The following video addresses my interpretation of the 2020 Scrum Guide changes and their impact both to those currently studying for the PSM I or PSPO I exams and for those who want to understand what these changes mean to their current implementation of Scrum.
Psychological safety is an essential aspect of Agile teams that is often overlooked, despite its significant impact on team performance and collaboration. This concept involves creating an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas, asking...
You've probably heard of Eric Ries' groundbreaking book, "The Lean Startup." The methodology has revolutionized the way many entrepreneurs and businesses approach product development and innovation. But, despite its proven success, some companies still struggle to...
Have you ever wondered why some companies fail when trying to implement agile methodologies? Well, let me tell you, there are a few reasons. First of all, if management isn't fully on board with the cultural shift that agile requires, the teams are going to struggle....
The Stacey model is a framework developed by Ralph Stacey that categorizes complex problems into four domains: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. The model considers the degree of certainty of the problem and the level of agreement on what needs to be done....
#agilecoachingtip Waterfall is not always bad! Some projects are inherently phased-based. One recent example was a vendor selection project that I was asked to assess. It was being mismanaged using Scrum. I could list a hundred different examples like that. Can you...
The following video addresses my interpretation of the 2020 Scrum Guide changes and their impact both to those currently studying for the PSM I or PSPO I exams and for those who want to understand what these changes mean to their current implementation of...
My Agile Consulting Manifesto. While delivering successful software development projects for over 20 years and seeing the profession that I am so passionate about become damaged by misinformation, framework saturation and a complete loss of credibility, I have come to...
In the Agile Practice Guide published by PMI® and the Agile Alliance®, there is the Venn diagram shown above. It is a simple yet useful visual that most of us long-toothed Agile practitioners clearly understand. Unfortunately, I am finding through my training...
NEW! Become a Certified Agile ProfessionalWhen you receive the score of your self-assessment, you can identify your level of Agility on the Agile maturity matrix. Contact us if you are looking for ways to improve your overall Agile Maturity. 0 - 80 points: Ad-hoc...
I watch every few years as someone tries to crown a new king. You know what? Agile is dead, but it is also alive and well.
Here are some personal observations on this contentious topic for those of you who are new to Agile.
The word Agile was never intended to denote prescriptive frameworks. In this context, the word just comes from the Agile Manifesto, which was a conversation between some smart people who shared what was working for them as they managed software development projects. The authors “met to talk, ski, relax, and try to find common ground.” It included a small subset of the people who were following new, non-prescriptive, highly documented approaches. It was never intended to be considered Moses coming down from the mountain—it was written on a three-day weekend!
And don’t get me started on Scrum. It was an accidental success! In 2000, I was a project manager for one of the first documented Scrum projects. It was inherently flawed, but it was still held up as a shining example. Granted, I love the simplicity of Scrum, but as Ken Schwaber is famously quoted about Scrum, “Two days to learn, a lifetime to master.” Too many people have learned Scrum, and too few have any idea what it takes to master it.
I have a confession to make: I SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED PROJECTS USING A WATERFALL APPROACH! There, I said it. We old-timers, like those who wrote the Agile Manifesto, actually saw success before the Agile Manifesto miraculously was written. We managed mission-critical projects and ADAPTED our waterfall approach based on the changes in the marketplace. In the late ’90s and the dot-com boom, market pressure forced us to think differently. We needed to deliver new websites and functionality every week in order to keep up with our competitors. It was not about “being Agile”; it was about doing whatever we had to do to get something out this Friday. Here is what Agile sounded like back then:
“Hey, let’s meet every day and make sure we are on track,” and “Oh yeah, the development guys say that QA is slowing everything down; let’s start automating the common test cases so we can release faster,” or “Don’t bother writing specifications for three months; we will have missed our deadline by then, so let’s just sit down and design the screen together, and I will show it to you when I have it working.”
IT WAS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE—IT WAS COMMON SENSE AND MADE GOOD BUSINESS SENSE, TOO!
