Agile and Project Management - DrunkenPM Radio

Making the transition to Agile is never easy for PMP’s. Once you re-wire your brain to think like a PM, letting go of all of that you have learned, and accepting a completely different way of working presents a lot of challenges. A big part of what I try to do with these podcasts is to share stories of those who have successfully made the switch and what that transformation was like. At the Scrum Gathering in San Diego a few weeks ago I got the chance to sit down with someone I’ve been hoping to interview about this topic for a long time. Gene Bounds is the Chair of the Scrum Alliance Board of Directors. He is ALSO the former Chair of PMI. He comes from a background that is deeply steeped in the traditional space working on government projects, to someone who is now deeply invested in helping to grow the Agile community and change the world of work. Because Gene has dedicated so much of his life to being in the service of others, first in the United States Air Force, then volunteering for PMI for many years, and now working with the Scrum Alliance, we also took some time in the interview to talk about the benefits that come from investing all that time volunteering. You can find Gene here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugene-bounds-82b70754/ Scrum Alliance: https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/profile/ebounds If you have comments or feedback on the podcast, please send an email to drunkenpmradio@gmail.com

The Trust Artist, Olaf Lewitz, along with his partner, Christine Neidhardt, are gearing ready for their upcoming TrustTemenos Certified Agile Leadership trainings. Certified Agile Leadership trainings are a new, advanced level of training classes being offered through the Scrum Alliance. In this interview Olaf and I discuss the reason for his TrustTemenos CAL class, how it can help people become better Agile leaders, and the value of Certified Agile Leadership. Safety is a very hot topic in the Agile space right now. During our conversation about safety, Olaf shared one of the most powerful things I have heard during an interview this year: “When you talk to people about trust, it rises. When you talk to people about safety, they get scared” Every conversation I have with Olaf leaves me more aware and (I hope) a bit smarter than I was when it began. I hope you will get as much value from listening to this as I did from recording the conversation. And you can find links to Olaf’s upcoming classes and events, as well as his contact info, below the show notes. Show Notes 00:07 Podcast Intro 01:27 Begins 01:57 An overview of Agile Leadership Training 04:48 A skeptical response to the idea of Agile Leadership Training and Olaf’s response 07:16 Developing a thinking model to understand what we need and how that drives our actions 09:11 The power of metaphor in leadership and Dave’s aversion to boats 11:03 Giving people tools to grow their awareness of how they show up 11:34 These classes cover advanced leadership topics - not the basics 12:16 “If you trust in yourself… you will still get beaten by people” 13:05 Skepticism is an important part of any class and any transition 13:32 It’s about being intentional and aware 15:23 There is a specific type of learning that involves being uncomfortable because what you believe is challenged 15:57 Extending the question of leadership beyond work and helping them understand more about their awareness and intention 17:00 Olaf shares a story about his first experience working as a boss 21:29 The advice Olaf about give his 29 year-old self about being a boss for the firs time 22:23 It’s okay to ask for help 24:05 A question about safety and what it means to create a safe space 25:42 When you talk to people about trust, it rises, when you talk to people about safety, they get scared 27:22 What is Certified Agile Leadership Training? What level of knowledge experience do you need to attend? 28:08 What will CAL training do for a leader/manager in an Agile organization? 29:28 Where to learn more about Olaf’s upcoming classes, where you can see him speak and how to get in touch with him if you have questions. Links from the Podcast Showing Up - the book written by Olaf and Christine https://leanpub.com/showingup TrustTemenos Leadership Academy: https://trusttemenos.de Upcoming CAL Trainings - https://trusttemenos.de/certified-agile-leadership-cal1/ Olaf’s session at the 2017 Scrum Gathering San Diego is called: Product Owner: Mapping Dramas and Dreams and it will be held in the Harbor Island 1 room on Monday, April 10 from 1 PM until 2:15 PM For more info on the Scrum Gathering: https://www.scrumalliance.org/sgcal Contacting Olaf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olaflewitz/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/OlafLewitz Website: http://trustartist.com

