The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Agile Means NO Documentation... - Not Again?!?! Here are some reasons why agile needs documentation: Knowledge Sharing: Documentation helps transfer knowledge and ensure that important information is accessible to the team members and stakeholders. It captures decisions, requirements, and design choices, enabling team members to understand the system's functionality and architecture. It allows new team members to quickly get up to speed and promotes collaboration and continuity in development. Requirements Clarity: Agile projects benefit from clear and well-defined requirements. Documentation, such as user stories, acceptance criteria, and specifications, helps capture and communicate the intended functionality. It provides a shared understanding between the development team, product owners, and stakeholders, reducing misunderstandings and potential rework. Traceability and Compliance: Documentation supports traceability by providing a historical record of decisions, changes, and user feedback. This helps maintain compliance with industry regulations, standards, or contractual obligations. Documentation can serve as evidence for audits, security assessments, and regulatory compliance. Communication and Alignment: Agile teams work collaboratively and value effective communication. Documentation serves as a reference point for discussions and clarifications. It enables team members and stakeholders to align their understanding, resolve conflicts, and make informed decisions. Documentation can also facilitate communication with external parties, such as clients, vendors, or other teams. Maintenance and Support: Even in an agile environment, software requires maintenance and ongoing support. Documentation, such as system architecture diagrams, code comments, or user manuals, assists in maintaining and troubleshooting the software. It helps future developers understand the system's components and functionality, making it easier to identify and fix issues. Knowledge Transfer and Onboarding: Documentation plays a crucial role in knowledge transfer and onboarding new team members. It provides a reference for understanding the system's design, components, and business context. Documented guidelines, coding conventions, and best practices contribute to consistent and maintainable code across the team. Regulatory and Legal Requirements: Certain industries or projects may have specific regulatory or legal documentation requirements. Documentation becomes necessary to demonstrate compliance, ensure data privacy, or provide evidence of adherence to industry standards. It's important to note that agile documentation should be lightweight, iterative, and focused on delivering value. The emphasis is on creating just enough documentation to support effective development and collaboration, rather than producing excessive or unnecessary documentation. Agile teams should continuously assess the value and relevance of documentation, adapting their approach based on the project's needs and the team's evolving understanding of the system. 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/⁠

Weddings, a celebration of love, commitment, and the joining of two lives. For most couples, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, meticulously planned and carefully orchestrated. But what happens when a Scrum Master takes charge of the wedding planning, armed with an arsenal of sticky notes and a burning desire to apply Agile principles to the most romantic day of their lives? Let’s find out. The Backlog: From Venue to Vows, All on Sticky Notes: It all begins with the backlog — a towering mountain of sticky notes covering every inch of the Scrum Master’s home office. Each note details a crucial element of the wedding, from choosing the venue to writing the vows. The sheer amount of sticky notes is overwhelming, but the Scrum Master is determined to stay true to Agile methodologies. Sprint Planning: A Series of Unfortunate Wedding Tasks: With the backlog in place, the Scrum Master gets to work on Sprint Planning. They divide the wedding preparations into a series of two-week sprints, tackling tasks such as booking the band, selecting the menu, and finalizing the guest list. The Scrum Master’s ambition is admirable, but their commitment to Agile principles quickly starts to unravel the wedding plans. Daily Stand-Up: Sticky Notes, Stress, and Stalemates: As the big day approaches, the Scrum Master enforces daily stand-up meetings with the wedding party, the soon-to-be-married couple, and anyone else involved in the planning process. These 15-minute check-ins are meant to keep everyone on track and identify obstacles, but the sheer number of sticky notes quickly becomes a source of confusion and frustration. With each passing day, the wedding party’s patience wears thin, and the Scrum Master’s grand plan starts to crumble. The Sprint Review: Tasting Cake and Collecting Regrets: Sprint Reviews, meant to be an opportunity for feedback and adjustment, turn into a parade of disasters. During one particularly memorable session, the Scrum Master presents a half-baked wedding cake to the couple, resulting in a messy and unsatisfying cake tasting. Sticky notes cover the cake like confetti, each one representing a different flavor, frosting, or decoration suggestion from the ever-growing list of stakeholders. The Sprint Retrospective. A Tangled Web of Sticky Notes and Blame: As the sprints progress, the Scrum Master conducts Sprint Retrospectives to evaluate the success (or lack thereof) of each phase. However, instead of offering constructive feedback, these sessions devolve into a blame game, with the Scrum Master desperately trying to salvage their Agile wedding plans. Sticky notes are swapped, shuffled, and discarded, as the Scrum Master attempts to regain control over the chaos they’ve created. The wedding: In the end, the wedding day arrives, complete with a cacophony of mismatched decorations, last-minute cancellations, and a cake that looks like it survived a sticky note explosion. Despite the Scrum Master’s best intentions, their fervent adherence to Agile methodologies has resulted in a wedding day that is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. As the dust settles and the sticky notes are peeled away, one thing becomes abundantly clear: some things, like love and weddings, simply don’t fit into a neat, Agile framework 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/⁠

