The Daily Standup

Why, When, and How Do We Clean a BacklogTeams working in an agile way commonly use a backlog. However, teams often find that managing a backlog becomes more complex than expected once it begins to fill up.We can agree on the importance of managing the backlog. When used properly, the backlog should be the core repository for requirements (with product backlog items referencing other artefacts as needed). Yet, it may contain needs and requests from various stakeholders, each with a very different perspective. If it transforms — paraphrasing Allan Kelly, in “Moving Away from Backlog Driven Development: A New Chapter in Agility?” — into a bottomless pit, we will lose sight of what is important.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

How Are You Today? I'm Fine, Thanks...Have you ever asked someone, how are you today? Did you really care when you asked? How do you truly handle acting with kindness? How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Five Dimensions of Real Scrum MasteryThe Courage to Have Uncomfortable ConversationsThe Art of Knowing When to Step In (And When to Step Back)Creating a Space Where People Feel Safe to Be HumanTeaching Teams to Fish (Instead of Giving Them Fish)Being the Change You Want to SeeHow to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Is Sprint Planning Quietly Hurting Teamwork? - Mike CohnI hated group projects when I was in school. I didn't want to rely on others for success. I wanted to be accountable for what I'd personally done.Teams that are new to agile often feel the same way.A developer will gladly take responsibility for their own code. But tell that same developer they're also responsible for someone else's code and you'll often get a confused look.And yet shared team accountability is one of the biggest predictors of whether an agile transition succeeds. High-performing agile teams understand: we succeed or fail together.Until that shared accountability exists, people experience their “commitment” as individual. I have my tasks, you have yours. That mindset leads to predictable behaviors: People stick to the parts of the product they already know.They avoid work outside their primary skill or role.They optimize for being “done with my work,” not for finishing as a team.So how do you help a team move from personal accountability to team accountability? Team accountability doesn't exist without personal accountability. If someone doesn't feel responsible for completing work that is clearly theirs, they won't feel responsible for the work of others.A practical place to reinforce this is the Daily Scrum. Listen for whether people clearly state what they finished since yesterday—and whether they did what they said they would. If not, help the team talk about why, and what they'll change today. Sprint Planning is your next best lever. Near the end of planning, ask a simple question:“Can we, as a team, meet the Sprint Goal and deliver these items?”Emphasize that the sprint backlog represents a team commitment. If one person is overloaded, we don't wish them good luck, we offer to help.That means  team members should speak up when someone is taking on too much, and then discuss how to lighten the load—by shifting work, pairing, swarming, or reducing scope.Team accountability will always be bounded by skills. A programmer won't suddenly do award-winning design work. But they might research image options, draft alt text, or assemble reference examples—small contributions that protect the bottleneck and help the team finish together.One of the most practical ways to build shared accountability is to broaden skills across the team.Look for opportunities for pairing, mobbing, or short “teach me” sessions where teammates transfer knowledge as they work. Then protect time for it. People will (rightfully) resent being told to broaden skills if they're expected to do it on nights and weekends. If you want team accountability, stop allocating tasks during sprint planning.Instead of pre-assigning everything, leave tasks unassigned and have team members pull work from the sprint backlog day by day. This keeps work flowing, increases collaboration, and makes it easier for people to help where help is needed.Personal accountability matters. But to succeed with agile, teams have to move beyond “my tasks” and toward “our outcome.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Lucky Green StringEvery year, St. Patrick's Day turned the open floor into a sea of plastic shamrocks and forced cheer. There was a potluck, a “wear green or get pinched” joke that refused to die, and the inevitable moment when someone would nudge him and say, “C'mon, you're Irish, right? Say something in Gaelic!” He wasn't. His last name just sounded like it could be on a pub sign. By the time March rolled around this year, Liam had already decided: he would keep his head down, get his work done, and wait for the decorations to come down.On the morning of March 17, he arrived early to avoid the crowd. The office was quiet except for the hum of the lights. He dropped his bag at his desk and noticed a new bulletin board by the break room. Across the top, in crooked green letters, someone had pinned: “WHAT LUCK MEANS TO ME.” Underneath was a basket filled with small pieces of green string, each tied to a safety pin. A handwritten note said, “Take a string, share a story, pin it when you're ready.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Is Agile Coaching a Waste of Money?Around the world, software organizations are desperately trying to improve how their teams build and deliver software. Companies will hire herds of “wise sage” coaches to bring them out of the Dark Ages but are often disappointed when nothing extraordinary happens. Despite pouring loads of money into coaching efforts, their applications still fail to perform, their customers are still not having their needs met, and it still takes forever to get an idea to become reality. This project is 50% over budget, that one has missed three delivery dates now, and nothing seems to be going as planned. While all this is going on, agile coaches are hard at work “making the world a better place.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Celebrating PI Day! “I finally see where I belong” often starts quietly, almost by accident. A student wanders into a Pi Day event because there's free pie, not because they think math has anything to do with them. They expect to feel like an outsider again—another room where the “real” math people will do the talking. But as they listen, they hear a guest speaker casually mention being the first in their family to go to college, or struggling with math in middle school, or switching careers into STEM later in life. The stories sound less like polished genius and more like persistence, doubt, and small, stubborn steps forward.As the activities unfold, the room feels different from a normal class. There's laughter during a silly pi‑recitation contest, teams arguing over who measured a circle more accurately, someone proudly wearing a homemade π shirt. Instead of being tested, everyone is invited to play: to estimate, to experiment, to be wrong and then correct themselves. In that environment, the student stops seeing math as a gate guarded by a few brilliant people and starts seeing it as a language that anyone can pick up, slowly, with practice.What makes Pi Day powerful in this story isn't the number itself; it's the way the day reframes who “gets” to enjoy math. The student notices a teacher cheering loudest for the kid who improved their pi‑digits record from 7 to 15, not just for the one who recites 200. They hear peers admit, “I thought this was going to be boring, but this is actually kind of fun.” For someone who has spent years feeling like they're on the outside of every math conversation, that small, shared enthusiasm signals something profound: you don't have to be the best to belong here.By the end of the day, nothing magical has happened to their test scores. What has changed is the story they tell themselves. Instead of “I'm not a math person,” it becomes “I'm a person learning math, and people like me are welcome at the table.” That internal shift doesn't show up on a Pi Day poster, but it quietly shapes their future choices—raising a hand one more time, signing up for the next course, or even mentoring someone else who feels out of place. In that moment, surrounded by digits of π and crumbs of pie, they finally see where they belong—and it's in the circle, not outside it.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why I Switched to a Hybrid Approach and Tripled My Team's Delivery RateAgile was supposed to be the answer. Stand-ups, sprints, retros, these rituals promised faster delivery, happier teams, and stakeholders who finally felt in sync with engineering. For a while, it worked. My team hit a rhythm, delivered features quickly, and felt engaged in the process.But over time, the cracks showed.Velocity slowed to a crawl. Stand-ups became theater. Engineers dreaded sprint planning. Stakeholders kept asking when features would actually be done. And remote work made it worse with Zoom fatigue, Slack overload, and endless context-switching draining the energy Agile was supposed to give us.At first, I blamed the team. Maybe we weren't “doing Agile right.” So I doubled down on the rituals. More retros, stricter sprints, tighter velocity tracking. But the harder I pushed, the more Agile turned into bureaucracy.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

