Podcasts about agile methodology

Send us a textBeing stranded at Universal Studios taught podcast host Brittany Wilkins a valuable lesson—traditional methods still work. In this episode, she shares how that unexpected moment sparked a deeper realization about project management: the importance of knowing when to choose Agile, Waterfall, or a hybrid of both.

 In this episode of The Future of Teamwork, Dane Groeneveld sits down with Kevin Torf, Managing Partner at T2 Tech Group and author of Getting the Job Done. Kevin shares how early lessons in electronics—and a mindset shaped by resourcefulness—led him to develop a pragmatic approach to team leadership and project delivery. Together, they explore his agile-inspired “PROJECTS” framework, reflecting on what it takes for teams to stay focused, adapt in real time, and make progress without overplanning or burning out. It's a conversation about leading with clarity, making room for mistakes, and building the kind of momentum that teams can actually sustain. Key Takeaways:00:00 Introduction to the Future of Teamwork Podcast01:34 Meet Kevin Torf: A Journey in Technology and Leadership02:30 Kevin's Early Career and Influences05:13 The Power of Simplicity and Adaptability10:37 The Agile Methodology and Its Impact19:55 Kevin's Projects Framework: An Overview27:18 Navigating Team Dynamics and Performance27:51 The Importance of Team Exercises in Business28:18 Challenges of Overloading Top Performers29:40 Addressing Bottlenecks and Empowering Teams32:54 The Power of Reflection and Adaptation34:40 Learning from Mistakes and Team Growth44:09 AI's Role in Enhancing Team Performance51:17 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Global Agile Summit Preview: Transforming Conflict into Opportunity, Leadership Lessons for Agile Teams with Eagan Rackley In this BONUS Global Agile Summit preview episode, we sit down with Eagan Rackley, the track host for the developer track at the Global Agile Summit. With over 24 years of experience spanning game development, enterprise architecture, graphics, and highly parallel programming, Eagan shares his journey from viewing leadership as control to seeing leadership as a collaborative space for problem-solving. We explore how to transform conflict into opportunity, align cross-functional teams, and lead effectively both with and without formal authority. The Moment That Changed Everything "The obstacle is the path." When Eagan's small experimentation-focused team merged with marketing, tensions flared and conflict erupted. Both sides believed "they don't get it" and adopted a defensive "protect the castle" mentality. The situation devolved into heated exchanges until an agile coach offered a perspective-shifting insight: they were all on the same team.  This moment fundamentally reshaped Eagan's view of leadership. He realized that effective leadership isn't about knowing all the answers or controlling people—it's about creating space for collaboration and helping people solve problems together. The best leaders don't fix everything themselves; they empower their teams to find solutions collectively. Empowering Teams Through Permission and Alignment "It's about getting people to feel that they have permission to do what needs to be done." When teams feel something is happening to them, they often disengage and resist. Eagan explains that people feel powerless primarily when incentives are misaligned. The key to gaining buy-in is shifting the narrative from "this is happening to me" to "we can do this together."  Leaders should focus on removing tension and finding ways to incorporate seemingly contradictory goals. By giving people permission to take action and aligning their incentives, leaders can transform resistance into engagement and ownership. Turning Conflict into Alignment "We need to accept that we have different perspectives and different ways to see success." Cross-functional teams naturally experience tension due to differing priorities and success metrics. Eagan shares how his team transformed their marketing conflict by asking questions that made both sides feel heard and understood. They established a shared way of working that respected everyone's needs. He recommends three powerful questions to align teams: "Why do we exist as a team, and why does it matter?" - This helps everyone see the whole picture and builds shared purpose. "What is our desired outcome, and when have we achieved it?" - This focuses on outcomes rather than tasks and encourages thinking from different disciplinary perspectives. By acknowledging different perspectives and naming conflicts openly, teams can move from resentment to motivation and investment in shared goals. Conflict as a Tool for Transformation "Conflict is information. Conflict is data." Eagan's relationship with conflict transformed when he began seeing it as valuable information rather than something to avoid. Conflict provides clarity between people and highlights areas needing attention. He shares how, after years in leadership, he intentionally stepped back into an individual contributor role to learn a new industry. This experience reinforced his belief in the power of approaching conflict with the mindset that "we're on the same team, we can solve this together." This perspective shift embodies what makes Agile so powerful—moving from focusing on products to prioritizing people. In this segment, we refer to the book Shift: From Product to People, by Michael Dougherty, and Pete Oliver-Krueger, who've been guests on the podcast before. And we also refer to the Ratatouille Principle, which reminds us that great ideas can come from anywhere! Leading Without Authority "You lead with trust, not knowledge." When Eagan returned to an engineering role in a new industry, he experienced the challenge of having no built-in credibility or authority. This taught him valuable lessons about bottom-up leadership. He discovered that effective influence comes from building trust first, not from demonstrating knowledge.  He recommends validating people's frustrations, listening authentically, and sometimes allowing people to learn through their own experiences. This approach recognizes that leadership isn't confined to formal roles—we're all leaders in different contexts. Resources for Your Leadership Journey Eagan recommends several resources for those wanting to deepen their leadership skills: "Management 3.0" by Jurgen Appelo "Agile Retrospectives" by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen The "Change by Attraction" podcast The Value of the Global Agile Summit The Global Agile Summit offers a unique environment where transformative "aha!" moments happen. It's not just about learning new techniques but about fundamentally changing how we think about work, leadership, and collaboration. Eagan believes these perspective shifts are what make the summit so valuable. About Eagan Rackley Eagan Rackley is the track host for the developer track at the Global Agile Summit and a seasoned software engineer and Agile leader with 24+ years of experience spanning game development, enterprise architecture, graphics, and highly parallel programming. A passionate problem-solver, he excels in building collaborative teams, driving innovation, and turning conflict into opportunity. He thrives on creating software that empowers people and transforms ideas into impact. You can link with Eagan Rackley on LinkedIn.

In this episode of our Europe's Retail Evolution Series in partnership with Shoptalk Europe, I sat down with Katya Denike, Chief Product Officer at Holland & Barrett. She shares many insights on leading digital transformation within a 150-year-old legacy brand. We explore the true challenge of aligning teams, breaking old habits, and shifting mindsets to build a product-driven culture. Katya highlights the importance of authenticity in leadership, embracing informality, and the continuous need for unlearning outdated practices to foster real innovation.Katya will be on the stage at Shoptalk Europe, which will happen in Barcelona from June 2nd to 4th.OFFBounds listeners get discounted tickets on the links below:

We're taking a critical look at the Double Diamond model, aka. Dual Track Development, aka. Dual Track Agile.This widely-adopted model might be leading leadership and/or teams astray, so we're taking some time to explore its limitations in real-world applications. From the misconception of linear progression to the crucial importance of keeping customers involved throughout the process, Brian tries to convince Om that the model needs significant rethinking!Other things we discuss are:Why the "messy middle" is where the real magic happensHow to properly involve your whole team in both discovery and deliveryThe importance of continuous customer involvementWhy organizational support is crucial for success#ProductManagement #AgileMethodology #ProductDevelopment #Leadership #ProductStrategyproduct management, agile methodology, product development, leadership, team development, double diamond, product discovery, product delivery, agile coaching, product strategy= = = = = = = = = = = =Watch on YouTubeSubscribe on YouTubeAppleSpotify= = = = = = = = = = = =Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Send us a textIn this episode of Definitely Maybe Agile, Peter Maddison and Dave Sharrock dive into the nuances of intake funnels and definitions of ready—key concepts for ensuring work progresses effectively. They explore how traditional project delivery mindsets differ from product-driven approaches, emphasizing the need for adaptability, continuous learning, and decision points that prevent wasted effort.From setting clear entry criteria to measuring throughput and pivoting when needed, they break down how teams can structure their workflows to prioritize value-driven outcomes. Whether you're refining your backlog, managing stakeholder expectations, or optimizing delivery processes, this episode provides practical insights to help you navigate uncertainty while keeping momentum.This week´s takeaways: Clear intake process – Define criteria to assess idea readiness before execution.Product vs. project mindset – Embrace uncertainty and pivot as needed.Measure progress – Use checkpoints and throughput tracking to prioritize work.Tune in to learn how to balance discipline with flexibility and ensure your work moves forward with intention!

If communicating with stakeholders on a regular basis is part of your work and you're looking to improve your stakeholder management skills, this is your podcast. We promise you'll learn practical strategies for effective stakeholder management that you can start using TODAY - or your money back!!!Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as we use the Power-Interest grid to layout an actionable framework for communicating with different stakeholder groups. #ProductManagement #StakeholderCommunication #AgileLeadershipReferences:Stakeholder Management Tips for Product People by Roman Pichler, 2020: https://www.romanpichler.com/blog/stakeholder-management-tips-for-product-people/Getting Stakeholder Engagement Right by Roman Pichler, 2015: https://www.romanpichler.com/blog/stakeholder-engagement-analysis-power-interest-grid/Making Strategy, The Journey of Strategic Management by Colin Eden & Fran Ackermann, 1998Arguing Agile #198 - Better Communication: Mastering Crucial Conversations: https://youtu.be/KgmnrkbNA8I= = = = = = = = = = = =YouTube= = = = = = = = = = = =Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8XUSoJPxGPI8EtuUAHOb6g?sub_confirmation=1Applehttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596Spotifyhttps://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3= = = = = = = = = = = =Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Send us a textIn this episode of the Customer Success Playbook Podcast, hosts Roman Trebon and Kevin Metzger interview Jasmine Reynolds, a Customer Success Manager at Pluralsight, about applying Scrum methodologies to customer onboarding. Jasmine discusses how Scrum, typically associated with software development, can significantly enhance the customer onboarding experience. She outlines six key Scrum techniques that can be immediately applied to onboarding processes, including prioritized backlog, sprint-based onboarding, daily stand-ups, and continuous feedback loops. The discussion highlights the benefits of this approach, such as improved time to value, increased customer satisfaction, and stronger client relationships. Detailed AnalysisThe application of Scrum to customer onboarding represents a significant innovation in customer success practices. This approach addresses several critical challenges in traditional onboarding processes:Flexibility and Adaptability: By breaking the onboarding journey into sprints, companies can respond more quickly to changing customer needs and feedback. This agility is crucial in today's fast-paced business environment where customer requirements can shift rapidly.Cross-Functional Collaboration: The Scrum approach encourages better coordination among various teams involved in onboarding, including sales, customer success, product, and support. This holistic approach ensures that all aspects of the customer's needs are addressed cohesively.Accelerated Time to Value: By focusing on delivering value in each sprint, businesses can ensure that customers start seeing benefits from their investment much earlier in the process. This rapid demonstration of value can significantly impact customer satisfaction and long-term retention.Enhanced Customer Communication: Daily stand-ups and regular feedback sessions keep the customer closely involved in the onboarding process. This transparency builds trust and allows for immediate course corrections if needed.Measurable Progress: The sprint structure provides clear milestones and measurable progress, making it easier to track the effectiveness of the onboarding process and identify areas for improvement.Scope Management: While scope creep remains a challenge, the sprint-based approach provides a framework for managing and prioritizing additional requests without derailing the entire onboarding process.Continuous Improvement: Regular retrospectives allow teams to refine their onboarding processes continuously, leading to ongoing improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.For businesses looking to implement this approach, Jasmine recommends starting by breaking existing onboarding processes into sprints, defining clear value deliverables for each sprint, and creating a prioritized backlog. She emphasizes the importance of flexibility and setting clear expectations with customers.The potential integration of AI tools in this Scrum-based onboarding process presents an exciting opportunity for further innovation. AI could potentially assist in sprint planning, predicting potential issuPlease Like, Comment, Share and Subscribe. You can also find the CS Playbook Podcast:YouTube - @CustomerSuccessPlaybookPodcastTwitter - @CS_PlaybookYou can find Kevin at:Metzgerbusiness.com - Kevin's person web siteKevin Metzger on Linked In.You can find Roman at:Roman Trebon on Linked In.

