Smiley Face Coin Game to Learn Team work, Limiting Work in Process and Learning via Scrum

The text outlines a Scrum teaching game that involves physical contributions, choices, constraints, and roles to simulate real-world team dynamics. The game employs coin flips to dictate when tasks can move forward, demonstrating the foundations and limitations of Scrum. The experience proves more impactful in understanding roles and team operations than mere theory explanation. Set-up requires certain materials, space, and team roles. The game offers variants for different scenarios such as matrix organizations or multiple teams, and ends with feedback and discussions on learned lessons.

Piggy Bank Game to Learn Team work, Limiting WIP and Learning via Scrum

The post describes a game used to educate non-technical teams about the functions and restrictions of Scrum. Participants gain firsthand experience of the Scrum process, facilitating better understanding. The game employs tools like Klaxoon and a coin-flipping app for Scrum processes like sprints and constraints. Teams experience the importance of assignments such as the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the team itself, aiming to maximize profit in minimal time, thus learning the concept by literally playing it.

Gardening Your Transformational Flowers

In Agile transformation, admiration for success often overshadows the complexities involved, akin to appreciating a flower’s beauty without understanding its growth. Agile transformation, like gardening, comprises four interlinked components: analyzing the environment, cultivating the right soil, nurturing the collective mindset, and allowing teams to bloom. While many focus on visible Agile practices, the soil (leadership mindset and organizational design) and environment (market conditions and culture) are often overlooked. Successful transformation requires nurturing these socio-technical aspects, not just the visible “flowers.” Leadership plays a pivotal role in creating the right conditions for Agile to flourish, fostering adaptability, and empowering teams.

Lean-Agile Leadership Model Zoom in on Pillar 3

The third pillar in the Lean-Agile House organization. This pillar is focused on learning and integrates all of the agile core beliefs. To create learning, this requires trust and en environment to run PDCA cycles.

Système D est une forme d’Agile? (System D is Agile ?)

Système D is a French approach to solving problems when you have limited resources. The term derives from the French term Système D. The letter D refers to any one of the French nouns débrouille, débrouillardiseor démerde (French slang).
But how is System D related to Lean-Agile thinking ?
Système D is good in the right situation and this article outlines the gap between Lean-Agile and the Agile version of System D.

Four Pillars of Lean-Agile Leadership

A mental model on how to organize teams around value using lean-agile concepts.

Confusing Agile with agility

I was presenting the Agile mindset to a group of leaders when one of them piped up and said “We are already agile, during Covid last year we were put into a space where we were agile and responsive”. The comment comes from a well intended place and is used to reflect that their teams

Organizing an Understaffed Team

Being understaffed is not the problem, you are under-prioritized. This discussion focuses on teams that are understaffed and the economic framework to get out of it.
Outlining an economic framework preserves options by saying no to too many requests and putting a cost on ideas and requests.

Coaching Agile Teams Vs. Sports Teams

Agile coaches are focused on the business objectives and enabling that through healthy teams. Sports coaches are able to define their success through the improvements in the league/division results with a clear win/lose record. Agile coaches add value through following the values of respect, compassion and uncompromising focus on improvements.

Annual goal setting impedes system thinking

Is it time we start discussing incremental appraisals and career development over an annual system ?

Annual HR systems force managers to rank people over creating high-performing teams and improving morale.

From a lean thinking point of view, this is a form of waste.

Examples include:

– Goals set in January may not be aligned with what is happening in Q4

– Timeliness of learning opportunities discovered in Q2 cannot be adapted due to rigid plans and budgets

– Creation of silos between team members when their goals are not aligned from leaders

The challenge is to move to iterative performance and career growth. This allows leaders to re-align their teams regularly based on validated learning and embed learning through continuous feedback.

As you prepare for the annual reviews and goal setting, it may be time to discuss with your manager how to get iterative reviews and alignments throughout the year in a way that motivates your team and creates a culture of learning.