LeadingAgile SoundNotes: an Agile Podcast

Note: This is the audio only version of the video podcast which can be found here -> https://vimeo.com/217951635 This is a short version of the HOA + Personal Agility Canvas session led by Dave Prior at the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh. During this video Dave provides a walk through of the Personal Agility Canvas with a focus on the expanded Heart of Agile. If you are new to this tool, it is a great way to conduct a self-assessment on your own Personal Agile Transformation. It will also help you establish personal goals for your desired state of personal agility and help you define actions you can take immediately to amp up your adoption of Agile. THE PERSONAL AGILITY CANVAS If you'd like to download a PDF of the canvas to complete on your own while you are viewing the video, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/2pVW7Ol CONTACTING DAVE You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: https://drunkenpm.blogspot.com/ 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: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class. HEART OF AGILE And to learn more about The Heart of Agile, please visit Alistair Cockburn's site here: http://heartofagile.com

As the 2017 Scrum Gathering in San Diego would down to a close a few weeks ago, Dave Prior and Chris Li began a debate: Is it okay for a Scrum Team to leave the Sprint Planning Meeting with individual work assignments? This is a question that often comes up for both Dave and Chris when they are teaching CSM and CSPO classes. In this podcast you’ll hear them each explain how they respond to this question based their experiences working with teams. You’ll also get to hear what happened when they decided to check in with some experts at the Gathering. SHOW NOTES 00:08 - Podcast Begins 00:26 - How Chris and Dave got into a heated debate about Sprint Planning and went to check with experts 01:50 - Debate setup: During Sprint Planning, is it okay for Team Members to self-assign tasks they will work on during the Sprint? 02:41 - Chris explains his position supporting Team members selection tasks during Sprint Planning 05:30 - Dave explains the reasons why he does not want Team members to leave Sprint Planing with specific work assigned. 08:20 Chris responds to Dave’s position 09:54 - Dave tracks down Diana Larsen to ask for her opinion on the subject 10:39 - Dave asks Ron Jeffries and Chet Hendrickson on the subject 11:52 - “We’re all trying to get to the same place” 13:00 - How to get in touch with Chris 13:53 - Podcast Close CONTACTING CHRIS You can reach Chris on the LeadingAgile site at: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/chris-li/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealChrisLi On his personal site: http://www.sparkplugagility.com/ CONTACTING DAVE You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: https://drunkenpm.blogspot.com/ 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: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

In our third podcast focusing on Cost of Delay, LeadingAgile’s Dean Steven explains how he has used Cost of Delay with management working on defining priority for items at the portfolio level. Dean also explains why the problem Cost of Delay helps you solve is not a math problem, but a collaboration problem. SHOW NOTES 00:08 Interview Begins 00:56 Some background on the work Dean does day to day for LeadingAgile 01:43 Does Senior Mgmt. normally have a specific technique for prioritizing work across the portfolio? 02:40 Clarifying teams at the project, program and portfolio management 03:33 How does a team work at the portfolio level 04:27 What is a Business Architect 05:20 Why do we need Cost of Delay and what question does it help us solve? 06:35 It’s not a math problem, it’s a collaboration problem 07:12 How Cost of Delay will help you develop an understanding of relative business value 09:00 How to calculate Cost of Delay = (User Business Value + Time Criticality + Opportunity Enablement) / Effort SWAG 11:57 Defining Opportunity Enablement 13:18 What happens after all the work is sized? 15:40 When you get to re-estimate the values in Cost of Delay and adjust the relative priority 16:04 An example of how Dean used CoD with a client to align multiple programs of work across the organization and define relative priority for each of them 17:44 It’s not a math problem, it’s a collaboration problem 20:15 Dean’s focus on the portfolio level with Cost of Delay 21:38 Ordering vs. Prioritizing 22:18 Validating your understanding of relative User Business Value 23:40 Using the data and the math to figure out where to point the compass 24:46 What is an MVP? 25:13 Where to go for more information on Cost of Delay 25:57 How to to get in touch with Dean 26:19 Podcast Ends LINKS FROM THE PODCAST An Overview of Cost of Delay with Jim Hayden https://www.leadingagile.com/podcast/an-overview-of-cost-of-delay-with-jim-hayden-and-dave-prior/ Calculating Cost of Delay with Marty Bradley https://www.leadingagile.com/podcast/calculating-cost-delay-marty-bradley/ The Principles of Product Development Flow by Don Reinertsen http://amzn.to/2m6u0xL CONTACTING DEAN You can reach Dean: LeadingAgile https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dean-stevens/ CONTACTING DAVE You can reach Dave: On the LeadingAgile site On Twitter at twitter.com/mrsungo On his personal site at: drunkenpm.net 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/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

