LeadingAgile SoundNotes: an Agile Podcast

Last week at the 2017 Scrum Gathering in San Diego, Dave Prior had a chance to sit down with Maria Matarelli and Alistair Cockburn to discuss the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh on April 27-28, Guest Leadership, the importance of dancing at conferences, Maria’s budding career as a DJ, her upcoming humanitarian work in New Zealand as well as her Agile Lifestyles event that will be live streamed from a stadium in New Zealand on May 3 (US time)… and of course… the Tango. If you’d like to learn more about the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference being held in Pittsburgh on April 27-28, follow this link: http://heartofagile.com/heart-of-agile-conferences/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-2017/ Here are some additional links from the podcast: The Scrum Alliance has posted the presentations from the 2017 Scrum Gathering in San Diego on their site. You can find them here: https://scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/scrum-resources/gathering-presentations For more information Guest Leadership please check here: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Guest+Leadership Maria’s presentation in New Zealand on May 4th at 9 AM New Zealand time / May 3rd at 4 PM EST https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/join-powerful-agile-lifestyle-live-streamed-from-new-may-matarelli Dave’s previous interview with Alistair Cockburn on Designing Quality of Life https://soundcloud.com/drunkenpmradio/alistair-cockburn-designing-quality-of-life Contacting Alistair Cockburn Web: http://alistair.cockburn.us Twitter: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair Contacting Maria Matarelli Web: http://mariamatarelli.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/MariaMatarelli Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at http://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

The original video version of this file can be found here: https://vimeo.com/213030252 The Heart of Agile 2017 is being held on April 27-28 in Pittsburgh. It is the 2nd annual HOA conference and it will also be the first Agile Conference held in Pittsburgh. Derek Huether and Dave Prior will both be speaking at the event. In this short video Derek and Dave each provide an overview of the sessions they will be leading at the event celebrating Alistair Cockburn’s approach to getting back to the basics of what makes Agile work. If you’d like to check out Derek’s session: How to Find Early Indications That Your Delivery System Will Fail April 27, 2017 1:30pm  -  2:15pm Empress Deck 1 http://heartofagile.com/Session/how-to-find-early-indications-that-your-delivery-system-will-fail/ And if you’d like to see Dave’s session: Heart of Agile + Personal Agility Canvas April 28, 2017 3:30pm  -  4:15pm Empress Deck 1 http://heartofagile.com/Session/heart-of-agile-personal-agility-canvas/ And if you need information on the conference in general or want to attend http://heartofagile.com/heart-of-agile-conferences/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-2017/ We hope to see you there!

In this episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes we focus on a question submitted by a student from one of our recent classes. Jennifer, the student, asked about what to do when the Chief Product Owner is defining the Release Plan without input from the Product Owner or the Stakeholders. During the podcast, LeadingAgile’s Jim Hayden and Dave Prior dig into reasons why that might be happening, and how to respond. Show Notes 08:00 Interview Begins 00:46 An update on Jim and his recent motorcycle accident 03:15 Topic Introduction - What to do when you have a Chief Product Owner who is defining the release without inout from the Product Owner or stakeholders. 03:29 Explanation of the Chief Product Owner role 04:04 Jennifer’s question 04:18 Jim explains of the PO’s role with regard to the release and the role the Chief Product Owner plays 05:09 The release plan is never set 05:44 How the Product Roadmap impacts the Release Plan 08:16 What happens when you create a release plan 10:35 Wisdom from Chet Hendrickson about Release Plans 11:12 The business wants/needs the ability to make and meet a commitment for work that is valuable, usable and feasible 12:02 A tactical view of what may happen if the CPO is imposing the release plan 12:40 How Jim would respond in this situation 15:04 Should the PO expect the CPO to include them in creating a release plan? 15:52 Where things go wrong 16:30 It’s not kind of like an insane work environment, it is an insane work environment 16:58 What should the PO or the SM do in this situation and why the CPO may be pushing the release plan down to the PO and Team 19:20 Suggestions for how to retrospect with the CPO (since they aren’t included in the Scrum Team’s Sprint Retrospective 21:28 Figuring out why this is happening and how to improve communication to address the true issue 23:18 Addressing a lack of clarity about the roles 23:49 Finding a time and place to have a safe conversation with the CPO 24:23 Jim’s parting words of advice on the issue 24:40 Don’t be an order taker 24:50 Having patience and empathy for the CPO 25:40 Where you can send questions we will use in future podcasts 26:20 Podcast ends Contacting Jim You can reach Jim on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jim-hayden/ Email: jim.hayden@leadingagile.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at http://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

