A big part of becoming a truly product-driven organization is getting better at understanding the needs of your customers, and improving your products to meet their needs. In this video, Mary, Dave, and Lance take on the topic of customer journey mapping and show you how this tool can help you align around the needs of your customer. They’ll explain how this technique can identify the customer experience and put specific actions in place to court correct and wee out any of the negative...

We’re back with an all-new episode of SoundNotes where we discuss the nature of products. What are they? How are they different from services and experiences? And does it really even matter? Watch this week’s spirited conversation to see how we’re thinking about and defining products, and discover how your organization might be spinning its wheels by even having the debate. Contacting Mary Lloyd If you’d like to contact Mary, you can reach her at: LeadingAgile:...

In this third installment of our value stream mapping series, Mary shows Lance and Dave how to apply the technique of value stream mapping to your business architecture and capabilities so that you can make more informed, intentional, data-driven decisions to improve your business. Contacting Mary Lloyd If you’d like to contact Mary, you can reach her at: LeadingAgile: www.leadingagile.com/guides/mary-lloyd/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mary-lawson-lloyd/Email:...

Dave Prior is back again with Lance Kind and Mary Lloyd to talk about value stream mapping. In the last installment of this miniseries, the team gave a high-level introduction into what a value stream map is and why they’re important. On today’s episode of SoundNotes, they discuss how use value stream mapping to demonstrate the economic benefit of reducing waste in the system. Contacting Mary Lloyd If you’d like to contact Mary, you can reach her at: LeadingAgile:...

Dave Prior sits down with LeadingAgile consultants Mary Lloyd and Lance Kind to discuss value stream mapping. What is it?  Why use it at all? And when should you use this technique? Together, they answer these questions, dig into an example of value stream mapping, and explore some use cases for the technique. Contacting Mary Lloyd  If you’d like to contact Mary, you can reach her at: LeadingAgile: www.leadingagile.com/guides/mary-lloyd/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mary-lawson-lloyd/Email:...

In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave sits down with Dennis Stevens to discuss cloud transformation and why you might want to step back, take a deep breath, and come up with a more strategic and planful approach to moving to the cloud. Over the course of the conversation, they dig into some of the anti-patterns Dennis sees in the market that cause cloud transformations to fail, and they explore the benefits of having a strong cloud readiness plan and how you can begin to ensure that your plan...

In the face of change, many people inside large organizations are often left with more questions than answers. Do I have the ability to lead my team through this? Do I possess the necessary skills? Will my role become obsolete? Is my job safe? A good change management strategy accounts for these questions and tries to reduce the angst surrounding the change by deploying solid stakeholder management practices. Today, Mike and Dave sit down to discuss how we approach stakeholder management and...

A couple years ago, Mike Cottmeyer did a webinar series on the fundamental building blocks of agility. These days, we’re calling these building blocks the physics of agile. Today, Mike and Dave get together to discuss the four laws that make up the physics of agile and why these laws must be taken into account to make agile work inside large organizations. Contacting Mike Cottmeyer If you’d like to contact Mike, you can reach him...

Large organizations that want to stick around and maintain their competitive edge have to stop treating everything in their business like a distinct set of processes. How your technology is architected, your organization is designed, and your teaming strategies, resource management, governance, OKRs, and KPIs are all part of the same system. And you need to start treating them that way. In this podcast, Mike Cottmeyer and Dave Prior talk about the current state of Agile, how a lack of systems...

Carrying work over from one sprint to the next is a thorn in the side of many scrum teams. And often, it’s due to one or two team members who aren’t quite carrying their fair share of the weight. We recently covered this topic in a previous podcast but got some other cool ideas from our listeners that we wanted to discuss. So, in this quick podcast, we explore even more possible solutions for scrum teams dealing with an underperforming team member. Podcast Mentions What Do You Do When One Dev...

Mike and Dave sit down to reflect on 2023 and discuss some of the biggest revelations we had as a company. Together, Mike and Dave explore how LeadingAgile is already applying our latest learnings to our client engagements and the impact of them on the future of the company. Additionally, in this sprawling conversation, the guys chat about whether personal agility plays a role inside your organization, the history of Agile, Mike’s beef with estimation, and the disconnect between Agile and...

Thinking about becoming a ScrumMaster? Or maybe you recently got your CSM Certification, and you’re still trying to get your footing. Check out this quick podcast to learn what ScrumMasters do all day and gain some insights into the softer skills required of a ScrumMaster. Links From the Podcast ScrumMaster Checklist https://scrummasterchecklist.org/ 42 Tasks for a ScrumMaster’s Job https://agiletrail.com/2011/11/14/42-tasks-for-a-scrum-masters-job/ Contacting Vic Bonacci If you’d like to...

