A Tale of The Agile Happy Meal

No Agile Happy Meals!

I have come to the conclusion after visiting many of the Fortune 100 Companies and assisting with their Agile transformations, that many managers feel as though Agile practices are like a Happy Meal from a Drive Through. Please allow me to explain. As a father of four who VERY rarely visits fast food establishments, we regard those types of meals as a luxury, not an everyday necessity. Yet many managers drive up to Agile like it is a menu to choose from. I would like to order the faster time to market with the improved quality, hold all of the meetings and a large batch of reports and documentation. I want nothing hard, undesirable, or difficult to do, I'll just settle for the immediate results at the lowest possible cost and I want it by the time I reach the second window. As funny as it may sound, I believe the conundrum is quite obvious.  They order exactly what they want, leave out the portions that are hard or less desirable, and expect to receive the toy immediately for their gratification. 

I always use a different metaphor for managers. Agile is more like golf. It is simple, but certainly not easy. Golf is all about hitting the small white ball into the hole out there somewhere. Pretty easy game, very few rules, etc. Yet very few are REALLY good at golf. Agile is the same way! You should not try to make your way through the entire course using a sand wedge or putter for every shot. Nor do I recommend using a driver for all of your putts. You need to carefully select the club that works for your organization and take precious care to make certain that you measure the results of the completed shot in order to select the next best club for the subsequent shot. Results are a far cry from immediate. You may get better as you progress at a sustainable pace, but if you try too hard and wear out or lose patience at your inability do get every shot perfect, the game quickly grows old and frustration sets in. 

The fact is Agile transformations take time and any great golfer will tell you that one of the most important decisions you can make is who your caddy will be. Just ask Adam Scott, what Tiger Woods did not see in his caddy, Adam did and won his first major with Tiger's former caddy. Selecting the right Agile coach to assist in your organizational transformation is just so critical! There is a lot more on the line that a golf game or happy meal. Organizational transformation with the correct coach can save your organization MILLIONS of dollars and make your organization MILLIONS of dollars at the very same time! The right coach will bring a wealth of real world experience combined with the theoretical knowledge needed to push your organization to the threshold of success. 

As Agile and Scrum grows in popularity, more and more training / coaching companies are popping up claiming to have the tools you need to be successful in this very venture that could make or break your organization, PMO, and your very job. Everybody seems to feel like they have the vanilla answer to the very specific problems your organization faces. Please do not fall into this trap. You are Special! Your company is ready to make a difference! The problems and adaptations may seem similar in nature, but are certainly not the same as what everyone else sees. Agile is NOT a one size fits all model. Treat your Agile Coach selection more like your golf club selection. Do not fall for all of the impostors who can save you a few dollars and feed you the same old vanilla solutions. There is no such thing as an Agile Happy Meal. If there were such a thing, the toy would be amazing beyond words, but you would have to work so hard to get it, that it would be prized and cherished. Learn to work smarter not harder. 

PS: I am VERY busy! In fact, we are looking to hire qualified Agile Coaches in the US! Please fire over an email with your resume if you are as serious about Agile as I am!   ~ AgileDad 

Agile Fathers Day..

It's Fathers day again and being the 'AgileDad' I thought I would take a moment to share what makes Fathers day so special to me.

Having traveled the wold over and visited with MANY of the Fortune 100 companies, it has been refreshing to note that many large enterprise companies are starting to recognize that Agile is a viable solution. It has also been great to see with the growth of information available regarding Agile better practices that vanilla applications of any one method are drifting to the wayside allowing for natural better organizational practices to settle in. The bigger question remains, how much better are we today than we were 1 year ago? 3 years ago? 5 years ago? Are we taking the steps needed to progress towards success?

The one commonality I see between being a real father and an Agile Dad, is that I find I am often giving advice to companies. Just like with children, sometimes they think they are smarter than you are, and that the decisions they make are better than yours because what could you possibly know that they do not. The truth be told, these organizations eventually shape up and realize that the fatherly advice was appropriate and was given to yield a positive result. Sometimes it is just hard to hear that your baby is ugly or needs some work.

I VERY carefully selected the image for this post because the meaning is both geeky and actually runs pretty deep. Many times organizations do not like what their Agile Dad (Agile Mentor or Coach), exposes. Many times they would rather wallow in denial or self pity about their situation than ever search for the deeper meaning of where they could be. I am not looking to this post to endorse the dark side, but I am certainly hoping to leave you with the message that although things may not look and feel perfect all of the time, facing our challenges and overcoming them bring us great joy and satisfaction. If Agile were 'The Force', may the force be with you! Happy Fathers Day and I look forward to your comments.

