Derek Huether
Atlassian's approach on Enterprise Strategy and ...

One of my responsibilities at Atlassian is to shape how we position our solutions within evolving market trends. I was asked to write a series of blog posts to help articulate the position. Below is an excerpt. To read the entire post or download the whitepaper, just select the button.

Atlassian's approach on Enterprise Strategy and Planning
Metrics
Derek Huether
Most Important Metric for an Enterprise

As an executive, you will be faced with the choice to do the pivot (if you can) or persevere (if you have no other choice). This will lead to a series of “bets”. You lead with a hypothesis that the things you change will allow you to operate at pre-event levels. But, how long will it actually take for you to validate your hypothesis and have a bet pay off with pre-event levels? If you run out of time to figure it out or run out of bets you can place, then you either lose your standing in the market or worse risk going out of business.

Derek Huether
How to identify dependencies with Tableau and ...

Regardless of the organization or institution, there will always be dependencies. The larger the organization, the greater chance of the existence of dependencies.
This template is available for download from Tableau Public

Video
Derek Huether
Value Stream Management

In the following interview (both video and audio), Dave Prior and I explore why Value Stream Management is so important, how it works, the connection to Value Stream Mapping, and how you can get started with it.

Derek Huether
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics that are used to evaluate the performance of an organization or individual. They are used to measure progress towards achieving specific goals or objectives and to determine whether an organization or individual is meeting their targets.

Scrum

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Week Retrospective 110130

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news

Posts this week

I was a guest of AgileScout Live.  I really enjoyed myself.  Check out my video interview and retrospective.

I wrote about how I’m always looking for ways to communicate with team members, vendors, and customers.  When trying to understand the range of communications, I recently reassessed what I thought the opposite of communications was.  I no longer believe it is silence.  See some of my examples on why the opposite of communications is manipulation.

I loved this 10 minute video by Mike Cottmeyer, I had to write a post for it.  Though I frequent the LeadingAgile website, I had to do a little more than just retweet a link in support of this post.  For those who are new to Agile, Scrum, or Kanban, you need to carve out 10 minutes and watch this video on blending Scrum and Kanban.

After we published our first Scrum Posters, I was asked if we were going to create Non-Scrum Posters.  The answer is YES!  This week, we completed our (first) one-of-a-kind Pictofigo Project Management poster.  The Project Management Process Groups poster is now available!

Like so many this year, I got snowed in.  Unable to go into the office, I instead blogged about how our HOA handled the situation compared to the great snow storms of last year.

I recently read a pre-published copy of the Scrum Pocket Guide: A Quick Start Guide To Practical Agile Software Developmentby Peter Saddington of AgileScout.  I'm giving away one free PDF copy of the book.  Find out how to get registered to win.

Want to use the blog image for free? Find this drawing at Pictofigo

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Blending Scrum and Kanban

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Though I frequent the LeadingAgile website, I have to do a little more than just retweet a link in support of this post.  I've known Mike Cottmeyer a while now.  The guy just gets it!  For those who are new to Agile, Scrum, or Kanban, you need to carve out 10 minutes and watch this video.  In his own words, Mike says he 

blends concepts like Epics, Features, User Stories, Story Maps, Minimally Marketable Features, Scrum, Kanban, RUP, and even traditional SDLC to create a scaleable agile enterprise portfolio framework.

I wouldn't doubt that pretty much anyone who watches this video is going to have a light bulb moment. Recently, I've had quite a few people asking me about Kanban. Though I'm excited to tell them what I know and my approaches, Mike does an awesome job of both blending Scrum and Kanban and then communicating the approach in 10 minutes.

Head over to LeadingAgile and read some really great stuff. Also follow Mike on Twitter at @mcottmeyer

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Web Interview Retrospective

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Today, I was the guest for a live web interview with @AgileScout.  I'll admit, I'd never done a live (video) web interview before.  I did recently do an audio interview with @tykiisel & @RaeLogan.  I enjoy interacting with people but I usually do it one-on-one.  I rely a lot on audio and visual feedback to steer a conversation.  So, that made both interviews a bit challenging for me.  Since I had no visual feedback for the audio interview, I literally closed me eyes to stay focused.  To help me stay focused during the video interview, I closed all screens with the exception of the one of me on camera.  No, I'm not vain.  I just wanted to make sure I was centered on the camera.   So, let me say, I really enjoyed the interview.  Peter made it seem effortless.  There is a lot going on behind the scenes.  We talked before the interview to resolve technical issues and roughly go over the scope of the interview.  When you watch the interview, know two things.  [1] I was pretty excited and anxious.  I had already drank a pot of coffee.  [2] I was staring at a live feed of myself, not Peter.

ASL002 - LIVE with Derek Huether 2011.01.22 from Agile Scout on Vimeo.

The Retrospection

While we were doing the interview, my wife was in the other room watching the live feed.  After the interview, she said she thought I drank way too much coffee (during the interview) AND I moved around too much.  You know what?  That's not bad feedback!  If she had walked into the room and told me what I was doing (during the interview), I would have probably stopped (drinking my coffee).  Though it would have been a momentary interruption of the interview, it would have been a perfect testament to the need for short feedback loops.  THIS is a perfect example of why you want co-located teams.  THIS is a perfect example of why you have daily stand-ups.

