I don’t do a lot of interview shows. When I do, I want to bring on my friends – People I know personally who are making a real difference. Mike Caron is a fellow Unbeatable Mind student and member, and owner of Get Burly, a US-based team experience company that is about so much more than physical toughness. He really gets agility; embracing failure and team life…. and he’s making it happen with America’s youth in a very real way. I love when he talks about being “impeccable with your word”. Pote...
Nov 17, 2019•37 min
Should we hand out trophies to everyone…even when we lose? Or are we better to signal the loss and focus on the learning opportunity? Who do we really help or hurt by calling a loss a victory?
Nov 13, 2019•6 min
This week, we give pause to think about all of the complexity in the agile space; the overload of books, articles, opinions, and techniques, and how a return to simple fundamentals allows you to see your way clearly in any scenario…without having to fumble through your toolkit or recall rehearsed routines.
Nov 10, 2019•8 min
Be courageous this week. Ask for the opportunity. Speak your truth. Do the unexpected, the new, the unusual. When you do, you define your own reality. You create your own luck.
Nov 05, 2019•4 min
Ramping up a new team is a difficult time. Confused and afraid, the early days and weeks are full of hesitation, anxiety, and expectations. In this state teams can’t perform. Let’s see how a team naturally evolves when you’re starting from zero.
Nov 03, 2019•16 min
Do you want your resume to stand out from the stack? Don’t worry so much about how ‘little’ experience you have. It’s not about the number of years. Document every experiment that you run, along with the outcome. Shine a light on the ones that worked well – those that created a positive result, and added value; but don’t be afraid to mention the failures too. What you want to demonstrate is that you are constantly leading from where you stand; taking action, rather than staying mired in analysis...
Oct 29, 2019•5 min
If you’ve been a follower for any length of time, you know how much importance I put on being visionary and understanding your purpose. I believe it is at the heart of great leadership – excellent leaders do this well; struggling leaders don’t seem to get the hang of it. But listener James asks “how do you go about finding it”? The answer itself is in the badass way – get focused, get gritty, get humble…and don’t forget to inspect and adapt relentlessly. Listen in to find out more....
Oct 28, 2019•14 min
Start with the approach that you co-create agility WITH your teams. Its not something you force or install. Be the living example of embracing and chasing failure as the best way to improve. Always treat adoption and ’shifting’ as a never-ending journey….but your coaching engagement itself must have an expiry date so you can focus on creating learners and leaders from within. Help people get closer to what THEY want before asking them to hit homeruns for the team or the organization. Maintain a ...
Oct 23, 2019•9 min
How Do You Set the Bar High in the culture of hugs and trophies for everyone? Start With Yourself Create Team Creeds Focus on setting progressive and selective goals that move the dial ever forward
Oct 20, 2019•15 min
The main problem with “Better, Faster, Cheaper” is that everyone can sense ‘cheap’. When you’re trying to cut corners, you aren’t fooling anyone. That includes your people, projects and products.
Oct 17, 2019•6 min
Please join me in welcoming the first official Badass Agile Chapter! Marianne and Laurens from the Netherlands will lead this community – stay tuned for details. If you’re in the Netherlands, you’ll want to stay connected for events, discussions, and resources! A sincere thanks to you guys for helping grow the community, the philosophy, and the practice! I’m so honoured to be working with you!
Oct 16, 2019•2 min
It’s easy to act with integrity when your environment doesn’t challenge your standards. But how do you teach others to act with integrity when it matters? You must lead by example, and simply show integrity first. Act like an owner, be transparent, ask for help, communicate, lean into the hard challenges, and be most accountable when the failure is most costly Create low stakes for others to replicate you behaviour – at least at first – this means lowering the cost of genuine, honest mistakes. R...
Oct 14, 2019•14 min
Its all too common to have ‘agile’ teams that work on 5 or more projects at the same time. In theory, more is better; but spread too thin, a team loses immersion, continuity, and momentum. Know the upsides and downsides so that, if you can’t convince leadership to create committed, co-located teams, you can communicate the tradeoffs, and set expectations accordingly.
Oct 08, 2019•7 min
Why Is ‘Make Work Visible’ one of the three Scrum artifacts? Why does it matter and how can you apply it to non-technical and non-scrum initiatives? Making Work Visible doesn’t seem like an artifact, but in fact is a way of thinking about delivery and status that eliminates the overhead of collecting and producing status reports The easiest way to make work visible is to publish done things, but there are many other practices that make true ’status’ more available and transparent These technique...
Oct 06, 2019•12 min
“Looking on the bright side” may seem like an empty practice – putting a cheap paint job on a crappy situation – but actually, learning to see the wisdom and opportunity in challenges is a very powerful way to get unstuck when things are sticky. In this episode, we’ll uncover a simple set of statements that can help you put the right spin on current events to make a very real difference in your performance. And…this is a great one to teach your teams!
Oct 01, 2019•9 min
Projects and teams can involve frequent and sometimes painful change. How does a leader lead through change by example? Make sure you have been listening to my episodes on fundamentals and the ‘Badass Way’. Learn the basics of Agile Leadership and practice, practice, practice. When dealing with change, especially traumatic change, you’re going to need to lean on lessons learned in studying the Badass Way: Remember your ‘why’ – vision and service will free you from outcome dependence (a particula...