Frederik Pferdt: Google's first Chief Innovation Evangelist, founder of Google's Innovation Lab and the author of What's Next is Now, How to Live Future Ready.Change Ready is an original series brought to you by Behind the Human & Malosi. A series where we do everything possible to future-proof your mind and thrive in an era of unprecedented change. ___How Prepared is Your Team for the Next Big Disruption? Future-proof your team with Malosiminds.com Get your copy of Personal Socrates: Better Questions, Better Life Connect with Marc >>> Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter Drop a review and let me know what resonates with you about the show!Thanks as always for listening and have the best day yet!*A special thanks to MONOS, our official travel partner for Behind the Human! Use MONOSBTH10 at check-out for savings on your next purchase. ✈️*Special props

Join hosts Phil Seboa and Ed Fuentes as they welcome principal engineer Lachlan Wright from PWD. Solutions. This episode of Unplugged dives deep into the world of industrial IoT, touching on Lachlan's career in automation, IIOT vs. IOT, the power of open frameworks, and the future of industrial automation. Lachlan shares his experiences with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and emerging PLC technologies, alongside discussing the importance of data accessibility and the role of agile development in today's evolving tech landscape. Tune in for an enlightening conversation filled with valuable industry insights. 00:00 Introduction to Unplugged IIoT Podcast 00:45 Meet Lachlan Wright, Principal Engineer of PWD. Solutions 02:43 Phil's Passion for 3D Object Creation and Gaming through Blender 04:22 Ed's Journey with Python and Databasing 07:08 Versatility of Skills in Industrial and Control Systems 11:35 Lachlan's Home Automation: PLC MQTT for Power Monitoring 14:58 Lachlan's Experience with Chat GPT and New Facebook Tools 17:24 Phil on Llama 3.5 Models and Their Vast Resources 21:46 Lachlan's Industrial Anecdote: PLC, TCP Driver, InfluxDB, and Ignition 27:15 Pitfalls of Agile Methodology in IoT Digital Transformation 32:03 Importance of Community Collaboration in Open Source 35:16 Evolving PLCs: The Role of Software and Programming Languages 38:45 Integration of Docker Containers in Development 41:18 User Experience and Visualization in Industrial Applications 43:09 Shift Towards Web Native Technology 44:38 From Traditional SCADA to the WebDev Mindset 48:49 Interest in Time Series Databases like InfluxDB and Timescale 50:20 Enthusiasm for Continuous Learning and Technology Exploration 52:35 Unique Solutions for Different Industries and Sites 55:10 Raspberry Pi and Beckhoff CX 7000 Series in IIoT Deployments 58:46 Cost-Effectiveness of New Systems like Octo 22 Groove and PLC Nexts 01:02:19 Adoption of Raspberry Pi for Initial Automation Testing Connect with Lachlan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/plcexpert/ Connect with Phil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-seboa/ Connect with Ed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-fuentes-2046121a/ ------ About Industry Sage Media: Industry Sage Media is your backstage pass to industry experts and the conversations that are shaping the future of the manufacturing industry. Learn more at: http://www.industrysagemedia.com

Send us a texthttps://headliner.app in your In this episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we dive into the transformative world of video commerce and digital marketing with Eitan Koter, a thought leader with over 20 years of experience. Eitan, the co-founder and co-CEO of Vimmi, shares his journey in the tech industry, his insights on the convergence of media and commerce, and the innovative solutions Vimmi provides to brands and retailers.

In this episode of Confessions of a B2B Entrepreneur, Tom Hunt interviews Max van den Ingh, Founder & CEO of Unmuted, a B2B SaaS marketing agency based in Amsterdam. They delve into Max's journey of building his company, exploring key areas like sales, finance, marketing, and operations. Max shares insights on their unique approach to brand building, niching down, and delivering high-value services. The episode also features a discussion on the importance of transparency, continuous learning, and staying ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving marketing landscape.

David Rogers - The Digital Transformation Roadmap Part 2   Mastering Digital Transformation: Insights from David Rogers   In this engaging episode, Aidan sits down with David Rogers, the author of 'The Digital Transformation Roadmap'. They delve into the significant challenges and strategies for digital transformation within organisations. Key topics include overcoming psychological and organisational debt, technical capabilities required for transformation, the importance of suitable technology, retaining key talent, and evolving organisational culture. David also shares insights on governance and iterative funding, emphasising the need for smart shutdowns and resource allocation. The episode is packed with practical examples, including successful digital transformations at Walmart and Netflix. David's profound experience and practical tools make this essential listening for business leaders and innovators.   00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:13 Understanding Organisational and Technical Debt 02:18 The Importance of Tech Capabilities 03:29 Talent and Culture in Digital Transformation 05:19 Governance in Digital Transformation 08:27 The Role of Teams and Boards 20:00 Smart Shutdowns and Innovation Governance 26:07 The Corporate Innovation Stack 29:34 The Broken Model of Innovation 30:02 Governance Model for Innovation 30:42 Path Three Innovations: Challenges and Management 32:15 Innovation Structures and Strategies 34:12 Skipping Vision and Priorities 35:07 Walmart's Strategic Innovation in Online Grocery 41:24 Four Stages of Validation 49:21 Case Studies: Netflix and Diapers.com 54:37 Conclusion and Final Thoughts   Find David here:   Find Aidan McCullen for Keynotes and Corporate Workshops here:   David Rogers, Aidan McCullen, Digital Transformation, Innovation Governance, Iterative Funding, Corporate Innovation, Organizational Change, Innovation Strategy, Technical Debt, Psychological Debt, Innovation Boards, Startup Culture, Agile Methodology, Product Validation, Strategic Priorities, Business Validation, Smart Shutdowns, Innovation Stack, Customer Validation, Executive Insights  

We're diving into the world of Agile methodology, a project management methodology that prioritizes flexibility and collaboration. CONNECT WITH US Read the Weekly EDGE Newsletter to Boost Your Productivity. It's FREE!Over 24,225 listeners and counting! If you have an amazing productivity tool or app that will make people more productive please reach out to us at b at brandon c white dot com OTHER GREAT PODCASTS ON THE BEST PODCASTS NETWORK MARKETING Podcast How to Write a Business Plan Podcast The Brandon White Show Thanks for listening to the productivity podcast for your daily dose of productivity to be your best self!

Welcome back to episode 3 of Season 22 of our Building Better Developers podcast. In this episode, we continue exploring problem-solving strategies. Previously, we discussed general problem-solving approaches. This episode delves into a nuanced topic: Solving Problems Without Solving the Problem. This concept frequently arises in various professional contexts, particularly in project management and consultancy. Listen to Rob and Michael Discuss Solving Problems Without Solving the Problem The Paradox of Over-Delivering Often, you may find yourself in a situation where you're asked to demonstrate your ability to solve a problem. This could be through creating a proof of concept, drafting a proposal, or designing a demo. However, the challenge lies in balancing showing your capability for solving the problem and over-delivering to the point where you've essentially completed the project without a formal commitment. It's a common scenario in industries involving side hustles and freelance work. Why Solving Problems Without Solving the Problem Matters Imagine agreeing to demonstrate a solution, only to have the client continually ask for a bit more until you realize you've spent countless hours on something that isn't yet contracted. This predicament is akin to a lawyer giving away free advice until they've essentially provided their entire service without compensation. The key is knowing where to draw the line. Proof of Concept (PoC) as a Strategy So, how do we navigate this delicate balance? We advise starting with a small, manageable PoC. The PoC should be a scaled-down version of the potential solution designed to validate key assumptions and feasibility without excessive time and resource investment. Here's how to approach it: Identify the Core Problem: Clearly define what you're trying to solve. Start Small: Begin with a minimal dataset or a simplified version of the problem. Incremental Testing: Gradually expand the scope, testing the solution with increasingly larger datasets or more complex scenarios. For instance, if your project involves processing data from CSV files, start with just a few records. Verify that the basic process works before scaling up to larger datasets. This method helps in understanding the solution's scalability and potential issues early on. Avoiding Overcommitment A crucial aspect of managing a PoC is ensuring you don't inadvertently find yourself with a live project before it's ready. This can happen when a PoC evolves into a fully functioning solution without proper planning and resource allocation. Here's how to prevent this: Set Clear Boundaries: Define what the PoC will and won't cover. Communicate this clearly to stakeholders. Regular Check-Ins: Have frequent reviews to assess progress and realign expectations. Documentation: Keep detailed records of what the PoC entails and the steps required to transition to a full project. Leveraging Existing Solutions Another vital point is recognizing that you don't always need to build solutions from scratch. Often, there are existing APIs, tools, or open-source projects that can be adapted to meet your needs. This is particularly relevant in industries like healthcare, where compliance and security are paramount. When choosing between building and buying (or adapting), consider: Compliance: Does the existing solution meet necessary regulatory standards? Cost: Is purchasing and customizing an existing solution more cost-effective than building one from scratch? Integration: How well does the existing solution integrate with your current systems? Real-World Application of Solving Problems Without Solving the Problem An example shared in the podcast involved automating a manual process in a billing center. Initially, the team replicated the existing manual worksheets into a web application as a PoC. This small-scale implementation was well-received, but the project faced challenges when it inadvertently moved towards a live deployment too quickly. The lesson here is to be cautious of scope creep and ensure that all stakeholders understand the PoC's limitations. Agile Methodology as a Solution The Agile development framework, particularly Scrum, is designed to address the issue of premature live deployment by delivering incremental, usable software at the end of each sprint. This approach allows for continuous feedback and adjustment, ensuring that the solution evolves in a controlled manner. Continue Your Journey By Solving Problems Without Solving the Problem Embracing the concept of solving problems without fully solving them allows for efficient use of resources and better project management. Start small, validate assumptions, leverage existing tools, and communicate clearly with stakeholders. By doing so, you can navigate the complexities of PoCs and avoid the pitfalls of overcommitting. Stay Connected: Join the Developreneur Community We invite you to join our community and share your coding journey with us. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting, there's always room to learn and grow together. Contact us at info@develpreneur.com with your questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes. Together, let's continue exploring the exciting world of software development. Additional Resources One Offs, Side Projects, and Veering From Standards Setting Realistic Expectations In Development The Importance of Properly Defining Requirements The Developer Journey Videos - With Bonus Content Behind the Scenes Podcast Video - With Bonus Content

It's the season finale of Elixir Wizards Office Hours! SmartLogic's Project Manager Alicia Brindisi and VP of Delivery Bri LaVorgna join host Dan to delve into the agile ceremony of retrospectives. They explore the vital role of retrospectives in Agile project management and unveil practical strategies for enhancing their effectiveness. Alicia and Bri break down the elements of a successful retrospective. They cover everything from meticulous preparation to facilitation techniques, and how to choose the best format for fostering open dialogue and actionable results. Learn how to navigate common obstacles and guide discussions toward productive, solution-focused outcomes. Throughout the episode, they emphasize the transformative potential of retrospectives within the Agile framework, portraying them not just as a procedural activity, but as a catalyst for continuous team growth and project success. Key topics discussed in this episode: Mastering the full potential of retrospectives in Agile environments Best practices for effective preparation and facilitation Choosing the right format to suit your team's dynamics Strategies for overcoming typical challenges during retrospectives Techniques for addressing and resolving interpersonal conflicts constructively The critical importance of valuing each team member's perspective Practical advice on applying insights from retrospectives to enact organizational changes Tailoring and refining retrospectives to meet your team's unique requirements Links mentioned: SmartLogic https://smartlogic.io/ SmartLogic LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartlogic-io Contact Bri Bri@smartlogic.io Retrium Retrospectives for Scrum & Agile Teams https://www.retrium.com/ 4Ls Retrospective Template https://www.retrium.com/retrospective-techniques/4ls Start Stop Continue Retrospective https://www.retrium.com/retrospective-techniques/start-stop-continue Sailboat Retrospective https://www.retrium.com/retrospective-techniques/sailboat Starfish Retrospective https://www.retrium.com/retrospective-techniques/starfish ClickUp Project Management Platform https://clickup.com/teams/project-management Asana Task Manager http://www.asana.com Jira Project Management Tool https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira  Special Guests: Alicia Brindisi and Bri LaVorgna.

In Episode 9 of Elixir Wizards Office Hours, we dive into task writing and backlog grooming, transforming ideas from the discovery phase into actionable tickets. Join SmartLogic Developer Camber Griffin and hosts Dan Ivovich and Owen Bickford as they explore the intricacies of task writing, ticket grooming, estimation, and backlog management in the software development lifecycle. They emphasize crafting clear, detailed tickets that act as comprehensive guides for development teams. A well-written ticket does more than outline what needs to be built—it facilitates collaboration by including entry points, linking to essential documentation, defining acceptance criteria, detailing QA steps, and identifying potential risks and future hurdles. Key topics discussed in this episode: Crafting actionable development tickets from inspiration Achieving the optimal level of detail in tickets Tailoring ticket content for developers, QA, and stakeholders Standardizing ticket format with templates Structurally breaking down tasks into manageable sections Ensuring flexibility in implementation while maintaining clear specifications Proactively discussing architectural and design approaches Incorporating related documentation within tickets Clarifying acceptance criteria and QA procedures Accurately estimating task effort and complexity Collaboratively grooming tasks with cross-functional teams Adjusting tickets to evolving requirements Strategically planning for uncertainties and out-of-scope concerns Managing and versioning ongoing documentation Keeping the backlog clean, prioritized, and relevant Mapping dependencies among interconnected tasks Links mentioned: Jira Work Management https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira ClickUp Project Management Platform https://clickup.com/teams/project-management GitHub Projects https://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with-projects Zube Agile Project Management https://zube.io/ Pivotal Tracker Agile Project Management Tool https://www.pivotaltracker.com/ Trak Portfolio Management System https://pd-trak.com/ ClearCase Software Configuration Mgmt www.ibm.com/products/devops-code-clearcase Oban Job Processing in Elixir https://github.com/sorentwo/oban Special Guest: Camber Griffin.

