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In agile, “Resource” can be a 4-letter word

By: Agile Velocity | Sep 13, 2016 |  Article,  Leadership,  Team

cubicles house people, not resources -- resources can be a 4 letter word in AgileSometimes I get emails from recruiters inquiring if we have open positions. The following is an example:

Good afternoon,

I was just wondering if you got any open spots for BA ( Financial ) or Network Admin.

I have these senior resources based out of CA but open to relocating nationwide.

Each time I receive these emails, I have to think about what he’s really saying. “Resources?” Oh…he’s talking about people. Then I get this icky feeling similar to when people hear the word Voldemort.

I grasped early on in my agile journey that “resources” can be a dirty word when used interchangeably with “people” or “person”.

By definition, it is accurate to refer to a person as a resource. According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

Resource (n): A stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively.

It’s the connotation that makes its usage provocative and careless.

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Agile2016 Souvenir Booklist

By: Agile Velocity | Aug 03, 2016 |  Agile Tools,  Article

Agile books to read from Agile2016 - picture of a vast libraryA few things I learned attending Agile2016:

  1. There are a lot of Agilists. Over 2,500 attended Agile2016–the biggest one yet.
  2. Agilists know how to socialize.
  3. There’s no board game you can’t giantize.
  4. Books are everything. They are the life force that sustains and grow our community.

For every keynote and session I attended, at least one book was cited as a resource or inspiration. They were mentioned casually like how one talks about an old friend and reverently like how one speaks of a favorite professor. The following is my souvenir Agile2016 reading list. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments below.

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Giant Jenga + Agile Tips = Tower of Agility

By: Agile Velocity | Jun 07, 2016 |  Agile Tools,  Article

 

Jenga tower, with Agile tips written on each oneTwo weeks ago at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (can you believe it’s already been two weeks), attendants stopped by our booth to spin the prize wheel and play the “Tower of Agility” aka giant Jenga. They also imparted words of wisdom by writing Agile tips on the wooden blocks. We’ve compiled them below for your reference.  

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Agile Amped, Agile Velocity Style

By: Agile Velocity | Jun 01, 2016 |  Agile Transformation,  Video

Last week at Keep Austin Agile 2016 at the JW Marriot, May 26th, 2016, David Hawks and Doc List sat down to podcast with SolutionsIQ to discuss their Agile Amped respective sessions at this year’s conference.

We will have the full recorded sessions and presentations available in the next few weeks. For now, here’s a short preview.

Doc List: Welcome To The Matrix! Organizational Structures To Support Agile

Doc has dealt with one particular dysfunction over the years and explains what the problem is and how to fix it. How do we restructure things to make them work? How do we define those roles?

(https://www.youtube.com/embed/TyjN1smxbtk)

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Is The Tesla Model 3 A Lean Mean Driving Machine?

By: Agile Velocity | Apr 11, 2016 |  Article,  Kanban,  Lean

Tesla unveiled the next addition to its premium electric vehicle family, the Model 3, last week. At $35,000, Elon Musk made good on his promise for an “affordable” EV option and the public has responded by exceeded expectations for the slow rollout. According to Bloomberg, there are more than 325,000 reservations giving Tesla Motors Inc a nice $325M cash asset infusion. Implied future sales make it the “single biggest one-week launch of any product ever,” according to the company’s blog.

Even though the EV will not be available until late 2017, buyers reserved their very own Model 3 for $1,000 pre-test drive.

Is this Lean in action?

It’s an interesting situation that we’ve analyzed as outsiders** and Lean advocates. In Lean Startup, you eliminate uncertainty around your product by testing your hypotheses. The product becomes an experiment that is tested instead of something that is slaved upon, tweezed, tweaked, and perfected. Deliver value, get feedback, adjust, deliver.

We’re not saying that Tesla is a startup but looking at how it’s launched its latest product, it has similarities. Instead of creating 400,000 cars at a very high cost (one battery is about $10,000), they created a few for the launch and then began to take orders and therefore gauged interest.  

Does Tesla now have $375M in revenue? Car and Driver explains that each reservation is completely refundable and it’s not counted as revenue until the car is delivered. Tesla will use the deposit money for launch and operating expenses but all of that cash is technically considered a debt.

With Tesla knowing that there is sufficient interest in the Model 3 and money to help with the rollout, it’s a safe bet to say the next two years looks pretty good for the company. In Lean Startup terms, they conducted an experiment, learned that their consumers are interested, and at the same time managed to bankroll their launch. Not too shabby!

