Podcasts about optimize work flow

“The five thieves of time are: too much work in progress, conflicting priorities, unplanned work, unknown dependencies, and neglected work." Dominica DeGrandis is the author of “Making Work Visible”. In this episode, we discussed how we can optimize our workflow and reclaim control of our work and time. Dominica unveiled the concept of the five thieves of time that rob us of our productivity, that includes too much work-in-progress (WIP), conflicting priorities, unplanned work, unknown dependencies, and neglected work. She also shared actionable practices and tips on dealing with each of these thieves. Towards the end, Dominica emphasized the importance of bringing visibility to and measuring the flow of what leadership and customers care about - the delivery of customer value—big picture items that span end-to-end value streams.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:47] Making Work Visible & Five Thieves of Time - [00:08:45] Thief: Too Much WIP - [00:15:31] WIP is a Leading Indicator - [00:18:33] Thief: Unplanned Work - [00:20:45] Making Sense of WIP - [00:23:04] Thief: Conflicting Priorities - [00:24:38] Thief: Unknown Dependencies - [00:29:17] Managing Dependencies - [00:32:53] Thief: Neglected Work - [00:36:40] Make Organization Work Visible - [00:41:21] Measuring Flow - [00:50:19] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:11] _____ Dominica DeGrandis's BioA huge fan of using visual cues to inspire change, Dominica DeGrandis, author of Making Work Visible - Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow, and Principal Flow Advisor at Planview, helps organizations make work visible to improve workflow. Obsessed with useful metrics & influencing change, Dominica advises customers on flow metrics, value stream management and how to effect change. Follow Dominica: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/dominicadeg Website – ddegrandis.com/ _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/156 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

Do you have a feeling that your team/system/organization is capable of much higher performance than you are currently experiencing? Could the solution be as simple as learning to do “no” better!? Listen in as Andy Cleff ponders: The Problem With "Yes" Consequences of Status Quo Decisions vs Relationships Working with Trade-Offs The "No" Repertoire And building an action plan backlog for doing no better! Links to Things Mentioned on the show Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow by Dominica DeGrandis Essentialism by Greg McKeown Focus is about saying no, Steve Jobs Path To Agility for achieving business outcomes and lasting change Real Flow: Break the Burnout Cycle and Unlock High Performance in the New World of Work by Brandi Olson The Resource Utilization Trap Henrik Kniberg Multiple WIP vs One Piece Flow Example Henrik Kniberg The Efficiency Paradox  Niklas Modig  There's A Meeting For That Ryan Ripley Leadership is Language David Marquet Redwork and Blue Work David Marquet Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency by Tom DeMarco Beyond Budgeting by Bjarte Bogsnes How to Avoid Groupthink David Marquet A Scientific Guide to Saying “No”: How to Avoid Temptation and Distraction by James Clear Embracing Dissent Dissent Cards To Quote Hamlet T-shirt About the Agile Uprising If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a review, a rating, or leave comments on iTunes, Stitcher or your podcasting platform of choice. It really helps others find us.  Much thanks to the artist Krebs from Machine Man Records who provided us our outro music free-of-charge!  If you like what you heard, check out these links to find more music you might enjoy! If you'd like to join the discussion and share your stories,  please jump into the fray at our Discord Server! We at the Agile Uprising are committed to being totally free.  However, if you'd like to contribute and help us defray hosting and production costs we do have a Patreon.  Who knows, you might even get some surprises in the mail!  