This is an audio only version of a video podcast that can be found here: https://www.leadingagile.com/podcast/can-product-vision-without-company-mission-derek-huether/ In this podcast, Derek Huether and Dave Prior take on a question asked by a student in one of Dave’s classes. Can you have a Product Vision Statement if you do not have a Company Mission Statement? Contacting Derek You can reach Derek on the LeadingAgile site at https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/ Email: derek@leadingagile.com On Twitter at https://twitter.com/derekhuether Or on his personal site at: http://www.derekhuether.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at http://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net 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: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

Last week at the 2017 Scrum Gathering in San Diego, Dave Prior had a chance to sit down with Maria Matarelli and Alistair Cockburn to discuss the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh on April 27-28, Guest Leadership, the importance of dancing at conferences, Maria’s budding career as a DJ, her upcoming humanitarian work in New Zealand as well as her Agile Lifestyles event that will be live streamed from a stadium in New Zealand on May 3 (US time)… and of course… the Tango. If you’d like to learn more about the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference being held in Pittsburgh on April 27-28, follow this link: http://heartofagile.com/heart-of-agile-conferences/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-2017/ Here are some additional links from the podcast: The Scrum Alliance has posted the presentations from the 2017 Scrum Gathering in San Diego on their site. You can find them here: https://scrumalliance.org/why-scrum/scrum-resources/gathering-presentations For more information Guest Leadership please check here: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Guest+Leadership Maria’s presentation in New Zealand on May 4th at 9 AM New Zealand time / May 3rd at 4 PM EST https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/join-powerful-agile-lifestyle-live-streamed-from-new-may-matarelli Dave’s previous interview with Alistair Cockburn on Designing Quality of Life https://soundcloud.com/drunkenpmradio/alistair-cockburn-designing-quality-of-life Contacting Alistair Cockburn Web: http://alistair.cockburn.us Twitter: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair Contacting Maria Matarelli Web: http://mariamatarelli.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/MariaMatarelli Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at http://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net 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: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

The original video version of this file can be found here: https://vimeo.com/213030252 The Heart of Agile 2017 is being held on April 27-28 in Pittsburgh. It is the 2nd annual HOA conference and it will also be the first Agile Conference held in Pittsburgh. Derek Huether and Dave Prior will both be speaking at the event. In this short video Derek and Dave each provide an overview of the sessions they will be leading at the event celebrating Alistair Cockburn’s approach to getting back to the basics of what makes Agile work. If you’d like to check out Derek’s session: How to Find Early Indications That Your Delivery System Will Fail April 27, 2017 1:30pm  -  2:15pm Empress Deck 1 http://heartofagile.com/Session/how-to-find-early-indications-that-your-delivery-system-will-fail/ And if you’d like to see Dave’s session: Heart of Agile + Personal Agility Canvas April 28, 2017 3:30pm  -  4:15pm Empress Deck 1 http://heartofagile.com/Session/heart-of-agile-personal-agility-canvas/ And if you need information on the conference in general or want to attend http://heartofagile.com/heart-of-agile-conferences/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-2017/ We hope to see you there!

