Agile Amped Podcast - Inspiring Conversations

Agile coach Ashok Mohan and IT Product Owner Burkhard Lustig sit down with Agile Amped to share their stories working at Ableton, a business focused on making software and hardware for music makers. In particular, the duo discuss an pivotal learning experience with a difficult trade-in program. Although Product teams had already been leveraging Agile development and practices for 10 years, this was not the case for the Business. When the trade-in program revealed gaps in organizational capability, they decided to make changes, specifically taking four major steps: 1. They introduced team planning.2. To make work visible, they organized "expos" - demos more suited to their laid-back culture.3. Because WIP was too high and not enough was getting to done, middle management was brought together to own the work and the process, with coaching from Ashok and Brendan (another Ableton coach).4. After too much WIP, the second top impediment was lack of alignment, so they focused on establishing a shared purpose. Mohan echoed Marsha Shenk's sentiment (in this podcast - Agileamped – Limitations-opportunities-of-neurophysiology) that "as humans, every one of us wants to contribute... They don't know how to contribute in a system... [but] it's almost always about 'how can you get to people to contribute in a way that's meaningful for them?'" Leslie Morse hosts in NYC at Business Agility 2018. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Marsha Shenk, coach, consultant and founder of The BestWork People, takes us on a whirlwind tour of how the brain affects everyday interactions. Shenk believes that people fundamentally want to contribute - to be part of meaningful interactions, which is what life - including business - is made up of. Our favorite quote: "Business agility is not for the faint hearted." More nuggets of wisdom Shenk offers:- "People get dumbed down by having imperatives imposed on them."- "Fear shuts down the prefrontal cortex, which is where our executive function is... so nothing new happens"- "Business is a social activity. Some people now think that itʻs happening between computers - no. Thereʻs somebody out there making a decision and that person has a beating heart."- "I recommend respecting the limitations of technology and ... physiology."- "In order to keep learning after puberty, you have to develop the skill of building new neural pathways." Hosted by Leslie Morse in NYC at Business Agility 2018. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Lars Bruns and Sudhir Nelvagal started working together in GE Healthcare 13 years ago. In this episode, they share their experience helping GE with their Agile transformation. GE, being a long-standing business giant with its fingerprints in virtually every infrastructure domain and every industry, is still traditional in many ways, but it is transforming itself to become a lean startup. Bruns and Nelvagal share their experiences applying innovative Agile and Lean techniques across GE's traditional hardware and physical engineering-oriented business units. Other topics touched on include failing fast and leadership buy-in. Hosted by Brent Barton in NYC at Business Agility 2018. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Natalie Warnert is an independent consultant and the founder of Women in Agile, which started five years ago and has spread far and wide. Since then, Warnert has written her theses about why women are less involved in the Agile community. In her research, she has uncovered interesting biases that men and women have about themselves and each other. She briefly touches on current social movements that show how views on equality, inclusivity and diversity are converging. She's also excited about the grassroots pop-up chapters of Women in Agile that people are starting: "It's been so great to see people taking initiative to do these things... I can't do it alone and I don't want to." Other topics include globalization, UX, and AI. Hosted by Leslie Morse in NYC at Business Agility 2018. Morse mentions this podcast: Agileamped – Limitations-opportunities-of-neurophysiology To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

"Everybody knows going into the budget process that people make up the numbers because they know they're going to get cut, they're going to get manipulated, they're negotiating for their bonuses, so it's already a bad document to begin with," says Nevine White. White and Mike De Luca from Beyond Budgeting Round Table of North America sat down with us for a deep dive into Beyond Budgeting, including a definition of what it is and some history. They also walk us through two real-world examples of implementing it. De Luca says Beyond Budgeting requires a different philosophy around leadership: it needs to be very decentralized and is intended to drive decision making to the lowest appropriate level. He points out that the process of implementing Beyond Budgeting doesn't really end since learning organizations must continue to refine and adapt. However, a lot of the heavy lifting can take anywhere from 6-18 months. Listen to find out what that entails, how to get started, how to measure and successfully transform financial planning in your organization. Leslie Morse hosts in NYC at Business Agility 2018. This episode of Agile Amped is part of a series in partnership with the Business Agility Institute. businessagility.institute/ Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Connect with us on social media: Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFacebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped Instagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

