Kanban Method: Improving Your Process Framework with Joey Spooner and Todd Little
Release Date: 03/01/2024
AI: A New Thinking Partner in Agile Teams with Dan Neumann
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your host, , discusses his perspective on the influence of Artificial Intelligence on Agile Teams. AI has created excitement and great expectations, undoubtedly changing how we perceive work and raising some concerns. In this episode, Dan dives deep into how Generative AI can impact Agile Teams’ work, describing AI’s use in this field and using valuable examples to describe several manners to incorporate AI to ease the work at different stages of an Agile process. Key Takeaways Generative AI, a new thinking partner to Agile Teams: There are sensitivities around using...
info_outline
Maximizing Team Autonomy while Maintaining Accountability in Agile Frameworks with Dan Neumann
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your host, , is discussing how to maximize Team autonomy while maintaining accountability within Agile Frameworks. In this episode, Dan defines the importance of autonomy and accountability in Agile. He explains the challenge faced when too much autonomy leads to a lack of accountability while, on the contrary, too much control inhibits innovation and why leaders should prioritize this delicate balance. Key Takeaways What is Autonomy in Agile? Autonomy is the ability to self-manage, make decisions, and drive solutions. Give Teams the environment and support they need,...
info_outline
Tips for Managers to Help Agile Teams with Dan Neumann
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, , your host, dives deep into how Managers can support and help their Agile Teams. We often fall into common misconceptions, such as believing that self-managing Teams do not need Functional Managers or finding that the Manager’s role is not well defined, making it difficult to identify how he can assist an Agile Team. In this episode, Dan shares many valuable tips for Managers trying to find the best ways to help an Agile Team. Key Takeaways Tip No.1: Encourage Team Involvement. Involve the team in the solution process and respect their expertise and opinions. ...
info_outline
Project Inception Activities: Setting the Stage for Success with Mike Guiler
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, welcomes to explore starting on the right foot and staying aligned during the delivery process. In this episode, Dan discusses the crucial activities that set the stage for a successful project inception. Whether starting a new project or re-initiating an existing one, these activities are essential for aligning your Team, stakeholders, and vision. Key Takeaways Understanding Project Inception: Project inception is the initial phase of a project where we lay the groundwork for everything that follows. It’s about understanding the project’s goals, scope, and...
info_outline
Excellence Exhaustion: What Is It and How to Prevent It, with Nina Sossamon-Poghe
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, welcomes to today’s conversation. Nina has an interesting background as a U.S. gymnast, a News Anchor, and a Corporate Leader with a unique perspective on resilience, mental health, and well-being. In this episode, Dan and Nina discuss an innovative concept, Excellence Exhaustion, while they define and analyze its significance. Nina also shares the “Resilience Route Navigator,” a framework designed to help high achievers combat Excellence Exhaustion. Key Takeaways What is Excellence Exhaustion? Excellent Exhaustion is different from burnout. Nina likes to...
info_outline
Kanban Essentials: How and When to Start with Mike Guiler
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your host, , welcomes to discuss a recent course on Kanban Essentials they experienced together. By the end of the classes, they encountered a common feeling in some participants: fear of failing. Often, acquiring new knowledge, embarking on a new journey, or using a new tool can trigger insecurities: What could happen if it is not right? Where do I begin? In this episode, they encourage Agilists to face this first stage of hesitation, analyze the limitations, and consider the best scenarios for using a new tool or enforcing an innovative strategy through implementing...
info_outline
A Journey into Project Retrospectives with Norm Kerth
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your host, is joined by , author of . Norm Kerth wrote this book before Sprint Retrospectives were invented! In this episode, Norm and Dan explore the subject of Project Retrospectives. They discuss the learning opportunity within every major project event, especially in instances where things did not turn out favorably. Norm explains when and when not to have a Retrospective and how to prove its value to organizations reluctant to grant the necessary time to invest in them. Key Takeaways An unconventional career: Norm realized that the best way to move up inside a...
