Why Agile Transformations Fail

In this episode I talk to Dean Leffingwell, the man behind Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), and as such, a man behind a huge amount of agile transformation globally at the moment, especially in larger enterprises. We talk about the influences behind SAFe, the vital role of managers and leaders in large scale agile change, the current framework wars and where next for the field of agile transformations…

If you’re interested in attending the 2017 SAFe Summit Dean mentions at the end, click here.

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This podcast is all about agile in as many different cultures, contexts and perspectives as possible, so this week’s episode is the first to be recorded in India. Alok Upadhyay is an inspirational agile coach I met over in India, and in this episode we discuss agile in an Indian context, how transformations have their own hierarchies of need and begin from within, and whether anyone fancies attending a coaching retreat in the Himalayas. If you do, get in touch…

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Ahmad Fahmy is the guy who inspired this podcast in the first place, and I’d genuinely rate him as one of the leading thinkers in the agile space right now. In this episode we discuss the role of consultants in transformations, the difficulties of changing human behaviour, what the ideal product owner might look like and loads more besides.

If you want to find out more about Ahmad, visit his site at www.ahmadfahmy.com

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This week’s episode is with Alistair Cockburn, author and driving force behind the Agile Manifesto. We discuss the original roots of the Agile Manifesto, whether agile transformations can ever work and how people sometimes just lie in wait, waiting for things to go back to the way they were…

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Fabiola’s well known now in the agile community for leading the way on all things Agile HR. If large scale agile transformations are to succeed, they need to encompass HR teams as well, at least in terms of having them understand agile teams, and even becoming agile teams themselves. In this podcast, we discuss the issues around this, and meet Douglas, the worst employee in the world…

If you want to find out more about Fabiola’s work or get in touch with her, visit http://www.justleadingsolutions.com

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In Munich Scrum Gathering last year, Brian Rivera’s talk blew me away, so I wanted to catch him and his business partner Chris for the podcast at Scrum Gathering San Diego. True to form, this podcast is a must listen, explaining amongst other things; what Scrum and fighter aviation have in common, why there are no ‘plug and play’ approaches to agile transformation (but it’s human nature to expect that there are), why as little as 7% of the success of a project may be due to the choice of framework, and how if you coach communications, you can hack the Tuckman model and skip right through it.

If you want to find out more about these gents and what they have to offer, check out www.aglx.consulting

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In contrast with last week’s episode, Michele Sliger this week makes the case that your agile transformation is going to fail, culture change is impossible, and the next best thing is to use persuasion. Along the way, she distinguishes your system one brain from your system two brain, and explains why blood sugar may play a more important role than you think.

If you want to find out more about her, and read the blog posts she mentions in the podcast, visit www.sligerconsulting.com

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In this episode, Certified Scrum Trainer and hugely experienced agile coach Nigel Baker discusses his 15 or so years of leading agile transformations, from malicious compliance to being called an ‘agile purist’. He even answers the question that first sparked this podcast: ‘Can just one person kill a whole agile transformation?’.

The new course he mentions in the podcast will be available at Front Row Agile imminently too.

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Hugely excited this week to bring you the thoughts of Jeff McKenna, an original co-creator of Scrum along with Jeff Sutherland and John Scumniotales. We talk what Scrum was like in those early days, whether agile transformation was even a thing in that context, and especially around the emotional and human happiness sides of Scrum. If it’s not making you happier, you’re probably doing it wrong…

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