A few weeks ago Don Kim put up a blog post challenging the value of certifications. I reached out to Don in hopes of doing an interview about it and found out he’s also written a new book “I think Therefore I Plan”. In this interview we discuss the pros and cons of different certifications, taking an artisan approach to managing projects as well as Don’s new book. You can find Don’s book here: http://amzn.to/2n7VEHu You can find Don’s blog post about certifications here: http://bit.ly/2okDUZA Show Notes: 00:07 Interview Start 00:30 What is a Human APEE 03:38 What is an Artisan approach to Project Management 05:15 Don’s Philosophy of Project Management 07:22 Trying to slow down and do less 08:21 Don explains his way of approaching project work and the reason for the book 10:56 How has the traditional vs. Agile debate changed over the past few years 12:53 Seeing the value in every project you work on - regardless of how you got it 16:15 The downside of certifications 17:29 The positive aspects of certifications 18:03 There is more to project management training than just PMP certification 19:48 Making the case for the value certifications can provide and how it can be misunderstood 23:22 Does it make sense for people to want to have a way of gauging their professional achievement? 23:55 What Don expected from PMP certification and how he went deep with the Kerzner to get the most learning out of it (instead of just passing the test) 26:41 Is it the certification that is an issue, or the way people interpret it as an end point rather than a beginning 27:50 An overview of the approach Don’s book takes towards the art of Project Management 30:56 Where you can find Don’t book and how you can reach him with follow up questions 31:54 Podcast Ends You can reach Don Kim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donkim/ Feedback/Comments: drunkenpm@gmail.com

This podcast features an interview with two educators from Grandview Prep in Boca Raton, FL. Aileen Palmer and Susan Rose have been working with the Scrum Alliance, John Miller and Mike Vizdos to help the school implement Scrum for both the students and school administration. The interview explains how Scrum got started at Grandview, the impact it has had on the students, as well as the benefits and challenges they’ve experienced along the way. Show Notes 01:16 Interview Begins 02:01 How Grandview Prep got interested in Scrum 04:59 Agile can be a lot easier for kids than adults 05:52 How Scrum has changed the way the students at Grandview collaborate 06:32 How the kids self-organize to make sure everyone is participating in the work 06:59 How teaching Scrum to a junior in high school impacts their ability to get work done and prepare for college 07:54 How visualizing the work is helping the students understand how to break work down into manageable pieces 08:35 Teaching students and teachers about how to break down the work and plan things out 10:20 Differences between how 1st graders and older kids are using Scrum at Grandview 11:17 The hardest parts of getting started with Scrum in school 13:17 Sometimes the transparency and seeing how much you have to do is overwhelming for adults 14:03 The struggle between Trello and Post-its 14:59 Student rankings and grading at Grandview - and how it has been impacted by Scrum 17:14 How using Scrum has improved the students and teachers ability to give and receive feedback 17:45 The reaction from parents/stakeholders to the introduction of Scrum at Grandview Prep 20:28 What Scrum means for the quiet kids who like to sit back and let others lead and drive the work 21:30 How will Grandview measure success to determine if/how Scrum is helping 22:33 The support Grandview Prep received from the Scrum Alliance 23:14 Advice for educators who are interested in learning more or trying to implement it at their school 24:39 How to get in touch with Susan and Aileen to learn more about Scrum at Grandview Prep 26:10 Wrap up 26:48 Podcast End For more information: Grandview Prep Info and Contacts http://Grandviewprep.net Aileen Palmer apalmer@Grandviewprep.net Susan Rose srose@Grandviewprep.net Scrum Alliance Info and Contacts Scrum Alliance https://www.scrumalliance.org/ John Miller agileclassrooms@gmail.com Mike Vizdos http://www.michaelvizdos.com/ Heather Leigh hleigh@scrumalliance.org

