Note: The Kindle edition of the book has not been updated and will not run on the Paperwhite Version 10 models, so we will re-read it on the iPhone and Laptop -- I did not have a happy chat with Kindle support on this issue. Wake up, Addison Wesley!

Read all of Week 1’s Entry https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe and next week we will cover Part 1, Chapter 1: Will I Be A Good Coach.

Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins and read along.

If you are still catching up on the re-read of Why Limit WIP are are all of the links”:

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Week 9: Awareness - https://bit.ly/3LBZfIl

Week 10: Communication - https://bit.ly/39Tji7Q

Week 11: Learning - https://bit.ly/38HQNtJ

Week 12: Epilogue and Final Notes - https://bit.ly/3y3LH4M

Next SPaMCAST

Daniel Dorion returns to the podcast next week to talk about his new book, Throughput Accounting - Seeing Money Clearly. Daniel begins the Prologue of his new book with the statement “My aim is to have you think differently and lose your reflexes and cognitive biases that are the fabric of society.” You will have a lot to think about after you listen!

107 podcasts ago (just a little over two years ago) on SPAMCAST 601 I interviewed Brian Weaver of Torch.AI about leadership. Lots of things have happened since then, a pandemic, Europe in flames again and Torch.AI thriving. It was great to touch base with Brian to talk about how his perspective as a leader has changed. While not needed for this interview, I highly recommend listening to SPaMCAST 601 either before or after.

Brian serves as CEO of Torch.AI and has more than 20 years of experience leading mission-driven, high-growth, technology-focused companies. Torch.AI helps leading organizations leverage artificial intelligence in a unique way via a proprietary enterprise data management software solution. Today, Torch.AI supports clients like H&R Block with fraud detection and mitigation and the U.S. Department of Defense with machine learning-enabled background investigations for all federal employees, supporting the determination of an individual’s trustworthiness and security credentialing.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briangweaver/

Torch.AI – https://torch.ai/

Re-read Saturday News

Completing a re-read is always bittersweet. Today we say goodbye to a friend, Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work . The final chapter is the Epilogue and interwoven are our final notes. Next week we lay out the logistics for our re-read of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Arkins https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 .

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Week 9: Awareness - https://bit.ly/3LBZfIl

Week 10: Communication - https://bit.ly/39Tji7Q

Week 11: Learning - https://bit.ly/38HQNtJ

Week 12: Epilogue and Final Notes - https://bit.ly/3y3LH4M

Next SPaMCAST

Everyone has a set of attributes they use to describe and measure flow. Let's narrow the field to the most important few and start from there.

We will also have a visit from Tony TImbol and his To Tell A Story Column.

In SPaMCAST 707 Susan Parente and I discuss the difference between leadership and management in her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. These two concepts are related but not the same.

The votes are in! The next three books for Re-read Saturday are:

Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Arkins https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3

Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching by Bob Galen https://amzn.to/3wJsbtS

Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais, and Ruth Malan https://amzn.to/3yXINzo

Re-read Saturday News

This week, we are revisiting (and re-editing) the conclusion of the first re-read to tide you over to the completion of Why Limit WIP. I have been backpacking, glamping, and visiting my father for the past eight days. That in its own right would not have precluded completing our re-read, but I also forgot the power cord for my laptop. Next week we will conclude our re-read of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work .

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Week 9: Awareness - https://bit.ly/3LBZfIl

Week 10: Communication - https://bit.ly/39Tji7Q

Week 11: Learning - https://bit.ly/38HQNtJ

Next SPaMCAST

Brian Weaver returns to the Software Process and Measurement Cast to discuss the impact of AI on business, leadership, and development.

SPaMCAST 706 features a conversation with Tom Henricksen. Tom makes a strong case that ignoring soft skills will limit your ability to deliver real value. Tom says, "Humans Are Hard, Code Is Easy."

Tom’s Bio:

Tom Henricksen is a problem-solving technology professional. He has worked in various roles in technology for over twenty years. Tom has learned how to solve challenging issues in technology and lead technical teams. He can help you develop those skills too!

URL: codeiseasy.co

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tomhenricksen

Twitter: @tomhenricksen

Re-read Saturday News

The bottom line to Chapter 10 of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work is simple (assuming you have been re-reading along): too much WIP interferes with learning. Without the time or inclination to experiment, the best scenario is learning by accident. In Chapter 10, the author discusses how knowledge workers learn.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Week 9: Awareness - https://bit.ly/3LBZfIl

Week 10: Communication - https://bit.ly/39Tji7Q

Week 11: Learning - https://bit.ly/38HQNtJ

Next SPaMCAST

In SPaMCAST 707 it is back to flow basics with a discussion of the attributes of flow. Scott Ambler described two attributes of flow as smoothness and scent. We will discuss.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who will bring her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast.

In the SPaMCAST 705 we stay with the basics and define the term flow. I recently listened to a conversation where the term flow was used 30ish times in 30 minutes. Each use of the term meant something different. Today we draw a line in the sand to improve communication.

We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault from the QA Corner. Jeremy and I discussed the mistaken belief that Scrum Master and Coach can be translated to administrative assistant.

Re-read Saturday News

In Chapter 9 of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work , the author extols the virtues of transparency. The Kanban board provides a platform for everyone (I am not being hyperbolic) to understand how much work is in process.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Week 9: Awareness - https://bit.ly/3LBZfIl

Week 10: Communication - https://bit.ly/39Tji7Q

Next SPaMCAST

In SPaMCAST 706 we have a visit from Tom Henricksen. We walked about programmers and soft skills… like communication. As Tom says, "Humans Are Hard, Code Is Easy."

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 704, we talk leadership with Stuart Leo Founder & CEO of Waymaker.io. One of the reasons I enjoy interviews is that I often stumble across great stories. Stuart’s entrepreneurial origin story includes golf balls, icy Tasmanian lakes, and scuba divers -- I will remember this story until I die.
Stuart is a global thinker in strategy, systems, and leadership development. As the founder of Waymaker.io he has led the creation of Waymaker’s Leadership Curve - a revolutionary way of building clarity, alignment, and remarkable results for any organization.

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/stuartleo

Company Website waymaker.io

Blog waymaker.io/blog-feed/

Twitter @stuartleo

Re-read Saturday News

This week’s chapter of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work opens with a quote from The Dalai Lama linking effective self-discipline with awareness of consequences. The chapter, titled Awareness, speaks to me of redemption. Awareness is a precursor to shedding helplessness and ignites the desire to act. I have spent a large part of my career participating, influencing, and/or leading change. Struggle is a common thread in nearly all of these efforts when entrenched leaders push back against ideas that bubble up from teams or other levels of the organization. Whether from fear or myriad other reasons, there are consequences for everyone involved. Learned helplessness, as noted in Chapter 7, or a dawning awareness that there are other possibilities creates an impetus for change. Whether change creates better processes, products, relationships, or changes in the workforce (that means people leaving) boils down to agency.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Next SPaMCAST

In the SPaMCAST 705 we define the term flow. I listened to a conversation last week. The term flow was used 30ish times in 30 minutes. Each use of the term meant something different. Let's draw a line in the sand to improve communication.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings another fabulous installment of Not A Scrumdamentalist to the podcast.

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 703, we wrestle with one of the basics of agile. What is the power of making a commitment? Making and keeping commitments are core components of professional behavior. It is a promise to perform. Whether Agile or Waterfall, commitments are used to manage software projects. They are used to drive the behavior of teams.

We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.

Re-read Saturday News

Chapter 7 is one of my favorites in Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work . One of the chronic problems I help teams deal with is the perceived need to start everything that comes to them, generating huge amounts of WIP. Many of the items sit in an on-hold status until something else happens. The iron-willed self-discipline of starting is great at creating on-hold items and crap at getting work done. There is a gap in understanding the impact of the consequences.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Week 8: Focus - https://bit.ly/3PkE0hg

Next SPaMCAST

In the SPaMCAST 704, we talk leadership with Stuart Leo Founder & CEO at Waymaker.io. Leadership is incredibly important and requires constant attention.

In SPaMCAST 702, Matthew Stibbe and I talk about the impact of leadership when building a technology-driven business. Mathew shared stories about learning to type, how he has reinvented himself numerous times, and why he blogs at https://geekboss.com/ .

Note: I have not edited out the parts of the interview just before I welcome Matthew to the podcast. Mr. Stibbe told a couple of very endearing stories that help set the tone for the entire interview. He agreed to allow me to share them.

MATTHEW STIBBE is a serial entrepreneur, marketing maven, writer, pilot, and wine enthusiast. But not necessarily in that order.

He created marketing strategies, content, and campaigns for clients including Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn, and HP and contributed to Wired, Forbes, and Popular Science.

Currently, he is CEO at Articulate Marketing, a UK marketing agency specializing in the technology sector. Also, his geek credentials are strong. Previously, he was founder and CEO at Intelligent Games, a 70-person computer games company where he designed games for LEGO and produced two games based on Dune.

Matthew also has his commercial pilots license and an advanced wine diploma. (Have you seen the film Somm? Like that!) At some point in the previous millennium, he studied history at Oxford University. These days, he blogs about modern management at www.geekboss. com, about marketing at www. articulatemarketing.com and wine at www.vincarta.com

Re-read Saturday News

This week, we talk about Healthy Constraints in Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work . Many years (think decades) ago a friend of mine, Danny Bailus, had a cool mini-bike. He rode it around our neighborhood in Howland, Ohio all summer. It was the third coolest (text me the first two) thing that held my attention that summer. That was until Danny decided that it did not go fast enough and removed the governor from the small engine. He removed the constraint from the system and the engine burned out. His father was not very happy, Danny was not very happy, and I was very happy I was not riding it when it happened. In this chapter, Mr. Benson discusses the difference between healthy and unhealthy constraints.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Week 7: Healthy Constraint s - https://bit.ly/3kM8xqh

Next SPaMCAST

We continue on the basics with an essay on Teams and team design.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who will regale us with tales of the Alpha and Omega of Product Development.

With SPaMCAST 701 we go back to basics. Whether you call that quick meeting to coordinate the day the Daily Scrum, Stand-up, or a huddle is not material. Daily coordination is phenomenally powerful and useful unless it isn’t. Just making teams meet without benefit is a really bad idea. What else can be done?

We also have a visit from Tony Timbol with another installment from his Tell A Story Column. In this installment, Tony discusses agile requirements. Getting work done in agile is not just user stories and a cloud of dust.

Re-read Saturday News

The chapter of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work this week is titled, Creating An Economy. In the past decade, certain words have become toxic. Words like process, waterfall, and output have become taboo in certain corners of software-related industries. Add the word productivity to the mix and many people would grab torches and pitchforks. The vilification of these words (or any words – it is sort of like burning books in my mind) makes it difficult to talk about systemic improvement. As a Kanban practitioner, I focus on flow. But not just flow, I advise my clients that they should keep their eye on continuously improving the flow. Continuous improvement yields better outcomes. Organizations, teams, and individuals that overextend and exceed their WIP limit are not improving their delivery of outcomes but rather in Jim Benson’s words “disrespecting your ability to create amazing things.” More bluntly they are neither effective nor efficient.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Week 6: Creating An Economy - https://bit.ly/3F1XKkZ

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, Matthew Stibbe and I talk about the impact of leadership when building a technology-driven business.

SPaMCAST 700 features our interview with Slater Victoroff. Slater suggests that what we think of as AI today will be overtaken by human-machine partnerships. He uses the metaphor of a bionic arm. AI is the future and that future is not very far away.
Slater Victoroff is the Founder and CTO of indico data solutions, an Enterprise AI solution for unstructured content with an emphasis on text and NLP. He has been building machine learning solutions for startups, governments, and Fortune 100 companies for the past 5 years and is a frequent speaker at AI conferences.

linkedin.com/in/slatervictoroff

slater.r.victoroff@gmail.com

Twitter: @sl8rv

Website: https://indicodata.ai/

Re-read Saturday News

The chapters of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work this week and last are interrelated. Last week we focused on multitasking. For those with a short memory, human multitasking is in the same category as unicorns and shiny vampires: a fun concept but dangerous to believe in. This week we deal with context switching. Because humans don’t have multiple cores and processors instead of multitasking we bounce between things. Each bounce requires shifting context – this takes time and effort. Remember that the author established earlier that things that are not done are sitting in the back of your mind sucking up capacity and an occasional conscious thought (another contest switch).

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Week 5: Context Switching - https://bit.ly/3K8KADF

Next SPaMCAST

Back to basics, whether you call that quick meeting to coordinate the day the Daily Scrum, Stand-up or a huddle is not material. Daily coordination is phenomenally powerful and useful unless it isn’t. Just making teams meet without benefit is a really bad idea. What else can be done?

We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol with another installment from his Tell A Story Column.

This week we feature our interview with Eric Daimler, PhD. Eric and I discussed how AI can unlock the potential of humanity.

Dr. Eric Daimler is an authority in Artificial Intelligence with over 20 years of experience in the field as an entrepreneur, executive, investor, technologist, and policy advisor. Daimler has co-founded six technology companies that have done pioneering work in fields ranging from software systems to statistical arbitrage.

Daimler is the author of the forthcoming book "The Coming Composability: The roadmap for using technology to solve society’s biggest problems." A frequent speaker, lecturer, and commentator, he works to empower communities and citizens to leverage AI for a more sustainable, secure, and prosperous future.

As a Presidential Innovation Fellow during the Obama Administration, Daimler helped drive the agenda for U.S. leadership in research, commercialization, and public adoption of AI. He has also served as Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Software Engineering in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. His academic research focuses on the intersection of Machine Learning, Computational Linguistics, and Network Science (Graph Theory). He has a specialization in public policy and economics, helped launch Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley Campus, and founded its Entrepreneurial Management program.

A frequent keynote speaker, he has presented at venues including the engineering schools of MIT, Stanford, and Harvard. Daimler studied at Stanford University, the University of Washington-Seattle, and Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned his PhD in its School of Computer Science.

Contact Information

Twitter: @ead

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ericdaimler

Website: http://www.conexus.com/

Re-read Saturday News

Multitasking is the first or second greatest LIE in the modern business world. The best description of multitasking would include thrash, waste, and hubris. The problem is that EVERYONE thinks they are special and can multitask their way to the effective delivery of value. Chapter 3 of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work blasts away at multitasking (another take on the topic from 2015: Multitasking Yourself Away From Efficiency | Software Process and Measurement https://bit.ly/37XmrSY ). Multitasking is bad, don’t do it.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit.ly/37hUh5z

Upcoming Events:

Final Call! Free Webinar

When Prioritization Goes Bad

https://www.greatpro.org/Webinar-Live-Register?id=1954

April 19, 2022 11 AM EDT to 1230 EDT

Next SPaMCAST

Next week for SPaMCAST 700 we will feature our interview with Slater Victoroff. Slater presents an alternate definition for AI. Compare and contrast to Dr. Daimler’s definition?

