Coach Dan's Blog

What’s better than Monday of a new work week?  A couple of days of rest and relaxation behind us; nothing but limitless possibilities in front of us! Ok, if you’ve made it through that cheeseball opening line, keep going – there’s a point! As agile managers and leaders, we’re in the people-development business, and one of the most challenging people we are responsible for developing?  OURSELVES Go ahead and take a look at your calendar quickly (but come back..)  I’d bet a cup of coffee that your Monday is STACKED from beginning to end with meetings.  Mission critical conversations.  Key milestone meetings.  Discussions that if missed, will surely cause our beloved Wells Fargo to seize like an engine with no motor oil.  I get it – there’s a lot for us to do!  And we DO value interactions over process!!! I will argue though – there is immense value in carving out a few minutes a week to reflect and invest in yourself.   (Aren't we supposed...

I bet you a week's worth of coffee - in my case, a fairly substantial bet - if you were to ask ten random leaders, "Why Agile?," the vast majority of them would say, "Speed." Ask a follow-up question, "What do you mean when you say speed?," and you will undoubtedly get the response, "Things get out into market faster!" Now pause for a moment and think about how people naturally respond when told to do things faster. Corners get cut, shortcuts get taken (often at the cost of quality), steps get skipped, and we start to rationalize that what we made was good enough. In the very best case, focusing on going "faster" is going to increase your risk - and no one really wants that! And by the way, Agile was never about being faster. It's about being better. Now, I'm not at all arguing that speed (being faster) is not an  outcome  of embracing Agile mindset, principles, and frameworks. By their nature alone, incremental and continuo...

There is a huge myth that I want to dispel here and now.  You don't have to be doing Scrum, Scrumban, Kanban or some other Agile Framework to BE agile.  Also - just because you DO Scrum or one of the other Frameworks doesn't automatically MAKE you agile.   Agile is a mindset.  A set of values and principles that drive the decisions me make and the behaviors we display.  It's a way of thinking and acting when things don't go as planned.  It's how we respond when blockers and impediments get in our way.  It's how we treat the people that we work with, either directly on our team, or our partners and vendors.  It's how we view our customer, and keep them front and center.   You can BE agile no matter how you're working It's being curious.  It's about not ever being satisfied with the way things are.  It's constantly striving to be more effective and efficient in the way that we all work.  It's about ALL WINNING TOGETHE...

It's easy to get in a rut.  We're busy people, for sure.  Lots of people counting on us both at work, and outside of work. "We all win together" means we give our teams our all so we can bring value to our customer.  I get it. But that is no excuse for not embracing our agile values and principles, and stopping to reflect. To challenge ourselves and our teams to be better with every iteration. To grow and learn.  So my challenge to you is to pause.  Shut off your IM and your email for 5 minutes.  Get a cup of coffee or tea (or kombucha or whatever floats your boat) and reflect.  What did you do differently this week?  Did you think outside of the box and offer a unique suggestion?  Did you challenge your team to do better?  Did you ask a question that gave your team pause, or turned the discussion toward more valuable topics?  Did you step outside of your comfort zone and try something new?  Did you raise your hand and vol...

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