Happy New Year’s Eve!
Happy New Year's Eve everyone !!! Be SAFE !
Dec
31
2018
Dec
30
2018
Do Business Analysts Have Part in the SAFe Construct? Part II
In SAFe, there is such a thing called 'Continuous Delivery Pipeline' -- a pipeline that continuously delivers value -- ad-infinitum -- from 'concept to cash'. It has three elements and one more: 1) Continuous Exploration (CE), 2) Continuous Integration (CI), 3) Continuous Deployment (CD), and the 'one more' is Release On Demand. CE: is at the SAFe 'Program Level'. This is where Features are developed... via Research and Synthesis. CE: this is where product manager and collaborators look at the business epic and break it down into features... features that they will flesh out (research) then put all the features…
Dec
29
2018
Do Business Analysts Have Part in the SAFe Construct?
Good question to this good audience... do Business Analysts have part in the SAFe construct? I am not sure why...but this is a common question that I get from folks that are new to SAFe. Think about it...feel free to leave a comment...would love to know your point of view... please share. To be continued.
Dec
28
2018
SAFe’s ‘Funding Model’ Not ‘As Easy As Pie’. Part III
SAFe advocates this funding model: 'Fund Value Streams, not Projects'. Let's step back... to get a better perspective... a big picture of this matter. According to SAFe, 'Value Streams represent the series of steps that an organization uses to build Solutions that provide a continuous flow of value to a customer.' There are two types of Value Streams: 1) Operational Value Stream; 2) Development Value Stream. Here are how things are Operational Value Stream is where you see people operate/use the system. Development Value Stream is behind the Operational Value Stream... or, some would say, Development Value Stream sits on…
Dec
27
2018
SAFe’s ‘Funding Model’ Not ‘As Easy As Pie’. Part II
To have a holistic view of this matter, let's go back to the beginning. 1969 was the year when Project Management Institute (PMI) -- the world's leading professional organization for project management-- was founded. Professional Project Management now has educational and certifying body. Millions of memberships followed... around the world! PMI's book, Project Management Book Of Knowledge (PMBOK), is so popular...it has been translated in major languages... and millions of copies sold worldwide. Project Management is engrained to people and organizations worldwide. Going into year 2019, that is 50 years of professional project management engrained in people's minds and their…
Dec
26
2018
SAFe’s ‘Funding Model’ Not ‘As Easy As Pie’
SAFe's funding model is 'Fund Value Streams, not Projects'. Adopting that funding model is not easy...and might not even be practical ... worst, might even be impossible! To implement this funding model, it is easier said than done...it is really not as easy as pie, idiomatically speaking. To be continued.
Dec
25
2018
Dec
24
2018
Greetings !
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! Today is the eve of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let's celebrate! Forget work... and focus on our respective families and loved ones ... and, don't forget the real reason of Christmas. Also, this is a great time for retrospection, innovation and planning! Cheers!
Dec
23
2018
Why My Posts are in Small Batches. Part II
This Oreo picture says it all... The smaller the piece, the easier and faster it is to prepare, package, deliver and consume... and easier to fix if it's messed up. The small one's flow -- i.e. prepare, package, deliver, consume -- is faster than the large one's; with small batches, a 'lean flow' -- needed for faster delivery of value -- is achieved. Relating back to my writing of my posts in small batches... it's faster for me to prepare, put my thoughts in pint-size -- easy to digest size thoughts, ready for posting at 5:00 AM EST for early…
Dec
22
2018
Why My Posts are in Small Batches
Let me tell you why I have chosen to post in small batches ... where I could have also could have chosen otherwise: posts in large batches. Do you know why? To be continued.
Dec
21
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part VIII
There you have it. Technical coaching is both teaching and mentoring. However, try to go back to professional coaching because you want the coachee to think about the solution, craft the solution paths, and own the selected path from start to completion. October 15, 2022: My new book, "SAFe Is Like ...", is now available on Amazon. You will get a FREE SIGNED COPY if/when you register, pay, and complete a class by the Lean Agile Guru.
