Agile Amped Podcast - Inspiring Conversations

What is Agile documentation? For lots of Agilists the term seems counterintuitive since Agile doesn't do documentation. Instead Agile tends to find other ways of ensuring users are constantly delighted. In this episode of Agile Amped, Mary Connor argues that Agile documentation can be beneficial. She introduces the concept of a one-touch doc: a piece of writing that is true to the best of the creator's knowledge at that point in time and that may be helpful to other people but isn't maintained ad infinitum. Sometimes you may need to create a document that will be maintained forever and ever, Amen. In this case you have to ask yourself the hard question: what is actually needed? This means leaving out unnecessary stuff and nice-to-haves and abandoning gold-plating of the content. You have to do the just barely good enough, which can break the technical writer's heart, but this bare-bones approach is much more Agile. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Agile is everywhere now. Regardless of the flavor (Scrum, Kanban, XP), everybody's using Agile to greater or lesser extent. After more than a decade of being Agile, why are so few organizations actually reaping the benefits of implementing it in the first place? Mike Cottmeyer of Leading Agile offers three simple and obvious things that an organization of any size needs to be able to do to be truly Agile:  1. Form teams. 2. Create backlogs. 3. Produce working tested software. Here are some tidbits from his engaging interview: - "A team is an encapsulated value stream... that has no dependencies on the rest of the organization, they can operate with autonomy, they can inspect and adapt..." - "Every failure mode in Scrum ... starts with a team that is not complete and well formed." - "Cargo-cult Scrum: going through the motions but not getting the benefits." SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter  Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame famously said, "Move fast and break things." In his Keep Austin Agile 2016 session, Thoughtworks Change Agent Chris Murman laments that "Things are Broken: a Case Study in Moving Too Fast," partly to nod at Zuckerberg. The case study centers on teams at Bottle Rocket who, after implementing Scrum, had so much pressure put on them to deliver fast that "they were writing themselves into technical debt and were releasing apps that weren't very good quality." The goal is not necessarily to work faster but to work better with more intentionality at a sustainable pace. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Some people think that visual models are only applicable to waterfall projects, but Candase Hokanson uses them to make information more accessible to stakeholders early on in the delivery process to avoid expensive redos in the future. A common model she uses in her work is a process flow model, which visualizes the steps that a user will go through to use a product or piece of software. Visual models like the process flow and feature tree help Product Owners see if any use cases are missing. Visual models are also useful when it comes time for documentation (user manuals, FAQs, etc.). SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Software is in everything today. Even the gas pump has a simple computer in it. Jeffrey Palermo, CEO of Clear Measure, sits down with Agile Amped to discuss how common architecture practices, even those used in Agile software development, often fail to consider the unique experiences and use cases of the end users. For example, one department may need 24/7 access to high-security applications, while another department may only need limited access to the same applications. Microservices and DevOps architectural practices can help in such a situation, which can be very expensive and not business-feasible without a new approach to the overall architecture. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

People often take it for granted that developers are paying attention to their craft. "Everyone assumes quality is in there," says Mike Rieser, Director of Software Development at Fenway Group. But, as he put it off camera, "technical excellence isn't something you just sprinkle on." Instead, technical excellence is foundational, not something you just add on in the end like some kind of condiment. Allison Pollard, Principal Consultant at Improving, adds that often people think they'll make "improvements" and clean up the code later. "The data becomes apparent... How many defects are escaping with every release? How many defects are getting resolved with every release?" Mike accentuates that, with Agile software development, zero-defect code is a possibility and, often, the general case. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Traditional organizations assign differing degrees of control to certain roles, a key role being manager. Senior Director of Coaching and Training Doc List has seen cross-functional teams comprising devs, UX, QA and other roles reporting to the dev manager, UX manager, QA manager or some other type of manager, respectively. The result is chaos and confusion due to competing priorities and power plays. Often a manager is assigned to the ScrumMaster or Product Owner role. In the event of a conflict of interest, team members are forced to ask themselves which role the manager-SM is filling. In a technical setting, this is especially problematic. Doc's session at KAA2016 aims to shed some light on this problem and explore possible alternatives that better support Agile structures. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Agile Velocity CEO David Hawks has seen 0mph Agility and 100mph Agility. Early on he thought it was possible to take an organization, like a luxury car, from 0 to 100 in no time flat. However, over the years David has learned that achieving high velocity must be approached in a stepwise fashion: from 0 to 20, 20 to 40, 40 to 60, etc. His session this year at Keep Austin Agile 2016 is called "Path to Agility: Adoption Patterns to Overcome Pitfalls". With Agile Amped, he discusses the five stages of an Agile adoption: 1. Align 2. Learn 3. Predict 4. Accelerate 5. Adapt SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

