Agile and Project Management - DrunkenPM Radio

This podcast features an interview with two educators from Grandview Prep in Boca Raton, FL. Aileen Palmer and Susan Rose have been working with the Scrum Alliance, John Miller and Mike Vizdos to help the school implement Scrum for both the students and school administration. The interview explains how Scrum got started at Grandview, the impact it has had on the students, as well as the benefits and challenges they’ve experienced along the way. Show Notes 01:16 Interview Begins 02:01 How Grandview Prep got interested in Scrum 04:59 Agile can be a lot easier for kids than adults 05:52 How Scrum has changed the way the students at Grandview collaborate 06:32 How the kids self-organize to make sure everyone is participating in the work 06:59 How teaching Scrum to a junior in high school impacts their ability to get work done and prepare for college 07:54 How visualizing the work is helping the students understand how to break work down into manageable pieces 08:35 Teaching students and teachers about how to break down the work and plan things out 10:20 Differences between how 1st graders and older kids are using Scrum at Grandview 11:17 The hardest parts of getting started with Scrum in school 13:17 Sometimes the transparency and seeing how much you have to do is overwhelming for adults 14:03 The struggle between Trello and Post-its 14:59 Student rankings and grading at Grandview - and how it has been impacted by Scrum 17:14 How using Scrum has improved the students and teachers ability to give and receive feedback 17:45 The reaction from parents/stakeholders to the introduction of Scrum at Grandview Prep 20:28 What Scrum means for the quiet kids who like to sit back and let others lead and drive the work 21:30 How will Grandview measure success to determine if/how Scrum is helping 22:33 The support Grandview Prep received from the Scrum Alliance 23:14 Advice for educators who are interested in learning more or trying to implement it at their school 24:39 How to get in touch with Susan and Aileen to learn more about Scrum at Grandview Prep 26:10 Wrap up 26:48 Podcast End For more information: Grandview Prep Info and Contacts http://Grandviewprep.net Aileen Palmer apalmer@Grandviewprep.net Susan Rose srose@Grandviewprep.net Scrum Alliance Info and Contacts Scrum Alliance https://www.scrumalliance.org/ John Miller agileclassrooms@gmail.com Mike Vizdos http://www.michaelvizdos.com/ Heather Leigh hleigh@scrumalliance.org

7 Mar 201726min

Richard and Dave Show Notes Podcast Topic - You’ve taken CSM Training and passed the Exam. Now what? In this podcast Certified Scrum Trainers Richard Cheng and Dave Prior share their thoughts on most important things that Certified Scrum Master students can do to be successful Scrum Masters once they have completed the training and passed the CSM Assessment Exam. The podcast includes an exploration of why each of the recommendations is critical to making Scrum work and both Richard and Dave share examples from their experiences in the field working with teams who did, and did not have these practices in play. Links Mentioned in the Podcast Geoffrey Moore Vision Statement https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/05/09/product-vision/ Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore http://amzn.to/2h3ruRS Roman Pichler’s website (where you can find the tools we mentioned) http://www.romanpichler.com Roman Pichler’s books https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Pichler/e/B00359XCV2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1482305119&sr=8-1 Contact Info Richard Cheng Works for Excella Consulting https://www.excella.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardKCheng Email: richard.cheng@excella.com Dave Prior Works for LeadingAgile http://www.leadingagile.com Twitter https://twitter.com/mrsungo Email: mrsungo@gmail.com Blog: http://drunkenpm.blogspot.com The music featured in the podcast was downloaded from The Free Music Archive http://freemusicarchive.org Intro Song Cash Rules by Ari de Niro. For more info: http://www.needledrop.co/wp/artists/ari-de-niro/ or http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ari_de_Niro/ Outro Song Cherry Skies - The New Mystical Troubadours. Find them here: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_New_Mystikal_Troubadours/

