Clarence Galapon

CE, MBA, Lean Agile Coach, Trainer, Teacher, SPC, RTE, PSM, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PMP, CC, ABNLP NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner, NLP Coach, NLP Trainer, Practical Psychologist, Life Coach, Software Executive, Entrepreneur, Author, Investor, and Innovator with a Creative, Lean, Agile, and Wander mindset. https://LeanAgileGuru.com
1133 Posts
Feb
26
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Superstar Is Not Needed

Agile Team, leadership, lean agile leadership, mindset, Superstar, Teams, Transformation
Superstar is not needed; we need the whole team to work together as one unit... not dependent on one person — the superstar — for favorable results/outcomes. This axiom applies at the upper levels: at program level, large solution level, at portfolio level...and also at the enterprise level. Dependency on a superstar is not good... having a single point of failure is not good. Even if we have more than one superstar, the saying, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ still applies. There was a time when the USA Dream Team — the men’s basketball team…
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Feb
25
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Heal

Innovation, innovation riptide
Innovation and Planning (IP) iteration ‘heals’ the knowledge workers and the enterprise. Innovation makes our minds soar with creativity outside our mundane existence. Innovation is the lifeblood of any enterprise. Blockbuster and Blackberry anyone? Innovation all throughout the Program Increment (PI) not just in IP iteration is ideal. Innovation Riptide Engage both top-down strategic thinking with organic team-based innovations to create a synergistic ‘innovation riptide’ that powers a tidal wave of new products, services, and capabilities. Heal... have some downtime... play! October 15, 2022: My new book, "SAFe Is Like ...", is now available on Amazon.  What our students think…
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Feb
24
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Winter Of…

Four Seasons Of Life, Winter
Some folks see winter of discontent... some folks see winter of fun. Which side you are on depends on how prepared you are come ‘winter time’. In his book, ‘The Four Seasons of Life’, Jim Rohn stated ‘winter of life’ like this: ‘Winter is the season where you have to operate at your best while the world around you, including the circumstances you face – Be they financial, emotional, social or otherwise are challenging. Winter is the time where you must survive and live on previous spring and summer harvests where wealth, emotional lessons, social welfare and connections with others…
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Feb
22
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Look At Both Sides…

Design Thinking
‘... I’ve looked at life from both sides now...’ — Joni Mitchell Design Thinking looks at the matter on hand from multiple perspectives and sides — break things apart to understand and then synthesize — put things together — to reveal a clear picture of the matter.
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Feb
21
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Which Way…

Product Management, Product Manager
‘Which way to steer the train?’ A product management’s dilemma at T-junction It boils down to understanding the customers’/business priority... and the capacity of the delivery teams...before a path is chosen. Design Thinking is a tool to use for understanding: analysis and synthesis happen yielding a clear vision of what it is that is going to be built; what its beneficial features are; and the roadmap of the features... as to when these features will be delivered.
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Feb
19
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Scrum And Kanban — Like Day And Night

Kanban, Scrum
It’s true — the contrast between Scrum and Kanban is like Day and Night! Look at this angle: Kanban stories go through major phases...without ‘sprint’ boundaries... days go by without the story ever changing phase...like a story could be in the ‘Doing’ phase beyond two weeks (Sprint in SAFe is two weeks... Sprint is called iteration in SAFe). Unlike Scrum. Stories in Scrum had to be started, worked on, completed and done within a Sprint/Iteration. Kanban is like the moon... it has major phases that go on for a long time — beyond 12 hours; Scrum is like the sun...…
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Feb
16
2020
By Clarence Galapon

There Is Visual Thinking…And Then… Part II

Visual Chain Thinking, Visual Thinking
We, if not most people, think in terms of pictures... visuals. Example: when someone says ‘A hot Cup of Coffee’... most of us in our minds, we visualize it... in terms of pictures... not in terms of a bunch of words and letters. When we are collaborating and trying to analyze something — breaking a huge thing into small pieces in order to help us understanding it... does it make sense for us to collectively use visuals? Likewise when we synthesize something — piecing things together... things from a huge data and information ‘lake’...creatively and meaningfully connecting these things ...…
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Feb
14
2020
By Clarence Galapon

This is Agile

growrh mindset
Just do it... now...with what you have... with what you know... start somewhere... knowing that from the fast feedback and fast learning, you can adapt and adjust and be better next time...iterate. Embrace a 'Growth mindset'... learn and grow.
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Feb
13
2020
By Clarence Galapon

When Agile-ing In A Waterfall World

Agile, Waterfall
This is how it looks like -- as portrayed in this Dilbert cartoon -- when waterfall is spray painted with a cheap paint and called it Agile. Is this your world right now? If yes, then how would you handle it... how would you turn it from this waterfall iron triangle -- fixed scope, fixed deadline, and fixed quality -- into a true Agile way? To be continued...
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Feb
12
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Everyone Needs A Downtime

Downtime, System
100% utilization of any system is not good; it is not Lean Agile... 80% utilization or less is best. What is a system? A system is any assemblage or set of correlated members. A human body is a system... needs downtime ... needs rest... needs nourishment. People who are working on a system are also part of that system... they also need downtime. In SAFe, the last iteration of the program increment is called Innovation and Planning'... this is where 'downtime' happens... no usual work is planned into it. Instead, creative endeavors like hackathon, research, learning, retrospective, and planning for…
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Feb
11
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Teams Advancing Their Iteration Goals

daily standup, iteration goal
As your teams are iterating, during their respective Daily StandUp, they should provide what they have done yesterday to advance their iteration goals, what they are going to do today to advance their iteration goals, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, if there is an impediment in advancing their iteration goals. 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.
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Feb
10
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Sprint Replaced By Iteration

