The IT Skeptic - nwowam

SAFe ain't all bad

skeptic — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 06:33:39 +0000

There's as much heat as light generated by conversations about SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). I want to share my views, for whatever they're worth. They can be summed up in one sentence: the best day using SAFe is the day you agree you don't need it any more.

The secret to easy organisational change: hacking the org.

skeptic — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 02:41:41 +0000

Our secret is out.

Separating out work and personnel management

skeptic — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 08:16:31 +0000

I believe the future is to separate work management from personnel ("people") management. This isn't my idea. It has been around forever in various forms. We have tried these ideas in the past. I worked in a matrixed organisation in 1985-7.

Agile hasn't jumped the shark, it has just escaped the pond.

skeptic — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 22:11:52 +0000

Boy, Agile Enterprise didn't take long to leap over the hype curve into the trough of disillusionment. Agile software has been hammered for some time, and now it's organisational Agile's turn.

Kill the restructure

skeptic — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 04:05:13 +0000

I'm getting grumpy about the use of structural reorgs to chase ”transformation".
They don't work.
They break existing teams.
They damage morale.
They sow confusion.
And they turn one set of siloes into a different set of siloes.
I wrote recently about the dysfunctions of transformation, and restructuring is one of the worst.

Forget the Fullstack

skeptic — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 02:07:16 +0000

Perfect people don't exist.
Start where you are. Work with who you have. Let the teams do "team Tetris" to self assemble into functional units with all the skills they need.

The wonderful free resources from DevOps Forum are the best. Thankyou Gene Kim!

Bringing Humanity to Work

skeptic — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 08:00:49 +0000

Hear us present on the online conference Shine19 on 30th october at 04:00GMT about
Bringing Humanity to Work

The dysfunctions of transformation

skeptic — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 09:19:17 +0000

There are classic mistakes being made over and over as large organisations try to "do Agile", "implement Agile", or *shudder* "transform". I'm getting passionate about preventing the harm.

The work Renaissance

skeptic — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 10:05:50 +0000

As everybody is surely aware by now, big things are afoot in how we think about work and management. Agile has spilled out of IT into the enterprise. Complex systems theory is finally shifting how we think. Safety culture is revealing the value in failure. Less widely known (yet), Open culture is flipping the hierarchy.

how much nice is too much?

skeptic — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 09:58:46 +0000

How much nice is too much?

Chaos drives innovation

skeptic — Sat, 25 May 2019 23:38:57 +0000

Chaos drives disruption and disruption triggers innovation.

In general we should capture any failure as an asset full of learning value. Capturing chaos to drive innovation is the same principle writ large. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Be ready, have the experimental results, have the thinking already done.

Headroom

skeptic — Wed, 15 May 2019 18:03:32 +0000

It's more important to improve work than to do work.

Too many managers think improvement will happen magically in people's spare time.
If an organisation has a time recording system, a fun question is to ask how improvement is recorded. Often there are no codes for it.

If people have no headroom to do improvement then it won't happen. You'll be working the same way next year.

Open space for leadership

skeptic — Tue, 14 May 2019 17:53:28 +0000

We*'re on a journey of discovery into a new domain of thought.

After our growth and exploration of Agile into the enterprise context, and our positive experiences there, we are having our minds further expanded after stumbling over the Open Leadership Network. We are currently at the inaugural conference in Boston.

Agile continual improvement

skeptic — Sun, 05 May 2019 21:01:01 +0000

Pursuit of improvement can hurt innovation. Agility is not how fast you can go, it is how fast you can change. So endless optimisation through continual Improvement can misdirect you

Doug Tedder is one of a group of ITSM writers who write good sense. He writes:

Treat staff like adults and equals

skeptic — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 06:22:57 +0000

There is a sea change in work, whether within IT or outside. It's a renaissance: a complete shift in how we think about employees and management. The portmanteau is usually "Agile" but it is far far more than that. It is a confluence of many new (and not so new) ideas. At their heart is a restoration of humanity, of human values, a unification of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

Firing people is always a last resort.

skeptic — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 21:24:47 +0000

Firing people should always be a last resort, not an instrument of culture change.

Agile Procurement

skeptic — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 23:28:43 +0000

Agility of procurement is a major issue for many organisations. Especially as we try to increase our agility in working, it is often the procurement department that we run into like a brick wall. E.g. from personal experience it can take months to hire a consultant or contractor, which makes it impossible to work.

New Ways Of Managing

skeptic — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 06:44:35 +0000

I'm now convinced that transformation to Agile isn't about new ways of working, it's about New Ways Of Managing™.
Change the governance, policy, KPIs, system, products, services, and people development. The culture and work will change.
This is the IT Skeptic's Big idea for 2018.

Velocity through quality

skeptic — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 23:16:24 +0000

The fundamental axiom of New Ways Of Working And Managing (NWOWAM, pronounced "wow, man!")is "Velocity Through Quality".