I used the phrase new to Agile earlier. By that I mean that if you have only experienced Agile in the last 10 years, you need to realize that any company that has adopted an Agile framework in that time period is a late, late adopter. Companies that needed to develop software quickly in order to be competitive were being Agile long before without worrying about terminology or frameworks. You don’t hear those companies saying Agile is dead. Agile is now in their DNA, and they don’t even call it Agile. It’s just how they run their businesses. In early 2000, I worked at a company using a RAD and JAD approach to software development. Those approaches pre-date Agile by at least a decade but did not have the appeal of the Scrum terminology. They were similar and better in many ways. We did not call what we were doing Agile. We just called it project management using rapid application development.
I have written this post at least a thousand times in my head as I watch this industry that I love get lost in terminology and frameworks. I am told now that I can’t call myself a consultant. I have to call myself a coach. I feel as if coaching distances me from my customer’s success or failures; as a consultant, I have chosen to be part of the journey. Just my opinion. I NOW HAVE TO BE CERTIFIED AND LICENSED IN A FRAMEWORK IF I WANT TO TEACH SOMEONE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BEST PRACTICES. My 20+ years of experience is less important than if I can memorize the Scrum guide backward and forward…and don’t even get me started on scaling.
I love what I do, which is making organizations and teams more successful. I am confident that if I had never read the Agile Manifesto or the Scrum guide, I would still be as successful as I am today. I jumped on the Agile bandwagon because it just made good sense, and it gave me and many other people labels for things we were already doing.
I wish now that there was a new king so I could separate myself from the noise, but unfortunately, the new king would look a lot like the old one.
One last piece of advice—not for coaches but for those of you who are still optimistic that Agile is alive and well:
Identify the problem you are trying to solve.
Ask someone with a little grey in their hair what has worked before to solve their problem.
Try it.
If it works, great, if it doesn’t, try something else.
An Agile framework can make you feel Agile; only people can make you be Agile.
—Me
Dan is the President of Cape Project Management, Inc. He has been managing software development and other projects since the ’90s. In 2010, he founded a company whose sole focus is to make his clients successful. He is passionate, committed, and works with lots of smart people who think like him. If you are looking for ways to make your business more successful, I suggest you give him a call or drop him a note. Remember, advice is free, until it isn’t.
While delivering successful software development projects for over 20 years and seeing the profession that I am so passionate about become damaged by misinformation, framework saturation and a complete loss of credibility, I have come to value:
Consulting over coaching Experienceover frameworks Long-term value over short term gains Team member empowerment over leadership status quo Integrity and values over hourly rates
That is, while there is some value in the items on the right, I respect those who value the items on the left more.
I am an Agile consultant, not an Agile coach. As an Agile consultant:
I will share in the responsibility for product delivery.
I will make recommendations based upon my experience regardless of what is written in a book, framework or blog.
I will lose sleep thinking of ways to help my client be successful.
I will role model effective leadership and communication.
I will care passionately about each and every individual team member's development.
I will choose integrity and values over a paycheck EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Dan has been leading software development projects for 20 years. He was first formally introduced to Agile via a Scrum Implementation in 2000 and has since adopted the Agile Manifesto values and principles when leading software development projects.
Dan holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from UMASS, Amherst and is a Professional Scrum Master, Certified Product Owner, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner and Certified Scrum Professional.
In the Agile Practice Guide published by PMI® and the Agile Alliance®, there is the Venn diagram shown above. It is a simple yet useful visual that most of us long-toothed Agile practitioners clearly understand. Unfortunately, I am finding through my training practice that “coaches” and late-adopter organizations have missed this step. Let me restate this in a more compelling way:
If you don’t embrace Lean as an organization, you will constantly face challenges with your Agile implementation.
What does it mean to be “Lean”?
I am not referring to the book, “Lean Software Development,” which is valuable but is still a subset of organizational Lean. I am referring to the Lean as defined in the Toyota Production System (TPS) created by Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda.
While in school for Industrial Engineering I learned all about TPS. After graduation, when I started managing large software development projects, my education in Lean proved useful for software development. Based upon this education and training, adoption of the Lean principles became my fundamental basis for project management. This realization occurred prior to Agile Manifesto’s creation; to become more “Agile” I followed the models set by authors who were already adopting software development best practices that aligned with Lean principles.
Jeffrey Liker summarizes these Lean principles in his 2001 book The Toyota Way:
Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.
Level out the workload (work like the tortoise, not the hare).
Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee engagement.
Use visual controls so no problems are hidden.
Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and process.
Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy.
Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.
Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.
Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly.
Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement.
These principles are framework agnostic and can be applied to any project and any organization looking to excel. Organizations that adopt Lean have more success than those that only adopt Agile. Scott Ambler, the author of Disciplined Agile Delivery (DaD), published the following study in 2013:
While not an overwhelming difference between Agile and Lean (65% vs 70% successful) I’ve found that more recently that the gap is widening.
While not a comprehensive description, this article highlights the potential of Lean. If you are focused on an Agile framework, process, procedure or tool, and are facing challenges with your Agile implementation, there may be another option. Step back from your project and work with leadership to decide if any of the above principles are missing or lacking. Ask yourselves the following questions:
Is there a direct relationship between the lack of a Lean principle and your Agile implementation challenges?
Is the organization committed to doing what it takes to be Lean and fundamentally Agile?
Ultimately, you can self-assess by reading and reflecting on those principles. The path forward is simple if you adopt a Lean approach to your implementation: Try it! If you fail or succeed, if you focus on continuous improvement you will propel your company forward.
Dan has been leading software development projects for 20 years. He was first formally introduced to Agile via a Scrum Implementation in 2000 and has since adopted the Agile Manifesto values and principles when leading software development projects.
Dan holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from UMASS, Amherst and is a Professional Scrum Master, Certified Product Owner, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner and Certified Scrum Professional.
When you receive the score of your self-assessment, you can identify your level of Agility on the Agile maturity matrix.Contact us if you are looking for ways to improve your overall Agile Maturity.
A model that is designed to enhance and improve Agile practices by assessing the current state of your organization
A way to determine how closely you adhere to Agile principles
A model which shows your organization on an Agile maturity continuum from an initial or ad-hoc level to a continuously improving, self-sustaining level
How did we measure your Agility?
We based the assessment primarily on the use of Scrum since it is the most widely adopted Agile method. The scoring of the assessment is weighted based upon the overall importance of the answer and by applying our experience to the MoSCoW prioritization model as defined by the DSDM consortium, e.g. giving a higher value to those questions that are Agile "must haves" versus Agile "could haves." No maturity model is perfect, but ours should provide insight into where you are today, reinforce where you have come from, and give you an idea where you are going.
What you do with this information is up to you. This tool only presents one individual's point of view (you). If you want to have a number of people participate in this assessment and would like us to aggregate, summarize and make recommendations to help you on your Agile journey, please contact us.
Psychological safety is an essential aspect of Agile teams that is often overlooked, despite its significant impact on team performance and collaboration. This concept involves creating an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas, asking...
You've probably heard of Eric Ries' groundbreaking book, "The Lean Startup." The methodology has revolutionized the way many entrepreneurs and businesses approach product development and innovation. But, despite its proven success, some companies still struggle to...
Have you ever wondered why some companies fail when trying to implement agile methodologies? Well, let me tell you, there are a few reasons. First of all, if management isn't fully on board with the cultural shift that agile requires, the teams are going to struggle....
The Stacey model is a framework developed by Ralph Stacey that categorizes complex problems into four domains: simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. The model considers the degree of certainty of the problem and the level of agreement on what needs to be done....
#agilecoachingtip Waterfall is not always bad! Some projects are inherently phased-based. One recent example was a vendor selection project that I was asked to assess. It was being mismanaged using Scrum. I could list a hundred different examples like that. Can you...
The following video addresses my interpretation of the 2020 Scrum Guide changes and their impact both to those currently studying for the PSM I or PSPO I exams and for those who want to understand what these changes mean to their current implementation of...
My Agile Consulting Manifesto. While delivering successful software development projects for over 20 years and seeing the profession that I am so passionate about become damaged by misinformation, framework saturation and a complete loss of credibility, I have come to...
In the Agile Practice Guide published by PMI® and the Agile Alliance®, there is the Venn diagram shown above. It is a simple yet useful visual that most of us long-toothed Agile practitioners clearly understand. Unfortunately, I am finding through my training...
NEW! Become a Certified Agile ProfessionalWhen you receive the score of your self-assessment, you can identify your level of Agility on the Agile maturity matrix. Contact us if you are looking for ways to improve your overall Agile Maturity. 0 - 80 points: Ad-hoc...
