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One of the greatest challenges to trust, collaboration and self-organization in the workplace is visibility.  This is because most of software development is intellectual work without physical representation.  We take complex ideas on what a software product should do and express...

The work will get done when it gets done.  Demanding that a new product, service or upgrade be completed by January 23, 2016 is just not helpful.  Arbitrary deadlines simply cause too much stress and anguish for everyone – developers, customers and managers.  The people...

Burndown charts are bad!  Burndown charts are abused by mangers!  We hate Burndown charts (and estimates!!), so let’s get rid of them all!  If you are hearing those words, or something similar, from the fire eaters in your office, they are probably right. While I like Burndown...

Ever have the experience that a decision made at one meeting later gets undone by decision made at a different meeting?  Or perhaps you have sat through a real long meeting to discuss an important issue only to find out the real decision was made later in the week by a different...

Ever show up to a meeting expecting your ideas and comments to be taken in consideration only to be cut short by the clock?  Or perhaps you have had the experience of participating in a Q&A session only to see it morph into a sustained dialogue between two parties that goes...

Meetings are such a disaster!  There are so many things wrong with meetings today from the frequency of meetings to number of participants to a complete lack of purpose to horrible facilitation, that I do not know where to begin.  IMO, the biggest problem with most meetings is...

A meeting is any conversation that results in a decision in order to get something done.  Since the goal of the meeting is to arrive at a decision, the meeting participants stay in the meeting until they have arrived at the decision – not one second longer, not one second...

A few months back, I had the pleasure to sit down for a short video interview while attending the Scrum Gathering Phoenix.  In this video, I talked about one of my favorite tools, Story Cubes, with one of the nicest people from SolutionsIQ, Alan Dayley (@AlanDayley).  The whole...

“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” With that classic throw back to the 1980’s, let’s wrap up our conversation on what are the key question to raise when being asked to dispatch help to Waterfall Island.  This entry is a continuation of an...

“Mayday!  Mayday!  We are stuck on Waterfall Island!  Please send help immediately!”  If you received this alert, how might you respond to the citizens of Waterfall Island? At the Scrum Gathering in Phoenix, Peter Stevens from Switzerland offered this provocative list...