Future State Now: A Business Technology Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Introduction to Leading and Lagging Indicators w/ Derek Huether Feb 22, 2018

Show notes

In this episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, Derek Huether and Dave Prior take on the topic of Leading and Lagging Indicators. During the podcast they discuss how Key Performance indicators can help guide you towards an understanding of what to track with the expectation that it will create a certain result in the future (leading indicators), and what to measure in order to confirm if that result has in fact occurred (lagging indicators).

One example they touch on in the podcast is: if you are trying to lose weight, tracking things like how much you exercise and how many calories you are consuming each day are leading indicators because it is reasonable to expect that if you are exercising regularly and limiting your caloric intake, that these actions could result in you losing weight. This is a way of tracking the actions you are taking to in order to bring about a desired change. But, we still need a way to confirm if the desired result has actually occurred. The only way you will know if you have actually lost weight, is to climb up on the scale and check your weight. That is a lagging indicator because it confirms whether or not the actions you took had resulted in the desired outcome.

Audio Version Only:
https://soundcloud.com/leadingagile/introduction-to-leading-and-lagging-indicators-w-derek-huether

Links

If you’d like to learn more about Leading and Lagging Indicators, check out Derek’s recent blog post on the topic here: https://www.leadingagile.com/2018/02/leading-lagging-indicators/

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/

Transforming a Long-Standing Traditional Organization to Agile w/ Derek Huether Feb 21, 2018

Show notes

In this week's episode of SoundNotes, Derek Huether and Dave Prior respond to a question from a student who works in a long-standing supply chain organization that wants to move to Agile, but has questions about how to get started.

Here's the question:

I took your scrum master class and your product owner class a couple weeks ago and I got a lot out of it. Thanks so much for everything you did for everyone in the class.

After taking the class I was thinking about how I could apply what I’ve learned to my organization and to all of our customers who are thinking about implementing Scrum Teams in their supply chain organizations.

So, what my question is for you Dave is, what do you think is needed for an organization to transform to develop an Agile mindset across the organization and develop successful scrum teams?

I’d imagine that new organizations have the benefit of not having a status quo to compare it to so you don’t have to deal with change so they can start with Agile mindsets and they can start Scrum teams from the get go, but organizations that have been established and have been around for decades and even centuries have the challenge of having a traditional way of doing things.

So they have to get over the change management and implementing and changing the way they think… it seems like a lot to do for an organization so I’m curious to see what your thoughts are on what an organization that’s established…what they should do?

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

Tips for ScrumMasters of Distributed Teams w/ Jessica Wolfe Feb 16, 2018

Show notes

This week Jessica Wolfe and Dave Prior respond to a question about how to be an effective ScrumMaster when you are not in the same location as your team. To complicate matters even more, try stepping into the ScrumMaster role in place of an SM who was colocated with part of the team. If that doesn’t seem challenging enough—try two Product Qwners working with the team.

Here is the question:

My Scrum team consists of 4 devs in San Diego and 3 devs and 2 POs remotely (I know, breaking a rule right there having 2 POs and multiple projects assigned to one team) The previous scrum master for our team was located in San Diego and was able to have actual facetime with the portion of the team 2 times a week on average. Tuesday for Daily Scrum and Wednesdays for Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective and Sprint Planning (and then off week's Daily Scrum and Backlog Refinement). While we do everything virtually (Sprint backlog, Product Backlog, screenshare ceremonies encouraging video (but not required)), it was something the team welcomed, it was a rallying day, and I believe allowed the SM a better check on the morale/heartbeat of over half the team - seeing them in person, having easier one on one time available if needed. I have now taken over as SM for this team and another team (other team is all remote and they never met in person regularly), so I'm wondering if you might have any suggestions to foster that same closeness, continue to keep a close pulse on the team and provide a safe environment for openness and collaboration while serving the team from across the country.

Links from the Podcast

If you are curious about Jason Kelce’s speech at the Eagles parade, here you go:

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 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

Send Us Your Questions

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

Upcoming Classes

The Evolving Role of an Agile Coach w/ Mike Cottmeyer Feb 08, 2018

Show notes

As organizations continue to grow and evolve in their practice of Agile, what they expect from Agile transformation coaches continues to evolve as well. Ten years ago, an Agile coach was someone who had enough experience working with Agile to help others pick up the basic habits and avoid some common mistakes. Today, we need a lot more.

