Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
We've Moved
We've Moved
Walking Their Talk, Sustainability, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sustainability

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.

Sustainability
Short-takes, Inspiration
Robert Galen
Sandy’s Take
Sandy’s Take
Short-takes, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
The Human Aspects of Agile Coaching
Coaching, ACGW, Personal Thoughts
Robert Galen
Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

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.

Keys to Building your Coaching Relationships

Walking Their Talk

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Why over Way!

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I often see something that I re-post on my blog. Something that I think is thoughtful, compelling, and useful in our agile journeys.  

Some folks influence me more than others. John Cutler is one of those. Here’s one of John’s posts that I just had to share with you. I like it that much…

I continue to encounter agile coaches / transformation coaches who position the Why of "digital transformation" as "agility" or "learning faster" or "a mindset shift". When I ask what the burning business need is for agility, outcome-centricity, product thinking, learning faster, or a mindset shift, they often don't know. When I ask about the existential threats to the business, they don't know, or they respond with something very high level like "innovation".

I ask more questions..."will the business exist in ten years if the status quo remains?" ... "what is the biggest product fail of the last year?" ... "where would learning faster and experimentation have helped?" Not sure. "Would you invest in company stock? Why? Why not?" Not sure. "If things were working, what would you observe?" "Well, more empowered teams". Why? Not sure.

To me, this is putting the Way before the Why. The goal isn't product transformation. The goal is what product transformation will enable!

You have to know the business reality. For example...

"At the moment our commercial business accounts for 60% of revenue, and consumer business accounts for 40%. We're paying more and more to keep that 40%, and despite our efforts, we're losing to upstart fintech companies that know that demographic better, and aren't saddled down by the weight of a commercial business. If we can't figure this out, we'll continue to lose market share, and our share price will plummet. Meanwhile, the commercial side of the business is rife with opportunities to use data science to streamline operations and eek out margin. Supply chain disruption will eventually get us there as policies come up. The three major efforts from last year fell flat with no outcomes. We need to do better in a highly complex environment..."

"And this is how product thinking can help....[here]"

You have to know this stuff like the back of your hand. Listen to every investor call. Know the existential threats to the business. You have to think like a business person and an entrepreneur. Otherwise, you'll find yourself just going through the motions.

The goal isn't agility. It is what agility enables. Same with product thinking, DevOps, rate of learning. Etc. Why over Way.

I hope found it valuable. Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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Agile Coaching Theatre

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Agile Coaching Theatre

In this article, Tanya Snook talks about the notion of UX Theatre. Essentially, if I read it right, this is when an organization is going through the motions of UX research, study, analysis, etc. but with no real goal to change.

Here’s a quote from the article as several snippets—

There is a strange phenomenon in the world of user experience design.

It happens when designers are asked to pretend to do the work of design and aren’t actually permitted to do the work of design. It happens when we are asked to conduct research that never gets used. When we deliver findings that get shelved because they don’t align with executive or shareholder expectations. When we’re asked to facilitate workshops in which staff pretend to be users because it’s cheaper and faster than doing research with actual users. Or when we only get to review the design when the product is about to hit the street, and it’s much too late for any actual design improvements.

This frustrating reality is an open secret within the user experience industry and one we have long accepted as a normal consequence of working in a field that balances creativity and research.

We call this UX Theatre.

…

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The Missing Coaching Stance

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The Missing Coaching Stance

I’ve historically shared different agile coaching models that help to define the various focus points (stances) of an effective agile coach. Currently, my favorite model is the one that Mark Summers shared from a Scrum Alliance Coaching Retreat working group. It’s called the Big Wheel of Agile Coaching and you can find out more about it here.

The other day I was in a coaching session with my personal coach and the notion of inspiration came up as it relates to being a coach. And we were exploring how one of the roles of a coach might be one of providing inspiration.

And as I thought about it since then, I’m starting to think that this isn’t simply a concept or minor activity, but that it might be a full-fledged stance (or new spoke) in the Coaching Wheel. So, in a major way, my coach inspired me to write this…

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Just saying it…

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Doesn’t make it so ;-) 

I want to use this tweet from Ryan Ripley as an example. But I’m not trying to make an example of him, Prokanban.org, or Daniel Vicanti. I was just inspired when I saw it…

What Ryan is referring to here is the Code of Conduct on the Prokanban.org website.  I want to applaud them for have one, posting it, and being transparent about it. All of that is GOOD.

What struck me though is…

Just saying it, doesn’t make it so.

It’s a very, very, very early beginning, but just that, only a beginning. Now comes the really hard work.

That is, for example—

  • Understanding the nature, depth, and breadth of sexual harassment;

  • Training organizational members about it and giving them the skills and the opportunity to detect it. Then encouraging them and empowering them.

  • Then ultimately taking action on conduct violations. Making the action transparent and immediate.

Wrapping Up

It’s like saying—I’m not a racist or we won’t tolerate racism. These simplistic platitudes undermine the depth, breadth, complexity, and nuance associated with something as complex as racism.

Yes, I applaud Prokanban.org and all others, for example (Agile Alliance, Scrum Alliance, Scaled Agile, etc.) for taking stands on codes of ethics and codes of conduct.

BUT I hope they all know that this is simply a baby-step, a beginning, in a very long journey of vigilance, hard work, and commitment. And I’m looking forward to all of them (us, and me) to do the “heavy-lifting” as well…

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Showing Up

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Showing Up

I was teaching a CAL class last week in Nashville. During the class, I was sharing how important it is for leaders to “bring it” to work each and every day. I was referring to things like:

  • Attitude

  • Energy

  • Passion

  • Focus

  • and Engagement

Someone challenged me about the notion. They said that they weren’t always upbeat every day. And that sometimes they simply had a bad day.

