The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Here are 5 simple steps to guide you on how to define a sprint goal. Step 1: Understand the Project Objective First, thoroughly understand the project objective which means: What problem are you trying to solve and what is the desired outcome? Step 2: Identify Key Deliverables Next, identify the key deliverables that need to be completed within the sprint. Break them down into manageable tasks. Step 3: Prioritize and Align Third, Prioritize the tasks based on their importance and dependencies. Ensure that they are aligned with your project objective. Step 4: Set a Clear Sprint Goal Now, with all the information in hand, define a clear sprint goal that is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). Step 5: Communicate and Get Buy-In Share the sprint goal with your team and stakeholders to get their input and ensure everyone is on board. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Here are the 5 symptoms: Your ScrumMaster has become the Master of Ceremonies and is speaking WAY too much: When the ScrumMaster puts on a glitter jacket and or has a bedazzled microphone, this is your sign that they have taken things WAY too far. It is important that the SM work closely with the Development Team to drive value, but they also must be in control without saying many words. Monologues Over Dialogues: Are team members simply reporting their updates, or are they engaging in a discussion? The Daily Scrum should encourage interaction, not just broadcasting. Problem-Solving Takes a Backseat: The Daily Scrum is a platform to highlight and assign ownership to problems, not necessarily to solve ALL of them completely. If it can be solved in 30 seconds or less, do not call for another meeting... Solve the freaking problem! If issues are merely reported but not addressed, the meeting isn’t serving its purpose. Attendance and Engagement Dwindles: If team members are regularly missing the meeting or not actively participating, it’s an indication that they don’t see value in it, signaling that changes are needed. Misconception of the Meeting’s Purpose: If the Daily Scrum has turned into a status report to the Product Owner or the Scrum Master, it’s a clear sign that the meeting has strayed from its purpose. The Daily Scrum is for the Development Team to synchronize their efforts and plan their work, not to report progress to the Product Owner or the Scrum Master. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

The real struggle however is the transition period where organizations balance between cost of implementing, the time it will take to implement, and retaining the existing clients during this change. In the process the companies may be overstating themselves to have adopted the Agile framework which may be true at a high level but in reality they may not have the right tools and technologies to be able to provide that experience just yet. The outcome in return puts a deep pressure on the resources (inlcuding poeple, material, tools or supplies) which is not sustainable in the near future. A product is not coming from just one tool or one team, it is a collaborative effort of various channels. So, when you are transitioning in phases some elements of the products would be agile friendly and some not. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Imagine. Let’s start rethinking Agile transformations. What if Leaders would issue an “Agile statement of intent” instead of attempting another costly framework-driven transformation? How would our life at work be different? Can you imagine the agility innovation that this would spark? For example, what if a Leader made the following statement: “For our company to be successful, our teams really need to have a desire for pleasing our customers. Our teams must be able to adapt quickly based on customer feedback when the need arises. We want our teams to build our customers high-quality products that leverage modern technologies and are maintainable. Ideally, these products are built incrementally and are always in a ready state that allows for demonstration and release. We also would like our teams to exhibit a spirit of innovation, courageously experimenting with ways to improve our product offering and the flow of value to our customers. We want everyone to feel respected and edified within a diverse and psychologically safe environment. And most of all, we want our team members to have a healthy work-life balance. As leaders, we are committed to building an environment such as this to help us all be successful. But we need your help. This is our ask. We cannot do it alone! Therefore, each team and organization is empowered to figure out the details of what this looks like for your unique situation. We are here to support your endeavors, so please reach out with any questions or concerns.” How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Burnout in the workplace isn’t uncommon, and it’s not pleasant, either. Data from the American Institute of Stress suggests that 80 percent of U.S. workers feel stressed out about their jobs, with 40 percent in roles that are “very” or “extremely” stressful. People in high-intensity jobs, like those in the medical profession or law enforcement, are particularly prone to burnout, but they’re by no means the only ones who suffer from it. Across the professional spectrum, burnout can be caused by any number of factors: Long hours, conflicts with management, and overall job frustration are just some of the things that can leave any worker feeling like they’re on the brink of mental, emotional, or physical collapse. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

