Agile Amped Podcast - Inspiring Conversations

Bob's session at Agile2016 is called "Agile Testing Maturity - What Does 'Good' Look Like?" In his session Bob reminds us that you can't add quality on at the end; you have to build it in. "A lot of folks focus on automation, TDD, BDD, and ATDD, and they forget things like good effective story writing or using the 3 Amigos" as well as regression testing or system testing. Bob champions balance across the three pillars of Agile quality: technology, testing tactics, and soft/collaborative skills. When it comes to quality, he is also a strong proponent for an "everyone owns it" mentality. SolutionsIQ's Alan Dayley hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Em Campbell-Pretty came all the way from Australia to deliver two talks at Agile2016. The first session "Leadership is an Extreme Sport" is based on work of Steve Farber, specifically LEAP: Love, Energy, Audacity, Proof. Of Love, Em remembers a particular credo that resonated with her: "Do what you love in the service of people who love what you do." Em's second session is called "Failing @ Scaling: Don't Panic and Carry a Towel" and focuses on some of the "really silly stuff" (a.k.a. anti-patterns) that she's seen her clients do. SolutionsIQ's Alan Dayley hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Agile coach and trainer Richard Cheng shares his experience on a program for the US federal government called the USA Staffing program, which leveraged feature Scrum teams whose Product Owners formed a PO team guided by a Super Product Owner. Richard's Agile2016 session was called "Super Product Ownership - Creating and Scaling Product Ownership in the Federal Government" and was co-presented by Bridget Dongarra. Richard also served as Chair for the Government Track of Agile2016. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Steve Elliot from AgileCraft stopped by to talk about scaling Agile in a bimodal world. Bimodal IT is a concept Gartner introduced a few years ago, whereby Waterfall and Agile teams coexist in an Agile organization. But this is a scary thought for some who fear that it could take the steam out of Agile transformations that are underway. For Steve, bimodal presents an alternative for companies who want to become Agile but aren't ready yet. Bimodal can be viewed as an opportunity to break down some barriers to Agile transformation, giving executives and the business side some safety, which can help them transform faster. Steve believes that if it's clear to the company how each side is doing,  "Agile will win the day faster than if we treat those two roles as silos." SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Fifty days is long time to be away from home, but for Jurgen Appelo it's worth it to get the word out about his book "Managing for Happiness". Managing for happiness means more than just getting engagement in the office and commitment to the organization. A fully committed, fully engaged individual who is giving their all in order to produce great value could be on a road to burnout if they aren't happy, says Jurgen. Researchers agree on certain points about happiness. One thing that Jurgen came across frequently in his research is that "Happiness is a path, not a destination--actually there is no destination... Everyday is a choice for you to decide to be a happier person." Another thing: exercise! Jurgen exercised both his body and his willpower by running 10 kilometers the morning of this podcast in the heat of Hot-lanta in July! SolutionsIQ's Josh Fruit hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Author and Scaled Agile founder Dean Leffingwell sits down with Agile Amped to talk about releasing SAFe 4.0, the challenge of building big systems and how value streams are now an integral part of portfolio management in SAFe 4.0. Dean also uses Scaled Agile as an example to describe in depth how the value stream and portfolio management works, before answering some burning questions like "How is SAFe 4.0 being received?" and "What's next for SAFe?" SolutionsIQ's Barry Gavril hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Jabe Bloom gets "meta" with Agile Amped discussing his Agile2016 session "Service Design in the Enterprise". Jabe's talk explores three big ideas: service practice, Wardley (value stream) maps, and service blueprints. Service blueprints are similar to value streams or customer journeys in that they plot out consumer interactions ("touch points") with the back-end workflow and applications that make it happen. Service design, then, applies the same ideas used to design consumer experiences inside IT organizations. The consumerization of IT is important because people want to bring their own technologies and apps into their work environments and their workflows. "People want to have that consumer experience at work." That means IT shops have to think more like consumers and consumer-focused companies. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Mark Kilby thinks it's time to rethink what face-to-face means for Agility, especially in today's increasingly global economy. In his Agile2016 session "Distributed Agile: Evolution or Delusion?" Mark emphasized that collaboration and connection between team members is what's important, and that collocation doesn't automatically imply face-to-face communication. While tools like Sococo and telepresence robots are great for enhancing team connections, Mark advocates for more human patterns, namely: the buddy system, pairing/copiloting and backchanneling. SolutionsIQ's Josh Fruit hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Dan Greening works for a startup using Agile to develop, design and manufacture a digital handheld single-molecule biosensor that can be used to detect diseases and viruses (like HIV and Zika) within minutes and at a fraction of the price of traditional approaches. After 8 years working in Agile, Dan now uses his Agile knowledge and experience to get this nanotechnology into consumer hands quickly. Dan highlights for Agile Amped that the Agile community generally focuses on software, but in an Agile startup you need to think deeper. "My interest in Agile has always been in Agile companies that produce things that people really find valuable." Agile startups have to think about the full lifecycle: hardware, firmware, software, cloud. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

