(Want to get this article in your inbox? I publish one article a month and share it in my newsletter first. You can sign up here and join 14k other subscribers.) Hey folks - Two weeks ago I found myself at the center of a debate with a client about the benefits and drawbacks of … Continue reading Velocity should be renamed “future tech debt”
Do HR, Finance and Legal make products?
Teams that don't make customer facing work still work on "products" and have "customers." This article explains how to think about this kind of work - from HR, Legal, Finance et al - in a new light.
The top 10 rebuttals to: “Agile is great. But it won’t work here.”
At this point in its lifecycle, Agile is in the mass adoption phase. Whenever I’m in front of an audience or teaching a workshop and I ask, “How many of you work using Agile processes?” 100% of the hands in the room go up. The honest people in the room will still hold their hand … Continue reading The top 10 rebuttals to: “Agile is great. But it won’t work here.”
Fixed time, fixed scope projects always end in 1 of 3 ways. None of them good.
Late last month, after a particularly frustrating meeting I posted the following tweet: It turned out, not surprisingly, that I wasn’t the only one dealing with this failed project management approach. Many people reached out with virtual “high 5’s” and, more importantly, questions about how this could be so obvious to those of us who … Continue reading Fixed time, fixed scope projects always end in 1 of 3 ways. None of them good.
Defining value: the most ambiguous word in product development
One of my favourite questions to ask any new client is, “How do you measure success?” I pose this question to product teams, discipline heads and executives to understand what the organisation values and what they reward. One hundred percent of the time the initial response is, “That’s a great question.” After giving it some … Continue reading Defining value: the most ambiguous word in product development
What if “the way we’ve always done things” is the fastest way to agility?
One of the biggest obstacles in changing the way your company works is undoing the years, often decades, of institutionalised inertia of “the way things have always been done.” There’s comfort in doing things the same way. It made us successful. It made us big! And, perhaps the most persuasive argument: no one ever got … Continue reading What if “the way we’ve always done things” is the fastest way to agility?
Give teams a problem to solve, not a solution to implement
Last month our webinar featured Jonathan Bertfield and Sonja Kresojevic on how to make the case for Lean Enterprise change. After their presentation I interviewed them on the specifics of their ideas. Watch now.This post was originally published to my newsletter subscribers (13k of them now). If you’d like to get these in your inbox sign … Continue reading Give teams a problem to solve, not a solution to implement
Minimum Viable Conversation
Sense & Respond Press is thrilled to announce the launch of our second book, Making Progress: The 7 Responsibilities of the Innovation Leader by Ryan Jacoby. This concise, beautiful, actionable book breaks down the first 7 things you need to do when handed the role of innovation leader. Where to start, how build a team, … Continue reading Minimum Viable Conversation
How Blending Lean, Agile, and Design Thinking Will Transform Your Team
Building a stronger workflow for developers, designers, and product managers leads to better cross-team collaboration — and better products. The following is an adapted excerpt from Lean vs. Agile vs. Design Thinking by designer, team leader, and business coach Jeff Gothelf. In 2016, I was preparing with clients for an upcoming training workshop focused on coaching a … Continue reading How Blending Lean, Agile, and Design Thinking Will Transform Your Team
Did Lean Startup fail at GE?
Josh Seiden & I have received tremendously positive feedback to the launch of Sense & Respond Press. Our newest venture, Sense & Respond Press, publishes short, beautiful, actionable books by leading practitioners in the field of innovation, digital transformation, product management, and design. Our readers are smart, busy, practical innovators. Our authors are experts working … Continue reading Did Lean Startup fail at GE?