Agile & Beyond 2020

We enjoy having conversations. Who doesn't? We are social animals after all. We like to know more about each other's stories. It is a feature built-in by default. As coaches, it is vital to use this basic instinct to our advantage. The easiest way to influence people is to have a conversation with them. You can use it coaching, mentoring, transformation, or just building a relationship with them. Can you imagine any of the above not to start with a conversation? I can't!

Conversations are two-way streets. The easiest way to have a two-way communication is to ask questions. Questions can be dumb, unrelated, out of ordinary, crazy, or even beautiful. Can they be efficacious too? They can! An excellent communicator knows how and when to use Powerful Questions to make any conversation a mighty one.

Powerful Questions generate curiosity in the listener and stimulate thoughtful conversation. They are usually thought-provoking and challenges the underlying assumptions. Powerful Questions, if asked in the right tone and body language, generates creativity and new possibilities.

Is it hard to ask Powerful questions? It might be. It is not that easy, and indeed not natural for everyone. The good news is that it is something that can be learned, and relatively very easily.

I invite you to join me for a workshop on Powerful Questions. In this workshop, I am going to help you build your muscle to ask more Powerful Questions. I will give you an easy tool to make your questions more powerful, and conversations more enriched. Asking powerful questions will help you build bridges with people, you would become more empathetic with them, and do not be surprised you are going to listen more. Some of the characteristics of a great coach, one might say! Don't you agree?

It All Starts with a Question, a Powerful One!

AgileTO 2020

Kanban is the New Scrum! Failure Transformation Patterns, Similarities, and Learnings

You are in charge of a whole organization or a number of teams. Your ultimate desire is for them to become more productive, which translates into effectiveness and/or efficiency. You would ask yourself which is a golden key here, Kanban or Scrum? Is it an either/or question? Shall you start by practicing Scrum for a while and switch when matured? Is there a golden ratio of Scrum practices v.s. Kanban that makes your transformation successful? Do you find yourself in Scrumfalls? Is Kanban the magic solution? You are telling yourself: It’s time to switch to Kanban. Others have done it, so it must be the magic solution. If that’s you, most probably you are spending now time and money on a new “method” while barely moving the needle. I can assure you It can become successful, it has been done!

 Kanban is the new Scrum these days. Let’s look at the failure modes of adopting Kanban deeper and together. What are the conditions needed for a Kanban method to flourish and find its roots in an organization? What can lead to a successful Kanban introduction compared to Scrum? Are there any fundamental differences between them? How can you make sure if you are moving from Scrum to Kanban, or having the thought of it, to become successful? What are the pitfalls that you want to avoid? Join me in this session to share with you my experience as both Scrum and Kanban coach helping organizations transform. I will be sharing lessons learned and coaching techniques to help organizations and leaders realize the true potential of Kanban.

Metro Toronto .NET User Group 2020

It All Starts with a Question, a Powerful One!

We enjoy having conversations. Who doesn't? We are social animals after all. We like to know more about each other's stories. It is a feature built-in by default. As successful professionals, it is vital to use this basic instinct to our advantage. The easiest way to influence people is to have a conversation with them. You can use it leading, coaching, mentoring, transforming, or just building a relationship with the person you are having a conversation with. Can you imagine any of the above not to start with a conversation? I can't!

Conversations are two-way streets. And the easiest way to have a two-way communication is to ask questions. Questions can be dumb, unrelated, out of ordinary, crazy, or even beautiful. Can they be efficacious too? They can! An excellent communicator knows how and when to use Powerful Questions to make any conversation a mighty one. Powerful Questions generate curiosity in the listener and stimulate thoughtful conversation. They are usually thought-provoking and challenges the underlying assumptions. Powerful Questions, if asked in the right tone and body language, generates creativity and new possibilities. Is it hard to ask Powerful questions? It might be. I can assure you that It is not that easy, and indeed not instinctive for everyone. The good news is that it is something that can be learned, and relatively very easily.

I invite you to join me for a workshop on Powerful Questions. In this workshop, I am going to help you build your muscles to ask more Powerful Questions. I will give you an easy tool to make your questions more powerful, and conversations more enriched. Asking powerful questions will help you build bridges with people, you would become more empathetic with them, and do not be surprised you are going to listen more. Some of the characteristics of a great coach, one might say! Don't you agree?

