A funny thing happened on the way to SPaMCAST 757. I was considering critical thinking when I ran into data that challenged a common agile belief – enter critical thinking. The idea is that constant collaboration, the goal of team rooms, and always-on communication software, is to create good ideas and decisions; good but not great.
This week we also have a visit from Susan Parente who talks about her approach to personal kanban, something she calls kanban for one. Susan also takes us under the hood for a view into her busy, innovative world and how she keeps it under control.
In SPaMCAST 749, we discuss the attributes of good work input/entry. There is no perfect approach to bringing work into an organization or team. Arguably since people are involved, perfect may not be something that can exist in the real world but instead, there are good approaches. There are nine key concepts for good work entry. Good work entry requires that these nine have to be present in some form regardless of whether you are using Scrum, Kanban waterfall, or some mix of frameworks. We want to be crystal clear, deciding to forego any of these characteristics other than for the briefest moment will set you on the path to the ninth circle of work entry hell.
We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast. Susan and I diagnose why some organizations think that a product owner can also be a scrum master.
Re-read Saturday News!
Today we begin the re-read of Team Topologies: Organizing Business And Technology Teams For Fast Flow by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. The book contains front matter, including a foreword and preface (22 pages), 8 chapters, a conclusion (190 pages), and end matter (glossary, recommended reading, references, notes, index, acknowledgments, and about the authors). Today we tackle the approach to the re-read and the front matter.
SPaMCAST 750 will mark the return of Evan Leybourn to the podcast. Evan and I discuss the different domains of business agility and whether Taylorism still has a place in the world.
Planning is an important component of getting work done. Planning is not, however, creating and delivering work. Minimizing the amount of time spent planning but not under planning is almost mind-numbingly difficult. Flow metrics are tools to maximize the value of planning while minimizing the time spent on planning. Over the next few entries in the Software Process and Measurement Blog, we will explore several examples of using flow metrics in planning.
Today we share our year-end panel discussion with the SPaMcast contributors and occasionally our dogs (once one gets going everyone needs to get in on the action). The topic this year is engagement. Is being on two calls at once, engagement? Does just being present tick the engagement box? Patterns and antipatterns abound, but Is engagement really that important?
The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have:
Jeremy Berriault from SPaMCAST 571 Jiu-Jitsu and Teams, Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2pCtlHI
Susan Parente from SPaMCAST 556 Agile In Name Only, Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2JRGTFk
Tony TImbol from SPaMCAST 692 Agile Requirements, Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3hng3WY
The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have:
Jon M Quigley – SPaMCAST 397 – Project Strategy – Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3pLztbU (Note: this was Jon’s debut column and he doesn’t know I am slipping this in.)
Susan Parente and Jon M Quigley- SPaMCAST 585 – Most Agile Transformations Ignore Technical Skills – Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2Haa4CE
The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have:
Jeremy Berriault – Your Scrum Master Is Not Yout Team Admin from SPaMCAST 705 Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3wXIguD
Tony Timbol – Agile Requirement Lifecycle from SPaMCAST 709 – Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3OnjHyJ
Susan Parente – Virtual Agile from SPaMCAST 589 – Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2PVUP59
A funny thing happened on the way to the essay this week. I was distracted by feedback from a colleague on a workshop Jeremy Willets and I developed and delivered this week. We discuss why the phrase work entry describes how work gets to teams and organizations, and why “work intake” masks problems in the real world.
We also have a visit from Susan Parente and her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. This month Susan answers a listener’s question about whether it makes sense for a Scrum Master to also play other roles on a team.
Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com.
In SPaMCAST 707 Susan Parente and I discuss the difference between leadership and management in her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. These two concepts are related but not the same.
The votes are in! The next three books for Re-read Saturday are:
This week Susan Parente and I had an extraordinary conversation about team leads in agile and leadership. In some cases, the role of a team leader is treated as if it were superfluous to requirements in other cases it is a tool to delegate work to people in an effort to subvert self-organization and when organizations get it right the role is a vehicle to unlocking the capabilities of teams.
Software Process and Measurement 