The 2017 Heart of Agile Conference will be held in Pittsburgh on April 27 and 28. This is the second annual conference dedicated to helping Agile practitioners let go of some of the dogma and ornamentation that has been glommed on to Agile and get back to the core principles and the Heart of Agility. In this interview, Rob Lingle, one of the conference organizers took some time to speak with Dave about the conference, why it is happening in Pittsburgh, why you should attend and what you can expect once you are there. In the latter half of of the podcast, (beginning at 08:12) Rob and Dave discuss the work Rob does volunteering for several different organizations, why he considers it to be so important and how being of service to others helps him in his work as an Agile coach. Leading Agile is proud to be a sponsor of the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference! Both Derek Huether and Dave Prior will be presenting at the conference. Show Notes 00:08 Podcast Begins 00:33 Some background on Rob and his work 01:01 The first ever Agile conference in Pittsburgh and on a Riverboat! 01:48 Boat jumping 02:35 Bringing the Heart of Agile Conference to Pittsburgh 04:25 Getting back to the basics of Agility 05:00 There is so much to learn, you’ll never be done. Stay focused on the core (or heart) of Agile 06:14 The intended audience/level of expertise for the conference… who should attend 07:10 Crowd sourcing topics for the conference 07:42 Pricing, dates and registration for the Heart of Agile 08:12 Rob’s work volunteering with different organizations 09:05 How Rob selects the organizations he volunteers for 09:30 Volunteering for Jubilee Soup Kitchen 10:15 Volunteering for Junior Achievers as a Teacher 11:01 Volunteering for Code.org’s Hour of Code 12:15 How the volunteer work influences Rob’s work as an Agile coach 12:54 “Real success … comes through service to others” 13:50 How dedicating your time and being of service to others can benefit you on many levels 15:15 Getting more details about the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh Links from the Podcast The 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-tickets-30705192056 The Heart of Agile Website http://heartofagile.com The organizations Rob volunteers for Jubilee Soup Kitchen http://jubileesoupkitchen.org Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-westernpa Hour of Code https://hourofcode.com/us Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank https://www.pittsburghfoodbank.org Contacting Rob Lingle LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/linglerob/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/lingle_r412 Summa Company Website - http://www.summa.com Contacting Dave LeadingAgile Profile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Personal Blog: http://drunkenpm.blogspot.com Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class. social networks

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Derek Huether and Dave Prior tackle a student question about how Scrum works with Marketing. In a recent class, a student names Cherie explained that in the work her Marketing Team does, it isn’t possible to achieve “potentially shippable” at the end of a Sprint. The Team may finish the work and the Product Owner may accept it, but nothing can actually be “shippable” until after the client has had a chance to review a work item and provide feedback or approval Show Notes 00:08 Interview Begins 00:26 An update on Derek’s upcoming events 01:30 Topic Introduction 01:59 Cherie’s Question about how Definition of Done works when you are using Scrum in Marketing if nothing can ship until after you have client approval 02:26 Derek and Dave respond 03:03 We’re going to have an argument here… 04:33 The difference between a more pure Definition of Done and potentially shippable vs. what often happens in the real world 05:23 Derek shares a story on his experience with this issue 06:51 SHAME ON YOU FOR NOT MAKING HER HAPPY! 07:24 Why you should not blame the client for not having total clarity on what they need 09:05 Is it a big deal if you can’t get “shippable” out of a sprint 09:48 It’s more important to get the customer something they can provide feedback on 10:20 Always be learning a little more than you knew yesterday 10:52 Derek’s advice for things Sheri could do to remedy the situation 11:48 Try to make a smarter decision tomorrow than you could today 12:15 Scrum is a feedback mechanism 12:31 Where to send your questions for LeadingAgile’s Student QA podcasts 13:11 Podcast Ends Derek and Dave will both be presenting at the Heart of Agile 2017 in Pittsburgh on April 27-28, 2017. To learn more about the conference: http://heartofagile.com/heart-of-agile-conferences/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-2017/ Contacting Derek LeadingAgile Profile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/ Email: derek@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekhuether Personal Blog: http://www.derekhuether.com Contacting Dave LeadingAgile Profile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Personal Blog: http://drunkenpm.blogspot.com Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class. social networks

