Multiple Product Owners with Competing Priorities w/ Jeff Howey

In this LeadingAgile podcast, Jeff Howey and I take on a question from a student about what to do when you have multiple POs working on one product, shared resources, and all the PO's have competing priorities. 

You can find the podcast here.

Sprint Planning - How it works.. Why it works

This is a SoundNotes podcast that we just put up on LeadingAgile. The intent is to provide a basic foundational explanation of what Sprint Planning is, why it is so important, how it works, etc. (And why no one should be trying to do it before the Sprint starts.)

Click here to check it out

How Do I Use Scrum on Data Warehouse Projects? w/ Dave Nicolette (3/14/19)

Dave Nicolette shared some time in this episode of SoundNotes to talk about how to use Agile practices when you are working on projects like enterprise data migrations.

(3/14/19)
http://bit.ly/2JbuEpT

Prioritizing the Work to Maximize Return w/ Dennis Stevens (3/7/19)

Part 3 of 3 of my interviews with Dennis Stevens on how to maximize the return produced by teams within the organization.

(3/7/19)
http://bit.ly/2IYohGF

Coordinating Work with Agile and Waterfall Teams in a Mixed Environment w/ AJ Sanford (2/28/19)

This episode of SoundNotes features LeadingAgile's AJ Sanford. It came from a common question in CSM and CSPO classes. How do you coordinate work when you have waterfall and Agile teams within an organization that depend on each other. (2/28/19)
http://bit.ly/2IIuSVg

Designing an Organization that Manages Value w/ Mikkel Ladegaard (2/21/19)

LeadingAgile's Mikkel Ladegaard sat down for an interview about favor economies and how to establish clarity throughout the organization on what work takes priority and what work presents the greatest value for the business.

http://bit.ly/2T09nDB
(2/21/19)

Letting Go of the Waterfall, Embracing Agile, and Mixed Martial Arts w/ Brandon Dudley (2/14/19)

A SoundNotes interview with LeadingAgile Senior Consultant Brandon Dudley on his transition from waterfall to Agile and how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has impact his approach to working with clients on Agile transformation. (2/14/19)

http://bit.ly/2N4dmt8

The Language of Loss and The Language of Gain w/ Mike Cottmeyer & Andrew Young (2/7/19)

How you talk about transformation can have a big impact on how people approach the work. This interview with LeadingAgile's Mike Cottmeyer and Andrew Young focuses on the language of loss and the language of gain. (http://bit.ly/2MT1c6r)

http://bit.ly/2MT1c6r

The Value of Improving Your Technical Practices w/ Rich Dammkoehler (1/31/19)

This episode of SoundNotes features, LeadingAgile Technical Consultant, Rich Dammkoehler in a conversation about why it is so important to make sure your organization is focused on improving their technical practices.
http://bit.ly/2GeHGQE

Measuring the Impact of Change in Agile w/ Jeff Howey (1/14/19)

An interview with LeadingAgile's Jeff Howey on how to measure the impact of change in an Agile organization. (1/14/19)
http://bit.ly/2FMULRv

Agile 2018 Video Podcast Interviews (ALL OF THEM!)

I was trying to post these one at a time, but it is taking me too long.

There is some really good stuff in here and I'm very grateful to everyone who was willing to sit with me and let me ask them questions. (And to the amazing crew at LeadingAgile for making it happen.)

I hope you find them helpful as well.

And if you want more, and you are a member of the Agile Alliance, you should be able to view many of the presentations from the conference here.

Agile 2018 Video Podcast Interviews

Day 1 Interviews - Johanna Rothman & Mark Kilby, Mike Cottmeyer, Erika Lenz and Michele Sliger, Ron Jeffries & Chet Hendrickson, Paul Argiry, Linda Rising, Diana Larsen, Bob Tarne
Day 2 Interviews -  Jeff Patton, Cass Van Gelder, Lyssa Adkins, Joe Vallone, Sarah Klarich and Pam Corbin, Dom Price (Keynote), and David Bland
Day 3 Interviews - Troy Magennis (Keynote), Larry Maccherone, Dhaval Panchal, Dean Leffingwell, Dennis Stevens, Bernie Maloney, Becky Hartman, Peter Green, John Tanner
Day 4 Interviews - Cara Turner, John Miller, Esther Derby, Tricia Broderick, Laura Powers, Chris Sims, Scott Ambler, Olaf Lewitz, Natalie Warnert

Agile 2017 - Mike Griffiths and Johanna Rothman on the PMI Agile Practice Guide

At Agile 2017 I had the chance to sit down with Johanna Rothman and Mike Griffiths to talk about the work they've been doing on the PMI Agile Practice Guide. Their work was part of a joint effort between the Agile Alliance and PMI and is intended to offer guidance for traditional PMs on how to begin applying Agile in their work. The PMI Agile Practice Guide will be released in September 2017.

For more video podcast interviews from Agile 2017, please follow @leadingagile or check out the LeadingAgile on YouTube.

Are Stretch Goals OK? w/ Tim Wise from LeadingAgile

This week's LeadingAgile SoundNotes features a conversation between myself and Tim Wise on Stretch Goals. I had a student ask about them in class last week and did not have time to get back to it before class ended.

