Agile Transition as a Learning Process in SPS-Magazin

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German publication SPS-MAGAZIN, specialized in automation technology, has published an article with the title Agile Transition als Lernprozess (Agile Transition as a Learning Process) in the issue of April 2016. 

In the article we argue that Agile methods help companies to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and remain competitive, provided that the principles of agile actions are understood and supported by all stakeholders in the company. An Agile Transition cannot be completed with specific tools or methods but requires the willingness to learn and to continous improvement.

Organizational Culture Profile (CVF)

These are the most important aspects of the agile42 approach.

You can read the full article in German on SPS-Magazin site.

Enterprise Transition Framework at Etiya

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Etiya

In Early 2015 Etiya – a leading Independent Software Vendor and the fastest growing software company in Turkey – decided to begin the transformation from a Waterfall project management method to an Agile approach with the implementation of two successful pilot teams trained and coached by agile42. When moving forward, agile42 coaches used Enterprise Transition Framework™ (ETF) to enable the organization to implement the Agile principles and values globally, beyond the team’s level.

First, the agile42 coaches led a 2-day assessment and uncovered an objective and independent view of the organization from both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. A transition team consisting of middle level managers from the company was formed and the findings of the assessment were discussed with a larger senior level management team and alignment was achieved in the management team.

After the assessment followed a Strategic Planning phase and the Agile Strategy Map™ was created with the Transition Team and some managers. The Strategy Map is a powerful tool developed by agile42 that helps define possible short-, mid- and long-term improvements.

A picture taken when agile42 coaches facilitating Release Retrospective with Transition Team and Development Teams

As with any major change, there were challenges on the team side and also the management and Transition Team side. While transitioning, the company also needed to continue serving their customers in a rapid and high-quality fashion.

Now, with the help of agile42’s unique empirical approach and trademarked tools, the company has eight self-sufficient agile teams and more teams in the immediate pipeline. By managing work in more Agile way, it continues to increase its delivery speed, increase transparency and collaboration between departments.

Winners 2016 Red Herring Top 100 Europe

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agile42 has been chosen as a 2016 Red Herring Top 100 Europe Winner, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the European business region.

On April 13 we presented the company at the Red Herring Top 100 Europe Forum in Amsterdam that celebrates the top private companies in the European region, and as part of the finalists we are given the opportunity to make a live presentation in front of the 250 C-level technology entrepreneurs, corporate strategists, and venture financiers from across the continent that Red Herring gathers in their forum.

Red HerringRed Herring Top 100 Europe enlists outstanding entrepreneurs and promising companies. It selects the award winners from approximately 1,200 privately financed companies each year in the European Region. Since 1996, Red Herring has kept tabs on these up-and-comers. Red Herring’s Top 100 list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring’s editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Alibaba, Facebook, Google, Kakao, Skype, SuperCell, Spotify, Twitter, and YouTube would change the way we live and work. Thousands of the companies most interesting and innovative companies have graced the Top 100 list over the years.

“In 2016, selecting the top achievers was by no means a small feat,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “In fact, we had the toughest time in years because so many entrepreneurs had crossed significant milestones so early. But after much thought, rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across Europe to the Top 100 Winners. We believe agile42 embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. agile42 should be proud of its accomplishment, as the competition was very strong.”

During the months leading up to the announcement, Red Herring reviewed over 1200 companies in the telecommunications, security, cloud, software, hardware, biotech, mobile and other industries completed their submissions to qualify for the award. We are very happy that agile42 approach and business direction has been positively evaluated.

agile42 announces partnership with Cognitive Edge

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Dave Snowden is a great friend of us, we welcomed him during the agile42 Connect days last November. He’s been our guest during one of our latest coach camps in Berlin when we investigated the possibility for him to become an advisor to agile42 on strategy and also to create a more formal partnership. This will allow our operational use of SenseMaker® and also participation in some of the research programmes he will shortly be launching from The Cynefin Centre.

