I saw this wonderfully courageous and informative post by Sabine Canditt the other day where she wrote about Sustainable Scrum.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-scrum-responsible-choice-sabine-canditt-x0gef
After just completing a The Week program facilitated by the amazing Ann-Marie Kong, it touched my heart.
That said, I wanted to highlight one comment reaction/interaction between Sabine and Erich Bühler
Erich said—
Thank you for bringing this approach into the world! Scrum does provide an iterative approach for teams to create value, but its scope is limited to the product level and struggles with dynamics across the whole organization for several reasons.
Without updating the underlying business and financial model at a strategic level, Scrum alone cannot transform organization-wide sustainability.
I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building.
But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind—
Making + taking the time.
Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching.
Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are coming from.
Meeting them where they are.
Listening; reflective listening; building metaphors together.
Connecting with their language, not yours.
I’ve decided to consolidate my blogs on Substack, specifically Moose Droppings and RGalen Consulting.
The historical posts will remain here, but all new posts will be on Substack here - https://bobgalen.substack.com/
I encourage you to join me there…
Thanks for the memories!
Bob.
There seems to be a mad dash to incorporate AI into everything, including the agile ways of working community.
As an example, this article—Product Management Will Be Taken Over By AI In 5 Years, makes a bold prediction of the demise of an entire species.
Matt Davis made a very brief comment when he shared the article—
It's never too early to start leaning into the human aspects of Product Management. Roadmap planning? Prioritization? Feature definition? Market research? Measurement? - All automated. Focus on the other things.
That connected me with the actual response we all should have to AI. Particularly for us in the agile community.
So, instead of—
Burying your head in the sand;
Frenetically trying to learn everything you can about AI;
Allowing it to replace your learning journey;
Or Building AI replacements for yourself.
Perhaps we all should be—
Leaning into the human aspects of Agile Coaching…
I’ll leave it as an exercise for each of you to discover what that means for yourself. But it doesn’t mean asking powerful questions, getting more certifications, or blindly following framework definitions.
Stay agile, my human Agile Coaching friends,
Bob.
I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building.
But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind—
Making + taking the time.
Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching.
Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are coming from.
Meeting them where they are.
Listening; reflective listening; building metaphors together.
Connecting with their language, not yours.
I recently replied to a LinkedIn post by David Pereira. It was a wonderful post, and I applaud David’s boldness and courage in sharing it.
Here’s a post comment from Stefan Wolpers—
While I agree fully with your personal stance regarding professionalism, David Pereira, some people will shy away, given the current economic climate. Some of the previously aggravated people may seek an opportunity to settle scores.
And here’s my comment—
I love the clarity (No BS) here. Clarity for David and clarity for those who want to work with and who don't want to work with him.
That said, David has the unique privilege that allows him to adopt this clarity. Many don't.
This post is not about David per se. Instead, he inspired me to write it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
In my 2004 book, Software Endgames, I leveraged the Pareto Principle extensively when considering defect clustering and triage.
2013, I wrote one of my first posts about the Pareto Principle.
in 2017, I wrote the following - https://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2021/5/17/revisiting-pareto-and-you
But I realized just the other day that I hadn’t revisited Pareto for six years, and I felt it was time to focus on it solely in the context of Agile Coaching.
80% of your coaching impact will be realized by 20% of your coaching clients.
80% of your client's realized value will emerge from 20% of your coaching time.
I watched a demonstration of a seasoned coach providing coaching supervision to another agile coach the other day. In both cases, these were coaches who coached in agile contexts. So, they walked the line between operating as a Professional Coach (ICF) and an Agile Coach, who provides much more breadth of coaching than Professional Coaching.
It was a virtual session, so perhaps 40-50 agile coaches were observing. I could tell that everyone was intently following the conversation as it unfolded. I was enthralled as they artfully constructed a coaching conversation arc that felt, well, masterful.
It was a wonderful demonstration of professional coaching, specifically coaching supervision in action.
