Published inThe Startup·PinnedMember-onlyA No-Nonsense Guide to AgileIntroduction Chances are you’ve heard of agile — in fact you probably can’t avoid hearing about agile. It may have got to the point where you’re just sick of hearing about agile! And yet, it’s entirely possible you still don’t really understand what the hell it’s all about. Having worked for…Agile12 min readAgile12 min read
Oct 4Teams Are Only As Good as the SystemTeams are only as effective as the system in which they operate. So when teams are struggling to execute, it’s worth taking a step back to understand the systemic challenges. Strategy and execution may seem relatively independent of one another, but in fact they are heavily interdependent. Recently I put…Systems Thinking2 min readSystems Thinking2 min read
Sep 15What Agile Coaches Can Learn from Product ManagersIntroduction I often feel in the agile world we have a tendency to work solution-first — even whilst we coach others to do the opposite. This solution-first approach is driven as much by businesses as it is by us as individuals. Businesses will often hire agile coaches/scum masters to “do” rather…Agile3 min readAgile3 min read
Nov 9, 2022Making the Case for Cross-Functional TeamsCross-functional (XFN) teams can seem counter-intuitive. Why? Because we’ve become institutionalised to think that businesses should be organised by function. But cross functional teams are more common sense than crazy. Here’s why. Last year I supported a company to adopt a fully XFN model. They already had XFN product and…Crossfunctional Teams3 min readCrossfunctional Teams3 min read
Sep 16, 2022Big tech aren’t shouting about agile or scrum…so what are they talking about?I recently posted about this on LinkedIn, and it proved surprisingly popular. So I thought I’d share it here, together with some of the discussions the post generated. Recently I’ve read books about Amazon (Working Backwards), Google (How Google Works) and Netflix (No Rules Rules). I consider them to be…Culture4 min readCulture4 min read
Aug 31, 2022Agile Guardrails: An Alternative to MethodologiesIntroduction I recently wrote about the limitations of the Agile Manifesto when adopting agile. Following on from that I thought I would look at the limitations of agile methodologies, and discuss why guardrails prove an alternative — or complimentary — approach to putting agile software delivery into practice. The Limitations of Methodologies Agile adoption tends…Agile8 min readAgile8 min read
Jul 13, 2022Adopting agile? DON’T start with the agile manifestoThe agile manifesto is arguably the most unhelpful document in the history of technology. There. I’ve said it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t disagree with anything it says, and I’m grateful that it challenged conventional methods of software delivery. …Agile5 min readAgile5 min read
Jul 14, 2021Is Self-Organisation a Myth?Introduction No, the title isn’t just clickbait, it’s a serious question. Early in my agile career I attended a meet-up where the speaker observed that “No-one is allowed to criticise agile, so it never gets any better”. Ironic eh? So in the spirit of continuous improvement, I’m going to plough on…Self Organization7 min readSelf Organization7 min read
Jul 2, 2021How to Move Fast at Scale, part 3: AutonomyIntroduction Speed and the challenges of scaling The inevitable challenge that all successful start-ups face is the need to scale effectively. There are many elements to this, one of which is how to stay agile at scale. In a small company of 10, 20, 30 people, agility comes naturally. …Scaling7 min readScaling7 min read
Jun 25, 2021How to Move Fast at Scale, part 2: FocusIntroduction Speed and the challenges of scaling The inevitable challenge that all successful start-ups face is the need to scale effectively. There are many elements to this, one of which is how to stay agile at scale. In a small company of 10, 20, 30 people, agility comes naturally. …Agility4 min readAgility4 min read
