Agile Amped Podcast - Inspiring Conversations

Latest Episodes:

Prototyping Smallsats at NASA | Thomas Friend Nov 30, 2017

Show notes

How is a cellphone like a satellite? Says Tom Friend, Agile consultant at Duke Energy who is blowing our minds with his work at NASA, "If you think about it, a cellphone is a micro satellite [without] stabilization [or] propulsion." Tom walked us through using Scrum and other Agile practices in a satellite mission simulation to create a roadmap and a backlog and to produce a paper prototype of a to-scale small satellite (smallsat), which Friend calls a cubesat. Of the experience, he says, "It creates a shared mental model that everyone can see. It's not what you get out of the paper, it's individuals and interactions."

Howard Sublett hosts at Southern Fried Agile 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Building Great Teams | Richard Kasperowski Nov 16, 2017

Show notes

Richard Kasperowski is the author of "The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness", a book in which he describes how to use the Core protocols developed by Jim and Michele McCarthy, an Agile mindset and practices, and Open Space Technology to create high-performance teams. In this podcast, Kasperowski defines for us what he means by "high-performance teams" thus: "High-performance team is a team that gets objectively better results than other teams doing similar work. It's something you can observe and something you can measure." To achieve this end many times over with different clients and customers, Kasperowski has over time devised what he calls a "protocol stack" whose four layers - Positive Bias, Autonomy, Self-Awareness and Connections - he argues is foundational to all high-performance teams.

Howard Sublett hosts at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Agile Metrics You Should Use But Don't | Cat Swetel Nov 14, 2017

Show notes

Ever asked your team, "How's our KPIs? Are we hitting our numbers?" Cat Swetel says that the answer you get may not be very useful for determining actual value delivery. In her Agile Arizona 2017 session "Agile Metrics You Should Use But Don't," Cat shared some metrics that everyone in Agile knows they should focus on, but for whatever reason get set aside. These include: Start date ("when a story crosses the line of commitment"), End date (when the acceptance criteria and definition of done have been met), how many things in progress, time in process (AKA "cycle time" - which in Cat's experience has different connotations in manufacturing), throughput (units of value per unit of time, AKA velocity).

Cat also shares a powerful story about how a delivery team radiated information to their business representatives about the negative impact expedite requests would have on eminent customer satisfaction and how this sharing of information had a profound, positive impact on communication and delivery flow.

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Blockbuster Product Management | Derek Neighbors Nov 09, 2017

Show notes

Derek Neighbors is the CTO of Tanga, whose Daily Deals make online impulse shopping even more dangerous. Derek dives into the metaphor that they use at Tanga to make product management more fun and, more importantly, more effective. They call it "Blockbuster Product Management": it maps the many product delivery and release processes to similar processes in movie-making. For every strategic initiative, there are pitch scripts, executive directors and directors (the latter being the Product Owner), screenings, and even a cast of characters who "star" in the movie that is developing and delivering a particular product. The cast will include developers, designers, operations people. For the last two to three years, Tanga has been reaping the benefits of this movie metaphor, releasing posters that gets everyone excited - and completely clear - about what products are being released and when. Derek also shares stories about the power of this metaphor - and, yes, there have been sequels and even "straight-to-DVD" products.

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Business Value of Joy | Author Rich Sheridan Nov 07, 2017

Show notes

People don't always use the word "joy" to describe a place they would like to work, but Rich Sheridan thinks we should start. Author of Joy, Inc. and CEO of Menlo Innovation, Rich shares how he created an open space for delivery teams where computers and code were shared – an idea that one respondent said would result in "blood, mayhem, murder." Instead this approach was what led Sheridan to recognize joy as the very thing that makes a place worth working in. 18 years after starting, Sheridan's mission to bring joy into the workplace is stronger than ever.

Memorable Quotes:- "It's okay to say, 'I don't know.'"- "We have intentionally created a culture focused on the business value of joy."

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Round Table Roulette - Agile Arizona Nov 02, 2017

Show notes

In this edition of Round Table Roulette, we sit down with SolutionsIQ's Alan Dayley, Reece Schmit from Agile Velocity, and Jeremy Wood from Matrix Resources. Some questions and head-scratchers that our panel wrestles with include:- Where will Agile be in 10 years?- What's your favorite retrospective technique?- How do you know if your pace is sustainable?- Describe the high-performing Agile team you've ever seen.

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Tribal Unity and Scaling Human Relationships | Em Campbell-Pretty Oct 31, 2017

Show notes

Author of the book "Tribal Unity" and SAFe Fellow Em Campbell-Pretty holds the claim to fame for launching the first Agile Release Train (ART) in Australia. Em believes that book clubs are a great vehicle for deep learning, scaling is about building the social fabric of the organization, and that companies get better results by starting with culture. Her session at SAFe Summit 2017 is called "Tribal Unity – The Heart of Scaling Agile."

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas.

Imposter Syndrome | Billie Schuttpelz Oct 26, 2017

Show notes

Ever feel like, despite all your hard work and achievements and the praise that people sprinkle on you, you aren't good enough? That the successes in your life are accidents, chance, flukes? If this sounds like you, you may be feeling "imposter syndrome," a term coined in 1978 by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, and that's what SolutionsIQ's Billie Schuttpelz is elucidating in this episode. People suffering from imposter syndrome may actually be high achievers, Billie says, sharing some insights from her experience in the field as a senior Agile coach. Turns out that many, many people have experienced or will experience imposter syndrome. Billie dives into how this is affecting business and Agile transformations today and preventing innovation. And, she says, quit watching your blooper reel.

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett.

Project "Addiction" | Brian Watson Oct 24, 2017

Show notes

Agile veteran Brian Watson urges companies to get over their addiction to projects. He remembers when, at a year-end awards banquet, someone won an award for consultant who billed the most hours. Brian says that you want to reward individuals going above and beyond, but it creates the wrong competitive environment where people one-up each other for number of projects. Instead they should focus on actual value delivered. He also reminds listeners to go read the Phoenix Project for a refresher on the power of small-batch releases.

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas.

Continuous Delivery & Technical Excellence | Inbar Oren & Daniel McGlynn Oct 19, 2017

Show notes

SAFe Fellow, black belt-holder and father of two sets of twins Inbar Oren chats with Accenture's Daniel McGlynn on several topics concerning Continuously Delivery and technical excellence, what's next with SAFe, common challenges and myths preventing mindset shifts about Agile and development, and more!

Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas.