Agile and Project Management - DrunkenPM Radio

If you’ve achieved a certification through the Scrum Alliance one of the things you need to do to maintain your certification is to renew it every two years. In order to do this you will have to earn Scrum Educational Units (SEUs). Two of the most common questions I get at the end of each Certified Scrum Master or Certified Scrum Product Owner class are “How many SEUs do I need to renew?” and “How do I earn SEUs?” The number of SEUs you have to earn depends on the level of certification(s) you have and there are a number of ways to earn them. The Scrum Alliance has a web page explaining how SEUs work here: https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/scrum-education-units. But, in an effort to help simplify all of it, I asked TJay Gerber, Global Certification Manager and Education Department Product Owner for the Scrum Alliance to let me interview him about how SEUs work, how people can earn them, and how they can figure out how many they need. In this interview we talk through the whole thing, so if you have questions, this should help. If you’d like to reach out to TJay with follow up questions, you can reach him via email at tgerber@scrumalliance.org

Jason Tanner is the CEO of Applied Frameworks. He has a widely ranging background that includes Project Management, Product Management, and professional IT training. He’s also a Certified Scrum Trainer who spends time working with individuals who are in the process of trying to become CSTs and he’s on a personal mission to save the Daily Scrum. During this episode of the podcast, Jason and I talk through how his background (which includes serving in the military) led him on the journey to becoming a CST and leading Applied Frameworks. We also dig into his process for helping CST candidates prepare for co-training, the CST submission process itself, and being on a TAC panel. If you’d like to reach Jason you can find him here: Applied Frameworks: http://appliedframeworks.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasontanner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonbtanner And if you'd like to learn more about becoming a Certified Scrum Trainer, you can find that here: https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/trainers/cst-certification

"Consistency is the junk food of management." As 2019 gets underway the Reluctant Agilist checks in with Jesse Fewell on his primary areas of focus heading into the New Year. During this episode of the podcast Dave and Jesse discuss the current state of traditional PM vs. Agile, the role of the PMO in an Agile organization and how both of these topics have evolved since they began trying to develop programming aimed at helping PMP's move to a more Agile state. Jesse and Dave both come from a background deeply stepped in traditional project management before finding their way to Agile. Since then a large portion of their time has been spent working on helping traditional PMs find an easier path to agility and in helping to solve the great question of how the PMO can remain relevant in a traditional organization that is working through Agile transformation. Links from the Podcast The Leadership Circle https://leadershipcircle.com Mastering Leadership https://amzn.to/2CQIB6h Scaling Leadership https://amzn.to/2FVHvdG Bible in a Year App on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DHqBdj Jesse's Upcoming Events PMI versus Agile: Adversaries or allies?https://www.meetup.com/Agile-Fredericksburg/events/256845346/ The Agile PMO Workshop: https://jessefewell.com/the-agile-pmo-pittsburgh-pa-february-8/ ProjectCon: https://projectconevent.com/ Global Scrum Gathering Austin 2019 https://events.scrumalliance.org/austin-2019 Contacting Jesse Web: https://jessefewell.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessefewell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessefewell/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jessefewell

Agile is not easy. Many organizations struggle with trying to break free of their traditional work culture and finding their path to a different way of working. Along the way, many organizations give up, or slowly slide back into the old ways of working because making the transition is just too hard. If you happen to work at one of those organizations, this episode should offer you something special to start off the new year. This episode offers HOPE. Hearst Digital Media has been working on making the transition to Agile for the past few years. As you’ll hear in the interview, what they’ve achieved is a group that has adopted and adapted a variety of Agile practices and found a way of working that is not just a great example of how to make Agile work for your organization, but how you can establish a group in lieu of a traditional PMO that exists to support, nurture and continuously improve their approach in order to deliver value for their organization and their customers. This episode of The Reluctant Agilist features Michelle Dennis, Director of Product Management, and Jacquelyn Talpalar, Director of Agile Operations for Hearst Digital Media. During the conversation we talk through how they’ve evolved the approach Hearst Digital Media has taken in transitioning to Agile and how that approach has helped them scale from 3 Scrum-ish teams to 24 teams in four years. The group is serving over 1 billion customers a year and on-boarding new products at the rate of almost one a week. Their path was not an easy one and Jacquelyn and Michelle share some of the challenges they faced along the way and offer advice for those who are currently working on making the switch. If you are in need of a good example of how Agile can help you succeed and grow, this podcast should give you a nice boost. For me, this was a truly inspiring interview. I hope you will enjoy it. Oh - and if you are looking for a gig at a place that has figured all this out… they’re hiring. If you’d like to download the graphics mentioned in the interviewt, you can find them here. https://bit.ly/2Fz3VAb If you’d like to contact Michelle Dennis: Email: michellesd02@gmail.com LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2AKq6QK If you’d like to contact Jacquelyn Talpalar: Email: jacquelyn.talpalar@gmail.com LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2Hdvb9R