This week Susan Parente and I had an extraordinary conversation about team leads in agile and leadership. In some cases, the role of a team leader is treated as if it were superfluous to requirements in other cases it is a tool to delegate work to people in an effort to subvert self-organization and when organizations get it right the role is a vehicle to unlocking the capabilities of teams.
Contact Susan at parente.s3@gmail.com or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/susanparente

Re-read Saturday News

Week 3 of our re-read of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work by Jim Benson talks about the thrill of getting things done. People with a lot of WIP look for more work, things they can grab and complete to feel good about themselves. I am as guilty as anyone else. Sometimes when items on my shortlist get stuck instead of breaking the items down into smaller chunks to progress the work I will grab a less valuable task and just do it so I can check something off. Susan Parente, who you just heard from in one of her great “Not A Scrumdamentalist” podcast columns described the same scenario.

Remember to buy a copy and read along. Amazon Affiliate LInk: https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5

Previous Entries

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg

Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm

Upcoming Events:

Free Webinar

When Prioritization Goes Bad

https://www.greatpro.org/Webinar-Live-Register?id=1954

April 19, 2022 11 AM EDT to 1230 EDT

Special Call to Action

If you are a team lead I need your help! I believe the TL role is the least understood and least talked about in agile. It is time to change that. I am working on testing a model of TL behaviors in agile. I need examples of REAL TL job descriptions to map into the model. The glittering generalities that you find on the web don’t match what really happens in the real world. I do not need anything sensitive like salary or product details. I will happily share the first cut of the model with anyone that helps and sponsor a virtual meeting to discuss the model with all participants.

If you have a TL job description you can share please email me at tcagley@tomcagley.com

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will feature our interview with Matthew Stibbe. Matt and I discussed how leadership (or the lack thereof) contributes to projects in wide a range of environments (software and marketing).

This week we talked with Jardena London. We discussed her book Cultivating Transformations - A Leader's Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical . Being soulful sounds fluffy, but isn’t. It is critical for delivering lasting change.

Jardena is a Business Transformation Consultant, Author, Keynote Speaker, and a Certified Facilitator of Dare to Lead; Brene Brown’s groundbreaking training program for organizations based on creating courageous workplaces. Jardena is also the Founder of Souls@Work.org which is focusing on leading a movement to create workplaces that nourish our souls and exude positive energy.

Her recent book, “ Cultivating Transformations: A Leader’s Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practica l” has been described as “the book you buy and carry around with you everywhere.”

Her most recent successes have been transforming a large legacy organization into a modern workplace with breakout results. She also speaks at corporate events and on stages worldwide on the positive effects of organizational transformation. Jardena has also served as co-founder and CEO of Rosetta Technology Group since 1997.

Websites and Contact Information

Cultivatingtransformations.com

rosettaagile.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jardena/

Upcoming Events:

Free Webinar

When Prioritization Goes Bad

https://www.greatpro.org/Webinar-Live-Register?id=1954

April 19, 2022 11 AM EDT to 1230 EDT

Special Call to Action

If you are a team lead I need your help! I believe the TL role is the least understood and least talked about in agile. It is time to change that. I am working on testing a model of TL behaviors in agile. I need examples of REAL TL job descriptions to map into the model. The glittering generalities that you find on the web don’t match what really happens in the real world. I do not need anything sensitive like salary or product details. I will happily share the first cut of the model with anyone that helps and sponsor a virtual meeting to discuss the model with all participants.

If you have TL job description you can share please email me at tcagley@tomcagley.com

Next SPaMCAST

We are finally going to tackle the difference between prioritization and sequencing. Sequencing is the forgotten cousin of prioritization, HOWEVER, just because you know the priority isn’t enough because if you don't get the order right value will be lost.

We will also have a visit from Susan “Not A Scrumdamentalist” Parente.

We began the Re-Read Saturday feature in 2014 with a re-read of John Kotter’s classic Leading Change. The list of books we have re-read is quite long -- I am going to have to create a list. All that said, last week a person that regularly comments on the podcast indicated they really did not know what Re-Read Saturday was all about. So today to commemorate spring in the northern hemisphere (and the fact that it snowed) and the kick-off of the latest re-read (Why Limit WIP by Jim Benson) I am going to share an audio version of this week's entry. As we always say, buy a copy of the book and read Jim Benson’s Why Limit WiP (buy a copy using our Amazon Affiliate link https://amzn.to/3u6Feml get reading) along with us.

The written version: https://bit.ly/3iDezbp

This week we also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault, who brings his QA Corner to the podcast. Jeremy and I explored the difference between relative and absolute time.

Upcoming Events:

Free Webinar

When Prioritization Goes Bad

https://www.greatpro.org/Webinar-Live-Register?id=1954

April 19, 2022 11 AM EDT to 1230 EDT

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will talk with Jardena London. We will discuss her book Cultivating Transformations - A Leader's Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical. We will also explore why being soulful in the workplace is critical for facilitating change.

This week we talk to Julianna Lamb, co-founder and CTO at Stytch about agile in start-ups, hybrid working, how to keep a product backlog under control, grow a business in the early 2020’s, and more.

Julianna is the Co-Founder and CTO of Stytch, a platform for user infrastructure and passwordless authentication. She was previously a software engineer at Strava and Plaid and an early product hire at Very Good Security.

Originally from Idaho, Julianna studied computer science and history at Stanford. A former professional figure skater, she started racing triathlons in college and is now an Ironman triathlete.

Contact Data:

Website: https://stytch.com/

Twitter: j uliannaelamb

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliannaelamb

Re-Read Saturday News

Today we complete our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick touching on the Conclusion, Further Resources, and our concluding notes. Next week we will begin re-reading Jim Benson’s Why Limit WiP (buy a copy using our Amazon Affiliate link https://amzn.to/3u6Feml get reading) as we run a poll to select the next of books for the series.

Agile Conversations: https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Previous Installments:

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3Jg6KE2

Week 8 The Why Conversation (Part 2) – https://bit.ly/34YAsPc

Week 9 The Commitment Conversation - https://bit.ly/3pmaooj

Week 10 The Accountability Conversation - https://bit.ly/3KCJXD1

Week 11 Conclusion and More - https://bit.ly/3wlGSn8

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, are sequencing and prioritization different sides to the same coin or are they different coins entirely. Is a keystone topic when wrestling with work entry.

We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault and the QA Corner.

Organizational design often collides with getting work done; generating friction that causes all manner of problems. No one goes out of their way to make things difficult, however poor operating metaphors and one size fits all solutions are never optimal. There is a way for agile and team leaders to coexist, but can you take that path?

Also this week, Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column make time for the cast. In this installment, we talk about time (including a few time-related puns).

Re-Read Saturday News

The accountability conversation is the fifth and last conversation addressed in our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick . In Chapter 7 the authors define accountability as “being obligated to render an account of what you have done and why.” Next week we will cover the conclusions and some final thoughts. Then we will have a quick interlude re-reading Jim Benson’s Why Limit WiP while we run a poll to select the next books.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3Jg6KE2

Week 8 The Why Conversation (Part 2) – https://bit.ly/34YAsPc

Week 9 The Commitment Conversation - https://bit.ly/3pmaooj

Week 10 The Accountability Conversation - https://bit.ly/3KCJXD1

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, Julianna Lamb, co-founder and CTO at STYTCH. We talked agile, start-ups, security, and more.

Today we speak with Prateek Joshi. Prateek and I talked about the definition of AI, machine learning, and an approach to using AI in the real world. AI is in your future and it won't be the Matrix or Skywarn (or will it).

Prateek Joshi is the founder of Plutoshift and a published author of 13 books on AI. He has been featured in publications such as Forbes, CNBC, TechCrunch, and Bloomberg. You can visit www.prateekj.com to learn more about him.

Plutoshift: https://plutoshift.com/

Re-Read Saturday News

We had a bit of home repair this week and I did not get the Week 10 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick completed (thanks to Laurie and Todd for use of their condo). We will be back next week.

Buy a copy now! https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3Jg6KE2

Week 8 The Why Conversation (Part 2) – https://bit.ly/34YAsPc

Week 9 The Commitment Conversation - https://bit.ly/3pmaooj

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, we revisit the role of the team lead and the concept of self-organizing teams. Can they co-exist?

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.

In SPaMCAST 692 we discuss Process Improvement as a phrase or perhaps even a mantra. Uttering the phrase evokes all sorts of baggage and cognitive biases that affect behaviors, not always for the better. What are the listeners of the Software Process and Measurement Cast to do?

We also have a visit from Tony TImbol who brings his “To Tell A Story” column to the Podcast. We dive headlong into the tangled world of user stories and agile requirements. Tony also announces his new ebook on agile requirements.

Get your own copy! https://bit.ly/3plyiAu

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 9 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick is about commitment. Over the years I have observed that there are some people who are very committed to adopting a new way of working, some people that pay lip service, and others who flat-out resist. This is obviously a continuum.

Update on last week’s experiment:

I was not able to leverage the concepts of joint design directly. I did use coherence busting techniques again (we are back to situational context). I am going to try again this week and I am also going to experiment with calculating the ratio of defined important words to total important words in conversations that people are trying to generate commitment.

Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3Jg6KE2

Week 8 The Why Conversation (Part 2) – https://bit.ly/34YAsPc

Week 9 The Commitment Conversation - https://bit.ly/3pmaooj

Next SPaMCAST

More AI with a conversation with Prateek Joshi. Mr. Joshi and I talked about the definition of AI, machine learning, and how to test AI (this was just the tip of the iceberg). AI is in your future and it won't be the Matrix or Skywarn (or will it).

In SPaMCAST 69, Kevin McKeel talks about using neurolinguistics to aid in software estimation tools. Is this the end of the world for the software estimating profession or the beginning of a golden age? Probably both, listen and draw your own conclusions.

Kevin’s Bio

Mr. Kevin McKeel has over 25 years of experience in software cost estimation. He is a CCEA and SAFe Architect and received the prestigious 2021 Technical Achievement of the Year award from ICEAA related to the research of automated software sizing using AI and NLP. Mr. McKeel holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration (Finance, ‘89) from James Madison University and a Master’s in Business Administration (Decision Systems, ’92) from The George Washington University.

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/kevin-mckeel-2457235

Website: logapps.com

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 8 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick concludes our read of Chapter 5 addressing the ‘Why Conversation’. This week we spent time tackling the concepts of joint design and urging organizations to train team leads in decision making. They are not second class citizens

My experiment of the week:

Last week I proposed the experiment of creating a position-interest chart during the week. I actually used the technique to help frame an essay for the Software Process and Measurement Podcast within 12 hours of proposing the experiment. I also used the ideas in the approach to reframing several discussions (looking for the positions behind stated positions) during the week.

This week I will try to find a scenario to apply the concepts of joint design (no eggs will be harmed).

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3Jg6KE2

Week 8 The Why Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34YAsPc

Next SPaMCAST

What would you call a person with little training, a lot of responsibility, and little to no real authority? This is not a Dad Joke. I suggest the answer is often a team lead.

Also, Mr. Tony Timbol is back to talk about user stories in his To Tell A Story column.

This week we revisit the age-old statements, “I don't want to be measured” and its alter ego, “management will use metrics against me.” While often stated as if they are questions, both are positions. We weave in two recent techniques from our Re-read of Agile Conversations to consider the interests behind the statements

Also, Jeremy Berriault weighs in on the need for testing strategies in agile on this edition of this QA Corner.

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 7 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick begins Chapter 5 addressing the ‘Why Conversation’. Like the ‘Fear Conversation’, we will approach this in two parts; focusing this week on two areas, positions and interests, and inquiry and advocacy. We will tackle joint design next week.

My experiment of the week:

I set out to create a fear matrix – that sounds like a movie title. I failed, BUT more importantly, I was able to use the fear matrix approach as a structure for a retrospective. It worked well. The idea of exposing and mitigating fears shifted perspectives nicely. Interestingly, what was hard was tying the fears and mitigations to an espoused norm. In conversations afterward, it became apparent that it is hard to admit that your behavior is or was at odds with the norms of the team and organization. It will be worth another conversation to make sure the link is clear.

Next week, I am going to explore building a position-interest chart.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3Jg6KE2

Next SPaMCAST

Next week Kevin McKeel will visit the SPaMCAST to talk about AI and software estimation tools. Is this the end of the world for the software estimating profession or the beginning of a golden age?

Prabhjot Singh and I talk about AI using AI to improve the flow of work and the delivery of value. AI, however you define it, is in your future. You need to be ready!

Mr. Singh’s bio:

Prabhjot Singh is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple for-profit, social enterprise, and non-profit ventures. He serves as President and CEO of Pyze, the most recent company he founded to enable the world’s largest enterprises to improve business operations through AI-driven Process Intelligence and Analytics. He has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and product management. He previously co-founded Pixatel Systems, a social enterprise that utilizes mobile computing to deploy apps and e-Learning solutions to millions of users.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/psinghsf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/psinghSF

Company Website: https://www.pyze.com/

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 6 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick continues on Chapter 4: The Fear Conversation. We discussed two of the three major concepts in Chapter 4 last week, but we did not consider the fear conversation and more specifically the fear chart. Many years ago I worked with a manager, Rich Hisrich at BancSystems/EDS. I was the QA manager at the site. It was through my interaction with RIch that I learned the value of whiteboards and visualization. The fear chart is a visualization tool I can see having great value.

My experiment of the week:

I am going to double down and commit to creating a fear chart. Whether an opportunity for a fear conversation presents itself, we shall see.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) - https://bit.ly/34lLON4

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we continue an essay refining how we are using Flow Metrics in 2022 to … manage flow (surprise) rather than micromanaging tasks or kidding ourselves with relative sizing techniques.

We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault and his QA Corner.

Continuous improvement through inspecting and adapting is a core tenant of an agile mindset, which dovetails well with every executive’s need to deliver the most value possible. Measurement is an important tool to help teams and organizations ask the right questions at the right time. Flow metrics, not burndowns and velocity, need to be a big part of any IT organization's approach to measurement.

We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast. Jon discusses the complicated relationship between time, work entry, and promises.

Have you checked out The Open Transformation Playbooks Martin Foster discussed last week? If not, you are missing something important. https://transformationplaybooks.org/

The Open Transformation Playbooks is an initiative to build an open, remixable, body of knowledge for agile organizational transformation.

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 5 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick tackles Chapter 4: The Fear Conversation. Fear has a significant impact on what we think and how we behave. The changes that fear drives don’t stop at the individual, the behavior changes ripple through organizations.

