I’ve worked with MBOs a.k.a. Management By Objectives on and off at a variety of places. Your manager (and presumably their manager) define a set of quantifiable (S.M.A.R.T.) objectives for you to hit in the coming quarter. Then you review them at the end of the quarter. Easy, right? I must be treating these things...

A humorous response to the Agile Manifesto, written by Scott Ambler and submitted to the August edition of Software Development Magazine. Sadly in many cases it is more truth than fiction. Reposted without permission from elsewhere in cyberspace! We are uncovering more profitable ways of developing software by doing it fast and making lots of money. Through this work...

Why is it so hard to come up with impediments sometimes? I know that impediments are all around me – literally everywhere I look. So why is it that when we do the daily standup and answer the three questions, nobody seems to have any impediments? Obviously the team is having the same problem that...

One of my favorite quotes comes from the great entrepreneur Henry Ford Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. The story of one my failures dates back to year 2007. I was working with one of the Fortune 500 companies. I was stationed in Osaka, Japan and leading an ERP...

The diversity in perspective within a team brings great value, because it raises the probability that the team will overlook no great idea. Admitting multiple perspectives and soliciting the input of people with different backgrounds and experiences helps the effort explore a wide variety of options. The different experiences and ideas open additional, innovative perspectives...

Cross functional teams are groups consisting of people from different functional areas of the company – for example, marketing, product, sales, and customer success. These can be working groups, where each member belongs to their functional team as well as the cross functional team, or they can be the primary structure of your organization. As...

The task board is the single most important information radiator that an agile team has. A task board illustrates the progress that an agile team is making in achieving their sprint goals. Usually the task board is located in an area that is central to the team. For example, it’s in their work area or...