Walking Their Talk, Sustainability, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sustainability

I saw this wonderfully courageous and informative post by Sabine Canditt the other day where she wrote about Sustainable Scrum. 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-scrum-responsible-choice-sabine-canditt-x0gef

After just completing a The Week program facilitated by the amazing Ann-Marie Kong, it touched my heart.

That said, I wanted to highlight one comment reaction/interaction between Sabine and Erich Bühler 

Erich said—

Thank you for bringing this approach into the world! Scrum does provide an iterative approach for teams to create value, but its scope is limited to the product level and struggles with dynamics across the whole organization for several reasons.
Without updating the underlying business and financial model at a strategic level, Scrum alone cannot transform organization-wide sustainability.

Sustainability
Short-takes, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sandy’s Take
Sandy’s Take
Short-takes, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
Coaching, ACGW, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building. 

But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind—

  • Making + taking the time.

  • Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching.

  • Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are coming from.

  • Meeting them where they are.

  • Listening; reflective listening; building metaphors together.

  • Connecting with their language, not yours.

Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships
Personal Thoughts, Short-takes
Robert Galen
Privilege Awareness

I recently replied to a LinkedIn post by David Pereira. It was a wonderful post, and I applaud David’s boldness and courage in sharing it. 

Here’s a post comment from Stefan Wolpers—

While I agree fully with your personal stance regarding professionalism, David Pereira, some people will shy away, given the current economic climate. Some of the previously aggravated people may seek an opportunity to settle scores.

And here’s my comment—

I love the clarity (No BS) here. Clarity for David and clarity for those who want to work with and who don't want to work with him.
That said, David has the unique privilege that allows him to adopt this clarity. Many don't.

This post is not about David per se. Instead, he inspired me to write it.

Privilege Awareness

Heroes

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Revisiting My Heroes - Daniel Mezick

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Revisiting My Heroes - Daniel Mezick

In June 2017 I wrote my first My Heroes segment on the blog and it was about David Hussman. It was before he passed away. Over the span of a few years, I shared a few more in this segment, but then it fell away. Not that I didn’t have any more heroes in the agile community, but I lost momentum reflecting on and sharing about them.

Well, it’s the Summer of 2022 and I’d like to revisit my agile hero’s series again. At least for a short time.

The agile world and community need members like Dan Mezick. I sometimes think of Dan as the Don Quixote of agile influencers, authors, coaches, and consultants.

Dan’s focus seems to be largely on three immensely important things in our community –

  • Organizational culture change,

  • Invitation-based Leadership, and

  • Invitation-based Agile adoption.

And in support of these ideas, he’s also had an ongoing crusade of sorts against the agile industrial complex.

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Something Magical!

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A group of powerful and courageous women emerged from the recent 2022 Agile Conference in Nashville.

There was a panel discussion towards the end of the conference which focused on – It Was Never Just About Software – Agile and Our Planetary Challenges.

The panel was moderated by Lyssa Adkins, yes, that Lyssa Adkins. The panel was composed of 5 amazing women within our agile community –

  • Aanu Gopald,

  • Sally Elatta,

  • Joanne Stone,

  • Pia Fåk Sunnanbo, and

  • Jutta Eckstein.

I personally know Aanu, Joanne, and Jutta. I know of Sally and I’ve just met Pia via the panel. But I admire and respect all of them for their focus on things that matter more than “agile”.

I consider ALL of these wonderful women as my heroes. Not just for courageously speaking and engaging at the conference, but for the difference each of them is making in the world.

Wrapping Up

You can read a bit more about the contribution each of them has and is making towards making the world a better place here—

Of particular interest to me is the work that Aanu is doing via Africa Agility that is making a difference, a huge difference, in the lives of young women in Nigeria. So, much so that I’ve tried to be an active supporter of the initiative.

Ladies, you are My Heroes. Continue to be role models—showing us the art of the possible from within our agile community.

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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An Oasis in the Wilderness - Gustavo Razzetti

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An Oasis in the Wilderness - Gustavo Razzetti

There are only a handful of folks in the agile community that I regularly listen to. If I see something, an article, post, or video from them, I immediately take note and read it. Nine times out of ten, it’s something that motivates, teaches, and inspires me to become better. A sampling of those people that come to mind include:

Lyssa Adkins, John Cutler, Judy Rees, Dan Mezick, Roman Pichler, Dave Snowden, Linda Rising, Jurgen Appello, Joshua Kerievsky, and Mike Burrows.

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Thank you, Josh Anderson

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Let me start by saying Josh is going to hate this. He really doesn’t like it when I celebrate, appreciate, or applaud him. Is it humility, shyness, or something else? We’ll never know. So, I apologize for it in advance, Josh. 

I was listening to the 173rd episode of the Meta-cast today where Josh and I are talking about “hard bits” in our leadership and agile journeys. And something struck me…hard!

Josh is a great partner. He…

  • Listens to me and injects really wonderful points when I’m taking a breath;

  • Has grown SO MUCH over the 10+ years of the Meta-cast;

  • Takes feedback like a sponge (a good thing) and importantly, internalizes it and acts on it;

  • Is patient with me and respectful of me (no easy task);

  • Has wonderful agile chops and experience to share. He’s just so well-rounded!

  • A courageous agile leader who walks his talk (when so few do)…always;

  • Is committed to his family and makes them central in his life;

  • Shows vulnerability all of the time, admitting his mistakes and humanness;

  • Allows me to have the perception of control in the Meta-cast, when he really is the producer.

Bromance

Yes, I have a bromance with Josh Anderson. And it’s because of how real, genuine, and nice he is.

Beyond everything, Josh is kind and genuinely cares for others. Joshua Anderson, my life is so much richer because of you and I appreciate you each and every day.

Now, if I could only get you to regularly plan for the Meta-cast…

Happy birthday, Josh (8/18), stay agile my friends, and stay agile Josh,

Bob.

My Heroes: Henrik Kniberg

My Heroes: Henrik Kniberg

It’s been a while (October 2018) since I’ve written about one of my heroes. I started that series in 2017 and I think it’s worth continuing. So, I wanted to get at least one “out there” in 2019. And I can’t think of a better person to highlight in that capacity than Henrik Kniberg.

I’ve never met Henrik and that’s one of the great gaps or regrets in my agile career. I’m quite hopeful that one day I’ll get the chance to meet him, face-to-face, and simply thank him for the influence that he’s had on my journey.

I remember when I was a much younger coach. There weren’t a whole lot of useful agile references around to help me in my coaching. I forget exactly when it was, but a young man wrote a book called Scrum and XP from the Trenches and he made the PDF of that book freely available.

I grabbed a copy and was astounded. It was in a word:

  • Short, Practical, Pragmatic

  • Visual, Useful, Real-world

  • Experiential, Understandable, and Approachable

And I made it a part of my coaching practice. I think the year was ~2005 when it first surfaced. He published it on InfoQ in 2007, and there is now a 2’nd Edition of it available.