Richard and Dave Show Notes Podcast Topic - You’ve taken CSM Training and passed the Exam. Now what? In this podcast Certified Scrum Trainers Richard Cheng and Dave Prior share their thoughts on most important things that Certified Scrum Master students can do to be successful Scrum Masters once they have completed the training and passed the CSM Assessment Exam. The podcast includes an exploration of why each of the recommendations is critical to making Scrum work and both Richard and Dave share examples from their experiences in the field working with teams who did, and did not have these practices in play. Links Mentioned in the Podcast Geoffrey Moore Vision Statement https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/05/09/product-vision/ Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore http://amzn.to/2h3ruRS Roman Pichler’s website (where you can find the tools we mentioned) http://www.romanpichler.com Roman Pichler’s books https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Pichler/e/B00359XCV2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1482305119&sr=8-1 Contact Info Richard Cheng Works for Excella Consulting https://www.excella.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardKCheng Email: richard.cheng@excella.com Dave Prior Works for LeadingAgile http://www.leadingagile.com Twitter https://twitter.com/mrsungo Email: mrsungo@gmail.com Blog: http://drunkenpm.blogspot.com The music featured in the podcast was downloaded from The Free Music Archive http://freemusicarchive.org Intro Song Cash Rules by Ari de Niro. For more info: http://www.needledrop.co/wp/artists/ari-de-niro/ or http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ari_de_Niro/ Outro Song Cherry Skies - The New Mystical Troubadours. Find them here: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_New_Mystikal_Troubadours/

In this podcast, Dr. Sallyann Freudenberg talks about her new book “The Inclusive Collaboration Experiments: A short book of activities about working with all kinds of minds” which she co-authored with Katherine Kirk. The book is part of a campaign that aims to promote, embrace, and celebrate neurodiversity in technology. Sallyann is an agile coach, consultant and trainer who focuses on psychology and collaboration. The Inclusive Collaboration Campaign is dedicated to the memory of Jean Tabaka. Show Notes: 00:00 Podcast Intro 00:35 Interview Intro, background on Sallyann and how she got started learning about Autism 02:39 The Inclusive Collaboration Experiments book 06:00 Being diagnosed autistic vs. exhibiting some characteristics that may be shared by those with Autism 07:48 Confusion about Introversion 08:49 The GOTO Conference in Berlin’s Quiet Room 10:47 The Silence Experiment and how it can be used to support the team 14:00 Supporting the more introverted members of your collaborative team 21:50 The Rules for Neuro-inclusivity Charter 25:30 Should teams strive for neurodiversity? 30:07 Where to find the book and how to reach Sallyann 31:25 Sallyann’s upcoming events 32:03 What is the most interesting thing Sallyann has learned this year 32:50 Closing Links from the Podcast The Inclusive Collaboration Experiments Book LeanPub https://leanpub.com/theinclusivecollaborationexperiments Lulu http://www.lulu.com/shop/sal-freudenberg-and-katherine-kirk/the-inclusive-collaboration-experiments/paperback/product-22927832.html Inclusive Collaboration on Twitter https://twitter.com/inclusivecollab Sallyann Freudenberg on Twitter https://twitter.com/SalFreudenberg Katherine Kirk on Twitter https://twitter.com/kkirk Sallyann’s Presentation from Lean Agile Scotland - Fish Climbing Trees https://vimeo.com/192558543 OOP 2017 http://www.oop-konferenz.de/oop2017.html Wardley Maps http://www.wardleymaps.com Quiet by Susan Cain http://amzn.to/2h7gTX7