Does Agile apply to Sales & Marketing?

Have you ever wondered if you can apply Agile principles outside of the software development arena? Does it work in the hardware arena? How about way outside like marketing and or sales? I have recently been approached by a number of organizations that are trying to make the complete cultural shift over to Agile Teams. This often means transitioning teams that you would normally not associate with the Agile movement. I know of a handful of organizations that have embraced this change and I am willing to dedicate an entire Agile Mentor Newsletter to the topic, but first I would like to her from you about what you have done in your organizations. I have accessed a several sales coaching sites trying to identify anyone who had Agile for Sales courses but did not find any that had the perfect storm of offerings. I am really hoping you can share what you did to help the outer organizations adopt and embrace Agile. Here is one site where I found a coach who is well respected and moving towards Agile Thinking: In It To Win It   I am looking forwad to hearing your feedback and comments.

Mile High Agile 2011 - OUTSTANDING!

I am listening to Jean Tabaka give what I consider to be an AMAZING keynote presentation. Any first time conference that can pack over 500 people into a conference center and have the highest quality pack of speakers just impresses me beyond belief.

I am VERY excited to present my Rapid Release Planning Workshop this afternoon. Every person I met so far here in Denver has been full of zest and zeal! The conference is quickly raising the bar and becoming something VERY special. Keep an eye out on Twitter for the latest posts #MHA11 and I will post about my session later. Living large with my fingers crossed... Wish me luck.

UPDATE: My presentation and the entire conference was AMAZING! Here is a link to my Rapid Release Planning. Thanks again to all of you for making the conference such a wonderful one.  

Where Do Baby Stories Come From?

During my days at VersionOne, I had a great time doing some really fun, (and quite innovative), marketing shots meant to act as a catalyst to stimulate meaningful conversation about Agile topics in the workspace. One of my more recent rants was around what it meant to write a good user story from a true beginners perspective. The video was not intended to be long winded or go into great depth but was meant to explain that stories need to come from somewhere and draw on simple analogies to drive the point home. If you have a couple of minutes to spare, head on over and watch the video! It is a rather fun take on the genesis of a story. If you do not have time for this, Shame on you!

Is Your Organization Sweet on Agile?

As Valentine's day has come and gone, I have recently made a socking discovery... Many of the organizations I have been working with are sweet on the benefits of Agile, but they do not want to work hard on the shapely figure required to continue to operate as a nimble, quick, well sculpted machine.

We all know that if we spent all of this holiday eating the candy and spent none of it focusing on shedding the pounds, it would make for one fat surprise in the end.

Valentines is supposed to be a time where we focus on the needs of the organization and do things that may be more difficult to do the rest of the year. We need to focus a little more on reducing our technical debt waistline. We need to step out of our comfort zone and let the people we are closest to know just how much we love them. This means we need to perform at a higher standard and really extend ourselves above and beyond our natural means to out perform any preconceived expectations. As an organization we need to realize the hard work that goes into reaping the soft benefits.

People are really paying attention and it is our duty to deliver and exceed all expectations. It is our responsibility to listen a little harder and understand a little better exactly what is being asked of us. It is our hope that by trying just a little harder we can truly be a little better. Though none of this stuff sounds quite as mushy as a valentines kiss, we need to remember that if we miss the mark, we can kiss our project goodbye!

Many challenged me as to why I was feeling a little dark on such a warm holiday and it reminded me of a famous quote, " We need to stop acting like how we want to be perceived and start behaving like we would want others to perceive us." In other words, this entire holiday is all about perception and how we sell what we believe in. Do a little something extra for all of the people you care about and you will see the rewards pour in ten fold. Be Strong - Be Agile.

Lee (AgileDad)

Steps 9-10 of The Agile 12 Step Adoption Program are LIVE!

Steps 9-10 are now out there and ready for consumption! I have received TONS of feedback regarding the first 8 steps much of which has been very positive. I invite you to enjoy the new Agile Mentor Newsletter format and let me know what you think are the latest hot Agile topics. We need to keep on distributing Agile information to as many groups as we can and have confidence that as Agile frameworks continue to expand within organizations, the knowledge that goes along with them expands with it. I am really looking forward to your thoughts regarding the 12 step program!