People tend to think that the reason to go Agile can be distilled into three words: better, faster, cheaper. Ryan Ripley believes that this can actually be a recipe for failure, that "better, faster, cheaper" can actually sabotage your business success. Ryan provides a new take on the concept: smarter, sooner and safer.  Smarter - This centers around measurements and metrics, specifically creating a safe metrics program whose whole purpose is to measure insights.  Sooner - With Agile, we break down our work into smaller pieces that are easier to deliver. That means getting a product out the door sooner and establishing a revenue stream quicker. Safer - "Cheaper" optimizes on cost, which often results in lower-quality software. Instead we should strive for "safer": making smaller bets and make investments in the most valuable work at the time we need it and see what will happen from there. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Johanna Rothman sits down with Agile Amped in Atlanta, GA, to discuss her new book "Diving For Hidden Treasures: Uncovering the Cost of Delay in Your Project Portfolio". This book focuses on the causes of cost of delay and also how cost of delay can be used to rank portfolio investments. Multitasking and "expert bottlenecks" are common causes for delay that aren't traditionally incorporated into the decision of whether or not to move forward on a project. Another common cost of delay is interdependencies: when one team is waiting for work from another team to come their way. Johanna is also presenting a workshop on "Growing Your Servant Leadership" at Agile2016. SolutionsIQ's Alan Dayley hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

If agreeing about where to go to lunch can get frustrating, imagine how frustrating it can be when the decision you need to make has much bigger implications. SolutionsIQ's Michael Tardiff presented on "Finding Agreement When Everyone is Right" to highlight how most of us believe ourselves to be right and also how two or more people can all be right and still find their way to a mutually beneficial result. Says Michael, "All we have to do is figure out how my 'rightness' doesn't keep your 'rightness' from co-existing... The more we practice... agreeing with people, the better we'll get at it." The purpose is not to help make a decision but to help truly arrive at a consensus, so that no one feels left out. SolutionsIQ's Alan Dayley hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Dr Dave Cornelius joined Agile Amped in Atlanta, GA, to talk about a program called 5aturdays, which engages with teenagers on--you guessed it--five Saturdays to introduce them to agility and technology, such as using WordPress to create websites. Job readiness and effective communications are the focus of this program. Topics for the first class include Kanban and user stories. Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance both sponsor 5aturdays, which is free to the public. Started in 2013, 5aturdays operates out of Costa Mesa, CA, but they hope to expand to LA and San Diego. Industry professionals, coaches and trainers donate their time to the program. This year, women constitute the majority of the attendees coming to learn about Agile at 5aturdays. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Many people think that getting teams to self-motivated high-performance is simple: just add coaching. But Esther Derby's research shows otherwise. In her session at Agile2016, Esther looks at "Coaching Teams: Environment + People". Without the right conditions, good coaching may not help much and, worse, inept coaching could make things worse. "It's really going to damage the team's ability to self-manage and work effectively." Esther emphasizes the importance of the team's environment both physical and social. Does the environment contribute to learning and creativity--or does it detract from it? Managers are tempted to blame teams for lack of engagement or motivation, without looking at the environment to see if it motivates teams to excel. If your team is buried in the basement working on boring projects without access to the right resources to do their job effectively, then no amount of coaching will motivate them. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

What makes great teams great? According to Peter Green from Agile For All, "They trust each other, they hold each other accountable, they communicate all the time, they have social bonds." But at what point does scaling Agile counteract organizational Agility? Peter evokes Dunbar's number, whereby individuals can only maintain stable relationships with 150 other individuals. Most Agile scaling approaches focus on practices, but Peter wants us to take a closer look at the principles and, for instance, how Dunbar's number can help or hinder it. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2016 in Atlanta, GA. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series connects the community through compelling stories, passionate people, shared knowledge, and innovative ideas. Fueled by inspiring conversations with industry thoughtleaders, Agile Amped offers valuable content – anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook