Effective Agile Leadership: Lessons From The Corporate Scrum

I’ve been through through a few projects which adopted Agile and I’ve learnt some valuable leadership lessons along the way. Most leaders are cynical about new fads, whether they are gadgets, methods, operating systems or new coffee machines. Maybe it’s an intellectual version of Moore’s law at work or just “there is nothing new under the sun.” In the first part of my career I spent over a decade consulting to large organisations using waterfall methods for implementing large ERP systems. Having used Agile a lot more in the last 10 years I believe Agile is the right approach for custom build projects where requirements are likely to change during the project.

Throughout this course we will celebrate your progress at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. I really want you to succeed but you need to take action and keep going so look forward to these milestones of progress. I will see you there and cheer you on as you keep going from one milestone to the next >>

Find a way to anchor user requirements to practical building blocks of design and architecture. It is important to understand what a user wants and why, through the gathering of user stories. However, requirements can quickly become unrealistic wishlists unless they are kept in check by architects who understand how the building blocks fit together. If you are leading, or involved with an Agile environment, make sure both the aspirational and the practical voices are kept in balance.

It’s good to be pro-Agile but it’s also important to be anti-Cumbersome. You know them when you see them; unwieldy and inefficient projects that take ages to deliver and no-one really knows how to start untangling and fixing them. Many projects have to be large and complex simply because of their scope – but they can still be well run. Waterfall projects are prone to becoming unmanageable but they are not cumbersome by definition unless they are allowed to become that way

Regularly demonstrate working software to customers; it builds engagement and increases trust. Nothing beats a good test drive before buying a new car; it’s difficult to get excited about the leather seats or the smooth gear change by reading the manual. Likewise, software needs a tactile experience by the customer who is paying for it; no amount of documentation can substitute for this. Also it cannot only be at the end of the delivery cycle – customers need to experience prototypes along the way.

Throughout this course we will celebrate your progress at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. I really want you to succeed but you need to take action and keep going so look forward to these milestones of progress. I will see you there and cheer you on as you keep going from one milestone to the next >>

The Agile Manifesto is not the 10 commandments, it’s principles; much like 50 shades of kid’s parties…. What do I mean by that and how does it help you keep your Agile journey going?? Software development is essentially a creative process requiring far more social psychology than many development methodologies allow for, even Agile ones. Some thought leaders argue that Agile software projects are like complex adaptive systems (CAS); related agents interacting in an environment of continually changing conditions. These are common in nature – evolutionary patterns of species demonstrate how the learning process improves the designs of successive generations.

A sprint is a perfect name – it is simple, self-evident and the route is clear. Well written software is intuitive and doesn’t require manuals and long training courses – no one has been trained to use Facebook or a Playstation. Likewise, good software engineering methodologies are easily explained, quickly understood and avoid jargon and acronyms. Talking about an Agile sprint with non-technical people is easy and they quickly understand what you want to do.

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Throughout this course we will celebrate your progress at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. I really want you to succeed but you need to take action and keep going so look forward to these milestones of progress. I will see you there and cheer you on as you keep going from one milestone to the next >>