M y experiment of the week:

Update on last week’s experiment. I was able to use some of the ideas from the trust conversation this week. I actually used the statement, “the story I am telling myself is . . .” in a real conversation twice. The first time it felt contrived; it is much easier to state something as fact than to admit it might not be true. For both conversations, I had created a conversation analysis sheet to record the conversation. I need conversation analysis practice. Also, both conversations would have gone better with a copy of the trust ladder close at hand.

This week’s experiment. I would like to try to generate a fear chart and have a fear conversation. I am still considering what type of job aids will be most useful.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Next SPaMCAST

Next week Prabhjot Singh and I talk about AI. If you are a developer or entrepreneur, AI (however you define it) is in your future. You need to be ready! Mr. Singh is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple for-profit, social enterprise, and non-profit ventures. He serves as President and CEO of Pyze.

Continuous improvement through inspecting and adapting is a core tenant of an agile mindset, which dovetails well with every executive’s need to deliver the most value possible. Measurement is an important tool to help teams and organizations ask the right questions at the right time. Flow metrics, not burndowns and velocity, need to be a big part of any IT organization's approach to measurement.

We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast. Jon discusses the complicated relationship between time, work entry, and promises.

Have you checked out The Open Transformation Playbooks Martin Foster discussed last week? If not, you are missing something important. https://transformationplaybooks.org/

The Open Transformation Playbooks is an initiative to build an open, remixable, body of knowledge for agile organizational transformation.

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 5 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick tackles Chapter 4: The Fear Conversation. Fear has a significant impact on what we think and how we behave. The changes that fear drives don’t stop at the individual, the behavior changes ripple through organizations.

M y experiment of the week:

Update on last week’s experiment. I was able to use some of the ideas from the trust conversation this week. I actually used the statement, “the story I am telling myself is . . .” in a real conversation twice. The first time it felt contrived; it is much easier to state something as fact than to admit it might not be true. For both conversations, I had created a conversation analysis sheet to record the conversation. I need conversation analysis practice. Also, both conversations would have gone better with a copy of the trust ladder close at hand.

This week’s experiment. I would like to try to generate a fear chart and have a fear conversation. I am still considering what type of job aids will be most useful.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) - https://bit.ly/3gahSpt

Next SPaMCAST

Next week Prabhjot Singh and I talk about AI. If you are a developer or entrepreneur, AI (however you define it) is in your future. You need to be ready! Mr. Singh is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple for-profit, social enterprise, and non-profit ventures. He serves as President and CEO of Pyze.

Today we begin Year 16 with an interview, discussion, conversation -- call it what you like -- with Martin Foster. We covered a ton of ground, including whether the goal of any organization should be to be more agile and the 2021 Business Agility Report. During one segment we discussed the statement, “the impediments are the path.” A wonderful and thought-provoking start to Year 16!

ANNOUNCING:

The Open Transformation Playbooks: https://transformationplaybooks.org/

A (very new) initiative to build an open, remixable, body of knowledge for agile organizational transformation. To accompany this episode Martin and TeamForm have launched the first tranche of content.

Martin’s Contact Information:

2021 Business Agility Report: https://bit.ly/3GXfzBJ

TeamForm: https://www.teamform.co/

Email: martin@orchestrated.io

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/martinfoster

Martin’s Bio

Martin is a senior consultant at TeamForm. His passion is working with organizations that are transforming themselves to cross-functional team structures, with all the nuances, benefits, and challenges that this brings. With his past experience as a product owner and engineer, he enjoys bringing data into the people conversation.

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 4 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick tackles Chapter 3: The Trust Conversation. Trust is a requirement for people to work together toward a common goal. Misters Squirrel and Fredrick define trust as aligned stories.

M y experiment of the week:

First an update on my experiment from last week. I found that I need to create a job aid for conversational analysis in order to practice the R’s from Chapter 2. I must admit that not preparing for conversational analysis creates a scenario where I am looking back and trying to remember conversations, which makes them more susceptible to bias.

This week I am going to create a job aid for trust conversations, then find two or three scenarios to practice. Practice will include the R’s from Chapter 2.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bit.ly/3ApUrSk

Next SPaMCAST

Next week our first essay of Year 16 with thoughts on flow metrics and why focusing on flow is powerful, important, and causes people to run around like their hair is on fire. Hopefully, we can dampen the blaze down a bit.

Today marks the end of year 15 on the Software Process and Measurement Cast, and we are closing the year with pitchfork and torches. We discussed the world of knowledge work in 2022. Leadership, principles, value, and values take center stage. Panels like this make me want to do panels every week!

The panelists (other than myself) are:

Jeremy Berriault https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-berriault-mba/ Web: https://berriaultandassociates.com/

Jon M Quigley linkedin.com/in/jonmquigley Web: https://www.valuetransform.com/product-development-tools/

Kevin Rush linkedin.com/in/kezrush Twitter: @ Kezrush

Chris Hurney linkedin.com/in/chrishurney Web: https://www.inspiradoconsulting.com/ Twitter: chris_hurney

Participating in spirit (they were on part one last week)

Susan Parente Susan Parente linkedin.com/in/susanparente Twitter: @TechRiskManager

Jeremy Willets linkedin.com/in/jeremywillets Blog: https://www.jeremywillets.com/

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 3 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick tackles Chapter 2, Improving Your Conversation s . Chapter 2 begins the heavy lifting of improving conversations. This is a chapter I strongly suggest reading at least twice while you are putting the ideas into practice. The authors spend the first part of the chapter building a case for why conversations are so powerful. The authors state that through conversation “we are able to create and believe in shared fictions.” There is a ton to think about and practice!

My experiment of the week:

First an update on my conversation experiment from last week. Last week I wanted to review my conversations to determine if I was correctly assessing scenarios using the Cynefin Framework. There was at least one conversation where I misjudged the complexity. Whereas the participants viewed the scenario being discussed to be complicated (the solution being a framework or best practices), I viewed the scenario as complex or possibly chaotic. The differences in mental models made the conversation tense and ungratifying. In my mind, my failure was not recognizing the issue until I was reviewing the conversation after the fact (one of the Four Rs in Chapter 2). I think a better approach, for me, will be to assess the complexity of the scenario before the conversion in the future. Perhaps a form of conversational premortem.

This week I am going to use the conversational analysis process on two or three different types of hard conversations – my weeks are always interesting. One of the areas I am interested in contemplating is whether different kinds of conversations have different question ratios.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we have an interview with Martin Foster. Mr. Foster and I wrestle with the question, “Why don’t most agile transformations deliver tangible business value?” A valuable start to year 16 and 2022!

One of the fun parts of programming the Software Process and Measurement Cast is getting diverse groups of people together to chat. In this edition of the podcast, Jon M Quigley, Jeremy Willets, Jeremy Berriault, Kevin Rush, Susan Parente, and myself convened to discuss what we learned about work in 2021. The last few years have been extraordinary -- both good and bad. When you live in times like these it is incumbent on all of us to learn from them.

The panelists (other than myself) are:

Jeremy Berriault https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-berriault-mba/ Web: https://berriaultandassociates.com/

Susan Parente linkedin.com/in/susanparente Web: http://www.s3-tec.com/

Jon M Quigley linkedin.com/in/jonmquigley Web: https://www.valuetransform.com/product-development-tools/

Kevin Rush linkedin.com/in/kezrush Twitter: @ Kezrush

Jeremy Willets linkedin.com/in/jeremywillets Blog: https://www.jeremywillets.com/

Re-Read Saturday News

Week 2 of our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick tackles Chapter 1, Escaping the Software Factory . The idea that software development and maintenance fit a factory model in which people are fungible and that processes are deterministic is a thing in 2021 (as it was when this book was written). I have always been hard-pressed to buy the factory/manufacturing model. I have worked on an assembly line. One of the jobs I had was building tires for Firestone Tire and Rubber Company at their plant in Memphis. That job was one of the reasons I made sure I went to university. Whether the assembly line model was truly appropriate even for tire manufacturing would be interesting to debate (the plant is gone, no amount of scientific management could save it). At the very least, software development and maintenance are better served by team-based collaborative approaches. Words like team-based and collaboration require communication (something that did not happen on the assembly line, except when we had union meetings) so that rigid processes and micromanagement can be minimized.

M y experiment of the week:

I originally planned to begin experimenting with the ideas from Agile Conversations with Chapter 2; however, Chapter 1 reminded me of the need to take a mindset-centered approach to change and to incorporate the ideas from Cynefin. I will review my decisions this week to assess whether I am getting lazy and assuming that situations are more deterministic than complex, and therefore not putting myself in the right place to collaborate.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55 (Affiliate Link)

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg

Next SPaMCAST

Next week features a second panel discussion with some of the same people (and a new mixer) with a focus on hopes and aspirations for 2022 and beyond. Next week will spike the ball on year 15 of the Software Process and Measurement Cast.

SPaMCAST 684 posts on January 2nd, 2022. The new year evokes both retrospection and expectations for the future. 2021 was quite the year; SPaMCAST 635 marked the beginning of our 15th year of publishing with a conversation with Johanna Rothman (SPaMCAST 635 - Practical Ways to Manage, A Conversation with Johanna Rothman). That was our most downloaded cast of 2021. In late August I lost a podcast . . . (a summer rerun), SPaMCAST 668 has attained the status of the Lost Show. Somehow while I was backpacking on Isle Royale the preprogrammed show failed to post. I have a backup but it is more fun to have a lost cast. I will rectify the situation at some point when I stop being amused. The year ended with my 12-year-old mixer going to the electronics recycler. The new mixer should be delivered soon. Even with all of the hassle, I have been able to do three great interviews and two related panel discussions that will round out year 15 and kick-off year 16. That’s the long way to say that even though I am struggling through a website issue and a switchover of hardware, I am currently planning years 16 and 17.

Happy New Year, and now back to our regularly scheduled programming with Tony Timbol and his To Tell A Story column. This installment tackles product owners and work entry.

Re-Read Saturday News

Starting a re-read is a great way to start the new year. Today we start into Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick by charting the predicted course of the re-read and touching on the introduction. The version of the book I am reading is the paperback version copyrighted 2020 by IT Revolution. The book consists of an introduction, seven numbered chapters, a conclusion, and 20 pages of end matter. All of this is over 223 pages.

It is my intent to cover this book over 9 weeks using the chapters as pacing. This book has similarities with Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg in that this book demands action. Therefore like that re-read, as we get to chapter 2 I will begin identifying how I will experiment with the knowledge each chapter delivers. As I have discovered over the years reading technical and self-improvement books, if you do not experiment with ideas they fade quickly regardless of their value.

https://amzn.to/3vEjr55

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction -

Next SPaMCAST

Next week features part 1 of a 2 part panel discussion (both parts have slightly different participants), discussing the world of knowledge work circa 2021 and pontifications about the shape of work in 2022.

Ben Woznicki and I talk about the book and ideas inside the covers of Team Topologies . Ben provides a great deal of advice on creating teams that are fit for purpose. Ben and I have worked together, hosted a video podcast together, and more -- it is a great conversation.

Ben is an Organizational Health Coach: Helping you deliver sooner, with higher confidence, and more consistency.
Ben has 10 years of experience with all facets of technical and business agility and organizational transformation. He collaborates with, trains, mentors, and coaches at all levels to smooth the transition to Lean and Agile ways of delivering value. And aligns transformation efforts to organizational objectives so everyone is on the same page.
Contact Information
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benwoz/

Email: b@benwoz.com

Re-Read Saturday News

We have just completed ou r re-read of Project to Produc t ( https://amzn.to/2WzvPac - Amazon Affiliate link). Next week we begin our re-read of Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture – https://amzn.to/3sfK55q (affiliate link).

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 7: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Week 8: The Ground Truth of Enterprise Tool Networks -

https://bit.ly/3DHO5OU

Week 9: Specialized Tools and the Value Stream - https://bit.ly/332OuhC

Week 10: Value Stream Management - https://bit.ly/3ESfhv2

Week 11: The Conclusion - https://bit.ly/3e5d83c

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we begin 2022 with a reflection on the economic rationale for breaking work down into smaller pieces. We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol and his To Tell A Story Column.

At the end of the year, planning and prioritization take center stage. We can only really prioritize work, needs, and dreams that are within our span of control. That does not stop people from trying to prioritize work that is not theirs to prioritize.

We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her I’m Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast. This month we talk about getting leadership right. It is possible!

Re-Read Saturday News

As 2021 comes to a close we bring our re-read of Project to Produc t to a close as well (buy a copy and dive into the book https://amzn.to/2WzvPac - Amazon Affiliate link). The conclusion of the book brings the discussion back as a reflection on the turning point of the Age of Software.

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 7: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Week 8: The Ground Truth of Enterprise Tool Networks -

https://bit.ly/3DHO5OU

Week 9: Specialized Tools and the Value Stream - https://bit.ly/332OuhC

Week 10: Value Stream Management - https://bit.ly/3ESfhv2

Week 11: The Conclusion - https://bit.ly/3e5d83c

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, we will have a special show. Ben Wozniki and I talked about team topologies (the idea and the book). Ben and I have worked together, hosted a video podcast together, and more -- this was more of a conversation than an interview.

This week we touch on a topic that is near and dear to my heart, work entry, with an essay titled Prioritization Without Control of Work Entry. I am tempted to suggest that without control over what you can say yes to, the whole idea of prioritization is a farce. The answer is more complicated, but only a little.

We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the cast. This week we discuss measuring testing -- it is more than just pass/fail.

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 9 of Project to Produc t (buy a copy and re-read the book with us https://amzn.to/2WzvPac Amazon Affiliate Link) ties the three layers of the author’s model together and exposes the third epiphany from his visit to the BMW plant that has been the central plot element of the book. The chapter puts all the parts together. But instead of relating how he connects the infrastructure, I want to focus on how important it is to generate an end-to-end view of work for any software-intensive product.

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 7: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Week 8: The Ground Truth of Enterprise Tool Networks -

https://bit.ly/3DHO5OU

Week 9: Specialized Tools and the Value Stream - https://bit.ly/332OuhC

Week 10: Value Stream Management - https://bit.ly/3ESfhv2

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, more on work entry and prioritization (it is at the top of my priority list unless I don’t have control over my work entry).

We will also spend time with Susan Parente and her I Not A Scrumdamentalist column.

This week Mauricio Aguiar and Christine Green join me to discuss the state and future of Software Measurement. Mauricio, Christine, and I are all recent Past Presidents of the International Function Point Users Group (the largest international software measurement association). The conversation is both provocative and enlightening.