21 Des 201633min

In this podcast, Dr. Sallyann Freudenberg talks about her new book “The Inclusive Collaboration Experiments: A short book of activities about working with all kinds of minds” which she co-authored with Katherine Kirk. The book is part of a campaign that aims to promote, embrace, and celebrate neurodiversity in technology. Sallyann is an agile coach, consultant and trainer who focuses on psychology and collaboration. The Inclusive Collaboration Campaign is dedicated to the memory of Jean Tabaka. Show Notes: 00:00 Podcast Intro 00:35 Interview Intro, background on Sallyann and how she got started learning about Autism 02:39 The Inclusive Collaboration Experiments book 06:00 Being diagnosed autistic vs. exhibiting some characteristics that may be shared by those with Autism 07:48 Confusion about Introversion 08:49 The GOTO Conference in Berlin’s Quiet Room 10:47 The Silence Experiment and how it can be used to support the team 14:00 Supporting the more introverted members of your collaborative team 21:50 The Rules for Neuro-inclusivity Charter 25:30 Should teams strive for neurodiversity? 30:07 Where to find the book and how to reach Sallyann 31:25 Sallyann’s upcoming events 32:03 What is the most interesting thing Sallyann has learned this year 32:50 Closing Links from the Podcast The Inclusive Collaboration Experiments Book LeanPub https://leanpub.com/theinclusivecollaborationexperiments Lulu http://www.lulu.com/shop/sal-freudenberg-and-katherine-kirk/the-inclusive-collaboration-experiments/paperback/product-22927832.html Inclusive Collaboration on Twitter https://twitter.com/inclusivecollab Sallyann Freudenberg on Twitter https://twitter.com/SalFreudenberg Katherine Kirk on Twitter https://twitter.com/kkirk Sallyann’s Presentation from Lean Agile Scotland - Fish Climbing Trees https://vimeo.com/192558543 OOP 2017 http://www.oop-konferenz.de/oop2017.html Wardley Maps http://www.wardleymaps.com Quiet by Susan Cain http://amzn.to/2h7gTX7

16 Des 201634min

PMI Fellow and former PMI Chair Philip Diab has developed a new program to help organizations get PMO’s up and running quickly. RapidStart PMO is an outcome driven approach that creates deliverables as it iterates towards understanding how the PMO can best serve the organization. And despite his stature in the PM community, Philip continues to be a practitioner, helping organizations get better at getting work done. He’s deeply wise and he’s has been kind enough to act as Yoda to me on numerous occasions throughout my career. In this interview we discuss the profound impact volunteerism can have on your PM career, keys to success for PMOs and common mistakes many organizations make when starting up (or maintaining) PMOs. Show Notes 00:00 Podcast begins - Dave introduces Philip 00:39 Philip talks a little about his background in Project Management and with PMI 01:22 How volunteering can help your career 04:30 Volunteering takes a lot of time and energy, but it gives back even more 06:20 PMO’s - How Philip got involved in working with PMO’s, what he learned from it and why he is so passionate about it 07:27 Yes - PMO’s are very exciting… but you have to be pretty deep with the PM geek 07:50 The work Philip has been doing to help organizations that want to start PMO’s to get them up and running quickly 08:43 The PMO as a service organization that helps projects succeed (as opposed to simply providing an auditor function 10:39 Philip’s explains S.E.R.V.E. - his five strategic principles for PMO’s 13:41 The types of organization Philip works with and where they are in the PMO adoption lifecycle 15:41 A story about one of Philip’s favorite PMO projects 16:52 Philip’s optimism around his work “There is no room for cynicism in project management.” 18:05 What makes PMs successful and when the work moves beyond being about the project 19:01 Philip’s PM Origin Story - How to get the job when you have no experience and what happens afterwards 20:41 Giving yourself empowerment because of your knowledge and experience 21:30 “You can take charge and people will let you if what you are doing is the right thing for the organization.” 22:00 Why Rapid Start PMO exists and how it can help you build (or rebuild) your PMO 24:33 A step-by-step deliverable focused program 25:14 The main differentiator that that leads to success and five critical factors you need 27:05 Passion for the project and being the champion who motivates the team is critical, but what if the project you get is “just a pile of garbage” (Philip offers Dave some advice) 29:43 A strange definition of optimism 30:55 Making room in the PMO for experimentation 32:24 Common missteps made by organizations trying to start PMOs 35:22 What to do when you can’t don’t know (or can’t remember) why you have a PMO 37:37 How the course can help existing PMO’s 39:08 How to learn more about the course or get in touch with Philip 39:35 Philip’s new podcast “The Project Management Debate Podcast You can learn more about Rapid Start PMO here: http://rapidstartpmo.com/p/rapidstartpmo You can reach Philip via his website: http://philipdiab.com/ Or his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipdiab And you can find “The Project Management Debate Podcast” on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pm-debate-podcast/id1170807549?mt=2 or Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/user-96614158

7 Des 201641min

In this podcast, Jessie Shternshus , Paul Hammond and I take a shot at addressing the question of whether organizations have become so focused by the need to “do” Agile that they may have lost the ability to actually “be” Agile. During the conversation we touch on a number of the key challenges organizations are facing and how these challenges are impacting individuals at the team level. Show Notes 00:45 Introduction to Jessie and Paul 02:00 The Topic(s): Do we need to return to a more simple version of it so that people can better understand/internalize the fundamental intent behind it and not simply get lost in dogma and going thru the motions? How do we help “them” figure out the “why”? 06:30 Does leadership need to deeply understand Agile to help support transition to Agile or can the organization succeed if they just want to “do Agile”? 08:48 Changing the conversation to help people approach Agile with a more open mindset? 10:48 Mapping organizational values to Agile Manifesto values 11:30 How to create hope (that things can improve) at an organization? 14:20 Taking the option to “Make a choice” 16:37 Advice for getting “Buy In” 18:03 How do we unfreeze the frozen middle? 20:08 Should leadership demonstrate vulnerability when trying to transition to Agile? (crickets) 20:46 How do I help my company become a place innovative, agile people will want to work? 22:47 You can’t put a band-aid on culture 23:56 What id you hire for the culture you want, and disappoint the new folks with what you have? 26:15 Has anyone’s Agile transformation ever gone fast enough? What is the pace of transition that you need? 27:17 Remember to acknowledge the positives 28:00 Advice for Senior Mgmt. on adopting Agile 32:36 Advice for Team Members who feel like Mgmt. doesn’t get it yet 36:30 How to reach Jessie and Paul 38:29 Close Contacting Jessie and Paul Jessie is the founder of The ImprovEffect. You can reach her at her site here: http://www.improveffect.com or via Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheImprovEffect. She also has a number of upcoming events which can be found here: http://www.improveffect.com/events/ Paul Hammond is is the Director European Product Development at eBay and can be reached via his website: http://phammond.com or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/phammond. Paul is also on the Board of the Agile Alliance. You can find more about the upcoming Agile Alliance Technical Conference here: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile-alliance-technical-conference-2017/

22 Nov 201639min

This summer Patrice Colancecco Embry posted an article on The Digital Project Manager suggesting that project managers needed to show empathy not just towards team members and stakeholders, but towards the project itself. In this interview Patrice and Dave dig in a little deeper on the idea of showing empathy for your project, why and how you'd go about doing that. They also get into the how important it is for the PM to show empathy for him/herself and when it is okay to totally hate the project. If you'd like to check out Patrice's original article, you can find it here: http://www.thedigitalprojectmanager.com/managing-project-empathy/ If you'd like to get in touch with Patrice, you can reach her via: Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrice108 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriceembry Her website http://www.patrice-embry.com