Even if you have formed an opinion about Stretch Goals, I'd encourage you to check this podcast out. I tend to be pretty anti-stretch goals, but during the interview Tim suggested a type of stretch goal that would actually be a very positive thing for a team to commit to.

You can find the podcast here.

Should the PMO go away?

(Resposted from the LeadingAgile site)
The Project Management Office (PMO) has traditionally been responsible for providing governance over projects, programs and portfolios; ensuring projects are managed according the standards set forth by the PMO; and to provide reporting on progress to leadership. When Agile is introduced into an organization, along with new ways of tracking work, self-organizing teams and new ways of understanding priority, the value the PMO provides comes into question. In a recent blog post, LeadingAgile SVP and Executive Consultant Marty Bradley addressed the question “Should the PMO Go Away?” In this episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, Marty and Dave dig deeper on this topic and explore what PMO’s (and PMO Leaders) need to do in order to remain relevant to an organization transitioning to Agile.

Show Notes

00:08 Podcast Begins

00:35 What does a LeadingAgile Executive Coach actually do 

01:40 When the Executives say “Stop saying Agile.”, it’s actually a good thing.

3:05 Should the PMO go away? Who’s asking and why?

07:12 Why do we need a PMO and governance if the teams are supposed to be self organizing?

08:38 If we do not have trust, how can we have self-organization and Agility?

09:39 All night deployments and the impact of not trusting the team

10:43 When the people who “know better” create a system that fosters missed deadlines and failure, they create a very dysfunctional form of predictability

12:15 How the PMO can maintain its’ relevancy in an organization transitioning to Agile.

13:27 How do we maintain the necessary non-agile elements when we transition to Agile?

14:55 How can we have more empathy for the members of the PMO and the massive personal and career change they are facing in maintaining the stability of a traditional approach while supporting the change to Agile?

16:29 Changing the focus and the metrics used to track the work

17:10 The impact on Development Managers

18:12 Why would I want to eliminate the need for my own position (if we transition from waterfall to Agile)

18:42 Coping with transition: “This is my job,…I got a family…What am I supposed to do?”

19:55 Maintaining a balance between preserving the necessary domain knowledge and changing as fast as you can

20:29 What PMO Leaders need to know before the Agile transition team shows up - “Not everything needs to be perfect Agile.”

23:51 If I am in a PMO and I want to get up to speed and maintain my own relevancy, what do I need to learn? 

25:10 “I’d look at my company and figure out what is value in my company?” How do you define value?

27:02 Finding your organization’s own definition of value

27:46 Closeout

Contacting Marty

Email: marty.bradley@leadingagile.com

Twitter: twitter.com/AskCoachMarty

Contacting Dave

Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

Twitter: twitter.com/mrsungo

Related Links:

• Should the PMO Go Away? (Marty’s blog post mentioned in the interview) bit.ly/2jwshAS
• Cost of Delay bit.ly/2jVLfx4
• Agile Governance at eVestment - A More Agile Approach to PMO  bit.ly/2khDBhq
• Agile Governance - An interview with Liana Dore from Agile 2016 bit.ly/2kRXj6F
• Kanban  bit.ly/1cXGeK9
• Lean Startup  bit.ly/1ky8H1h
• Don Reinertsen “The Principles of Product Development Flow” amzn.to/2jYlyOY

Feedback/Questions

If you have comments on the podcast, or have questions for the LeadingAgile coaches that you’d like to have addressed in a future episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes, you can reach Dave at dave.prior@leadingagile.com

LeadingAgile CSM and CSPO Classes

For information on LeadingAgile’s upcoming public CSM and CSPO classes, please go to: www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

IHG Product Ownership Outside of Software

In this LeadingAgile SoundNotes podcast IHG's Rebecca Williamson and LeadingAgile's Russ Pena talk about the role of Product Owner and how it has evolved through IHG's adoption of Agile on a project that has nothing to do with software... they are using it to redesign hotel rooms.

LEADING INDICATORS YOU CAN USE TO ASSESS AGILE PORTFOLIO HEALTH

LeadingAgile's Dr. Dan Greening shares details on three key leading indicators you can track to get a better understanding of your portfolio health.

Click here for the SoundNotes Podcast and Show Notes

The Power of Accountability Partnerships w/ Katrina Coker

In this LeadingAgile SoundNotes Podcast, Katrina Coker shares information about how working with an Accountability Partner has been beneficial both in her work, and in personal areas of her life. This is one of the most interesting interviews I have had the pleasure to be a part of. Katrina is very open about how having someone hold her accountable has challenged her. She also talks about how her spiritual practice resonates in her professional life.

Click here for the podcast and show notes

How IHG is Using Agile for Hotel Room Redesign - LeadingAgile SoundNotes

A LeadingAgile SoundNotes Podcast... I interviewed LeadingAgile Transformation Consultant Russ Pena and IHG Project Manager Daniella Huang about how IHG is using Agile to redesign hotel rooms. The work they are doing is a great example of how Agile has been extended far beyond software.

This is the 1st of a series of 4 interviews with folks from IHG about their use of Agile.

Click here for the blog post and podcast