Note, the audio of my voice is a little muffled but the important parts of the conversation come from Christine’s and Mauricio’s lips. I know what the issue was and have added a step to my interview checklist.

Bios

Mauricio Aguiar is the founder of TI Metricas, a leading software measurement company based in Brazil. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Mauricio was elected President of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) for 2005-2007 and also for 2017-2019, after serving on the IFPUG Board since 2000. Mauricio was involved with the implementation of function point analysis and metrics programs in many Brazilian and multinational organizations. As a second career, he now does pro-bono work as a hypnotherapist.

Christine is the founder of IP by Green, senior consultant, and past president of IFPUG.

Re-Read Saturday News

This week, Chapter 8 of Project to Produc t https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). The chapter is titled Specialized Tools and the Value Stream . I was presented with a scenario this week in which product, UX, development, testing, and security operated within their own boundaries with their own goals and tools — silos. Chapter 8 has something to say about the impact of silos.

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 7: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Week 8: The Ground Truth of Enterprise Tool Networks -

https://bit.ly/3DHO5OU

Week 9: Specialized Tools and the Value Stream - https://bit.ly/332OuhC

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will continue our exploration of the team lead’s role in agile frameworks. As with anything that involves humans and hierarchies the role is not straightforward.

We will also return to the QA Corner to visit Jeremy Berriault

As we begin counting down to the end of the year, I would like to consider the team lead’s role. It is a nearly ubiquitous role in organizations, but is almost never talked about in agile frameworks. We begin our journey into the role by establishing three examples to help understand how the role is practiced and why it can generate friction if not addressed when adopting frameworks.

We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the cast. This week we talk about the idea of descoping and its role in work entry. Done early, descoping is a tool while done after you have made commitments it makes a tool out of you.

Re-Read Saturday News

Nearly 30 hours of driving, Thanksgiving, and far too few hours with a large part of my extended family kept me from completing the re-read of Chapter 8 of Project to Product https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). We will be back next week to talk about the problems caused by role and tool disconnection across the value chain (silos).

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 7: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Week 8: The Ground Truth of Enterprise Tool Networks -

https://bit.ly/3DHO5OU

Next SPaMCAST

Next week Mauricio Aguliar and Christine Green join me to discuss the state and future of Software Measurement. Mauricio, Christine, and I are all recent Past Presidents of the International Function Point Users Group (the largest international software measurement association). The conversation will be provocative and enlightening.

This week we are taking a quick journey into a discussion of prioritization outside of a team or an organization's span of control. It is easy to confuse influence and actually be able to exert control over an outcome. Wishful thinking often can lead to frustration.

Tony TImbol also brings his “To Tell A Story” column to the cast building on the ideas that are central fro good user stores. Check out Tony’s Product Owner training events at http://tonytimbol.com/events/ This week to talk about the product owner’s role in writing and maintaining user stories.

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 7 of Project to Product https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). This week we consider Mik’s first two epiphanies and introduce the topic of network value streams.

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 7: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Week 8: The Ground Truth of Enterprise Tool Networks -

https://bit.ly/3DHO5OU

Next SPaMCAST

Next week an essay on the role of the team lead in Scrum. As Mellisa Greller points out, the role of the TL is often overlooked. When a role is overlooked it causes friction. Unless you are starting a campfire, friction is not a great idea.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley (i know I said that last week but this week we recorded the next few Alpha and Omega of Product Development columns).

Today we will speak to Kit Merker, COO of Nobl9 about Service Level Objectives (SLO). Kit provides down-to-earth advice for adopting and using SLOs to benefit teams AND organizations.

Kit’s bio:

Kit Merker's 20+ year career spans product management, engineering, evangelism and community-building roles at Google, Microsoft, JFrog, and the governing board of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). He is currently Chief Operating Officer for Nobl9, driving community and growth for service reliability for enterprise development teams.

Contact information:
linkedin.com/in/kitmerker (LinkedIn) kitmerker.com (Personal Website) nobl9.com (Company Website) @KitMerker (Twitter)
Re-Read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 6 of Project to Product https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). In the chapter the author tells four stories of disruption -- they are interesting in their own right. Still, if we look for a common thread I would suggest the communication needed to manage the balance between flow items (features, defects, risks, and debts).

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Week 8: Tracking Disruptions - https://bit.ly/3neIs5h

Next SPaMCAST

Next week an essay on the role of the team lead in Scrum. As Mellisa Greller points out, the role of the TL is often overlooked. When a role is overlooked it causes friction. Unless you are starting a campfire, friction is not a great idea.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley.

Today we feature our interview with Vincent Hendersen. We talked about scaling agility up -- not the same as scaling agile. Mr. Hendersen and I discussed thinking about agile as a service to align team and portfolio. This is a most thought-provoking interview. The idea of thinking about agile teams as a subscription model shifts the whole agile paradigm.

Vincent’s bio:

Vincent Henderson is an operations and product executive in B2B organizations that use knowledge and technology to create value. He has transformed information supply chains and content-driven businesses across 10 countries, 5 industries, and 3 decades.

Vincent is a business technologist. He enjoys building rational and purposeful teams that focus on concrete, meaningful outcomes.

He had his first Agile workshop about 10 years ago with Tom Cagley and Anthony Mersino. Since that watershed moment of insight, he has implemented and run Agile product development in the 4 different organizations that he has led since.

As a business leader who rolls out Agile as part of his leadership practice, he has developed unique insights around how Agile fits within the broader context of business management.

Contact information:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vhenderson/

https://www.ludditesandexecutives.io/

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 5 of Project to Product https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). As the previous chapters have highlighted, we can measure the flow items that enter and exit a value stream. There are a number of suitcase words (words that have many ideas packed in them) in that statement, such as value streams and flow items. Chapter 5 of Project to Product connects flow items and metrics to business results. The integrated view is where the real power of the model is found (but only if you bite the bullet and understand the value streams in the organization).

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Week 6: Connecting to Business Results - https://bit.ly/3BTROqQ

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, another interview takes center stage. We will speak to Kit Merker, COO of Nobl9 about Service Level Objectives (SLO). Kit provides down-to-earth advice for adopting and using SLOs to benefit teams AND organizations.

This week we continue the priority theme with an essay titled, “What is a Priority?” I wish it was a simple question. Since the whole idea of priority is premised on a group of people having a shared perspective and definition this is a question that needs to be asked and answered.

We also have a visit from Susan Parente with her I’m Not A Scrumdamentalist column. In this installment, we tackle bad leadership (I wish tackle was not used metaphorically).

Upcoming Events

Out of Control Work Entry Means "No Agile For You"

November 4, 2021 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST

In this webinar, we will use five common patterns of work entry to highlight team dysfunctions of poor work entry practices. We will also explore a path forward for each work entry pattern to help improve the delivery of business value.

Register Now: https://bit.ly/3q1yWnw

Re-Read Saturday News

I was busy preparing for my webinar, Out of Control Work Entry Means "No Agile For You" and did not complete Chapter 5’s re-read of Project to Product. https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). We will be back next week.

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will feature our interview with Vincent Hendersen. We talked about scaling agility up -- not the same as scaling agile. Mr. Hendersen and I discussed thinking about agile as a service to align team and portfolio.

In the essay today, prioritization requires a steady hand and consistency. The process for prioritization should have more in common with a well-oiled basketball or futbol team than five-year-olds playing soccer in the schoolyard. How the moving parts work together is a process, but in some circles, “process” is a dirty word.

On the conversation side, Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the cast. We discuss test automation plans and strategies in agile.

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

This Week!! Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! While you can attend the Summit for free, there are a number of innovative options to learn even more from the Summit. Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021.

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

This week, we dive into Chapter 4 of Project to Product titled Capturing Flow Metrics. https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link). Why capture flow metrics? The four components of the flow distribution reflect the investment pattern within the value stream. That pattern is a direct reflection of the value delivered by an organization.

Catch up on previous installments:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Week 5: Capturing Flow Metrics - https://bit.ly/3GjCffC

Next SPaMCAST

Next week another essay, perhaps even the promised Why Pragmatic Has Become Code For Half-assed. We will also have a visit from Susan Parente with her I Am Not A Scrumdamentalist column.

Today, we feature an essay titled, So I Asked What Is Agile. A simple question that yields interesting answers. One interesting outcome was that answers fit into three categories. We explore the process and people-oriented groups this week. I will come back to the rant category later this month.

In addition to the essay, Tony Timbol brings his To Tell A Story column to the cast! In this installment, the product owner’s role is under the microscope.

Check out Tony’s website at https://bit.ly/2Z1IrIg

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

The clock is ticking - loudly! Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! While you can attend the Summit for free, there are a number of innovative options to learn even more from the Summit. Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021.

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

This week, we are taking a break from Project to Product. Remember to buy a copy today https://amzn.to/2WzvPac (Amazon Affiliate Link) and we will be back next week.

Previous Week’s Installment:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Next SPaMCAST

Kyle Siemens returns to the podcast to talk about certifications and running a testing business. Kyle does not shy away from hard topics in a world that is certification crazy.

Until this week, Disciplined Agile was a topic we had not investigated on the Software Process and Measurement Cast. DA is an approach to scaling agile development. Today, Jonathan Lee and I discuss Disciplined Agile and reinventing yourself to stay relevant in a dynamic world.

Mr. Lee’s Bio:

Jonathan has over 25 years of diversified IT consulting experience working with private and public sector clients. His latest passion is in agile coaching and delivering Disciplined Agile training to individuals and organizations that want to transform themselves to practice Business Agility. Jonathan is a Certified Disciplined Agile Instructor (CDAI).

Jonathan has volunteered at PMI Chicagoland Chapter for many years serving on the board including serving as the Chapter President for 3 years in the past. Jonathan is a frequent speaker at PMI chapters in North America.

Email: Jlee@VitalityChicago.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonathanleepmp

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

The clock is ticking! Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! While you can attend the Summit for free, there are a number of innovative options to learn even more from the Summit. Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

One of the most influential books in my career was Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister. One concept in the book was the concept of flow state, being fully in the zone so that a problem or piece of work can be focused on and delivered. Flow maximizes the amount of value delivered. Demarco and Lister’s introduction to flow paved the way for my interest in The Flow Framework. Chapter 3 of Project to Product introduces the Flow Framework.

Buy a copy today https://amzn.to/2WzvPac

This Week’s Installment:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Week 4: Introducing The Flow Framework - https://bit.ly/3lqJTwd

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we have an essay titled, What is Agile? There are a few things that just need to be said. For example, just because you are doing ceremonies doesn’t make you agile and might just make you fragile.

In addition, Tony Timbol brings his To Tell A Story column to the cast! In this installment, the product owner’s role is under the microscope.

I deviated from the plan this week and recorded a conversation with my colleague, mentor, and friend Anthony Mersino (Anthony was last on the podcast SPaMCAST 583 http://bit.ly/3aJMw51 ). Our chat, titled, “Is Your Scrum Master The Problem?” Our conversation looks at transactive memory from the point of view of teams and Scrum Masters. Is it a boon or a train wreck? Anthony has also published a version of the conversation at https://bit.ly/3ux0Fge

We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her I’m Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast. I have titled this conversation, “I Have A WIP Problem”. Ok so maybe both Susan and I have a lot on our plates, but we have the tools to tackle the problem. We talk about how to get your WIP under control.

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! While you can attend the Summit for free, there are a number of innovative options to learn even more from the Summit, the early bird pricing on those options is nearly gone. Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

In Chapter 1, The Age of Software, Kersten established that we were at or just past a turning point; those that do not embrace change will face grave difficulties surviving to the next cycle. As a consultant, I work with companies wrestling with trying to transform. Not all succeed for a variety of reasons. In this chapter, the author highlights and compares the lessons derived from his visit to the BMW plant, his study of the development of the Boeing Dreamliner, and the transformation failures at Nokia and a large bank.

Buy a copy today https://amzn.to/2WztOuE

This Week’s Installment:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Week 3: From Project to Product - https://bit.ly/3mhwJBb

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, Jonathan Lee and I discuss Disciplined Agile. DA is an approach to scaling agile development. We will discuss how DA is different from other approaches and when Johnathan would recommend using DA.

Luis Gonçalves and I talked about his new book introducing the ADAPT Methodology. We discussed why using a framework can help leaders stay relevant. Our conversation dovetails nicely into the Re-read Saturday focus on Project to Product. There is a lot of synergy between the ideas of Kersten and Gonçalves.

Luis’s Bio :

Luis Gonçalves is an Entrepreneur, Best Seller Author, and International Keynote Speaker.

When consulting he works exclusively with Entrepreneurs, Founders, and Senior Leaders on the implementation of his game-changing "ADAPT Methodology".

By following the "ADAPT Methodology" Executive Leaders will be able to assess the 5 main pillars of their organization by identifying gaps that are required for them to succeed as a modern and digital leaders.

He has been successfully involved in the software industry since 2003 and his company blog https://www.adaptmethodology.com/ is considered a ‘must-read’ for everyone in the software development industry.

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! While you can attend the Summit for free, there are a number of innovative options to learn even more from the Summit, the early bird pricing on those options is nearly gone. Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 1 begins Part 1 of Project to Product (there are 3 parts to the book). This part of the book introduces the Flow Framework, the core of the book. The graphic showing the whole model is the first thing you see when you open this part of the book which anchors the importance of the model for the rest of the book.

Buy a copy today

This Week’s Installment:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Week 2: Age of Software - https://bit.ly/2XYvqyI

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, an essay titled, What is Agile. There are a few things that just need to be said. For example, just because you are doing ceremonies doesn’t make you agile and might just make you fragile.

In addition, Susan Parente will bring her I’m Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast.

As a coach, I use and observe transactive memory all the time. Used wisely, transactive memory means a team can be more than the sum of its individual members. Mess it up and you might as well put your hand in a running garbage disposal. For example, my wife remembers things like special events and then clues me in…if she is around. This year I missed an important birthday. Coaches and Scrum Masters often act as the official process memory for teams until they move on . . . you can guess what happens next. This week we explore when transactive memory works and when it does not.

Also, Jeremy Berriault and I discuss helping improve Daily Scrums in his QA Corner column.

Note: I have been made aware that SPaMCAST 667 is missing in action. I am trying to track the issue down.

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we begin our re-read of Mik Kersten’s Project to Product . I am reading from my Kindle version published by IT Revolution (buy a copy). Today we are tackling the front matter which includes the Foreword by Gene Kim (author of the DevOps Handbook ) and the Introduction, which is titled the Turning Point. In past re-reads, I have argued strongly that jumping immediately to the core of a book is a mistake, I again urge you not to make that mistake.