People often ask me what they can do to advance.Some who ask are looking specifically to advance their careers. Others are looking to just improve in some way, perhaps knowing that improving often does lead to career advancement. Still others want to improve in ways completely unrelated to work.I want to share two tips that can form a framework for advancing yourself.First: treat your own personal development as you’d treat organizational improvements. Think about something you wish you could do (or know) but can’t right now. Then identify the one most useful step to move you toward that. Think of it like gap analysis for personal development.Second: set monthly goals for yourself in two areas: performance and learning.Performance goals are things you want to do. Learning goals represent knowledge or skills you want to gain.Don’t go overboard and write goals for everything in your life. Just start each month with one to three goals of each type.My performance and learning goals this month are a good example. I’m working on a new writing project so my goals are directed toward that. They are:  Write for at least thirty minutes a day on eighteen days in July Write for five days in a row sometime during the month Read two particular books related to my project The first two are performance goals. I’m so busy with many things but I am trying to get back into the habit of writing daily.To make that happen, I looked at what else I have to do in July and decided on the two performance goals at the top of my list.The last goal is a learning goal. To ensure I know all that’s needed for this project, I want to read those books.Nothing about this is fancy. But identifying and resolving gaps as well as giving myself at least one learning and one performance goal each month has helped me advance my career and succeed with agile. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

First, you may need to build trust to move to Agile Agile as a virtuous cycle for trust Once you get past those first hurdles, then Agile (if done well) makes its magic and helps build trust between the Team and users and other stakeholders. Many times, I have seen business people, that were previously puzzled by our persistence not to commit on any hard deadline before we even get started, now amazed to see actual, usable (yet, functionally limited) software at the end of Sprint 1, and then marveled at how software could be improved without regressions even with a large codebase, and how keeping a high standard on quality made it possible to achieve velocity. What is it in Agile that builds trust? I have already mentioned transparency as an intimacy inducer. But that’s only part of the recipe. Here are a few items I feel are of utmost importance. (a.) The principle of self-organizing dev teams leads to better allocation of the decision power. By better, I mean that decisions are made by the right people, i.e. those who have the context and skills to make them. Business people drive the features roadmap and tech people make technical decisions. Self-organized teams leads to highly-motivated people who show much better ownership of their product. (b.) Quality. Focusing on *working* software and indefinitely sustainable pace means agile teams have high quality expectations. They tend to shift error left in the development workflow. A developer won’t see a story that doesn’t verify the definition of ready, a reviewer won’t review code that has failing tests, a tester won’t test unreviewed code, etc. Velocity, again, is a by-product of quality. Not something that you try to compromise against quality. I knew our business people had reached a threshold in understanding Agile when, during a review, they mentioned that they didn’t want to team to overdeliver if it were at the expense of quality. (c.) Risk mitigation. Agile teams focus on delivering working software. That means they’d rather deliver a walking skeleton (a fully integrated software that doesn’t do much) than a fully-developed front-end with no back-end. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Why Use a Personal Kanban Approach? Research shows that up to 80% of working professionals experience stress in the workplace, with the primary causes cited as being family responsibilities and large workloads. When modified for personal use, the Kanban method can help you to manage both work responsibilities and personal tasks, saving you time, increasing your efficiency, keeping your life organized, and helping to prevent feelings of overwhelm and burnout.  In this article, we’ll delve deeper into what personal Kanban involves. We’ll show you how you can use it to streamline your personal and professional lives, and the easiest ways to keep Kanban on hand to access it whenever you need it. You can apply the principles of Kanban to virtually any situation to enhance your productivity and help you tackle multiple responsibilities. It can be easily adapted to users of any age, profession or learning style, and is especially well suited to people who have long and constantly growing to-do lists at work and at home. Personal Kanban boards are also a great solution for people who battle to prioritize tasks. Options like a personal Kanban app provide visual to-do lists that you can prioritize by urgency or order of importance to stay ahead of your responsibilities. The simplest and most effective way to create your own Kanban board is to open up an Excel spreadsheet or Word document, use a whiteboard or a piece of paper, or use a Kanban management app to create three columns:  To Do Currently In Progress  Completed Next, you can create individual ‘cards’ for each task you need to do, adding them into the To Do column. Once you have all of your cards at hand, you can label them according to low, medium or high priority, and then choose which high-priority task you’d like to start on first. Some people like to multitask, and a personal Kanban board does help to make multitasking easier by allowing you to keep track of multiple projects at once. However, you are also free to address one activity at a time. When you start an activity, move its card over to the In Progress column, and then to the Completed column once it’s finished.  You can use a Kanban board to keep track of all the things you need to accomplish on a given day. Creating a to-do list helps you to organize your tasks into categories, depending on how urgent they are and whether or not you have started on them yet.  This gives you clear visual progress of how many responsibilities you’ve tackled each day. This could be anything from going to the store, fetching the kids from school, fixing an appliance or learning how to make an invoice or mastering another skill you need for work. When you have a good idea during the course of the day, noting it in your Kanban board helps to ensure that you don’t forget about it and encourages you to put it into action.  Once you have a strong idea written down, you can then build on it, set goals towards it, and transform your ideas into reality. If you have a busy and active family or social life, your personal Kanban board can help you to meet all of your personal obligations towards the people you care about.  Create a family board with tasks like children’s play recitals and sports games, birthday parties, celebrations, family dinners, and other can’t-miss events to keep yourself organized and ensure that you don’t miss anything important.  Using a Kanban board with your family will help to ensure that everyone’s needs are met and that you can build a stronger relationship with your partner, children, and extended family and friends. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