We can now announce that we will work together to create an instance of SenseMaker® to support agile42 work on Agile readiness, providing both an assessment instrument and an ability for continuing monitoring, knowledge capture and learning. This is part of our vision to go beyond crude surveys into continuous monitoring and active decision support.

agile42 will be a key partner in the Cynefin Centre’s forthcoming action research programmes on user requirement capture and project management. The first of these, narrative based URC will be one of a series of initiatives looking to create pre-SCRUM tools within the Agile community as well as allowing what Dave Snowden has previously described as fractal scaling within software development. This allows a non-aggregative approach to seeing software as an evolving service with active engagement of the C level within organisations, linking strategy with operations in real time.

We are extremely happy to have Dave as an advisor for our forward strategy, and to have him in Berlin from time to time (apparently he has a lot of good stories about the city).

During one of our camps we exchanged some ideas with Dave about the direction Agile is going and we caught them on video.

Our new Certified Team Coaches

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Our Berlin-based coaches Konrad Pogorzala and Gregory Keegan are among the first batch of Certified Team Coaches in the world and currently the only ones in Europe that have passed the selection by the Scrum Alliance.

Konrad Pogorzala and Gregory Keegan

A Certified Team Coach (CTC) works with Scrum teams, stakeholders, and management to improve performance and outcomes. Organizations employ CTCs to provide coaching, facilitation, training, mentoring, impediment management, and leadership in support of collaboration, development consistency, and value delivery across multiple teams and departments. This is a new certification offered by the Scrum Alliance and can be obtained only by true professionals, since it requires no less than “a minimum of 2 years and 1,000 hours of Scrum coaching experience across a diversity of teams”, but both Konrad and Greg have been professional coaches for far longer than that.

In the photo Konrad (left) and Greg (right) during their latest undercover operation together at the agile42 European Coach Camp in Mallorca, Spain. Black hats got lost poolside.

Take off in Florida

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We are very happy to be present at the Global SCRUM GATHERING® Orlando 2016 organized by the Scrum Alliance and to follow our continuing participation in the premier event of the worldwide Scrum community.

Global SCRUM GATHERING® Orlando 2016

This year Andrea Tomasini will present Stop scaling… start growing an agile organization! in the Agile Galaxy track. Growing an agile organization should be the goal of any successful change. See how startups and enterprise alike share common principles.

Together with Daniel Lynn I will present 7 Things Your Agile Transition Can Learn From Star Wars in the Mission Control track. In this talk, starting with our love of Star Wars, we use classic movie moments to provide memorable learning points around 7 common agile pitfalls.

I am also excited about being asked to feature in the final Closing Keynote, a new format called a ‘mashup’, including 5 speakers debating Zero Gravity: Reaching for the Stars as they share their experiences and encourage everyone to stretch themselves. My segment is titled Shoot for the Moon – Agile Scaling Patterns: scaling agile is a little like reaching an agile escape velocity, where the elusive goal is reaching space. I will be joined for this new format by Lyssa Adkins, Tirrell Payton, Lonnie Weaver-Johnson and Maria Matarelli. I’m looking forward to sharing the stage with such a powerhouse of speakers.

As usual, the Orlando event is already sold out, so if you haven’t registered yet you are probably out of luck. For those of you who’ll be there, keep an eye out for the agile42 crew and for everyone else, watch out for our reports very soon on the blog.

Champagne

The case of champagne in the daily stand-up

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In our series of blog posts on coaching tools, we have arrived at the real crowd-pleaser: serving champagne in the Daily Standup. For a long time, the coaches at agile42 have experimented with champagne in other settings, and we believe that time has come for the noble drink to finally take center stage in Scrum!

To satisfy our thirst for information regarding the pros and cons of enjoying a glass or two at the daily, we turn to Ima Drunkarde (Ph.D., VSOP), the well-known alcohol researcher from the University of Applied Chemistry in Wien.

“Well,” says Ima, “we are happy, yes one could even say intoxicated by this opportunity to connect the somewhat dry academic world of applied chemistry research with the fizzling and sparkling real-life industry setting!”

That settled, we gently guide the interview towards the upsides and downsides of enjoying champagne in the daily standups. This seems to be a novel approach with a lot of potential benefits — what would be the most visible impact?

