Diary Entry 2
Lots of thoughts for this entry today, I have been continuing the converstation around Certifications and Consultancy Firms with some fellow Agile coaches and friends. So will put down my thoughts here and maybe what ever else my focus is on at present with Agile
Certifications: So I have been in contact with Geoff Watts about his new journey with Scrum Mastery, I am totally on board with all things here that he describes, I agree 2 days does not make a good Scrum Master or Agile Coach, I am onboard with the the same thought process about it being a journey and that you need the mastery that comes with failing and learning and failing again (You know the PDCA cycle lol). I often wonder how some who state they are Masters have been doing it, I have always been honest, I am a baby in the field and how so much more to learn and that scares me in a good way as I know I can continue to add depth to my knowledge and share that with others
Consultancy firms: Well as you can tell I have a massive issue/learning journey with these, I think they do some damage to our industry selling mass failure to businesses and acting as they change the world, when often in my experineces I have had to go in and clean up the mess they have created, change mindsets and thought process and start again, it baffles me on why and how they get to do this. I suppose I am on journey to understand why businesses hire them, is it becuase its easy and they see a big shiny name and think: “oh its ok its ‘Deloitte” or “McKinsey” etc etc — they have to be ok they are massive companies with hundreds of people! I simple dont have the data to back that up, but I must start collecting it.
Anyway I think I am a mission to shout about why companies need to hire great coaches who can really help embed great values and principles and understand them before applying one of the many frameworks that live under the Agile umbrella. Surely the goal is to create something that endures than something that fails for a lifetime — I will continue to let you know how I am getting on with this journey
Agile Procurement: So this has come up for me lately in a place I am currently in and whilst I cannot find much to go on, I am trying to understand how it helps procurement departments and how it fits into Agile
I have read the definition on good old Goggle and the simple agile procurement definition states that “agile procurement is a type of procurement approach that is less strict, less orthodox, and more open and collaborative.”
Whilst this is is a great statement, it really doesnt tell the user how to do it or what it is, so again a bit of a journey and I have come up with some thoughts around it:
- Go back to the values: Individuals and interactions over process and tools — get them involved
- Collaboration: Talk, Talk and talk again, get the feedback loops in and make sure you keep them going and invite them to the right events to keep the loop going
- Lean: Remove the waste in the processes you currently have, make them work for you
- Set up pre OKRs/KPIs to enable you to see how you are working together
- No blame culture — work together to make the process work for you all
Anyway I am sure I will have more thoughts on this, so will come back to it
Governance: Well this may be another post, but for god sake if its needed in your team then find a way to work it in and again look at it with a Lean lense try to influnce how you can change it and work it into your teams and the product you need to get to market. Again another post I think, but I am beat today so going to sign off
As always, take care
Shelby x