Making your work visible is vital for knowledge workers (like lawyers), and the best way of doing that is by using a Kanban Board. Task managers just can't cut it. In this episode, Ernie talks with John Grant a consultant who helps fellow lawyers fix their legal workflows using Kanban Boards to help them manage tasks more effectively and collaborate better. Show Notes Agile Attorney (John Grant's website) The Voice of The Client (John's podcast where he interviews lawyer clients) Thinking Fast & Slow, Daniel Kahneman Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow, by Dominica DeGrandis (John's book recommendation) The Rise & Fall of GTD (Cal Newport's article in the New Yorker) Lean Software Development (Wikipedia article) Agile Software Development (Wikipedia article) Scrum Software Development (Wikipedia article) Knowledge Workers (Wikipedia definition) How to Think Better And Profit More (Ernie's blog post) Feedback loops (Wikipedia definition) Kanban (Wikipedia definition) Trello (Kanban board tool used by Ernie, which he recommends) KanbanZone (Kanban board tool that John recommends) WIP: a task started by not yet finished (Wikipedia definition) Start less to finish more (a key principle of the Agile work method) Optimism Bias (Wikipedia definition) Why All Your Projects Are Late And What to Do About It (Freakonomics podcast) Less Doing: Ari Meisel's website (productivity guru that Ernie follows and recommends) "Honest reckoning with capacity" (John's advice for not succumbing to optimism bias) "Brutal assessment of priority" (John's related advice) BTW, I'd love to get your feedback or hear about your questions (which I'll answer in upcoming episodes). And when you get a chance, download my free Solo & Small Firm Lawyers' Guide to Working Smarter (which will help you streamline, automate and outsource —so you start working less and relaxing more). Oh, and if you're interested in radical improvement for your law practice, check out my new Working Smarter course. Thanks to Our Sponsors SweetProcess is a great way to document your important workflows. Doing so will help make your practice run more smoothly, and require less involvement on your part to keep things running smoothly. The best way to understand how SweetProcess will help streamline your firm is to start using it. The company offers a 14-day free trial, but as a loyal listener of this podcast, you can try it for 28-days free of charge. And you don't even have to enter a credit card to get started. Just navigate to SweetProcess.com/ernie to start your 28-day free trial today. And thanks to the other sponsor of this podcast… 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 actually 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, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at EmeraldCity Pro

For this week’s episode, your host Dan Neumann is shaking things up! He’ll be answering some of the frequently asked questions that often come up in his work as well as some miscellaneous questions on Quora on the themes of Agile and Scrum.   In his coaching, Dan often finds that there are a lot of misconceptions, questions, or themes that continuously come up. Throughout this podcast, he’s hoping that the selected questions today will add some value to your own practice! Some of the questions include: “What resources would be good reading for an Agile Scrum Master,” “What is a road map in Agile,” “In practice, does waterfall planning ever accurately predict (or guarantee) completion dates for tasks and projects,” and more!   If you have any questions you’d like to ask for yourself, you can email them to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!   Key Takeaways What resources would be good reading for an Agile Scrum Master? Agile Project Management with Scrum, by Ken Schwaber (Very approachable for those even brand new Agile and Scrum) Anything by Mike Cohn, including his blog on Mountain Goat Software Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process, by Kenneth S. Rubin Listen to this podcast, of course! You can tweet or email in your own questions to have them answered in a future episode Always be sure to ask others in-person what they suggest and also to just simply pick up books and resources in whatever current challenges you may be facing For team dysfunction, check out the book: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni, as well as his follow-up book: Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators If you’re interested in building your skills as a coach, read: Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition, by Lyssa Adkins One of the opportunities for Scrum Masters to really help their teams is in facilitating effective retrospectives — in Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great, by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen, they lay out a five-step framework for an effective retrospective *Dan considers this a must-read! Dan’s final tip: always keep learning Can a product owner change a sprint backlog any day? The product owner’s role is to optimize the product backlog for value Hopefully, the product owner is participating during the sprint, but really the sprint backlog is the domain of the development team, and one would not expect to see them changing the sprint backlog day-in and day-out The product owner’s role is in the product backlog and to accept items as they are being delivered in the sprint, to clarify questions, and to make sure that sprint goal is achieved The sprint backlog will usually change throughout the sprint but it would be done in collaboration with the scrum team always keeping the sprint goal in mind What is a road map in Agile? A road map is simply a plan on how to get from one point to another Part of the mindset and approach to Agile road maps is really realizing that we’re not able to predict the future to a high degree of certainty or very specifically and that we need to be able to respond to change In practice, does waterfall planning ever accurately predict (or guarantee) completion dates for tasks and projects? Does it ever? Yes, there are times when waterfall or highly predictive planning can accurately predict completion dates for tasks and projects The scenarios or conditions under which it happens tend to be those that have a high degree of certainty about the capabilities that are needed If you have a team that’s done a particular type of development before with technology that they’re using again and really well-understood requirements, waterfall planning can accurately predict dates for tasks and projects The less certainty there is, that’s where waterfall planning breaks down   Mentioned in this Episode: Quora Agile Project Management with Scrum, by Ken Schwaber Mike Cohn’s Amazon Book Page Mike Cohn’s Blog on Mountain Goat Software Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process, by Kenneth S. Rubin The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators, by Patrick Lencioni Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition, by Lyssa Adkins Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great, by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen Agile Coaches’ Corner Episode: “Creating Effective Retrospectives with Sam Falco” The Agile Manifesto Quora Questions: “What resources would be a good reading for an Agile Scrum Master?” Asked by Alex Shaw “Can a product owner change a sprint backlog any day?” Asked by Mohammed Saiful Alam Siddiquee “What is a road map in Agile?” Asked by Maxime Sauvaget “In practice, does waterfall planning ever accurately predict (or guarantee) completion dates for tasks and projects?” Asked by Alan Pita   Dan Neumann’s Book Picks: Essential Kanban Condensed, by David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow, by Dominica DeGrandis   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!

