The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

I recently had the honor of reading an article that was published by Jay Rahman regarding the 5 foolproof steps to become a Product Owner. If only it were so easy and pragmatic. I neither agreed or disagreed with everything that was stated as a whole, I simply felt that gaps still existed that needed to be discussed and that nothing simple is really so simple... 1) Get Reading2) Get Training3) Get Community4) Get Experience5) Get Coaching & Mentorship No problem right? LOL

Do you have the Courage to listen to this episode of The Daily Standup Podcast all about Courage? This almost feels like inception... Join Sara Bierman, Business Agility Coach from AgileDad as she breaks down what it really means to be courageous and the steps we need to take to get there. 

Do I have to pick just one? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what the most important parts of the team working agreement should be and how we should incorporate those into our teams. 

A Daily Standup Subscriber has questions regarding logistics around when to have standups, how to avoid no meting Fridays, and how to tie in quarterly planning initiatives. Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we explore what you should do if you find yourself in these types of situations. 

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we review what a MVD is and how we can achieve one!  The 5 P's of the MVD: 1. Be clear about the purposeUnderstand the purpose of having a minimum viable day, and keep this in mind at all times.Here are some key qualities that make up the MVD:Delivers some value: Achieve some small things that count as a win. Gain some rest time.Lean: Do the absolute minimum. Prioritization is key (see below).Shipped: Do the day and get through it. Don’t give up.Insightful: Use it as a learning exercise. Be curious, even if you don’t feel like doing much else.2. Prioritize (ruthlessly)As in product management, you have to be ruthless at prioritizing your deliverables in the minimum viable day. The key to success here is using the MoSCoW principle. So, what does this mean in practice? Essentially, for your MVD, you want to focus only on the must-have actions/outputs that you absolutely must do to prevent chaos from breaking out.Here are some suggestions for “must have” things to do on your MVD:Send your most important emails.Do that one big meeting that you absolutely cannot postpone.Bake in some self-care must-haves as well. I would advise walking, stretching, or eating a cake.Here are your “won’t have/won’t do” items:Literally anything that can be done tomorrow instead.Beat self up.3. Postpone anything that can be done tomorrowAs mentioned above, it’s important to be clear about what can be postponed to another day. For high performers like yourself, this might feel a bit uncomfortable. But remember, we’re on an MVD here.What can I do tomorrow/next week, when I gave regained my energy?Who do I need to be honest with about how I’m feeling today so they can help me move a few things off my plate?Who could stand in for me?What can be binned off altogether that I shouldn’t have been doing anyway? (This one’s a goodie.)4. Measure performance based on your original objectivesDo not be tempted to measure your day based on different success measurements than the ones you set out:Did I do the day?Did I not kill anyone?Do I feel okay?Can I do tomorrow? (That is, did the product — you — not fully break and fall over so that we can iterate tomorrow?)5. Ponder: Reflect, be curiousIn product management, the purpose of launching a minimum viable product is to learn from customer feedback and iterate on it in the next release. Once the product is launched and the feedback is in, product managers will analyze and brainstorm on what the data means for future development.In your minimum viable day, it’s valuable to use the time to ponder—that is, to be curious and reflect:Maybe use some of the day to be reflective about why you’re feeling run down and how you can avoid anxiety days in the future.Maybe reflect on what’s going well and what you might want to achieve the rest of the week if you feel up to it.Maybe reflect on what you want to achieve longer term and which priorities you want to adhere to (the MoSCoW principle for life).Journaling. Meditation (basically just put on a timer for 10 mins and close your eyes and breathe). These are your friends today. 

Change is real, the question is how ready are you and your organization for impending chnge? How do you get people moving and keep them moving? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss what change really means and how to get started / keep moving. 

Join AgileDad Business Agility Coach Sara Bierman as she explores the most sacred of the five Scrum values, commitment. Do you make and keep your personal commitments? Or is it easier for you to manage and complete commitments that you make to others? Often times the team is counting on you to do what you say and that makes things easier. How can we apply Focus, Openness, and Respect to get to commitment? I guess you will need to listen to learn more. 

Take a moment and explore the 7 signs that point towards your ability to be an emotionally intelligent leader. This episode is guaranteed to help you grow both personally and professionally. 1. You’re able to articulate emotional experiences.2. You can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses easily (including yours).3. You’ve historically been a good judge of character.4. People come to you for advice or support.5. You can let things go.6. You generally know how others are feeling.7. You accept other beliefs, work styles and perspectives. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293826  

How do you build teams in a high growth organization? What is the best way to assemble your teams without causing a mutiny on the bounty? Can teams reach high performing? Does team size get affected? Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we evaluate what the best way is to make it through organizational growth.  https://jchyip.medium.com/why-its-difficult-to-build-teams-in-high-growth-organisations-e1aee8446337

Acting on the outcome map.Having decided on an agreed outcome map, teams are now ready to act. Teams take the output of the outcome map, and bring it back to the Story map.The Story Map should reflect the chosen course of action.Release slices or outcomes are placed to the left of the story map in order. The cards on the right are reordered and sliced further to defined the minimum work required to achieve the desired outcome.These cards now form the basis for execution with your chosen delivery framework.Completing any outcome completes a single OODA loop and provides some information that influences future decisions. A team focused on learning will use this information to drive the next decision loop.These activities can easily be completed within a few hours, and set an agreed direction of one or two months.Accelerating through the OODA loop by regularly reviewing and revising the Risk Impact map and the Outcome map will ensure teams adjusts their direction based on the changing realities of their environment.With so many factors affecting delivery, this approach should help your teams to apply a basic OODA loop ensuring that they are always making the best possible decisions available to them.