Thoughts on Agile 2011 – Culture Matters
This year was my first visit to Agile 2011 and I came home with a suitcase full of learning to go along with the suitcase full of vendor handouts. I think the conference organizers did a fantastic job. The location and facility was great and accommodated many hallway conversations, especially in Coach’s Corner (thx Mark Levison for setting that up) and the Open Jam area. I also want to thank the volunteers, particularly Charlotte who was the volunteer in my session. She gave me some...
Read MoreYour Agile Isn’t My Agile
I’ve been wondering for quite some time about just what exactly is Agile. I’ve been a team member on Agile teams and a consultant (call that an agile coach or consultant…it’s the same thing to me) and worked in small to medium-sized to enterprise-sized companies. As have many others, I’ve seen different interpretations of what Agile means to different people in different environments. From my experience, people generally consider Agile to be a ‘state of...
Read MoreAre We Forgetting About Succeeding?
I had a great conversation with a colleague the other day about how “agile ain’t what it used to be” (fodder for another post) and recently it seems like I spend a great deal of time either replying to people or having conversations about the proper use of “methodology or practice X“. Technically I’m on vacation and since I don’t really consider what I do a ‘job‘ (read: I love what I do), I’ve been catching up on email, forums and...
Read MoreWhat Makes a Successful Agile Coach?
People often ask me “how does Agile tell you to do <this and that>” and having recently presented the fundamentals of Agile to a large mix of people, the textbook answer is “well, it depends”. Folks who have little to no experience with Agile seem to be much more accepting of the fact that “being Agile” is all about taking the tools, knowledge and frameworks and applying them to your situation. Some though Agile was a software tool, chaotic and very...
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