PMI Fellow and former PMI Chair Philip Diab has developed a new program to help organizations get PMO’s up and running quickly. RapidStart PMO is an outcome driven approach that creates deliverables as it iterates towards understanding how the PMO can best serve the organization. And despite his stature in the PM community, Philip continues to be a practitioner, helping organizations get better at getting work done. He’s deeply wise and he’s has been kind enough to act as Yoda to me on numerous occasions throughout my career. In this interview we discuss the profound impact volunteerism can have on your PM career, keys to success for PMOs and common mistakes many organizations make when starting up (or maintaining) PMOs. Show Notes 00:00 Podcast begins - Dave introduces Philip 00:39 Philip talks a little about his background in Project Management and with PMI 01:22 How volunteering can help your career 04:30 Volunteering takes a lot of time and energy, but it gives back even more 06:20 PMO’s - How Philip got involved in working with PMO’s, what he learned from it and why he is so passionate about it 07:27 Yes - PMO’s are very exciting… but you have to be pretty deep with the PM geek 07:50 The work Philip has been doing to help organizations that want to start PMO’s to get them up and running quickly 08:43 The PMO as a service organization that helps projects succeed (as opposed to simply providing an auditor function 10:39 Philip’s explains S.E.R.V.E. - his five strategic principles for PMO’s 13:41 The types of organization Philip works with and where they are in the PMO adoption lifecycle 15:41 A story about one of Philip’s favorite PMO projects 16:52 Philip’s optimism around his work “There is no room for cynicism in project management.” 18:05 What makes PMs successful and when the work moves beyond being about the project 19:01 Philip’s PM Origin Story - How to get the job when you have no experience and what happens afterwards 20:41 Giving yourself empowerment because of your knowledge and experience 21:30 “You can take charge and people will let you if what you are doing is the right thing for the organization.” 22:00 Why Rapid Start PMO exists and how it can help you build (or rebuild) your PMO 24:33 A step-by-step deliverable focused program 25:14 The main differentiator that that leads to success and five critical factors you need 27:05 Passion for the project and being the champion who motivates the team is critical, but what if the project you get is “just a pile of garbage” (Philip offers Dave some advice) 29:43 A strange definition of optimism 30:55 Making room in the PMO for experimentation 32:24 Common missteps made by organizations trying to start PMOs 35:22 What to do when you can’t don’t know (or can’t remember) why you have a PMO 37:37 How the course can help existing PMO’s 39:08 How to learn more about the course or get in touch with Philip 39:35 Philip’s new podcast “The Project Management Debate Podcast You can learn more about Rapid Start PMO here: http://rapidstartpmo.com/p/rapidstartpmo You can reach Philip via his website: http://philipdiab.com/ Or his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipdiab And you can find “The Project Management Debate Podcast” on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pm-debate-podcast/id1170807549?mt=2 or Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/user-96614158

In this podcast, Jessie Shternshus , Paul Hammond and I take a shot at addressing the question of whether organizations have become so focused by the need to “do” Agile that they may have lost the ability to actually “be” Agile. During the conversation we touch on a number of the key challenges organizations are facing and how these challenges are impacting individuals at the team level. Show Notes 00:45 Introduction to Jessie and Paul 02:00 The Topic(s): Do we need to return to a more simple version of it so that people can better understand/internalize the fundamental intent behind it and not simply get lost in dogma and going thru the motions? How do we help “them” figure out the “why”? 06:30 Does leadership need to deeply understand Agile to help support transition to Agile or can the organization succeed if they just want to “do Agile”? 08:48 Changing the conversation to help people approach Agile with a more open mindset? 10:48 Mapping organizational values to Agile Manifesto values 11:30 How to create hope (that things can improve) at an organization? 14:20 Taking the option to “Make a choice” 16:37 Advice for getting “Buy In” 18:03 How do we unfreeze the frozen middle? 20:08 Should leadership demonstrate vulnerability when trying to transition to Agile? (crickets) 20:46 How do I help my company become a place innovative, agile people will want to work? 22:47 You can’t put a band-aid on culture 23:56 What id you hire for the culture you want, and disappoint the new folks with what you have? 26:15 Has anyone’s Agile transformation ever gone fast enough? What is the pace of transition that you need? 27:17 Remember to acknowledge the positives 28:00 Advice for Senior Mgmt. on adopting Agile 32:36 Advice for Team Members who feel like Mgmt. doesn’t get it yet 36:30 How to reach Jessie and Paul 38:29 Close Contacting Jessie and Paul Jessie is the founder of The ImprovEffect. You can reach her at her site here: http://www.improveffect.com or via Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheImprovEffect. She also has a number of upcoming events which can be found here: http://www.improveffect.com/events/ Paul Hammond is is the Director European Product Development at eBay and can be reached via his website: http://phammond.com or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/phammond. Paul is also on the Board of the Agile Alliance. You can find more about the upcoming Agile Alliance Technical Conference here: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile-alliance-technical-conference-2017/

