Future State Now: A Business Technology Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Creating a Definition of Done w/ Tim Wise May 10, 2018

Show notes

One of the most important things you can do to help your team be successful is to ensure they have a Definition of Done. Once you have it, you need to revisit in in each Retrospective meeting to make any updates and you need to explain it to the Stakeholders in every Sprint Review.

A Definition of Done is more than just Acceptance Criteria. These are the conditions that must be met for your organization to safely release work into the wild. This is especially critical if you are working in an environment where there is a difference between "done" and "shippable".

In this episode of SoundNotes, Tim Wise and Dave Prior talk through why a Definition of Done is so critical to your team successfully delivering work, what level of detail you should include in your DoD, and how to create one.

Links from the Podcast

Why You Need A Vision Statement

Contacting Tim

Email: tim@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/tim-wise/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwise/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/timswise
Scrum Atlanta User Group: https://www.meetup.com/agile-38/

Contacting Dave

Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrsungo
Personal blog: http://drunkenpm.net

Feedback/Questions

If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com

LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes

For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/
Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

What Do You Do When the Team Can't Break the Work Down? w/ Tim Wise May 03, 2018

Show notes

For Development Teams transitioning to Agile one common challenge is breaking the work down into small vertical slices that can go from a Post-It Note to shippable product in 2-3 days. Most of the time, (there are always exceptions) the issue is not that the work cannot be broken down, but that the Development Team is accustomed to looking at the work in a more traditional way and they are not able to see how they could break it down into smaller actionable elements that can be developed independently and provide value and the opportunity to learn.

If you're working with a team that is struggling with this, and you do not come from a technical background, the issue may be even more daunting. Without the in-depth knowledge of how the work might be executed, many people will feel ill-at-ease challenging the Dev Team's assertion that the work is just that big and can't be broken down.

In this podcast, Tim Wise and Dave Prior take on the topic of what to do when the Development Team can't break down the work. They share how they've each approached this challenge with teams and offer some ideas about how you could help your team find a way to break the work down.

Agile Day Atlanta

http://agiledayatlanta.com

Contacting Tim

Email: tim@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/tim-wise/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwise/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/timswise
Scrum Atlanta User Group: https://www.meetup.com/agile-38/

Contacting Dave

Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrsungo
Personal blog: http://drunkenpm.net

Feedback/Questions

LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes

Agile Myth Busting: Is There Really No Documentation in Agile? w/ Anil Jaising Apr 26, 2018

Show notes

One of the common misconceptions about Agile is that there's no documentation. This simply isn't true. The second line of the Agile Manifesto reads:

“Working software over comprehensive documentation”

This doesn’t mean that we don’t have documentation. It just means that the folks who created the manifesto did not see the value in delivering the documentation at the expense of delivering working, tested software.

In a recent Certified ScrumMaster class in NYC, one student raised an issue she was experiencing with her Development Team who is deeply committed to the “no documentation” camp. In this podcast, Dave Prior is joined by Anil Jaising (who helped to facilitate the New York class) to discuss the myth of no documentation, the truth about documentation in Agile, and how that can play out in a highly regulated/audited environment.

Events Mentioned in the Podcast

Big Apple Scrum Day: https://www.bigapplescrumday.org

NYC Scrum User Group: https://www.meetup.com/NYC-Scrum-User-Group/

Contacting Anil

Email: anil@nimblebydesign.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aniljaising

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniljaising/

Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

The 2018 North American Global Scrum Gathering w/ Dr. Jeff Sutherland Apr 19, 2018

Show notes

This week, at the 2018 North American Global Scrum Gathering, the Scrum Alliance and Scrum co-founder, Dr. Jeff Sutherland, announced the creation of a new joint venture to train, coach, and promote Scrum@Scale. Scrum@Scale is an extension of the Scrum Framework that is designed to deliver business Agility across an entire organization.

Dave Prior had a chance to sit down with Jeff during the Scrum Gathering and ask some questions about his partnership with the Scrum Alliance, Scrum@Scale, and how it can help organizations achieve greater business Agility.

Links from the Podcast

If you’d like to read the press release on the joint venture, you can find it here: https://tinyurl.com/yc5z4w3p

Here is a link to the Scrum@Scale Guide

Here is a link to Jeff's latest book, "Scrum, The Art of Doing Twice The Work In Half The Time".

Contacting Dr. Jeff Sutherland

If you’d like to contact Jeff you can reach him at:

Scrum@Scale: https://www.scrumatscale.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffsutherland
Email: jeff@scruminc.com
Jeff's books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2H9ZePk

Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

Becoming a Journeyman w/ Dave Nicolette Apr 12, 2018

Show notes

A few weeks ago Dave Nicolette put up a blog post in FieldNotes called "Putting the Journey Into Journeyman" (https://tinyurl.com/ybehorv7). I really enjoyed the post and wanted to ask Dave some additional questions about the idea of a Journeyman, how to reach that state, and what happens once you get there.

In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave and I discuss what a Journeyman is, and what a Journeyman isn't. We discuss the skills LeadingAgile expects from a software Journeyman, how to know if you've reached this state, and what you should expect to happen after you get there and each one of the states that comes after Journeyman. (Oh Look! A Squirell!)

This podcast is also a great resource if you have been interviewing with LeadingAgile and you'd like to get a handle on the mindset of the folks who work here and what we expect of one another.