Shorten the feedback loop and you will have less waste and deliver more value.

Thank you, again, to Peter Saddington for being an independent voice democratizing Agile.

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APLN DC Event Wrap-up

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APLN DCLast night I attended my first APLN (Agile Project Leadership Network) event.  The speaker was none other than David Bland of the Scrumology website.  Some of you may also recognize David from his posts on Agile Zone or from him speaking at Agile 2010.  David did a great job talking about Distributed ScrumMasters.  He was very engaging and there were some really great conversations as a result.  The exchanges were so awesome that the time kind of got away from us all.  Before we knew it, it was time to wrap things up.  It was really great to have a chance to interact with this group of Agile proponents and thought leaders.  I met a few friends I've only known from online and I got to chat with a few people I haven't seen since AgileDC2010. I was told Jeff Sutherland will be speaking next month!  Check the APLN DC website for details.

If you are interested in joining the APLN DC Chapter, there's no cost.  However, if last night's event was an indicator of value, it would be worth paying for.

Pictofigo Premium & Agile Scrum

The Sprint - Male ScrumMaster

The Sprint - Male ScrumMaster

A few months ago, I partnered with Pictofigo, which provides high quality free hand drawings for Agile and Scrum proponents, tradition project managers, professionals, presenters, developers, web designers...  The list of people and groups which can benefit from these free drawings goes on and on.  Why use a Pictofigo drawing?Basically, if you need a drawing and the usual clip art just isn't going to cut it, Pictofigo could be a nice solution for you.  The count of free drawings is currently over 700 and growing.

So, what is new?  It's called Pictofigo Premium.  Pictofigo Premium, a brand new service, offers high resolution drawings for download and use.  These are print-ready graphics.  At launch, there are four premium drawings ready for download with more on the way.

If there is one thing I've learned, it's to offer visual aids to help communicate information.  That and they cover unsightly holes in the wall.  As a result, I've partnered with Pictofigo to create one-of-a-kind Agile Scrum posters.  Our first poster titled THE SPRINT will be offered in both male and female ScrumMaster versions.

The Sprint

Perfect for dressing up any shared workspace. THE SPRINT (Male ScrumMaster) captures each of the Scrum Roles, Meetings, and Artifacts in an easy to follow workflow format. It doesn't matter if you're a chicken or a pig, you and your team will love this. This version depicts a male ScrumMaster with his team.

Large Poster (Size:34.5" x 23") Get it now for just $24.99

Small Poster (Size: 20" x 13") Get it now for just $19.99

Mini Poster (Size: 17" x 11") Get it now for just $14.99

But what if you want to make more posters for yourself and your team and don't want buy one poster at a time?  What if you want to make this your desktop wallpaper or put it in your next PowerPoint presentation?  Well, you can get the same high resolution file used to create the poster directly from Premium Pictofigo!

Get The Sprint (Male ScrumMaster) in 300DPI

Get The Sprint (Female ScrumMaster) in 300DPI

Don't forget to check back really soon! We'll be linking to the The Sprint (Female ScrumMaster) poster and also Scrum Roles (Male and Female ScrumMaster) posters

Agile Shopping List

I was over at the AgileScout website and found a humorous post. The title was Agile Products for Sale - What's Worth Buying. Eric Laramée from Agile Partnership made a comment and got me thinking.  Why aren't more retailers jumping on the bandwagon to offer "Agile" products?

What got us started was a listing on Amazon for a ($12.50) pack of 50 pack of Story Cards. Now, I'm not going to say anything bad about this product. I actually think it's clever they are offering a product like this.  Those who have been doing Agile for more than one iteration probably have multiple packs of ($1.95) 100 pack 3x5 index cards sitting on their desks.

In no particular order, here is a list of "Agile" products I found on Amazon.  Yes, all of these links are going to an Amazon affiliate account.  I figured I would give it a try.

Agile Shopping List

Not on Amazon, are Mountain Goat Software planning poker cards.  What can I say, I love these cards.

So, what's on your Agile shopping list?  Feel free to add a comment.

Like the image?  Find them at Pictofigo

Black Friday & More

Black Friday has come and gone.  Thanksgiving is rapidly becoming a distant memory.  The TSA horror stories are rolling in.  I spent the better half of a week unplugged.  How about you?  Did you get any good deals?  Did a TSA agent touch your junk? We traveled to Bristol Tennessee to spend Thanksgiving with my wife's side of the family.  It was just a six hour drive.  It gave me some time to read a book on Scrum (I really enjoyed that) and think about my goals for the next year and beyond.

What I really enjoyed was talking with my nephews.  The two topics we covered?

  • What do I REALLY do?  What IS project management and what is Agile?
  • The zombie apocalypse

    • If you want to take a hard honest look at yourself, talk with a 19-year-old who is actually listening and asking hard questions.  One of my nephews really made me think about things.  We also debated which would be better in a zombie apocalypse, unlimited plywood and nails or unlimited ammunition.

    I'm going to have to save these topics for later posts.  But, a man half your age certainly has a different perspective on the world and it's worth listening to.

    Like the images?  Find them at Pictofigo