Is Agile Project Management a Harmful Term? I Think NOT... Sometimes I get really annoyed when people come to me with the very prescriptive dogmatic approach to Agile and claim the certain terms should not be used. Join V. Lee Henson, Founder of AgileDad as we discuss why this practice is wrong and why Agile Project Management is just fine with me! 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/⁠

Technical debt in the context of agile development refers to the accumulation of suboptimal or inefficient code, design, or infrastructure that may hinder the future development and maintenance of a software system. Addressing technical debt is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy and sustainable agile development process. Here are some considerations for addressing technical debt in an agile environment: Recognition and Prioritization: Start by acknowledging and recognizing the existence of technical debt. Encourage the entire development team, including product owners and stakeholders, to understand the importance of addressing it. Prioritize and categorize technical debt based on its impact, urgency, and potential risks to the project. Incremental Refactoring: Agile development emphasizes iterative and incremental improvement. Allocate time and effort in each iteration to address technical debt. Introduce refactoring tasks into the backlog, alongside new feature development. By continuously improving the codebase and addressing technical debt incrementally, you can prevent it from accumulating further and reduce the overall maintenance burden. Collaboration and Communication: Technical debt is not solely the responsibility of the development team. It requires collaboration and buy-in from all stakeholders, including product owners, business analysts, and quality assurance teams. Foster open communication and transparency about technical debt, its implications, and the need for investment to address it. Involve stakeholders in decision-making processes related to prioritization and resource allocation for addressing technical debt. Impact Assessment: Assess the impact of technical debt on development velocity, product quality, and long-term maintainability. Work closely with the development team to identify areas of the codebase that are most affected by technical debt. Prioritize refactoring efforts based on the potential positive impact they can have on the system, reducing future maintenance costs, improving scalability, or enhancing the overall development process. Automation and Testing: Implement automated testing practices and a robust CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline to detect and prevent the introduction of new technical debt. Adopt code quality analysis tools to identify code smells, duplication, and other potential debt-inducing patterns. Automate the refactoring process where possible to ensure consistency and minimize the risk of introducing new issues. Continuous Learning and Improvement: Encourage a culture of continuous improvement within the development team. Conduct regular retrospectives to reflect on the challenges and lessons learned from addressing technical debt. Share knowledge and best practices among team members to prevent the recurrence of similar debt in the future. Invest in training and skill development to empower the team to tackle technical debt effectively. By integrating the management of technical debt into the agile development process, you can mitigate risks, improve the maintainability of the software, and enable the team to deliver value more effectively. Prioritization, collaboration, incremental improvement, and a focus on quality are key factors in successfully addressing technical debt while maintaining the agility required for delivering high-quality software. 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 keys to life success can vary from person to person, as success is subjective and can be defined differently by individuals. However, here are five general keys that can contribute to a fulfilling and successful life: Self-Awareness: Understanding oneself is crucial for personal growth and success. It involves recognizing your strengths, weaknesses, values, passions, and purpose. Self-awareness enables you to make informed decisions, set meaningful goals aligned with your values, and cultivate a sense of fulfillment and authenticity. Continuous Learning: Embrace a mindset of lifelong learning and personal development. Seek opportunities to acquire new knowledge, skills, and experiences. Stay curious, be open to different perspectives, and embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. Learning expands your horizons, increases your adaptability, and enhances your ability to seize opportunities. Resilience: Life is filled with ups and downs, and resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and adapt to change. Cultivate a positive mindset, develop problem-solving skills, and build a support network. Embrace failures as learning experiences, persevere through challenges, and maintain a flexible attitude to navigate obstacles on your path to success. Goal Setting and Planning: Clearly define your goals and create a plan to achieve them. Set both short-term and long-term goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals). Break them down into actionable steps and regularly track your progress. Planning helps you stay focused, motivated, and organized, ensuring you make steady progress towards your desired outcomes. Healthy Relationships and Networks: Cultivate and maintain positive relationships with family, friends, mentors, and colleagues. Surround yourself with people who support and inspire you. Build a diverse network that can offer guidance, opportunities, and collaborations. Effective communication, empathy, and collaboration are vital for nurturing relationships and creating a supportive environment that contributes to personal and professional success. Remember that success is subjective, and it's essential to define what success means to you personally. These keys can serve as a foundation for personal growth and achievement, but it's important to adapt them to your own values, aspirations, and circumstances. Ultimately, success is about living a life that aligns with your authentic self and brings you a sense of fulfillment and happiness. 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/⁠

