Elite Circle

Oct
19
2021
By Clarence Galapon
Lead Time Leads To Feedback And Learnings

Lead Time Leads To Feedback And Learnings

Echolocation, Elite Circle, Failing Fast, Feedback, Lead Time, Learning Fast, Platinum
First of all, what is "Lead Time"? Simply stated, "Lead Time" is the amount of time that passes from the start of a process until its conclusion. McDonalds Cartoon -- drive through placement (push), to order processing (pull), to order fulfilled (done). The shorter the Lead Time is, the better... meaning, we get feedback to what has concluded; and with fast feedback, we get to learn fast as well and use / invest that feedback -- and the "learnings" that came with it --  into something useful. Applications in real life: Continue reading
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Oct
17
2021
By Clarence Galapon
Make your “Cost Per Story Point” stable. Why and how.

Make your “Cost Per Story Point” stable. Why and how.

Cost Per Story Point, Elite Circle, flat-rate Priority mail, Platinum
In his book, "Principles of Product Development Flow", Donald Reinertsen wrote about the "Principle of Variability Pooling": "The Principle of Variability Pooling: Overall variation decreases when uncorrelated random tasks are combined. Variability pooling exploits a somewhat subtle mathematical characteristic of variability. When we sum two or more uncorrelated random variables, the variance of the sum is the sum if the individual variances." Bringing this principle to the home-front: Continue reading
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Oct
15
2021
By Clarence Galapon
Relative Sizing

Relative Sizing

Elite Circle, Estimable, Estimate, Member, Platinum, Relative Estimation
"Story points are relative, without a connection to any specific unit of measure. The size (effort) of each story is estimated relative to the smallest story, which is assigned a size of ‘one.’ A modified Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100) is applied that reflects the inherent uncertainty in estimating, especially large numbers (e.g., 20, 40, 100)" -- Scaled Agile. Inc. Here is a guidance on Relative Sizing. Continue reading
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Jun
23
2021
By Clarence Galapon
Lean Agile Guru Limited Offer

Lean Agile Guru Limited Offer

Elite Circle, Member, Offer, Platinum
Greetings! At Lean Agile Guru Consulting LLC, for a limited time, we are offering discounted prices for our online classes. BUT we still deliver the same high-quality classes. At $495 per student per online class, which is a $500 discount from our $995 regular price, this is our lowest price ever and our classes go beyond and above the course hence making each class unique and invaluable! Your SAFe certification exam fee (first try only) is already included in the price. Register now! Limited online students per class! This is a limited Offer. Prices could change at any time. Enroll now to…
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Feb
09
2021
By Clarence Galapon
How To Write Features and Stories and How to Split These

How To Write Features and Stories and How to Split These

Elite Circle
This "How To Write Features and Stories and How to Split These" is part of our SAFe Classes as an add-on workshop to our SAFe Classes. In addition to the workshop ... you will also get the following Value-Add -- Unique Value Proposition: With the Lean Agile Guru, you will get this one-of-a-kind Unique Value Proposition in the marketplace: 1) More value-add. You will learn more beyond what the course provides. This is the workshop. 2) Live Sessions post-class. You will be invited to a coaching session exclusive only to Lean Agile Guru alumni ! What's in this live session?…
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Jan
12
2021
By Clarence Galapon
Live Sessions

Live Sessions

Class Announcement, Elite Circle, Live Sessions
  Be a part of our Lean Agile Guru Elite Circle Live Sessions. Lean Agile Software Factory Series -- practical insights, tools and techniques beyond SAFe Classes and SAFe Certifications. Testimonials: click here to read what some of our participants think. Not sure what you need? Contact Us... let's start the conversation! Join Us! Be an Elite Circle Member Today for $495 and get the Lean Agile Software Factory Fundamentals! Check out our upcoming Agenda Hands-On Workshops and ChallengesCoaching Role-Playing or for Real (Coach and Coachee)Consulting, Counseling, and Mentoring October 15, 2022: My new book, "SAFe Is Like ...", is…
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Oct
04
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Stop Starting, Start Finishing!

Stop Starting, Start Finishing!

