LeadingAgile SoundNotes: an Agile Podcast

This podcast features LeadingAgile SVP and Executive Consultant John Tanner who joins Dave Prior foo discuss how to take on a “Goal-Question-Metric” (GQM) approach to gaining clarity on how well Agile is being employed across the organization. Last Spring at Agile Day Atlanta, John led a session called  “The GQM Approach to Agile Metrics”. The session was very well received and when we posted the video of John’s presentation and the slide deck he used, there was a great response and we thought it was worth digging a little deeper on.   SHOW NOTES 01:08 Interview Begins  02:18 Three distinct ways of looking at metrics 05:22 What is GQM and how does it work? 06:14 How does an organization know if they are asking the right questions?  08:33 How to know if your questions are well formed 10:00 How do we collect the data? 12:37 Interpreting the data 13:29 Metrics are not the answer. They are just data points that need to be investigated 16:29 Debating whether it is okay to ask the team NOT to work extra hours 17:47 The metrics are very seductive and can create an illusion of understanding 19:48 In their sexy Monopoly pajamas rolling around in money 21:00 GQM and Agile 22:09 For coaches - how to help your customer figure out what their goals actually are 23:25 Contacting John 24:08 Podcast Ends     CONTACTING JOHN   Web: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/john-tanner/ Email: john.tanner@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/tannerjs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tannerjs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannerjs/ Blog Post w/ Video and Slides: https://www.leadingagile.com/2017/05/agile-metrics-gqm-approach/   The GQM Book Referred to in the Podcast:   Aligning Organizations Through Measurement: The GQM+Strategies Approach (The Fraunhofer IESE Series on Software and Systems Engineering) http://amzn.to/2x30uxd

In this interview with David Bland, he and Dave Prior discuss definitions of lean startup and design thinking as well as his passion for building businesses that matter. David goes into detail about how he works with existing companies to create new lines of businesses using internal venture capital, as well as how the scientific method applies to business.

LeadingAgile CEO and Founder, Mike Cottmeyer led two sessions at Agile 2017: Agile Transformations Explained and Faster Food and a Better Place to Sleep: Applying Agile Outside of Software. In this interview Mike and Dave discuss how an organization can get better at setting appropriate constraints, making iterative and incremental decisions that inform execution and creating feedback loops that will help drive a more successful adoption of agile across the organization. If you’d like to learn more about Mike’s sessions at Agile 2017:Agile Transformations Explained: sched.co/ATZ5Faster Food and a Better Place to Sleep: Applying Agile Outside of Software: sched.co/ATa2 And if you would like to contact Mike, here is how you can reach him:Web: leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/Twitter: twitter.com/mcottmeyerLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer/

Adam Weisbart led a session at Agile 2017 called “Surviving Backdraft (or How to Not Die in a Hellish Explosion of Dysfunction)”. During his session, Adam shared some personal experiences with backdraft and introduced tools to help agile coaches and practitioners cope with the pushback that often accompanies organizational change and the dysfunction that impedes that change.    In this interview Adam and Dave discuss his session and some mindful self-compassion techniques that will help you manage your internal and external response to the resistance that shows up when coaching an organization through transformation.    If you’d like to contact Adam, here is where you can reach him:   Web: https://weisbart.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/weisbart LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weisbart/   Adam’s session at Agile 2017: http://sched.co/ATXD

Yi Lv became the first Certified Scrum Trainer in China in 2008, and is currently an Agile coach at Odd-e. Yi is also an expert in Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) and in this interview, he talks about the session he led at Agile 2017, “LeSS without Scrum”. Yi’s presentation focused on explaining how you can implement the principles of Large Scale Scrum in an environment that does not have a proper Scrum implementation at the team level. If you’d like to check out Yi’s experience report on the subject you can find it here:https://www.agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/less-without-scrum/ If you’d like to contact Yi here is how you can reach himEmail: yi.lv@odd-e.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/yi_lv

Dr. Harry Koehnemann is the Director of Technology at 321 Gang and a SAFe Fellow. Harry led a session at Agile 2017 conference entitled: When Worlds Collide: Regulatory Compliance Meets Lean Agile Development. During his talk, he discussed some common mistakes companies make when trying to scale Agile in the face of regulatory compliance. In this interview Harry and Dave discuss his talk at the conference and some of the ways in which compliance requirements can be incorporated into development using Scaled Agile Framework.   Click here for an audio only version of this podcast If you’d like to learn more about Harry, you can find him atTwitter: https://twitter.com/harrykoehnemannWeb: http://321gang.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-koehnemann-7a76191/

Christopher Avery kicked off this year’s leadership track at Agile2017 with his talk the on the Four Characteristics of Good Goals; an idea that stemmed from his book The Responsibility Process, which outlines a model that will help people overcome patterns that are hardwired in our brains from the day we’re born. Find Christopher Avery Online Twitter: twitter.com/christopheraverLinkedIn: linkedin.com/christopheraveryFacebook: facebook.com/christophervery2Web: christopheravery.comWeb: the.leadershipgift.com