Angela Wick is the founder of BA-Squared and in this episode she talks about how business analysis is shifting drastically and how leaders are championing the charge. Wick discusses how important it is for business analysts to collaborate with Product Owners to focus on building the right products: "Agile can't happen without analysis... If you're building the wrong thing, it doesn't matter how fast you are." But what is really exciting to Wick is how much the world and her field is changing as a result of AI and machine learning. What might take a BA weeks to produce, an algorithms today can do at a fraction of the cost and time. But the complexity in the world means that you have to pair vision with rapid experiments - and a dash of curiosity - to make sure your business is on the right path. Leslie Morse hosts in NYC at Business Agility 2018. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Joshua Seckel is an Agile coach and also Sevatec's Chief Solution Architect for Agile and DevOps. Joshua drives the the adoption of business, technical, and management agility both internally and at client sites. His presentation at Business Agility Conference 2018 is called "Agile Contracting in the Federal Government" and in this podcast he shares his experience helping USCIS not only contract Agile teams but also to evolve the procurement process to be more Agile. With a focus on enabling experimentation and cross-department collaboration, Seckel helped stand up 20 Agile development teams who are able today to deliver to production 4-5 times a week - in a federal environment! Some recommendations that Seckel wants to share are:1. Many changes are risk-driven, which is directly related to the corporate culture. By adapting the business to allow a little more risk, you can unlock a lot more learning and success.2. Learn fast. Succeed either in learning (e.g., from failure) or in execution.3. Meet people where they are. Hosted by Leslie Morse in New York City at the Business Agility 2018 conference. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Allison Flaten is an HR practitioner (and one of our favorite people) with over a decade of experience in working with and leading HR departments in variety of industries, five of which she has spent in an Agile organization. She walks us through the differences between traditional HR departments where the focus tends to be on risk mitigation, compliance, and policy-driven communication, and Agile HR that focuses on how to make the organization the best place for its employees. Flaten's advice includes: - Ensure HR can adapt and shift with the needs of the business, as well as with the employees. - Share your HR backlog - Get feedback from employees and leadership to get buy-in before releasing policies - Provide fast performance feedback which can result in immediate adjustment, rather than waiting for an annual performance review Howard Sublett hosts. Find him on Twitter: @howardsublett Get in touch with our guest: [email protected] Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Connect with us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFacebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedInstagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

Why should a job interview for a role on an Agile team follow the traditional interview format with high anxiety and low level of psychological safety? How do you find people who are natural collaborators? Jason Tice, VP of business innovation at Worldwide Technology, spoke with Agile Amped about using collaborative activities, or games, during job interviews to gather feedback and assess necessary skills. Tice says creating a safe space where candidates are willing to be vulnerable is a game changer for finding the right candidates for high-performing teams. Hosted by Howard Sublett. This episode of Agile Amped is part of a series in partnership with the Business Agility Institute. Register for the Business Agility Conference in New York March 14-15, 2018 and use code solutionsiq-founding-member to save 25% off registration: businessagilityconf.com/ Find Jason Tice on Twitter: @TheAgileFactor And find our podcast host: @howardsublett Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Connect with us on social media: Twitter: twitter.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped Instagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

We chat with SolutionsIQ's Dave Wylie, a seasoned consultant, manager and developer with 35 years of experience. Wylie wants to make sure that, while Agile has expanded beyond IT, people especially in IT remember that good engineering practices are foundational for a successful Agile transformation. Agile software development approaches, techniques and mindsets are drivers for business value and make it possible for Product Owners to ship when they're ready to ship. Dave argues that foundational development practices - writing tests as well as reviewing, integrating and continuously improving code - are important for everybody. Unfortunately, according to Wylie, "There's lots and lots of people in the software development world that [have] had zero formal training or informal training or mentorship on these practices." Howard Sublett hosts. Get in touch with our guest: [email protected] find our podcast host on Twitter: @howardsublett Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Connect with us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFacebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedInstagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

Once upon a time, Melissa Boggs worked for a company where their mission was central to everything they did. This podcast is a story about using mission, vision and values as a beacon for Agile transformation. Boggs is an agility culture and leadership coach with Agile42. As a Certified Enterprise Coach, she is fascinated with company cultures and how they inspire, or conversely demotivate, individuals to become amazing. In this episode, Boggs walks us through concrete steps for how to not only create a mission statement, but how to live and breathe the mission, vision and values every step going forward, and how to avoid the ghosts that sometimes get in the way of an Agile transformation. Our favorite quote is one that resonates with so many organizations:"They already had a mission statement, but quite literally the only person who could tell me who could tell me what it was, was the sweet lady in marketing who wrote it five years ago." Hosted by Howard Sublett. This episode of Agile Amped is part of a series in partnership with the Business Agility Institute. Register for the Business Agility Conference in New York March 14-15 and use code solutionsiq-founding-member to save 25% off registration: www.businessagilityconf.com/ Contact Melissa Boggs via email: [email protected] follow her on Twitter: @HmngbirdAgilityAnd find our podcast host:@howardsublett Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Connect with us on social media: Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFacebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedInstagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

Many of the data warehousing problems of the world have been tackled and solved--yet data warehousing and business intelligence teams in Agile settings still struggle with technical practices that better enable Agile. One example is test automation. Lynn Winterboer discusses with Agile Amped at Mile High Agile 2016 in Denver, Colorado, her conference presentation and why she thinks it's hard for such teams to do test automation and how the industry's vendor focus contributes to the problem. The bottom line? Don't wait for the right tool or vendor. Just jump right into test automation. Lynn Winterboer coaches DW/BI teams on applying agile principles to their work. She has filled many roles on data and agile teams for 20 years. Lynn understands the unique set of challenges faced by data teams who want to benefit from Agile project delivery. You can reach Lynn via her website: winterboeragileanalytics.com SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts. About Agile Amped The Agile Amped podcast series engages with industry thought leaders at Agile events across the country to bring valuable content to subscribers anytime, anywhere. Podcast library: www.agileamped.comConnect with us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFacebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedInstagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

The International Consortium of Agile (ICAgile) is a certification and accreditation body with presence in more than 100 countries, with close to 70,000 people holding credentials thus far. Recently Agile Amped spoke with ICAgile leaders, Managing Director Shannon Ewan and Director of Learning Programs Shane Hastie about their new Agile Leadership track. Ewan shared with us that fundamentally ICAgile enables "becoming an Agile leader, as opposed to teaching Agile for Leaders. If you're not interested in changing yourself, then it's not the program for you." According to Hastie, "The ideas embodied in this leadership track are built on that respect of people, and that people are the primary source of value in our organizations." Our favorite quote from this podcast? "It's about transforming organizations to be more human-centric. The impact is to truly, fully unleash the potential of people within organizations. Creating cultures of learning; making organizations a place where people continue to learn and thrive and they truly are their best at work." - Shannon Ewan, ICAgile Hosted by Howard Sublett. Find out more information about the ICAgile Leadership Track:http://www.icagile.com/Learning-Roadmap/Business-Agility/Agile-Leadership Contact ICAgile: [email protected] Find our guests on Twitter: @ShannonEwan@shanehastie @ICAgile And our podcast host:@howardsublett Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Connect with us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFacebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedInstagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

What do the Brazilian dance Bossa Nova and company-wide agility have in common? According to Jutta Eckstein and John Buck, both are created from a combination of different elements. While the dance is a synthesis of samba and jazz, company-wide agility can be created using the following elements: Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, Sociocracy and Agile - BOSSA nova for short. Jutta is a coach, consultant and trainer with a M.A. in Business Coaching and Change Management. John Buck is a Certified Sociocratic Organizational Consultant. Listen to how they encourage organizations to use these time-tested concepts to begin experimenting at your company to become Agile, and how sociocracy can ensure that the power structure of an organization will uphold company-wide agility, not hinder it. This episode of Agile Amped is part of a series in partnership with the Business Agility Institute. Register for the Business Agility Conference in New York March 14-15 and use code solutionsiq-founding-member to save 25% off registration:businessagilityconf.com/ To find out more about Jutta & John's book in progress, visit: leanpub.com/bossanova Follow our guests on Twitter: @JuttaEckstein@johnabuckAnd find our podcast host:@howardsublett Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Submit a topic idea: www.solutionsiq.com/submit-a-topic/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedFind us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