Dominica DeGrandis is Director of Digital Transformation at Tasktop, where she helps customers improve the flow of work across value streams. Responsible for introducing customers to flow-based aspects of digital transformation, she guides IT teams and business teams to learn and adopt new ways of working to improve performance. Dominica is the author of “Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow.” She is a huge fan of using visual cues to reveal mutually critical information across organizations to inspire change and spur alignment. Dominica lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and extended family. Dominica DeGrandis Here we talk about metrics, work flow, and the great benefits of minimizing WIP – work in progress. We also talked about engaging managers in the discussion of work flow and metrics. DeGrandis is excellent at seeing how processes work and finding ways to help participants literally see how work flows through the system. She advocates using Kanban boards to create a view of what’s going on at various levels in an organization. This can also help individuals see how their specific metrics affect the larger business goals. We also discussed the topic of “Priority vs. Calendar.” DeGrandis has a talk on this subject. She talks about The 30 Minute Jam, the All Day Cram, and the Triple-Book Wham. Many people – especially creative people – need large blocks of time on the calendar in order to reach and maintain “flow” and get quality work done. I love her assertion that most people have more control over their calendar than they believe. Lots of good stuff here. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk_9ZRIGQP8

In this episode, we interview Andrew Webster, a San Francisco Bay Area Agile Coach. Andrew discusses the key topics in the book "Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow" and goes on to discuss practical techniques for dealing with unplanned work in Scrum and estimating business value for prioritization of initiatives and features. Andrew also explains how Agile Coaches can guide organizations to work more wisely. Links: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Work-Visible-Exposing-Optimize-ebook/dp/B076BYZ6VN https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Product-Development-Flow-Generation-ebook/dp/B007TKU0O0 Email: andrew@wisdomat.work Podcast feedback form: https://forms.gle/yPHi3TBHKcnck4KJA

  There is almost an incalculable number of ways a Product Owner can feel stressed. It can be overwhelming if you do not find strategies and mindsets to deal with stress effectively.  In this episode, Geoff Watts joins the show again to discuss his recent thoughts on why we feel stressed and what control we have over how we respond. This was also a listener suggested topic and one that is truly helpful for PO’s to become more mindful and focused on.   Feedback: twitter - @deliveritcast email - deliveritcast@gmail.com   Links: PO Coaching and Consulting - seek taiju Geoff Watts - @geoffcwatts - @theagilepubcast - https://inspectandadapt.com/ Geoff Watts - Stress-Free Traffic | How To Find The Silver Linings Robinson, Smith, Seal - Stress Management: How to Reduce, Prevent, and Cope with Stress Colleen O’Rourke - Coping with Product Manager Burnout Martin Stahl - The Product Owner cargo-cult detection checklist Dominica Degrandis - Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow