JoinAgile Podcast

Public Service Announcement that this feed will be suspended until further notice and the balance of my creative efforts will be focused on YouTube channel development. If you enjoy this content, please proceed here: http://youtube.com/c/JoinAgileTraining

This week I'm back with a PSA Episode to tell you about the Latest and Greatest that's been happening behind the scenes at JoinAgile - our launch of Skills Testing Portal, what it is about, and more.

What is Lean Leadership and why is its presence so important to success of any Lean-Agile transformation? On this episode we'll discuss key Lean Thinking principles and how your company Leadership should adopt those in order to truly embrace the New Ways of Working, for the greater good of their company, employees and ultimately the Customer. Please enjoy and share with your friends.

As an aspiring Lean-Agile professional you will benefit from better understanding some of the Agile Coaching terms and common analogies used to describe the state of a certain situation. Today we'll talk about one of those - "The Knife is falling", or "Do not try and catch a falling knife"...

Agile Project Management professional area is full of misconceptions and myths, such as the infamous "Sprint Zero". I'm here to tell you that there is no such thing, and that you should get your Agile Fundamentals and basic Scrum Knowledge straight first, before diving into made-up theories and Frankenstein derivatives of how to do things in Agile Delivery of End-User value... On this episode I will quickly recap the foundation of Scrum Method and why there is NO Sprint Zero (or at least there should not be one).

Obsessing with Agile Collaboration Tools is not a good thing, when you should be focusing on learning fundamentals, taking your time to embrace and properly understand principles and values of Agile. Tools do things their own way and create an artifical frame around something that should be second nature to true Agile practitioners. Until you are in that mature Agile mindset, focusing on Tools too much would only detract from your professional progress towards your career goal and professional image.

Agile Certifications and other achievements are important part of your career progress and overall journey as a professional, and could be a valuable tool to prove your worth to the hiring company, when you compete with other professionals for that new Agile job. Problem is, some people take it too far (arguably), and start displaying long lists of often doubling up certifications and titles next to their name on LinkedIn and similar professional social networks. On this episode I express my personal - yet educated - opinion about why this might produce the wrong impression and turn some more educated and picky professionals away from your profile and general persona that you're trying to portray. Please enjoy and subscribe if you haven't already.

Career change is hard, and Agile job market remains competitive as ever. I'm here to help you with a few high level but actionable tips that will help you on this journey, should you seriously pursue a new Agile role. Check out the YouTube channel and links to my books on Amazon if you'd like more all-rounded information on the matter, and more content-rich updates, rather than just audio...

Lean Kanban is different from Agile Scrum even though both Agile Project Management and Delivery Methods serve a similar purpose of delivering value to the end User. Learn about all the key differences in this short and sweet episode! Check YouTube JoinAgile channel if you'd prefer a video version.

This quick episode introduces a simple analogy that will help you understand the difference between Agile and Scrum, and never mix those two concepts up again. Check YouTube JoinAgile channel if you'd prefer a video version.

Why did your Agile job interview fail? There could be numerous and very subjective reasons, but on this Vlog episode I'm trying to pin down a few most likely ones, as well as providing my professional coaching advice. Please enjoy and subscribe to show your support that would tell me that you'd like more of similar content

Why are some Agile professionals claiming that Agile is Dead and Scrum is for Zombies only? Highly arguable and controversial topics that I thought would be worth discussing and helping you navigate around... Please enjoy and share with your colleagues who might also benefit from this.

Estimation of User Stories and its purpose is a sensitive topic in Agile circles that we bring into discussion on this episode, responding to a question received from one of the listeners. Remind yourself why do we estimate work in the first place, and what actual value does it bring to the end Product that the Team is delivering... This and more on Episode 34, please enjoy.

Lean-Agile Practitioner Certification from JoinAgile.com is almost here. On this episode I use the opportunity to introduce the Test to you in more detail, providing reasoning behind it, and explaining why it should be relevant to you as a hiring or recruitment professional, as well as potential candidate for those Agile jobs advertised on the market.