31 Okt 201644min

One of the great benefits I have had through volunteering for the Scrum Alliance has been the opportunity to work with a long list of inspiring and brilliant people. At the top of that list is Jukka Lindstrom. Jukka is someone who’s approach to exploring and solving problems is so different from my own that I felt like every time we collaborated on something, I got better at what I was doing just by working with him. A few years ago Jukka left his job as an Agile Coach and Trainer and started working full time with traditional organizations. At the start of 2016 he joined Cargotec to head up their Digital Transformation effort. If you think Agile Transition is hard, consider that it is only a small part of the transformation of digitizing a global organization with 11,000 people who are used to working in an analog world. In the first part of the interview Jukka and I talk about the work he’s been doing since leaving Reaktor and what it’s like trying to transform a company of 11,000 people to not just Agile, but a digitized way of working as well. Leaving the Agile Consulting world to go back into a traditional environment is a brave choice, but for Jukka, it presented an opportunity to test out what he had learned and see if he could help. While it has provided him with great learning experiences, it has also come with some tough moments. In the second part of the interview we focus on how what that career transition has been like and how he has avoided getting trapped in the doldrums when he is faced with working in a more traditional environment. Show Notes 00:09 Interview Begins 00:57 Jukka’s role at Cargotec and what the company does 02:37 The difference between Agile Transformation and Digital Transformation 07:36 The complexity of transformation at Cargotec 08:44 Why is this level of transformation so much harder than basic Agile transformation 10:10 The mindset shift 11:54 Placing a bet on technology when you don’t know exactly what you’ll be able to do with the result yet 13:00 transforming11,000 people … “that’s like 1,200-1,500 teams of people” 15:00 Where do you learn faster? Working in software or more traditional (manufacturing) companies 17:15 Becoming an Agile Bodhisattva 17:52 When you walk back into the waterfall, doesn’t it kinda suck? And how do you stay inspired? 19:45 Realizing that the reason you feel stuck is because you aren’t being true to yourself 22:37 How to avoid playing the victim and taking ownership of your own learning and joy 24:30 “I’m not having fun… why am I doing this?” 25:27 If you can’t find fun in what you’re doing, you’re doing the wrong thing 25:55 Things Jukka does outside of work that helps him stay engaged and learning while he is at work 27:00 MIT’s ULab Links from the Interview Cargotec Website: http://www.cargotec.com Singapore Cargo Port Timelapse Video https://youtu.be/HrZg96L8yaY MIT’s ULab Course https://www.edx.org/course/u-lab-leading-emerging-future-mitx-15-671-1x Leading from the Emerging Future by Otto Scharmer http://amzn.to/2dJJ1TL Reaktor https://reaktor.com If you’d like to contact Jukka LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jukkalindstrom Twitter https://twitter.com/jukka_lindstrom

11 Okt 201632min

Writing the introduction to a podcast interview with Dr. Alistair Cockburn is not a simple thing. He is the co-author of the Agile Manifesto and the author of numerous books on Agile, Use Cases and Object Oriented Programming. There is also his work with Crystal and now with the Heart of Agile. He’s contributed a significant body of material around the topic of how we work. While this interview touches on most of the above, the primary focus of the interview is around a simple question with a complex answer: How can you design a lifestyle that is based on continually examining and enhancing the quality of your life. The interview is a long one, but is filled with volumes of advice and wisdom on how to build a professional life that supports the level of quality you want to achieve in your personal life. The information will be especially valuable for anyone working on consulting. For those who are pressed for time, I’ve created detailed show notes below so you can jump to a specific portion if you need to and you can find them here: http://bit.ly/2cjamVJ If you would like to learn more about Alistair Cockburn, check out http://alistair.cockburn.us. If you’d like to follow Alistair on Twitter, you can find him at https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair If you’d like to learn more about Heart of Agile, check out http://heartofagile.com If you’d like to check out the Facebook Live conversation between Alistair and Nic Sementa, try http://bit.ly/2cESM57

20 Sep 20161h 19min