The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

How Are Agile Retrospectives Like Jedi Councils? Jedi Council meetings and Agile retrospectives share similarities in their purpose and structure as gatherings designed to reflect on progress, identify areas for improvement, and plan for the future. Let’s explore these concepts in more detail. Jedi Council meetings: In the Star Wars universe, the Jedi Council is an assembly of experienced Jedi Masters who are responsible for guiding the Jedi Order and making critical decisions. They regularly convene to discuss the state of the galaxy, assess current situations, and determine the appropriate course of action. These meetings often involve reflecting on past events, addressing challenges, and strategizing for the future. Agile retrospectives: In Agile software development, retrospectives are regular meetings held by Agile teams to reflect on their recent work and identify areas for improvement. During retrospectives, team members discuss what went well, what could be improved, and what actions they should take to enhance their performance in the next iteration. The focus is on continuous improvement, learning, and adapting to change.

Agile Estimation Techniques - What NOT To Do... Relative estimation is a technique that involves assigning a relative size to each item in the product backlog. This approach does not rely on specific units of measurement, such as hours or days, but instead compares each item to others in terms of relative complexity, effort, or risk. The most commonly used method for relative estimation is called the Fibonacci sequence, which assigns a sequence of numbers to represent the relative size of each item. Planning poker is a game-like technique that involves the entire team in estimating the relative size of each item in the product backlog. In planning poker, each team member is given a set of cards with numbers that represent the relative size of each item. The team then discusses the item and each member chooses a card that represents their estimate. The estimates are then shared, and any discrepancies are discussed until a consensus is reached. Wideband Delphi is a technique that involves a facilitator who solicits anonymous estimates from team members, compiles them, and shares them with the group for discussion. This approach helps to prevent bias and encourages more honest and accurate estimates. The facilitator then guides the team in a discussion to reach a consensus estimate for each item. DON'T USE A NUMBER!!

Top 4 Deliverables Every Product Manager Should Focus On Vision - Where we are trying to go... Strategy- How we execute the vision... Design - Know what to build... Execution - Get the work done...

The 5 C's For Building Relationships: Communication Commitment Compassion Compatibility Chemistry Explore the 5 C's with V. Lee Henson and learn how you can improve your relationship skills.

Improving Your Retros With ABC Behavior A — Antecedent: This refers to the event or situation that occurs before a behavior takes place. Antecedents can include things like instructions, cues, prompts, or environmental factors. B — Behavior: This refers to the observable actions, responses, or reactions that an individual exhibits in response to an antecedent. Behaviors can be positive, negative, or neutral. C — Consequence: This refers to the event that occurs immediately after a behavior and can either reinforce or punish the behavior. Consequences can include rewards, feedback, social interactions, or other environmental factors. https://medium.com/@alexdh359/abcs-of-behavior-improve-your-retros-f1399f090fb0

5 Keys to Keep Your Daily Scrum On Track Time-boxed: The meeting is time-boxed to a maximum of 15 minutes. This encourages team members to stay focused and to keep their updates concise and relevant. 30 seconds per person not to exceed 15 minutes. Daily: The meeting is held daily, typically at the same time and place. This helps to establish a routine and keeps the team on track. Stand-up: The meeting is conducted while standing up, which helps to keep the meeting brief and focused. (Plank is an option) Three Questions - The meeting typically follows a set format, where each team member answers three questions. Focus on Collaboration: The meeting is designed to encourage collaboration and communication within the team. Team members are encouraged to ask questions and offer help to their colleagues.

Agile Requirement Definition in a Nutshell What is requirement definition? Who should define the requirements? When should we define the requirements? How should we define requirements? Why is it so important that we get this right?

The 4 Different Types of Vision & Strategy Execution for Leaders 1) Narrow and Shallow Strategy - These are the WORST type! They are not too dissimilar to the broad-and-shallow, but they lack the breadth of consideration. Narrow-and-shallow strategies are the ones that look like someone wrote it down on a napkin whilst trying to rush out the door. They lack the wide considerations that broad strategies have and as a result, are full of fluff. 2) Narrow but Deep Strategy - There’s nothing inherently wrong with a narrow-but-deep strategy. However, their detail can often give a false sense of confidence. Due to their narrow nature, external factors often blindsided narrow-but-deep strategies. Without investing the time to go broad and consider a wider range of influences, narrow strategies regularly come undone by external events. 3) Broad and Shallow Strategy - As you would correctly guess, these strategies that are high-level but have considered a wide range of aspects. An example of a broad-and-shallow strategy would be a company strategy that doesn’t go into depth on the ‘how’ too much. Broad-and-shallow strategies are the most effective in larger organizations that wish to create the space for agency and autonomy. 4) Broad and Deep Strategy - These are well-considered, detailed and informed by data and research. They can be immensely powerful when done to the right level for the context. They consider a wide range of possibilities, influences and inputs. The strategy then described in depth how these influences have led to a set of choices — both choices to do something and to not do something. As well as how these choices will be executed.

Pie It Forward - Small acts of Kindness Truly Do Make a Difference This story takes place in a small town in Iowa. It all started when a local restaurant owner, Beth Howard, noticed that many of her customers were struggling to make ends meet. She saw people who were hungry, who couldn't afford to buy food for themselves and their families. It broke her heart, and she knew she had to do something to help. So, she came up with an idea. She decided to start a program called "Pie it Forward." The idea was simple: for every pie that customers bought, she would donate a pie to someone in need. The response was overwhelming. People were not only buying pies for themselves but also for others who were struggling. The program quickly grew, and soon, Beth was making hundreds of pies each week to donate to local food banks, shelters, and other organizations that serve people in need. Her customers were happy to be a part of something that was making a difference in their community. But Beth didn't stop there. She wanted to do more. So, she started teaching pie-making classes, where people could come and learn how to make pies themselves. She also started a program called "Pie Therapy," where she invited people who were struggling with mental health issues to come to her farm and bake pies together. Through these programs, Beth was able to bring people together, build community, and provide hope and support to those who needed it most. Her acts of kindness and generosity inspired others to do the same, and soon, people all over the town were getting involved, volunteering their time and resources to help those in need. One of the most heartwarming parts of this story is that the impact of Beth's actions was felt far beyond the borders of her small town. News of her programs spread, and soon, people from all over the country were sending her letters and messages of support. Some even started their own "Pie it Forward" programs in their communities. What started as one small act of kindness has turned into a movement, spreading hope and love to people all over the country. Beth's "Pie it Forward" program is proof that one person can make a difference and that small acts of kindness can have a big impact.

Team Working agreements - Make or Break Successful Agile Projects In today’s post-pandemic world, the norm of life and business has evolved in the last 36 months more rapidly than ever. In the business realm, we are in a constant flux of adapting faster, pivoting quicker as we realize the plans we made yesterday, aren’t going to set us for success today. With distributed teams and remote working being the norm, there is a heightened awareness on the need to be transparent, build on open communication, make work visible, a few of the paradigm shifts experienced in varied forms of agile development. Each of us in our respective organizations are helping teams establish their own Agile ways of working to enable development of releasable code faster, with shorter feedback loops from our customer stakeholders, and adapt more effectively. Now in 2022, all of us are still aligning to the current reality and hybrid ways of working compounded with cross-geo teams. Many a times, global teams are conjoined by a common or overlapping sprint or development goals. There is a constant buzz of change, volatility, complex scenarios evolving, as we are adapting to work seamlessly as a team. As dispersed, we are by our own specific backlog priorities, time zones, there are also needs to be more effective and be more aligned to the shifting business landscapes as a team.