In this episode of LeadingAgile’s SoundNotes we focus on a question submitted by a student from one of our recent classes. Jennifer, the student, asked about what to do when the Chief Product Owner is defining the Release Plan without input from the Product Owner or the Stakeholders. During the podcast, LeadingAgile’s Jim Hayden and Dave Prior dig into reasons why that might be happening, and how to respond. Show Notes 08:00 Interview Begins 00:46 An update on Jim and his recent motorcycle accident 03:15 Topic Introduction - What to do when you have a Chief Product Owner who is defining the release without inout from the Product Owner or stakeholders. 03:29 Explanation of the Chief Product Owner role 04:04 Jennifer’s question 04:18 Jim explains of the PO’s role with regard to the release and the role the Chief Product Owner plays 05:09 The release plan is never set 05:44 How the Product Roadmap impacts the Release Plan 08:16 What happens when you create a release plan 10:35 Wisdom from Chet Hendrickson about Release Plans 11:12 The business wants/needs the ability to make and meet a commitment for work that is valuable, usable and feasible 12:02 A tactical view of what may happen if the CPO is imposing the release plan 12:40 How Jim would respond in this situation 15:04 Should the PO expect the CPO to include them in creating a release plan? 15:52 Where things go wrong 16:30 It’s not kind of like an insane work environment, it is an insane work environment 16:58 What should the PO or the SM do in this situation and why the CPO may be pushing the release plan down to the PO and Team 19:20 Suggestions for how to retrospect with the CPO (since they aren’t included in the Scrum Team’s Sprint Retrospective 21:28 Figuring out why this is happening and how to improve communication to address the true issue 23:18 Addressing a lack of clarity about the roles 23:49 Finding a time and place to have a safe conversation with the CPO 24:23 Jim’s parting words of advice on the issue 24:40 Don’t be an order taker 24:50 Having patience and empathy for the CPO 25:40 Where you can send questions we will use in future podcasts 26:20 Podcast ends Contacting Jim You can reach Jim on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jim-hayden/ Email: jim.hayden@leadingagile.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave on the LeadingAgile site at http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at http://twitter.com/mrsungo Or on his personal site at: http://drunkenpm.net 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: http://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.

The 2017 Heart of Agile Conference will be held in Pittsburgh on April 27 and 28. This is the second annual conference dedicated to helping Agile practitioners let go of some of the dogma and ornamentation that has been glommed on to Agile and get back to the core principles and the Heart of Agility. In this interview, Rob Lingle, one of the conference organizers took some time to speak with Dave about the conference, why it is happening in Pittsburgh, why you should attend and what you can expect once you are there. In the latter half of of the podcast, (beginning at 08:12) Rob and Dave discuss the work Rob does volunteering for several different organizations, why he considers it to be so important and how being of service to others helps him in his work as an Agile coach. Leading Agile is proud to be a sponsor of the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference! Both Derek Huether and Dave Prior will be presenting at the conference. Show Notes 00:08 Podcast Begins 00:33 Some background on Rob and his work 01:01 The first ever Agile conference in Pittsburgh and on a Riverboat! 01:48 Boat jumping 02:35 Bringing the Heart of Agile Conference to Pittsburgh 04:25 Getting back to the basics of Agility 05:00 There is so much to learn, you’ll never be done. Stay focused on the core (or heart) of Agile 06:14 The intended audience/level of expertise for the conference… who should attend 07:10 Crowd sourcing topics for the conference 07:42 Pricing, dates and registration for the Heart of Agile 08:12 Rob’s work volunteering with different organizations 09:05 How Rob selects the organizations he volunteers for 09:30 Volunteering for Jubilee Soup Kitchen 10:15 Volunteering for Junior Achievers as a Teacher 11:01 Volunteering for Code.org’s Hour of Code 12:15 How the volunteer work influences Rob’s work as an Agile coach 12:54 “Real success … comes through service to others” 13:50 How dedicating your time and being of service to others can benefit you on many levels 15:15 Getting more details about the 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh Links from the Podcast The 2017 Heart of Agile Conference in Pittsburgh https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-tickets-30705192056 The Heart of Agile Website http://heartofagile.com The organizations Rob volunteers for Jubilee Soup Kitchen http://jubileesoupkitchen.org Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-westernpa Hour of Code https://hourofcode.com/us Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank https://www.pittsburghfoodbank.org Contacting Rob Lingle LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/linglerob/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/lingle_r412 Summa Company Website - http://www.summa.com Contacting Dave LeadingAgile Profile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Personal Blog: http://drunkenpm.blogspot.com 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/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class. social networks