Dec
20
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part VII
OKR -- the golden thread / tie that binds...CFR -- the conversations, feedback, recognition that makes the OKR more meaningful, purposeful, and impactful. Objectives and key results (OKR) -- is a powerful and useful tool. You set objectives and its corresponding key result (Feedback loop) to see how you are progressing towards the achievement of the goal/objective. Without OKR, inattention to where you are heading and inattention to result happen. Inattention to results is a sign of a team dysfunction. Setting goals/objectives with key results defined is paramount. At the team-level, every iteration must have an iteration goal and key…
Dec
19
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part VI
Team-level. Why bother having a Daily Standup (DSU)? Every iteration has at least one iteration goal... and it must be S.M.A.R.T. goal... and meaningful goal. A meaningful conversation about a meaningful goal at a DSU is a good DSU. A conversation with the team on how you are progressing the iteration goal is more meaningful than you just telling what you have done for a particular story on the iteration. You can also talk about any impediment that is stopping you from progressing... or any dependency that could put the iteration at risk. Feedback -- fast feedback from the team…
Dec
18
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part V
OKR and CFR ... you have heard these before... right? OKR = Objectives and key results. CFR = Conversation, Feedback, Recognition. SAFe has OKRs and CFRs written all over the place but not explicitly called as such ... but the spirits of these two live in and alive in SAFe. So where can we find OKRs and CFRs in SAFe? How do these two relate to scaling up from teams to program to large solution to Portfolio to the enterprise's? As a SAFe technical coach (I am referring to SAFe SPCs) and a business coach, you must be aware of…
Dec
17
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part IV
SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) -- if SAFe were a school, it would be much like a huge public school with 1000 + students. A small magnet school scaled up! It can also be scaled up to a huge University! SAFe's core -- at the team-level -- is Scrum (albeit, any Lean Agile way of working is acceptable). Scaled up to a team of agile teams (Agile Release Train (ART)) at a program-level. Scaled up to a team of team of agile teams at a large solutions level. On top of that, there is a portfolio-level with themes to connect to…
Dec
16
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part III
Scrum -- if scrum were a 'school', this would be a small magnet school. Limited number of classes with limited students per class. It has more structure than a Montessori school (Kanban): there is a stablished cadence for everything ... which is very much unlike kanban. To be continued. October 15, 2022: My new book, "SAFe Is Like ...", is now available on Amazon. You will get a FREE SIGNED COPY if/when you register, pay, and complete a class by the Lean Agile Guru.
Dec
15
2018
Being a Technical Coach. Part II
Within the Lean-Agile domain/subject of interest, the following will be covered here: Kanban, Scrum, and SAFe. Let's start with Kanban. If these three (Kanban, Scrum, SAFe) were schools, Kanban would be a Montessori school... where free-spirited children thrive... children who take things as they come and complete all things whenever these get completed. The car shop is another analogy ...they take in car repairs as they come ... no pre-planning ... no constraint on how long the repair will take ... just an estimate ... it will be done when it is done. A related good read about this car…
Dec
14
2018
Being a Technical Coach
Yes, there is such a thing as technical coach... and not solely a transformational coach. There is also a business coach -- if you are curious as to what else is out there...many more types of coaches of course; but we will stick with these three types of coaches. One person can be all of these three types of coaches; or be a specialist to one type. The context of this series is about 'Lean-Agile'. Just setting the stage/boundary... for better focus and clarity. It is not all about mindset shift ... one should also be superior in technical matters...…
Dec
13
2018
Be Aware of Limiting Beliefs. Part III
The piece of data that you take in ... you put meaning to it and start putting extra pieces to it... adding 'legs' to support that meaning, like: experiential data related to it, personal biases, culture, and assumptions. You start drawing conclusions and start adopting it as one of your beliefs ... a belief that you start using as a guide when taking action. This process goes in a loop as data is acquired. Everyone of us got this process in our DNA...nothing wrong with it... until that belief -- as you become aware of it -- is a limiting…
Dec
12
2018
Be Aware of Limiting Beliefs. Part II
It all starts with what we experience and observable data that we have on hand. Remember the story about the six blind men describing what they are observing and experiencing? Yeah, one of the five men observed that he is holding a fan...the others said something else different from each other: rope, tree, wall, spear, snake! They are describing observable data that they have on hand. To be continued.