ScrumMasters have an important role in Agile: they help delivery teams achieve high-performance by removing impediments and taking care of the workflow process so that other team members can focus on producing excellent value quickly. Too often, however, ScrumMastery devolves into an administrative role. While functioning as de facto admin may be part of an SMs responsibilities, Enterprise Agile Coach Cherie Silas wants to help SMs sharpen and, if necessary, develop coaching skills to complement the tools already in their Agile toolkit. In her KAA2016 session, Cherie will a dozen new skills that SMs can cultivate, which fall into four categories: 1. Internal Control skills - self-control, self-management 2. Verbal Communication skills - making distinctions, direct communication, articulating what's happening in the room 3. Relational/Forwarding skills - help make a connection between coaches and the team, helping the team strive for more, critical thinking 4. Creative Thinking skills - changing geography, taking different stances, using visual aids and reference points SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Attaining and sustaining organizational agility isn't merely a matter of following a set of steps and you're done. As Stephanie Ockerman puts it, "Organizational Agility: It's Not a Sprint, It's a Marathon". Stephanie theorizes that organizational agility starts with sustainable teams--and that doesn't happen overnight. Stephanie is interested in how effective teams are, the quality of their product, how innovative they are, and even turnover rate. "If people aren't happy in the environment they're in, they're going to leave." She is a strong advocate for looking for ways to set Agile teams up for success: for example, what do they need to be their best, to collaborate, to build trust, and to feel fulfillment in their everyday work. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Chris Edwards sits down with Agile Amped in a hoppin' restaurant to discuss his Keep Austin Agile 2016 session "DevOps: Improving Agility Through a Culture of Continuous Delivery". Chris touches on how QA, previously completely separate from the dev team, has basically been absorbed into the Agile team. "We don't even have a QA department," Chris says of his experience, a common one in Agile teams. "The developers do all the testing, because it's all automated." DevOps takes the same principle and applies it ti operations: whereas previously devs would "toss code over the wall" to QA, now the same process is happening between devs and OPs. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Paul Baffes and Mike Ackerbauer are helping the elephant that is IBM jumpstart its Agile transformation. Their session at Keep Austin Agile 2016 is called "Agile from the Elephant's Point of View: Why IBM is Jump-starting Agile Teams With Design Thinking". IBM has an illustrious history as being a pioneer of software and engineering company, having carved out a product-based niche for themselves. But the future is about customer experience so the duo has been tasked with bringing design thinking and Agile together so that new products are built with the basic Agile precept of "doing the right work and doing the work right" in mind. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Scott Killen, founder and previous President of Agile Austin as well as the Agile Practice Leader for PayPal, sits down with Agile Amped at Keep Austin Agile 2016. His session at the conference isn't scandalous at all with its title "Backlog Managers: Beware the Devil on Your Shoulder!" The concept behind it is that approaches that Product Owners and other "backlog managers" employ (or don't) affect the team effectiveness. Scott shares his three tips for Product Owners to keep in mind when managing their backlogs: 1. Stories enter the backlog as a problem or need and exit as a solution. 2. Stakeholders change over the lifecycle of a user story, starting with individuals on the business side and seguing over to those from the development side. 3. Working with stakeholders to evolve a problem into a solution is "where the magic happens". SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Keep Austin Agile 2016 (http://conference.agileaustin.org/). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

The ACMP Change Management Conference celebrated its fifth year in 2016. Donna Brighton, ACMP President, and Rhiannon Cooke, ACMP Vice President, graced Agile Amped with their presence to share their thoughts on the occasion as well as discuss how the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) and the annual Change Management conference have grown since both were conceived in 2011. A key component to the explosive growth of the association and the need for change management globally is the standardization of professional change management practices. The ACMP worked tirelessly to produce the Standards for Change Management according to ISO standards and, to foster continued growth and fellowship throughout the change management community, the standard is available for free directly from their website (acmpglobal.org). SolutionsIQ's Dan Fuller hosts at Change Management 2016 (http://www.acmpconference.com/Join-Us). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Email Monday, training Tuesday, change Wednesday--that's how quickly some people think change happens. Prosci CIO Tim Creasey points out that change management aims to "prepare, equip and support people to be successful in the changes" requested of them, and that process needs to time to take effect. Tim shares his thoughts of how companies who undergo an enterprise-wise change like an Agile transformation fail to invest adequately in the change management aspects. And then, if the company is successful in transforming to Agile, they don't know how to deal with the pace of change. A clear example of this is the stark difference between the rate of change in customer-facing technologies and internal technologies implemented by a company's IT department. Tim also shows how a change model like ADKAR can work in a Scrum environment. Tim Creasey is a dynamic presenter, researcher and thought-leader on managing the people side of projects and initiatives to deliver organizational results and outcomes. Through conference keynotes, presentation, webinars, articles and tools, he has advanced the discipline of change management by moving it out of the “soft and fuzzy” realm toward a structured, rigorous approach for driving benefit realization and value creation on projects. Tim coauthored the book Change Management: The People Side of Change and led Prosci’s last seven benchmarking studies.  SolutionsIQ's Dan Fuller hosts at Change Management 2016 (http://www.acmpconference.com/Join-Us). About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SIQYouTube, http://bit.ly/SIQiTunes, http://www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Follow: http://bit.ly/SIQTwitter Like: http://bit.ly/SIQFacebook