Some people think Agile’s concept of self-organising teams allows team members to do whatever they want in the belief they’ll eventually self-organise into an effective group. But this would be a misapprehension. This was also my first reaction to being assigned to a self-organising team – perhaps I could come into work at 3am, leave around lunchtime or write all…
CategoryBlog
A 7-Step Guide to Unlocking the “Intrapreneur”
Innovation within a large organisation is always a challenge. While ideas are often easy to come by, getting organisational traction and delivering an innovative product to end-users can be quite a battle. One way companies can innovate is by encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset, or what I like to call “fostering the intrapreneur.” As guide and coach for teams that create,…
An introduction to leading change with Kotter’s 8-step process
After you’ve implemented a system, how often have you experienced users reverting back to their old ways? When a new piece of software or process is implemented, much of the focus tends to be on the functionality it provides or the tasks that need to be done rather than the people who use the system. Aside from user acceptance testing…
The quick & easy way to turn your ideas into tappable prototypes
I recently embarked on a personal venture with a few fellow entrepreneurs to start developing consumer-focused applications We knew that we wanted to create something fun and engaging that would be used by a lot of people and were looking for a quick approach to develop and test our idea with real customers before sinking too much of our time…
The idiosyncrasies of BDD
It’s been a while since I blogged about writing Acceptance Criteria using Behaviour Driven Development, specifically Gherkin 1, 2 (read my previous blogs: A practical blog on how to write Scenarios using BDD and Requirement Pitfalls with BDD). However, after using BDD to document our Acceptance Criteria with a new client, I thought it was time I revisited the subject to see if I’d learned anything new.
What is an Iteration Manager?
The role of the Iteration Manager has been popping up more frequently in the Australian Agile space. However, I’ve found many don’t fully understand what an Iteration Manager does. And who can blame them? A quick Google search offers very little information apart from training courses or job ads. To add to the confusion, it seems to be a predominantly…
Is less more? Scaling up with SAFe versus tailoring down with LeSS
Two of the major frameworks gaining traction to enable organisations to scale agile practices across the enterprise are the Scaled Agile Framework (for enterprise) (SAFe) and Large Scale Scrum (LeSS). There are many similarities between the frameworks, with their core principles derived from Agile, Scrum and Lean, but they differ in some fundamental areas. After completing the Large Scale Scrum…
Reflections on Agile Australia 2015
We are living in a complex, unpredictable, and ever changing world. We cannot sit still and do the same things that we’ve always done. Not even some of the Agile practices that we’ve learned. There are new techniques out there and there are new ways of thinking. And they are better! This seemed to be the overarching theme of this…
The First Habit of Highly Effective Organisations
This is an excerpt of my new talk, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Organisations. You may not have noticed, but the world of business is in a bit of a mess. We might officially be out of the recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis, but – in most organisations – it sure doesn’t feel like it. However, there…
So what does a business analyst actually do?
As a business analyst, I’m regularly asked what it is that I do. Often I’ll need to take a moment to articulate my job and my explanation always manages to sound a little ambiguous.
If you’re a business analyst like me, I’m sure you’ve also been faced with the same question at a dinner, BBQ or corporate event. The problem is, guidebooks rarely provide a clear answer – and good luck trying to find a consistent explanation on Google!
How to Run a Successful Iteration Planning Session
An Iteration Planning Meeting is a key ceremony for any Agile team using Scrum during an IT project development phase. It’s where your team comes together to talk about work in the upcoming Iteration and is designed to help deliver a clear focus and direction for the work ahead.
Let’s go Agile!
There are ways you can make the Agile journey less painful for newcomers. Here Matt provides examples of methods he has discovered from personal experience and discusses how he can create greater team chemistry along the way.