“The most clear advantage is that people start arriving on time,” explains Dr. Drunkarde. “Without champagne, the standups generally started up to ten minutes late. With champagne, the test subjects were able to cut that down by an order of magnitude!”

“Surprisingly, this effect is partially due to the open offices that are so popular nowadays. In an open office, the distinctive pop of a champagne cork carries quite far, and people immediately make a beeline for the kitchen,” says Dr. Drunkarde, taking a sip from a research bottle. “Congested pathways and thoroughfares can be easily identified and avoided in the open landscape, speeding up the arrival of key stakeholders.”

“Of course, actually serving the champagne into glasses can take several minutes. However, if you put serving champagne on the agenda as the very first point, you can actually start the meeting even before everyone has arrived,” hints Dr. Drunkarde.

It transpires that the research group has experimented not only with the agenda but also with some traditional standup tools. “The champagne bottle in fact makes a convenient talking stick,” Dr. Drunkarde explains. “Or you can spin it on the table so that the person it points to goes next. A very adaptable thing, the champagne bottle!”

So, what other benefits are there in drinking champagne in the daily?

“Well, firstly, we were also able to verify the old saying in vino veritas! People are a lot more forthright, but perhaps their prononsh… pronouncsh… pronouncshiasch… um, schpee… speesch… uh, their talking, it becomes a bit unclear.” Dr. Drunkarde pauses, collects his thoughts and proceeds to rattle off a handful of other benefits as he ticks them off on his fingers, only missing once or twice.

“Second, the relaxing effect from the first glass actually makes people more alert and accurate. Third, the standup becomes more fun. Fourth, it pulls in stakeholders… lots of stakeholders, in fact many people you didn’t even know were stakeholders! Isn’t that great? Fifth, people find it easier to talk French, German and other languages they haven’t used since school. Sixth, your colleagues become more attractive, which in the software business is not to be underestimated,” he concludes the list.

“I could go on, but I’m getting a bit dry in the throat,” Dr. Drunkarde says and drains his glass, only to refill it from a handy unlabeled bottle. “Ahh…! An excellent double-blind, late 1990…? or possibly 1996…”

Hrm. How about other drinks, for example cremant, cava, prosecco or perhaps sekt? The eyes of Dr. Drunkarde bulge, and we are afraid that he will choke on his drink. “No no,” he exclaims after a minute, “we did an in-depth comparative analysis with several other drinks. Very in-depth, in fact. And plain sparkling wine simply does not compare with the real stuff. In the beginning people pop in as fast as they can, but you can see how disappointed they get.”

“Beer… well, people just start nipping off to the restroom. Chilled vodka does have some effect of course, and you can always use it to clean electronics. And the stronger drinks… yes, we reconstructed the Gagrakackan tzjin-anthony-ks by chemically analyzing the stains on a towel. However, local farmers called in to complain when we started serving it.”

Dr. Drunkarde again takes a deep sip from his glass before continuing. “The pan galactic gargle blaster turned out to take very long to prepare — it has to be served fresh — and then nobody was able to write any code for several weeks. The rehabilitation costs alone almost drove the company bankrupt. But it did do wonders for the old team spirit!”

We believe the doctor. How about downsides, then?

“Yes, unfortunately multi-site teams tend to suffer. There is something about enjoying champagne that does not transfer well over a teleconference. Another problem is that the meetings tend to drag out. One standup lasted almost twenty hours, people just refused to leave until the champagne stopped flowing, and by then it was too late. The last man standing was apparently still trying to update the sprint board at four thirty in the morning!”

Any final thoughts on the matter?

“Luckily the Daily Standup rules only ban coffee, not champagne,” Dr. Drunkarde says happily over another sip. “Abominable drink, coffee. Can’t stand it.”

Photo by Ron Dollete

 

Sponsoring Mile High Agile 2016

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We are very happy to be again sponsors of Mile High Agile in Denver. MHA2016 will take place at the Hyatt Regency hotel adjacent to the Colorado Convention Center on Monday April 4th, 2016.