Workshop on Powerful Questions 

Agile Tour Paris 2019

Kanban is the new Scrum! The Reasons Not to Adopt Kanban

You are in charge of a whole organization or a number of teams. Your ultimate desire is for them to become more productive, which translates into effectiveness and/or efficiency. You would ask yourself which is a golden key here, Kanban or Scrum? Is it an either/or question? Shall you start by practicing Scrum for a while and switch when matured? Is there a golden ratio of Scrum practices v.s. Kanban that make your transformation successful? Do you find yourself in Scrumfalls? Is Kanban the magic solution? You are telling yourself: It’s time to switch to Kanban. Others have done it, so it must be the magic solution. If that’s you, most probably you are spending now time and money on a new “method” while barely moving the needle. I can assure you It can become successful, it has been done!

Kanban is the new Scrum these days. Let’s look at the failure modes of adopting Kanban deeper and together. What are the conditions needed for a Kanban method to flourish and find its roots in an organization? What can lead to a successful Kanban introduction compared to Scrum? Are there any fundamental differences between them? How can you make sure if you are moving from Scrum to Kanban, or having the thought of it, to become successful? What are the pitfalls that you want to avoid?

Join me in this session to share with you my experience as both Scrum and Kanban coach helping organizations transform. I will be sharing lessons learned and coaching techniques to help organizations and leaders realize the true potential of Kanban.

Gatineau Ottawa Agile Tour 2019

The Golden Hammer of Transformation: Culture!

Culture eats change for its breakfast! How many time have you discovered it? Have you noticed any indicators of it? How many times have you blamed the culture?

Isn't culture presented on what people do, say, and act? Studies tell us that people are of good nature. Most people (99% to be exact) do what they believe is right. They don't intend to resist change. They even are willing to help, and maybe they don't know how. They genuinely want to see the transformation becomes successful. They are resourceful as well. One might ask, how come there are many catastrophic stories when it comes to organizational transformation?

Have you heard the famous quote, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? Could it be that we are not looking at transformations with the right perspective? Could it be that we only have, and use a hammer? Maybe we have different types of it, and we don't even notice?


If the above interests you, please join us. Let us share our experiences, and how we moved away from using the "hammer" within organizations. We looked at culture from three different perspectives; Culture as an outcome, Culture as an objective and Culture as a goal. Each can take you to a completely different end states. We are going to share with you what we learned from our experience in transforming one of the biggest departments of one of the top 5 banks in Canada.

Toronto Agile Conference 2019

We enjoy having conversations. Who doesn't? We are social animals after all. We like to know more about each other's stories. It is a feature built-in by default. As coaches, it is vital to use this basic instinct to our advantage. The easiest way to influence people is to have a conversation with them. You can use it coaching, mentoring, transformation, or just building a relationship with them. Can you imagine any of the above not to start with a conversation? I can't!

Conversations are two-way streets. The easiest way to have a two-way communication is to ask questions. Questions can be dumb, unrelated, out of ordinary, crazy, or even beautiful. Can they be efficacious too? They can! An excellent communicator knows how and when to use Powerful Questions to make any conversation a mighty one.

Powerful Questions generate curiosity in the listener and stimulate thoughtful conversation. They are usually thought-provoking and challenges the underlying assumptions. Powerful Questions, if asked in the right tone and body language, generates creativity and new possibilities.

Is it hard to ask Powerful questions? It might be. It is not that easy, and indeed not natural for everyone. The good news is that it is something that can be learned, and relatively very easily.

I invite you to join me for a workshop on Powerful Questions. In this workshop, I am going to help you build your muscle to ask more Powerful Questions. I will give you an easy tool to make your questions more powerful, and conversations more enriched. Asking powerful questions will help you build bridges with people, you would become more empathetic with them, and do not be surprised you are going to listen more. Some of the characteristics of a great coach, one might say! Don't you agree?

It All Starts with a Question, a Powerful One!

Keep Austin Agile 2019

Innovation Through Customer Co-creation

Learn how to co-create with your customers using modern collaboration techniques

To be successful at innovating for your customer, teams need a solid understanding of how to engage and collaborate with their customers and users. It is only then that teams can deliver high impact projects/products that are important to their user base. Embark on a journey and with the latest set of techniques that help teams discover insights sooner and delight their customers faster. Take part in our latest workshop and learn everything you need to know at succeeding in collaborating with your customers. After all, innovation is best served when co-discovered with customers.

Our interactive and fast-paced workshop is based on design thinking, lean startup, and lean UX principles. It is designed to help you uncover better ways of working with your customers and boosting collaboration and creativity on your team. After many iterations and essential feedback, we’ve developed a fun and thought-provoking workshop where you will learn by doing and engaging with real people, working on challenges that will enrich your learning experience.

Innovation Through Customer Co-creation - October 4, 2019