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Chief Cultural Office, Rachel Howard, joins Dave Prior to answer some of the “getting a job” related questions that are frequently asked during the CSM and CSPO classes Dave teaches for LeadingAgile. The topics covered in the interview include: How to get a job if you have little (or no) experience in Scrum, How to make the move from being a team member to being an Agile Coach, as well as some general tips about interviewing at Agile Consulting Companies. Show Notes 00:08 Interview Starts 00:30 Rachel’s role at Leading Agile 02:33 The surprising thing about trying to establish culture in a virtual organization like LeadingAgile 05:56 Mike’s question - If you are new to Scrum, how to you get over the “minimum experience in Scrum hurdle” 09:46 Finding ways to apply Agile outside of work to get some experience with using the practices 10:48 Why “They won’t let me do Agile here” is not an excuse for not doing it at your current job 11:54 The value of certifications when you are looking for a job in Agile 17:23 If you are applying for a job in Agile and don’t have a basic certification like CSM or CSPO 18:13 Transitioning from working on teams to being an Agile Coach 19:40 Is it better to stay at one job for a long time, or jump around to get different experiences? 20:26 Do you need a coaching certification to be an Agile Coach? 21:26 Advice from Rachel on interviewing: Stuff you should research/know before interviewing for a job at an Agile Consulting company 23:00 The importance of finding a company that matches best with your own personal mission 26:05 How to reach Rachel with additional questions or to find out about working at LeadingAgile Contacting Rachel: You can reach Rachel via email at : Rachel.Howard@leadingAgile.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave: On the LeadingAgile site: www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at twitter.com/mrsungo On his personal site at: www.drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

This is the second interview in a series we are doing on Cost of Delay. The first interview, where Jim Hayden provided an overview of Cost of Delay can be found here: http://bit.ly/2lUDWFR In Part 2 of the series, Marty Bradley explains how Cost of Delay actually works. During the interview we discuss things like Weighted Shorted Job First (WSJF), how to determine relative Business Value of different features or projects and how to evaluate that value against different factors like risk. During the interview Marty refers to two different graphics that help explain Cost of Delay. Here are links to the two graphic files*: The Formula for Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)https://www.dropbox.com/s/slfrifz9pqqqgex/WSJF%20Formula.jpg?dl=0 The Cost of Delay Table https://www.dropbox.com/s/9lwrd0tjs5wcmqy/WSJF%20Table.jpg?dl=0" * These graphics are based on examples Marty was referencing in the interview. The originals can be found at http://www.scaledagileframework.com/wsjf/. Show Notes 00:08 Interview Begins 00:34 Background on Marty 01:47 Intro to the topic 01:54 It’s okay to be confused about what Cost of Delay actually is 02:36 Dave “mansplains” the basics of Cost of Delay 03:05 Why people are using Cost of Delay to prioritize work 05:00 Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) (see link above) 05:49 Using a table to calculate WSJF (see link above) 06:19 Using relative sizing to determine User Business Value and the other WSJF factors 06:44 What is “Business Value”? 08:39 How relative sizing works 09:10 How to use the table to get guidance on prioritization 11:07 The actual value of Cost of Delay may not be mathematically quantifiable, and that’s ok because it’s all about relative sizing 13:00 Be careful about bias and gaming the scores 13:24 Using the iPhone 7/Apple Bluetooth Headphones example 14:45 Adding columns to the table so that it works best for you 16:27 Deciding what to do first, second and what to kill 16:40 WSJF - a simple explanation 17:18 The formula for determining WSJF 17:44 Examples of how WSJF can help 19:50 Resources you can use to learn more about Cost of Delay 22:49 Understanding and measuring “value” 23:18 Are we getting smarter about understanding value or just delaying understanding it? 23:45 Key indicators of value and the importance of smaller batch size 25:32 Getting in touch with Marty 25:50 Podcast Close Links from the Podcast An Overview of Cost of Delay with Jim Hayden https://www.leadingagile.com/podcast/an-overview-of-cost-of-delay-with-jim-hayden-and-dave-prior/ The Principles of Product Development Flow by Don Reinertsen http://amzn.to/2m6u0xL Black Swan Farming http://blackswanfarming.com Contacting Marty: You can reach Marty: On the LeadingAgile site: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/marty-bradley/ Email: marty.bradley@leadingagile.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martybradley/ Contacting Dave You can reach Dave: On the LeadingAgile site: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at twitter.com/mrsungo On his personal site at: www.drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

This episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes offers a case study of how the technology teams at NewSpring church have been using Agile practices to develop innovative products that will enable their members to stay engaged with NewSpring throughout the whole week. Jon Horton is the Web Director at NewSpring. A few weeks ago he and several members of his team attended a LeadingAgile CSM class. In the interview Jon explains how he introduced Scrum to the organization, how it is being adopted by the technology teams, how it impacts their ability to deliver value for NewSpring members and some of the challenges that they’ve faced along the way. This podcast offers a great case study of how Agile practices are extending beyond traditional software development teams and are being used to innovate and deliver value to all types of “customers”. Show Notes 00:08 Podcast Begins 00:55 Some background on Jon and his role at NewSpring Church 02:20 How technology help NewSpring Church meet people where they are 04:10 How Agile practices were introduced at NewSpring 05:25 The Agile practices that have proven to be the most valuable to Jon’s team 07:10 How work gets prioritized at NewSpring 09:00 The way teams are set up at NewSpring 09:24 The Sprint lengths used by different teams and why they’ve been selected 10:25 How Jon’s team got started with Scrum and how they’ve evolved their learning and adoption 11:10 Traditional practices that the team’s use to support their Agile practice 12:30 Challenges in introducing Agile at NewSpring 13:44 Jon’s plan to extend Agile beyond the technology group 14:37 Is there a difference in applying Agile within a religious organization than in a more traditional software group? 15:50 Jon’s advice for other religious organizations that are interested in trying to implement Agile 18:00 Getting in touch with Jon 18:37 Podcast end Links from this podcast NewSpring Church https://newspring.cc Essential Scrum by Kenny Rubin http://amzn.to/2mMA3Ux Contacting Jon Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonhorton Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at https://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

