Net-Map is a tool developed by Eva Schiffer that allows you through interviews to visualise and analyse how different people and groups influence a particular situation. It is of interest to Agile teams as it can help you understand who your stakeholders are, how they are connected and the level of influence they have. InfoQ recently caught up with Eva and asked her a few questions.
Recently on the Agile Leaders mailing list Dan Mezick initiated a discussion on the need for Agile Coaching Ethics.
Agile coaches facilitate the transformations of teams and organizations to agile methods. Agile coach camps are open space unconferences where coaches gather to share and learn. There are two upcoming coach camps, one in Bletchley Park in the UK, the other in Columbus Ohio in the US.
Todd Charron is reporting about the Agile Coach Camp Canada 2011, in Montreal, Quebec where Michael Spayd demonstrated a powerful coaching technique called Systemic Constellations. Systemic Constellations comes from family systems therapy and was developed by Bert Hellinger.
Recently, Agile Coach Michael Sahota has been exploring the impacts of organizational culture on Agile transformations. We caught up with Michael and asked him to answer a few questions for our readers.
Very little in our education or experience properly prepares a ScrumMaster or project manager for the role of agile coach. This leaves most wondering, "What is my role in a self-organized team? How do I help the team yet stay hands-off?" This chapter, excerpted from the book Coaching Agile Teams, shows you how to activate the journey toward high performance in both provocative and practical ways.
In the nature vs. nurture debate, researchers have declared nurture the winner. People who excel are the ones who work the hardest; it takes ten+ years of deliberate practice to become an expert. Deliberate practice is not about putting in hours, it’s about working to improve performance. It does not mean doing what you are good at; it means challenging yourself under the guidance of a teacher.
This presentation covers coaches, coaching, and how the two work together to help guide larger project communities and large agile adoptions. The session also discusses a bit on coaching in general as well as how coaches and managers can (and do) work together to consistently produce better software.
Recorded at the 10th anniversary of the agile manifesto signing, Jim Highsmith discusses how he works with executive management teams to introduce and integrate agile techniques into enterprise organizations from both the business and IT sides. He defines adaptive leadership and discuses adaptive ALM, continuous delivery, lean and Kanban methods.
In this interview, Jesper Boeg, author of the new InfoQ book – Priming Kanban, discusses the keys to using Kanban effectively, and how to get started if you are currently using other approaches. Jesper also discusses the benefits of integrating elements of Kanaban into existing Scrum teams and what can be achieved from the team seeing the entire value chain and owning the whole process.
In this interview, Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd, cofounders of the Agile Coaching Institute, discuss the role of the Agile Coach and the competencies (i.e. facilitation, mentoring, teaching, and coaching) necessary to become effective in that role. Also discussed are ways an Agile coach can transform teams and organizations while reinforcing behaviors that will endure after the coach leaves.