They also said that their personality wasn’t upbeat naturally, so it was hard for them to be a Happy Harry or a Positive Polly all of the time. I explained that I wasn’t referring to anything as extreme as that. But I did think that people were paying attention (close attention) to their leaders, their behaviors, and their attitudes.

That not “bringing it” for too many days in a row was the sign of a problem of some sort…

But it’s not just about energy and attitude. As I think about it, there are really six areas I want to explore where Culture-Shaping focused leaders make a difference in the culture by how they are Showing Up each and every day.

That’s where we’re going next.

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Minding the Gap

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Minding the Gap

I really like the work Frederic Laloux has contributed around organizational cultures. It provides a series of phases (colors) that reflect the cultural evolutionary paths of corporations (organizations).

Unfortunately, there are a couple of negative things that have evolved around it.

One is the relentless pursuit of “Teal” as a goal in the agile transformation community. I liken it to the enthusiasm around DevOps, Spotify, or SAFe in the pursuit of silver bullet solutions or bandwagons.

Another is the realization that Teal isn’t really a good goal, not is it that well-understood or well-references of a model. As alluded to in this article by Corporate-Rebels.

But the reason I wanted to explore it now is to illustrate a cultural phenomenon I’ve often seen in agile transformational contexts. And the Laloux model works nicely as a communications mechanism to explain cultural divisions, which is where we’re going next.

Minding the Gap

One of the things that I think is most useful about the model is how it can represent various stages in an organization. Let me share a story to make that point.

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Reactive vs. Creative

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Reactive vs. Creative

One of my areas of interest over the last 3-5 years is finding a model or tool that could help leaders with identifying their current leadership tendencies and then guide their evolution towards more agile culturally supportive behaviors.

I didn’t want it to be something that was so constricting or binary that it failed to give them guidance (and hope) for change. I also wanted it to be rooted in solid research and data. Finally, I wanted it to compliment my Certified Agile Leadership class (CAL I) and assist me in my leadership coaching efforts.

I explored two instruments/models that I found useful in meeting my criteria. One is the Leadership Agility assessment by Bill Joiner and the other was the Leadership Circle Profile assessment by TLC.

Neither of them is strictly related to agile software development, methods or business agility, as they are more general-purpose leadership assessment instruments. That being said, they both are incredibly helpful for leaders who are on an agile, Culture-Shaping journey.

While I was trained on both of them, I’ve selected the Leadership Circle Profile (for individual assessments) and the Collective Leadership Assessment (for groups/teams).

Both of them have at their core a set of competencies and tendencies that I wanted to explore in this post. Under the banner of Culture-Shaping, one of the first things that I think is helpful is to understand our personal “leanage” when it comes to our leadership stance. And these assessments really help with that. Please keep in mind that I’m not pushing the instruments, but the thinking behind them right now.

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Some things are more important than “Agile”

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Some things are more important than “Agile”

This article was inspired by this quote I saw when Judge Ruth Bader-Ginsburg passed away…

This quote is from Judge Jeffrey Sutton and shared by Christopher K. Scalia—

During one of my last visits with Justice Scalia, I saw striking evidence of the Scalia-Ginsburg relationship. As I got up to leave his chambers, he pointed to two dozen roses on his table and noted that he needed to take them down to “Ruth” for her birthday. “Wow,” I said, “I doubt I have given a total of twenty-four roses to my wife in thirty years of marriage.” “You ought to try it sometime,” he retorted. Unwilling to give him the last word, I pushed back: “So what good have all these roses done for you? Name one five-four case of any significance where you got Justice Ginsburg’s vote.”

“Some things,” he answered, “are more important than votes.”

RIP your honor.

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Repertoire of Values

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Repertoire of Values

With All Due Respect

First, I want to state something that I didn’t in the first post.

I respect the role, art, craft, and challenges of leadership in agile contexts. I REALLY do! It’s not for the faint of heart and, in a word, it’s HARD!

So, when I provide leadership advice or perspective, I’m not providing it in a trivialized, marginalized, unempathetic, or judgmental fashion. I’m only trying to be helpful. Helpful to those leaders who are struggling with what it takes to lead in agile contexts. It’s those leaders who are my primary persona in everything I’ve written and will write around agile leadership.

Not that I’ve cleared that up…

Values First

Andy Bleach wrote a wonderful article entitled—Embracing Values – Agile’s Toughest Challenge. I’d never read anything from Andy before, so I was pleasantly surprised when I read it. And I thought it would be a nice addition to my thoughts around Leadership and Culture-Shaping.

Here’s the LinkedIn post with comments - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stefanwolpers_embracing-values-agiles-toughest-challenge-activity-6638782881915256832-bAAR

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Beginning

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A Leader's Guide to Culture-Shaping: Beginning

Where does culture come from?

  • Is it a bottom-up thing?

  • A top-down thing?

  • An inside-out thing?

  • Is it organic or intentional?

Depending on who you read, reference, or talk to the answer is…it depends. There’s also an allusion to the point that culture is highly complex and difficult to understand or influence.

But from my perspective, the answer is much clearer and simpler on both counts.

First, I believe that culture is largely dependent on leaders and their leadership. In fact, I believe leaders by far play the most significant role in the culture. Or in what I like to refer to as their responsibility in and for Culture-Shaping.

That if you look at any organization, really look at the culture within, it reflects the behavior of the leadership team in the cultural landscape or ecosystem.

How does that happen?

Well, with their vision, words, actions, expectations, commitments, behaviors, body language, and business goals. With what they choose to amplify as important and with what they choose to not amplify.

And second, I believe that culture is incredibly simple. Since it aligns with the leader’s actions, it simply requires focus and intent if you want to change or reshape your culture. And not in one big change, but via a myriad of small, everyday actions.