Buy a copy today https://amzn.to/3nHC5YK

This Week’s Installment:

Week 1: Foreword and Introduction - https://bit.ly/39gIt0A

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we discuss the ADAPT Methodology with Luis Gonçalves. We discussed how using a framework can help leaders stay relevant. Based on the discussion of long-wave economic models in this week’s Re-read Saturday, Mr. Gonçalves’ ideas provide a useful framework for building a more robust change model as we approach a more competitive part of the long-term cycle.

It is exciting to see the explosion of new ideas synthesizing practical experience and theory coming to market. A Luis points out, perhaps the lockdowns during the pandemic have a silver lining.

We are back from backpacking on Isle Royale. Simply awesome. Today, we feature a discussion with Tom Henricksen. You know Tom from the Agile Online Summit and the Dev Ops Online Summit however Tom is more than just the Summits. Today we discuss learning and then get into whether hybrid working scenarios are all they are cracked up to be. I am not sure we agreed.

Tom Henricksen is a technology professional with over 20 years of technical experience. He has worked as a developer, Team Lead, Scrum Master, and Manager. Tom is the founder of the Agile Online Summit!

Use this link: https://agileonlinesummit.shop/?utm_source=aftomas

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! Please join the premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Re-Read Saturday News

Next week we will begin to read Mik Kersten’s Project to Product. I will be reading from the Kindle version of the book published by IT Revolution. The book includes a foreword, introduction, nine numbered chapters, a conclusion, and resources (we will not re-read this section). This works out to be 342 numbered pages for the Kindle Version. I have read this book twice, most recently during a book club (I hang around with geeks), and actively leverage the ideas from the book in my practice.

Buy a copy today

Whether you are just beginning fall or spring, I look forward to reflecting on Project to Product with you starting next Saturday.

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! Please join the Premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021 ,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we discuss transactive memory. My wife remembers things like special events and then clues me in…if she is around. Coaches and Scrum Masters often act as the official process memory for teams until they don’t. When they move on, the team more often than not forget and revert back to other ways of working. Transactive memory is efficient, a team is more than the accumulation of memories they all share, but has risks. I missed calling my father’s on his birthday this year - a failure in so many ways but also a failure of transactive memory.

Jeremy Berriault will also bring his QA Corner to the podcast.

The SPaMCAST is on summer holiday for the next two weeks (SPaMCAST 666 and SPaMCAST 667. Today we are featuring an interview released on December 27, 2015, with Gerald (Jerry) M. Weinberg.

Gerald Weinberg is the author of more than 100 books, including the best-selling Secrets of Consulting, other non-fiction series, and the ever-popular Women of Power novels. He is a principal in the international consulting firm of Weinberg and Weinberg. The festschrift, The Gift of Time (Fiona Charles, ed.) honors his work for his 75th birthday. A website for Jerry’s fans may be found at http://www.geraldmweinberg.com . A talk with Jerry was always profound, and I must admit that Jerry’s humor caused me to laugh more times than I can count during our conversation. Mr. Weinberg died on August 7, 2018, I wish I had interviewed him more times for the podcast.

Re-Read Saturday News

The poll for the next book in the series has begun! Note there are two books in the list I have not read. I am planning to read them and have been highly recommended. Therefore I would be happy to read them with you rather than re-read them with you. I will close the poll when I leave radio silence on August 28th’ish.

This week we highlight our re-read of the Goal by Ely Goldratt. Check out the reposting of one of the most popular entities and then grab your copy and read along will all of the entries.

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

Tom Henricksen delivers one of the most innovative online conferences. This year he has upped the bar again! Please join the Premier Agile Online Conference from October 25th to 27th, 2021 ,

Register at

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, the SPaMCAST will be the second week of our summer holiday. We will feature another interview from the archives. Show 37 was my first interview with Ed Yourdon. I have titled the interview, “Collaborate or Die!” A bit over the top you say, well Denis Waitley once said, “online or in the bread line." I think I was right. Ed died in January 2016 as he was pursuing his love of photography.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 665 features our essay on the organizational aspects that impact teams. Teams don’t live in a vacuum, so when the word organization gets used it reflects the influence of all sorts of organizations. Organizations facilitate teams to a greater or lesser extent. In the workplace, the employer’s organization will have the most significant impact on how teams form and perform but it is not the totality. Other influences can affect the structure and performance of teams.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who will bring his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast. In this installment, Jon and I discussed the idea of making decisions at the last responsible moment. We decided on the topic just before we began recording (just kidding).

The SPaMCAST will be on summer holiday for the next two weeks. We will be re-releasing two favorite episodes from the archives to tide you over.

Re-Read Saturday News

This week concluded our re-read of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber g with the Afterword and some final thoughts. This book received my highest accolade for non-fiction books, “Very Useful.” I will have to read the book again in a year or so to see what nuances I missed. I think putting the ideas in the book to use every week drove the ideas home and exposed where I had misinterpreted the book during my first read.

In this week’s experiment, I was able to move the phone further from the bed (I need to buy an alarm clock to move it outside of the room). Did I sleep more? I am not sure, but I am sure I was able not to look at the phone until I got up for the day which is a step. I also was able to make sure I used my standing desk more which helped my energy level near the end of the day (and made my feet sore -- shoes maybe?).

The poll for the next book in the series has begun! Note there are two books in the list I have not read yet that I am going to read and have been highly recommended. Therefore I would be happy to read them with you rather than re-read them with you. I will close the poll when I leave radio silence on August 28th’ish.

https://poll.fm/10902769

Mik Kersten - Project to Product

Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit

Tony Bouzón - The Mind Map Book

Chris Voss - Never Split The Difference

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick - Agile Conversations

Karin Tenelius and Lisa Gill - Moose Heads on the Table

This week’s Re-read entry:

Week 10 - Afterword and Afterthoughts - https://bit.ly/3gmWP3v

Previous Entries in Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg

Week 1 – Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface – https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 – Introduction – https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 – Monotasking In A Nutshell – https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Week 4 – Cut Down on Things to Do – https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Week 5 – Focus on One Task – https://bit.ly/3hK2XDU

Week 6 – Never Procrastinate – https://bit.ly/2UXPDDp

Week 7 – Progress Incrementally – https://bit.ly/3lk8Fi0

Week 8 – Simplify Cooperation – https://bit.ly/3yAVQne

Week 9 - Recharge Creative Thinking - https://bit.ly/3g3h0TQ

Upcoming Events

The Agile Online Summit!

The Premier Agile Online Conference!

October 25th to 27th, 2021, Live and recorded

https://bit.ly/3mplqIK

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, the SPaMCAST will be on summer holiday. In lieu of new content, we will present an interview released on December 27, 2015, with Gerald (Jerry) M. Weinberg. We discussed quality and how quality is related to value. A talk with Jerry is always profound; however, I must admit that Jerry’s humor caused me to laugh more times than I can count during our conversation. Mr. Weinberg died on August 7, 2018, I wish I had interviewed him more times for the podcast.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 664 features our interview with Sunny Han, CEO and Founder of Fulcrum. Sunny and I talked about motivation, we talked agile development, and we talked about what it takes to see a vision through to reality. The ideas about engineering a communication architecture are phenomenal.

Sunny Han is the CEO and Founder of Fulcrum, a manufacturing ERP platform dedicated to helping manufacturers build a better future. He led Fulcrum to raise a $3.1M seed round of venture capital in 2020.

Sunny is dedicated to delivering a connected future where frictionless manufacturing production and supply chains lead to faster and better product innovations.

“There’s no future of innovation that doesn’t include innovation in manufacturing.”

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yusunnyhan

Website: fulcrumpro.com

Email: sunny@fulcrumpro.com

Twitter: sunnythehan

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we focus on Chapter 7 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber g. This chapter is titled “Recharge Creative Thinking.” This chapter really is about the self-care needed to be both effective and creative. There are a number of ideas in this chapter that if you’re not familiar with them are frankly just really good ideas. Many of the ideas in this chapter I have been using for years and some of the inferred issues I am still working on.

As my experiment for this week, I would love to say that I am going to sleep more. What I will do is to move my phone away from the bed so I can’t get to it easily after I lay down. I will also work to have an equal mix of sitting and standing.

Next week we will complete our re-read of Monotasking covering the Afterword from the book and some closing notes from me. We’ll also start the poll to pick the next book in the series. The entries for the weeks of August 28th and September 5th will feature reprints. I am going backpacking and turning off all communication devices. As we prepare for the next book, is there a book you think we should “re-read”? If you have ideas please let me know and I will add them to the list of current possibles:

Mik Kersten - Project to Product

Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit

Tony Bouzón - The Mind Map Book

Chris Voss - Never Split The Difference

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick - Agile Conversations

This week’s Re-read entry:

Week 9 - Recharge Creative Thinking -

Previous Entries in Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg

Week 1 – Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface – https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 – Introduction – https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 – Monotasking In A Nutshell – https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Week 4 – Cut Down on Things to Do – https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Week 5 – Focus on One Task – https://bit.ly/3hK2XDU

Week 6 – Never Procrastinate – https://bit.ly/2UXPDDp

Week 7 – Progress Incrementally – https://bit.ly/3lk8Fi0

Week 8 – Simplify Cooperation – https://bit.ly/3yAVQne

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we dive into one of the aspects of the attributes of Teams. Teams don’t live in a vacuum. Every team is an intersection of boundaries of all sorts of organizations. Organizations facilitate teams to a greater or lesser extent. In the workplace, the employer’s organization will have the most significant impact on how teams form and perform but it is not the totality. Other influences can affect the structure and performance of teams.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who will bring his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.

This week we explore the impact of process (it really isn’t a bad word) problems in prioritization. Prioritization requires a steady hand and consistency. The process for prioritization should have more in common with a well-oiled basketball or futbol team than five-year-olds playing soccer in the schoolyard. How the moving parts work together is a process

We also have a visit from Tony Timbol discussing freestyling user story formats in his To Tell A Story column.

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we focus on Chapter 6 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber g. This chapter is titled “Simplify Cooperation.” Cooperation requires communication. Messing communication up is a problem, a problem that is the responsibility of every person involved in trying to communicate.

Last week’s experiment focused on evaluating each task as I put it on my short list for operacy. One of the outcomes was that I broke work into smaller chunks which were simpler and more practical. I also found parts of the work that I did not have to do in order to satisfy the goal of the task (the agile definition of simplicity). I am contemplating how to build the idea of operacy into how I approach and talk about user stories. This week, I am going to focus on using more deliberative communication as a way to help guide conversations.

This Week

Week 8 - Simplify Cooperation - https://bit.ly/3yAVQne

Previous Entries in Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Week 4 - Cut Down on Things to Do - https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Week 5 - Focus on One Task - https://bit.ly/3hK2XDU

Week 6 - Never Procrastinate - https://bit.ly/2UXPDDp

Week 7 - Progress Incrementally - https://bit.ly/3lk8Fi0

Next SPaMCAST

We talk with Sunny Han, CEO and Founder of Fulcrum. Sunny and I talked about entrepreneurship and building an ERP system from scratch. That sounds way too tame -- we talked motivation, we talked agile development, and we talked about what it takes to see a vision through to reality.

In this week’s podcast, we speak with Mike Potter, CEO of Rewind. Mike and I talk about the need to backup SaaS applications, remote and hybrid working, and entrepreneurship. This interview opened my eyes to the risks we all face by trusting SaaS application companies to back up our data. Mike also highlights in his answers how humanity in the workplace can help create special results.

Bio - A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, Mike Potter is the co-founder of Rewind, a company that backs up and protects SaaS data. While studying Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University, Mike began his start-up career as the founder of InTheHack.com, one of the most popular sporting websites in Canada. Since founding Rewind in 2015, Mike has focused on building a company culture that values and respects employees. “I'm a big believer in building strong teams, hiring great people, and giving them the freedom to do their best work”, he adds. When Mike isn’t building companies or products, he can usually be found constructing LEGOs with his kids or walking his dogs.

Email: mike@rewind.io

Web: https://rewind.io

Twitter: @mikepotter

Upcoming Events

Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps

Fri, August 6, 2021 -- This Friday!

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black

(SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America )

Register at https://bit.ly/3AOlvdC

About this event

In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi
How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements
Re-Read Saturday News

This week we focus on Chapter 5 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber g. This chapter focuses on incrementalism. How are you breaking work down?

An update on my continued experiment using Monotasking. This week I have succeeded in turning off all my interruptions (Slack, Text, Teams, Twitter, email, and others) as I am doing my monotasking sessions, a type of incrementalism . . . at least in the morning. I do pop many of those apps back on briefly at the end of each panorama session to make sure no emergencies have occurred. Afternoons are tough due to meetings and other hardscape activities, therefore I moved as many of my focus activities earlier in the day (as a morning person, this suits me) when I can quietly timebox.

This Week

Week 7 - Progress Incrementally - https://bit.ly/3lk8Fi0

Previous Entries in Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Week 4 - Cut Down on Things to Do - https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Week 5 - Focus on One Task - https://bit.ly/3hK2XDU

Week 6 - Never Procrastinate - https://bit.ly/2UXPDDp

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we present our essay spinning deeper into the nether regions of poor prioritization. Knowing the potential issues that can occur in prioritization is the first step toward fixing them.

We also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his To Tell A Story column to the podcast.

Over the past few months, I have been in traffic jams on the highway several times when traveling to our weekly hike. In more than one instance someone has decided to pull over and drive on the berm. In more than a few cases the outcome of this technique for getting things done ends poorly. Despite the unpredictable outcome, jumping the queue is practiced by many in traffic and even more when funneling work to teams. The consequences when working on information technology products are far more predictable than driving, and they are ALWAYS bad. Let’s fix some of the problems leading to queue jumping.

We also have a visit from Susan Parente, who brings her I Am Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast. We discuss risk management when using hybrid agile approaches.

Contact Susan on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/susanparente or at Parente@s3-tec.com

Upcoming Events

Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps

Fri, August 6, 2021

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black

(SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America )

Register at https://bit.ly/3AOlvdC

About this event

In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi
How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we focus on Chapter 4 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber g. The chapter this week is titled, Never Procrastinate. If you have not read the entry, do it NOW :)

An update on my continued experiment using Monotasking. My intent was to carve (not crave - I caught the spelling error a little late this week, it was not procrastination) out an hour in which I could turn off Teams, Slack, email, and text to allow for focus. Frankly, I failed. I was able to achieve a quiet zone only one day during business hours. I regularly turn off all notifications when writing before my day begins, but during the “work” day being unreachable is more difficult. I am still looking for the right formula of schedule blocking and advanced notification to make this work.

Previous Entries in Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Week 4 - Cut Down on Things to Do - https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Week 5 - Focus on One Task - https://bit.ly/3hK2XDU

Next SPaMCAST

Next, we feature our interview with Mike Potter, CEO of Rewind. We talked about the need to backup SaaS applications, remote and hybrid working, and entrepreneurship. This interview opened my eyes to the risks we all face by trusting SaaS application companies to back up our data.