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Derek Huether and Dave Prior tackle a student question about how Scrum works with Marketing. In a recent class, a student names Cherie explained that in the work her Marketing Team does, it isn’t possible to achieve “potentially shippable” at the end of a Sprint. The Team may finish the work and the Product Owner may accept it, but nothing can actually be “shippable” until after the client has had a chance to review a work item and provide feedback or approval Show Notes 00:08 Interview Begins 00:26 An update on Derek’s upcoming events 01:30 Topic Introduction 01:59 Cherie’s Question about how Definition of Done works when you are using Scrum in Marketing if nothing can ship until after you have client approval 02:26 Derek and Dave respond 03:03 We’re going to have an argument here… 04:33 The difference between a more pure Definition of Done and potentially shippable vs. what often happens in the real world 05:23 Derek shares a story on his experience with this issue 06:51 SHAME ON YOU FOR NOT MAKING HER HAPPY! 07:24 Why you should not blame the client for not having total clarity on what they need 09:05 Is it a big deal if you can’t get “shippable” out of a sprint 09:48 It’s more important to get the customer something they can provide feedback on 10:20 Always be learning a little more than you knew yesterday 10:52 Derek’s advice for things Sheri could do to remedy the situation 11:48 Try to make a smarter decision tomorrow than you could today 12:15 Scrum is a feedback mechanism 12:31 Where to send your questions for LeadingAgile’s Student QA podcasts 13:11 Podcast Ends Derek and Dave will both be presenting at the Heart of Agile 2017 in Pittsburgh on April 27-28, 2017. To learn more about the conference: http://heartofagile.com/heart-of-agile-conferences/heart-of-agile-pittsburgh-2017/ Contacting Derek LeadingAgile Profile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/derek-huether/ Email: derek@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekhuether Personal Blog: http://www.derekhuether.com Contacting Dave LeadingAgile Profile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo Personal Blog: http://drunkenpm.blogspot.com 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/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class. social networks

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile’s Chief Cultural Office, Rachel Howard, joins Dave Prior to answer some of the “getting a job” related questions that are frequently asked during the CSM and CSPO classes Dave teaches for LeadingAgile. The topics covered in the interview include: How to get a job if you have little (or no) experience in Scrum, How to make the move from being a team member to being an Agile Coach, as well as some general tips about interviewing at Agile Consulting Companies. Show Notes 00:08 Interview Starts 00:30 Rachel’s role at Leading Agile 02:33 The surprising thing about trying to establish culture in a virtual organization like LeadingAgile 05:56 Mike’s question - If you are new to Scrum, how to you get over the “minimum experience in Scrum hurdle” 09:46 Finding ways to apply Agile outside of work to get some experience with using the practices 10:48 Why “They won’t let me do Agile here” is not an excuse for not doing it at your current job 11:54 The value of certifications when you are looking for a job in Agile 17:23 If you are applying for a job in Agile and don’t have a basic certification like CSM or CSPO 18:13 Transitioning from working on teams to being an Agile Coach 19:40 Is it better to stay at one job for a long time, or jump around to get different experiences? 20:26 Do you need a coaching certification to be an Agile Coach? 21:26 Advice from Rachel on interviewing: Stuff you should research/know before interviewing for a job at an Agile Consulting company 23:00 The importance of finding a company that matches best with your own personal mission 26:05 How to reach Rachel with additional questions or to find out about working at LeadingAgile Contacting Rachel: You can reach Rachel via email at : Rachel.Howard@leadingAgile.com Contacting Dave You can reach Dave: On the LeadingAgile site: www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/ On Twitter at twitter.com/mrsungo On his personal site at: www.drunkenpm.net 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/ Use the discount code: LA_Podcast to receive a 15% discount on the class.