Software Process and Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 728 features a discussion with Anjali Leon and Nadezhda Belousova. We discussed their new model, Product Leadership Stances. One of my takeaways was how powerful the model was in helping to develop an understanding of product leadership and then highlighting gaps in how the role is practiced in organizations. Anjali and Nadezhda's Bios! Anjali Leon is an Agility, Product, and Professional Coach, Collaboration Facilitator, and Trusted Strategic Advisor. Through her boutique coaching and consulting practice, PPL Coach, She brings her years of experience in technology, leadership, and Agile to help her clients adapt, innovate, and thrive in the new-normal business environment - where the meaning of 'winning' is quickly being redefined as integrating better business outcomes and our collective well-being. You can experience Anjali's authentic head, hearts and hands approach to product, people, and personal leadership through one of her unique value-driven and values-based coaching programs, workshops, and training. Anjali is an accredited trainer through ICAgile and ProKanban, is a trained co-active coach and is a committed lifelong learner. She is recognized as an inspiring speaker, conference organizer, and community leader. She is co-creator of Product Leadership Stances™, co-founder of HitRefresh – a resilience-building practice, founder of Empowering South Florida Women in Agile, and member of the advisory board for ProKanban.org. Anjali's Profile linkedin.com/in/anjali-leon Website ppl-coach.com (Company) Twitter thepplcoach4U awakencoach AnjaliLeon Nadezhda Belousova is an Integral Master Coach™ and an independent Enterprise Business Agility Strategist who deeply cares about high-performing scalable businesses with human-centric approach and sustainability at heart. She brings a combination of psychology, multiple professional coaching approaches (ORSC, Solution-Focused coaching, Clean Language, etc.), years of extensive hands-on consulting experience in various industries, and a can-do-all mindset. Nadezhda sees organizations holistically as living systems and enables them to unleash their potential – to evolve, to re-invent themselves, to thrive. She runs a boutique organizational coaching and management consulting practice serving her clients worldwide from Berlin, Germany. Nadezhda is a mentor, speaker and a passionate contributor to a number of professional communities (European Organizational Design Forum, Agile Alliance, Business Agility Institute, etc.). LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadezhdabelousova Product Leadership Website: https://www.productleadershipstances.com/ Re-read Saturday News This week we re-read Chapter 1 of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link). Chapter 1, Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching, is an overview of the book including thoughts on how to read it and a whole lot more. This Week: Week 2: Introduction to Badassery in Agile Coaching - https://bit.ly/3hcEPMs Previous Weeks: Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In the SPaMCAST 729 let's go back to basics and discuss why it is a rotten idea to have a functional product owner and a technical product owner. Tony Timbol will also bring his "To Tell A Story" column to the podcast.

In SPaMCAST 727 we discuss the assumptions behind Little's Law and Neglected WIP. Some of the assumptions you can cheat to generate useful conversations but there are limits and you need to be upfront about what you are doing. We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast. In this installment, Susan answers a listener's question about the complications of a team with 2 developers and 5 managers. Re-read Saturday News This week we begin our re-read of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). This week we begin with a few notes on the logistics of the read and then review the two Forewords. Week 1: Logistics and Forewords - https://bit.ly/3zoAYlx A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Please email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In SPaMCAST 728 we will feature our discussion of product leadership stances with Anjali Leon and Nadezhda Belousova. Developing an understanding of product leadership stances will highlight product leadership gaps and strengthen your product focus. .

In SPaMCAST 726 Mr. Allan Kelly returns! We discussed the fact that backlogs often become dumping grounds. Allan suggested an energetic solution. We also discussed OKRs and whether they are related to backlogs. Are OKRs the chicken or the egg? Allan Kelly advises and mentors managers and teams in using agile approaches and OKRs to accelerate delivery, meet deadlines and execute against strategy. He believes these approaches benefit businesses and create more fulfilling work environments. Allan is a keynote conference speaker and author of several books including "Succeeding with OKRs in Agile", "The Art of Agile Product Ownership" and "Business Patterns for Software Developers". He blogs at allankelly.net and can be contacted there or on Linkedin, https://www.linkedin.com/in/allankellynet/ Re-read Saturday News We complete our re-read of the classic Coaching Agile Teams this week with a few final thoughts. I view Coaching Agile Teams as a tale of two themes. The first is a book of philosophy and the second is a how-to book full of techniques. The full value of this book requires two readings. The first time I read the book, I took the how-to path. This time the philosophies of agile coaching were more important to me than any individual technique. Next week we start our re-read of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). This will be less of a re-read than it will be me trying to stay one or two chapters ahead because I am reading the book for the first time. We will begin with a few notes on the logistics of the read and then we will review the front matter. Previous Installments Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY Week 8: Coach As Teacher - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7 Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor - https://bit.ly/3fXoHOs Week 12: Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes - https://bit.ly/3T0FluQ Week 13: When Will I Get There? and It's Your Journey - https://bit.ly/3MAe00v Week 14: Final Thoughts - https://bit.ly/3z6zJaA A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In SPaMCAST 727 we will discuss the assumptions behind Little's Law and Neglected WIP. Some of the assumptions you can cheat on and still get valuable information. We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast.