I’m seeing lots of end-of-year posts about how great a year 2023 was for folks and how much they accomplished. In my agile community, seeing posts about—
How many classes I run or how many students I taught;
How many events/groups I’ve spoken at/to;
How many articles or books I’ve written, or podcasts and videos I’ve recorded;
How much money I made;
How this was the best year…ever!
and I’m happy these folks had a good year.
But I have a different sort of end-of-year wrap-up to share. Some good and some not-so-good news. In 2023—
My wife Diane was diagnosed with Stage 3 Parkinson’s Disease. She’s bravely navigating PD, and I’m navigating what it means to be a caregiver.
For the first time in more than two decades, I attended very few in-person agile events; depending on how I count them, it was three, and I missed my tribe. Thank goodness I made it to Agile 2023 in Orlando!
I had a very challenging business year and I experienced an 82% YoY revenue drop.
My frequent flyer status on Delta dropped from Diamond to Silver; I know, but 😉
On a positive note, I did more pro-bono work than ever before—to help others and to keep myself sharp.
The 2023 Badass Agile Coaching Day event contributed $11,000 to Africa Agility and Ukraine charities.
My DEI discounts to classes amounted to more than $20,000.
2023 was perhaps the most challenging year for me, professionally and personally. It’s tested my energy, resilience, mental health, and faith.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances in the Agile community. The heart and spirit of this community have been an anchor for me during the year. There are some, you know who you are, who have played a special role in checking in with me and supporting me. To all of you, I humbly say—Thank you.
I’m writing to share a “not so beautiful” view of the year with others who may have been challenged in 2023 like I have been. And share my hopes for a better 2024.
My sincere wish to all of you is for a far better 2024. One where you find whatever you need to realize how special and unique you are. Where you find your “community of support,” as I have, and you lean into it.
Happy New Year, Everyone!
Stay agile, my friends,
Bob.
I began exploring agile ways of working in 1995-96, inspired by the Scrum paper shared at OOPSLA 1995.
Someone asked me—
I want to capture advice from experienced agilists as to if they were just starting out now in agile, based on their experience, what would they tell their younger selves?
And in no particular order, here is my answer—
The journey is a marathon, not a sprint.
Build and activate your trusted partner (friend, colleague, mentor, and cheerleader) network.
Remember, agile is an inside-out job.
Mindset is a thing, an important thing!
Certifications largely suck; experience wins.
When in doubt, trust your teams.
Reflect on your privilege.
Leave something positive behind, a legacy.
Agile is bigger than software; change the world!
Respect people…including leaders and managers.
Continuously build your personal brand.
Take better care of yourself (self-care)!
Take the time to build better relationships.
Stay humble.
And…always remember, you ROCK! Trust yourself and your gut.
I found this to be a great reflective question.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.
I’ve begun to understand that reflection is one of my superpowers as an agile coach and human being.
I reflect on many things; for example—
Exploring my principles—asking myself, am I walking my talk? Am I modeling effectively?
Exploring my ethics and how I’m showing up as a human and a coach?
Check to see if I’m endeavoring to “do better” daily. How is that emerging for me?
Brainstorming my continuous learning backlog, which is mainly strengths-based, and considering whether I’m making sufficient progress.
How am I coping with my family’s ongoing health challenges? And am I taking care of myself as a caregiver?
I was attending a webinar the other day. As the speaker shared their ideas though, my mind began to wander…
For some reason, I began to think about the overall reluctance of folks to ask for help. As I reflected on it across my 30+ years of experience, it’s something that I’ve continuously observed. It seemed like individuals, teams, leaders, agile coaches, and nearly everyone (me included) has an aversion to asking for help.
And while there are clearly reasons for not asking for it, I wondered about any positive outcomes of asking for help.
First, and importantly, it helps you.
It also humanizes you.
It allows others to, as they help you, to grow themselves.
It creates a culture where others can ask for help based on your example.
It can increase psychological safety.
It avoids us pretending that we know everything or doing things we aren’t skilled to be doing.
It’s simply a more honest and open way to operate.
As I began to think about it more deeply, I came to the conclusion that the simple act of—
Saying—I don’t know.
Asking—Can you help me or I need your help.
It can change the entire cultural landscape of your team or organization. I think it’s that BIG of an idea.