There are many challenges for Scrum teams during a Sprint: Scope Creep: The introduction of new requirements or changes during the sprint can disrupt the team’s focus and lead to scope creep. To address this challenge, effective communication and collaboration between the product owner and the development team are crucial. Clearly define the sprint goal and ensure any changes are properly evaluated and prioritized. Lack of Clarity in User Stories: Unclear or poorly defined user stories can create confusion and delays. The product owner should collaborate with the team to ensure user stories are well-defined, properly elaborated, and include clear acceptance criteria. Regular refinements and ongoing communication between the product owner and the team can help address any ambiguity. Unrealistic Timeframes: Setting unrealistic timeframes for backlog items can put undue pressure on the team and compromise the quality of work. It is essential to establish realistic expectations and ensure the team has a sustainable pace. Collaboratively estimate effort, consider team capacity, and prioritize backlog items based on their complexity and business value. Dependencies and Bottlenecks: Dependencies on external teams or resources can create bottlenecks and hinder progress. Identify and communicate dependencies early on, and establish effective coordination with other teams. Regularly track and manage dependencies to minimize their impact on the team’s work. Technical Debt: Accruing technical debt can hinder the team’s progress and reduce flexibility. Balancing the delivery of new functionality with addressing technical debt is essential. Prioritize and plan for technical debt refinements in the backlog. Allocate time during sprints to address technical debt and ensure a sustainable development pace. These challenges can be addressed by adhering to Agile principles, Scrum rules and a clear in-sprint workflow including the following development and test activities: Development WorkBacklog Item Selection: Collaboratively select backlog items based on the sprint goal, complexity, and priority. Consider dependencies and team capacity while making the selection. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

There are several character traits that are commonly associated with being a good boss. Here are five of the top character traits: Leadership: A good boss possesses strong leadership skills. They inspire and motivate their team, provide clear direction, and guide their employees towards achieving goals. They are able to make tough decisions and take responsibility for the overall success of the team. Communication: Effective communication is crucial for a good boss. They are skilled at both listening and expressing their thoughts clearly. They keep their team informed about important matters, actively seek feedback, and encourage open and honest communication among team members. Empathy: A good boss demonstrates empathy and understanding towards their employees. They recognize and acknowledge the feelings and perspectives of their team members, and they take the time to listen and support them. They consider the personal and professional well-being of their employees and strive to create a positive and inclusive work environment. Integrity: Good bosses act with integrity and demonstrate strong ethical values. They lead by example and hold themselves and others accountable for their actions. They are honest, trustworthy, and fair in their interactions, and they make decisions based on what is best for the team and the organization as a whole. Adaptability: A good boss is adaptable and flexible in the face of changing circumstances. They are open to new ideas and willing to embrace innovation. They can navigate challenges and setbacks with resilience, adjust their plans as needed, and guide their team through periods of change. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