AI Is Changing The Economics of Software Development - Mike Cohn

5 Ways High Performers Disrupt Team HarmonyHigh performers rarely disrupt teams on purpose. More often, disruption happens because they move faster than the systems, processes, or people around them. Their confidence, speed, and problem-solving ability can subtly change how work gets done and how others show up.The problem isn't their performance. It's their speed and capability that invisibly reshape team dynamics. Teammates begin working around them instead of with them. And gradually, they become the team's single point of dependency, which is great for short-term results but not for the long term. When strong performance starts disrupting team harmony, knowing how to guide it in a way that maintains both results and collaboration.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Scrum The Toyota WayScrum is everywhere.Most Product Owners understand the framework well. We manage backlogs, prioritize items, attend ceremonies, and track progress sprint after sprint.And still, many products struggle.Value takes too long to reach customers. Teams deliver features that are rarely used. Defects appear late. Dependencies and waiting time quietly erode delivery speed.This is not because Scrum is broken.It's because Scrum alone does not address flow and waste deeply enough. That's where Scrum the Toyota Way (STW) fundamentally changes how Product Ownership works.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

A Single Act of Kindness..You know those days when you feel like you're barely holding it together, but you still smile at the cashier, still help the person in front of you, still try to be kind—while secretly wondering if anyone even sees how hard you're trying?This is a story about a mom like that…And a stranger who decided her quiet kindness was worth changing her life for.It's an ordinary afternoon in San Diego.Fluorescent grocery store lights, kids negotiating for snacks, carts squeaking down the aisles. It's the kind of place where everyone is close together, but no one really feels seen.In the middle of it all is Janae, a mom of four.You can picture her: one kid in the cart, another hanging onto the side, two more orbiting like moons—bumping into displays, asking a million questions, reminding her every thirty seconds that they're hungry, tired, or both.What nobody in that store knows is that money has been tight.Tight enough that every item in her cart has already been mentally weighed against a bill waiting at home. Tight enough that she's done the math three times and is still a little nervous about what the total might be.But she's doing what moms do: pushing forward, getting it done, making it look manageable on the outside.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