Dec
11
2018
Be Aware of Limiting Beliefs
Limiting beliefs is exactly what that meant: it limits our opportunities, our vision, our understanding, our potential, our emotional intelligence... that's just naming a few things our limiting beliefs take away from us. What are your limiting beliefs as a coach? What are the limiting beliefs of the coachee? Would you like to remove these limiting beliefs? But first, let's understand this first: How does a limiting belief come into one's mind? To be continued.
Dec
10
2018
From being a Coach to being a Mentor to back being a Coach. Part II
Sometimes, coaches give hints to help the coachee find his/her way to a solution. Telling something that you have seen work as a solution -- for a certain scenario by other teams -- to a problem that is similar to what the coachee is facing. This way, the coachee is primed with some ideas to start off with. Then go back to being a coach -- asking powerful questions; you, as a coach, got to have the coachee experience the joy of discovery of the solution.
Dec
09
2018
From being a Coach to being a Mentor to back being a Coach
Sometimes, in some situations, you just have to momentarily stop being a coach and be a mentor... then at the right moment you pull yourself back to being a coach. Let me explain... To be continued.
Dec
08
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part X
Knowing what makes a person change for the negative (avoidance-response) and for the positive (approach/reward-response) is handy in transformational coaching. Continue reading
Dec
07
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part IX
Fairness. Transformational coach look for the element of fairness from the perspective of the coachee within the context of the change. If there is a threat of unfairness, avoidance-response occurs... so need to minimize that threat; accentuating the perceived fairness of the change, however, may trigger an approach-response. Having Transparency -- one of the three cornerstones of Agile (empirical process control models) -- is a great sign of fairness. Lack of transparency... only few 'lucky' people have a certain information to their advantage... is unfair. To be continued.
Dec
06
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part VIII
Autonomy. The 'Carrots and stick' approach is not effective to move, really move, a person towards a goal... it is artificial... it is not coming from within. Extrinsic motivation like this is not effective. Intrinsic motivation, however, is effective... it comes from within. What makes a person tick? That's what a transformational coach needs to be aware of ... and use that as clue as to how he /she can influence the coachee. 'Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers' ... that is SAFe principle number #8! To be continued.
Dec
05
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part VII
Certainty. If a person feels uncertain of where the change is going... they feel threatened...they will not move forward ... avoidance-response occurs. However, if there is certainty associated with the move, the person will move forward; approach-response occurs. As a transformational coach, emphasizing certainty and lessening the threat of uncertainty could help the coachee to have forward-response instead of avoidance-response. Clearly defined goal ... is an example of certainty... whilst poorly defined goal is an example of uncertainty. The brain craves for certainty... even if the perceived certainty is an illusion. To be continued.
Dec
04
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part VI
Status: Sense of worth. If a person's sense of worth/status is threatened, that person will negatively respond to the change. Avoidance-response occurs. In contrast, if a person's sense of worth is perceived to increase, that person will positively respond to the change and move towards it. Approach-response occurs. Have you ever wondered why your company asks you to self-assess yourself in your 360 degrees performance review? This is to lessen the threat to your self-worth. During your coaching conversation with your coachee... be aware to not threaten the coachee's self-worth. Example: When providing a feedback, you use words like 'I've…
Dec
03
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part V
Have you ever wondered why politicians -- when they go campaigning, knocking door to door, strolling along the streets, eating at the local cafeteria, sipping coffee at coffee shops, eating pizzas, ice cream with the locals -- act, dress up, eat, talk, think at the wave length like those they are trying to get to vote for them? They are influencing them to move ... towards voting for them. Yup ... they are using the concept of 'Relatedness'. They are silently screaming: 'I am just like you...we want and need the same things... I understand you... send your votes my…
Dec
02
2018
Transformational Coaching: What Moves a Person to Change. Part IV
Transformational Coaching entails rewiring... helping people ditch the ineffective way for an effective way. Example: Transforming from waterfall to lean-agile. Anti-patterns and Muscle memory: One technique that a transformational coach should be aware of is ... to be aware of the Agile anti-pattern that the coachee is exhibiting... and nip it in the bud...the moment it is observed. There will be a lot of these 'nipping in the bud' activities... so do the transformational coaching the moment you observe the anti-pattern; eliminating one anti-patten at a time. Don't do it all in one go...what the brain can absorb and the…