Podcast appearances and mentions of Sharon L Bowman

This episode features HashiCorp's Karl Cardenas, production education manager, and Kaitlin Carter, education architect. Join us as we chat with Karl and Kaitlin about why they got into education engineering, how HashiCorp develops tutorials, and what organizations can do to invest in learning. - Six Principles of Andragogy by Malcolm Knowles: http://brilliantlearningsystems.com/six-principles-of-andragogy-malcolm-knowles - Bloom's Taxonomy: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/ - "Training from the Back of the Room" by Sharon L. Bowman: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/training-from-the/9780787996628/ - VAK Model of Learning: https://www.southwesterncc.edu/sites/default/files/VAK_Learning_Styles.pdf - Karl's Waypoint deployment patterns: https://github.com/karl-cardenas-coding/waypoint-deployment-pattern

Joining Dan Neumann today is Andrea Floyd, an Enterprise Agile Transformation Consultant within AgileThought! Andrea has 25 years of experience in software development and project management. She’s been an innovator that has a ton of experience leading multiple organization-wide Scaled Agile implementations as well as architecting innovative solutions, strategies, and roadmaps across many frameworks (including Scrum, Kanban, and Scaled Agile Framework).   Today, Dan and Andrea will be taking a look at some of the reasons why Agile transformations don’t stick! Sometimes transformations get announced with fanfare… but then die off with whimpers. Tune in so that you can reduce the chance of failure and give your teams the best chance of success!   Key Takeaways Top reasons why Agile transformations don’t stick: If the organization doesn’t understand why they’re doing a transformation and how it is going to impact them on an individual level there will be resistance (which will erode the intention behind the transformation) There is a lack of identifying a team of champions throughout the organization The train goes off the track; i.e. the ‘rubber-band theory:’ if you don’t continually reinforce positive behaviors and have a deep understanding of the ‘why’ behind the changes being made, it often becomes a series of checking off the boxes, which leads to a breakdown If someone is not looking for anti-patterns and helping to coach others about the transformation, individuals will go back to their old ways If you don’t put the right investment in your transformation or the change that you’re trying to create, you’re not going to see the results that you’re looking for How to ensure that your Agile transformations stick: You need to have an awareness of why you’re doing a transformation and it needs to be shared enterprise-wide The transformation should be done holistically and in small pockets where you can actually start to demonstrate the value of the transformation You need a perfect marriage between having enterprise-wide support and individuals who are fully on board The message of how the transformation is going to impact individuals in a positive way needs to be reinforced often You want to make sure there is transparency Make what the transformation is trying to achieve and the progress that is being made towards that visible and known Foster a community of believers who turn into supporters Identifying a team of champions throughout the organization, which helps set up the transformation for sustainability (five is usually a good number) Having someone to monitor or provide ongoing awareness around the transformation (i.e. a trusted advisor who can provide support to individuals who are wary about the changes) It’s important for the organization to also take responsibility for moving things forward Show the value and improvement of the transformation sooner rather than later Get people excited about the changes by showing other teams’ success Create a sustainable environment with sustainable practices and people that can actually continue after you leave   Mentioned in this Episode: Andrea Floyd Real-World Kanban: Do Less, Accomplish More with Lean Thinking, by Mattias Skarin Training from the Back of the Room!, by Sharon L. Bowman   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!