7 Strategies to Motivate and Retain EmployeesEmployee motivation and retention remain two of the most critical pillars of organizational success, yet they are among the hardest ones to sustain. Competitive salaries and benefits might open the door to top talent, but they're no longer enough to keep people inspired and motivated.As workplaces evolve rapidly, employees want more than just a paycheck. They want purpose, recognition, and a sense of belonging. They look for growth opportunities, flexibility, and a culture that values their contributions.If you've noticed signs of disengagement or fear losing your top performers, it's time to act — not with grand gestures, but with thoughtful, consistent actions that make people feel seen, supported, and inspired.Below are seven practical and powerful strategies to motivate your employees and build a loyal, high-performing workforce.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Most Underrated Advantage of Short Sprints - Mike CohnA recent Gallup survey found that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are engaged at work.For comparison, Gallup's overall engagement numbers are often around 30%.That's a striking gap.It suggests something many leaders overlook: performance may depend less on changing team structure and more on improving feedback inside the structure you already have.When results lag, organizations often reach for the org chart. They reorganize teams, redraw reporting lines, or debate how many teams a coach or Scrum Master should work with.Sometimes those changes help. But they rarely go far if feedback is infrequent, unclear, or missing altogether.Feedback isn't just a management technique. It's a strategic advantage.And agile teams have been building that advantage into the way they work for years. When people talk about one- or two-week sprints, they usually focus on speed. “We need to move faster.”“We need more output.”“We need shorter release cycles.”But speed isn't the real advantage of short sprints.The advantage is shortening the time between action and learning.A sprint isn't a delivery cycle. It's a feedback cycle.Each sprint gives a team a natural point to stop and ask: Did we build the right thing?Did we misunderstand the need?Are we still aligned with stakeholders?Are we learning what we hoped to learn?The shorter the sprint, the shorter the gap between assumption and validation.That's not about velocity. That's about reducing risk. Early Scrum teams often worked like this:Sprint, sprint, sprint… then release.That pattern made sense at the time in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was a huge improvement over what had come before. But it meant some feedback arrived in a big, delayed batch after the release.Over time, many teams evolved to:Sprint, release, sprint, release.And today, many modern teams have gone further still. They release whenever it makes sense—sometimes multiple times per sprint, sometimes many times per day.In other words, modern agile teams have largely decoupled sprints from releases.So if sprints aren't primarily about shipping anymore, what are they for?Sprints provide a reliable cadence for feedback and alignment—even when delivery happens continuously. Many organizations treat the Sprint Review as a demo.It's not.It's where reality gets a vote.The Sprint Review is where the team inspects what was built with the people who care about it, and adjusts course based on what they learn.When that meeting becomes optional, rushed, or performative, you don't just lose a ceremony. You lose your learning loop. And you start optimizing for finishing work instead of finishing the right work.If weekly feedback really is one of the biggest drivers of engagement and performance—as Gallup's numbers suggest—then the Sprint Review isn't overhead. It's how you reduce rework, prevent expensive surprises, and stay aligned with what actually matters. Of course, simply running one-week sprints doesn't guarantee meaningful feedback.Stakeholders can skip reviews.Teams can ignore input.The conversation can stay superficial.Short cycles create the opportunity for feedback. Leaders decide whether to use it.That's where the advantage lives.If you're running one- or two-week sprints, ask yourself:Are we using sprints as delivery deadlines—or as learning deadlines?Because the real power of agile isn't producing more every two weeks.It's learning more every two weeks.And that's a competitive advantage that will help you succeed with agile,How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Agile Anti-Patterns That Are Impacting Your VelocityVelocity is not vanity. It is feedback. When velocity stops reflecting reality, the team loses the ability to learn and improve. Velocity that lies is worse than no velocity at all. The goal here is clarity, speed, and humane work rhythms.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Sprint Goals DON'T Work - Or Do They? Sprint Goals sound beautifully simple.Set a goal for the team, organize the work around it, track progress daily, and finish with success.Sounds easy enough. And that's exactly why it's so hard.Behind this deceptively simple concept hides one of the most difficult ideas in Agile. As the Scrum Guide says:“Scrum is lightweight, simple to understand, difficult to master.”Sprint Goals are the perfect example of that. Even when you think you're doing them right, you're probably not.On the surface, Sprint Goals add a lot of value. And therefore, make a lot of sense. But do you really need them?What if I told you, there is a better way?How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Moment Everything Changed - A Shoutout To HumanityIn late 2025, what began as an ordinary beach day at Bondi became a living, breathing argument for why humanity is still worth believing in.​Bondi Beach was crowded—families, tourists, locals all spread along the sand, kids playing at the shoreline while surfers watched the swells further out. The ocean looked deceptively calm, but beneath the surface a strong rip current had formed, one of those invisible rivers that can drag even strong swimmers out in seconds.​A few swimmers drifted farther than they meant to.Then, almost in unison, their body language shifted—arms flailing, heads dipping under, that unmistakable look of panic when people realize they're not just tired, they're in real trouble. Shouts carried over the sound of the waves: people on the sand pointing, yelling for help, some frozen, some fumbling for their phones.​In that chaos, one person didn't hesitate.Ahmed Al‑Ahmed, an ordinary beachgoer that day, saw the struggle and stripped off what he needed to, sprinting straight into the water. He had no rescue board, no flotation device, no backup—just a gut‑deep conviction that he couldn't stand there watching while people disappeared under the water.​He fought his way through the surf toward the nearest struggling swimmer, timing his breaths between waves, pushing past the shock of cold, the drag of the current, the sting of salt in his eyes. When he reached the first person—a stranger, gasping, eyes wide with terror—he wrapped an arm around them and kicked hard, angling diagonally to escape the rip, dragging them inch by inch back toward safety.​On the shore, lifeguards were already launching into action, but the current was pulling more than one person out. Most people would have gotten that first swimmer in and collapsed. Ahmed did something else.​He turned around and went back.Witnesses later described watching him make multiple trips into the danger zone, each time more exhausted than the last, each time choosing to go anyway. He helped pull more swimmers—some barely conscious, some crying, some shaking with shock—back toward the reach of lifeguards and other helpers who were now in the water too.​Every time he came in, the safe choice was to stop.He could have told himself: “I've done enough. Someone else will get the rest.”Instead, he treated “enough” as if it didn't apply when lives were on the line.By the time the rip had released its grip and everyone was accounted for, multiple people were alive who almost certainly would not have survived those minutes without someone intervening that fast and that decisively. Lifeguards later said the rapid response from Ahmed and others bought them those critical breaths, those extra seconds, that made the difference between rescue and recovery.​When it was finally over, Ahmed staggered out of the water, shaking from exertion and adrenaline, and collapsed on the sand. Around him, families were sobbing—parents holding their children like they might never let go again, friends clinging to each other, people staring out at the waves in stunned silence.​Then a different kind of wave began.Beachgoers started approaching him—not with cameras first, but with tears, hugs, and gratitude that words couldn't quite contain. Some of the very people he had helped pull from the water wrapped their arms around him, drenched and trembling, saying “thank you” over and over as if repetition might somehow be enough.​How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why are managers there at all? - The Agile MindsetJust recently my colleague and friend Zoran Vujkov has drawn my attention to the following clip discussing trends in adoption of agile in large companies. I recommend the clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgBhZIjgTw4&feature=youtu.be) for watching if you already haven't.Among a lot of information about the speed of agile adoption and critical factors for it, one thing caught my eye — importance of executive sponsorship.No doubt, this is a very important factor. However, it might be misinterpreted and misused by managers. One of the crucial roles of management in Agile organization is to remove obstacles or impediments that are preventing their teams from being efficient in their work.While this seems obvious, it does happen that managers start being involved into operational things, tactical decisions, even trying to influence, or limit product owners' roles by making operational decisions and leading the product.This is potentially very dangerous situation as this sort of behavior can be concealed behind the veil of good intentions which sometimes it undoubtedly is (you know the one about the road to ruin being paved by good intentions). Urged by desire to show to the teams that they are committed to agile way of work, managers become a burden and an obstacle.I'm not gonna go into the role of management in agile setup, there's a good article here on the topic.Here, I would like to remind managers that their role is not to control, direct, create tasks or organize their teams' daily work. Their main role in agile way of work is to help team develop, create proper environment for the team, set strategic guidelines, believe in their teams and give them freedom to organize their work in the best way they need, know and can.Only with such a help, teams (and with them the whole organization) can be agile.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

