Like most things with Agile, the idea that teams should be "cross-functional" gets shared almost like an eternal truth, but it's an old idea that deserves a deeper look. I will explore different perspectives on cross-functional teams and the Three Amigos model, what benefits they're supposed to provide, and their gaps. I will also review … Continue reading Revisiting the Guidance on Cross-functional Teams
In March of 2022, my Squad Health Check Miro template got published to the Miroverse. The Squad Health Check, originally developed at Spotify, allows teams to reflect on topics like "Is work fun?" and "Are we learning?" or "Do we have a good sense of our mission?" and more. Making it available as a Miro … Continue reading Miroverse Template: Squad Health Check
In early 2021 I was asked to give a talk about Agile to an MBA class from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. I never published the slides online, but now that I'm more actively blogging again, I thought others might benefit from them. This talk included details of a large … Continue reading 2021 Schulich MBA Agile Presentation
I used to think the best way to go about change was to focus first on the biggest problems hurting a team. The basic premise of this approach was that even though not everything may be perfect, as long as we address the most significant obstacles a team is having, we could live with the … Continue reading Making Change Where Change is Possible
In the context of organizational change, whether it's part of a formal "Agile Transformation" or just trying to make things better, one behaviour I frequently have to deal with is when Directors or VPs, who I'll refer to as management, tell me something along the lines of "The teams need to do this." They might … Continue reading Empowering Teams Instead of Telling Them What to Do
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