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Solving the Gordian Knot of Chronic Overcommittment in Development Organizations

Why do we promise more than we can deliver? Why do we say yes when we are already too busy? Chronic Overcommitment is a pervasive problem in the IT industry. In this article we take a look at the behaviors that drive over commitment and the dynamics at play in your organization the make it a difficult problem to solve. Finally, we offer some advice to those who suffer from this affliction.

Morgan Ahlström Rolf Häsänen
on Feb 13, 2014
3 years of Kanban at Sandvik IT: The Story of an Improvement Journey

This is the story of an enterprise-wide Kanban implementation. It explains why Sandvik IT chose the Kanban method; how it was deployed using a kick-start concept; how it was followed-up using a depth-of-kanban assessment; and the effects so far. The article includes links to concrete and step-by-step information on how to run these kick-starts and assessments

Christophe Achouiantz
on Feb 10, 2014
Leveraging the Practice of "Being Agile" to Design an Agile Management Curriculum

This article by a group of UC Berkeley Extension Agile Management Program participants describes one approach to communicating and enhancing the exceptional value possible when the practice and personal experience of Agile values and principles is used as a foundational Agile Management curriculum element, enabling effective adaptation and application of Agile practices in many contexts.

Susan Berry Nadine Kabbara Randall Thomas Balasubramanian Swaminathan Christian Jackson
on Feb 06, 2014
Interview with Jan de Baere about the Rise and Fall of an Agile Company

What happens when a director of a consulting company decides to drastically change the culture? At the Agile Tour Brussels conference Jan de Baere presented the why and how of a company that adopted agile, the journey that they went through, and how it came to a sudden end. InfoQ interviewed him about the agile change approach, culture and trust, and the lessons learned from an agile journey.

Ben Linders
on Feb 03, 2014
How to use Workshops to Boost Creativity, Team Commitment and Motivation

Creativity is a powerful motivator for individuals and teams and it can be taught, trained, and enhanced. These are techniques for enhancing creativity to be used your team’s workshops, and they include brainstorming, playing with puns, role plays and opposites games. These activities get people moving and on their toes, making workshops far more effective than traditional meetings.

Ulf Eriksson
on Jan 31, 2014
Kanban’s service orientation agenda

This second article in the series on the Kanban “nine values, three agendas” model explores the service orientation agenda. Building on the sustainability agenda, this agenda adds the values of customer focus, flow, and leadership. Individually, each of these brings some challenge; collectively, they can represent to a significant sense of direction, a much more outward-looking approach to change.

Mike Burrows
on Jan 29, 2014
The Neuroscience of Agile Leadership

Why does having the overview and influence make us feel rewarded? How do we adapt better to change? And how can we shift mindsets to become more Agile? Find out from breakthrough research in neuroscience why all the "soft, people stuff" around Agile works, how we can help people adapt better to change, and how we can influence real mindset shifts in an organization.

Jenni Jepsen
on Jan 23, 2014
Interfacing between Linear Waterfall and Agile Approaches

Michael discusses ways to integrate agile & scrum approaches with linear management styles often required to achieve organizational control in large complex environments. He talks about how to achieve an Agile PMO and how it can be applied in environments which are not naturally perceived as being agile-friendly.

Michael Nir
on Jan 21, 2014
Interview with Ole Jepsen on Leadership in Agile

Good leaders create an environment where self-organizing teams can thrive and create great products and services to delight their customers: that is what Ole Jepsen explains in this interview. At the XP Days Benelux conference he talked about truly leading people and the subtle but important differences between taking and giving control.

Ben Linders
on Jan 20, 2014
Intelligent Evolution: Making Change Work

Some 80% of all improvement and change programmes fail: they did not achieve the expected results, the investment in the change programme was greater than the value achieved, “improvements” were seen as mostly bureaucratic, or changes were abandoned soon after the implementation. Intelligent Evolution ensures long-term business success rather than short-term satisfaction of a standard or theory.

Peter Leeson
on Jan 13, 2014
Interview and Book Review Change Artistry

The book change artistry is a collection of essays from Esther Derby, Don Gray, Johanna Rothman and Gerald M. Weinberg. The essays cover a variety of topics to support professionals in developing their organizational change skills.

Ben Linders
on Jan 10, 2014
The Sustainability Agenda in Kanban

This first article in the series on the Kanban “nine values, three agendas” model, explores the sustainability agenda: a common approach to Kanban adoption at the level of individuals and teams, often motivated by the need for relief from unsustainable practices and workloads. This sustainability agenda draws on the Kanban values transparency, balance, and collaboration.

Mike Burrows
on Jan 06, 2014

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