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.