In a dynamic discussion, Tim Sweet and seasoned software engineer Dan Löfquist explore the intersection of technology and leadership in today's dynamic landscape. They discuss the need to adapt and stay flexible to meet innovation head-on. They highlight the importance of leaders who embrace change and foster collaboration across generations. This episode is for any leader having doubts about how to navigate the complexities of leadership in the digital era.Tim and Dan also discuss the imperative for leaders to adapt and embrace uncertainty amidst a rapidly changing world. They touch upon topics such as generational differences in the workplace, the evolving role of technology, and the value of transparent communication. Drawing from Dan's experience as a consultant, they share the significance of modular thinking and delegation to navigate complex challenges. Together, they reflect on the shifting paradigms of work and advocate for prioritizing empathy and collaboration in driving organizational success.About Dan LöfquistDan Löfquist is a seasoned consultant and principal at Input Consulting in Stockholm, boasting nearly 40 years of combined experience in software development, banking, finance, and the travel industry. With a strong foundation in systems design and a relentless drive for innovation, Dan brings unparalleled expertise to the forefront of modern technology and leadership. His extensive background equips him with the skills needed to guide organizations through complex technological transitions, optimize systems for efficiency, and foster a culture of innovation and growth.--Contact Tim Sweet | Team Work Excellence: WebsiteLinkedIn: Tim SweetInstagramLinkedin: Team Work ExcellenceContact Dan Löfquist |  Input Consulting: Linkedin: Dan Löfquist--Transcript:Dan 00:02It's very important how you design your system, you basically have very small parts of your system that can connect together to make a feature, for example. So, if you have an order system, you have one little part that deals with a client or the customer, you have one little part that deals with the history of the orders and one little part that deals with what happens when the customer do an order. So, you have to break it down in very small bits, which makes changes much easier. Tim 00:35Do you rely on others to set a vision and then get them what they need so that they can achieve something they never would be able to do on their own? Whether or not you formally lead a team. If this sounds like you, then you, my friend, are the definition of a leader. And this show is all about bringing you new insights from real people that you've never been exposed to. So, you can grow and increase your impact on the world and feel more fulfilled while you're doing it. I'm Tim Sweet. Welcome to the Sweet on Leadership Podcast, episode 32. Tim 01:09Welcome back, everybody. Thank you very much for joining us for another edition of Sweet on Leadership. If you haven't joined us yet and this is your first time, we are all about bringing exciting insights from leaders around the world. And they come from very different backgrounds. Today, I have Dan Löfquist in front of me, Dan, thanks very much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Dan 01:31Oh, you're welcome. I'm glad to be here. Tim 01:34Dan, you are a principal with Input Consulting in Stockholm. That Correct? Dan 01:39That is correct. Yes. Tim 01:41What else would you like people to know about you and where you find yourself professionally? Dan 01:45I am a software engineer the base of it. And I've been working with software development, almost 40 years. And I still look this young. Tim 02:00We'll make sure that we have a portrait in the show notes. So, go check it out if you're listening over audio. Dan, also comes to us because your partner is our very good friend, Debbie Potts. Dan 02:15That's correct. Tim 02:17So, if you're wondering what the connection is, there, we are all one big happy family. What really excites me about talking to anybody that deals with complex systems is that that knowledge transfers over into their perceptions of business and organizations and leadership. And it's if you have people like this in your life, I would really encourage you to bring people like Dan into conversations that don't involve just software or IT or anything like that, because they can handle complex relationships and networks. And so Dan, I'm super excited to have you bring your insight into this forum. Dan 03:01I'm glad. I hope I can bring some knowledge to you. Tim 03:04Well, we've had several conversations now and I am not worried. I have a lot of fun. Before we get going here though, we've got a little tradition that's been evolving here on the podcast. Dan a previous guest will always offer up an out-of-the-blue question to break the ice. And today's question comes from Anna Morgan. Her question for you would be what is one thing that you know, will pay back in the next year, will have immediate benefit within the next year if you were to pull the trigger on it? But you may have been avoiding. Does that sound like anything familiar to you? Dan 03:47That's a very good question. Thanks, Anna. We have just moved to the countryside in Sweden, we are living very close to the sea. And obviously, you need a boat. We've been talking about this for a very long time. But something comes up blah, blah, blah, and we procrastinated a lot. So, we finally decided to get the boat. We both know it will benefit us tremendously over the years. Especially, when we have so lovely summers here in Sweden warm and nice. So yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be great. So, that's the thing. Tim 04:26You mentioned something seemed to always get in the way. Why do we think that things? Why do we think that life finds a way to interfere with these obviously, you know, important and beneficial decisions? Dan 04:42Oh, that's a good one. Prior to station I guess it is you prioritize sometimes, right and sometimes you do it wrong. Sometimes because it's convenient to go that way or the other way. You don't always do the right thing even though you know it's the right thing to do. Tim 05:00Right on, there'll always be another fire to fight. Or there might be a place of safety. That might be suspect. All right, right on, I think this is gonna bode well as we go forward on some of the questions that I've got for you. Of late, Dan, I've noticed that the community on both sides of the pond, we have seen this type of switch, we're at this sort of intersection, when it comes to technology where, in my estimation, years ago, when I would be deployed to help process and change teams, tackle, say, large ERP deployments or big systems deployments, it was always about solidifying these great big systems so that nobody could object to them, and that they were ubiquitous across organizations. And the challenge then, when you tried to make change to them was that they were very difficult to change. But now it's like we're in this almost schizophrenic relationship with technology where things are much more fractured and modular and paces is quickening. So, that's what I'm seeing from the outside and what I see my clients dealing with, do you share that experience? How would you categorize sort of the situation we're in today and what it means for businesses and large institutions and society at large?  Dan 06:27Ooh, that's an interesting question. That's pretty much my life, what I'm doing daily. So, if we're going to take some perspective on it, if we look, historically, in the beginning, when I started to work with computers, people had actually white robes in the computer central's, so a lot of things have changed. Computers back then were very complex, big, noisy, and you couldn't do much compared to what you could do today with a computer. To build a system was a complex thing, it took time, it took effort, when you have built it there was there, basically and you couldn't do much about it.  Tim 07:04It was like a big refrigerator or hundreds of refrigerators sitting in the middle of the floor. Dan 07:09Oh, yeah, or a big heater. But today, we are facing a different problem, not necessarily problems, but challenges. And that's because the technology has changed so quick and fast. It is a very aggressive to the I don't know really where it's gonna end. But we are all in a transition state, it is never going to end, it's just going to continue to evolve, which means we can make the systems that are more agile and follow the changes in the companies. And so it's going fast now. Tim 07:58I've used both PC and Mac. And I think back to in the day, we used to say that we would have risk or sisk-based designs. And my layman's understanding was that Apple followed a, what is it, a complex design a sisk with a C, but it was really more around software, rather than the hardware. The hardware would be robust, and flexible, but software was what was going to make the performance differences versus the, you know, Windows and UNIX environments where they were really much more around technologically dependent, you know, processing speed and these kinds of things. Maybe that's a layman's understanding. I don't know if that's even relevant anymore. But. Dan 08:44No, it is still relevant. I mean, if you look at Apple today, they both the hardware and the software, managed to merge them together in a very nice way. It has benefits, go with hardware and software from Apple. Obviously, their hardware is modular and changeable, because the hardware also evolves and things get smaller and easier to change and pgrade. And so yeah, absolutely. Tim 09:20I bring this up, because when we had these big server rooms and mainframes and we were installing, as you say, heaters, that people would heat their buildings off their server rooms, the hardware still there, obviously. And it's still complex. And yes, it's getting smaller. And yes, it's getting faster. For many people, it's almost faded into the background. And for my kids, everything is app-based. And this transcends not just to their devices, but even how they approach their lives. They have long-term gratification versus immediate gratification. And, you know, when we're on our phone and we want something to do something, we install an app and now all of a sudden the phone can do this thing. But when it's ourselves, we have to do the work and develop the skill. And there's a much longer runway in order to make something happen. But the general feeling within society now, and not just in technology, but feels like things are immediate, we want them now, we want them to be flipped on. It's a zero to a one, immediately a real digital relationship, and that we lose sight of the gray, the servers in the backroom, you know, everything that goes between our need and satisfaction of that need. And I see that in our kids. But is that something that enters your head, your mind? And do you see that in the client relationship as well? Dan 10:46Absolutely, I mean, we all live in a society where you need instant gratification. If you look at the Instagram, all kinds of social media, it's a fix, an instant fix. But there is always backends in all apps, they all big machines in the backroom, doing all the processing for you. But it is challenging because people are getting used to having information at their fingertips, they can pretty much do everything with the phone today. It's no difference. I'm old school that way. I mean, I use phones, to pretty much everything. But some certain tasks, I want the computer, I just need to get into that headspace and just sit and do my thing on the computer. And then I can continue on my phone. I mean, the younger generation, they don't have that problem or that hinder. It's a natural part of their life, they have no luggage when it comes to well, we couldn't do that. Because there was no internet or anything. They don't have that limitation. Yes, it's there. They expect everything to just work instantly. To get answers instantly, or whatever they need or tasks that need to do. It's fascinating to see young people today using their phones or devices because they're using it in such a different way than you and me are doing because it's just fascinating to see how humans evolve. If you say, get used to technology in a very easy way, it's very easy to get used to technology because it solves so many problems for us. But we don't have to move that much. Because we just need to lift our hand and the problem is solved. Instead of back in the day, you had to come up and do make a phone call. Tim 12:47Go to the library, check the encyclopedia. Dan 12:53Yeah, exactly. And that transpires into how companies around today. I mean, there is a difference between old companies and new companies. Old companies, so usually, they have that baggage, so they live throughout generations, while new companies, startups, they start from a fresh start. They start how people are using their devices today and how people are interacting the day. That's different. Tim 13:19For sure. When I'm working with startups, and they're young leadership teams, they definitely have more of the millennial bend to them. I remember doing generational work 20 years ago, where we thought the Gen Y were right in behind Gen X was going to eventually wake up and figure out that, you know, there's the real world and then there's the digital world, there's the online world that they would eventually get mortgages and kids and they would become like us. And it was a massive miscalculation. Because they don't think that way. They still don't think that way. In fact, if anything, Gen X Nexus, they've moved towards the Gen Y and even the millennial ways of thinking. And when we see younger workers and the younger generations and their relationship with technology, you and I were raised where technology was separate from us, we had to sit down and engage with it. Although, I don't think this is always true, because my phone is pretty sewn to my hand at this point. It's slowly meshing but for young people, their phone is an integrated part of their personality. It's an integrated part of the body almost, it's a sensory organ in many ways. It's a logic center and a decision center of the brain in many ways, to the point where they're lost without it and it sounds Orwellian. But at the same time, they're finding a healthy relationship with it where we see threat. My son just produced an album. And he did it after he had had a knee injury, and it kept him from dance. And he's relentlessly creative. So, he sat down, and within an hour, he said, Dad, I can't take this sitting around, I'm nervous. I said, Well, what's at the root of it, it was creativity. So, work on your music, he sat down and wrote an album, he just, it just went up on Apple this week and Spotify. And it's going viral, which is really interesting. He did the whole thing from an iPad. You know, I played in lots of bands, we rented studio space, we worked hard and practiced our songs. He's produced an album, and it's good. It's not garbage. It's like it's a first shot. But there's a couple of songs on there that are real bangers, and they're worth it. So when I wanted to support him, I said, Well, what do we need? You know, do we need to get you an interface? And do we need to get you a computer setup? And do we need to get you all of these things, and he's like, Oh, I wouldn't mind a larger surface. But other than that, I'm good. I want it to stay tactile, I want it to stay in this environment that I understand. And he doesn't want the technology to interfere with his creative process at all. He just wants to be able to transmit his vision into something quickly. He's got a quick and dirty style anyway. But get it in there and create and paint on this thing without having to worry about the learning or worry about, you know what I mean? So, he's just working in this intuition, intuitive space. And it's really interesting. And I don't know if I would have been the same way. I don't know. Dan 16:46I don't know. It's like cutting out the middle hand, which is technology. And they go directly to being creative and stuff because they have the right tool for it. The hardware and the software is there today to be able to do these things, which releases people from dealing with the technology because that's always been taught. And it's complex. And it takes time to learn. And, as you said, interface, and cables, and blah, blah, blah, keyboards and all that is all there. And as he rightfully stated, It needs more screen mistakes, to do more things.  Tim 17:23Well, at one point, he's got this creative vision and this intense sense of control on the outcome. But the flip side, it's like he doesn't need physical or tactile control, he doesn't need, in fact he's very flexible. If something's not working, he just turns on a dime. And so my next question for you is around, in your work, and when you see organizations or leaders with their relationship with technology, what is the sense of control that you see various people crave or try to exert? And does that vary depending on their relationship with their technology? Or perhaps their generation? What's the need for control? And how does that show up? Dan 18:09Oh, that can show up in so many different ways. But mostly is based on age, it tells this like that older generations are bound to a certain technology. And they know that technology very well. And they don't want to move away from it, or they feel comfortable in doing what they do in their bubble, if you like. That's the control need, because they need to be able to control what they're doing. That's how they are brought up. They, that's what the school taught them. And that's how early work life taught them how to be. And so it's hard to break out and think outside the box that you are in that compartment. But there are obviously, people that managed to balance between both worlds. Those are the gems, those are the ones you need to take care of, in an organization. The younger generation that has no problem whatsoever to try, new things or not scared of failing, or because it's part of the process. Because if you find something that doesn't work, then you throw it out and try something else that does work. Tim 19:24Right, whether it's their attention span or just the speed at which these things happen. They don't live in failure very long. They don't know. They don't let it attach to them. They don't– Dan 19:35I don't think they see failure as a failure. They see failure as a way of learning and move forward. Tim 19:46Problem solve. Well, I'm going to start squeezing your brain for some precise thoughts here as you're saying that the younger generation doesn't have an issue with change or with control as much. Immediately the words that jumped to my part yeah, except for they've got an issue with the older generation sometimes and vice versa. So, when you see these gems, the ones that are able to either older or younger, bridge this gap, what is the skill or mindset that an older leader needs to have present in order to, that you have witnessed, what were what would be some of those attributes that allow them to function well, in this new, more flexible world? Dan 20:27I think you need to be open-minded in that sense that you need to allow people to do their work at their best ability, as they know themselves can do it the best. It's very hard for someone to tell someone, you need to do it in this certain way. We need it to be done in those certain terms of jobs. That doesn't work anymore. While it does work but it's starting to change. Yeah, I would open mind. It's probably the biggest skill you need. Tim 21:06So, to clarify a little bit. Would you say that that would be like being open-minded about how it gets done? You know, years ago, when we were doing process focus versus task focus, we would encourage the leaders to say be outcome-focused, like, what is the outcome you're looking for, the quality you're looking for? That should come first before we talk about how we're going to get there. Strategy and outcome before structure and process, right? So, for the older generation to be open-minded and a little less offended by new ideas of how to do things, maybe. Dan 21:44Yeah, that's the trick.  Tim 21:47It is. Well, it's even with parents, right? What bothers us with children, and new ideas, new ways of doing things is it offends our sense of order in the world. And we take it as an offence because that's not the way things work. Who says you've got a monopoly on the way things work? Right?  Dan 22:09Yeah, exactly. When you build systems, just going back to systems, when you build systems back in the day, you started to build a system. And you said, Okay, this system is going to do X, Y, Zed. And then even if the requirements were changing over the process of, I don't know, five years it took to build the system. That was kind of the standard back then. And even if the requirements changes, they were so complex that they couldn't change it. So, when they eventually was released, it still was not exactly what they wanted anyway, so it was a way of time. But now you can change during the project. And it's very common that you do, you start up, okay, we're going to reach this goal. But halfway through, no we're going to change and we're going to pivot to that. You can do that now, with people and technology, which is great, very rewarding to work in projects like that.  Tim 23:08Do you think that modularization in a sense, is part of that where it's, if the outcome changes mid-project, it's much more granular like we can talk about not having to change this big end to end, interdependent system that we can't remove part Q without, you know, screwing up part P, and things can just be swapped out a lot easier? One solution for another? It almost feels like without even realizing it. Everything now is almost an app approach. And as you're talking here, I'm thinking about now. And the next question I was gonna ask you is, what mindset does the younger leader, the more modern thinker need to keep in mind in order to play nice and get the best out of the older leader? Or the older colleague, or worker? Dan 24:03Yeah, that's a good one as well. That's very person-dependent. Because as we talked about earlier, it's can be a little bit friction between the generations. I mean, in the same way, the younger leaders is that a little bit of understanding. Also, the older people have a lot of experience, a lot of experience and they know what to do and what not to do. Take advantage of that. They're also trying to wean them into a new way of thinking. Don't surprise them with it, but just ease them into it. From my experience, it works quite well. Tim 24:51Yeah, I think if we can, when you say know what to do and what not to do, older workers and more experienced workers, thought leaders, managers, whatnot, they have a deeper understanding of the potential risks and threats that are out there, you know, threats that we need to mitigate opportunities that we need to exploit. If we can decouple the how, from all of this, that seems to be, again, where people are getting stuck is in that control space, that how are you going to go do that, within reason, I mean, there still has to be order. So, to bring us up to speed here, we've got, we're in this period of great robust change, we've got rules that have been altered, we have a new way of working, we have a new way of thinking, we have a new relationship with technology. And as such, we've got new risks that come up, when we try to exert too much control, or we're too resistant to change, we talked about the younger generation being not as scared of failing, not having the same relationship with failure, and seeing it as much more of a stepping stone or something that was temporary versus defining. Although, in my experience, I see sometimes that is a source of conflict. To what degree is your shame sticking, some leaders are very unnerved when a person doesn't feel deep and lasting shame or guilt. And it's not a real positive thing. So, and we talked about the mindset that needs to go into this. How harmful and how costly can a lack of this confidence and ability to connect in an organization ve when you're trying to guide somebody through rapid change or needed change? Dan 26:58It's sometimes it's problematic because a big organization is just not one person is many departments and usually when you are running a project, you need to speak to a lot of departments, some departments are more pro-change, there's some not and it can be quite harmful for the company as a whole when very simple thing can't be solved because of people are not playing ball basically. That is a tricky situation to end up being. I've been in that kind of situation many times. And it takes a lot of communication, a lot of meetings and explanations, but eventually, you kind of reach a compromise. It's all about compromises, really. Tim 28:00When we see that behaviour of having to have meetings in order for people to get comfortable. And I do a lot of work in higher Ed and they refer to the collegial mindset and these kinds of things. It's working out the risks and making sure that everybody's heard and that degree of comfort. And I remember, you had said something in a previous conversation to me that really stuck. In my world, a phrase that I use is all change means loss, right? Change means losing something, saying goodbye to something, something dying. And you had said that, that loss at times can be the the feeling of expertise. And so if I'm thinking about departments or silos in an organization where one doesn't want to change and the other is ready, there's usually something in that silo that they're losing control of, or they're losing expertise over. Can you talk a little bit about that, about the idea of our relationship with our own expertise and how we can be flexible with that? Dan 29:14Yeah. You have to have an open mindset because things are gonna change whether you like it or not like it, you can't control it, you can't do anything about it. So, the best thing you can do is to embrace change. It is daunting, and it's scary to do that because you let go of something and you let go of some control. But on the other hand, you can gain control from something else instead. That's how I see closes. That's how I tried to be myself. I mean, I can't stick to old things that doesn't work. It doesn't make me happy and I can't do my job properly. So, I need to adjust and to learn new things, new processes, new techniques or whatnot. In order to move forward, I think you have to have that mindset. And also, it's good for you. Because if you are in your comfort zone, nothing fun or exciting is going to happen, every day is going to look the same. In order to have some kind of excitement in your life, or in your workplace, or anywhere, you need to step out of that comfort zone, because the amazing things happen outside. But it's a scary place, but it's very rewarding if you're there. Tim 30:42Yeah, there's, I remember years ago, that whole idea of letting go. And at the same time, I remember when I decided to really get real about what I can control and what I can control. That was it's a liberating thing. But I would ask you to take us back into the archives here, Dan, as you were developing, 40 years of experience, there would have been, I would imagine, there would have been a time where at least you realized this happened. Or maybe it was a specific event, where this idea of gaining control by giving up control so that you could find that authenticity, so that you could struggle less with trying to move things that you couldn't, can you take us back into your history and give us a bit of an anecdote of when that happened to a younger Dan. Dan 31:36A younger Dan. Well, it happens all the time, daily with me. I think I was working at a big bank in Sweden. I was stuck in between mainframes, the old water-cooled mainframes and the new pieces that just came out from IBM. So, I remember transitioning into doing more work with PC because I thought that's more, it seems to solve problems easier than to have to deal with the mainframe. So, that was, I think that was the big work-related shift of losing control that I can remember. Yeah, I was right. Tim 32:18And just being really comfortable with what you didn't learn in school, in a way, right? Dan 32:22Yeah, exactly. That's the same thing because you learn one thing in school and when you graduate, it's old ready? Tim 32:31Yeah. So, fixing one's expertise to a certain how of doing things might be, and I'm reflecting on my own space. Now, I mean, my success is because I bring a deep toolbox and lots of experience, but I never get married to the how we're going to do something. This is a little different in the consulting space. But you know, like, just in the last two years, I would meet with clients, I can put together a pretty good agenda. You know, I know how to structure an agenda. I used to teach, you know, meeting skills. And well, there's a reason why we have a very structured rigid agenda. So, I'm very good at this. And then I realized that when I'm working with these executive teams in these complex issues, or I'm working with a team that's under crisis, or are a leader that I need to be listening to, if I start with my agenda, I'm in a way impeded, and I'm done. Because until I get in the room, and I do a lot of prework, but until I get into the room, I don't know exactly what's going to happen. So, I have to be able to spin on a dime. And so, man, I didn't think I was gonna go here. But I literally had conversations with clients where I was like, they would be like, where's the agenda, and I'm like, I don't use an agenda anymore. I have a series of outcomes that we are going to strive for, and that I'm going to promise. But if I told you, I knew what minute of the two days, we're going to be working on a certain thing, and that we're definitely going to use that tool. And that's the thing we're going to be using. I would be lying to you. And I mean, because I have too often started down the road and within the first 10 minutes, the agenda is out the window, then what do you do? And so I abandoned that sense of control early on. That relationship with how we define our expertise then around being enough and trusting ourselves that we're going to be able to, you know, forward into the unknown. It's something that the older generation has to redefine in many ways and the younger generation seems to be doing literally out of hand, right? Just– Dan 34:50Yeah, no real different ways to approach things in life. I mean, for me as a consultant, I have the experience. I've been working for a long time in both banks, finances and being in the travel industry, all that knowledge that I have accumulated throughout the years with travel, for example, that's the business learning, that I know their business inside and out. And I can apply that to whatever technology there is. That is we're going to use to solve a problem today. So, that never goes away. I still have that knowledge with me. But I can adapt that into whatever technology is being used. That's keeping the best of both worlds. That's why it's so important for the younger people to tap into that knowledge in the older people. Tim 35:46Well, that's why we as Gen X can say, with a great deal of or great lack of humility, we're the best generation there's ever going to be. Yeah, because we're on. I don't think that's going to hold true. But anyway, I think it's interesting, though, and especially when we turn this towards the needs of many of my listeners, which are going to be struggles around hiring and retention, struggles around that we have a different level of willing capacity or discretionary performance that showing up in the workplace right now. And also, we've always talked about for years now, we've talked about entitlement and things like this with younger workers. But this is all fitting together for me in the sense that the older workers right now, the older generation in the professional areas, was the importance of the resume and all of the experience that they're bringing into it. And of course, that is practically important. I'm not disputing that. But we have younger workers that come in, and they don't think they're being in many cases, they don't put the same weight into their experience. They feel you're hiring them, they feel you're hiring their potential, they feel you're hiring, they're whether you think of it as confidence, or whatever it is, but you're hiring them or hiring the person, not the resume. And so there's a great deal of confusion when you sort of say, well, you need to cut your teeth or a statement like that, what you need to do, you know, you need to pay your dues and spend your time. And I wouldn't say that it's outside their thinking, they know what it means and it's not a problem with them. It's that the answer is somewhere in between. Because what we want them to learn today, depending on the role, could potentially be obsolete tomorrow. And so we need that speed of learning. We need that ability to be nimble, and to be responsive. And actually, here's maybe not the most politically correct way to think about younger employees. But what would happen, and this is me musing now, what would happen if we treated the employee more like the app we need to put on our phone and say, or even we use that language with them? Your role is like an app that we need to install, and we need it to do certain things. Perhaps we could get a different level of independent work slash relationship with the work. I never thought I'd go down that path, but it's definitely, do they think of themselves in the app, right?  Dan 38:37Yeah, no, I mean, as a consultant, you are the hired short-term.Tim 38:44Oh, yeah, Ronald Gun. Dan 38:38So, you're an app, unless you're doing a very good job and stay wherever the company happens, yeah, you are an app, basically, because the employee needs help with a certain task, bringing that expertise and do the thing and teach the other employees and then leave. Tim 39:07Okay, so this now we're at a really interesting point, because you and I have the bias in this room right now that we're both in a sense, you know, keep what you kill, run and gun consultants in the sense that, we go in and we help people with no long term expectations to be holding them hostage, or around for a long time, we're there to fix problems. And hopefully, they call us back when they've got the next problem. Right? But we make our name based on our results and on the relationships we keep. This is a small portion of the population that is able to function in this way. I would say we have sort of a Buddhist philosophy in employment, Buddhists is the wrong way to go. But it's temporary. It's a Mandela, right? We know it's going to change. It's meant to be swept away. My experience with the working layer in professionals, the bulk of the population does not feel really comfortable with that level of open risk. Right? Yeah, absolutely. How does that stability translate for the older and the younger generations? And I think it's really, it's a question that's worth asking. And I think I'm inspired by you to go and ask it. Dan 40:25Yeah, no, as I said before, we're older, well for us. The good CV meant everything that was the most important that was the paper that you meant something, I've done this, I can use this paper to get a job or that I mattered that I accomplished things. For the younger generation doesn't matter. Because they just want to work with fun things and get paid. And also we were bound to stay with the same employee for years. Because you did that, you didn't job hope in any shape or form, because that was looked down on. Someone changed job within two years that, oo what's wrong with that person? And now it's the opposite. Why have you worked with that employee for 10 years, you're weird.  Tim 41:27That's true, it went through a period of the late '90s-2000s, into the 2010s. Well into now, where, you know, people were highly, highly transient when it went into work. And that was the way to get a promotion, you went out and you hunted a promotion through changing your jobs, if you're a professional. You're going to climb through jobs switch. What's interesting, and I think this is really cutting edge now is that for businesses that find that feeling of comfort, and able to keep the employees working on fun things and keep them challenged, and let them suddenly develop that backlog of skills and familiarity, and have a real social experience, there is a greater desire now than I've seen in my 25 years of working in this space. I believe the needle is starting to switch back over to I want to find a long-term, perhaps role for life. I want it to be part of me. And I don't want it to be something that I need to, I know it's going to develop, but I want it to always be there and I want it to be, it's kind of like your contract with your phone company, as long as it's working. And you get a new phone, a new office every once in a while, you get new apps, new roles and challenges every once in a while. I'm good. Yeah, I can focus on other stuff, bigger questions, things that matter. There's different questions. I mean, younger generation workers that I see, that I'm coaching, they care as much about what social initiatives and social values, the CEO demonstrates, or the company is willing to challenge as they do what their mission is, in the world. This isn't true for everybody. But it's true for a lot of people they are looking deeper at, they don't want to associate with a business that treats them as disposable. There's a real attraction to that, that place of being and that they can say it with pride, and that they don't have to worry that the reputation of the business is going to rub off on them if it's stink, right? They don't want to be associated with that. I see much healthier relationships with this and Europe and Canada, and parts of Southeast Asia and Australasia than I do in the States. In the States, I see we're going through a dehumanization in some ways, right? Dan 44:08It's brutal. Tim 44:10It is, it's absolutely brutal. Dan 44:15It is brutal. Just a short run, but I've seen also is that the older generation tends to stick around longer obviously. Because it's a sense of security for the younger generations to hop around a little bit more. But there's a risk to that because all the companies who lose intellectual value because their brains are disappearing, so they need to find a way to keep the knowledge in the company, but at the same time provide all the flexibility, all the good stuff.  Tim 45:00Yeah, intellectual capital has to be put on the balance sheet. Reputational capital needs to be put on the ballot.  Dan 45:10Yeah, yeah. When we, I mean, older generation, we are more important than your free time. And now that change sort of your free time is more important than your work. So, it's all those aspects as well. Tim 45:26In training one group of executives I was working with a couple of months ago, I was talking to them about learned helplessness. And that your employees when you hire them all in many ways, you're never more optimistic about what they can provide, because guess what you've only known them for practically three hours through the interview process, and you've seen their resume, and you've got all sorts of imaginings about what they're going to be capable of. And then the real world hits, and they've got good things, and they've got bad things. And sometimes you're more impressed than disappointed, sometimes you're disappointed than impressed. You begin to judge and classify what this person is capable of, in the course of real work. And if it's not managed properly, you can begin to really instill a great deal of, again, shame, guilt, whatever you want to call it, you can start to let the new employee know when you're disappointed when they've failed. And if you do this improperly, and they get confused about what they're actually still in control of, they can stop trying, because they don't know what's going to make you happy, or they don't know what's going to have what's considered winning anymore. And so they get paralyzed because there's no winning, they don't know what the rules of the game are. It was never explained properly, or we didn't connect on it. What is really interesting when we think about the older generation is how much we actually relied on for lack of a better term. And I'm sure I'm going to be raked for saying this. But how much we relied on learned helplessness. We were helpless to affect whether or not we needed to be in the office working. We were helpless to alter sort of the the level of negotiation and how we would go about applying for a job. We were helpless to initiate a human rights complaint or something like that if something happened. I mean, I wasn't prone to it. But man, I worked in some industries, specifically in kitchens, where they still wouldn't pass muster when it comes to how people are supposed to be treated. I mean, it's just way too aggressive. Right? So, helping these new dynamic multigenerational workplaces, dealing with this pace of change and all the new opportunities it brings, as well as the expertise and all the lessons we've learned and all the organizational knowledge that we've captured. Man, I love the work I do. It is so complex, which again is why I love talking to a guy like you because complexity is your is your stock and trade. Right? Dan 48:07Yeah, no, I love it. Just the fact that it's changing so much all the time, and you have to adapt to people and you have to adapt to technology and systems. Talk to people to bring everything together. That's what's kept me going, daily basically.  Tim 48:26Let me ask you a question. Now I'm gonna want to break this down to some practical advice for leaders. I'm gonna take a risk here, we may have to cut it out. If you think about a large system that you're installing, or augmenting for a client, and they can be end-to-end? Am I?  Dan 48:45Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it can be.  Tim 48:50In order for that system to be designed for improvement, what are three-four attributes that you need to keep in mind when you're designing that IT landscape? What are some design characteristics that allows it to be nimble and change? Dan 49:09Well, first of all, you need to build a modularization, modularize. Oh, that's a hard word to say. Tim 49:15Modularization. Yeah, modular, it's got to be modular. Dan 49:20And also the, it's very important how you design your system. You basically have very small parts of your system that can connect together to make a feature, for example. So, if you have an order system, you have one little part that deals with the client or the customer, you have one little part in that that deals with the history of the orders and one little part that deals with what happens when the customer do an order so you have to break it down in very small bits. Which makes changes much easier. It is not gonna be super simple anyway, but it's going to be much easier to deal with, you don't have to change your whole system, you have to change parts. Tim 50:10So, the idea that you can change part of it, and that is modular from design, and that you understand what the different bits are for and what they do. And that they are specialized in a sense. Leep those three things is as paramount, everything will be a little bit easier, much easier. In fact, we do the wrong thing, it becomes static, that becomes the brick of a mainframe that we have to, you know, tear right down to its nuts, if we're going to change anything. Dan 50:41Well, there are huge breaks in maps as well. So, it's hard to do.  Tim 50:47All right. Now, here's where my instinct is leading to me, leading me to, if we translate that thinking into how a person approaches their leadership style, then maybe the running of their team, let's just start with the knowledge of self, the fluency of self. If I take a modular approach, to my sense of self, if I think of myself as not one big thing, but a bunch of little things, how would that affect my ability to change and adapt? Dan 51:25I think you need to be flexible as a person, and you need to learn how to accept new things, and you need to be able to process new things and see if this is a good thing, or if it's gonna hinder me, or if it's gonna reward me, or if it's gonna make my life easier. So, you need to change that. Also, when you're working with people, you have to delegate, that's the most important thing, when you work as a leader. Because you don't know everything, there is always people that know things much better than you and use them. Because then you can change, basically, because you have people working for you that know things very well. Tim 52:19I think I get where you're going here. And when I think of that modular aspect, it parallels to changing a part of what you're doing, or one of your thoughts or one of the ways you conceptualize things, or even that what you were an expert now is now obsolete, and you have to lean on other things, that modular approach means that we can protect, well not protect but it doesn't alter our sense of self. It doesn't threaten the whole, it's just a part. It's just a thing, right? And then when you said about delegating, and I think about that, the bits that all do different things. One of the first moves that I make with teams or with leaders or executives working on their career, is that they understand all the different roles in which they show up in, and that there's a certain function they have in this group that they don't have in this group. So, how are you entering the meeting? Do you know what your your role is? When this employee comes to you, do you know what they're asking you to be? Are they asking you to be the critic of their work? Or do they need somebody that helps you sort out a confidence issue? What role are you filling? What bit are you accessing right now? So, Dan, I'd like to ask you, if you were to focus on some of the most actionable advice that you would offer to leaders, what would be the things that you would say that have to be at the forefront of their mind? Dan 53:58I think the most important thing is to be transparent. Be able to communicate and to listen, because you're dealing with people, and there is not one person that it's the same as the other one. Everybody has different needs. Everybody wants different things. Everyone has different personal lives, which affects their work life. So, you need to be able to communicate. I think a big thing is to be transparent and to listen. Tim 54:28And if we fail to do that, we're treating that person like they are just a mindless cog. And they'll be disappointed.   Dan 54:38Yeah, because they're human beings. A human being is happy then they will produce. Tim 54:47Should we have hope for how technology is changing and what it's going to allow us to become as a species, as a planet? Dan 55:00Hmm, philosophical. The software, I think people–Tim 55:01Guilty, guilty. Dan 55:03I think people will evolve together with technology, we are kind of staring our own destiny in that sense, because we are making technology do things for us as a human species. We are lazy by nature, we have these machines that do things for us. So yeah, of course, we're going to move towards that. We are always in a transition state, there is no finite state, this is nothing more it's going to happen, it's always going to happen. We always going to have these generational clashes like we have with the younger, they will have kids and they will suffer the same thing. When they get older, their kids will evolve in things where in ways that we can't even imagine. So, I think there's a constant evolution. Tim 56:00Well, Dan, you've really opened my eyes to a number of things here. And I love that we're at the place we're at. We talked, some of the big things that I'm going to take away from this is that idea of being able to stay in that state of creativity, and that letting go and knowing that things are shifting constantly. And that they're not just shifting for us, but they're shifting for everyone. And that when we approach others to understand, you know, be transparent, perhaps vulnerable, listen, and be empathetic. And really communicate clearly to try to cut out as much of the error as possible. Because everybody's in this change with us. And they're all changing in their own ways. And we need to focus on giving up that sense of control over the how necessarily, unless we've got things to add, so that we can embrace who we are and focus on our own happiness, and then the realization that everybody else deserves the same thing. They deserve to find themselves and be happy in that. Dan 57:25Absolutely. Yeah. Tim 57:25So, in that sense, I mean, technology can really open up, perhaps a greater level of humanity. Because it'll take us farther away from this industrialized kind of mindset.  Dan 57:25Yeah, I hope so. We'll see.  Tim 57:30All right. Well, here, let's go through some of the final thoughts here. If a person wants to engage with you, and consider their own technological journey, or just reach out, where's the best place for them to link up with you? Dan 57:47That would be email or LinkedIn. Tim 57:51Okay. So, we'll put both of your contact spots there. If I was to ask you, maybe it's the boat, maybe it's something else. But what do you have going on perhaps professionally, or in your life that you're really excited about? And that you would want people to be aware of that you're, you know, the circles that you're moving in professionally, or the efforts that you're expending? What are some things that you're excited about?  Dan 58:19Oh, what am I excited about? I'm working on a big system right now. We are not gonna transition a very old system. That is all we're talking ourself into new technology new. I can't say what the client is, because it's, but that's gonna be really exciting to be part of and work with. That's a huge job. Tim 58:46And helping people know that it's possible. Dan 58:50Yeah and also, it's a great realization of the client that they need to do it. They can't just bound virtues their old system. Tim 59:01You know, it's funny, because when we think about organizational change, especially cultural change, people have to come to terms with that systems and processes and policies that were designed under certain mindsets, actually solidify and calcify that behavior in the organization. And sometimes if you're going to go through this real meaningful change, you got to admit that stuff. Dan 59:31Yeah, yeah you have to. Could be a time when people are at ready, when the companies are ready to do it then we can do it. You can't force a change like this. That's just how it is. Tim 59:42We don't want to force it. But oh, wow, I imagine that it's when they're ready, it's a heck of a lot easier than if you're pushing rope. What is one wish that you want every listener to leave this conversation with? What do you hope for everybody that's listening? Dan 59:59I wish people, all people in general to be a little bit more transparent and listen more to people around you. Because people are amazing. And you can learn a lot from them. Tim 1:00:14Yeah, that's great. Last order of business. Dan 1:00:15Last order of business.Dan 1:00:17Yeah, last order of business for the next guest on Sweet on Leadership. Put them on the hot seat. What's a question you would want them to answer to get us going to break the ice that you are really curious about? Dan 1:00:35What you know, now, would you change anything when you graduated school? If you could turn back time? Tim 1:00:43If you could turn back time, what would you say to your younger self? Change when you graduated school? Okay. All right. Dan Löfquist, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. I'm so glad I got to spend this time with you and learn a little bit more about you and connect on this level. And I'm really happy. I'm really happy that I can bring this expertise all the way from the sticks in Sweden, to everybody that's going to be listening around the world. So thank you so much. Dan 1:01:18My pleasure. My pleasure, Tim. Tim 1:01:20Take good care and enjoy that boat. Dan 1:01:23I will, I will. Tim 1:01:30Thank you so much for listening to Sweet on Leadership. If you found today's podcast valuable, consider visiting our website and signing up for the companion newsletter. You can find the link in the show notes. If like us, you think it's important to bring new ideas and skills into the practice of leadership. Please give us a positive rating and review on Apple Podcasts. This helps us spread the word to other committed leaders. And you can spread the word too by sharing this with your friends, teams and colleagues. Thanks again for listening. And be sure to tune in in two weeks time for another episode of Sweet on Leadership. In the meantime, I'm your host, Tim Sweet, encouraging you to keep on leading.