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Happy Thanksgiving

By: Agile Velocity | Nov 24, 2015 |  Agile,  Article

Happy Thanksgiving

We live in a world where companies deliver cookies fresh out of the oven and stress-relieving puppies. On the other hand, we live in a world that sadly reminds us every day that we really do have a lot to be thankful for.

Here are just a few of our reasons why we give thanks:

I am thankful for the people in my life, including my co-workers and the people I get to meet through work. The world is full of lovely, fascinating people.” -Doc List, Senior Director of Coaching and Training

“I’m thankful for my job. Also, I’m thankful for my trainer for helping me work off the Thanksgiving turkey.” -Sara Abrams, Training Coordinator

“I’m thankful that I’m alive and also for cheese. I’m thankful for cheese.” -Brett Simon, Wisconsin native and Tech & Agile Recruiter

“I too am thankful to have happy and healthy family and friends. I am also thankful to live in a vibrant and active city with lots of opportunities, optimism, resources, and friendly people.”-David Croley, Senior Developer & Technical Player-Coach

“I am thankful for the health of my family and friends. I’m thankful for a bubbly, confident little girl who corrects my Spanish pronunciation. Also, I am thankful to live in a world that allows me to communicate my ideas with the push of a computer key.”

“I am thankful for a happy and healthy family.” – Jessica Bush, Business Operations Manager

I am thankful for miracles: father beating cancer, friend’s expected full recovery from a broken neck, and the love of my family (yes, that’s a miracle).” – Mike Lepine, Director of Operations

“I am thankful for a passionate team that makes building a company fun and for a family which is supportive in my entrepreneur pursuit.” – David Hawks, CEO 

From all of us at Agile Velocity, Happy Thanksgiving! 

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Pitfall #4: Without Leadership Alignment, There Can Be No Agile Transformation

By: Agile Velocity | Oct 20, 2015 |  Agile Transformation,  Article

Line of Seagulls - need leadership alignmentPart 4 in our 10 Agile Transformation Pitfalls and How to Address Them

To the change agents spearheading Agile transformations in their organizations, the benefits seem obvious. Why wouldn’t everyone want their team, or organization, to be Agile? But assuming everyone is on board can create a serious void of communication, leading to misaligned leadership, and ultimately, an organization that struggles to be truly Agile. This blog discusses pitfall #4 in our blog series, 10 Agile Transformation Pitfalls and How to Address Them. Read about the previous pitfalls in our series:

Pitfall #4: Leadership Out of Alignment

IT professionals adopt Agile for many reasons based on a diverse set of business goals, including improving time to market, reducing risk, producing better quality products, and boosting culture and morale. While numerous case studies and analyst reports prove Agile can meet these needs, because the business goals are different in every organization, so are reasons for an Agile adoption.

Organizations cannot afford to assume that everyone understands or supports a transition. The assumption that everyone understands or supports implementing Agile can be catastrophic. Let’s look at an example of the chaos lack of alignment can cause.

 

Open communication and over-communication is vital.

If the project manager of a traffic bridge does not communicate with the builders, the bridge might never get finished. If the builders don’t communicate to the project manager, the bridge will likely not turn out to be what it was meant to be.  Likewise, a transformation or Agile adoption requires buy-in from the bottom, middle,  and the top of technology organizations, regardless of where the case for change is originating. You can ensure that your organization is aligned by following a few of the guidelines below. These guidelines have been developed over years in the field working with teams who are implementing Agile.

Avoid and fill communication vacuums

The first step to filling a potential or current communication vacuum is knowing what to say. The discontentment bred by a lack of communication is often due to not understanding the “Why?” behind the change.

Be sure to clearly communicate the reasons for the Agile transformation and tie the change initiative to significant company goals. Narrow it down to 2 – 5 items you’d like to improve or achieve the transformation. It is also important to communicate the message to everyone, not just a select group. This will keep team members from guessing and filling the communication void with resistance. Everyone needs to understand and have buy-in to achieve alignment. If you’re in leadership, be sure the rest of your colleagues hear the story as well as your tech team, who will put in a significant portion of the work to become Agile. If you’re a developer, be sure that your team and leadership understands and supports the transformation.

A key piece of communication is training. This is a great tool and experience to foster alignment. Train everyone, from the Scrum Team to leadership, at the same time. That way the team and leaders can ask questions, struggle, discover and achieve together.