Having observed a significant amount of change and transformation in the past few years around ‘Agile’ (the good, the bad, the ugly), things are usually not what they seem and require additional inspection. Forcing conformance is always dangerous, this is why ‘Agile Transformations’ inflicted onto people rarely stick with long lasting impact. I will refrain from all the ‘agile is dead’ rhetoric, but I can see the impact the ‘agile industrial complex’ has had on how people see and behave when it comes to these practices. Running around using new terms and correcting others for using different terms is missing the point entirely. These days I try not to use the ‘agile’ words as much as I can and try to understand the context of the people / teams I’m talking to and meet them where they are, trying to avoid introducing new jargon as much as possible. I see the same happening with other words like autonomy, empowerment, psychological safety, failure, and I’m sure there are many more you would relate to. 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/⁠

Managing up on an agile team refers to the practice of effectively communicating and collaborating with higher-level managers, stakeholders, or leaders within an organization to ensure alignment, support, and success of the agile initiatives. It involves building strong relationships, influencing decision-making, and providing transparent information to those in higher positions. Here are some key aspects of managing up on an agile team: Clear Communication: Establish open and transparent communication channels with higher-level managers or stakeholders. Keep them informed about the progress, challenges, and achievements of the agile team. Clearly articulate the goals, benefits, and value delivered by the team's work. Regularly provide updates through reports, presentations, or informal discussions. Aligning Goals and Expectations: Understand the objectives and expectations of higher-level managers or stakeholders. Align the team's goals and initiatives with the broader organizational goals. Seek clarity on priorities, constraints, and key success factors. Discuss and negotiate expectations to ensure they are realistic and achievable. Building Relationships: Invest time and effort in building positive relationships with higher-level managers or stakeholders. Engage in active listening, understand their perspectives, and show empathy towards their concerns. Establish trust by delivering on commitments and demonstrating competence. Regularly seek feedback and act upon it. Influencing Decision-Making: Provide valuable insights and data-driven information to support decision-making at higher levels. Clearly articulate the impact and value of agile initiatives on the organization's objectives. Present persuasive arguments based on evidence, customer feedback, or market trends. Collaborate with other team members to gather collective input and present a united front. Anticipating and Managing Risks: Identify and proactively address potential risks or concerns that may impact the team's progress or the success of agile initiatives. Communicate early about challenges, dependencies, or roadblocks that require support or intervention from higher-level managers. Propose solutions or alternatives to mitigate risks and maintain project momentum. Seeking Support and Resources: If the team requires additional resources, tools, or support to achieve their goals, effectively communicate these needs to higher-level managers. Justify the need by highlighting the potential benefits, ROI, or impact on customer satisfaction. Collaborate with managers to identify ways to secure the necessary resources and overcome any organizational barriers. Continuous Improvement: Demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement by sharing lessons learned, successes, and failures with higher-level managers. Showcase the team's adaptability, responsiveness, and ability to embrace change. Actively seek input from managers on areas of improvement and leverage their experience to drive growth and development. Remember, managing up is not about manipulating or controlling higher-level managers but rather about establishing effective communication, building trust, and fostering collaboration. It is a way to create a shared understanding and gain support for agile initiatives, ultimately driving organizational success.

The Top 10 Agile Questions We Should Be Asking Daily... How big or small is the scope of that item?  How confident are you in that estimate? What are the other options you considered before making this decision? What’s the worst thing that could happen if we pursue this direction? How are we going measure success? Do we need everyone who is here now? Should anyone else be here? Does anyone else need to know about this? What do you know that I don't know? Help me understand….? 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/⁠

We can learn so much about how people feel about something like teamwork just by asking questions. That’s especially true when we ask kids.I was traveling last month and ended up in line next to a father and his eight-year-old son. I made small talk with the Dad to pass time in line and learned that the son had just traveled with his team to take part in a hockey tournament.Because I was curious (and a little because it seemed polite), I asked the boy, “So how’d you do?” He said, “Not well. We got eliminated in the first round.”I replied, “Right. But how did you do?”His reply to that question was strikingly different. He told me all about the goals he’d scored and the assists he had made.I learned a few things from this offhand exchange.  His first response was about his team, which means he’s going to be a great agile team member someday. No matter how great we do individually, it’s hard to feel excited when the team doesn’t perform at its best. And it got me thinking, what would happen if someone asked one of your team members, “How’d you do last sprint?” Would they automatically reflect on the team’s performance or default to their own?It might be worthwhile to pose that question to your team. Questions are my favorite way to get team members thinking, because once they’re thinking they automatically start looking for ways to improve a situation or solve a problem.Ask more questions. I know for sure it will help you 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/⁠

11 Tips To Help You Earn The Respect Of Others Sharpen up your physical appearance. Emotional control. Stop always being available. Unexpected flattery. Talk less. Be relaxed and move slow. Talk a fraction slower. Know your boundaries and exert them. Dress well. Stop trying to impress everyone. Hold people’s eye. 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/⁠