“Agile is not something you become, Agile is something you become more of.” For organizations that are engaged in Agile Transformation, it is often very challenging to get a sense of where you are with respect to successfully adopting a new way of working. Comparative Agility is a tool that has been designed to help Agile coaches and organizations get a deeper understanding of their progress towards Agile transformation. In this interview, Jorgen Hesselberg, co-founder of Comparative Agility, and I discuss how the tool has evolved since it was created in 2008 and how it is now being used by coaches and organizations to not only understand how their transformation is going, but how they are doing compared to others within their vertical, as well. We also talk about the work that Comparative Agility has been doing with the Scrum Alliance and how the tool has been extended to include things like Security and DevOps, in addition to discussing Jorgen’s book “Unlocking Agility.” If you’d like to check out Comparative Agility, you can find it here: https://www.comparativeagility.com If you’d like to read “Unlocking Agility”, you can find it here: https://amzn.to/2setHly Contacting Jorgen Email: jorgen@comparativeagility.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/jhesselberg

Earlier this fall at the 2018 Large Scale Scrum Conference in NYC, Ellen Gottesdiener and Andy Repton led a session called “What is Our Product” (https://less.works/sessions/2018-less-conference-new-york-what-is-our-product-88). During the course of their presentation they showcased many of the tools they use with clients to determine what the product they are building actually is. In this interview Ellen and Andy explain why this question is not as easy to understand as it seems and why it is so critical to product success. During the course of our conversation they walk through some of the tools they use to help clients deepen their understanding of the product, how to make sure it is strategically aligned, and how this can even be done with massive organizations that are developing infrastructure products. Andy and Ellen’s “What is Our Product” session from the LeSS Conference The session description is here: https://less.works/sessions/2018-less-conference-new-york-what-is-our-product-88 As soon as the recording of the session is available, the link will be posted here. In the meantime, you can find their slides here: https://www.slideshare.net/ellengott/what-is-our-product Contacting Andy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyrepton/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/reptonandy Contacting Ellen Web: https://www.ebgconsulting.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellengott Email: ellen@ebgconsulting.com Ellen’s Books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ellen-Gottesdiener/e/B001KD7PRW Ellen is working on a post on the Product Canvas and I will update the link when it is available, in the meantime, you might want to check out “Am I a Product Manager or a Product Owner” Part 1 https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/product-manager-product-owner/ Part 2 https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/product-manager-product-owner-part-2/ Discover to Deliver As soon as the downloadable PDF is available, the link will be posted here. In the meantime, for ore on Discover to Deliver, check out: https://www.ebgconsulting.com/blog/right-things-not-everything-product-management-ownership/

The Scrum Alliance and Forbes Insights recently released a report called the “The Elusive Agile Enterprise” (https://www.scrumalliance.org/forbes/). The report presents the findings of a survey that involved over 1,000 C-level executives across the globe in a range of industries. In this interview, Scrum Alliance Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications, Renata Lerch (https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/profile/rlerch) and I talk through the results of this survey and what they mean for organizations adopting Agile. We also explore some of the more valuable insights that came out of the report including the 3 elements determined to be critical to a successful adoption of Agile and how the findings have helped the Scrum Alliance make a decision to target Human Resources as an area of growth in the future. Download the Report You can download a copy of the report at https://www.scrumalliance.org/forbes/ Contact Renata Lerch: Scrum Alliance site: https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/profile/rlerch Twitter: https://twitter.com/limalerch?lang=en Email: rlerch@scrumalliance.org