MHA16

Mile High Agile 2016 will be the premier regional gathering of Agile & Lean practitioners and a unique opportunity for companies to network with an expected audience of 775 attendees, partners, and talented professionals in IT, software, management, and beyond. This year the organizers Agile Denver are limiting the number of attendees and sponsors, making the experience more intimate and keeping the focus on learning.

This year’s Agile Give Back program focus is on Women in Technology, and we are pleased to partner with the Denver/Boulder chapters of Women Who Code. Women Who Code is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers by creating a global, connected community of women in technology. Over the last several years, it has grown to be one of the largest communities of women engineers in the world.

Registration is currently sold out but you can join the waitlist.

The Value of Pair-Coaching… What’s in It for You?

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Coaching is the process of facilitating a reflective thought process within somebody else in order to enable them to make some progress towards a goal. One can coach another individual in a one-to-one setting, or one can coach a team. While the principles are effectively the same, the techniques employed may well be different.

Coaching is very different to training not least because the agenda within a coaching relationship can emerge and be tailored to the needs of that individual (or group) there and then. Coaching isn’t focussed on passing on a specific skill or filling an educational gap but rather helping them tackle a specific challenge or understand their strengths and weaknesses – technical, psychological and inter-personal – in relation to a particular task or situation.

Coaching is usually spaced out over days, weeks or even months rather than a concentrated one-off event and this allows for time in between each new piece of insight or nugget of reflection. Time that can be used to digest, analyse, experiment and explore further, allowing the person or group to discover what is important to them.

Pair of bikers

Often the presenting issues at the beginning of a coaching engagement turn out to be symptoms of something else or part of a bigger picture. The evolving nature of a coaching engagement gives both coach and coachee the opportunity to inspect and adapt, to reflect and adjust what they are focussing on for the benefit of the coachee.

A flip side of the evolving nature of a coaching engagement is that it can be difficult to create success factors. In general, coaching is successful if it leads to an improved behaviour of the coachee and commitment to self-improvement in a sustainable way. Behavioural change requires time and persistence to be fully established and so as coaches we only really know that we have been successful when we see genuine and natural behavioural change in the medium term.

Coaching isn’t easy as it requires not just technique but continual practice and reflection. One challenge for many coaches is practicing detaching themselves from the problem and remaining objective in guiding the coachee without pursuing their own agenda. When faced with a problem that needs solving it is almost inevitable to begin to think how to solve it, even when actually, the agenda of a systemic coach is to help the coachee find their own solution.

While agile coaches follow the same underlying principles of systemic coaches, they don’t have the luxury of being completely solution agnostic as agile coaches have the additional responsibility of embodying the agile manifesto principles and values. This means that in the case that the coachee is diverging significantly from those values and principles, the coach has the professional and ethical responsibility to point this out.

What is pair-coaching and how does it work?

Pair coaching refers to a pair of coaches – two people working together as coach. This isn’t a good cop/bad cop setup but rather two minds and two perspectives coming together for the overall benefit of the client.

The principle of pair coaching ultimately stems from the practice of pair programming from the world of software development where two programmers share one workstation with one person “driving” while the other observes or “navigates”. Roles are switched frequently and this built in review process increases not only quality but innovation, speed, learning and – somewhat interestingly perhaps – work satisfaction [Ref 1].

In the world of coaching, this often follows a similar approach although instead of a workstation that the pair is sharing, it is a conversation or workshop. Typically one is driving which involves having a direct conversation or running a specific exercise or technique.

This more often than not involves one coach getting fully “in the zone” with the client – almost a melding of minds as their listening and intuition deepens to a deeper than “active” level or what Co-Active Coaching might call “Global Listening” [Ref 2] – while the other is supporting, observing, facilitating and noticing. The “navigator” is ready to provide insight and perspective from “outside the bubble” to both the coach and the coachee. Then the roles switch.

Anyone can pair-coach and we believe that everyone arguably should. We see pair coaching as an example of a commitment to growth and a willingness to improve. There is an implicit acceptance of exposing one’s style, behaviour, technique and experience to a peer’s feedback, which should also lead to improvement, and change. There is an inherent sense of vulnerability in pairing – whether at a workstation, in a workshop or in a coaching conversation.

