Category Archives: retrospectives

Fifty is the new Thirty! Or should all episodes strive to be as great as Fifty? Either way, it’s a CELEBRATION! Vic (@AgileCoffee) is joined by Brett Palmer (@brett_palmer), Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) and first-time guest L. Mark Higgins (@LMHiggins1). Today our heroes discuss the following topics: Who sets the agenda for the retrospective? Middle Managers and the Agile Transformation check out Em Campbell-Pretty’s “Thawing the Frozen Middle” The Agile project manager Scrum patterns and community at scrumplop.org Brett breaks down some distinctions between SAFe and LESS Craig Larmen is coming back to SoCal: Sept. 12-14 in Tustin, CA Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Come join…

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Victor is joined by Jon Jorgensen (@waterScrumBan) and Ryan Ripley (@RyanRipley) of the excellent Agile for Humans podcast for a double-sized, ultra packed episode of Agile Coffee for Humans. In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss: The HR Side of Agile – Performance Reviews, Raises, & Transparency The Business of Agile – How we justify the investment in agility Ken’s Complaint -Trademarking Scrum Group Crossing the line – push and pulling hair Organisational Psychotherapist, the new coach – a reflection on Bob Marshall’s Why Me? Agile Transformation – The REST of the story (like Paul Harvey) Agile games, simulations and learning activities…

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Theme: Agile Community Events Dr. Dave (@DrCorneliusInfo) joins Vic (@AgileCoffee) for a beautiful morning on Huntington Beach discussing all manner of Agile community events: Agile Opens (and other open space uses), coaching retreats and camps, lean coffees, hackathons. Dave talks about the 5Saturdays model, and we tell how to find, get involved and host these activities. This is one of my favorite episodes. In addition to the excellent scenery and the superb company, I very much enjoy talking about community events. Not only do I believe that community is important and fulfilling, but I have a penchant for organizing these…

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This episode is composed of two separate sessions. The first part was recorded on location at the 9th Annual Agile Open Northwest (Portland, OR) with Ben Sherwood, Michael Wolf, Alicia Lanier and Ian Savage.  For the second part, I returned to the home studio and was joined by Dale Ellis, Jon Jorgensen, Brett Palmer and Larry Lawhead. Between the two sessions, we dove deep into the following topics: Facilitation Tools – Groupwork cards Adaptive Action and Agile – aka What? So what? Now what? One more huge shout of gratitude to Ian, Alicia, Michael and Ben, to Diana, Tündér, Ainsley and…

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Vic is joined by Dale Ellis (@thedigitaldale), Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) for a lively morning of Agile and coffee. Today our heroes discuss the following topics: Agile Coach kits – what do you keep handy? Dale mentioned a handout by CarbonFive. He actually meant Lane Halley‘s Lean UX recipe cards. You can find them on Slideshare here and here. Your most memorable retrospective Story Mapping User Story Mapping, by Jeff Patton “Why Documents Fail And What You Can Do About It” (video on YouTube) “Why are we still failing with agile?” @jasonlittle asks book: The Servant by James C Hunter why…

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For this episode, Vic is joined by Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead), Dale Ellis (@thedigitaldale) and Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) for quick and efficient morning of Agile and coffee. Today our heroes discuss the following topics: How does practicing Agile/Lean change people? The Value of Scrum to Organizations Roadmapping with Lean Coffee and Six Thinking Hats – see Vic’s recent post book: Six Thinking Hats by Edward DeBono Techniques for remote retrospectives mentioned: zoom.us, trello, kanban flow, surveymonkey, etc. Scrummaster as leader – getting things done book: The Servant by James C Hunter What makes a good scrum coach? Want more? Visit our brand new forums on the…

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Recently I was asked about using Lean Coffee (LC) in the workplace, something I’ve been doing for the past few years. While I’m a strong advocate for LC’s workplace applications, I’d like to start with my view of the broader picture. (I’ve written about my experiences with LC before, but this post has more experiences to back it up.) I’d originally heard about Lean Coffee three years ago when I met Jim Benson at SFAgile2012. I immediately fell in love with the framework, so much so that I switched my twitter handle to @AgileCoffee.  Once I returned from the conference, I started a bi-weekly…

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Great news for those of you in sunny SoCal: expert agilist Diana Larsen is holding an Advanced Retrospectives workshop in San Diego on March 6th. The full title of the workshop is “Advanced Practices for Leading Agile Retrospectives: New Techniques and Activities”, and full details can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/advanced-retrospective-techniques-with-diana-larsen-tickets-8807454333 from her abstract: “Agile Retrospectives improve any project or process — building on a team’s immediate past experience of success and failure. Smart teams and organizations hold Retrospective meetings iteratively, throughout the work cycle and at important release milestones. With effective meeting design and facilitation, Retrospective leaders help team members systematically evaluate…

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