This podcast is the first in a series we intend to do on Cost of Delay. This podcast features LeadingAgile Enterprise Transformation Consultant, Jim Hayden, and Dave Prior discussing the ideas behind Cost of Delay at a fairly high level. If you are new to the subject, or are struggling with understanding it, this may help provide clarity on what Cost of Delay is and how it works. In a future podcast on this subject we will look at Cost of Delay from a more Reinertsen-centric viewpoint. We also plan to do at least one podcast that offers a case study on how Cost of Delay has been put into practice within an Agile organization. We will look at how they are using it to understand and prioritize work at the project, program and portfolio level. Show Notes 00:09 Podcast Begins 1:12 Why (and how) we are talking about Cost of Delay 2:52 Some background on Jim Hayden 3:16 What is Cost of Delay 3:37 Example 1: Laptop Manufacturer with a set window of sales opportunity 4:22 Example 2: Selecting between two different projects based on time to develop and ROI 5:10 Is Cost of Delay vs. opportunity cost? 5:54 Understanding the impact of deferring a release 8:43 What if you delay your launch and a competitor beats you to the market and your customer 9:15 Example 3: Apple launching the iPhone 7 without the bluetooth headphones 10:15 Visualizing and understanding the Cost of Delay across multiple projects 12:08 Why understanding the Cost of Delay and decision making process is not solely about revenue 14:31 When new projects arise… determining where to prioritize them against existing work 15:57 The organization’s cost for doing the project 17:03 Additional factors to consider when understanding the value a project provides 18:00 Standardizing rules around how to prioritize work 18:59 Decomposing work to understand the value better 19:51 Defining “value” and Cost of Delay within your organization 21:57 Why it is so important for a Product Owner to have a method for prioritizing work that is understood by all stakeholders 23:04 When value is vague, Cost of Delay becomes more important 23:57 Example 4: Prioritizing 12 projects across an entire year 27:39 Adding a new project mid-year 29:10 How does sunk cost factor in? 30:37 Again with the logic! 31:29 We value starting things, not finishing things 33:27 Why we want to work in small batches 33:51 Where to find more information on Cost of Delay 34:26 Getting in touch with Jim Hayden 34:39 Closing Links from the Podcast An Introduction to Cost of Delay by Derek Huether https://www.leadingagile.com/2015/06/an-introduction-to-cost-of-delay/ The Principles of Product Development Flow by Don Reinertsen http://amzn.to/2m6u0xL Black Swan Farming http://blackswanfarming.com Contacting Jim Hayden You can reach Jim on the LeadingAgile site at www.leadingagile.com/guides/jim-hayden/ Email: jim.hayden@leadingagile.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

In Andrew Fuqua’s blog post “Slack and the Agile Manager’s Role: Be the Slack” https://www.leadingagile.com/2017/01/slack-agile-managers-role/ he shared his thoughts on the need for management to make space and time for teams and individuals to be creative and innovative. In this podcast Andrew and Dave Prior dig deeper on the topic, how and why organizations resist it, and how managers can get started with introducing time to allow teams to be innovative. Show Notes 00:15 Podcast Begins 00:48 Some background on Andrew’s work as an Enterprise Consultant 01:47 Introducing the topic of Slack 02:05 How the PMBOK defines slack 03:00 How Andrew defines slack and what he focuses on when he’s looking at it 04:12 Why wringing all the slack out of a team is not necessarily a good idea 05:00 Finding the slack you need to keep 05:44 Flow Trumps Waste and Value Trumps Flow 06:56 When you see downtime, what do you lose when you feel compelled to fill it up? 07:44 Whose job is it to create an environment and culture that supports creativity? 08:33 Why it goes beyond the responsibilities of a ScrumMaster 08:58 BUT ANDREW! WE ARE TOO BUSY TO STOP AND BE CREATIVE! 09:24 Someone is going to come along and eat your lunch! 09:43 Why organizations forget to take the time to be innovative 10:40 Why it is about more than simply holding innovation days. 12:18 What’s the manager supposed to do in Agile anyway? 12:54 How we end up with managers who do not know how to manage and like to crack the whip 14:09 Creativity also needs sustainable pace 15:26 Making space for creativity every single day 16:31 The manager shouldn’t be delivering stuff 17:07 Taking personal responsibility for protecting your own space/time to be innovative 17:43 How Andrew creates and protects the innovation space for himself 19:08 Time spent recovering from working at an unsustainable pace is not the same as slack time set aside for innovation 20:09 How Managers can introduce Slack 22:05 How much slack should I make sure each person has and how do I track it? 22:42 How do you become a change agent that will transform an organization to support Agile? 23:18 Focusing on Lead Time to help the organization understand what needs to change 23:53 Is the best way to create change changing the CEO 24:09 What a manager can do to understand Slack more 24:47 How do we get more creativity in the organization 25:13 Happiness Metrics, Employee Retention and taking a baseline before introducing Slack 25:51 Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose 26:56 Things a Manager Should Not Do 29:02 Beware the Hero 29:58 Parting words of advice for a manager who is trying to understand how to let Slack live in their environment 30:42 How to reach Andrew Links from the Podcast Slack and the Agile Manager’s Role: Be the Slack https://www.leadingagile.com/2017/01/slack-agile-managers-role/ Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork and the Myth of Total Efficiency by Tom DeMarco http://amzn.to/2lkow1C How to Use an A3 In An Agile Transformation https://www.leadingagile.com/2015/08/how-to-use-an-a3-in-an-agile-transformation/ Contacting Andrew You can reach Andrew via LeadingAgile at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/andrew-fuqua/ On Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewmfuqua On LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewfuqua/ Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

