Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation

The Act of Transforming Aug 8, 2018 - 2 min read

What does transformation mean for an organization of people? Organizations treat an agile transformation as a singular event. It is a budgetary line item, a noun, a one-time metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. Expert agilists who have “been there, done that” are sought to guide the transformation. While one gains credibility by having “been there, done that,” what impact does that have on our vision? How does this distort our ability to be empathetic? To meet the organization where they are?

Lose the lies Feb 21, 2018 - 2 min read

An interview that Patty McCord did to publicize her new book bubbled up in a social media stream. A few friends commented about the powerful truths she was telling, so I followed the link.

Here are some excerpts from that Patty McCord interview which resonated with me:

…we’re gonna be your paternalistic employer for the rest of your life and provide you with career ladders and promotions forever. It hasn’t been true for 30 years, and it’s certainly not true now.
Read More…

Was It Worth It? Jan 2, 2018 - 2 min read

A few of us from the office headed out to an acclaimed BBQ joint during the holiday lull between Christmas and New Years. I expected the last workday of the year to be slow with a bunch of the workforce out on vacation. Boy was I wrong.

When we arrived, the line snaked from the cash register, around all of the picnic tables and looped back upon itself once without making anyone wait in the cold. I told my lunch companions that our wait would be at least forty-five minutes. They were cool with that, but they didn’t have two hours to lollygag at lunch. I took note of the time. Sixty minutes later we had our food and were shuffling through gaps in the line - which still filled the dining hall - to find some seats.

Demotivation Oct 10, 2017 - 2 min read

Here’s a flashback from the late winter of 2015 in a winning environment: Starting a team meeting with a mass scolding isn’t that great of an idea. But it seems to have become the modus operandi of Fearless Leader at Mega-Corp.

He chose to start the new year something like this: Why is everyone late? This is important and everyone should be on time. (Never mind that the last three scheduled meetings had been cancelled at the last instant)

Agile and Brewing tags:["team dynamics"] Sep 30, 2017 - 2 min read

During an interview for Agile for Humans, Ryan asked me about parallels between agile and brewing. At the time I mostly blew it off. My thinking then was that the feedback loop was too long and the inspection bit was a tad too fuzzy. Ultimately there is a link with the inspection and adaptation.

In my short home brewing arch, there have been many experiments. Most of them have worked, but a few have them haven’t been so stellar. Our, I brew with my wife, first beer was an Oatmeal Stout. Once it had been bottled and cellared for the recommended time, we sampled it. It was good, but not spectacular.

A Journey Begins Sep 26, 2017 - 4 min read

What happens when an agile CTI coach gets bored and knows someone that they believe has something to contribute to the agile software community? You basically get invited to co-present a conference talk, a helping hand to find your voice, plus an opportunity to start sharing your experience and point of view with others.

Some time has passed and the memory has faded, so forgive me if I don’t get this exactly right in the telling of the story. It began with a simple question: How’d you like to co-present a talk about “Bitter Beer Face Communications”?. The AgileIndy 2017 conference was the week before an open-wheel car race weekend at “The Brickyard”. I’ve been in the audience plenty of times when Allison has co-presented, and I suspected that she wouldn’t let me look like a complete fool.

Welcome Back Sep 12, 2017 - 1 min read

It’s been awhile. I was gently shamed into this resurrection by a friendly text message - “YOU HAD A BLOG”. Certainly not the most impressive place for conference attendees to see what I’ve been up to and what I’m about.

Let’s correct that now.

Brewing Great Agile Team Dynamics Mar 1, 2017 - 1 min read

Ever find yourself making a sour face after talking to a coworker?

Wishing your team meetings felt more like an engaging social hour?

There is hope. Those everyday conflicts where something seems “off” after a conversation are often related to differences in communication styles. When team members understand themselves and others, there’s less conflict, more collaboration, and better working relationships.

The DiSC model can help you understand why your team behaves the way it does and how to build trust for a more agile team. In this interactive session, agile coaches Allison Pollard and Barry Forrest will introduce the DiSC model to explain the four behavior types that are the ingredients in any team, then explore the characteristics of these ingredients and how they react with one another.

Talks Mar 1, 2017 - 2 min read

Oops, We Inflicted DevOps on our Business–Now What? with Allison Pollard

It seems that everyone is aflutter with DevOps, the shiny new panacea for all of our software ailments. What technical goodness can DevOps bestow upon us? What riddles does it unlock for us as technologists? How do business goals align in order to wring the true value from DevOps?

Delivering value faster is a desire of many business and IT leaders, and it often looks like a win-lose proposition to achieve it. Metrics and edicts seem to have competing interests, like the car racer being told to “go faster” and “save fuel.” Barry and Allison will share their experiences with organizations and teams embracing DevOps and how it impacted both IT and business. We’ll explore the dynamics of goals and the conflict they can incite through an interactive game to further dive into what happens when DevOps is and isn’t in tandem with agile coaching.

TIL => ReportViewer Control, Less is More Jan 7, 2013 - 2 min read

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “Their IT staff is going to take care of that development …” And so it was recently on a project I am developing.

A separate development activity was spun up to create the required SSRS reports which were to be hosted on a Report Server. Well the Report Server uses Active Directory accounts for authentication and authorization. The portal that I’m building essentially uses the ASP.net Membership Provider and its services.