Last week I was fortunate to attend the Agile 2012 conference in Dallas, TX. My experience there was very positive, with learning and great conversations. The biggest thrill for me was finally meeting in person many people whose work I admire. (A full review of the event is a different post.) I did note something […]
Evidence of Innovation and Creativity
Is it possible to find a company that does not say they are innovative? Is there any manager or VP that does not want more creativity? I’m sure such companies and people exist somewhere but I haven’t found one. We all want to foster innovation and creativity. Innovation In The Team Agile teams that are […]
Mentors and Mentoring at Gangplank
I recently learned yet another something through Gangplank. January is National Mentoring Month. That gave me pause to think about what mentors have meant to me. My Mentors Don Dayley, my father – Taught me all the foundational things in life, including how to mow the lawn when I did not want to, sometimes through […]
Learning the Basics of Agile
Last week an attendee at my Gangplank presentation contacted me with an interesting question. He wanted to learn more about Agile and Scrum. He asked “Where do I start?” That is a hard question to answer. Not for a lack of information, but because there is so much out there. A great problem! To answer […]
A Holistic View
A few weeks ago, lying in bed, waiting for my mind to turn off, my thoughts carried me to think about an Agile enterprise. What would be important? What would it look and feel like? A diagram of concepts formed to define the general areas of focus for an Agile enterprise. The next day I […]
Great PhxSUG Meeting September 24th
We had a great Phoenix Scrum User’s Group meeting last week. Ron Jeffries and Chet Hendrickson were in the valley presenting a ScrumMaster training class. They kindly agreed to come speak to us one evening. I reported my impressions and notes of the meeting on the group website. Head over there to see what I […]
Must “Do The Edges” Or It’s Not Done
The lawn was out of hand. I skipped mowing one week for some reason and now it was far too long. I attacked with the mower and with a desire to get the chore over as quick as possible. Now with the grass cut low, I began to coil the mower’s extension cord and noticed […]
Losing My “Champion Skeptic”
During the time I have been advocating changes to Scrum and agile I have encountered many skeptics. Some were and are more adamant than others. One excellent engineer was such a strong opponent of Scrum, I feared he would derail all change efforts. For a while, I also feared talking to him about his objections. […]