This episode of SoundNotes features two questions that were submitted recently by students. 2:11 Question 1 - Design and Cross Functional Teams Submitted by Sergey via Email : “Every time I hear you speak about cross-functional team I am not sure who these teams comprise of exactly. In my world the confusion here is most often related to design inputs. Any digital product will have a visual UI and thus its development will require design inputs. Do most of Leading Agile clients consider this a separate process that contributes to the readiness of stories for a technical Scrum team? Or do you normally assume designers are a part of a Scrum team? In my view, the former creates waterfall-like dependencies and the latter gets in the way of confident estimations. So, even if both models are feasible, none of them seems ideal, because it leaves an are that has to be tightly managed.” 8:20 Question 2 - How do you deal with a manager who thinks you should be ScrumMaster for multiple teams AND Product Owner at the same time? This question was submitted by a student in a CSPO class who allowed me to record the question being asked as long as I promised not to post the recording or identify the person by name. In order to honor that, I played the recording for Derek before hand, but in the podcast, what you’ll hear is me (Dave) relating the question. The question shared by the student related to the fact that they are currently playing the role of ScrumMaster on three different teams and have also been asked to act as Product Owner for these teams. The person explained to their manager that the way Scrum is designed to work, a ScrumMaster is supposed to be dedicated to a single team, should definitely not be trying to support three teams and absolutely should not be playing the role of ScrumMaster and Product Owner at the same time. The manager responded by asking that the person give a detailed account what they are doing all day as a Scrum Master because the manager did not believe the person was too busy to be able to serve as ScrumMaster for three teams and Product Owner for as those teams as well. 9:32 Derek and Dave respond and respond to the question. 19:25 Podcast wrap up 20:12 Podcast end Contacting Derek You can reach Derek on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/ On Twitter at https://twitter.com/derekhuether Or on his personal site at http://www.derekhuether.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at https://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

The Project Management Office (PMO) has traditionally been responsible for providing governance over projects, programs and portfolios; ensuring projects are managed according the standards set forth by the PMO; and to provide reporting on progress to leadership. When Agile is introduced into an organization, along with new ways of tracking work, self-organizing teams and new ways of understanding priority, the value the PMO provides comes into question. In a recent blog post, LeadingAgile SVP and Executive Consultant Marty Bradley addressed the question “Should the PMO Go Away?” In this episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, Marty and Dave dig deeper on this topic and explore what PMO’s (and PMO Leaders) need to do in order to remain relevant to an organization transitioning to Agile. Show Notes 00:08 Podcast Begins 00:35 What does a LeadingAgile Executive Coach actually do 01:40 When the Executives say “Stop saying Agile.”, it’s actually a good thing. 3:05 Should the PMO go away? Who’s asking and why? 07:12 Why do we need a PMO and governance if the teams are supposed to be self organizing? 08:38 If we do not have trust, how can we have self-organization and Agility? 09:39 All night deployments and the impact of not trusting the team 10:43 When the people who “know better” create a system that fosters missed deadlines and failure, they create a very dysfunctional form of predictability 12:15 How the PMO can maintain its’ relevancy in an organization transitioning to Agile. 13:27 How do we maintain the necessary non-agile elements when we transition to Agile? 14:55 How can we have more empathy for the members of the PMO and the massive personal and career change they are facing in maintaining the stability of a traditional approach while supporting the change to Agile? 16:29 Changing the focus and the metrics used to track the work 17:10 The impact on Development Managers 18:12 Why would I want to eliminate the need for my own position (if we transition from waterfall to Agile) 18:42 Coping with transition: “This is my job,…I got a family…What am I supposed to do?” 19:55 Maintaining a balance between preserving the necessary domain knowledge and changing as fast as you can 20:29 What PMO Leaders need to know before the Agile transition team shows up - “Not everything needs to be perfect Agile.” 23:51 If I am in a PMO and I want to get up to speed and maintain my own relevancy, what do I need to learn? 25:10 “I’d look at my company and figure out what is value in my company?” How do you define value? 27:02 Finding your organization’s own definition of value 27:46 Closeout Contacting Marty Email: marty.bradley@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/AskCoachMarty Contacting Dave Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Related Links: Should the PMO Go Away? (Marty’s blog post mentioned in the interview) http://bit.ly/2jwshAS Cost of Delay http://bit.ly/2jVLfx4 Agile Governance at eVestment - A More Agile Approach to PMO http://bit.ly/2khDBhq Agile Governance - An interview with Liana Dore from Agile 2016 http://bit.ly/2kRXj6F Kanban http://bit.ly/1cXGeK9 Lean Startup http://bit.ly/1ky8H1h Don Reinertsen “The Principles of Product Development Flow” http://amzn.to/2jYlyOY Feedback/Questions If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