In this episode of SoundNotes, we’re having a little fun discussing how you can apply the roles, ceremonies, and artifacts of Scrum to get more out of this holiday season and improve your goal-setting for 2024.  Contacting Vic Bonacci If you’d like to contact Vic you can reach him at: LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/victor-bonacciLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vbonacci/Email: [email protected] Contacting Dave Prior If you’d like to contact Dave, you can...

As Agile becomes more mainstream and commoditized, breaking into the industry is harder. Companies value certifications differently, and expectations are all over the place. Even when you find a job that looks promising, finding a way to stand out and differentiate yourself is more challenging than it was 10 years ago. In this episode of SoundNotes, Dave sits down with Aimee McLean, who we recently hired, to discuss how they see the Agile job market and advise you on how to get started with a...

Business Agility is all about creating strategic alignment between different parts of your organization. One of the ways that we help our clients create strategic alignment is by implementing a four-tiered governance model that has a dedicated strategy team, or investment team on top. This team is responsible for setting the strategy, applying context for all the other teams, and making sure that they are holding the system of delivery accountable. But this requires a shift in how you think...

Culture eats strategy for breakfast was a quote from the legendary management consultant and author Peter Drucker. If that’s true, then what does it mean when there are competing views on culture? What type of culture gets to eat strategy for breakfast? Who gets to decide and why do we have to choose? In this podcast, Mike and Dave sit down to discuss how your personality type influences the way you see and value culture, and the implications that can have on your business. Together they...

Most developers aren’t waking up in the morning and wondering how they’re going to mess up the sprint today. There’s usually a reason why they can’t get their work done on time. Still, if one developer isn’t meeting their commitment, then the whole team isn’t meeting their commitment. So, something’s got to give. In this episode of SoundNotes, Vic Bonacci and Dave Prior draw on their vast experience as CSTs and dish out some tips on what you can do when you have one developer slowing you...

During the height of the pandemic, many teams learned how to work from home. As people start heading back to the office, many teams are in this weird in-between space where things aren’t always what they need to be to get the most out of your team. In this short podcast, Dave and Vic explore how hybrid teams are impacting your ability to do Scrum successfully, and discuss some tips and tricks to get the most out of your Scrum team while ensuring you’re also getting what you need to do your...

Sometimes you have a product owner that’s wearing too many hats, traveling, or spread across too many teams. This can leave the rest of the people on your team feeling lost, or it can cause the ScrumMaster to take on more than maybe what should be required of them. In this podcast, Vic and Dave explore some ways to manage expectations and divide the work so that no one is overwhelmed and ensure the delivery teams are getting what they need. Contacting Vic Bonacci If you’d like to contact Vic...

In this short podcast, two CST's, Dave Prior and Vic Bonacci, sit down to discuss specialized roles in Scrum. They dig into why that's a problem, how it impedes Agile, and explore some ways to get your team more cross-functional. Additionally, as a bonus, they discuss what to do when there's a lack of QA on the team. Contacting Vic Bonacci If you’d like to contact Vic you can reach him at: LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/victor-bonacciLinkedIn:...

In 2020, the Scrum Guide introduced the idea of the Product Goal, but left out anything about Vision. Was this move better or worse for Scrum teams?In this short podcast, Vic Bonacci and Dave Prior, our two resident CSTs, sit down to discuss the difference between product goals and vision and the impact this change is making on Scrum Teams. Contacting Vic Bonacci If you’d like to contact Vic you can reach him at: LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/victor-bonacciLinkedIn:...

In this episode of SoundNotes, our two in-house CSTs get together to talk about the importance of sprint goals. They dive into everything from what they are, why they’re important, and how to go about creating them—even in the absence of an explicit business goal. Contacting Vic Bonacci If you’d like to contact Vic you can reach him at: LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/victor-bonacciLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vbonacci/Email:...

Why are so many Agile coaches and ScrumMasters getting laid off? Is it because Agile is disappearing? Or is it because they’ve gotten so dogmatic about the rules and ceremonies surrounding Agile that they’re more of a burden then they are valuable? In our latest episode of SoundNotes, Mike Cottmeyer and Dave Prior explore the how to balance the competing priorities of the Agilists and the leaders they’re trying to help so that everyone can get back succeeding with Agile. Contacting Mike...

Join us for today’s podcast where we dive into the world of Kanban and Agile methodologies to unravel the thought process behind large organizations who want embrace Kanban. If you’re considering Kanban, or you’re currently grappling with workflow challenges, this video will equip you with some Kanban strategies to help you seamlessly implement and optimize Kanban in a dynamic enterprise environment. Contacting Tom Furland If you’d like to contact Mike, you can reach him...