What Curling Can Teach Us About Agile - Mike CohnWith the Olympics underway, I've been watching a few events I don't normally pay much attention to—like curling.At first glance, curling looks almost comically simple. Someone slides a stone down the ice. A couple of teammates run alongside it frantically sweeping the ice with brooms. The stone glides… and somehow ends up exactly where they want it.But the more you watch, the more you realize curling isn't about making a perfect throw.It's about making adjustments after the throw.And that's what makes it a great analogy for agile.For a long time, traditional software development treated projects as if teams only had one chance to get everything right. The goal was to write the requirements document, create the design, then implement everything exactly according to plan. If you did enough planning up front, the thinking went, you could get it right the first time.The problem is that software development rarely works that way.Even if you have smart people and a solid plan, you're still operating on uncertain “ice.” Customers don't always know what they need until they see it. Stakeholders often describe what they want in ways that are incomplete, or ambiguous, or shaped by assumptions that turn out to be wrong. And developers—no matter how experienced—can misunderstand what they hear.That's not incompetence. That's just reality. Communication has friction. Uncertainty is built in.In curling, the team knows that too. They can't control the ice. They can't assume the stone will behave exactly the same way every time. Conditions vary. The surface isn't perfectly predictable. If the players just stood there and watched the stone slide, hoping it ends up in the bullseye, they'd lose most of their matches.So instead, they sweep.Sweeping doesn't completely change the outcome. It doesn't teleport the stone to the target. But it nudges the stone's speed and direction. It helps the team adjust to what's happening in real time.That's what agile does for software development.The plan is like the initial throw. It matters. You need to aim. Once the stone is moving, you don't get to stop everything and start over—you can only respond. But agile recognizes that aiming once isn't enough.The best teams don't aim once—they keep aiming.They build something small, show it, listen, learn, and adjust. They use feedback to steer the product toward what users truly need—not just what they said they needed, but what they meant. The known needs and the unstated ones.In other words, agile isn't about getting everything right up front.It's about staying close enough to reality to make course corrections while they're still cheap.One of the biggest mindset shifts agile asks of us is to stop treating change as failure. In the old model, change meant the plan was wrong. It meant rework. It meant someone made a mistake.But in agile, change is often a sign that learning is happening.Curling teams don't apologize for sweeping. They don't view it as an admission that the throw was bad. Sweeping is part of the game. It's what turns a decent throw into a great result.Agile teams do the same thing. They don't just launch work and hope it glides perfectly to the finish line. They inspect, adapt, and steer as they go.That's how you succeed with agile.And in the meantime, enjoy the Olympics.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Scrum That Actually WorkedIn 1996, Chrysler — a Fortune 500 company with resources to hire the best talent and buy the best tools — had spent two years and millions of dollars building payroll software.It hadn't printed a single paycheck.The project was called C3: Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation. It was supposed to unify payroll for 87,000 employees across multiple divisions. It had executive sponsorship from CIO Susan Unger. It used Smalltalk, an object-oriented programming language that promised to solve exactly the kind of tangled legacy problems Chrysler faced.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Concept of Scrum Fluid TeamsFluid Scrum Teams are a concept introduced by Willem-Jan Ageling, where a stable group of individuals (e.g., 20 members) self-organize into smaller, temporary teams each Sprint to address specific objectives. This approach allows for flexibility and adaptability, as team compositions change based on the current needs of the projects at hand.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The February Blanket - A Story of MaeEvery February in the little mountain town of Silver Hollow, winter wrapped everything in silence. The trees stood bare, the sky hung gray, and people rushed from their cars to their front doors, shoulders hunched against the cold.But one February, a woman named Mae decided she was tired of waiting for spring to make things warm again. Her husband had passed away three winters before, and the evenings had grown painfully quiet. So she picked up her old knitting needles — the same ones he'd bought her years ago when money was tight but love was plenty — and began to knit.Every night after dinner, she'd sit by the window and watch snowflakes tumble through the streetlight glow. One stitch became ten, ten became a hundred. Over the weeks, the yarn took shape — a thick, colorful blanket big enough for a stranger to wrap up in. When it was finished, she folded it neatly, wrote a small note — “If you're cold, take this. If you're lonely, you're not alone.” — and left it on the park bench downtown.The next morning, the blanket was gone. Mae smiled, imagining someone out there a little warmer because of her. That night, she cast on a new blanket.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Are Agile Frameworks Really Agile? - A Blind Article ReviewHave you ever read an article before and just scratched your head and wondered to yourself... WHY? How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

How Much Are Meetings Hurting You? - Mike CohnI'm emailing because we keep seeing the same issue surface in different organizations, even where teams are experienced and committed.If something isn't working, it will usually show up in your meetings first. That's because work habits show up in real meetings, under real pressure.If planning, reviews, retrospectives, and daily scrums aren't working, agile won't work. That's where priorities get set, decisions get made, and trade-offs happen (or don't).After seeing capable teams benefit from an objective view of their meetings, we designed:Meeting Observation & Recommendations (MOR) It isn't more training (many teams don't need ‘more' training; they need direction)It doesn't require your team to step away from workAnd it's not about catching people outIt's about removing the constraints that are holding your team back.You can read about how it works here: Meeting Observation & RecommendationsThis is a fast way to see what's actually getting in the way, and find out what to change next.If you're accountable for delivery and feel like agile should be helping more than it is, this might be worth a look.Agile Meetings Playbook: https://agiledad.com/documentsHow to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Three Paths Scrum OpensI have watched teams celebrate their “perfect Sprint.” Every ceremony attended. Every artifact updated. Every role filled. And yet their product no closer to solving the user's problem than it was three Sprints ago. They'd mistaken the map for the journey.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Agile Manifesto - 2026Please visit:https://agiledad.com/documents to download your very own copy! How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Heart That Outlived Time - The Story of ValentinesImagine ancient Rome, nearly two thousand years ago. Streets echo with the clang of armor, the scent of incense, and the whispers of love forbidden.There lived a humble priest named Valentinus. He wasn't a rebel or a warrior—just a man who believed deeply in love. At that time, Emperor Claudius II had outlawed marriage for young soldiers, claiming that single men fought better than those bound by family. But Valentinus saw love as sacred, not sinful. So, in secret, beneath flickering candlelight, he performed weddings for young couples who refused to let the emperor's decree define their hearts.Each ceremony was an act of defiance—and of faith. Eventually, Valentinus was caught and imprisoned. But even behind bars, he kept sharing kindness. The legend says that before his execution, he befriended the jailer's blind daughter and sent her a note signed, “From your Valentine.” A gesture so simple, so human, it echoed through centuries.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

How To Deal With Difficult People In A Group?I can only +

How To Provide a Release Plan Without Losing Agility - Mike CohnStakeholders want to know what will be delivered, and when. Your team wants to stay agile. So how do you create a roadmap (aka release plan or milestone plan) without locking down every detail? I'm about to start on a road trip between Idaho and Colorado: a 16-hour drive. I know where I'm going, and my general route, but I don't know every turn I'll take — and that's fine.That's how agile teams should treat release plans and roadmaps.My route is a plan, not a promise. It's not set in stone. The turns I made and my ETA could change based on roadwork, traffic congestion, an opportunity for an exciting detour, or even a flat tire. The further the distance I have to travel, the more uncertainty I should expect.Agile plans are the same. We can't predict every eventuality, but we can provide a forecast. We can provide a general idea of where we are planning to go, a predicted range of when we will likely hit key milestones, and our confidence level in the plan. Most agile teams know there's too much uncertainty to make guarantees. At the same time, they feel like a guarantee is the only thing stakeholders will accept.Here's what agile teams might be missing: Stakeholders have their own plans to make. And they are just as worried about being held accountable to their predictions as teams are.Stakeholders need accurate delivery dates and milestones (note I didn't say precise). They crave predictability.Sometimes it might feel like they're asking for a guarantee. But in truth, the only way to give them absolute certainty is to Overpad your estimates (like me telling someone my 16-hour drive will take 24, just in case), orRefuse to adapt when conditions change. Neither is good for the product, or the team. So what can you do when a stakeholder seems to want a guarantee vs a forecast? Try this: Talk to stakeholders in terms they understand.Here's one technique I've found helpful:Compare their request to requests for similar forecasts in their own domain.For example: Ask a salesperson what their comfort level would be if they were asked to guarantee exactly how much they'll sell — and which customers they'll close — in each of the next six months, or in the first year of a product's release.Ask a marketing person what their concerns would be if asked to commit to specific campaign results with exact timelines.Don't be confrontational. The point isn't to trap them — it's to show that uncertainty exists everywhere, and that agility is a strength, not a weakness. Then, share my road trip analogy with your stakeholders. Tell them that you can't give them a guarantee, but you can present a roadmap that looks ahead 3-6 months. The roadmap will show the team's goal, how much progress you believe you can make by when (expressed as a range), and your team's confidence in the plan.  Need help communicating your plans? Try our Plan Visualizer Tool, free for all MGS Essentials members.   Remind stakeholders that, like suggested routes on a long trip, agile roadmaps provide visibility, align expectations, and help people plan — without pretending every turn is known in advance.Freeing your team from unrealistic expectations can accelerate their move from good to great.A roadmap is a plan, not a promise Why stakeholders push for guarantees  The path to alignment starts with empathy Give stakeholders what they need to succeed How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

5 Habits to Keep Your Team MotivatedManaging a team is never easy, and one of the biggest challenges is keeping everyone motivated. Motivation doesn't come from long meetings or fancy speeches. It comes from small, everyday habits that keep energy, focus, and inspiration alive.Things like starting the day with open communication, recognizing effort right away, or giving quick feedback may seem small, but when done daily, they make a big difference. Over time, these habits build a culture where your team feels inspired to give their best.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Rebuilding Psychological SafetyIf people feel unsafe, they do the minimum and pray no one notices. If the bar is too low, everyone's happy… until the customer sees the work. The sweet spot? High safety and high standards. People speak up, try things, and still hit the mark. Think: honest kitchen with a strict head chef, and nobody burns the risotto, but jokes are allowed.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Man Who Proved Meaning Is Stronger Than SufferingIn the darkest chapter of human history, when hope seemed like a luxury few could afford, one man discovered a truth so powerful that it would outlive the horrors around him.His name was Viktor Frankl.Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist. In 1942, he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Over the next several years, he endured four different camps, including Auschwitz. He lost his parents, his brother, and his pregnant wife. Everything he owned—his career, his manuscript, his freedom—was taken from him.By any external measure, his life had been stripped of meaning.But here's where the story turns.While imprisoned, Frankl noticed something remarkable.People were experiencing the same starvation, brutality, and despair—yet some survived psychologically, while others gave up long before their bodies failed.The difference wasn't strength.It wasn't intelligence.It wasn't luck.It was meaning.Frankl observed that prisoners who could anchor themselves to a future purpose—a loved one waiting for them, work they still hoped to complete, or a reason to endure one more day—were far more likely to survive. Meaning, he realized, was not a luxury. It was a survival tool.One night, freezing and exhausted, Frankl imagined himself standing in a lecture hall after the war, teaching students about the psychology of the concentration camps—explaining how humans can endure unimaginable suffering if they understand why they are suffering.That imagined future kept him alive.After the war, Frankl returned to Vienna. He rewrote the manuscript that had been taken from him in the camps and published a book that would go on to change millions of lives: Man's Search for Meaning. It has since sold over 16 million copies and is considered one of the most influential books of the 20th century.Frankl didn't claim suffering was good.He didn't romanticize pain.Instead, he offered this quiet, powerful truth:“Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the freedom to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.”He went on to develop logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy centered on helping people discover meaning in their lives—not by eliminating hardship, but by transforming it.Frankl lived to be 92 years old.The man who lost nearly everything proved something extraordinary:

Agile Is Not a Process. It's How Smart Teams Think.Most people think agile is Jira boards, sprints, standups, and sticky notes.Here's the thing.Those are just tools.Agile is a mindset about how work *should* move in a world that refuses to stay predictable.If you've ever worked on a project where requirements changed, deadlines shifted, or priorities flipped overnight, you already know why traditional project management struggles.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why Soft Skills Outlast Technical Skills on Product Teams - Mike CohnAnyone who has worked in product development for more than a few years has seen the same pattern repeat itself.The technical skills that once felt essential gradually—or sometimes suddenly—become obsolete. Tools change. Frameworks fall out of favor. Architectures that once seemed modern start to look dated.This isn't new, but it is accelerating.The half-life of technical skills keeps shrinking, especially in technology. In the 1980s, it took ten years for half of what you knew to become outdated. Today, it is four years, and will soon fall below two years according to a Stanford professor. This raises an important question for leaders:Where does investment in people have the greatest long-term impact?Technical skills are necessary, of course. But they are rarely durable.Soft skills behave very differently.When someone learns how to collaborate well, make good decisions, facilitate discussions, or lead others, those skills don't decay at the same rate. Instead, they tend to compound. They become part of how that person works.Learning how to learn is a good example. Once someone develops that capability, it stays with them. The same is true for decision-making, leadership, and collaboration. These are skills that can continue to improve over time—but they don't become irrelevant.I once saw just how important this was during a demo to a group of nurses.A programmer demonstrated new functionality and showed text on the screen that suggested giving Saltine crackers to a newborn—clearly clinically inappropriate.He tried to explain that it was just placeholder text. The real point, he said, was the workflow, not the words.But to the nurses, the words mattered a great deal.Their professional identity is grounded in “do no harm.” What they saw on the screen violated that principle. They were ready to escalate the issue and cancel the project.What saved the project wasn't a technical fix.It was the project manager's soft skills.He calmed the situation, acknowledged the nurses' concerns, explained what had happened, and persuaded them to come back a week later for a revised demo.The failure wasn't technical—it was a failure of empathy.Product development is full of uncertainty. We work with evolving requirements, incomplete information, and users whose trust we must earn and keep.Soft skills reduce risk in these environments.Empathy helps teams understand users. Clear communication builds trust. Collaboration prevents small misunderstandings from becoming major setbacks.And when these skills improve, the benefit isn't limited to one person.If someone learns a new technical skill, that benefit often stays with them. But when someone learns to collaborate better, the entire team benefits. Everyone gets better.This is one reason leaders often underestimate the return on investing in soft skills.The payoff isn't always immediate or easy to measure. It tends to show up most clearly under pressure—when teams need to have hard conversations, discuss options honestly, and make good decisions quickly.That's also when the absence of soft skills is most costly.Some leaders think these skills can wait until things slow down. In reality, pressure is when they matter most.Teams with strong soft skills can disagree productively, make tradeoffs together, and move forward with confidence—because trust was built earlier.Everyone on a product development team benefits from strong soft skills, but some roles depend on them especially heavily.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

What Is Scope Churn? Businesses naturally want predictability from their software organizations. Promises have been made to customers, and there are business objectives to deliver as well. Often, those things have little to no wiggle room. The head of Marketing says “This must be completed on time, because we have a trade show on March 1st, and we have committed to present there.” The head of Product says “The only way we could save this angry customer was to promise that this would be completed on September 30th. If we don't deliver, they will walk.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Agile Failed Us After 18 Months - Here we go...On month eighteen, our average lead time crossed 27 days. Production defects doubled. A supposedly minor release missed its window by three weeks.Nothing had “broken.” Velocity charts still looked healthy. Every ceremony was running on time. But releases slowed, confidence eroded, and engineers stopped believing what the board said.This hurt because customers felt it immediately. Bugs lived longer, features arrived stale, and every delay came with an explanation no one trusted anymore.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Ernest Shackleton and Leadership When Everything Falls ApartIn 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out on what was supposed to be one of the greatest expeditions in history: the first land crossing of Antarctica. His ship, the Endurance, carried 27 men into one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth.What happened next is the part that matters.The ship never reached Antarctica.Instead, it became trapped in pack ice for months—until the pressure finally crushed the ship. The Endurance sank, leaving Shackleton and his crew stranded on drifting ice floes, more than 1,000 miles from safety, with no communication, no rescue plan, and brutal Antarctic winter closing in.From that moment on, the mission was no longer exploration.The mission became survival.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

