Partnership & Possibilities

Kevin Kelly, author of Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World, writes about scenius (a.k.a., “the communal form of genius”).
Which made me think about skunk works in general and, inevitably, Agile teams and their open workspaces, in specific. Kelly describes several attributes of scenius where collective genius […]

An Agile coach contacted me to discuss an issue on his team. One of the critical contractors on his team had left the project for another assignment, unexpectedly, on two week’s notice, just before an important release. Oh my! The coach described his initial shock and dismay. He wanted ideas for how to handle the […]

Sean and Scott from the Software Association of Oregon’s (SAO) Oregon Training Network asked Jim Shore and me hard questions about Agile methods. You can read the interview here.
For more about June 17-18 workshops about introducing Agile into your organization, look here.

Does your team have Working Agreements? (WA’s)
Effective teams think about how they will accomplish their work together before they begin working. They describe the levels of performance and professionalism they want to achieve, then record them in Working Agreements.
WA’s cover such areas as:
What does “done” mean for us?
What will meetings look like for […]

The Software Association of Oregon has invited Jim Shore and I to present two workshops introducing Agile methods and mindsets to companies in Oregon as part of the Oregon Training Network. Register for “The Business of Agile” and “Agile Software Development: No Silver Bullets, Just Good Sense” at these links.
BTW, if you haven’t […]

I’m sitting at the Portland Bar Camp, listening to my friend Tony Deis from TrackersNW. He’s tell me about how he ran a outdoor camp for high school students using Agile practices. Tony said, “We got to the campgrounds on Sunday after a long drive. It was raining. We had an Umiak to build and […]

Naresh Jain pledged to connect the dots between Agile practitioners around the world. Today he wrote a post about it. He’s taken another step (in addition to convening the SDT conference and conferences around India) by creating a group on LinkedIn. Dear Reader, if you’re an Agile Alliance member who would like to connect […]

I haven’t written many posts lately. It’s been a busy summer. So I’ll make up for it with a two-fer today.
Next week I’m attending the Agile 2007 conference in Washington, D.C. Wow! Just a few short years ago, we worked to gather a couple hundred people and now, the conference sells out in the early […]

Bas Vodde posted an article on action planning in retrospectives . It’s a tough issue, and I agree with Bas’ take on it. Team members need to see clearly how the actions they choose will affect their work long term. Bas suggests each proposal for action links each near term action with the […]

Despite living for many years with a Danish surname, I’ve not yet visited the country. Next month, I’m traveling to Denmark for two events. I eagerly look forward to this trip.
At the Oresund Agile conference in Copenhagen, June 13-14, I’m giving a presentation and leading a tutorial. In the presentation I will talk about […]