In this week’s Software Process and Measurement Cast, I speak with Rob Rastovich, CTO of ThingLogix . We talked about meeting customer needs through developing solutions using the AIoT (not a typo). This is a seachange for both businesses and developers who will need to reskill and rethink what is possible.

Rob has been actively involved in technology for nearly 30 years, from building a top 10 e-commerce site in a time when e-commerce was still in its infancy to establishing what is now known as Amazon’s AWS IoT.

As CTO of ThingLogix , Rob is the chief architect behind the company’s groundbreaking IoT platform that eliminates the need for code. ThingLogix uses AI to power digital transformation across industry, commerce, and government globally.

Web: https://www.thinglogix.com/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rob-rastovich-1560532

Upcoming Events

Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps

Fri, August 6, 2021

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black

(SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America )

Register at https://bit.ly/3AOlvdC

About this event

In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi
How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements
Re-Read Saturday News

This week we focus on Chapter 3 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber g. The chapter this week is titled, Focus on One Task Now.

An update on the continued experiment using Monotasking. In Chapter 2, Staffan describes how to create a short list of five items and then to push everything else to the “grass catcher” list. I have been working on using this approach this week with a special focus on capturing the date an item was added to the list and the stakeholder for the item. In the past, I trimmed my list on a quarterly basis. I use the dramatic approach of starting a new list saving only those items on my short list. This week I tried Staffan’s weekly approach, trimming off a few older items on a weekly basis. The date added is useful but what I found more useful was asking myself the question, “am I really going to do this or is this an aspirational item?” Cue the chainsaw; even though I started a new list on July 1st I was able to remove several items from my new grass catcher list.

This Week

Week 5 - Focus on One Task - https://bit.ly/3hK2XDU

Previous Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg Entries

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Week 4 - Cut Down on Things to Do - https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Next SPaMCAST

Over the past few months, I have been in traffic jams on the highway several times when traveling to our weekly hike. In more than one instance someone has decided to pull over and drive on the berm. In more than a few cases the outcome of this technique for getting things done ends poorly. Despite the unpredictable outcome, jumping the queue is practiced by many in traffic and even more when funneling work to teams. The consequences when working on information technology products are far more predictable than driving, and they are ALWAYS bad.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente, who brings her I Am Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast. We discuss risk management when using hybrid agile approaches.

In this episode, we feature our interview with Christiano Gherardini. Chris and I talk about the impact of using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages on businesses and as importantly, the impact of packages and consultants as a tool to influence the direction of software development in a firm.

Christiano Gherardini is the President/Owner at Turnkey Technologies Inc. Turnkey offers end-to-end professional services including design, project management, implementation, application maintenance, integration services, development, analytics, training, and support services for Microsoft Dynamics solutions.

https://www.turnkeytec.com/

linkedin.com/in/christiano-gherardini-73513019

Upcoming Events

Making Shift Happen

July 13 at 12 CDT (1 PM EDT)

I will be facilitating a panel for the GIC HIMSS (Greater IL Chapter of HIMSS) discussing Agile Transformation. Our panelists will discuss their personal experiences going through agile transitions and offer some tips for moving your organization towards Agile.

Panelists include

Susan Feeley

Eric Shelley

Sandeep Koorse

Tony Timbol

Lisa Hallberg M.S.

Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps

Fri, August 6, 2021

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black

(SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America )

Register at https://bit.ly/3AOlvdC

About this event

In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi
How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements
Re-Read Saturday News

Finally, we have reached Chapter 2 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg , titled, Cut Down On Tasks To Do. I think it is ironic that a failure in my ability to control WIP in my personal life led to a two-week delay in delivering the re-read of this chapter. All the hand wringing aside, the delay has allowed me to reflect more on the chapter and to hone my use of the short list and panorama cues and sessions. Long swaths of meetings still give me trouble but getting the short list down to tasks that I missed in my first read of Chapter 2 has made a ton (imperial or metric) of difference.

This Week

Week 4 - Cut Down on Things to Do - https://bit.ly/3wt1ENL

Previous Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg Entries

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 3 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Next SPaMCAST

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast, I speak with Rob Rastovich, CTO of ThingLogix . We will talk about AIoT (not a typo), and how applications and developers must evolve. Skynet or Deep Thought?

The Software Process and Measurement Cast features an essay on prioritization. We prioritize in order to establish what to work on and when to do it. There is often a difference between assigned priority and the real priority based on when teams start and complete a piece of work. This essay is part of the overall conversation on controlling work entry and answering the question: Are we working on the most important thing?

We also have a visit to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault. Mr. Berriault and I discussed how testing is integrated into the Agile Performance Holarchy.

Re-Read Saturday News

June and early July are a busy period, this year more so (several birthdays, an anniversary, and family visits). That is a long way around to rationalizing why I am not delivering chapter 2 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg . I am still working with shortlists (chapter 2 has helped my implementation approach. Meetings (part of the busyness fallacy discussed in Chapter 2) are making using the techniques of panorama cues and panorama sessions difficult once back-to-back meetings begin. We will be back with new content next week with two articles on prioritization and Chapter 2 of Monotasking on Saturday.

This week we revisit another favorite from the Re-read archive, the Conclusion of Carol Dweck’s Mindset : The New Psychology of Success.

This Week

The Conclusion of Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - https://bit.ly/3xkWi8O

Previous Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg Entries

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 2 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Next SPaMCAST

The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature my interview with Christiano Gherardini: President, Owner & CEO at Turnkey Technologies. Christiano and I talked about the impact of using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages on businesses and software development organizations.

In this podcast, I talk with Søren Pedersen. We talk about teams, value streams, and leveraging agile to improve how teams deliver value. We started with the definition of a team and then got into the practical nitty-gritty of defining value streams and coaching teams.

Bio:

SØREN PEDERSEN is a co-founder of BuildingBetterSoftware, a strategic leadership consultant, and an international speaker. With more than fifteen years of software development experience, Søren knows how to help businesses meet their digital transformation goals. Using Agile methodologies, he helps leaders achieve organizational

efficiency, alignment, and performance improvement while building team empowerment so that they feel confident in engaging with leadership, find managerial balance, and can focus

on building better software.

Søren has spoken at DevOps Days London, is a contributor for The DevOps Institute, and is a Certified Scrum Master and Product Owner.

Website: www.BuildingBetterSoftware.com

Email: sp@BuildingBetterSoftware.com

Twitter: @perdersen_on_sw

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pedersen-on-software

Re-Read Saturday News

This week...I am hiking in the woods without my laptop, albeit I do have my copy of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg . I am continuing to focus on using shortlists, which has been a fairly easy transition and also implementing both the panorama cues and panorama sessions. The panorama cues and sessions have been useful up to the point that my dairy becomes wall-to-wall meetings. I am trying to devise an approach for using panorama sessions in this scenario. Suggestions? While I am out in the woods I have re-published the summary of one of the most popular Re-reads, The Goal. We will be back to Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg next week.

This Week

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Summary https://bit.ly/3gUBPlhb

Previous Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg Entries

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Week 2 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Next SPaMCAST

The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an essay on prioritization. The order work is done is a reflection of priority. There is often a difference between assigned priority and the real priority based on when teams start and complete a piece of work.

We will also have a visit to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault.

In Software Process and Measurement Cast 656 we stay with an agile product and entrepreneurship theme with a conversation with Rahul Aggarwal. We discussed building a business and products to support the gig economy and entrepreneurship. Rahul provides excellent advice on recognizing market needs, experimenting, pivoting when necessary, and building a business.

Bio:

Being awarded as the Rising Entrepreneur of the year 2019 and Entrepreneur 35 under 35 in 2020, and Asia’s Most Promising Business Leaders 2021 by Economic Times, Rahul Aggarwal has co-founded Designhill and created a unique online marketplace to overcome the challenges faced by the business owners in

outsourcing high-quality creative solutions and designers who have been looking for creative freedom.

He’s a serial entrepreneur, passionate marketer, investor, advisor, and a firm believer in the concept of constant learning and growing. His astounding digital knowledge and impregnable business skills have led Designhill to be acknowledged as the Creative Startup Of The Year 2019 by Entrepreneur Magazine

DesignHill: www.designhill.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/raggarwal1

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we re-read Chapter 1 of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg titled Monotasking In A Nutshell. This chapter lays the foundation for translating the Five Axioms of Monotasking into a simple and straightforward approach.

Catch up on my experiment using the concepts on Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg as part of the re-read. This week I am going to work on using shortlists and implementing both the panorama cues and panorama sessions.

Week 2 - Monotasking In A Nutshell - https://bit.ly/3gGMb72

Previous Entries

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Upcoming Events!

ISMA 18 Virtual Conference, June 24th, 2021 8 AM EDT to 11:15 EDT

I will host the event. The event will have a host of great speakers on great topics!

ISMA 18 will be free for both IFPUG members and non-members. IFPUG members are eligible for 1 credit at the CFPS Extension Program (CEP) and also attract 3 Technical PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle®, both by attending the full conference!

Register: https://www.ifpug.org/isma18/

Real Value of TMMi (SPaMCAST is a Friend of TMMi America)

Free webinar from TMMi America featuring Mark Summers

June 25th, 2 to 3 PM EDT

This webinar will explore the common usages of the TMMi Test Process Improvement framework. We will dive into how:

You can leverage this framework to transform the way your organization delivers software. The model can transform your career. Next steps to take on your journey to becoming a Test Process Improvement superhero.
The real value of the TMMi is to help you dramatically change the frequency and quality of your software delivery.

Register at https://bit.ly/2RtoGpy

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, I will talk with Søren Pedersen. We talked about teams, value streams, and leveraging agile to improve how teams deliver value. We started with the definition of a team and then got into the practical nitty-gritty of defining value streams and coaching teams.

This week we dive into what is often viewed as arcane science by the development community, pricing. Pricing can make or break any product. Everyone in the value chain has to have a good understanding of how pricing decisions are made and how they can impact what should be built and when. One critical part of the conversation focuses on whether there is an ideal pattern for product and development to work together? If not, what are the consequences? Our conversation just skims the surface of Ajit Ghuman’s new book Priced to Scale which hit the book stands in April.

Ajit is currently Head of Product Marketing at Narvar, an enterprise-grade customer engagement platform that helps retailers inspire loyalty beyond reason by enabling seamless post-purchase experiences. A SaaS Product Marketing veteran, he has helped companies such as Medallia, Helpshift, and Feedzai differentiate their products, grow revenue, and win. Ajit is an expert in software pricing and his upcoming book, Price to Scale, covers an end-to-end approach to packaging and pricing for high-growth technology companies. He is an avid writer and routinely shares his insights as a member of the Forbes Communication Council, the Bizjournals Leadership Trust, and at Sharebird.com. He is an executive member at Revenue Collective, the leading network of commercial leaders working in the fastest-growing companies worldwide.

Web https://ajitghuman.com/pricing-book/

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/ajitpalghuman

Twitter apghuman

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we tack the introduction to Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg . The introduction is titled The Five Axioms of Monotasking.; Staffan takes us directly into the deep end.

As I noted last week, I will take at least one concept/idea for the charter we are reading forward and try to apply it in my life. As I re-read the introduction, I identified two potential behavior changes based on the five axioms. They are:
Resume doing daily retrospectives (focused on Axiom 5) Quiesce Teams and Slack (focused on Axiom 2)
I am going to resume daily retrospectives which I stopped doing early last year as I adjusted my work life after I stopped leaving the house on a daily basis. Option 3 would have the biggest impact but will require more groundwork given expectations of instant availability. Has anyone experimented with quiescing chats in Team and Slack (or other similar tools)?

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

Week 2 - Introduction - https://bit.ly/2TXVfwt

Upcoming Events!

ISMA 18 Virtual Conference , June 24th, 2021 8 AM EDT to 11:15 EDT

I will host the event. The event will have a host of great speakers on great topics!

ISMA 18 will be free for both IFPUG members and non-members. IFPUG members are eligible for 1 credit at the CFPS Extension Program (CEP) and also attract 3 Technical PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle®, both by attending the full conference!

Register: https://www.ifpug.org/isma18/

Real Value of TMMi (SPaMCAST is a Friend of TMMi America)
Free webinar from TMMi America featuring Mark Summers

June 25th, 2 to 3 PM EDT

This webinar will explore the common usages of the TMMi Test Process Improvement framework. We will dive into how:

You can leverage this framework to transform the way your organization delivers software. The model can transform your career. Next steps to take on your journey to becoming a Test Process Improvement superhero.
The real value of the TMMi is to help you dramatically change the frequency and quality of your software delivery.

Register at https://bit.ly/2RtoGpy

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, we stay with an agile product theme with a conversation the Rahul Aggarwal. We discussed building products to support the gig economy and entrepreneurship. Anyone thinking about a side hustle or starting a business will want to listen to Rahul’s sage advice.

This week is a doubleheader (baseball term for two games played by the same teams on the same day against each other). We begin our re-read of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg and we have my interview with Staffan. Several years ago I read Staffan’s book on Pomodoro which changed how I work. Monotasking might be even more useful and impactful. We discussed how to apply the ideas in the book to improve focus, productivity, and quality of life.

Staffan Nöteberg is an enterprise agility coach with years of experience in improving personal productivity. He is also the author of Pomodoro Technique Illustrated (2009) and teaches seminars on monotasking to companies in North America, Europe, and East Asia.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/staffannoteberg

Website: https://monotasking.staffannoteberg.com/

Re-Read Saturday News

We start our re-read of Monotasking by Staffan Nöteberg . The book is 237 pages published by Racehorse Publishing (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) and was released in English on June 1, 2021. For most of the readers of the blog and listeners to the podcast, this will be an initial read. The book’s contents include a Preface, Introduction, 7 numbered chapters, an Afterword, and then other stuff like index and more (we will not cover the other stuff but I am glad for the index and endnotes).

Now the fun part. Instead of a straight re-read and discussion. I am going to read a chapter, highlight the parts I am going to implement in the next week, tell you what I am going to do, and then the following week admit how well I performed.

Week 1 - Logistics, Game Plan, and Preface - https://bit.ly/3x1oVap

As a reminder, all of the entries from Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller are available!

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Week 12 - Reclaiming The Daily Scrum - https://bit.ly/3eNzMgz

Week 13: Deconstructing the Done Product Incremen t - https://bit.ly/3bedTGc

Week 14: The Sprint Review - https://bit.ly/3huZvgP

Week 15: The Retrospective - https://bit.ly/3bOK2Vg

Week 16 - Final Thoughts - https://bit.ly/3p3tbU0v

Upcoming Events!