Establish a transformation team

The most successful transformations we see have an internal cross-functional transformation team behind them.

Key members of a transformation team include:

  • An executive sponsor
  • A development representative
  • A QA representative
  • A business or customer representative

The team’s function is to own their organization’s change process, as well as contribute to driving the change across the broader organization. We recommend transformation teams approach change like a Scrum team, adopting the same cadences and ceremonies and practices as any other Scrum team. create and manage a transformation backlog, prioritize and accomplish tasks in 2 – 4 week periods.

Follow the entire series:

For more on our approach to building lasting business agility, you can check out our Transformation Services page.

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Pitfall #2: Knowledge and Alignment Driving Agile Transformations

By: Agile Velocity | Oct 07, 2015 |  Agile Transformation,  Article

Part 2 in our 10 Agile Transformation Pitfalls and How to Address Them

In part 1 of our 10 part blog series, I discussed a pitfall that is commonly seen in Agile transformations: Thinking Agile is Simply a Process Change.

Before moving on to our next pitfall, I would like to explore the Satir Change Model, developed by Virginia Satir, which illustrates the impact a well-assimilated change has on group performance over time. A successful Agile transformation resembles the Satir model of change, which shows four stages: status quo; resistance and chaos; integration and practice; and new status quo. True to the model (and adage), things tend to get worse before they get better, as a team adopts a new way of thinking and doing.

An agile change starts with Knowledge and Alignment - the satir model of change

 

The big challenge is ensuring your team perseveres to find a new better status quo while limiting the time spent in the resistance and integration phases. So how do you do that? With guidance, phases two and three can be as quick and painless as possible.

Pitfall #2: No Guidance

It Starts with Knowledge
Often Agile transitions are led by one person, and that one person is typically a thought leader or leader within his/her organization, and not an Agile expert. Even if that person has been trained, that person has no way of knowing what gaps there were in his/her training. Plainly stated, they don’t know what they don’t know.

Common side-effects of having a non-Agile expert lead an Agile transformation include:

  • Customizing too early, which can cause extra chaos, unnecessary steps and confusion in the team
  • Never recovering from the initial chaos of the transition
  • Implementing Agile practices piecemeal, ignoring the philosophy behind the methodology

It Depends on Team Alignment

While knowledge is critical, a successful Agile transformation also depends on team alignment. It typically takes three to six sprints for teams to fully get on-board and adopt Agile. The time leading up to this point can be chaotic, and is characterized by a dip in productivity.

Only when knowledge rolls downhill and everyone shares a mutual understanding of Agile—its framework, practices, processes, etc.—can the team be in alignment. Without mutual knowledge, there is uncertainty and misperception, which often surfaces as resistance.

The fence painting scene in Karate Kid is a great picture of a team coming out of the resistance phase and into alignment for integration, practice and eventually new status quo. Daniel doesn’t understand why he’s painting the fence, and is resistant, but finds the practice rewarding later. It’s also a great picture of an Agile coach in trying times. Mr. Miyagi is a constant reminder that the odd things he asks of Daniel will make him better in the long run.

The Ideal Scenario of Knowledge and Alignment

Sometimes teams have one or the other: knowledge or alignment. Often, they’re missing both pieces. Rarely are they the ideal scenario, where everyone on the bus understands where they’re going and why, and wants to go there. Yet much of Agile depends on the team to self-organize and build their own process, which requires the ideal scenario of knowledge and alignment.

So how do you overcome the potential gaps and gain the ideal scenario?  Bring in an Agile expert, either on staff full-time or outsourced, to help you set realistic expectations, quicken the necessary resistance and chaos phase and align the team by providing best practices, tips and tools and on-going trainings. Agile is like a new company ecosystem. It takes an experienced Agile expert to navigate the transformation well.

Looking for an expert to guide your team? Give us a call. We would love to connect with you and hear about your Agile Transformation. Check out the third most common Agile transformation pitfalls in our next blog, Pitfall #3: Not Providing Slack to Learn.

Follow the entire series:

For more on our approach to building lasting business agility, you can check out our Transformation Services page.

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Blog Series: 10 Agile Transformation Pitfalls and How to Address Them

By: Agile Velocity | Sep 30, 2015 |  Agile Transformation,  Article

The trend of IT and software organizations transitioning to Agile continues to grow. While Agile is a better way to get quality work done faster, the transition to Agile can be a weary road to travel. In this series, we’ll explore 10 of the most common pitfalls we see in Agile transformations and tips on how to overcome them. This week we will focus on pitfall #1.