In this episode of SoundNotes, Mike Cottmeyer talks with Dave Prior about how the needs and expectations of coaching have changed over the last 10 years. During the interview, Mike explains how LeadingAgile has evolved its understanding of the specific areas of skill and expertise the company needs to focus on when talking with transformation coaches during the interview process. Dave and Mike also discuss how coaches can address some of these gaps, and why it is so important to understand what type of coaching you are passionate about and how to leverage that.

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

Who Should be a ScrumMaster? Who Should be a Product Owner? w/ Dave Prior Feb 02, 2018

Show notes

We frequently get questions from clients who are transitioning to Agile when they begin working through the challenge of determining which roles are the best fit for individuals in their organization. Since many of our clients begin their Agile journey by taking on Scrum, the question usually shows up as:

Who should I make a Product Owner and who should I make a ScrumMaster?

While there is no locked down definition of who should transition into what role, there are some standard patterns that appear across organizations. A lot of it though depends on how an organization views the individuals in those positions and what level of responsibility they are given by the company.

In this short video, Dave Prior, LeadingAgile’s resident Certified Scrum Trainer, offers some advice and guidance with respect to sorting out which individuals in your organization should move into a Product Owner role and who is a better fit for ScrumMaster.

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: 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

Sprint Report Basics: What Should You Be Tracking? w/ Jessica Wolfe Jan 18, 2018

Show notes

Jessica and Dave take a look at the Sprint Report template Dave uses in his CSM and CSPO classes. Using the report as a starting point, Jessica and Dave talk through the most valuable data points for new Scrum Teams as well as additional variables which are an important part of tracking the information that matters as your team learns to work together and gets better at delivering value for their customer.

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 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

What do you do when you can’t finish the work in a Sprint? Student Q&A w/ Derek Huether: Jan 10, 2018

Show notes

In this episode of LeadingAgile's SoundNotes, Derek Heuther and Dave Prior take on a question Derek received from a student in one of his recent classes:

What do you do, as a developer if the planned task cannot be resolved, or can not result in a potentially shippable product by the end of the Sprint?

For an audio only version of the podcast click here. 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

Team-Based New Year's Resolutions w/ Jessica Wolfe Jan 04, 2018

Show notes

Many of us start out the new year by making resolutions that we hope will help us become the better version of ourselves. In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Jessica Wolfe and Dave Prior talk through some ideas you can use with your team to help them renew their focus on delivering value not just for the customer, but for the individual team members themselves. If you or your team are struggling to get the value you crave out of the work you are doing, this discussion will give you some ideas and tips to start getting more out of 2018!

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 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

Student Q&A: How PBIs get into the Product Backlog & Tips for Moving from Waterfall to Agile w/ Jim Hayden and Tim Wise Dec 21, 2017

Show notes

In this week’s podcast, LeadingAgile’s Jim Hayden and Tim Wise join Dave to respond to questions submitted by students from our CSM and CSPO classes:

Question 1: How PBIs Get Into The Product Backlog

"Quick question. I was wondering if you had any ideas around a process for getting items into a backlog? I currently just stepped into a role and one of the first things I'm wanting to tackle is a process for placing items into our backlog. Currently things are all over the place because the developers are kind of doing their own thing . In order to create some consistency among PBI's do you think it's a good idea for one individual (ME) to create all PBI's? It's a fairly small team with 6 developers so I don't anticipate any bottle neck. If you don't think having one individual is a good idea then what recommendations do you have for putting a process in place for my team?" (Begins at 02:37)

Question 2: Moving to Waterfall From Agile

"The only thing we didn't have time to talk about was how to manage transitions from waterfall to agile. Will you please send me or upload to the box (if you haven't already done it) some tips/techniques/advices about how to handle that process?" (Begins at 19:31)

Contacting Jim

Email: jim.hayden@leadingagile.com
LeadingAgile: http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jim-hayden/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimhayden85/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jim_hayden85

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.

Agile in a Few Weeks and Correcting Developer Behavior w/ Tom Churchwell Dec 14, 2017

Show notes

In this week's SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Tom Churchwell and Matt Fischer join Dave to respond to two questions submitted by students of our Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Product Owner classes.

STUDENT QUESTIONS

Question 1:

"How do you see the way companies, after long years of waterfall, trying to move to Agile in few weeks?"

Question 2:

"How does a ScrumMaster correct a development team member?"

CONTACTING TOM CHURCHWELL