Sep 29, 2019•16 min
This week, we explore two very different questions submitted from two different listeners: how do you measure and describe ‘capacity’ when you have teams working on non-technical (or just ‘other’) issues, and….who wrote your theme song, and where can I download it?
Sep 27, 2019•10 min
One common question I get is how to become more influential. If you want your massage to have impact – to resonate and to stick – just follow the example of those who have gone successfully before you. Impactful people and messages anchor their messages to existing powerful emotional or cultural touchpoint, repeat and spread the message, and then amplify the resulting waves.
Sep 23, 2019•8 min
There are two sorts of people you meet in the halls of a large enterprise; those who want to learn specific job skills so they can meet their targets, impress their bosses and get a particular job done. And then there are those who want to learn the skills of change and influence. Or those who simply want to be a part of something much bigger. On the one hand, it’s easy to believe that there can’t be leaders without followers. That some people are destined to accept the leadership of others, and...
Sep 17, 2019•5 min
Everyone loves retrospectives. This is where we get to improve. Everyone loves demos… Because this is where we get to show off our finished work to the customer in waiting. But nobody ever mentions backlog grooming as their favourite scrum ceremony. But I think it should be. Often done poorly, grooming is the refining work that allows a backlog to remain current, relevant…and agile Proper grooming can eliminate waste by keeping low priority items low Proper grooming allows us to maximize the tim...
Sep 16, 2019•11 min
There’s been a change in how people organize in enterprise. But with flat hierarchies, and self-organizing teams, has the concept of leader or even team captains become obsolete and forbidden? You know what we should teach more of? How to respond to mayhem – rapidly changing expectations in unstable conditions. What I’ve found – and what’s helpful to communicate to clients – is that the first 3 sprints (literally, the first 6-8 weeks) are mayhem. On a new scrum team, or in new business/technical...
Sep 11, 2019•10 min
There’s been a change in how people organize in enterprise. But with flat hierarchies, and self-organizing teams, has the concept of leader or even team captains become obsolete and forbidden? Here are just 4 reasons why, despite the levelling of roles within teams, we still have – and need – captains and leaders…at least at times. Sometimes, people just need a little push Someone needs to hold themselves accountable to grow the team A leader first and foremost sets an example for others to foll...
Sep 08, 2019•10 min
Seeking perfection is a major source of wasted effort; particularly if you are seeking it BEFORE taking action. There’s no such thins as perfect output, only perfect effort. Perfection is sought literately over time. Modern business requires that we move ideas from vision to backlog to executed Iteration One quickly. In almost all cases, perfection is neither required nor desired out of the gate. Holding back or being unwilling to try for fear of making mistakes is the only kind of true failure....
Sep 04, 2019•7 min
Forget Sprints and Standups – Business agility is about travelling light so you can go faster. One important way to do that is by taking small, frequent experimental risks, also known as placing small bets. Test with small investments – Rent or borrow equipment, Copy other success stories and replicate them in unrelated domains Get volunteers or part-timers to help. Use gigsters Learning and research – Get aggregators or summaries Start with small commitments and experiments – lunch and learns v...
Sep 02, 2019•15 min
Do you take an existing team and ‘make’ them agile? Or do you build teams of agile people – people who have, or are likely to have, the right mindsets and openness to new practices? Here is where the rubber hits the road when it comes to executive support; do we do the easiest, most convenient thing, and expect them to squeeze the square peg of legacy mindsets, rigid thinking, and antiquated practice, and jam it into the round hole of agile beliefs and actions, or do we take the hit and scramble...
Aug 28, 2019•6 min
Hey friends, time for a bit of a wake up, a bit of inspiration, a bit of a refresh. It’s time to reclaim the Badass. Get clear on your vision. If you haven’t created one for yourself, the time is now. If you have, time to revisit it….does it need updates? Remember that service is a key component of a compelling vision A distinguishing quality of a leader is the courage to stick to your vision….no matter what opposition or resistance you may encounter Go execute. Be focused, single-minded and rel...
Aug 25, 2019•13 min
Your unique value in this world is the unedited, uncensored, unfiltered you. Be exactly who you are, and don’t let anyone tell you it’s wrong, or not good enough. The thing that makes you unique is also what allows you to connect, resonate and influence others. Do whatever, and be whomever, you truly want. Being authentic is true freedom.
Aug 22, 2019•5 min
A career as a Scrum Master or Agile coach can be very rewarding, and an incredible opportunity… But many who are new to the field have difficulty getting experience when the job description requires….experience. What are some things you can do to help ensure your successful job interview? Know your why Know your superpower Map your value to theirs Do the research – company and interviewer Think and act like someone who has an abundance of opportunities Mentally rehearse...
Aug 19, 2019•16 min
Aug 13, 2019•9 min
Most people follow the herd, we are told what to buy, how to act, how to speak, how to think, and what to believe. But either you belong to the herd, or you behave in like a hero. Let me explain the difference. People who follow the herd derive their value from staying safe and certain. It’s difficult to add massive value, to bring your One Thing or to bring radical action to your life and business when you only stand for safety in numbers Heroes live according to their vision and service, take ...
Aug 11, 2019•11 min