In Office Hours Episode 6, SmartLogic Developers Anna Dorigo and Bilal Hankins join Elixir Wizards Sundi and Dan to discuss their experiences maintaining a decade-old Ruby on Rails codebase. They delve into the critical importance of deeply understanding the codebase, keeping dependencies current, and adapting to the original application's evolving priorities and design choices. The conversation spans a range of topics, including accessibility, testing, monitoring, and the challenges of deploying database migrations in production environments. The guests share effective strategies for sustaining and enhancing older codebases, such as employing automated tools, performing code audits, and adhering to clean coding principles. Key topics discussed in this episode: Grasping the legacy codebase and its historical context Overcoming accessibility issues in older applications Safe dependency management and upgrades The effects of application scaling on database performance The critical role of comprehensive test suites in legacy systems Using tools like Sentry for error tracking and performance monitoring The benefits of automated security and dependency scans Juggling client needs with budget constraints Local simulation techniques for large datasets The value of iterative code reviews and maintaining clean code Utilizing git history for contextual understanding Onboarding strategies for legacy projects Removing obsolete code and avoiding "magic numbers" Importance of descriptive naming for better code clarity Leveraging a rich repository of example code for learning and reference Proactive code audits to anticipate issues Managing pull request sizes for smoother reviews Communicating effectively about upgrades and potential impacts Strategies for handling large databases efficiently Ensuring thorough test coverage Keeping open lines of communication with clients regarding ongoing maintenance Links mentioned: COBOL programming language https://developer.ibm.com/languages/cobol/ Ruby on Rails https://rubyonrails.org/ ARIA Rules (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) https://www.w3.org/TR/using-aria/ Shawn Vo on Elixir as a Competitive Advantage https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s5e5-vo/ Bundler Audit Ruby Gem https://rubygems.org/gems/bundler-audit/ Sentry application monitoring and error tracking software  https://sentry.io/ Dependabot Github automated dependency updates Mix hex.audit https://hexdocs.pm/hex/Mx.Tasks.Hex.Audit.html Git Blame https://git-scm.com/docs/git-blame Cow hoof trimming videos - The Hoof GP on YouTube (TW graphic imagery) Special Guests: Anna Dorigo and Bilal Hankins.

