The Practical Agile Blog
Finding ways to be Agile in an un-Agile world.The True Value of a Team Performance Coach: Beyond Frameworks and Rules
In the dynamic realm of team performance coaching, my passion extends far beyond mere frameworks. While they serve as the foundation for many teams, the essence of my role is deeply rooted in effectiveness and performance coaching. Navigating team conflicts and...
Beyond Titles: A Lifelong Commitment to Lean Principles and Value Alignment
In a world defined by ceaseless evolution and intense competition, my journey as an Organizational Design Coach has been a thrilling ride. Although my titles have varied over the years, my dedication has remained unwavering towards lean principles, organizational...
The Liberation of Remote Work: Why I’ll Never Go Back to the Office Full Time
Working from home has irreversibly changed me. The very thought of returning to the routine of a full-time office job feels antiquated, almost absurd. It’s been four continuous years of remote work for me, and I’ve embraced every second of it. While I occasionally...
The Overlooked Agile Topic: Psychological Safety
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...
Why Companies Struggle to Embrace the Lean Startup Approach (and How to Overcome It)
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...
The Challenges of Implementing Agile in Business Environments
It is worth pondering the reasons behind the failure of some organizations in adopting agile methodologies successfully. Consider the following observations. Organizational Commitment to Cultural Change Primarily, the lack of unequivocal support from management for...
Applying the Stacey Model: When is Agile the Right Fit for your Project?
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....
Waterfall is not always bad
#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...
2020 Scrum Guide Changes and Observations
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...
The king is dead! Long live the king!
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.
Agile Consulting Manifesto
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...
I may be stating the obvious—you can’t be Agile without being Lean.
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...
How Agile are you? Free Agile Maturity Assessment
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...
Who Owns Quality in Agile?
In Scrum, the expectation is that the entire Scrum Team owns quality, but what does that really mean? Isn’t the Product Owner only worried about value? Doesn’t the team own all the testing? Don’t they really own quality? Like many other concepts in Agile the answer to...
The 2018 PMI-ACP® Exam Changes
The Project Management Institute (PMI®) has proceeded down the path of embracing Agile. On March 26, 2018 both the PMP® and PMI-ACP® exams with be updated to reflect PMI's new Agile Practice Guide and the PMBOK® 6th edition. You can read about the changes here....
What’s next on your Agile journey?
Hello Agile Adventurer: My son Zach and I hiking in Maine. As an avid hiker, I tend to focus on the journey not so much the destination. The same is true with Agile. All of you are in a different place on your Agile journey. Some of you are well into your Agile...
An Agile software development approach could have prevented this – just saying.
UPDATE: January 30, 2018 The Washington Post published an article with more details: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/01/30/heres-what-went-wrong-with-that-hawaii-missile-alert-the-fcc-says/?utm_term=.84e766af06c6 It is interesting that one of...
Agile 2.0 – It’s about People and Connections! It’s not about Scaling.
Andrew Carnegie once said, Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. His observation is spot...

Precisely explained. Thank you.
Great blog and great information. thanks
I got 1 week subscription for PSM1 exam prep and it helped me get the certification with very high score. Thanks.