ISMA 18 Virtual Conference , June 24th, 2021 8 AM EDT to 11:15 EDT

I will host the event. The event will have a host of great speakers on great topics!

ISMA 18 will be free for both IFPUG members and non-members. IFPUG members are eligible for 1 credit at the CFPS Extension Program (CEP) and also attract 3 Technical PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle®, both by attending the full conference!

Register: https://www.ifpug.org/isma18/
Real Value of TMMi (SPaMCAST is a Friend of TMMi America)
Free webinar from TMMi America featuring Mark Summers

June 25th, 2 to 3 PM EDT

This webinar will explore the common usages of the TMMi Test Process Improvement framework. We will dive into how:
You can leverage this framework to transform the way your organization delivers software. The model can transform your career. Next steps to take on your journey to becoming a Test Process Improvement superhero.

The real value of the TMMi is to help you dramatically change the frequency and quality of your software delivery.

Register at https://bit.ly/2RtoGpy

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, we talk with Ajit Ghuman, Head of Product Marketing at Narvar. Ajit and I talk pricing, marketing, product engagement/ownership, and development. Is there an ideal pattern for product and development to work together? If not, what are the consequences?

Work Entry: An Introduction, focuses on what work entry is and why it is the single most important part of determining whether a team is dependable, predictable, and even remotely agile.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development. Jon and I discuss, wrestle, and chew on how the idea of a product backlog can exist in a project environment.

Re-Read Saturday News

We have read or re-read Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems by Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley cover-to-cover if you don’t count the index at the back of the book (and I certainly do not). As a wrap-up, I briefly consider three points that came to mind during the re-read. If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

Next week we will start our re-read of Monotasking by Staffan Noteberg by laying out an approach. I am contemplating combining the re-read with experience reports as I try to put the ideas in the book to use. More on that next week.

This Week’s Installment

Week 16 - Final Thoughts - https://bit.ly/3p3tbU0v

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Week 12 - Reclaiming The Daily Scrum - https://bit.ly/3eNzMgz

Week 13: Deconstructing the Done Product Incremen t - https://bit.ly/3bedTGc

Week 14: The Sprint Review - https://bit.ly/3huZvgP

Week 15: The Retrospective - https://bit.ly/3bOK2Vg

Next SPaMCAST

Speaking of Monotasking by Staffan Noteberg , in the next podcast, we will feature the interview I did with Staffan covering the book that we are about to re-read. We discussed how to apply the ideas in the book to improve focus, productivity, and quality of life.

Intellectual property protection impacts almost everyone whether they are aware of it or not. Trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets are all part of a wide-ranging discussion of IP protection in the software environment. Rick provides great insight into a rapidly evolving field.

Rick Martin is the owner and founder of Martin IP Law Group which is based in Evansville, Indiana but serves clients throughout the United States. He is a graduate of the Purdue University School of Industrial Engineering and the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Prior to beginning his career as an Intellectual Property Attorney, Rick worked as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Rick has obtained hundreds of patents for inventors in a variety of fields, including timing systems, mine safety devices, broadband antennas, RFID, electronics, ranging, oil & gas, semiconductors, and other mechanical and electro-mechanical devices.

For over 25 years, he has been helping entrepreneurs and businesses protect their ideas, inventions, and identities through patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and related contracts, licenses, and agreements.

Email: rick@ipsolutionslaw.com

Website: https://ipsolutionslaw.com/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rickmartinlaw

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 15 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, covers the retrospective. The retrospective, I think, is the most important part of Scrum. Helping it to work well is important.

Next week we will conclude our re-read with a few closing remarks. Make sure I have your input on what to re-read next by voting in the poll that can be found in the show notes. Don’t like polls? Email me your choice at tcagley@tomcagley.com .

If you have noT bought your copy of Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems -- what are you waiting for?

This Week’s Installment

Week 15: The Retrospective - https://bit.ly/3bOK2Vg

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Week 12 - Reclaiming The Daily Scrum - https://bit.ly/3eNzMgz

Week 13: Deconstructing the Done Product Incremen t - https://bit.ly/3bedTGc

Week 14: The Sprint Review - https://bit.ly/3huZvgP

Next SPaMCAST

The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature a longer essay titled, Work Entry: An Introduction. This essay brings together a number of concepts to focus on what work entry is and why it is the single most important part of determining whether a team is dependable and predictable.

We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development.

This week Dr. Eric Cole and I talk cybersecurity and entrepreneurship. Most of you will have been on the edge of your seat while you tracked the news of the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline . Security can not be an afterthought. Remember this is not a drill; this not hype.

Also, preorder Dr. Cole’s new book Cyber Crisis which will be released on June 1st.

Dr. Cole is a world-renowned cybersecurity entrepreneur and founder of Secure Anchor Consulting , Eric understands the dangers of cybersecurity and knows how to build successful companies.

Today, Dr. Cole shares the many lessons learned from overcoming adversity and staying committed to your purpose. Dr. Cole focuses on security and innovation with a mission to make cyberspace safe in a world where it can be an unrecognized danger and threat.

Website: https://secure-anchor.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericcole1/

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit which starts tomorrow!

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 14 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, shines its spotlight on the Sprint Review. This event is geared to generating feedback to help the team and organization deliver value.

We are getting close to the end of the book and I would like your input on what to tackle next. There is a poll in the show notes to collect your ideas!

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 14: The Sprint Review - https://bit.ly/3huZvgP

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Week 12 - Reclaiming The Daily Scrum - https://bit.ly/3eNzMgz

Week 13: Deconstructing the Done Product Incremen t - https://bit.ly/3bedTGc

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, I talk with Rick Martin about intellectual property, and why everyone involved in software needs to understand how IP law can impact the value they deliver. Copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets are all part of protecting intellectual property.

Work entry, in its simplest form, is the steps needed for work to be triaged to ensure that it is the right work, that it is ready to be worked on, and the priority of the work. This week we talk about five common patterns. On Tuesday I will include the PDF in the feed to see if I can spur a discussion about other patterns.

We also have a visit from Tony Timbol with his To Tell A Story column. In this installment we discuss different forms of user stories and when to use them.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 13 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, discusses the concept of a deployable product increment and done. What we deliver is a big deal, getting it right is the difference between satisfaction and all sorts of stress. We are getting close to the end of the book and I would like your input on what to tackle next.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 13: Deconstructing the Done Product Incremen t - https://bit.ly/3bedTGc

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Week 12 - Reclaiming The Daily Scrum - https://bit.ly/3eNzMgz

Next SPaMCAST

In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, we talk to Dr. Eric Cole. We talk cybersecurity and entrepreneurship. If you did not understand the potential impact of security, just find any major newspaper for Sunday, May 9th, and read about the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline . This not a drill, this not hype.

Experimentation is a dirty word in many organizations, however, it can be a powerful tool to drive and guide change. Tammy Gretz shares how she adopted experiments in her practice and how she uses them to change the behavior and culture of people and organizations.

I am occasionally asked why I enjoy meet-ups so much. Meeting people like Tammy is a major part of the reason. Thanks to the Women in Agile, Cleveland for the great introduction which lead to this interview!

Tammy’s bio:

Tammy is an “Agile Coach Making Shift Happen”

“I exist to generously collaborate, embrace tension and use it to make shift happen.”

I have been influencing change through servant leadership, elbow grease, and lattes for over 20 years. I am a massive maker and the majority of my education comes from experimenting and the relentless pursuit of understanding team dynamics, embracing tension, and using it to fuel innovation and change in the workplace and beyond.

https://tammygretz.com/

linkedin.com/in/tammygretz

tsgretz@gmail.com

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 12 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, talks about the daily scrum. The daily “meeting” might be a ubiquitous feature of corporate life but it can be better!

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 12 - Reclaiming The Daily Scrum - https://bit.ly/3eNzMgz

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Next SPaMCAST

In the next SPaMCAST, we will chew on work entry patterns. There are 5 basic patterns which are you? Why is one better than another (some are downright not useful for agile).

We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol bringing the story on user stories to the Software Process and Measurement Cast listeners

Alex Omeyer and I discussed defining, tracking, and measuring technical debt. Technical debt generates a liability that every organization must deal with. As Alex states, “tech debt might not be the sexiest topic” but if teams and organizations don’t address their liabilities it will be difficult to deliver the value customers need and expect.

We also talk about the practicalities of pivoting life ambitions and entrepreneurship.

Alex is the Co-founder and CEO of Stepsize.

Alex personally spends most of his time speaking to the best software development teams in the world about how they handle technical debt. Hit him up to talk tech debt. He loves to share what they taught him.

Alex and his co-founders are building Stepsize—a free tool for engineering teams to track and prioritize technical debt. Stepsize’s mission is to make software development more accessible, efficient, and powerful.

Website: https://www.stepsize.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandre-omeyer-060a0175/

Twitter @ AlexOmeyer

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Last call! The DevOps Online Summit is nearly here! During the week of April 26th – 30th Tom Henricksen and crew will deliver the third summit. The goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 11 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, talks about the sprint backlog. The sprint backlog is the work teams do on a day-to-day basis.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 11: Sprint Backlog - https://bit.ly/3njezit

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Next SPaMCAST

In the next SPaMCAST, we talk to Tammy Gretz. Experimentation is a dirty word in many organizations. Tammy explains how she uses powerful experiments to change the behavior and culture of people and organizations.

Thanks to the Women in Agile, Cleveland for the great introduction!

The majority of work entry problems are caused by eight problems . The eight problems often occur in clusters and are a reflection of organizational culture. Knowing that there are eight problems is useful when they can be recognized. Unless people wear their motivations on signs hung around their neck, recognition requires conversation and observation. Fixing any problem starts with recognizing that problem.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her, Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast. Today Susan and I discuss the concept of Hybrid Agile and the new book Hybrid Project Management https://amzn.to/3al4b4F that Susan wrote with Mark Tolbert

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Next Week! The DevOps Online Summit is nearly here! During the week of April 26th – 30th Tom Henricksen and crew will deliver the third summit. The goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 10 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, dives into planning. Sprint planning is one of the major events in Scrum. All sprints should start with planning (not planning is one of the silliest, but a common antipattern).

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 10: Sprint Planning - https://bit.ly/3stWOhx

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Next SPaMCAST

In the next SPaMCAST, Alex Omeyer and I talk about technical debt. Everyone uses the term and sometimes they even mean the same thing! Mr. Omeyer describes why tech debt is such an important concept, how we can agree on a definition, and how to measure it.

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 646, Albert Ahdoot and I focus on discussing the impact of strong off-premise infrastructure on the delivery of value, the impact on the bottom line, and the mitigation of risk.

Albert Ahdoot is a successful entrepreneur focused on building IT businesses through meaningful relationships. His flagship company, Colocation America, was founded to serve as the premier data center provider for IT solutions looking for a secure and scalable IT.

Albert is a highly respected business development expert who has helped many technology companies achieve great success. Albert received his Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from UCLA and his masters in Bio-Technology from NYU.

Albert A.’s Profile linkedin.com/in/albertahdoot

Website ColocationAmerica.com (Company Website)

Email albert@colocationamerica.com

Twitter AlbertAhdoot

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Tick Tock! The DevOps Online Summit is nearly here! During the week of April 26th – 30th Tom Henricksen and crew will deliver the third summit. The goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 9 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, addresses the ubiquitous concept of sprints. I have observed teams using weekly sprints and have even run into a team doing 6-month sprints (it did not end well). Everyone is sprinting; Todd and Ryan address some of the more critical antipatterns in this chapter.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 9: Thinking In Sprints - https://bit.ly/321wXTg

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Next SPaMCAST

Broken record time, work entry is the single most important process for any team’s health. Teams with little to no control of work entry will always be running around like their hair is on fire...which actually might be more pleasant.

We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her, Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast.

The headlines of 3 and 4 April 2021 are stark - the data of 533 million Facebook users available on the web (change your password now). You have 533 MILLION reasons to take Paul Katzoff’s message on data security to heart.

Paul Katzoff ( Twitter ) For almost a decade, Paul has worked with technology companies seeking manageable growth and brand loyalty/expansion. His career has ranged from being an integral part of a new business start-up team to becoming a key driver in the business enabling it to become both sustainable and profitable. Currently, Paul serves as the CEO of White Canyon Software -- a data security company used by 44 of the fortune 100 companies. As a leader in the data security industry, Paul would love to chat about how to mitigate any potential data breaches with work-from-home becoming the new norm.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

DevOps professionals throughout the world come together and share their learnings here at the DevOps Online Summit. This coming April 26th – 30th we are having our third summit. Our goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

Chapter 8 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, tackles management. The gap between labor and management is an age-old problem. I am sure that the artisans and workers that constructed the pyramids had their own version of Dilbert. The focus on the team, a core tenant of agile and Scrum, is perceived as exacerbating the management versus worker dichotomy. By identifying anti-patterns and proposing approaches to solving those issues this chapter is useful for bridging the gap.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 8: Management - https://bit.ly/31Kv39l

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Next SPaMCAST

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 646, Albert Ahdoot and I ocus on discussing the impact of strong off-premise infrastructure on the delivery of value, the impact on the bottom line and the mitigation of risk.

In the SPaMCAST 644, we talk teams. At the core of agile is the belief that the team is the fundamental building block of work. Because they are so important, organizations put tons of effort into helping and guiding teams. The problem is not that teams aren’t important or that we aren’t working hard to make them better, teams are still chronically messed up. We discuss a framework for guiding support for teams.

We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the podcast. Jeremy and I discuss the differences between static and dynamic testing. Understanding the definition of each is an important step in improving quality.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

DevOps professionals throughout the world come together and share their learnings here at the DevOps Online Summit. This coming April 26th – 30th we are having our third summit. Our goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

In SPaMCAST 642 Vasco Duarte made the startling statement that a Scrum Master will be your next CEO. Chapter 7 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller echoes the power of that statement by emphasizing the definition of a scrum master.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 7: Embracing The Scrum Master Role - https://bit.ly/3m0HB5D

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Next SPaMCAST

Next up is data security. We live in frightening times in the cyber world. Paul Katzoff and I discuss why data security is more important than ever and what we can do to make the cbyer-world less scary. Everyone in the value chain is responsible for data security.

This week, Caleb Woods, CEO and Senior Software Craftsman at RoleModel Software joins the podcast. Caleb and I talk about the role of craftsmanship in developing and maintaining software (or really anything else).

Caleb Woods - RoleModel’s CEO - Caleb is a proven leader with extensive experience evaluating technology trends, leading teams, and implementing best practices. As CEO, Caleb promotes continuous improvement while cultivating a collaborative work environment.