In today's episode, Elixir Wizards Owen and Dan delve into the complexities of building advanced reporting features within software applications. They share personal insights and challenges encountered while developing reporting solutions for user-generated data, leveraging both Elixir/Phoenix and Ruby on Rails. The discussion zeroes in on crucial data modeling and architectural decisions that enhance reporting efficiency and flexibility. Owen and Dan explore tactics like materialized views, event sourcing, and database triggers to optimize data handling while being mindful of UX elements like progress indicators and background job management. They share insights on leveraging the Elixir/Beam ecosystem's strengths—like concurrency and streamlined deployment—to tackle common reporting, caching, and integration challenges. The episode highlights the impact of reporting features across all aspects of a software application's design and architecture. Key topics discussed in this episode: Reporting on assessment data, survey results, and user metrics Differences between reporting and performance/error monitoring Implementing reporting in Elixir/Phoenix vs. Ruby on Rails Displaying reports in web, printable, PDF, SVG, and CSV formats Challenges of generating PDFs for large data sets Streaming CSV data directly to the client Handling long-running report generation tasks Providing progress indicators and user notifications Strategies for canceling or abandoning incomplete reports Tradeoffs of pre-calculating report data vs. real-time generation Materializing views and denormalizing data for reporting Exploring event sourcing patterns for reporting needs Using database triggers and stored procedures for reporting Balancing data structure optimization for reports vs. day-to-day usage Caching report data for faster retrieval and rendering Charting and visualization integration in reporting systems Links mentioned: Prometheus monitoring system & time series database https://prometheus.io/ Thinking Elixir "FLAME with Chris McCord" https://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/181 Phoenix LiveView Uploads https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/fileuploads.html https://hexdocs.pm/phoenixlive_view/Phoenix.LiveView.UploadWriter.html Postgrex PostgreSQL driver for Elixir https://hexdocs.pm/postgrex/Postgrex.html Ecto https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.html Heroku cloud application platform  https://www.heroku.com/ Elixir Wizards S9E12 Marcelo Dominguez on Command and Query Responsibility Segregation https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s9-e12-marcelo-dominguez-cqrs/ Commanded Elixir CQRS/ES applications https://github.com/commanded/commanded Tailwind CSS Framework https://github.com/tailwindlabs Memcached https://memcached.org/ Redis https://redis.io/ Oban https://hexdocs.pm/oban/Oban.html ETS https://hexdocs.pm/ets/ETS.html Capistrano remote server automation and deployment tool https://capistranorb.com/