One of the most common problems teams face is starting more work than they complete. Neglected WIP is the gap between all the work you say you are working on and the stuff you are doing. The natural vagaries of office life can cause an item to get stuck due to someone being out sick or because your co-worker hit the lottery - stuff happens. A little might be ok, but more is bad. When neglected WIP passes that hurdle, real flow time will increase and velocity will slow. The combination of getting less work done and taking longer at it is a prescription for your stakeholders to start looking for torches and pitchforks. We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the podcast. In this installment, we discussed the QA Lead's role in agile teams. So just what does a QA Lead do in an agile team . . . Jeremy has some ideas. Re-read Saturday News I am going to combine the conversation of Chapters 12 and 13 of Coaching Agile Teams this week because there is a common core in these two chapters. Chapter 12, When Will I Get There?, discusses when will you know that you have become an Agile Coach, and Chapter 13, It's Your Journey, discusses the journey several coaches have taken to get there. Chapter 12 plots the journey and Chapter 13 provides several travelogues. Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! Logistics Note: Next week we will wrap up Coaching Agile Teams and then on to Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading. Previous Installments Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY Week 8: Coach As Teacher - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7 Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor - https://bit.ly/3fXoHOs Week 12: Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes - https://bit.ly/3T0FluQ Week 13: When Will I Get There? and It's Your Journey - https://bit.ly/3MAe00v A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In SPaMCAST 726 we will chat with Mr. Allan Kelly. I missed talking to Allan so we covered a wide range of topics including OKRs, Product Backlogs, and remote working. Allan brings incredible insight to the podcast.

This week we feature an interview with Indus Khaitan, Founder & CEO at Quolum. A few of the topics covered include: Why do organizations need help in consuming SaaS at scale efficiently? How can looking carefully at how you are using Saas save organizations tons of money? How can organizations refocus on delivering value rather than on overhead? What does it take to take a vision and make it a going concern, more than once? Indus Khaitan is the founder of Quolum. Quolum helps companies manage their SaaS spend. He started Bitzer Mobile, a mobile security startup that Oracle acquired. Earlier, he led growth at Chargebee. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Indus' Profile: linkedin.com/in/khaitan Websites: angel.co/1ndus (AngelList Profile) quolum.com (Company) Email: khaitan@gmail.com Twitter: 1ndus Podcast: Chief Future Officer Re-read Saturday News This week we reread Chapter 11 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3). Chapter 11, Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes, begins Part 3 of Coaching Agile Teams. Part 3 titled " Getting More for Yourself." Chapter 11 hits the topic of failure head-on, sharing both failure and success modes. Anyone that has been in the business of agile coach (coach, Scrum Master, manager, or others) for more than a few years and has pushed the boundaries of culture will have failures on their CV. Coaching is hard, training and continuous learning are important but not enough. A coach without experience is a trainee. A wide range of experience, which opens the door to successes and failures, is a learning opportunity that classes and webinars can't deliver. Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! Logistics Note: We will combine the discussion of the last two chapters in this book and then follow that with a recap before starting. Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading. Previous Installments Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY Week 8: Coach As Teacher - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7 Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor - https://bit.ly/3fXoHOs Week 12 Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes - https://bit.ly/3T0FluQ A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In SPaMCAST 725 we delve deeper into the concept of neglected WIP highlighting the calculation and a quick case study'ette so you can see the concept in action. We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault from the QA Corner.

SPaMCAST 723 features our essay on neglected WIP. Work that has been started and is now just sitting around is neglected. Running a team or organization above their natural level WIP for any length of time causes flow velocity (throughput) to slow and flow time (cycle time) to increase. When there is too much work, people try all sorts of techniques to get work done. Multitasking is the grandfather of them all and we all know how that turns out (need a hint – badly). In the end, all approaches to trying to do too many ends up with some things being juggled and ignored. That is neglected WIP. We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development Column. In this column Jon and I discuss time. Speaking of time, this is a lost episode…we started the episode discussing snow, last year's snow. We talked last week and were discussing when the first snow will be this year. Sometimes time flys and sometimes it doesn't. Re-read Saturday News This week we reread Chapter 10 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3). The chapter is titled Coach as Coordination Conductor. The two most important items for me during this read of chapter 10 are found in the first part of this chapter. Reflecting back on my previous cover-to-cover read, I think that the number of great facilitation techniques in this chapter caused me to overlook two very important concepts. The first is an approach for differentiating collaboration and coordination. The approach is simple but very powerful. Why would any coach care about observing the difference? Because the two concepts are different and are useful in different scenarios. Logistics Note: We have three more chapters in this book which we will follow with a recap before starting. Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading. Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! Previous Installments Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY Week 8: Coach As Teacher - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7 Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST Next week we will feature an interview with Indus Khaitan, Founder & CEO at Quolum. Indus and I talked about SaaS, controlling SaaS spending, and serial entrepreneurship.

We are back with new content this week! The bears did not eat us as we trekked in three national parks. We did see bears but kept a respectable distance from them. Today the SPaMCAST 722 features an interview with Scott Showalter, Agile Career Accelerator. We discussed the definition of an agile coach. Building on that definition we wrestled with how to scale the business of agile coaching. Note - I mispronounced Scott's name at the beginning of the interview, rather than re-record the faux pax, it triggered a great story so I left it in. Scott is an active enterprise agile coach working in the trenches with execs and leaders at a Fortune 10 organization, and what he has learned throughout the journey of his career is that what feels impossible only becomes achievable once we shift our perspective. Scott has a passion for helping people design, grow and automate their products and their lives so that they can focus on what's truly important and have a greater impact on this planet. He coaches IT professionals and entrepreneurs on income growth and career advancement, and on the weekends he has been known to perform laugh-out-loud stand-up comedy. Scott's LinkedIn Profile linkedin.com/in/scottrageous Website scottshowalter.com (Personal) Twitter scottrageous Re-read Saturday News During the last few weeks, I have read and reread Chapter 9 of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3). The chapter titled Coach as Conflict Navigator talks about the value and danger of conflict. What stuck with me was the model of levels of conflict and how at a certain point there can be no constructive outcome. Teams aside, scary thoughts for the world we live in. Remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! Previous Installments Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3A1aNTe Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach - https://bit.ly/3nzDAHg Week 3: Expect High Performance - https://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf Week 4: Master Yourself - https://bit.ly/3zL8t2n Week 5: Let Your Style Change - https://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor - https://bit.ly/3QLcSIi Week 7: Coach as Facilitator - https://bit.ly/3AaP5KY Week 8: Coach As Teacher - https://bit.ly/3AURGdL Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver - https://bit.ly/3C06Gr7 Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator - https://bit.ly/3R6tmuc A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST Next week SPaMCAST 723 will feature an essay on neglected WIP. Work that has been started and is now just sitting around is neglected. We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development Column.

The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have: Jeremy Berriault from SPaMCAST 571 Jiu-Jitsu and Teams, Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2pCtlHI Susan Parente from SPaMCAST 556 Agile In Name Only, Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2JRGTFk Tony TImbol from SPaMCAST 692 Agile Requirements, Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3hng3WY Enjoy! Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com. Re-read Saturday News I am packaging this show well ahead of time therefore all I can say for sure about the re-read is to remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate link https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST Next week we are back…unless bears have eaten me (I've been hiking in the Rockies). SPaMCAST 722 will feature an interview with Scott Showalter, Agile Career Accelerator. We discussed the definition of an agile coach. Building on that definition we wrestled with how to scale the business of agile coaching.

The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have: Jon M Quigley - SPaMCAST 397 – Project Strategy - Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3pLztbU (Note: this was Jon's debut column and he doesn't know I am slipping this in.) Susan Parente and Jon M Quigley- SPaMCAST 585 - Most Agile Transformations Ignore Technical Skills - Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2Haa4CE Enjoy! Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com. Re-read Saturday News I am packaging this show well ahead of time therefore all I can say for sure about the re-read is to remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST Next week we feature more of Jeremy Berriault, Susan Parente, and Tony Timbol.

The SPaMCAST is on a three-week hiatus. We will be back with new programming on September 25. In the interim, I asked the SPaMCAST columnists (Jeremy, Jon, Susan, and Tony) for a couple of favorite columns they delivered. Today we have: Jeremy Berriault - Your Scrum Master Is Not Yout Team Admin from SPaMCAST 705 Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3wXIguD Tony Timbol - Agile Requirement Lifecycle from SPaMCAST 709 - Want to listen to the full podcast? https://bit.ly/3OnjHyJ Susan Parente - Virtual Agile from SPaMCAST 589 - Want to listen to the full podcast? http://bit.ly/2PVUP59 Enjoy! Do you have questions that you would like Susan, Jon, Jeremy, Tony, or myself to answer? Leave a voice message at 01.440.668.5717 or an email at spamcastinfo@gmail.com. Re-read Saturday News I am packaging this show well ahead of time therefore all I can say for sure about the re-read is to remember to buy a copy of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along! A quick advertisement: Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST Next week we feature Jon M Quigley and Jon and Susan Parente together (a Jon and Susan-polza?)