2017 is here and Mike Cottmeyer is ready. In this episode of SoundNotes, the CEO of LeadingAgile shares his thoughts on the primary issues facing organizations as they continue working to transform. There are many who claim culture is the main issue, but is that really the impediment to Organizational Agility? ShowNotes 00:08 Interview Starts 00:47 How do you lead change in large organizations? 02:17 Is the biggest impediment to Agile really culture change? How do you do that at scale? 03:00 What is getting in the way of culture? 04:16 I can change my attitude and value system, but will the organization support that changed attitude and belief? 04:51 The mindset shift is just the starting point 07:15 How do you get 1,000 people to simultaneously have a mindset shift and then know what to go do 07:42 Is the industry still stuck? How do we get past wanting Agile to being able to do Agile? 08:12 A positive Agile culture has to be reinforced 10:07 The difference between culture and the basic actions you should do 11:29 Can you have the behavior without the culture system shift? 13:29 Can you use the mechanics to reach a desired end state without worrying about becoming Agile? 15:35 Where does Mike see the industry going in 2017? 19:49 Does the organization really need to understand how Agile works or can someone coach the organization into an Agile state? 22:02 How does the organization recognize the fundamentals of what needs to be changed to achieve Organizational Agility? 24:18 Does having data that explains the problem help strengthen the case for change? 25:10 Your organization is deeply flawed. 26:41 How are we going to measure that the problem was indeed solved? 28:07 The organizations are broken. Teaching them to want something is not enough. At some point you have to do the work. 30:00 If we teach culture change will people really self organize in the presence of constraints 31:19 Should everyone be more disruptive? Who designs the structure to support that? 32:18 Is there a point where you need to be more directive to help people become more Agile? 33:04 We are so myopically focused on self organization. 34:02 If i am an executive with limited time to learn and research, what do I focus on? 35:18 The problem is that people are overselling how Agile can work. 38:35 Do you want to do Agile on a team, or do you want to become an Agile organization? 39:08 How Agile do you need to be? 43:57 The music Mike has been listening to lately and is looking forward to listening to. 45:05 The one thing Mike wishes all the clients knew before he got into the room. 46:41 Closeout Books Mentioned in the Podcast The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey http://amzn.to/2jUektH Christian Self-Mastery by B.W. Maturin http://amzn.to/2jU0cjZ The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn http://amzn.to/2jzO4DL Music Mentioned in the Podcast Collective Soul http://www.collectivesoul.com Peace Trail by Neil Young http://amzn.to/2kmlFBU Reaching Mike If you’d like to know more about Mike, or reach him with follow up questions: http://bit.ly/2kvoOyo Feedback/Questions/Reaching Dave If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

A Retrospective on Vacations If you love your work and are very driven, the idea of “vacation” can be a daunting thing. In this episode of SoundNotes, Derek Huether and Dave Prior hold a retrospective on how they each coped with the challenge of taking time-off from work over the holiday. If you count yourself among the vacation challenged, this conversation may provide insight into why you need to take the time, why you need to protect the time BUT why your version of taking a break to restore yourself doesn’t have to fit the standard definition of “vacation”. Show Notes 00:08 Podcast Begins 00:17 Topic Intro - a Retrospective on taking vacation 00:52 Derek explains why he took his first vacation in almost 2 years 02:07 Pre-vacation anxiety 03:12 If you get grumpy when you don’t have too much work to do “YOU NEED TO GET AWAY” 03:52 When your sustainable pace is an unsustainable pace 04:10 Some of us are wired a little weird and there is no “balance” 05:11 Sometimes having too much to do can be a positive 06:03 The dopamine rush of getting something done… how much sleep do you really need 07:33 Debating the argument for getting “enough” sleep 09:14 Derek’s Kanban board for vacation activities 11:06 What Derek reads on the beach for relaxation (feel free to roll your eyes) 12:00 How “the damn ocean and seagulls” prevented Derek from relaxing with his DevOps books on the beach and how the Beastie Boys saved the day 13:20 If you are reading work related books on the beach, aren’t you still at work? 14:10 When you take time off from work and your hobbies are work related 15:48 Finding your own way to satisfy the need to unplug, take a break and get refreshed 16:38 The restorative joy that comes from watching seagulls attack people 17:08 Pomodoro Timer 17:22 The weight of vacation guilt - for doing work, or for not really taking “vacation” 18:20 Why would you want to go on vacation and be remorseful when it is supposed to be a reward 19:14 Derek’s trick of reserving play time as a planned activity 20:15 Having intentionality and discipline to carve out time for creative fun stuff 20:48 Super not productive time may be recovery time and that is part of being productive 21:30 Giving yourself permission to be not productive and then protecting that time 21:55 What happens when YOU don’t respect your not productive time 22:20 “I have to respect it” and take the time without carrying the guilt 23:04 Dave’s resolution to get less done in 2017 and trying to create a small vacation every day 23:45 Derek’s quiet time (with coffee) 25:10 Meditation … it’s not about emptying your mind - it’s about not dancing with the thoughts that arise 26:20 Derek’s version of meditation - post-its and coffee 26:50 It’s a way of looking at your though and saying “yeah, but not right now” 27:02 Wrap up thoughts, it’s okay to suck at vacation, it’s okay to not do stuff, protect the time with discipline, acknowledge that you derive and need the time, and don’t let other people tell you how much time you should take 27:56 Podcast End Links from the Podcast Visible Ops Handbook http://amzn.to/2jzVqKM DevOps Handbook http://amzn.to/2iTX8FM Ariana Huffington “The Sleep Revolution” http://amzn.to/2k2ySik Contacting Derek You can reach Derek on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/ On Twitter at https://twitter.com/derekhuether Or on his personal site at http://www.derekhuether.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at https://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net

LeadingAgile’s Derek Huether and Dave Prior take on two questions from someone who attended a workshop Dave ran on Redefining Your PMO for Agile: Should I change Sprint length to account reduced capacity during the holidays? Is it okay to performance at the individual team member level? During the podcast Derek and Dave respond to both questions and offer different ways of coping with reduced capacity as well as things to consider if you are inclined to try and track individual team member performance. This podcast is a fairly short one, so show notes have been omitted this week. Contacting Derek and Dave If you have follow up questions for Derek, here is his contact info: Email: derek@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekhuether LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/ Dave can be reached at: Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ Submitting Questions And if you have follow up questions for Dave, or have any Agile related question you’d like us to discuss in an upcoming podcast, please send your question to Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com. You can send the question in the body of an email, or you can send an mp3 of wav of you asking the question and will include the recording in a podcast on your topic. LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/