5 Daily Habits To Keep Your Team Motivated and InspiredManaging a team is never easy, and one of the biggest challenges is keeping everyone motivated. Motivation doesn't come from long meetings or fancy speeches. It comes from small, everyday habits that keep energy, focus, and inspiration alive.Things like starting the day with open communication, recognizing effort right away, or giving quick feedback may seem small, but when done daily, they make a big difference. Over time, these habits build a culture where your team feels inspired to give their best.In this episiode, we'll explore five simple daily habits that can help you keep your team motivated and inspired — not through one-time efforts, but through steady consistency.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Using AI to Go From User Insight to Better Backlogs - Mike CohnAI is rapidly changing how product teams work—but the biggest opportunity isn't replacing product thinking. It's reducing the friction between understanding users and turning those insights into high-quality backlog items.To make the ideas concrete, I use a consistent example throughout: a team building software for valet-attended parking garages, initially selling to independent operations like boutique hotels. Each step builds on the previous one, showing how AI outputs can feed naturally into your existing agile practices.With a straightforward prompt, AI can help you build a detailed persona—including hopes, concerns, emotional triggers, and decision criteria. In my example, the persona that emerged was a garage owner/operator with high staff turnover, contract-renewal anxiety, and a strong desire for predictable labor costs. Several of these insights are things I might have missed or deprioritized on my own.Understanding a persona's aspirations—not just their functional needs—turns out to be especially valuable. Once a persona exists, you can ask AI to role-play that person and let you interview them. This is not a replacement for real user interviews, but it's a great way to explore assumptions, test questions, and uncover gaps in your thinking.AI is also excellent at preparing interview guides for real users who match a persona. With the right prompt, it can generate a structured guide that covers: Opening context (confidentiality, purpose, time commitment)Current workflows and pain pointsDesired future state and success criteriaConstraints (including regulatory or operational)Thoughtful wrap-up questionsLooking at the results, I was struck by how much better prepared I could have been for many interviews over the years if I'd had this kind of support. Once you're ready to move into backlog work, AI can help generate user stories and job stories that follow well-established agile guidance.By being explicit in the prompt—format, INVEST criteria, and output rules—you can get clean, ready-to-use stories that are easy to import into a backlog tool. AI can also correctly choose between user stories and job stories depending on whether the situation or the role is more important.In the valet parking example, this resulted in stories about vehicle handoff tracking, damage-claim protection, wait-time monitoring, staff accountability, and remote visibility into operations. I prefer to add acceptance criteria as a separate step, and AI handles this easily. You can ask for: A simple bullet list (great for user reviews), orGherkin (given-when-then) format for more formal specificationYou can even convert between formats later. Either way, this step quickly raises clarity and testability. AI isn't just for generating content—it's also useful for critique.With a structured prompt, AI can evaluate user and job stories against the INVEST criteria, identify only what's missing, explain why, and suggest a focused improvement. This works whether the stories were written by AI or by you.Over time, you can even build a library of good and bad examples to further improve the quality of feedback you get. AI won't replace talking to users, making judgment calls, or exercising product sense. What it can do is help teams move faster from vague ideas to concrete artifacts, surface blind spots, and raise the baseline quality of their work—especially when time or experience is limited.Used well, AI becomes a tireless collaborator: one that remembers persona details, never gets impatient with rewrites, and can move effortlessly from big-picture thinking to precise backlog items.The key mindset shift is this: don't ask whether AI can replace parts of product discovery or backlog refinement. Ask how it can help you arrive better prepared for the conversations that still matter most.

Story Point Estimations are failing your Team! - Here We Go Again...Story Pointing wasn't a completely novel idea. It evolved out of the Delphi method — a research technique that helped drive consensus and forecasting built on collective wisdom. In 1950s, RAND Corporation began using it as a way to forecast the effect of technology on warfare.So, it wasn't just an idea dreamed up by someone in the Agile community randomly — no. It's actually based on a scientific approach. Something that's been applied and true in other disciplines for many, many years.And, when Scrum needed a prescriptive technique to help the Teams estimate and measure the amount of work the Team could consistently deliver Sprint after Sprint, this became a recommended approach.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