As such pair coaching is not easy and not everyone takes to it straight away. It requires humility and the ability to collaborate and share rather than own the conversation. One needs to be open to feedback and “performing” in front of another. Can you shut out the fact that others are observing you? Are you able to dance in the moment and follow an unknown and forever evolving path that not only you are in control of?

The outcome of a collaborative activity – and pair coaching is such an activity – is the inability for anyone (including those directly involved) to be able to say (or have the desire to say) “this was my work”. It will inevitably be “our work” and will be so intertwined with back and forth that it is even difficult to distinguish the parts that we played individually. If one retains the need for individual recognition then pair coaching will inevitably lead to personal frustration or suboptimal pair coaching.

What is the value of pair-coaching?

As well as the obvious benefits to the client of having two coaches providing expert insight, reflective feedback and a more focused and effective approach, there are benefits to the coaches as well. Pair coaching has built in supervision and thus allows for real-time observation and feedback on coaching style, presence, technique and effectiveness as well as learning from each other.

A single coach, especially in a situation where there is a large group of people to help, could miss individual behaviours or signals of dissatisfaction or even lose control over time and objectives, depending on how much she is entering into the flow. When coaching alone, one needs to alternate between the specific content level and its meaning and significance while also keeping control over time and the agreed rules of engagement. With two coaches, these roles can be alternated and you can be sure that both coaches will be much more effective at both observing and supporting activities and conversations with a group of people.

I get it, it’s cool, but how come very few people actually do it?

That’s a very good question actually… why doesn’t everyone pair-coach? It’s very difficult to answer and we can only speculate. However, some of the reasons that pair coaching isn’t yet a widely accepted practice probably include:

  • It requires quite a lot of trust as it inevitably includes vulnerability. There has to be a good relationship between the pair or at least a certain level of mutual respect. This can take time to practice in order to develop the level of understanding and affinity which allows to switch naturally during a coaching session.
  • It requires confidence, partly in your ability as a coach but also your ability to adapt your style. It also requires enough self-confidence to not seek individual recognition for the pair’s output.
  • It requires taking some risk, and accepting that the journey will end up in places which might not be the one that we have envisioned.
  • It requires giving up control over how your part of the coaching conversation will play out. Of course a coach is never in control of the conversation but in a pair-coaching environment they aren’t even in control of their own side of things.
  • From a client’s perspective, it isn’t easy to accept paying double for the “same” service. Why should I pay for two coaches to do the job of one? This is a similar argument that surfaced in the pair-programming world and clients were rarely informed of the potential benefits

Have you ever tried pair-coaching? How did you find it? Why do you think it is not more prevalent? What might make you give it a try? We would love to hear your thoughts.

References

  1. Laurie Williams, Robert R. Kessler, Ward Cunningham, Ron Jeffries. Strengthening the Case for Pair Programming. IEEE Software. IEEE Software, July–Aug. 2000. Web. 4 October 2013
  2. Henry Kimsey-House, Karen Kimsey-House, Philip Sandahl, Laura Whitworth (2011) Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives, 3 edn., London, UK: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Photo “DualSport, KTM 525EXC” by Cadams7649

Thanks to our guest author and friend Geoff Watts! He is a Certified Scrum Trainer & Servant Leadership Coach at Inspect and Adapt, a TEDx speaker, and author of Scrum Mastery and The Coach’s Casebook. You can also follow him on Twitter as @geoffcwatts.

We have been listed between the top 100 Agile blogs

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100 Top Agile blogs in 2015We are happy to have been included in the list prepared by the Oikosofy Team of the 100 Top Agile blogs in 2015! We always try to show you a snapshot of what happens in our corner of the Agile world through events, trainings and the great hindsights provided by our team of coaches.

We are looking forward to make the chart again this year… We are listed at #18, take notice blogs 1-17!

Jokes aside, the list is a great tool for newcomers and experts alike. It shows the variety of the Agile community and the endless opportunities to learn from the experiences of fellow practitioners. Thanks to Oikosofy for publishing that.