Iteration, Sprint
Have you ever wondered why SAFe replaced the word 'Sprint' with 'Iteration'? Sprint Review is now Iteration Review Sprint planning is now Iteration planning Sprint Retrospective is now Iteration Retrospective Why? SAFe is Scaled Agile... from team level scaling up to program level to large solution level to portfolio level. In SAFe, the iteration 'plan-do-check-adjust' (PDCA) is applied not only at team level (where teams iterate -- called 'sprint' in scrum)... but also at SAFe's program level, large solution level and portfolio level. In this light, SAFe needed a more appropriate word... that can be used at scale ... when…
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Feb
09
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Movies and Agile

Agile, movies, oscars
Oscars -- an event honoring actors and filmmakers in the movies. I was watching it - the 92nd Oscars, 2020 -- as I was writing this blog item. Got to share my observations vis-a-vis the titles of the movies in the running for Oscars awards: 'A good title says what a movie is!' Example: Evoke a setting :'Once upon a time in Hollywood' About a person: 'The Irishman' About women; 'Little Women' About something unsettling: 'Parasite' Likewise in Agile: A good name of an Epic, Feature, or a Story says about the intent of it! Intent ... is key. Delivery…
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Feb
08
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Tasking Stories in SAFe

Tasking Stories
As always, this question arises from time to time: 'To Task or not to Task ?' Here is the answer from SAI: 'Tasking Stories: Some teams break each story into tasks. As the tasks are identified, team members discuss each one: who would be the best person(s) to accomplish it, approximately how long it will take (typically in hours), and any dependencies it may have on other tasks or stories. Once all this is understood, a team member takes responsibility for a specific task or tasks. As team members commit to tasks, they reduce their individual iteration capacity until it…
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Feb
07
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Perspective

crucial conversations, perspective
Is your single-dimensional perspective leading you to incorrect understanding or assumptions? Unchecked incorrect or incomplete assumptions and perspectives lead to disaster... conversions become crucial... could lead to 'world war III' ... so be on the lookout for signs of these before conversations become crucial... and make the necessary adjustments... like looking at and understanding things from multiple perspectives... uncovering hidden or incorrect assumptions. Do these in a safe environment... not in hostile environment... otherwise, people will just dig in deeper with their own myopic perspectives and understanding. Trust and an environment of mutual influence are key to having a safe…
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Feb
06
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Values And Principles

principles, values, Values and Principles
Our practices, beliefs, attitude, and mindset are rooted in and guided by our values and principles. When we change our values and principles... our practices, beliefs and mindset change too. Lasting changes to a person come from within. To change our mindset -- our attitude, beliefs and practices -- it must come from within. Change for the better... design your life... embrace empowering values and principles like those that Lean and Agile offer... and re-craft/tailor your practices around those Lean and Agile values and principles. 'Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe'…
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Feb
05
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Risk and Grow

So True
So true! Did you know that turtles stick out their necks to move forward? Experiment... always look for the minimum viable experiment... see how it goes then adjust accordingly. Risk and grow!
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Feb
03
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Coaching

coaching
The squirrel was in deep thought -- about a problem... and the boy -- the squirrel's friend -- knelt down to the squirrel's level... and asked what he was thinking about...a dialogue ensued... the boy asked 'tell me more...' ; the squirrel complied... then the boy asked a 'what if' question... provoked the squirrel to think of a vision towards a possible solution... the squirrel pondered... and then he shouted 'eureka!' He found the solution!
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Feb
02
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Jira

Jira
Jira is really killing the Agile world... an Epic in Jira is a Feature in Agile. In Agile, an Epic is decomposed into Features! Really messed up. So... be careful... best to provide a mapping of artifacts between Agile and Jira... before teaching SAFe to people who are using Jira.
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Jan
31
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Bright Spots

Bright Spot
The road to Transformation to Agile is 'Dark'...lots of unknown matters. Nonetheless, success happens... like when teams eventually get what a 'Sprint Goal' is ... and they get to know how to create it ... in such a way that it is meaningful to and advances the achievement of the Program Increment Objectives. This a an example of a bright spot. The trick is to share this bright spot with other teams... so that they, in turn, can duplicate it. You see, the more bright spots we share with others, we are also lighting up our way to success.
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Jan
30
2020
By Clarence Galapon

Kanban or Scrum

Kanban, Scrum
So... should a team be Kanban or scrum? Let the team decide... then adapt from there. I see the beauty of both. In SAFe, it does not matter which agile framework you use...as long as all teams that are involved in delivering the solution are in cadence and in synch with each other.
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Jan
28
2020
By Clarence Galapon

LPM 5.0

LPM 5.0, SWOT Analysis, TOWS Analysis
How do you formulate an enterprise strategy? There are various inputs to the formulation of an enterprise strategy. SAFe has prescribed as what you see on figure-1. Figure-1 My favorites are: 1) Distinctive competence – Strategy naturally leverages distinctive capabilities, the unique advantages -- strengths -- that differentiate this business from others, and provides a competitive edge. 2) Competitive environment – Competitive analysis identifies the most significant competitive threats to the business. How? First, do a SWOT analysis... what are your enterprise's internal Strengths, and Weaknesses; what are the external opportunities and threats? Find those. Then do TOWS analysis -- a…
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