Episode #294 // “If you can create a culture that values momentum, you will almost always outperform teams that don't!” I often talk about the need for speed. As a leader, placing a premium on forward progress is one of the most reliable tools you have to achieve execution excellence in your team. If you can create a culture that values momentum, you will almost always outperform teams that don't. Teams that don't value speed just seem to stagnate. I've seen lots of them over the years, and whenever that level of stagnation is present, it's generally accompanied by other undesirable characteristics, like:A high level of conservatismA perfectionistic cultureLow productivityLack of challenge between team membersKnowledge hoardingLack of initiative and innovationDecision-making by consensusOver-indexing on process, and under-indexing on results That's why I was interested to read an article a little while back in the Wall Street Journal, which was titled, Why Bosses Should Tell Employees to Slow Down More Often.It led me to wonder if there's a case for deliberately slowing the tempo of the team, and under what circumstances that might make sense?In this episode, I share some of my experiences on the virtues of speed, momentum, and forward progress. I take a good look at the findings of the WSJ article. And I offer my suggestions for the areas where I think speed is essential, and where it might be better to tell your team to back off and cool their jets. Source Material:Wall Street Journal article:Why Bosses Should Tell Employees to Slow Down More OftenThe Guardian article:Sacking, revolt, return: how crisis at OpenAI over Sam Altman unfoldedAsana article:What is Agile Methodology?London Business School study:The motivation of mission statements: How regulatory mode influences workplace discriminationNo Bullsh!t Leadership podcast:Ep.266: What the Best CEOs Do ————————You can connect with me at:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. Episode 239 is about how to achieve an Agile Mindset. Hosted by Nick Houlton and Question Master Charlotte Miller. Answering your questions are Bina Champaneria, Malini Jayaganesh, Farah HEBA, Cindy Hancock, Allan Kelly, and Mridul Tandon.

M.H. Lines is the visionary Co-Founder and CEO of Stack Moxie, a trailblazer in automating marketing operations with a keen focus on leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and reliability.   Go to www.thejasoncavnessexperience.com for the full episode and other episodes of The Jason Cavness Experience on your favorite platforms.   Sponsor    CavnessHR delivers HR companies with 49 or fewer people with our HR platform and by providing you access to your own HRBP. www.CavnessHR.com   M.H's Bio    M.H. Lines is the visionary Co-Founder and CEO of Stack Moxie, a trailblazer in automating marketing operations with a keen focus on leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and reliability. Under her leadership, Stack Moxie has emerged as a critical solution for enterprises navigating the complexities of AI integration in sales and marketing technologies. M.H.'s expertise in operational excellence was honed at Microsoft Office, where she led initiatives to build a Marketing Operations Center of Excellence.   This experience laid the groundwork for her innovative approach at Stack Moxie, marrying DevOps principles with advanced AI to solve the "last mile of AI" challenge in marketing operations. With an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington and a strong foundation in finance from Florida State University, M.H.'s strategic vision is not only about harnessing AI for operational efficiency but also about ensuring that Stack Moxie's solutions drive sustainable and scalable growth for its clients.   We talked about the following and other items    Self-care for entrepreneurs and business leaders. Gender pay gap and startup funding. Cold emailing and spam prevention.  Cybersecurity and data privacy for businesses. Privacy concerns and cold outreach in marketing. Company values and ego in a startup. Fundraising, leadership, and company growth. Startup culture and funding. Fundraising, product management, and diversity in tech.  Product management roles and responsibilities.  Product management, ego, and decision-making. Diversity in AI initiatives and perspectives. Startup struggles and high expectations. Fundraising, growth, and AI with a female founder. AI's impact on business and ethical considerations.  Seattle's tech startup scene and its comparisons to San Francisco.  Enterprise sales, personal relationships, and mentors. Mentorship, entrepreneurship, and personal growth.  Entrepreneurship, leadership, and fundraising. Startup growth, product development, and customer focus.  Entrepreneurship, leadership, and team management.  AI product development and market fit. Agile Methodology and Diversity in Tech. Gender bias in venture capital and fundraising. AI, remote work, and product development.  Tech leadership, scaling, and security. Leadership, sales, and customer success strategies. M.H's Social Media M.H.'s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhlines/  Company Website: https://www.stackmoxie.com/ M.H.'s X: https://twitter.com/mhhanley M.H.'s Advice My daddy always says nothing happens until someone sells. That's the whole point of the company. Nothing happens until someone sells something. So for all the sales leader out there who might have broken systems I want them to feel free to reach out to me. I'll help them make sure that they can sell something.

The Elixir Wizards Podcast is back with Season 12 Office Hours, where we talk with the internal SmartLogic team about the stages of the software development lifecycle. For the season premiere, "Testing 1, 2, 3," Joel Meador and Charles Suggs join us to discuss the nuances of software testing. In this episode, we discuss everything from testing philosophies to test driven development (TDD), integration, and end-user testing. Our guests share real-world experiences that highlight the benefits of thorough testing, challenges like test maintenance, and problem-solving for complex production environments. Key topics discussed in this episode: How to find a balance that's cost-effective and practical while testing Balancing test coverage and development speed The importance of clear test plans and goals So many tests: Unit testing, integration testing, acceptance testing, penetration testing, automated vs. manual testing Agile vs. Waterfall methodologies Writing readable and maintainable tests Testing edge cases and unexpected scenarios Testing as a form of documentation and communication Advice for developers looking to improve testing practices Continuous integration and deployment Links mentioned: https://smartlogic.io/ Watch this episode on YouTube! youtu.be/unx5AIvSdc Bob Martin “Clean Code” videos - “Uncle Bob”: http://cleancoder.com/ JUnit 5 Testing for Java and the JVM https://junit.org/junit5/ ExUnit Testing for Elixir https://hexdocs.pm/exunit/ExUnit.html Code-Level Testing of Smalltalk Applications https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~murphy/stworkshop/28-7.html Agile Manifesto https://agilemanifesto.org/ Old Man Yells at Cloud https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/019/304/old.jpg TDD: Test Driven Development https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/tdd/ Perl Programming Language https://www.perl.org/ Protractor Test Framework for Angular and AngularJS protractortest.org/#/ Waterfall Project Management https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/waterfall CodeSync Leveling up at Bleacher Report A cautionary tale - PETER HASTIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4SzZCwB8B4 Mix ecto.dump https://hexdocs.pm/ectosql/Mix.Tasks.Ecto.Dump.html Apache JMeter Load Testing in Java https://jmeter.apache.org/ Pentest Tools Collection - Penetration Testing https://github.com/arch3rPro/PentestTools The Road to 2 Million Websocket Connections in Phoenix https://www.phoenixframework.org/blog/the-road-to-2-million-websocket-connections Donate to Miami Indians of Indiana https://www.miamiindians.org/take-action Joel Meador on Tumblr https://joelmeador.tumblr.com/ Special Guests: Charles Suggs and Joel Meador.

APMG International presents our popular weekly panel Q&A show. Episode 227 is about what is an Agile leader. Hosted by Nick Houlton and Question Master Suchitra Jacob. Answering your questions are Farah HEBA, Bina Champaneria, Giles Lindsay, Suresh GP, and Etienne Shardlow.

For the most part, software engineers like the concept of Agile methodology; and, they have a sense that agile development practices are the best way of getting work done. But, that doesn't mean we know how to put these agile practices in place (especially at scale). Today, we talk to Brian Sadler (@brian_sadler) - a seasoned software developer and Agile coach - about what Agile is, what parts of it work the best, and where teams often go wrong in their interpretation of best practices.Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.Full show notes and transcript here.

In this episode we discuss creative agile.  A collaborative way to se a project from start to finish.I used agile methodology while working in the software world. Instead of building and testing an entire project, it's split into small iterations. The stakeholders, and the development teams take a collaborative approach, sharing ideas to build the system piece by piece. Setting time constraints on the project, but split it up into small intervals, so that we get the changes out the door to see how it works, rather than overanalyze every small detail.Creative projects work the same way, and I think artists can benefit by applying some tactical methodology to their creative process, in an effort to develop their ideas. …………………………………………https://www.balancedartist.comhttps://www.facebook.com/BalancedArtisthttps://www.instagram.com/rorygardinermusichttps://www.instagram.com/balancedartist     

Do you ever feel discouraged or overwhelmed by the amount of unfinished work in your law practice? Are you ever juggling so many balls that you're worried something is going to drop and you may not notice when it does?    Join me this week as I dive deeper into what the Agile Methodology is and how it can help you avoid the overwhelm that leads to problems and burnout. I share the four principles of Agile Methodology and how beneficial they can be for your practice and encourage you to slow down and think about what each of these principles means in the context of your firm or business.    For full show notes, transcript, and more information, visit: https://www.agileattorney.com/1

This week, Dan Neumann and Justin Thatil are joined by Misi Eyetsemitan. In this episode, they discuss the future of Agile, the advantages and challenges they see, and how far the Agile Methodology has come in the last two decades since its origins when it was created to achieve better and more efficient software development.   Listen to this episode and learn more about where Agile is going.   Key Takeaways The Agile Manifesto was not created rigidly but was open for future updates. Agile evolves powered by the problems that exist today. The execution of Agile will remain applicable in the future. In the future, Agilists will have to revisit the basics of Agile. Future Agilists will have to know why they have chosen Agile and why they are leveraging Agile. Agile is never the solution but brings organizations to the solutions they seek. Agile requires to have a transformative mindset. What are some challenges in the future of Agile? It will depend on the response of the Agilists. Agile is not a one-size-fits-all kind of methodology. The principles of Agile can be applied in various ways to tackle different problems. Measuring the value an Agile Team delivers is still a challenge. The key is to keep the focus on value. There are many ways to quantify value delivery. It is difficult for organizations and Teams to identify the metrics to measure what success looks like. The future of the diversity of Agile Teams: Agile Teams will continue to be more diverse. Diversity will also be needed to solve more complex issues.   Mentioned in this Episode: Learn more about Systemic Coaching Check the courses offered by the International Federation of Coaches   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!  

No Agile Methodology is Right for You I understand that there is no one-size-fits-all methodology for any team. Every team is unique, every project is unique, because people are unique. Therefore, it is much more important to understand the fundamental principles associated with agile work methodologies and project management rather than becoming an evangelist for Methodology A or B. A summary of these principles: The foundation of work in an agile methodology is for everyone to have a clear understanding of what work is expected to be completed at the end of a predefined period. This period is most commonly referred to as a sprint. It's also worth noting that work should be assigned to an individual with a specific responsibility. In other words, there is no “team work”; all work should be assigned to an individual. Another crucial principle is the ability to anticipate whether the team will be able to achieve what has been planned and to identify anything that can be done to make the process more efficient in order to reach the goal. Understanding that the role of the person responsible for coordinating the teams is to ensure that as many assigned activities as possible are completed by the end of the period, aiming for 100%, it is crucial for them to constantly monitor the team's progress in the current endeavor. This includes knowing how much of the work has been completed and what each team member is working on, allowing for real-time adjustments if necessary. With this in mind, there are four major pillars: What work needs to be executed and who should execute each part of that work. The deadline for completion. How much of the work has been completed up to that point. What each team member is working on at that moment. Task Fragmentation Measuring the progress of work is a critical necessity, and the smaller the margin of error in this process, the better. The best way to reduce estimation errors and generalize activities as much as possible is to break down each part of the work into something resembling a ticket or task with an equivalent effort. This leads to greater predictability. The Pitfall: There is a pitfall when it comes to generalizing activities. Many managers start making a massive effort to create activities with irrelevant actions, such as “Send an email…” or “Follow up with the department…”. When this happens, their management model is on the verge of failing. This occurs because the time allocated to manage the activities becomes greater than the actual execution of the activities. At this point, a good manager understands that working is more important than organizing work (which is correct), but often attributes the problem to the methodology, which is a mistake. How Tasks Should Be Divided: Each task should have its role within the whole. Think of each task as a piece of a puzzle; it needs to make sense within the project. A good way to determine if an activity has the minimum requirements to be considered a task is to ask, “When the project is completed, can this task be perceived in some way within the project?” This prevents activities of minimal relevance from being included in a list of items to be completed and providing an incorrect perception of a team's efficiency. 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/

At the risk of sounding like a brag, I have to say that by now there are few management and leadership concepts about which I don't have at least a cursory knowledge.  However, an exception is the Agile methodology of project management.  Agile began in the IT field, but the success it has helped create through the years has propelled it beyond IT and to fields and industries of all types, and today's guest, Mr. Daniel Gagnon, is here to educate us on Agile and how it can help you, your team, and your organization.  Mr. Daniel Gagnon is an organizational agility adviser who co-founded the Agile Leader Academy, a boutique training, coaching and consulting firm, to help leaders develop progressive team-building skills in dynamic and adaptive work environments—while avoiding the traps of naïve over-optimism or simplistic positivity. Agile Leader Academy works across a range of industries, including finance, energy, manufacturing, legal, and pharmaceutical.  Many business leaders are beginning to realize the benefits—both organizationally and financially—of creating an environment where all employees and stakeholders feel invested and validated enough to challenge the status quo and do what's needed to help their fellow workers, their company, and the larger community thrive. And Daniel wants to reach and help these leaders.LINK TO:  The Agile ManifestoTo help support our show, visit:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2017272/supportFor additional management resources and information, please visit us at:  https://managementworksmedia.com You can email us at:  managementworks@managementworksmedia.com Support the show

In this episode of Queens of Quality, the hosts interview Cheryl McCarthy, a seasoned professional in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. They discuss the complexities of quality and compliance, the new ICHU6R3 guidance, and the importance of explaining the rationale behind actions. The conversation also explores the evolution of quality control, the integration of Agile methodology, and the shift in quality culture towards collaboration. They conclude by discussing the role of auditors, the potential benefits of constructive feedback, and the learning opportunities presented by audits.Tune in!During this episode, you will learn about;0:00:32: Introduction of the first-ever guest, Cheryl McCarthy, her background, and her consulting group, Anchor.0:03:58: Discussion on the impact of decisions in quality assurance and risk-based approaches.0:08:12: Conversation about the proactive and preventative approach in quality management.0:15:33: Highlighting the importance of collaboration and communication in quality culture.0:18:39: Emphasizing the ultimate target in quality management, which is the patient.0:19:48: Discussion on the need for processes and controls in quality management.0:21:07: Conversation about the value of audits and opportunities for improvement.0:23:54: Acknowledgment of the importance of a collaborative and non-confrontational approach in quality management.0:27:10: Closing remarks and contact information for the podcast.            Love the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share! Let's Connect! Connect with Cheryl McCarthy;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylmccarthy/Connect with Queens of Quality;Website: https://metisconsultingservices.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/metis-consulting-services/Email: info@metisconsultingservices.com 

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by his colleague and host of today's conversation, Justin Thatil; Justin welcomes Mariano Oliveti and Erica Menendez to discuss a recurrent topic: Coaching versus Mastering the Details.   This episode addresses the complexities of coaching, especially considering the different maturity levels and even diverse areas of expertise within a Team. They also dive deep into the matter of a Scrum Master's expertise, debating whether or not it is a requirement to perform the role better.   Key Takeaways To coach anybody doesn't necessarily mean you have to be the master of that specific topic, but it could be really beneficial in certain situations. Coaching will depend on the maturity of the Team and even in which areas each Team shows more maturity than others. Does the Scrum Master need to understand every single detail of the work the Team is doing? Certainly not, but it can help! A Scrum Master must need to know a certain type of technology to be able to do the work. A Scrum Master needs to show empathy to know the Team's struggles and identify their challenges. The Scrum Master must ensure the Team knows its purpose and how to reach it. A Scrum Master is not defined by their technical background. A Scrum Master needs to know the details regarding the Agile Methodology but learns with each new client the aspects of that particular business, process, tools, and overall product. A Scrum Master encourages a continuous education mindset within the Team. When a Team gets better at sharing information about their learning, it indicates a Scrum Master is fostering a psychologically safe environment. A Scrum Master models vulnerability for the Team Members to feel safe to practice it, too.   Mentioned in this Episode: The Scrum Guide   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!  

Are you ready to revolutionize your law firm's operations and witness a substantial boost in productivity and profitability? Join me for an enlightening conversation with John Grant, a renowned lawyer and consultant who has mastered the art of streamlining law practices for maximum success. Together, we explore the Kanban method for visualizing workflows, the concept of Kaizen for continuous incremental improvement, and practical strategies for optimizing law firm operations. In our discussion, we dissect the concept of bottlenecks in your workflow and demonstrate how fixing the worst offender can drastically improve your entire system. Delve into systems theory, feedback loops, and the Goldilocks zone, where information is just right. We also identify the three high-level systems of a law practice and reveal how improving just one of these systems can provide the most significant return on investment. Packed with expert advice, this episode shares invaluable tips on enhancing the efficiency and productivity of your law firm. Learn how effective communication can improve your client experience, explore the role of GPT technology in client communication, and discover how leveraging the 80/20 principle can help you achieve maximum results with minimal effort. Don't miss this golden opportunity to learn from a trusted strategic advisor and elevate your law practice to new heights! In this episode, you will hear: Maximizing Impact and Feedback Kanban Boards for Workflow Efficiency Incremental Improvement and Quality Control Using GPT for Writer's Block The Goal and Knowledge Work Quality Prompts in Law Practice Optimizing Delivery Pipeline Balance Implementing Kanban Methodology Resources from this Episode General Resources Click for a list of the Best Tech Tools for Lawyers Subscribe to: The 80/20 Principle Check out my Law Firm Systems Intensive Join: '80/20 Inner Circle' (valuable business insights for small firm owners) Read: The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less, by Richard Koch Get my new email course: ChatGPT for Lawyers (it's free) Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. Thanks to Our Sponsor Smith.ai is an amazing virtual receptionist service that specializes in working with solo and small law firms. When you hire Smith.ai, you're hiring well-trained, friendly receptionists who can respond to callers in English or Spanish. If there's one great outsourcing opportunity for your practice, this is it. Let Smith.ai have your back while you stay focused on your work, knowing that your clients and prospects are being taken care of. Plans start at $210/month for 30 calls, and pricing starts at $140 for 20 chats, with overage at $7 per chat. They offer a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee on all receptionist and live chat plans, including add-ons (up to $1000). And they have a special offer for podcast listeners where you can get an extra $100 discount with promo code ERNIE100. Sign up for a risk-free start with a 14-day money-back guarantee now (and learn more) at smith.ai. Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.  

Hugh Strange worked as a VP of product at Nubank. As you know, being a company devoted to innovation and product development, his work there was full of rich and broad experiences. In our conversation, Hugh shared how to choose the right technology, build the ideal team, use product development for growth, incorporate the company's culture into the work, and some history behind product decisions.It was an insightful conversation, and I look forward to hearing about his next adventures. Hey, open your startup the right way, request early access to Meridian's international account, or start by signing up for our newsletter.Follow us on Linkedin / Twitter / Instagram / Podcast.