If you'd like to check out Dave's original blog post, you can find it here: "Putting the Journey Into Journeyman" -https://tinyurl.com/ybehorv7

Contacting Dave Nicolette

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-nicolette/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davenicolette
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davenicolette/

Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

What's the Difference Between Scrum and Kanban? w/ Jessica Wolfe and Derek Huether Apr 05, 2018

Show notes

In almost every CSM or CSPO class that Dave teaches he gets asked to explain the difference between Scrum and Kanban. So, in this episode of SoundNotes, Jessica Wolfe, Derek Huether, and Dave take turns responding to the question and detailing some of the main differences between two of the most popular approaches to Agile.

If you'd like to reach out to Jessica, Derek or Dave for more—here's their contact info:

Contacting Jessica

If you’d like to contact Jessica you can reach her at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jessica-wolfe/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-wolfe-ab025a36/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thejessicawolfe
Email: jessica.wolfe@leadingagile.com

Contacting Derek

If you’d like to contact Derek you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekhuether/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekhuether
Email: derek@leadingagile.com

Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

Is Culture Really the Issue? w/ Mike Cottmeyer Mar 29, 2018

Show notes

“Culture is just the boogeyman people use when they don't know how to articulate an organizational change management strategy that executives will buy into.”
~ Mike Cottmeyer

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile CEO, Mike Cottmeyer shares his thoughts on why we need to stop blaming culture when organizations are unable to adopt Agile. During the interview, Mike and Dave dig into the reasons why many of the organizations that struggle with Agile are dealing with deeply rooted mechanisms that extend far beyond culture. Unfortunately, one of the most common refrains in the Agile community is that the culture is the primary thing that must be addressed, and once that is solved, the rest will take care of itself. For many organizations that buy into the promise of Agile without having clarity on the organizational impediments they must overcome for Agile to be able to exist, maybe culture isn't the best place to start.

If you'd like to read Mike's blog post on the topic, you can find it here: https://bit.ly/2pO8YU4

Contacting Mike

If you’d like to contact Mike you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcottmeyer
Email: mike@leadingagile.com

Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

Business Intelligence Report Creation in Scrum w/ Derek Huether and Jessica Wolfe Mar 22, 2018

Show notes

This episode of SoundNotes features a question submitted by a student in one of Dave's recent CSPO classes. Maheesh’s question centers on how to apply Scrum on a project that involves BI reporting and ETL. Since Jessica Wolfe and Derek Huether both have far more experience in that type of work than Dave does, he asked them to help him respond to the question.

Here's the question we got from Maheesh:

“As a Product Owner for a BI reporting platform I typically get requests for new reports and this might entail bringing the data from a CRM platform or any other platform into the data warehouse so that that requires building ETL for that and developing the report on top of that. Which typically cannot be done within a two week Sprint. So how would I go about taking this requirement from the customer and converting into shippable user stories that can be delivered through a Scrum methodology?”

If you'd like to reach out to Jessica, Derek or Dave for more, here is their contact info:

Contacting Jessica

If you’d like to contact Jessica you can reach her at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jessica-wolfe/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-wolfe-ab025a36/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thejessicawolfe
Email: jessica.wolfe@leadingagile.com
Contacting Derek

If you’d like to contact Derek you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekhuether/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekhuether
Email: derek@leadingagile.com
Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com
If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you are interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified Scrum Master or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

The Importance of Empathy in Agile w/ Tim Wise Mar 08, 2018

Show notes

After co-teaching a CSM class in Atlanta earlier this week, Tim Wise and Dave Prior sat down to talk about Empathy in Agile. During their conversation, they dug into why empathy is such an important factor in developing an Agile mindset, working with teams, building trust, and helping your organization adopt an Agile approach to work.

Tim and Dave also offer some advice on:

How you can go about trying to develop empathy towards those up and down the org chart
How that plays out in your communication with others
How to deal with groups of people you may find especially difficult to have empathy towards

Links from the Podcast

The Responsibility Process by Christopher Avery

Contacting Tim

Email: tim@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/tim-wise/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwise/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/timswise
Scrum Atlanta User Group: https://www.meetup.com/agile-38/

Contacting Dave

Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrsungo
Personal blog: http://drunkenpm.net

Feedback/Questions

LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes

Why You Need a Vision Statement w/ Dave Prior Mar 01, 2018

Show notes

This episode of SoundNotes is all about Vision Statements. Dave Prior offers his thoughts on why they're so critical to the success of your team and how to go about putting one together.

One of the most important things a Product Owner can do to help the Development Team deliver value for the customer is to make sure they have clarity on the context of the problem they are trying to solve. If the Dev Team is just being given User Stories, and there's no understanding of the problem-space in which the story lives, it's going to be much harder for the Dev Team to make the choices that will maximize value for the customer.

Also, Vision Statements are one of the best ways a Product Owner can make sure that all the stakeholders are in agreement about what problem is being solved, who it's helping, and why it matters. If the Vision Statement is documented and agreed upon by all the stakeholders, it is going to be a lot easier to keep them in sync with one another.

Listen as Dave presents two very popular templates that can be used to create Vision Statements and walks you through how to go about putting them together.

Links

Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm (3rd Edition)

Roman Pichler's Product Vision Board

Contacting Dave

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified Scrum Master or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

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