This summer Patrice Colancecco Embry posted an article on The Digital Project Manager suggesting that project managers needed to show empathy not just towards team members and stakeholders, but towards the project itself. In this interview Patrice and Dave dig in a little deeper on the idea of showing empathy for your project, why and how you'd go about doing that. They also get into the how important it is for the PM to show empathy for him/herself and when it is okay to totally hate the project. If you'd like to check out Patrice's original article, you can find it here: http://www.thedigitalprojectmanager.com/managing-project-empathy/ If you'd like to get in touch with Patrice, you can reach her via: Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrice108 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriceembry Her website http://www.patrice-embry.com

One of the great benefits I have had through volunteering for the Scrum Alliance has been the opportunity to work with a long list of inspiring and brilliant people. At the top of that list is Jukka Lindstrom. Jukka is someone who’s approach to exploring and solving problems is so different from my own that I felt like every time we collaborated on something, I got better at what I was doing just by working with him. A few years ago Jukka left his job as an Agile Coach and Trainer and started working full time with traditional organizations. At the start of 2016 he joined Cargotec to head up their Digital Transformation effort. If you think Agile Transition is hard, consider that it is only a small part of the transformation of digitizing a global organization with 11,000 people who are used to working in an analog world. In the first part of the interview Jukka and I talk about the work he’s been doing since leaving Reaktor and what it’s like trying to transform a company of 11,000 people to not just Agile, but a digitized way of working as well. Leaving the Agile Consulting world to go back into a traditional environment is a brave choice, but for Jukka, it presented an opportunity to test out what he had learned and see if he could help. While it has provided him with great learning experiences, it has also come with some tough moments. In the second part of the interview we focus on how what that career transition has been like and how he has avoided getting trapped in the doldrums when he is faced with working in a more traditional environment. Show Notes 00:09 Interview Begins 00:57 Jukka’s role at Cargotec and what the company does 02:37 The difference between Agile Transformation and Digital Transformation 07:36 The complexity of transformation at Cargotec 08:44 Why is this level of transformation so much harder than basic Agile transformation 10:10 The mindset shift 11:54 Placing a bet on technology when you don’t know exactly what you’ll be able to do with the result yet 13:00 transforming11,000 people … “that’s like 1,200-1,500 teams of people” 15:00 Where do you learn faster? Working in software or more traditional (manufacturing) companies 17:15 Becoming an Agile Bodhisattva 17:52 When you walk back into the waterfall, doesn’t it kinda suck? And how do you stay inspired? 19:45 Realizing that the reason you feel stuck is because you aren’t being true to yourself 22:37 How to avoid playing the victim and taking ownership of your own learning and joy 24:30 “I’m not having fun… why am I doing this?” 25:27 If you can’t find fun in what you’re doing, you’re doing the wrong thing 25:55 Things Jukka does outside of work that helps him stay engaged and learning while he is at work 27:00 MIT’s ULab Links from the Interview Cargotec Website: http://www.cargotec.com Singapore Cargo Port Timelapse Video https://youtu.be/HrZg96L8yaY MIT’s ULab Course https://www.edx.org/course/u-lab-leading-emerging-future-mitx-15-671-1x Leading from the Emerging Future by Otto Scharmer http://amzn.to/2dJJ1TL Reaktor https://reaktor.com If you’d like to contact Jukka LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jukkalindstrom Twitter https://twitter.com/jukka_lindstrom