SolutionsIQ Business Agility Lead Kat Conner and CTO Evan Campbell discuss the rise of business agility, the challenges and opportunities before today's organizations, and some advanced topics like adaptive management, Agile portfolio management, and innovation as organizational capabilities. Notable quotes:"Annual budgeting is irritating and wasteful and not very efficient in the things that we use it for. The hard part is coming up with more effective substitutes for the various purposes that we use annual budgeting." "Instead of thinking of projects as the primary means of asset allocation and organization of people, we look at the critical streams of value that are flowing from technology to business leaders or customers, and we create long-lived, persistent, capable delivery units." "One of the things that makes innovation safe and cheap and ultimately more efficient is taking an experimental mindset towards what you're doing." To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileampedFind us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/agileamped/

A retrospective is an opportunity for us as a team, as an organization, to ask ourselves what are we doing well, what are we not doing well, and how can we improve going forward. A retrospective is the catalyst for the continuous improvement that Agile promises. David Horowitz is a co-founder and CEO of Retrium, the world's first and only enterprise-ready platform for Agile retrospectives. David shared these tips (and more) for having successful retrospectives:- When should or shouldn't the manager be included- Why "What happens in the retrospective should stay in the retrospective" might not be the most effective approach- How to drive engagement during retrospectives- Why you shouldn't only think about running a retrospective at the end of the Sprint- Why minimizing scope is powerful To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Co-founder and Principal Software Craftsman of Greater Sum, Mike Clement is passionate about raising the bar of technical excellence in the software development community. One way to do that is by using user story maps. While Clement doesn't advocate for getting rid of backlogs altogether, he believes that user story mapping helps bring the story and user journey out of disparate tasks. The problem is backlogs don't immediately show how different user stories work together, and prioritization doesn't always help. Clement describes how user story mapping helps the business and teams to think about slices of value that can then be turned into a backlog for an upcoming iteration. This helps limit work in progress (WIP) and drive toward delivering real value. Howard Sublett hosts at Southern Fried Agile 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Senior Technical Consultant at SolutionsIQ James Byars has noticed that many teams undergoing Agile transformation only focus on the new frameworks and processes. This makes it difficult to focus on the type and quality of the work being done. Byars, who is presenting on the human side of software at Southern Fried Agile 2017, believes that this tendency contributes to the business thinking of software developers as resources instead of people. When teams focus on outputs, such as how much code are written or how many tasks moved to "done," they lose track of why they are doing these things. When teams understand the "why" it allows them to be more creative about problem solving and providing solutions. This helps teams deliver business value and in turn increases the trust between software teams and the business. James says we need to stop "hiring smart people [only to]... tell them what to do" and instead hire these smart people, set some guide rails and set them free. Howard Sublett hosts at Southern Fried Agile 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Ken Pugh, author of "Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development: Better Software Through Collaboration", gives us a lesson on Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) and Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). And guess what? They aren't as different as you may think. It comes down to whether the tests are written based on acceptance criteria or on the behavior that a system must meet. Pugh reminds us that the important thing is getting the customer representative, the developers and the testers together to write the acceptance criteria in plain human language before a line of code is even written. More kernels of wisdom from Pugh:- "Fixing a defect is valuable, but preventing a defect is even more valuable."- If during development you can't ship until a particular test passes, then that test is a requirement. "Testers aren't writing tests, they're writing requirements."- "If you take more than half an hour to write the tests, then your story is probably too big."- "If you feel like you need a defect tracking system... you've got too many defects. I have been in places where they actually have just one defect! " Howard Sublett hosts at Southern Fried Agile 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