info_outline
Liberating Structures with Kristen Belcher
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your host, Dan Neumann, is joined by an external guest: , a Software Developer turned Agile Coach. In this episode, they discuss liberating structures, simple and subtle tools that can help everyone attending a group event contribute and be included. They dive deep into some of the Liberating Structures, such as 1-2-4-All, Drawing Together, Purpose-to-Practice, and TRIZ. Listen to this thoughtful conversation and get ready to apply some of these practices to the next event you facilitate. Key Takeaways Many structures we use with groups, like presentations, status reports,...
info_outline
Seven Tips for Agile Facilitation with Dan Neumann and Justin Thatil
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your hosts, Dan Neumann and Justin Thatil, share seven tips for Agile Facilitation. Collaboration is necessary when solving a problem, and Agile Coaches and Masters work to enable a Team to cooperate. Every event is unique, which is why Facilitation could be considered a form of art. Key Takeaways Contextual Awareness: Teams and events are filled with unique variables that the facilitator cannot always anticipate; as a result, reading the overall atmosphere of a room and the individuals’ body language is a fundamental skill for Facilitators. Every Facilitator has to...
info_outline
Main Challenges of Product Practice with Ned Pope
Agile Coaches' Corner
This week, your host, Justin Thatil, welcomes , Director of Product Practice at Agile Thought. In this episode, Ned and Justin explore the most common challenges encountered while engaging with an enterprise client. Ned shares valuable insights regarding creating a new product effectively and timely, emphasizing the crucial value of openness and collaboration within a Team. Ned highlights the importance of focusing on the problem, the elements of the solution, and how they can be broken down to prioritize the most unique and highest value for clients and customers. Key Takeaways ...
info_outlineThis week, Dan Neumann and Justin Thatil are joined by two external guests for Kanban University: Joey Spooner, Vice President for Community Development and Product Management, and Todd Little, Chairman of Kanban University.
In this episode, experts from Kanban University join the podcast to share their expertise with the audience. Listen to this conversation and learn about the trajectory of Kanban University and its fantastic community. Also, they dive into a profound exploration of what Kanban Methodology really is and how it can improve what you are already doing.
Key Takeaways
-
What is Kanban?
-
Kanban University has been educating a vast community on its method since 2013.
-
The Kanban method is often misunderstood. Some significant aspects characterize the Kanban Methodology. It is a way to visualize the workflow, called operational practice. There are also Management Practices, which consist of taking and managing policies effectively in an organization. The practices of collaboration and experimentation are also of crucial importance.
-
Kanban can also be used as a complementary practice to Scrum.
-
A fundamental principle of the Kanban Methodology is to Start with what you do now. If you have started with Scrum, you can improve it with Kanban. Kanban is fundamentally an approach to improving your process framework; it isn’t a framework itself.
-
The Kanban Method vs. the Lean Manufacturing:
-
Lean Manufacturing aims to remove uncertainty, which is conceived as a waste.
-
Sometimes, uncertainty does not need to be eliminated; it is inherited, and often, it is this uncertainty that brings value.
-
Kanban tries to understand knowledge work and its behaviors while still representing the workflow.
-
How does Kanban manage the predictability challenge while doing complex work?
-
There are three common challenges while working with complex work: Delay, Dependencies, and Dormancies. Every Team needs to explore possible solutions for these challenges.
-
Check Team reliability.
-
An approach to predictability: Do more and better estimates.
-
Advice for Scrum Practitioners starting to use Kanban:
-
You can use Kaban on top of what you are doing with Scrum for more efficiency.
-
Kanban tools allow Teams to stay focused and deliver consistently.
-
Find first what your struggle is at the moment and see how Kanban can help with it.
-
Learn to manage resistance to change and get accustomed to constant evolutionary change.
-
Learn from the water's capacity for adapting to its environment.
-
Agile needs to adapt to culture as much as a culture needs to adapt to Agility.
-
Take small steps.
-
You have to get your system under control, map it out, and ensure it is not overloaded. If a system is overloaded, it is not predictable.
Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?
Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com!
Email your thoughts or suggestions to [email protected] or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!