Pitfall #1: Thinking Agile is Simply a Process Change

Ultimately, organizations who transition to Agile are trying to accomplish the same goals: they want to improve decision-making, pace of delivery and product quality.

While process plays a key part in these three factors, a true Agile transformation does not start or stop at processes. It involves technical practices, and together, these two items speak to a much larger facet of your organization: culture.

An Agile Transformation includes a process change, picture of transition circles

Processes vs. Practices

Process describes how you manage the work. The processes you have in place to handle everyday operations are largely responsible for your decision-making (choosing the right product) and pace of delivery.

Practice describes how you work. The practices your team engages in may be similar, but the way they go about implementing them can be different. Practices shine through in your product quality and, like processes, impact your team’s pace of delivery.

While practices and your processes impact your team’s pace of delivery, quality expectations, and decision-making, a transformation that only affects how you manage the work and how you do it is still an incomplete transformation.

The Distance between Doing Agile and Being Agile

Agile is more than a process transition: it is cultural. The transformation to Agile is not complete until your organization IS Agile. If your team is simply going through the motions of Agile (adjusting processes), they’re not reaping the full benefit of the methodology. The key is to have your organization living and breathing Agile, every step of the way.

If you’re midway through a transformation and not quite sure where you are on the doing to being spectrum, or if you’re reading this as a way of putting in some due diligence before taking the leap to Agile, I’d strongly suggest one activity that can help you get a clear picture of what it means to be Agile and to help you avoid this pitfall: look to others for guidance.  To do this, take a field trip (we call it an Agile Safari). Find an organization you know is Agile, and ask if you can stop in for a day and find out how they tick. This is a great way to not only wrap your own mind around the Agile methodology but to get your team comfortable and on-board with it as well.

Not sure where you’re at on the spectrum from doing to being? Contact us today, or give us a call. We would love to connect with you and hear about your Agile Transformation.

Follow the entire series:

 

For more on our approach to building lasting business agility, you can check out our Transformation Services page.

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Agile Velocity Registers 52% Growth in Coaching & Training Revenue in First Half of 2015

By: Agile Velocity | Aug 03, 2015 |  Agile,  Article

Escalating Demand Creates Need to Expand Workforce by Adding New Key Hire

Agile Velocity - Realizing Impressing GrowthAUSTIN, TEXAS – August 3, 2015  – Agile Velocity, a Texas-based provider of Agile services, including Agile transformations, assessments, training, coaching and recruiting, announced today that it has been experiencing ongoing company growth, evidenced by rising revenue. To support the increasing demand for services, Agile Velocity has added a new key hire to their expanding team.

Based out of Austin, Texas, and historically focused on the Texas market, Agile Velocity has continued to expand their reach to deliver enterprise-wide services to organizations in multiple states including Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, and Arkansas. This market expansion, combined with increasing local business, has contributed to the reported growth in revenue. Agile Velocity has also seen a 100% increase in training participants, training over 800 Agile professionals on a variety of Agile related topics in the first two quarters of 2015.

“We are happy to announce our ongoing growth and increasing market presence,” said David Hawks, CEO of Agile Velocity. “We attribute this growth to our diverse team of Agile experts, our focus on customer service and the support and loyalty we continue to receive from our valued clients. This, combined with our commitment to a client-centric approach on every engagement, continues to result in satisfied clients as evidenced by our high net promoter scores (NPS).”

To support the ongoing growth, Agile Velocity, who for the past two years has been ranked in the Top 10 of Austin Business Journal’s Best Places to Work, is expanding its team. Recently joining the Agile Velocity team is Doc List, as Senior Director of Coaching and Training. Doc will lead the delivery of Organizational Transformation, Coaching and Training services by building the team and ensuring quality delivery. With over three decades of experience spanning software development, IT, coaching and consulting, Doc will apply a variety of Agile principles to aid client organizations in becoming more effective and profitable. Most recently, Doc has been an independent consultant, focusing on transforming organizations world-wide through coaching, consulting and training.

“The high caliber experience and expertise that Doc brings to our team will give us an even stronger competitive edge. This is essential to growing our business and supporting our expanding needs” mentioned David Hawks, CEO of Agile Velocity. “We are excited to have him join our team in a strategic role and look forward to the ongoing value he will add to our organization.”