The Southern Fried Agile (SFA) conference has come a long way since its inception. James Collins, SFA chairperson and a technical leader at Wells Fargo, and Neville Poole, SFA chairperson and Agile Practice Lead for Products at SolutionsIQ, sit down with us to share their experiences going from a literal shoe-string budget to major conference venue. James and Neville touch on some horror stories and victories - and joy - that they have experienced in this fun and energizing conference which may or may not have had a chicken for a mascot once upon a time. Billie Schuttpelz hosts at Southern Fried Agile 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

How is a cellphone like a satellite? Says Tom Friend, Agile consultant at Duke Energy who is blowing our minds with his work at NASA, "If you think about it, a cellphone is a micro satellite [without] stabilization [or] propulsion." Tom walked us through using Scrum and other Agile practices in a satellite mission simulation to create a roadmap and a backlog and to produce a paper prototype of a to-scale small satellite (smallsat), which Friend calls a cubesat. Of the experience, he says, "It creates a shared mental model that everyone can see. It's not what you get out of the paper, it's individuals and interactions." Howard Sublett hosts at Southern Fried Agile 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Richard Kasperowski is the author of "The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness", a book in which he describes how to use the Core protocols developed by Jim and Michele McCarthy, an Agile mindset and practices, and Open Space Technology to create high-performance teams. In this podcast, Kasperowski defines for us what he means by "high-performance teams" thus: "High-performance team is a team that gets objectively better results than other teams doing similar work. It's something you can observe and something you can measure." To achieve this end many times over with different clients and customers, Kasperowski has over time devised what he calls a "protocol stack" whose four layers - Positive Bias, Autonomy, Self-Awareness and Connections - he argues is foundational to all high-performance teams. Howard Sublett hosts at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Ever asked your team, "How's our KPIs? Are we hitting our numbers?" Cat Swetel says that the answer you get may not be very useful for determining actual value delivery. In her Agile Arizona 2017 session "Agile Metrics You Should Use But Don't," Cat shared some metrics that everyone in Agile knows they should focus on, but for whatever reason get set aside. These include: Start date ("when a story crosses the line of commitment"), End date (when the acceptance criteria and definition of done have been met), how many things in progress, time in process (AKA "cycle time" - which in Cat's experience has different connotations in manufacturing), throughput (units of value per unit of time, AKA velocity). Cat also shares a powerful story about how a delivery team radiated information to their business representatives about the negative impact expedite requests would have on eminent customer satisfaction and how this sharing of information had a profound, positive impact on communication and delivery flow. Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Derek Neighbors is the CTO of Tanga, whose Daily Deals make online impulse shopping even more dangerous. Derek dives into the metaphor that they use at Tanga to make product management more fun and, more importantly, more effective. They call it "Blockbuster Product Management": it maps the many product delivery and release processes to similar processes in movie-making. For every strategic initiative, there are pitch scripts, executive directors and directors (the latter being the Product Owner), screenings, and even a cast of characters who "star" in the movie that is developing and delivering a particular product. The cast will include developers, designers, operations people. For the last two to three years, Tanga has been reaping the benefits of this movie metaphor, releasing posters that gets everyone excited - and completely clear - about what products are being released and when. Derek also shares stories about the power of this metaphor - and, yes, there have been sequels and even "straight-to-DVD" products. Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

People don't always use the word "joy" to describe a place they would like to work, but Rich Sheridan thinks we should start. Author of Joy, Inc. and CEO of Menlo Innovation, Rich shares how he created an open space for delivery teams where computers and code were shared – an idea that one respondent said would result in "blood, mayhem, murder." Instead this approach was what led Sheridan to recognize joy as the very thing that makes a place worth working in. 18 years after starting, Sheridan's mission to bring joy into the workplace is stronger than ever. Memorable Quotes:- "It's okay to say, 'I don't know.'"- "We have intentionally created a culture focused on the business value of joy." Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