On this episode we continue talking about Efficient Facilitation - Core Values, Assumptions and Methods of making sure your facilitation is as valuable and smooth as possible.

Efficient Facilitation became a core skill for Lean-Agile Practitioners in variety of Roles who want to stay competitive on the job Market. Understanding basic psychology of Group dynamics that a Facilitator has to deal with when making Groups of individuals discuss their burning topics, issues and concerns could be the differentiating factor between your success and failure in the Role you are trying to play. On this episode I start telling you about the Ground Rules of Efficient Facilitation that will hopefully lay the foundation for your self-improvement in the area of running group sessions like a Professional in future.

JoinAgile CV Review Service is up for another transformation, this time entering paid service mode that should clear up my queue and make prioritization of reviews more transparent. Additionally you'll hear for the first time about another project I'm working on that would bring you an online Agile Test. It will be tough and based on what a real-world Agile Practitioner needs to know, versus perfect classroom theory or teachings of the Scrum Guide.... Don't forget that the podcast is available in the entirety of its feed on iTunes, so please subscribe there to show your support and learn a new thing or two.

On this episode I recap core methods of Agile Estimation and Prioritisation, as well as remind you why we do both in the first place. Please enjoy, share with your friends, and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes to show your support. Don't forget that SoundCloud feed shows only most recent episodes due to storage limitations. iTunes feed gives you all episodes.

Time to test your knowledge of Agile Product Owner Role that you most commonly - but not exclusively - encounter in Scrum Delivery Teams of modern day and age. This self-assessment will allow you to have fun and take a break from lecture format of majority of these episodes, and see how well do you actually navigate the muddy waters of Product Owner decision making and general rules of Agile Delivery game. Please enjoy, share with your friends and colleagues, and have a Happy Easter!

CV Review Service is off to a good start, but side effect turned out to be that I'm overwhelmed by the amount of received Professional Resumes for review, which forces me to introduce a Work In Progress (WIP) Limit, and deal with the received submissions before accepting more. Also, on this episode we discuss particulars of the key Agile Roles, and those playing in Digital Product space specifically - as the most impacting of the positive or negative outcomes any Agile Transformation and Initiative could have. Please enjoy, and don't forget to subscribe on iTunes to get access to the FULL LIST OF EPISODES that aren't being published here any longer. https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/lean-and-mean-agile-podcast/id1269551866 CV Review Service: http://joinagile.com/cvreview

Additionally to the announced changes to the new episode release schedule (now you will get a new episode once every 2 weeks, instead of every week), I'm moving hosting of my podcasts audio files to my website - JoinAgile.com - and changing to a standard non-premium SoundCloud account. Listen to find out what it means to the podcast, and how the tracks will appear here on SoundCloud. Questions, issues, concerns are welcome here - podcast@joinagile.com

Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools - as Agile Manifesto rightly teaches us. We do however need collaboration tools to be efficient when working in fast-paced Digital Delivery environment, building Software and other Business Solutions. The tools become even more important if your organization relies on regional or off-shore Delivery Teams that take part in work planned in your Product Backlog. Having a good collaboration tool could make or break your process and ability to track progress to your delivery goal. On this episode I review one of the most popular collaboration tools - at least in Australia - Atlassian JIRA. Please enjoy, and don't forget to like and subscribe to show your support. This podcast is being released weekly, and is available here on SoundCloud and iTunes.

How to become a Scrum Master or simply enter Agile Digital Product Delivery from a different industry, aspiring to climb that professional Agile ladder? My book - "Get Hired as Scrum Master" - currently available on Amazon, will soon be released as Audio Book on Audible, iTunes, and at other Audio Book retailers. It addresses this specific topic, aiming to give you a lot of helpful advice, especially if you are brand new to this Agile job hunting process. On this podcast episode I'm exclusively sharing Chapter 6 of the Audio Book, that should offer you some Basics of transitioning into an Agile role, such as Scrum Master. Please enjoy, and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. Podcast is also available on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/lean-and-mean-agile-podcast/id1269551866