Michael J. Tardiff is a conference veteran with a lot to say about most things. Watch as Dave and Michael talk about topics such as: networking while at the conference, some of the latest mergers in the industry, the legitimacy of norms, and even the Mexican government. The topics are varied, but the message is consistent. The Agile world is changing but is that change for the better.   Contacting Michael • Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjt • Web: https://feelingagile.wordpress.com • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljtardiff/   For more Agile2017 LeadingAgile SoundNotes interviews check out  http://www.periscope.tv/leadingagile

At Agile 2017, Dr. Sallyann Freudenberg led a session called “Why the tech industry needs all kinds of minds and how to support them”. Along with her work coaching Agile organizations and teams, Sal is a champion of neuro-diversity in the workplace. In this video Sal chats with Dave about how neuro-diversity became a concern for her, why neuro-diversity is so important to Agile, her session at Agile 2017, and her book “Inclusive Collaboration Experiments”.  For more on Sallyann Web: SallyannFreudenberg.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/salfreudenberg Sallyann's Book “Inclusive Collaboration Experiments” https://leanpub.com/theinclusivecollaborationexperiments

Agile Uprising is one of the fastest growing networks in the Agile community, and Mike helped to create it and is an active board member. He’s also helped organize the Heart of Agile conference for the last two years and is one of the developers of the Lean Agile Intelligence tool which is a self-assessment model that Mike is helping to grow. In this short video, Dave and Mike discuss the what Agile Uprising is all about and the development of Lean Agile Intelligence.   Agile Uprising: Web: http://www.agileuprising.com Twitter:  https://twitter.com/agileuprising?lang=en   Lean Agile Intelligence Web: https://www.leanagileintelligence.com The video of Troy Lightfoot giving Dave a walkthrough of LeanAgile Intelligence: https://vimeo.com/218602967   Mike McCalla Twitter: https://twitter.com/msmccalla_1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsmccalla/

SAFe Fellow Em Campbell-Pretty led a session at Agile 2017 called “The ART of avoiding a Train Wreck”, which offered guidance on how to better plan Agile Release Trains in Scaled Agile Framework. She stopped by to chat with Dave about her session, and her new book “Tribal Unity: Getting from Teams to Tribes by Creating a One Team Culture”. Em’s book focuses on one of her main areas of passion — creating awesome Agile tribes. During the interview she also offers advice about how to handle cross team dependencies in Agile.

Esther Derby led two sessions at Agile 2017 - Creating an Environment for Successful Agile Teams and Change Artist Super Powers: Leading Change in an Agile Manner. In this interview Esther and Dave discuss her sessions at the conference, some of the abilities you can work to develop if you are trying to lead change in your organization, and how to manage teams without top down control. Esther also responds to a question from Dave on how to lead retrospectives with distributed teams. And, of course… they talk about kale.

Lyssa Adkins stopped by after her Stalwarts session to throw down the gauntlet! During this live interview at Agile 2017 Lyssa talks about her recent trip to Peru where she and her daughter did volunteer jungle conservation work. Her experiences there, and a powerful question she was asked in her session at Agile 2017 led her to a new challenge she is taking on - bringing Agile practices to the people who are working to help solve global problems like saving the rainforests. Lyssa also provides an update the Agile Coaching Institute and the work she is doing to help Agile Coaches strengthen their ability to have a deep, meaningful impact in the organizations they are working with. If you’d like to learn more about Lyssa check out http://agilecoachinginstitute.com/

Agile 2017 opened with a Keynote from David Marquet. David is a former Navy Submarine Commander and the author of the book "Turn the Ship Around A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders" (http://amzn.to/2v4yc1T). David gave a presentation at Agile 2017 about how his experiences in the Navy influenced his style of leadership. Being the loudest and clearest voice in the room and using swear words doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a great leader, neither does pretending you know all the answers. Sometimes the best way to lead is to learn to trust and empower the people on your teams. In this interview David talks about his experiences, the challenges of learning to trust, and his first hand experiences of seeing the powerful impact of intent-based leadership. If you'd like to learn more about David Marquet and his approach to Intent-Based Leadership, please visit http://www.davidmarquet.com

Troy Magennis led two different sessions at Agile 2017. “Getting started with Agile Data Science” focused on helping Agile practitioners deepen their understanding of how valuable data can be to Agile teams who want to improve their performance. In his second session, “Prioritization – 10 Different Techniques for Optimizing What to Start Next”, Troy explored a variety of approaches intended to help a team make smarter decisions about what is the next most important thing. If you’d like to learn more about Troy, check out http://focusedobjective.com. If you’d like to try out some of the many tools he makes available (for free) to teams that are trying to learn more about their performance through data science, check out http://bit.ly/SimResources