When we are young, we are taught not to use certain words. Our parents, teachers, and mentors showed us that while certain words make us feel better in the moment, they are often seen as a sign of immaturity and not welcome in professional speech. I am wondering if it’s time to add “transformation” to...Read More

Much of the Agile and Scrum Training offered in today’s market is focused on a role or an accountability.  There are classes for Product Owners, Developers and Scrum Masters. People have even created training for leaders and managers working in an Agile environment.    One role that’s been underserved in the Agile training space is...Read More

“Technical Debt” has been a topic of discussion within the software industry for several years.  However, recent events such as the Southwest airlines debacle and the FAA outage has brought “Technical Debt” and its consequences into the main stream, even garnering mention on the front page of the New York Times.   “Technical Debt”, as...Read More

Those of us who have spent way too much time watching the Hulu show, “Letterkenny”, have no doubt all had the same thought: “Would Wayne be a good Scrum Master?”  Fortunately, Wayne and the other residents of Letterkenny, Ontario give us a number of catch phrases to examine as we consider whether he would indeed...Read More

There are a number of great anecdotes and quotes associated with American Football.  From Vince Lombardi, “What the hell is going on out there?” to Dick Butkus, “I only cheat in league games,” to Randy Moss’ “Straight cash, homie!” the characters of the game have provided us with a number of memorable one-liners and stories....Read More

I don’t care if the customers your organization serves are external ones who pay real money or internal ones who pay funny money. If you believe you’re entitled to their business, your organization is already in an era of decay and decline. The Competition of Today vs. the Competition of Yesterday There was a time...Read More

“How do we report status?” “How do I get insight into the product?” These are frequent questions we receive from our clients as they move to an Agile method like Scrum. The short answer to both of these questions is: eliminate status reports and attend the Sprint Review. After all, as the aphorism states, “there’s...Read More

“One of our core values is accountability.” “You are accountable for these results or this project.” Chances are, you’ve heard these phrases before. One of the most popular buzzwords across organizations regardless of domain, size or geography is “accountability.”     What Is Accountability? Given the frequent use of the word and the level of...Read More

One of the most common concerns I hear during Scrum training or coaching is: “how do I get my manager to change?” While there’s no recipe I can provide to address this specific challenge, I do have a few recommendations. Start by Modeling Scrum Values Get started by modeling the Scrum values within your organization....Read More

At agilityIRL, we’re focused on helping teams, leaders, and organizations become Agile—in real life. If you’re ready to become Agile via a whole-system approach that changes both the mechanics and culture by which you work, you’ve come to the right place. We’re glad you’re here. Welcome! We’re Proud to Launch Our New Website Welcome to...Read More