Caterina Palmiotto: A Scrum Master anti-pattern, introducing Agile in a “bubble” Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. In this episode, Caterina shares her experience as a Scrum Master in the IT department of a big company. Caterina and her colleague were responsible for two teams developing an in-house software, but no one in the company knew about Scrum. Despite initial difficulties and blaming, after 18 months, Caterina and her colleague were able to create an "agile bubble" where the teams and product owners were able to work together. They protected the teams from negative aspects happening elsewhere in the company.  However, after Caterina left the company, the agile environment fell apart since the decision-makers in the company were not aware of the agile methodology. Caterina realized that she failed to spread agile practices elsewhere in the company and suggested inviting more people into sprint reviews and demos, organizing open sessions, and creating curiosity in other departments. In this episode, Caterina emphasizes the importance of finding allies to continue agile practices even after leaving the company.   About Caterina Palmiotto Caterina started as a software developer but soon realized that she was passionate about team dynamics and communication, and embraced agility from the moment she saw it. Caterina believes a team can be more than the sum of its parts and that growing the right culture is essential. When people are surrounded by good examples they will be motivated to do their best.  So the first step is doing your best to be a good example of the culture you want to nurture. You can link with Caterina Palmiotto on LinkedIn. 

The bi-weekly Sprint is at the heart of the Agile methodology. In this episode, we discuss why Sprints are structured the way that they are and tips for making them successful. Why is a sprint typically 2 weeks? What are the traditional activities that happen over that period of time? Plus expert tips for how to set clear goals and stay aligned for cross-functional teams.  

In this episode, I have covered the most famous Agile methodology, Frame works , Values and Applications Agile vs Water Fall what is agile methodology? Advantages Applications Values of Agile Principles of Agile Agile Frameworks Scrum Lean Xtreme Programming Kanban Team Product owner Project manager Scrum master Developers Designers QA Product back Log Epics Feature Stories Task What is Sprint Scrum Ceremonies and Activities Sprint Planning Daily Scrum(10-15 Mins) Sprint Review Project management Software Jira Trello Check my Instagram- www.instagram.com/podcasteramit https://hubhopper.com/podcast/tech-stories/318515 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2fdb5c45-2016-459e-ba6a-3cbae5a1fa4d https://open.spotify.com/show/2GhCrAjQuVMFYBq8GbLbwa https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1544510362 https://www.jiosaavn.com/shows/tech-stories/1/,LBNutZ7Fx4_ https://gaana.com/podcast/tech-stories-season-1

10. Striking that balance between speed and effectiveness in your marketing is not only tough, but it's also non-negotiable in fintech.Lucky for you, this week's guest tells you how her brand is staying nimble while still providing continuous innovation on a personal level.Louise Robertson is the Global Director of Marketing for Pattern Insurance,  an embedded insurance company that enables online travel, recreation, and events businesses to integrate protection products (such as insurance, guarantee, and service) into their core offerings. Host of this episode is Chief Partnerships Officer at Crue, Tiffany Curry. DOWNLOAD THE FINTECH MARKETING PLAYBOOKFintech marketing executives know that it takes more than tips & tactics to impact campaign performance. That's why our crew of leaders built the “Upgrade Your Fintech Digital Marketing” playbook. From team design & planning, to decision science & creative strategy, this system will upgrade your 2023 plan, while impressing your CEO. Download it here: https://www.yourcrue.com/money2020-playbookConnect with Crue:TwitterLinkedInYouTubeFacebookInstagramWho's Crue:Crue: Fintech Marketing by Envisionit is a performance marketing agency for fintech brands. Our dedicated unique abilities team helps fintechs turn complex challenges into transacting customers. With 10+ years of success driving growth for fintech businesses, Crue understands the speed of the industry, and the complexities its marketers face. We speak the language so you don't waste time.Connect with Crue at yourcrue.com

With persisting talk of inflation and recession, many of our colleagues and clients are anticipating a slowdown period in which innovation takes a back seat to cost-cutting and downsizing. These pullbacks may test the nerve of many innovation leaders, but I'm here to tell you: there has never been a better time to lean into the challenges ahead. Listen now to learn the three steps you can take to prepare. 

Simon Severino is an Author, CEO of Strategy Sprints and Host of the Strategy Sprints podcast. He has interviewed powerhouse entrepreneurs like Rita McGrath, David Allen, Nir Eyal, Perry Marshall, Verne Harnish, Brian Kurtz and hundreds more on business, productivity and growth. He helps business owners in SaaS and Services run their company more effectively which results in sales that soar. He created the Strategy Sprints™ Method that doubles revenue in 90 days by getting owners out of the weeds. Simon leads a global team of Certified Strategy Sprints™ Coaches that help clients gain market share and work in weekly sprints which results in fast execution. As a member of SVBS (Silicon Valley Blockchain Society) he enables cross-stage capital flows and helps minimize execution risks in technology startups. His team is trusted by Google, Consilience Ventures, Roche, Amgen, AbbVie and hundreds of frontier teams. He is a TEDx speaker, and has appeared on over 500 podcasts. He writes for Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine about scaling digital businesses.https://www.strategysprints.comMichael and Simon talk about how you can adapt an agile methodology from product development to growing your business and multiplying profits. Simon who has authored the book "Strategy Sprints" shares great tips on leadership and profit making.Michael and Simon discuss examples and habit that you can leverage daily, weekly and monthly to change your business.

One of the most powerful tools in the Innovation Leaders' quiver is the design sprint. Design sprints are compressed agile development cycles (quite typically a few days or weeks) in which stakeholders identify problems, then rapidly brainstorm and build out prototype solutions in order to validate ideas before investing heavily into developing them. Embrace letting go of control over your design sprints to discover your new superpower as an Innovation facilitator.

Our 50th episode extravaganza! We play games, hang out on the balcony, talk about Agile Methodology, and cows wearing VR headsets.Victor Recommends: Sport Crossbody : Black - BagguAna Recommends: Kahoot!https://www.patreon.com/techheads

Samuel Gregory is the founder of Jupiter and the Giraffe, a website design consultancy.During his time Samuel has helped world-class tech companies like Netflix and Corning as well as Conde Nast build engaging and experiential websites working as both an engineer, leveraging his experience coding since the early 2000s as well as a technical program manager as well as a project manager.Using his experience and appreciation for creativity gathered during his time at Framestore, Samuel has also consulted with UI designers and user experience designers on many digital products.An awesome episode with Samuel where we talk about development and crappy vs. great websites, what makes a good developer and of course the Agile methodology. His books to make sense of it all Agile Lingo are a great help! Hear how he wrote a book with his partner a Python BOT!https://www.jupiterandthegiraffe.comhttps://thefullstackagency.xyzWith this experience, Samuel has seen many of the ups and downs that can happen on website projects from both the technical side and the business side. He uses this knowledge, along with his ability to communicate complex, technical ideas into more accessible language teaching what he believes is expected in modern website development. This streamlined approach helps to keep both clients and teammates working effectively together and with no friction.Much of Samuel's work has focused on creating YouTube content, books and courses in order to help the world build better websites for more people.

Welcome to the Cisco Tech Insiders, a podcast hosted by Cisco Engineers and Architects. The podcast covers topics ranging from the future of technology to the complex network architectures powering personal and organizational technology. Cisco Tech Insiders aims to simplify technology, discuss its widespread impact, and share Cisco Experts' experience. This episode celebrates International Women's Day 2022, where the host Shaun Roberts [Cisco Principal Engineer] and co-host Pallavi Arora [Vice President, Cisco Customer Experience Centers] speak with four women role models from their respective areas of expertise on what is Digital Transformation, the role of innovation and automation and application of Agile Methodology. Learn from two guest speakers how it is possible to lead teams, drive the digital transformation agenda and deliver customer experience in the technology space without an Engineering or Computer Science degree. Hear more from Amrita Manayil [Cisco Technical Engineer], Lylian Wang [Cisco Project Manager], Madhuri C [Cisco Technical Leader], and Meiyan Jin [Cisco Customer Experience Director] Get to your most desired outcomes faster with Cisco CX Services https://www.cisco.com/c/m/en_us/customer-experience/index.html#~discover-roi More information on Cisco SD-WAN is available here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en_in/solutions/enterprise-networks/sd-wan/index.html LinkedIn Profiles: Amrita Manayil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrita-manayil-b14803156/ Lylian Wang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lylian-jia-wang-b793a0176/ Madhuri C: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhuri-c-54a6a115/ Meiyan Jin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meiyan-jin-11611b65/ Pallavi Arora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavi-arora-55774a6/ Shaun Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srobertsmba/

How do you crush your goals when you don't know what they are? Seriously…what if you don't know what's next for you? Can you still be a badass who is moving your life forward? Yes! Believe it or not, there's a method you can use to move forward, even if your goals are fuzzy. Even though I describe my 13+ years in corporate as soul-sucking…there's one thing I learned that changed my life. It's called the Agile Methodology, and it was originally created to design better software, but the principles can be applied to anything in life. The beautiful part about Agile is…you *don't* need a perfectly designed goal or end-game. You simply need a “theme” to work toward, and design the next 1-2 week sprint. That's it. This method allows you to chip away at your goals with your freshest energy, without the overwhelm of needing it to “all be figured out”. If you are a driven badass who is hungry to move forward, but don't know exactly what you want – this episode is for you! Want to be surrounded by like-minded badasses? Check out our FREE Facebook Community called Grab Life by the Goals. Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, goal-getters, and people who want to see you win…plus weekly livestream coaching from Lauren to personally answer your questions. Join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grablifebythegoalscommunity

In this episode, Shawna Flanders, Director of Product Development, with The Institute of Internal Auditors gives us an overview of the Agile Methodology as it applies to Internal Audit.  She also provides some insights into areas where Agile may work best and areas in which the methodology may not be as useful, hope you enjoy!

On today's show, we interview Director, Digital Standards Office, Technology and Business Transformation, Advanced Education and Skills Training, Sid Tobias who shares with us his distilled wisdom on agile workflow and digital leadership. He mentors new digital teams with the BCDevExchange and teaches digital leadership to executives.  Before this, Sid has served for 25 years in the Canadian Armed Forces.  We start this show with Sid sharing a life-changing incident that sparked his interest in agile methodology.  In 2002, when Sid was stationed aboard a Canadian destroyer in the Persian Gulf near Afghanistan, Canadians' training exercise was wrongly deciphered as a threat by an American F-16 bomber. The F-16 pilot decided to retaliate, and many innocent lives were lost in the aftermath. The Canadian and American leaders were quick to take responsibility and collaborated closely to ensure there was no repeat of such unfortunate incidents. This incident was also the pivot point that made Sid go agile. “How can leaders develop and introduce work procedures that create bigger and more frequent success opportunities across the board?” wondered Sid. You will learn the importance of being a true “Servant Leader” or Leader Gardener” who can recognize the weakest signals from team employees to result in a truly collaborative approach.  As a public safety transformational specialist, Sid emphasizes the importance of a team-driven work approach. We also compare and contrast the waterfall approach to the agile approach. And reveal how a shift towards agile can help organizations fail cheap and pivot quickly. You will also learn how the agile methodology allows the government to rope in private sector enterprises for top-secret projects.  Enjoy! Question That I Ask In Today's Show Why did you decide to get educated in the Agile Methodology? What are some of the major obstacles in the digital transformation drive? From your time in the military, what is the most important leadership lesson that you learned? What are the three words that describe being a Canadian?   What You Will Learn In This Show An agile vs. Waterfall approach How going agile can allow you to fail cheap and pivot quickly Giving up the command-and-control management style and being a “Leader Gardener” to your people instead How going agile can help ensure the success of public-private partnerships And so much more…   Resources BC Dev Exchange - https://bcdevexchange.org/ Sid's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidtobias/ How to Contact the Show --- Follow Passion Struck on Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast -- Combat veteran, multi-industry CEO, and Author John R. Miles is on a mission to make passion go viral by helping growth seekers to overcome their fear, self-doubt, and adversity. He loves taking his own life experiences, lessons from his time as a CEO and Fortune 50 C-Level Executive, and the truths he has learned to help make other's lives better. His new podcast Passion Struck provides inspirational interviews and powerful guidance for people to take their lives to the next level. Watch as these high achievers weigh in on life's biggest questions and challenges as we journey on the path to becoming passion-struck. -- Follow John R. Miles Here: Website - https://passionstruck.com/​ ​​Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles ​​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnrmiles.c0m​ ​Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr​ ​​ Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles​ ​John's Website: https://johnrmiles.com/​ - John's New eBook - The Passion Struck Framework https://passionstruck.com/coaching/​

In this episode we explore Agile Methodology, which is the framework of software development. It develops in a CICD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Development) mindset, meaning developers are constantly attempting to better the software and update the roll out. So, what if we could take this methodology and place it into our everyday lives, to better ourselves?  Shanikqua Tucker is a former a proud veteran of the United States Army Reserves with 12 years of experience as an Intelligence Analyst. She transitions into civilian life – with a focus on Cybersecurity and is a Certified Agile Institute Scrum Master. She has been working within the information technology and network security and compliance industry for more than 13 years. Topics 1. What's Your Story 2. What was your time like in the military and what lessons did you take from it to translate to civilian life? 3. How does the military promote teamwork? 4. What is leading from the front? 5. What is Agile Methodology? 6. Have you used Agile in your personal life? I broke out stand ups into personal discussions with myself 7. How have you innovated yourself?