Verbal aikido serving difficult conversations
My calendar just beeped. The meeting will begin in 10 minutes, and I can feel the stress increase inside of me. I know what the meeting is about and I only have one desire: find an excuse not to go. I wish there will be a miracle and that I’ll be notified at …
Being a facilitator…
Today, I would like to tell you what facilitation means to me. It’s a concept that I really like because its main concern is foremost human beings in the workplace. I am a facilitator because I like to support people, help them consider other perspectives, and make them feel happy …
What about story points and Planning Poker?
The average velocity of a team is obtained by averaging the sum of user story points accumulated by the team at the end of each iteration (or cycle). But what do these points precisely represent? In Agility, there are two different types of points that it is important not to …
Agile nightmare – The attractive trap of local optimization
“Is Agility really supposed to work like that?!” Vicky, a former project manager passionate about Agility who became Scrum Master during the Agile transformation of her big organization, feels like she is living a nightmare worse than what she remembers of the traditional mode. Her team’s sprint planning is at …
Reinventing the wheel, or the place of best practices in Agile!
This morning, I received a message from an old college friend. As a Product Owner, he presently has a problem with a team distributed on two continents. Seeing in my title that I’m an Agile coach and Scrum.org trainer, he asked me what approach he should adopt in this situation. …
The 5 fundamental skills of a team—Optimizing yours!
The 5 dysfunctions of a team Patrick Lencioni is the author of a dozen books on business management, more specifically on team management. Known for his book titled The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he’s also the founder and CEO of The Table Group, a management consulting firm specializing in …
The MID radar
You have begun an Agile transition or transformation and would like to know where you’re at. You want to start a new Agile project, but would like to know your Agility level beforehand in order to measure the risks involved. You would like to know the Agility maturity level of …
Do you know why you are here this morning?
When I receive an invitation to a meeting, I usually have the reflex to check if I am available. In fact, with the tools that I’m using, I know it almost instantly. So, I don’t have to really think about it before clicking on Yes or No. Actually, when people …
Getting rid of the 3 Ms or how Agile tackles the problem of Muda, Mura, and Muri?
“Costs do not exist to be calculated, costs exist to be reduced.”—Taiichi Ohno 3M is not only a famous Post-it® company. It’s also an acronym for the three major causes of what generates costs and delays in any process (manufacturing or not): Muda, Mura, and Muri. As industries around the …
Are your teams driven by fear?
Fear is one of the six basic emotions together with happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust. And, most of the time, it is perceived as a negative emotion. Though, fear serves as a catalyst when appearing in a balanced way, since it makes us more alert, more vigilant. The reason …