In this edition of Round Table Roulette, we sit down with SolutionsIQ's Alan Dayley, Reece Schmit from Agile Velocity, and Jeremy Wood from Matrix Resources. Some questions and head-scratchers that our panel wrestles with include:- Where will Agile be in 10 years?- What's your favorite retrospective technique?- How do you know if your pace is sustainable?- Describe the high-performing Agile team you've ever seen. Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at Agile Arizona 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Author of the book "Tribal Unity" and SAFe Fellow Em Campbell-Pretty holds the claim to fame for launching the first Agile Release Train (ART) in Australia. Em believes that book clubs are a great vehicle for deep learning, scaling is about building the social fabric of the organization, and that companies get better results by starting with culture. Her session at SAFe Summit 2017 is called "Tribal Unity – The Heart of Scaling Agile." Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Ever feel like, despite all your hard work and achievements and the praise that people sprinkle on you, you aren't good enough? That the successes in your life are accidents, chance, flukes? If this sounds like you, you may be feeling "imposter syndrome," a term coined in 1978 by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, and that's what SolutionsIQ's Billie Schuttpelz is elucidating in this episode. People suffering from imposter syndrome may actually be high achievers, Billie says, sharing some insights from her experience in the field as a senior Agile coach. Turns out that many, many people have experienced or will experience imposter syndrome. Billie dives into how this is affecting business and Agile transformations today and preventing innovation. And, she says, quit watching your blooper reel. Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Agile veteran Brian Watson urges companies to get over their addiction to projects. He remembers when, at a year-end awards banquet, someone won an award for consultant who billed the most hours. Brian says that you want to reward individuals going above and beyond, but it creates the wrong competitive environment where people one-up each other for number of projects. Instead they should focus on actual value delivered. He also reminds listeners to go read the Phoenix Project for a refresher on the power of small-batch releases. Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

SAFe Fellow, black belt-holder and father of two sets of twins Inbar Oren chats with Accenture's Daniel McGlynn on several topics concerning Continuously Delivery and technical excellence, what's next with SAFe, common challenges and myths preventing mindset shifts about Agile and development, and more! Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Allen Ringel shares his experience in Agile transformation using SAFe at a large technology company. One key learning that Allen experienced was the need to get leadership engagement early on so leaders could help with the transformation. Something else he would do differently: over-communicate. Here's what you'll learn: - The data that helped sell Agile at scale to leadership- First steps into SAFe Implementation- Importance of training- How to get people engaged and align them with the vision- How to communicate during an Agile transformation- How critical executive sponsorship buy-in is - Tips for other organizations starting their SAFe implementation Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Deema Dajani is a Senior Principal Transformation Consultant at CA and co-founder of South Florida Agile Association. Now she can add to her list of titles coordinator of the first Women in Agile local user group in San Antonio, which held its inaugural event at SAFe Summit 2017. Deema shares her experience and joy with the event, which was "full of energy" and standing room only. To keep the momentum going, Deema thinks there is need for more women in STEM careers, which starts with girls being encouraged to dive into science, software development and Agile. Hosted by Accenture's Melissa Eisner at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Fabiola Eyholzer is the CEO of Just Leading Solutions, a New York based consultancy for Lean and Agile People Operations – the 21st century HR approach. She helps enterprises to accelerate their agile transformation by focusing on their crucial asset: their people. Here's what you'll learn:- Why Human Resource Management should be called People Operations- How the function of HR changes in enterprises in Agile Transformation- What is the new currency for competitiveness in organizations- The disconnect between mission statements and core values, and reality- Theory X and Theory Y: Micro-management vs Intrinsic motivation- What is "The Douglas Effect" and why you should get away from it- The percentage of people dissatisfied at work and the cost to economy- How organizations can get to 9% higher shareholder value- Amount of people who would take a new manager over a salary increase- How Agile ways of working don't differentiate between work and learning- How our perception of career is changing- When you should help an employee move on to another organization- Best way for HR teams to quickly adopt Agile practices into their work- The Agile Manifesto for HR www.agilehr.org Leslie Morse hosts at the SAFe Summit in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates: Podcast library: www.agileamped.com Subscribe to our newsletter: www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/ Connect on Twitter: twitter.com/AgileAmpedFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agileamped

Transformation consultant and SAFe Fellow Eric Willeke shares his deep Lean-Agile experience with Agile Amped, focusing on the importance of ensuring organizations are guided by key results and outcomes. He points out that while many organizations are great at getting Agile Release Trains (ARTs) up and running, people doing the work have a hard time articulating how their work maps back to the bigger business strategy. Eric also highlights for us the need to clearly distinguish business strategy and transformation strategy and act accordingly. The topic of Eric's session at SAFe Summit 2017 was "Aligning Business Strategy and Execution with the SAFe Portfolio Level." Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Leslie Morse at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Round table Roulette time again! Our guests this time are Beth Hatter, Sally Elatta and Skip Angel and they have no idea what questions are in store for them! In this episode we answer... If a ScrumMaster were a tree, what kind of tree would they be? What's a favorite aha moment for you or your team? What's an example of a time when Agile didn't apply? How about the worst conference food you've ever had? And so much more! Our favorite quote from this episode has to be by Sally: "You can use all of Agile sometimes and some of Agile all the time." Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett at SAFe Summit 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Richard Knaster of Scaled Agile, Inc., touches on what makes SAFe so effective, DevOps as a key enabler of innovation, and first-mover advantage. Hosted by SolutionsIQ's Scott Frost live from the second annual SAFe Summit in San Antonio, Texas. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Billie Schuttpelz, Jolene Jangles, and Ronica Roth (sporting a giraffe onesie) sit down for a turn of Round Table Roulette, third and final of this year's conference. What's your favorite retrospective technique? What is your favorite conference? (Agile rap battle, anyone?) What would you throw in "Agile jail"? And then they share stories of a talk or training taking a bad turn or of Agile outside of software. Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Scott Ambler and Mark Lines are the co-creators of Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD), and together they gave an overview of this framework in their "Disciplined Agile Master Class" at Agile2017. The duo enlighten us on the difference between their process-decision framework and scaling frameworks like Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) or Large-Scale Agile (LeSS). And while they're at it, they open the Pandora's Box of "What's better than Agile? And what does it mean to be "beyond Agile?" Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Giora Morein, founder and former president of BigVisible and current CST, proposed to us an inflammatory topic: enterprise Agile is killing product innovation and dooming global economies. To round out our discussion panel, we invited founder of Precoil David Bland before diving into a deep and long discussion with two major takeaways:Agile is good at making organizations more efficient, which may cause companies to efficiently undermine their own business, the people they employ and the larger economy.Organizations don't invest enough in enough types of innovations to protect against the uncertainty of the future. Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

The "enigma wrapped in a puzzle" Alistair Cockburn has an interesting story: signatory of the Agile Manifesto, author of two pivotal books "Writing Effective Use Cases" and "Agile Software Development," and founder of the Agile software development conference in 2003 along with the more recent "Heart of Agile" conference. This last, "Heart of Agile," has meme-ified Alistair, in ways oversimplifying who and what he is. But becoming a meme, he says, is crucial in order to have a greater impact. Alistair also shares his thoughts on Agile 2.0, what that means, and provides us with possibly our favorite quote for all of the Agile2017 conference: "Some people say that Agile is dead -- no, it's just been incorporated into the bloodstream so you can't see it". Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Extrovert Kupe Kupersmith has a goal to connect with every person in the world. "I'm not the smartest person in the room," he admits, "but I am a click away from getting any answer that you need."Kupe uses improvisation to improve human interactions, which technology and tools like social media can both hinder or support. He even demonstrates how you can use improv to, of all things, build a pool on the moon. Howard Sublett assists at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

How do you coach the mind? "Slowly, carefully," say our guests Karen Greaves and Sam Laing. The duo are attending Agile2017 from far away South Africa and presenting on "Growing Internal Trainers and Coaches." Karen shares her experiences becoming – then giving up being – a Certified Agile Trainer because it was at odds with her and Sam's real objective: growing and uncovering competent Agile coaches and trainers, rather than just handing our certifications to people whose only concern is whether something will be on the exam. As Sam puts it, "Some things that you chase can actually drive the wrong behavior." SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida, with Agile coach Michael Tardiff adding color commentary. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Author of O'Reilly's "User Story Mapping" Jeff Patton joins SolutionsIQ's George Schlitz to remind us that product success is not defined by how many features it has but by the value that customers get out of it. In other words, if customers aren't using it, the company should take that feedback and run with it. "It's incredibly important to be focused on what are we helping companies achieve in their worlds more than how much stuff are we delivering." Meanwhile, George recognizes that leadership is key to ensuring that the business is achieving the actual goal of bringing value to customers. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts live at Agile2017 in Orlando, Florida. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Beloved guest and co-founder of the Agile Coaching Institute (ACI) Lyssa Adkins graces us with her presence and regales us with her experiences through leadership development, both her own and those that she has coached others through. SolutionsIQ's Halim Dunsky and Accenture's John Borys round out the table with the discussion centering around how difficult it is to be a good leader, whether you're leading a team or an enterprise. In the spirit of Agile and transparency, the group shares their individual growth experiences and aspirations, recognizing that "leadership development ain't for sissies." SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Michael Vizdos is a coach, entrepreneur, author, and now the ScrumMaster in Residence, and part-time professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Universities around the world now have demand for curriculum in Agile and Scrum, and Michael was hired by VCU's DaVinci Center to disrupt and develop both undergraduate and graduate studies in this field. "This is going to teach kids to think again." SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

An Agile coach, trainer and mentor with a PhD in Psychology of Collaborative Software Development, Sallyann Freudenberg is an advocate for neurodiversity. It was after her son was diagnosed with autism that Sallyann recognized the same characteristics in herself – and in the tech industry around us. She says, "Statistically, you have autistics in your organization if you're a tech company. There's a huge correlation… These people are in your company right now, you're just not making the most out of them." To help companies recognize that neuro-atypical individuals with autism or ADHD may offer intrinsic "superpowers" to offset their challenges, Sally co-founded the Inclusive Collaboration Campaign with Katherine Kirk. SolutionsIQ's Howard Sublett hosts. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Agile coach and "Agile for Humans" podcaster Ryan Ripley drops by to talk about a passion of his: the #NoEstimates movement. The problem is that estimates can turn into commitments, dollars get spent based on misinformation, features end up misaligned with business needs, and all parties end up feeling misled and frustrated. The question then is: do estimates add value or is it unnecessary overhead? Jump into with us to learn more about this movement! SolutionsIQ's Chris Murman hosts. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

Agile pioneers Ron Jeffries and Chet Hendrickson take us on a roller-coaster ride – in a Delaurian! – through the pervasion of Agile, the evils of meeting big companies where they are, the next evolution of Agile, and treating programmers with human decency, all in the "right side lounge"! Not sure what that means? Neither are we, but we learned a lot and you will, too. Need more incentive? How about these quotes:- "You're not doing Agile until your teams are shipping software every two weeks."- "I have in mind a revolution."- "What is Agile 2.0? It's teal biomimicry."- "We coded live during the keynote to prove that we could do it."- "Everything I learned about Agile, I learned through pair programming." To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

David Marquet's book "Turn Your Ship Around" is a favorite in the Agile community because it epitomizes team empowerment. David sits down with Agile Amped to discuss his thoughts on leadership, sharing stories of inadvertently becoming the leader aboard the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear submarine. He offers advice to the leaders of Fortune 500 companies, including (surprisingly) letting your waiter order your meal for you the next 10 times you eat at a restaurant. "When you know what it feels like [to give up control], then you know when you're on the right track." Learning to lead, he also advocates, is like learning a foreign language: you don't learn it by going off to on retreats but by doing a little bit everyday. Howard Sublett hosts with guest SolutionsIQ's Dan Fuller. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook

What happens when you get a handful of Agilists together and ask them random questions on the fly? A lot of fun – and insights. Who's the better ScrumMaster: Batman or Wonder Woman? What drink makes for the best retrospectives? What one piece of advice would you offer a Product Owner? Listen in and see how you stack up with our panel – Neville Poole, Chris Murman and Claire Moss. Hosted by Howard Sublett. To receive real-time updates, subscribe at YouTube, iTunes or SolutionsIQ.com.Subscribe: bit.ly/SIQYouTube, bit.ly/SIQiTunes, www.solutionsiq.com/agile-amped/Follow: bit.ly/SIQTwitterLike: bit.ly/SIQFacebook