Caleb is a technologist who understands and solves complex business problems. He has a passion for software craftsmanship and producing sustainable software and has become the visionary leader of the next generation of RoleModel Software.

Caleb began his software career as a web developer at an academic coaching company, where he gained experience in infrastructure migrations, team leadership, and business analysis. He’s continued that dedication to technology advancement. At his previous position as Chief Technology Officer for RoleModel, Caleb led the expansion of the company's technical and design craftsmanship capabilities. That background helps Caleb effectively develop and evaluate RoleModel's technology landscape. Caleb sets the vision for the company's strategic full-stack architecture and is an expert at putting together high-performance teams and matching them to clients/projects’ needs.

Caleb also applies the ideas of continuous improvement to his personal life through effective micro habits and is a big believer in intermittent fasting. He also enjoys playing disc golf, cycling, and watching Michigan State football and basketball. He and his wife, Kimberly, have three young kids.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/calebwoods

Websites:

calebwoods.com (calebwoods.com)

rolemodelsoftware.com (RoleModel Software)

Twitter calebwoods

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

DevOps professionals throughout the world come together and share their learnings here at the DevOps Online Summit. This coming April 26th – 30th we are having our third summit. Our goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we read Chapter 6 of Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller. This chapter discusses some of the antipatterns for the second role in Scrum, the development team. The development team covers the people that aren’t the scrum master or product owner — the group of people that actually takes an idea and converts it into something tangible. If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Week 6: The Development Team - http://bit.ly/2OLVAAs

Next SPaMCAST

Next, we will revisit the topic of teams and what constitutes a team. Putting six people together (in-person or virtually) and assigning a manager does not a team make. In order to get work done effectively and efficiently, we need to get this right!

Vasco Duarte returns to the podcast to discuss the Scrum Master. Scrum Masters are the face of agile in many organizations. Helping team facilitators get the role right benefits not only the agile community but every business they are involved with!

Vasco has been working in the software industry since 1998 and has learned the hard way what works (most of the time) and what does not work (almost never).

His goal is to help our industry evolve. We can’t become better without trying out new and innovative approaches to software development. The majority of our businesses run on software. We owe it to our society to get better at an activity that affects so much our lives and our countries’ economies.

Vasco consults companies that understand software is a key component of their business model. Get in touch via twitter: @duarte_vasco; or on his company’s web-site: http://www.oikosofy.com/.

Check out the Scrum Master’s Toolbox Podcast: https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Coming Soon. Sign-up to be notified when registrations open

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit .

DevOps professionals throughout the world come together and share their learnings here at the DevOps Online Summit. This coming April 26th – 30th we are having our third summit. Our goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket!

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we read Chapter 5 of Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller. Chapter 5 dives into fixing the antipatterns that hover around the product backlog. This chapter reinforces that a team and product owner are only as good as the backlog they are working from. If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Week 5: The Product Backlog - http://bit.ly/3cAEk9c

Next SPaMCAST

Next week we will talk with Caleb Woods, CEO and| Senior Software Craftsman at RoleModel Software. Caleb and I talk about the role of craftsmanship in developing and maintaining software (or really anything else).

In the podcast this week, we discuss the Agile Coaching Code of Ethics and the process of building an ethical foundation. Shane Hastie and Craig Smith have been leading the effort to craft a useful Agile Coaching Code of Ethics for the past year. These two thought leaders have helped to pull together a diverse group of coaches, and then guide that herd of cats in order to create a new force to guide agile coaches of all stripes.

In May 2017 Shane Hastie joined ICAgile as the Director of Agile Learning Programs, tasked with ensuring the learning objectives remain valid and useful, supporting the various communities that make up the ICAgile ecosystem, and seeking ways to advance the state of agile learning.

In November 2019 he moved into the Director of Community Development role, building and supporting the global community of thought leaders, members, instructors, and certification holders.

Shane’s Profile - linkedin.com/in/shanehastie

Email - snhastie@gmail.com

Twitter - shanehastie

Craig Smith has been active in the IT industry for over 15 years. He has been an Agile practitioner for over 10 years and is a Certified Scrum Master and a member of both the Scrum Alliance and Agile Alliance and as an Agile Coach, he has worked on a number of high-profile technical and business projects. He regularly conducts Agile training and has presented at a number of Australian and international conferences. He is also an Agile Editor for InfoQ and co-hosts an Agile podcast called The Agile Revolution.

Craig’s Profile - linkedin.com/in/craigsmithau

Websites

craigsmith.id.au (Blog)

theagilerevolution.com (Podcast)

unbounddna.com (Company Website)

Email - craig@craigsmith.id.au

Twitter - smithcdau

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.

The First Global Scrum Master Summit

Coming Soon. Sign-up to be notified when registrations open

Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded

Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

DevOps professionals throughout the world come together and share their learnings here at the DevOps Online Summit. This coming April 26th – 30th we are having our third summit. Our goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket! https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

This week we read Chapter 4 of Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller. I have argued that the role of the Product Owner is the hardest in Scrum. The role is difficult for many reasons, Todd and Ryan tackle seven of the most pernicious antipatterns of product ownership in Chapter 4, The Product Owner , of Fixing Your Scrum. Compromising Scrum by accepting any of these antipatterns will need other compromises which will increase the overhead needed to deliver value. That, in turn, will hurt the business.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

Previous Installments

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Week 4: The Product Owner - https://bit.ly/3qpKvSn

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, Vasco Duarte returns to the podcast to discuss the Scrum Master. Scrum Masters are the face of agile in many organizations. Helping team facilitators get the role right benefits not only the agile community but every business they are involved with!

The idea of Communities of Practice is thrown around alot in organizations, often without thinking about the goals of a CoP. Why? Organizations are increasingly becoming more diverse and distributed, while at the same time pursuing mechanisms to increase collaboration between groups and consistency of knowledge and practice hence the rapid growth of Communities of Practice. Let's explore the goals of a CoP.

This week also marks the premiere of Tony Timbol’s new column, “To Tell A Story.” In this week’s installment, we begin to explore the nuances of User Stories. Tony is a practitioner, consultant, entrepreneur, and science fiction author -- Tony does it all.

Email: tony.timbol@agileready.net

Web: BeAgileReady.com

Interested in Mikolaj Pawlikoski’s book, Chaos Engineering, Site reliability through controlled disruption I have discount codes for the listeners of the Software Process and Measurement Cast, ping me @ tcagley@tomcagley.com and I will share them with you!

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

DevOps professionals throughout the world come together and share their learnings here at the DevOps Online Summit. This coming April 26th – 30th we are having our third summit. Our goal is to bring together 5000 DevOps professionals. Grab a ticket! https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

This we continue our re-read of Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller with Chapter 3 titled Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach . You can make a good argument that values shape behaviors.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Week 3: Breaking Bad Scrum with a Value-Driven Approach - http://bit.ly/3stGc9Q

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, the Agile Coaching Code of Ethics takes center stage with Shane Hastie and Craig Smith. Shane and Craig have been leading the effort to craft a useful Agile Coaching Code of Ethics for the past year. The two have helped to pull together a diverse group of coaches, and then guide that herd of cats in order to create a first draft of the code.

Chaos Engineering comes to the Software Process and Measurement Cast this week delivered (chaotically) by Mikolaj Pawlikoski. Miko and I talked about the definition of chaos engineering, why chaos is not scary, and most importantly his new book Chaos Engineering, Site reliability through controlled disruption . One of the most important side effects of chaos engineering is uninterrupted sleep caused by things not going bump in the night!

Mikolaj Pawlikowski is a recognized authority on chaos engineering. He is the creator of the Kubernetes chaos engineering tool PowerfulSeal, and the networking visibility tool Goldpinger.

https://mikolajpawlikowski.com/

https://twitter.com/mikopawlikowski

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikolajpawlikowski/

I have discount codes for the listeners of the Software Process and Measurement Cast, ping me @ tcagley@tomcagley.com and I will share them with you!

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak. The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

Today we dive into the main part of Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, published in 2020 by The Pragmatic Programmers. In this installment of Re-read Saturday, we tackle both Chapter 1: A Brief Introduction To Scrum and Chapter 2: Why Scrum Goes Bad.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: A Brief Introduction To Scrum, and Why Scrum Goes Bad - https://bit.ly/37w4Dv9

Next SPaMCAST

Next week, we will explore the goals of Communities of Practice. Organizations are increasingly becoming more diverse and distributed, while at the same time pursuing mechanisms to increase collaboration between groups and consistency of knowledge and practice hence the rapid growth of Communities of Practice. What are their goals?

Also, Tony Timbol brings his brand new column to the podcast. “To Tell A Story” will explore the nuances of User Stories led by a practitioner, consultant, entrepreneur, and science fiction author. Tony does it all.

This week we connect with Paul Clayson to talk about cybersecurity in the IoT space. When you are dealing with extreme constraints being secure is complicated and doing nothing is a really bad option. Paul also weighs in on the CMMC (new security model) and serial entrepreneurism.

Paul’s Bio: CEO of AgilePQ . 98% of IoT devices are currently unsecured. On average a data breach costs $8.2 million. AgilePQ was born to address these issues. AgilePQ has raised a total of $10M. Paul has extensive experience in launching and growing early-stage companies. He has launched four disruptive technology companies and served as CEO to five early-stage companies in nanotechnology, automotive, graphene, carbon nanotube, PCB, microprocessor, and other advanced technologies.

Connect with Paul at linkedin.com/in/paulclayson

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak. The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

Today we begin the re-read of Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems , by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, published in 2020 by The Pragmatic Programmers. Over the next 14 or 15 weeks we will have fun exploring the concepts in the book and sharing ideas on how to use the information Ryan and Todd deliver.

If you have not bought your copy -- what are you waiting for? Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems

This Week’s Installment

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matter - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Next SPaMCAST

In the next podcast, I talk to Mikolaj Pawlikowski. Mikolaj and I discuss his new book from Manning Publications, Chaos Engineering, Site reliability through controlled disruption. Our discussion covered the definition of chaos engineering and how it can be applied to improve value and reliability.

This week the Cast features our essay titled, “ Collaboration - Disconnected .” The improvement imperative is driven by the need to stay competitive at a holistic level. One would expect that continuous process improvement or continuous improvement would be discussed earnestly at every staff meetings at every level of an organization, and at every meeting. It isn’t.

Jon M. Quigley returns with an installment of the Alpha and Omega of Product Development. Jon and I completed an arc on product quality with a discussion of the cost of poor quality.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak. The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

On November 28, 2020, we began the reread of Great Big Agile, An OS for Agile Leaders by Jeff Dalton. Since jumping over quite a few chapters last week I have received a few emails asking what was up. For the record, I have not had any significant traumas falling during my daily runs and walks (I was asked – I think tongue in cheek). During the re-read, we primarily focused on the chapters that revolve around the Agile Performance Holarchy (APH). I chose not to focus on the almost encyclopedic listing of techniques that is an important feature of the book, but not most groundbreaking. The listing of techniques is useful even if not using agile methods. For example practices such as continuous integration or arc of conversation aren’t dependent on using a specific framework.

Next week, we will begin Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems (it is time to buy a copy).

This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog

Previous installments:

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matters - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: The API Is Broken - https://bit.ly/2JGpe7l

Week 3: Performance Circle: Leading - https://bit.ly/2K3poWy

Week 4: Performance Circle: Providing - http://bit.ly/3mNJJN7

Week 5: Performance Circle: Envisioning - https://bit.ly/2JEVXdt

Week 6: Performance Circle: Crafting - https://bit.ly/3ntsX69

Week 7: Performance Circle: Affirming - http://bit.ly/35OvFgC

Week 8: Performance Circle: Teaming - http://bit.ly/366CYk0

Week 9: Using The Agile Performance Holarchy - http://bit.ly/3aqs75U

Week 10: Final Thoughts - http://bit.ly/3oTd9KR

Next SPaMCAST

In the next podcast, I talk to Paul Clayson. We talked about serial entrepreneurism and cybersecurity in the IoT space. Cybersecurity in the IoT space is complicated not only by the sheer number of devices and but also by available storage and processing constraints. It is hard, and Paul provides penetrating advice!

Tony Timbol of Agile Ready joins the Software Process and Measurement Cast this week. Tony and I have worked together in a past life, so we had a bit of fun poking at each other as we talked about user stories, Tony's new product, Agile Ready, and entrepreneurship. Tony delivers a number of great tips, some of which I already have put to use.

Tony Timbol is an agile coach, trainer, and consultant with a 35-year history in technology and software development. Currently serving as an Enterprise Agile Coach for a large healthcare insurance provider, Tony teaches and coaches agile best practice principles, the SAFE framework specializing in the Product Owner role, and agile requirements authoring processes. Other interests include cooking, writing novels, and binge-watching sci-fi (no matter how bad).

Early in 2018 Tony conceptualized the Agile Ready Platform and began experimentation and preliminary design discussions with trusted friends and colleagues. This eventually led to a commitment to develop and launch the Agile Ready Platform in early 2021.

Contact Data:

Email: tony.timbol@agileready.net

Web: BeAgileReady.com

The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.

Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak. The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

https://bit.ly/3syp2c5

Re-Read Saturday News

Today we take on Chapter73 of Great Big Agile, An OS for Agile Leaders by Jeff Dalton. I read (and re-read) this chapter as two pieces. The first part describes Jeff’s and Broadsword’s (his company) journey up to the point they decided to become agile. The background is important to understand why adopting the agile mindset and then the techniques was a natural step as the organization matured. The second part provides an example of applying the Agile Performance Holarchy. Remember, buy a copy and read along.

In two weeks, we will begin Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems (it is time to buy a copy).

This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog

Previous installments:

Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matters - https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6

Week 2: The API Is Broken - https://bit.ly/2JGpe7l

Week 3: Performance Circle: Leading - https://bit.ly/2K3poWy

Week 4: Performance Circle: Providing - http://bit.ly/3mNJJN7

Week 5: Performance Circle: Envisioning - https://bit.ly/2JEVXdt

Week 6: Performance Circle: Crafting - https://bit.ly/3ntsX69

Week 7: Performance Circle: Affirming - http://bit.ly/35OvFgC

Week 8: Performance Circle: Teaming - http://bit.ly/366CYk0

Week 9: Using The Agile Performance Holarchy - http://bit.ly/3aqs75U

Next SPaMCAST

In the next cast, we are going back to the magazine format for a week. We will feature our essay titled, “ Collaboration - Disconnected .” The improvement imperative is driven by the need to stay competitive at a holistic level. One would expect that continuous process improvement or continuous improvement would be discussed earnestly at every staff meeting at every level of an organization, and at every meeting. It isn’t.

We will also have a visit from Jon M. Quigley to talk quality from a product development point of view.