Elite Circle, Lead Time, Queue, Starbucks, WIP
Day 187. Yup... stop pulling in work... and start finishing whatever work you have inflight or in process. Lower that ‘Work In Process (WIP)’ of yours and your team to lower your lead time (lead time — time for you to complete a unit of work to delivery — is the same time — the ‘wait time’ — to a customer)... the lower your lead time is, the shorter the queue length of waiting customers. Think of ‘Starbucks’. Continue reading
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Oct
02
2020
By Clarence Galapon
3 Tips To Increasing Predictability Without Specificity

3 Tips To Increasing Predictability Without Specificity

Elite Circle, iteration goal, pi objective, Sprint Goal
Day 185. Read the title as ‘... Increasing Predictability With Objectives... Without Specifying THE MEANS!’ I intentionally wrote the title as you see it now because SAFe have something like this written on their course materials ... leaving students scratching their heads thinking ‘... I thought PI Objective should be SMART’ (S being Specific). What SAFe is really advocating with that title is this: Continue reading
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Oct
01
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Why I Don’t Sweat Writing Sprint Goals

Why I Don’t Sweat Writing Sprint Goals

Elite Circle, iteration goal, Sprint Goal
Day 184. Got to have goals: 1 year goal, 6 months goal, 3 months goal or 2 weeks goal. This blog post will focus on the ‘2 weeks’ goal — the sprint or iteration goal. Sprint goal is a leading indicator — to check whether you are on track or off track in achieving and advancing your 3 months goal (PI objective ). Goals will not only push you but will also pull you through difficult times. Continue reading
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Aug
14
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Why Limit Work In Process (WIP)

Why Limit Work In Process (WIP)

Elite Circle, WIP, Work In Process
Day 139. Multitasking is a fallacy! Your brain is actually switching from one task to another task. It is called context switching. A large batch of ‘work in process’ (WIP) —- you are working in one large batch of items — slows you down. Value delivery time gets longer. Large batches — not cool; you want small batches! Continue reading
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Jun
25
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Writing PI Objectives

Writing PI Objectives

Elite Circle, pi objective
Day 89. PI Planning: one of the outputs is the team’s PI Objectives. How to write these? Tip: focus on the desired outcome... and write it. Don’t write ‘how’ you work it though... the ‘how’ is not the objective. Example of a good objective: ‘I want to lose weight’. Continue reading
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Jun
03
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Minimized Burden, Minimized Volatility, Better Planning

Minimized Burden, Minimized Volatility, Better Planning

Elite Circle, Planning, Volatility
Day 68. Use ‘points’, instead of using ‘hours’ to estimate a work effort. The burden of estimating and tracking work using ‘hours’ or duration is heavier than using points! Fund the development value stream instead of projects. The burden of funding many projects is heavier than funding one development value stream. Continue reading
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Jun
02
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Why Use Story Points

Why Use Story Points

Elite Circle, Story Points
Day 67. Some people prefer to use hours/days to estimate a story's effort complexity. Some prefer to use points. Which one is better? Which one do you prefer? Netflix has newly released a movie titled "The Dawn Wall". It's about two people trying to climb the "Dawn Wall" face of El Capitan. They have mapped out their route. To understand the difficulty of that route, you have to understand the climbing grades. Climbers use numerical system to rate the difficulty of each pitch. the higher the number the harder the pitch: Continue reading
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May
23
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Invest In Good User Stories Part IV.b

Invest In Good User Stories Part IV.b

Elite Circle, Fibonacci, INVEST, Small, small batches, Small is beautiful
Day 58. Imagine that your are in your car, on a highway; you are in a mad rush hour, bumper-to-bumper, in a big city... you are going to work. What do you see? Do you see, in your mind, large trucks? Really large trucks? Cars of different sizes? Also, imagine having motorcycles zipping in and out as well. You are all on the same highway trying to get from point a to point b with valuable cargo (you, in your case). The highway is over 100% utilized at that point in time — the rush hour. The flow of traffic…
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May
18
2020
By Clarence Galapon
Invest In Good User Stories

Invest In Good User Stories

Agile, Elite Circle, INVEST, Negotiable, Story
Day 54. A good user story is negotiable and negotiated. A user story is a placeholder for requirements to be discussed, defined, designed, developed, tested, and accepted. It contains the intent and it is open to negotiation between the business and the agile team; it allows for discovery through collaboration, conversation, confirmation and feedback. Continue reading
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May
14
2018
By Clarence Galapon
Thin,Vertical Slices: the Key to Success!

Thin,Vertical Slices: the Key to Success!

Elite Circle, Mother's Day, Story
Happy Mother's Day to my wife and to all moms! It's a Sunday afternoon, 3PM EST, May 13, 2018, Mother's Day -- hot 92F, sunny and breezy, the cool breeze made it a very pleasant weather-- when my wife, son, daughter and I walked in to a restaurant to have a late lunch, after church, to celebrate mother's day. We had a great lunch...then the dessert came. All very delicious! One dessert caught my attention while we were eating it -- the strawberry short-cake. As we shared it amongst us, we each took turns cutting (with our spoons) slices of…
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