What Makes a Great Scrum Master?When people ask me, “What does it take to be a great Scrum Master?” my first response is always — In what kind of organization?It's not a dodge. It's the most honest answer I can give.We talk about Scrum Masters as if the role is universal — a fixed job description that applies equally everywhere. But the reality?The Scrum Master navigating a twenty — person startup looks completely different from one guiding a 200-person enterprise team.And both are doing the job right.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The 7 Two-Minute Habits That Make People Actually Want to Follow You1) Active Listen BurstHere's the move: give someone 60 seconds of your full attention, then paraphrase what they said and ask one clarifying question. The moment someone starts speaking, resist the urge to formulate your response. Instead, just listen. Then say: “So what I'm hearing is ____. Did I miss anything?” This works because people trust leaders who make them feel truly seen — and it clears up confusion before solutions start flying around the room. Just watch out for one thing: don't hijack the moment with your own story. Paraphrase first, then ask your question.2) Values CompassBefore or after making a key decision, take a moment to name the value guiding your choice. It's simple: “I'm choosing X because it best serves [fairness / ownership / customer care].” This habit works because when values are explicit, your team immediately understands the trade-offs you're making. They might not always agree with the decision, but they'll understand the why behind it. Pro tip: keep your organization's core values in your notes and use the same vocabulary consistently so your team recognizes the pattern.3) Openness NudgeIn the final two minutes of every meeting, create space for dissent and missing perspectives. Simply ask: “What haven't I heard yet — especially if you disagree with me?” This is how you build psychological safety — it doesn't happen by accident. You have to actively pull the truth out of the room. If everyone stays quiet, try a 30-second silent vote: “Type your concerns in the chat now.” This removes the social pressure and gives people a safer way to speak up. The uncomfortable truths you uncover here will save you from bigger problems later.4) No-Blame LanguageDuring reviews or post-mortems, shift the conversation from “who's at fault” to “what system failed.” Ask: “What part of the system or process produced this outcome?” This reframing is powerful because shame kills learning, while systems thinking scales it. When people aren't afraid of being blamed, they'll be honest about what actually happened — and that's where real improvement begins. Make sure to close the loop by assigning one owner and setting a deadline for fixing the system issue you've identified.5) Compass Check (Fair? Clear? Kind?)Before you hit send on any tough message, run it through three quick filters: Is it fair? Is it clear? Is it kind? If you can't say yes to all three, go back and fix one line. This is emotional quality control that takes less than a minute but saves hours of cleanup later. It reduces drama, increases alignment, and helps you communicate difficult things in ways that maintain trust. The discipline of pausing before sending is what separates reactive leaders from respected ones.6) One-Line IntentAt the start of every meeting, state your goal in one clear sentence: “Goal: decide/align on ____.” That's it. This simple habit works because people relax when they know what “done” looks like. It eliminates the wandering discussions where everyone leaves confused about what actually happened. Put this goal at the top of your agenda and read it out loud in the first 30 seconds. It sets the tone and gives everyone permission to redirect the conversation if things go off track.7) Decision Note (What/Who/When)Right after any decision, log it in one sentence: “Decision: ____. Owner: ____. By: ____.” This creates transparency and accountability while saving everyone from those frustrating moments three weeks later when no one remembers what was actually decided. Future-you won't have to dig through five different chat threads trying to reconstruct the conversation. How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why Most Agile Teams Build Features Instead of Value and How To Flip the ScriptFor a long time, I believed that the number of features we shipped was a sign of a healthy product team. New capabilities meant progress. More releases meant momentum. A packed roadmap meant ambition. And during sprint reviews, when we showcased everything we had delivered, I felt proud as if quantity itself was proof of impact.But something always nagged me. After each launch, I would look at the data or talk to users and feel this uncomfortable tension between what we had built and what had actually changed. The features were there, polished, documented, deployed but the world around them stayed strangely still. The metric didn't move. The user behavior didn't shift. We were launching features into the void, and the void was yawning back.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Start The Year With a Clean Backlog - Mike CohnThink outside the box.Do you hate that phrase as much as I do?It's become another overused business cliché, and it bothers me for another reason: Creativity often comes from thinking inside the box.This is especially true in agile story-writing workshops. The difference between a successful story-writing workshop and one that fails to deliver often comes down to a single factor:Whether or not the product owner defines a clear, significant objective: a “box” within which the team can think.Workshops without boundaries often roam across the entire product. Teams may generate a long list of user stories but those stories lack cohesion or purpose. They're hard to prioritize, and even harder to act on. The most productive workshops start with a simple framing statement from the product owner, like: “We're here to think about this specific subset of the product.”That's it. One well-chosen boundary and suddenly the team is aligned, focused, and generating better, more valuable ideas.Early in the product's life, that boundary might be about identifying what's needed to deliver an MVP.Later on, it might center around a Minimum Marketable Feature (MMF), something small enough to ship but valuable enough to matter. When workshops are focused around a meaningful objective, you don't need to hold them every sprint. I typically run them about once a quarter because one well-run session generates a steady flow of high-value stories.As this year closes and a new one begins, it's a great time to schedule a story-writing session. You might even want to bring our trainers in for a Story-Writing Workshop, where we'll work with you to: Set powerful, objective-based boundariesWrite stories that are right-sized and ready to buildBuild a focused backlog that everyone can align around Discover how to kick off the new year with a backlog that's ready to go.Whether you hold your own story-writing workshop or bring us in to help, remember that thinking inside the box is a powerful way to take teams from good to great,How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The OKR Illusion, Why Structure Without Direction Is Just NoiseOKRs (Objectives and Key Results) have gained significant traction over the past decade, especially after being widely adopted and championed by companies like Google. Originally developed at Intel, OKRs are a simple yet powerful framework for setting and tracking goals. At their core, OKRs are about defining what you want to achieve (Objectives) and how you'll measure progress (Key Results). While the concept is simple, the impact lies in how OKRs align teams, create focus, and connect everyday work to meaningful, measurable outcomes.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Celebrating Dr Martin Luther King JrUnderstanding Civil Rights Day and what we can do today to make a difference. How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Celebrating Episode 1500 - Special Edition With Bob HartmanJoin us for this once in a lifetime ONE HOUR edition of The Agile Daily Standup Podcast as we celebrate episode 1500 together! How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Agile in 2026 Looks Nothing Like ScrumThat delay cost us 42,000 failed checkout attempts and a week of executive explanations. Nothing was broken in the code. The failure was procedural. The fix was ready. The sprint boundary said no.That was the moment we stopped pretending Scrum was helping us ship.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

AI Doesn't Eliminate Agile Teams — It Increases the Need for Great Ones - Mike CohnEveryone today seems eager to talk about how AI is accelerating software development. Teams are shipping faster. Individuals are more productive. Entire backlogs can be written in minutes. Estimates are a click away. Code that once took days now materializes in minutes. With all this newfound speed, it's understandable that teams and leaders start asking whether they still need the same kinds of collaboration—or even the same kinds of teams.Yet hidden underneath all that enthusiasm is a risk that hasn't received enough attention. In fact, I would argue it is the risk that agile leaders should be paying the closest attention to.https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/ai-doesnt-eliminate-agile-teams-it-increases-the-need-for-great-onesHow to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Scrum Is NOT Dead... It's Obsolete?(Did someone actually Go here?) AAAAAAAhhhhhhhh!Stand-ups are still happening. Sprint planning still blocks calendars every few weeks. Retrospectives still end with “we should communicate better.” Jira boards are still very busy.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

I made a VERY controversial Podcast Episode on January 1st and I think people may have completely missed it! There will be 3 CRAZY-BIG changes happening on the Agile Landscape in 2026: