Archive for November, 2009

Visual Notes and MindMapping Supplies

Someone was asking what tools I use to create the visual notes and mind maps. Perhaps the most important is to trust myself that whatever I am drawing is OK and will communicate ideas better than plain text.

I use the following supplies from DeSerres art store:

I like the Manga markers since they have really nice flow and give sense of grace.
The Staedtler fineline is good for adding lots of details and little pictures.
You can’t see it here, but the 8.5″ by 11″ sketch pad is perforated so I can tear off the sheets and scan them in.
I also sometimes use 11″ by 17″ sheets of paper with a Sharpie FinePoint for big picture thinking.

Visual note taking is a handy skill that I learned in a series of webinars: I only saw parts of this one and most of this one. This is a good thing to do as a team/group activity.

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November 18, 2009 · Filed under Communication, MindMap

Nice to be appreciated

I finished work at a client on Friday. I had been there since mid-February with the first 3 months transitioning a team to Agile and the balance of the time working with shared services group on a variety of things: Lean (root cause analysis, A3, Kanban, Value Stream Mapping), time management practices (David Allen’s Getting things done and Pomodoro Technique) as well as some management stuff (12 Employee Satisfaction Questions from First Break All the Rules, giving feedback and 360 reviews).

Anyway, something very nice and totally unexpected happened on my last day. Everyone gathered round on my last day and presented me with this card:

I felt deeply appreciated and was left with a warm feeling knowing that in some small ways I had added to these people’s lives. A good way to end somewhere.

Ways to start with Agile – books, training, or coaching?

I wrote this to help explain to the different types of approaches companies adopt when getting started with Agile: books, training or coaching. This is based on my experiences, so I’d like to hear from you. Permanent page is here.

1) Do it yourself

It’s possible to get started with Agile the way many people did after the Agile Manifesto was published in 2001: buy some books and start reading them. Today, there’s a lot more to choose from. As well, there is a lot free online learning material: articles, videos, blogs. I have provided links and bibliography under Agile Learning Resources.

2) Train the team and kick start the project

A good way to get started with Agile is to find an Agile coach to train and launch you project. It’ll take 2-3 days to get a couple of teams trained on-site. (This will be a lot cheaper than public training). Depending on the size and state of the project, it may take 3+ days to launch or restart the project using Agile techniques.

3) Hire a coach to transition to Agile

The best way to get started is work with an Agile coach to get your team operational and self-sufficient. You’ll want start by training your people and kick start your project (as above). It will take a while before your team is able to fully internalize the values and principles. Depending on how much attention you pay to technical practices, these can take a while to put in place. This approach involves having a full-time coach (or even a pair) work with your teams to accelerate learning and avoid pitfalls. Your coach will work with you to set transition objectives, so you’ll know how things are going and know where they are adding value.

Comparison of Alternatives

Approach	Advantages	Disadvantages
Do it yourself	There’s lot’s of free high-quality learning material online. Requires minimal cash investment. Can be undertaken as time permits.	Delays benefits as this approach can takes years. Substantial hidden costs of employee time spent on learning. Difficult to assess if you are getting things right.
Train the team and kick start the project	Allows you to get started with Agile right away. Everyone knows what to expect and can work together to make changes.	This will really only cover the basics. Agile is a complex skill that takes time to develop. You may end up doing Agile badly which can be confusing, unstructured and damaging. It’s easy to fall back into lee productive behaviours as it takes time to overcome organizational barriers and ingrained habits.
Hire a coach to transition to Agile	Expert Agile project leadership helps reduce project risk. Dramatically reduces the time for your team to become proficient. Allows people to internalize the values, principles while getting up to speed on the practices. Opportunity to mentor internal staff to take on role of process champion and coach.	It can be expensive, so make sure your organization is ready for it. A readiness assessment (see below) helps here. You will need to understand the benefits of Agile well enough to write a business case and convince others in your organization. Here is a presentation that might be useful in preparing this.