The Scrum Alliance recently made a very significant change in how the organization is run. After years of running with a traditional leadership model, the Scrum Alliance, whose mission is “Change the World of Work” has decided to shift to a model with a Chief Product Owner and a Chief Scrum Master. As you’ll hear in this podcast, it is a model that is already inspiring leaders from other organizations to make a similar change. This podcast features an interview with the new Scrum Alliance Chief Product Owner Howard Sublett. Howard is a dynamic an inspiring servant leader who was involved with the Scrum Alliance early on before moving into Agile consulting. He joined the Scrum Alliance Board of Directors several months ago and will now be helping to shape and define the role of Chief Product Owner. During the conversation Howard and I talk about the significance of the role, what it involves, how it has inspired others, what the Scrum Alliance is looking for in a Chief Scrum Master and some of the recent changes to the SA Board of Directors that came about as a result of him taking on his new gig. Contacting Howard Email: hsublett@scrumalliance.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/howardsublett

Last Spring, Martin Fowler gave a talk at Agile Australia called "The State of Agile Software in 2018." (A transcript of Fowler’s talk can be found using the link provided below.) During the talk, he mentions “post-agile.” It is a phrase I had previously heard mention of here and there by folks who tend to be pretty deep with agile and who are frustrated for one reason or another by how it is being (mis)used by others. I spent time time researching what “post-agile” actually means. What I found was a wide range of explanations, but no clear, definitive answer. The more I dug into it, the more I found myself gravitating towards my own inner explanation. Since I didn’t really want to end up mansplaining the term to myself, I thought it might be a good idea to seek some professional help. In this podcast you’ll hear a conversation between Dhaval Panchal, Michael Tardiff, and myself where we explore the topic of “post-agile”—what it actually means and whether or not it is something you need to worry about. Dhaval and Michael are deeply seasoned agile coaches who are also really fun to interview. Talking with them always provides me with a new perspective and deeper clarity on things. That was definitely the case with this discussion. Hopefully it will be valuable to you as well. This podcast is our conversation exploring the topic of what “post-agile” actually means and whether or not you need to worry about it. Here are some of the links referred to in the podcast: Martin Fowler’s transcript of the State of Agile Software in 2018 https://bit.ly/2NDfHLk My interview with Mike Cottmeyer on Fowler’s talk https://bit.ly/2Rpqx8Y Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber https://amzn.to/1ttQuId Bullshit Jobs: A Theory https://amzn.to/2RthMLk If you’d like to contact Dhaval: Web: https://evolveagility.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/evolveagility Email: dhaval.panchal@evolveagility.com If you’d like to contact Michael: Web: https://feelingagile.wordpress.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjt Email: michael@taoproductions.com

You go to conferences… and there are moments when you pick stuff up that can help you do your job. But, once and awhile, there are those special moments when people share things in sessions that permanently change how you look at the work you do. It’s rare… but it’s awesome.  That happened for me this September in Memphis at the 2018 Digital PM Summit. I attended a session led by Abby Fretz called "Sustaining the Project Honeymoon Phase: How to Build Effective Client Education.” In the session, Abby drew a connection between the relationship we have with our clients and the relationships students have with teachers. She reminded everyone that all of our clients are not just emotional humans, but they are also family members, friends, and experts, and that we need to care for them as a teacher would care for a student. Moreover, she reminded everyone that as much as we are the teachers of our clients, they are our teachers as well. I wish someone had said this to me 20 years ago. In this podcast, Abby and I discuss her session from the 2018 Digital PM Summit, what led her to her metaphor, and how it has impacted her work. There is some powerful stuff in this interview and I hope it will be as valuable for you as it was for me. I am very indebted to Abby for teaching me something that seems like such common sense— I’m a little ashamed I had not though of clients this way before. Here are some of the links mentioned in the podcast: Digital Pm Summit: https://bureauofdigital.com/abby-fretz-1/ DPM Philly Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/DPM-Philly/ Louder Than 10: https://louderthanten.com Eastern Standard: https://www.easternstandard.com If you'd like to get in touch with Abby you can reach her at: Web:http://abbyfretz.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbyfretz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbyfretz/