The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
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This blog seeks to provide practical and actionable advice, tips, and guidance for agile coaching in a virtual world. It includes various themed content including Agile Game of the Week, Top Tips for Tuesday, Tales From The Trenches, and more. Chris Stone is the Virtual Agile Coach who, for the past ten years, has been fostering an environment for the success of high-performing teams and..
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
2d ago
Kudos on the visual by Roberto Ferraro
Not towards more certifications but longitudinal learning over time
And I love it!
So do my clients → Why?
1. Traditional 2-day certifications introduce theory
↳ But don't allow enough time for practice
2. Spaced repetition - [Think Duolingo]
↳ Like more reps in a gym - Practice aids remembering your learnings
3. Our needs change [Just like all plans!]
↳ A flexible syllabus lets learners re-prioritise what they learn next
4. Additional feedback loops with your trainer
↳ Enables practice AND reflection - Catching errors ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
1M ago
I promise you they work
(Read twice to fully soak in the brilliance)
1. Rebrand all roles → with titles such as Scrum Lord
[Everyone needs an agile title]
- Chief of Chief of Chief Product Owner
- Release Train Engineer
Keep the same mindset + responsibilities though [because change is hard]
The more medieval, obscure & important sounding, the better.
Nobody can question you if they don't understand what you do!
2. Copy & paste → the latest fad framework
Why innovate when you can replicate?
It worked for them. it'll work for us too. Right? RIGHT?!
Eh Spotify?
3. Be Agile → in name onl ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
2M ago
My thought experiment
The Agile Manifesto is two decades old now - Old enough to legally drink in the USA in fact!
And while it's stood the test of time in many cases
In others, it has been:
- Left open to interpretation
- Used dogmatically
What would happen if we delved a bit deeper into the Agile Manifesto values and principles
And applied the same template to each
With an 'Over' qualifier?
Scroll on to find out with part 1
"Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable product"
Yes - I changed 'software' to 'product'
If you're looking for ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
2M ago
It was the 44th day of the 2024 so I decided to write a 44-line Agile Masterclass
Capturing some of my top learnings in my 12 year journey in the agile world
Let's get started.
1. Leaders care more about outcomes → Not agile
2. Imperfect action > perfect inaction → Take action & learn from it
3. Frequent feedback loops = More chance of building the right thing
4. People don't like forced change → Co-create change instead
5. Learn fast resonates better than fail fast - Especially with leadership
6. Customers don't care how many story points you deliver
7. Agile won't solve all your probl ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
2M ago
+ How to navigate them
Every one of us is subject to cognitive biases
They:
- Shape how we perceive the world
- How we respond to new information
- How we make decisions as teams
There are 100's of them out there
The benefits of awareness about our biases
✔️ Improved decision making
✔️ Better collaboration
✔️ Greater inclusivity
✔️ More innovative thinking
,In this visual:
1. Anchoring Bias
2. Sunk Cost Fallacy
3. Groupthink
4. Ikea Effect
5. Curse of Knowledge
6. Survivorship Bias
7. Diffusion of Responsibility
8. Availability Heuristic
9. Zeigarnik Effect
10. Confirmation Bias
If you're loo ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
2M ago
Getting into Agile coaching can look glamorous from a distance
"Powerful questions you say?"
"Running workshops with sticky notes!"
How difficult can that be?
But your journey will resemble something like the below
[Mine certainly looked similar]
Agile coaching is as much a journey of self-discovery
↳ As one of helping people to continuously improve.
The more I learn
↳ the more I discover how much I don't know.
That I'm still a student.
Because bringing about change involves people
↳ And people are amazingly complex creatures
,So:
- Reading all the books
- Taking all the courses
- Listening t ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
3M ago
Unfortunately most people don't know how.
Why is this a problem?
"The only constant in life is change" - Heraclitus
- Introducing new ways of working → That's change
- New goals or Kpi's set? → Change is needed to achieve them
- Tooling like JIRA or AzureDevops brought in → You guessed it, it's change
Oh and another org restructure → Say it with me?
Change.
And yet these changes are often inflicted
- Frameworks enforced
- Goals assigned
- Yet another tool introduced to learn
One of the most powerful lessons I've learned in my 12 years in the agile domain
Invite ch ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
3M ago
So that you can boost your team's chances of success
I've been involved in 100's of retrospectives over the years [And facilitated more than I can count]
One of the biggest problems I see & and the most common question people ask me when I speak at conferences:
"How can I improve the quality of retrospective actions?"
When the actions capture aren't well defined, here's what happens:
- The same actions come up → Time after time
- Wasteful practices → Amplifying existing problems
- Reduced morale → And sometimes a loss of trust in the process entirely
An easy fix?
Make those acti ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
5M ago
Looking to explore creative solutions to known problems?
Why not give Reverse Brainstorming a try?
Leverage a technique widely used in Design Thinking and product discovery.
That works with our natural negativity bias, to begin with the problem first and then work backwards.
To find opportunities for improvement.
This cheat sheet will help you get started
It includes:
- Value
- Learning
- Morale
- Teamwork
- Quality
- Innovation
If you're looking for more tips, tricks, tools & templates that will save you time & energy then look at joining my members only community ..read more
The Virtual Agile Coach Blog
5M ago
Want to build new team habits?
Or break bad ones
Unsure where to start?
Try this cheat sheet below
"We don't rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems" - James Clear
It includes:
- Making it obvious
- Making it attractive
- Making it easy
- Making it satisfying
Plus the inverse
- Making it invisible
- Making it unattractive
- Making it difficult
- Making it unsatisfying
Across areas such as
- Technology & Tooling
- Routines
- Training
- Feedback
- Goal setting
- Reward & Recognition
If you're looking for more tips, tricks, tools & templates that will save ..read more