Tag: agile

Do-ocracy

This powerful culture thrives in organisations with active trust and respect, where people take responsibility. It’s similar to the pattern “better to beg for pardon than to ask for permission“. Do-ocracy, a term derived from “do” and “democracy,” is a concept that emphasizes action and initiative over formal hierarchy or decision-making processes. In Agile environments,…
Team health check

In agile environments, the health and effectiveness of teams are crucial for delivering value and achieving success. Team Health Checks are valuable tools used to assess and improve the well-being and performance of Agile teams. So let’s have a look into some popular approaches to Team Health Checks and their benefits. One common method is…
Net negative producing developer

This blog post is about an anti pattern – and on top contains another anti pattern in itself (in my opinion). So what is a net negative producing developer? Originally described by G. Gordon Schulmeyer in the early 90’s, it’s basically a member of a (software) team whose contributions to a project result in more…
Pairing

(Spoiler alert: the secret benefit of pairing is better understanding and cooperation within the team.)I think you all know pair programming or even mob programming – maybe you do it regurarly in your team. But did you try pair writing or pair tasking in general? If you yet didn’t hear about pair programming: it’s a…
Open books

In my former company, we opened our books about 15 years ago. And since then, it was a crucial part of our collaboration.In an agile organization, opening the books—sharing financial information, strategic plans, and operational metrics—can be a transformative practice, fostering a culture of participation and loyalty among employees. When employees have access to transparent…
Status quo bias

I’ll confess, I’m a creature of habit. The same coffee shop order every morning, the well-worn route to work – there’s a comfort in the familiar. The status quo bias, our tendency to favor the current state of affairs, can be a major roadblock for businesses navigating a VUCA landscape. Imagine a company clinging to…
Small steps

At first glance, the concept of “small steps” seems absolutely boring. Where is the inspiration, the glamour, the “reaching for the stars”? But the approach of “small steps” have unbeatable advantages:
Sharpen the saw

Steven Covey describe in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” about the necessity of “sharpen the saw” from time to time. He wrote this in the eighties of the century, so almost half a decade ago.Still, this habit turned out to be essential for any agile approach, which manifests in the “inspect…
Inspect and adapt

Inspect and adapt are often called the pillars of the scrum process. You find this paradigm in many events of a sprint like daily standup, planning, review and retrospective. Inspect and adapt are a consequence of the complex nature of our work (and life): since we can’t plan e.g. a whole project, we have to…
M-shaped

It’s quite a while ago since the search for “T-shaped” people was replaced by the focus on “M-shaped” colleagues. For me, this change symbolizes the move from a complicated to a complex world. A “T-shaped” developer refers to someone with broad expertise across multiple areas (the horizontal bar of the “T”) and deep expertise in…
Stacey matrix

If you are working in complex environments, you are probably familiar with the Stace matrix. So writing about this pattern might be like to carry coals to Newcastle 🙂 Developed by Ralph D. Stacey, the Stacey Matrix is a conceptual model that categorizes projects based on their level of certainty and agreement among stakeholders. It…
Better ask for pardon …

… then beg for permission! In out modern project world, things change fast, and you gotta make choices on the fly. The saying “better ask for forgiveness later than permission beforehand” can be challenging in these high-pressure moments. Let’s see why: 1. Catch the Opportunity Before It Zooms Past: Complex environments are full of surprises,…
Cynefin framework

In modern environments, a good part of our failed solution strategies comes from the misunderstanding of our environment. To navigate these complexities effectively, robust decision-making frameworks are essential. The Cynefin Framework, developed by Dave Snowden, provides a clear and practical lens for categorizing and tackling various situations. This article explores the core principles of the…
Underpromise & Overdelivery

The “underpromise, overdeliver” approach can be a double-edged sword for Agile teams. On the customer side, it can be a real win. Imagine their delight when they receive more features or a quicker turnaround than they anticipated. In the beginning, this approach fosters trust and loyalty, keeping them coming back for more. However, for the…
Complexity – the cause for agile

Many people in IT use agile principles and frameworks like Scrum without asking ‘why’. But acting agile is in fact an answer to the complex environments we are working in nowadays. Two centuries ago, our workplaces were often huge factories which required plain man power from its workers. In the last century engineering in complicated…