This week on the podcast, Dan Neumann is joined by AgileThought colleague and return guest, Eric Landes! Eric Landes comes from a DevOps background and originally started as a developer. Currently, he serves as a Senior DevOps Consultant, ALM Director, and Solutions Architect at AgileThought.   In today’s episode, Dan and Eric are discussing organization transformation. If you haven’t already heard Agile Coaches’ Corner ep. 59, “The Four C’s of Organizational Culture,” you should tune into that first, as this episode makes reference to it. Today’s episode, however, is asking the question of whether an organization should start by implementing a practices-based change or a culture change when they’re looking to transform.   Is starting with changing the culture a more practical approach, or, is keeping the culture as it is and incorporating more Agile practices overtime more beneficial? Tune in to hear Dan and Eric’s take!   Key Takeaways A culture change approach vs. a practices-based approach: A practices-based approach generally refers to making small changes to behavior A culture change is much more of a big bang whereas a practices-based approach is more of an Agile journey A culture change is more of a plan-driven, A-B transformation and a practice approach is more an incremental, step-by-step process The argument for taking a practices-based approach to transforming an organization rather than changing the culture first: The ability to change practices and shift the overall mindset without changing the culture is a more achievable place to start — it’s also more of an Agile mindset/method (because you’re starting with a practice, seeing how it helps, measuring it, and then moving forward) Practices get modified over time so it can be beneficial to be more Agile as your organization is going through a transformation (rather than going for that “big bang” that a culture change would call for) Putting practices into play (such as test-driven development, breaking down product backlog items, or implementing more Kanban metrics) can help the organization discover what fits and what doesn’t fit into the current culture and also what delivers the most value to the customers Using metrics and practices will lead to changes in thinking around how the organization is delivering   Mentioned in this Episode: Eric Landes (LinkedIn) Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 59: “The Four C’s of Organizational Culture” The Reengineering Alternative: A Plan for Making Your Current Culture Work, by William Schneider Professional Scrum with Kanban Certification   Eric Landes’ Book Picks: Training from the Back of the Room! by Sharon L. Bowman The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism, by Jemar Tisby   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!

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by AgileThought colleague, Eric Landes, to discuss real vs. fake teams! Landes, who comes from a DevOps background, originally started out as a developer. Currently, he serves as a Senior DevOps Consultant, ALM Director, and Solutions Architect. In his roles, he helps clients deliver value to customers in their software delivery pipeline, and has extensive experience in leading organizations in adopting agile and lean frameworks, like Scrum and Kanban.   In today’s discussion about real vs. fake teams, Dan and Eric talk about what distinguishes between the two, the benefits to having a real team vs. a fake one, and how you can help enable teams to move from ‘fake’ to real. Tune in to hear it all!   Key Takeaways What distinguishes a real team vs. a fake team? Real teams collaborate while fake teams cooperate Fake teams are groups of individuals that are not behaving together and do not have a shared goal or outcome Real teams have a collective focus, they are catching defects before they happen, and there are code reviews happening in real-time Fake teams observe rather than code in real-time (so they end up with really delayed feedback) Fake teams generally have lots of individuals, working on lots of different problems at the same time (therefore, they’re not really building on each other’s ideas) Real teams have an interest in continuously improving together, whereas fake teams may have a rockstar or two who go after self-improvement where the rest don’t Benefits of having a real team: Faster delivery pattern with higher quality A real team collaborates and keeps the whole team’s focus in check It’s a lot more energizing than working in isolation Benefits of quality and speed and delivery The focus from the accountability you get from being on a team helps eliminate brain distraction Happier employees How to enable teams to move from “fake” to real: Making coding katas or dojos a regular thing for the team If you’re management and the team wants to hone their craft, help enable that Defining the goals for real collaboration beforehand with your team can help enable more effective collaboration Does the team have a goal that makes sense for them? If they don’t, then start there in establishing one When you do have a goal for the team, look at the product backlog and make sure it is structured in a way that enables collaboration In the retrospective, help the team see some things that might be opportunities for improvement that would encourage a collaborative focus   Mentioned in this Episode: Eric Landes (LinkedIn) Agile 2019 Conference Woody Zuill Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts, by Annie Duke   Eric Landes’ Book Picks: Training from the Back of the Room!, by Sharon L. Bowman How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority, by Clay Scroggins   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!

Technical training is a great place to be: instructors get paid well for teaching domain knowledge to large companies (who have dedicated budgets). But how do you get your foot in the door? In this episode, Reuven Lerner — a famous trainer, author, and consultant — gives us a detailed introduction into the industry. You'll learn what the training process looks like, what kind of knowledge you need, and how to land your first training gig. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes Training From the Back of the Room! — a book by Sharon L. Bowman Telling Ain't Training — a book by Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School — a famous textbook on cognitive science Steve Martin Teaches Comedy — a course on crafting jokes Reuven's website Reuven's blog Trainer Weekly, Better Developer, Mandarin Weekly, Weekly Python Exercise — Reuven's newsletters Follow Reuven on Twitter: @reuvenmlerner Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by FreshBooks — cloud accounting software for freelancers and small business owners. If you work for yourself, you know that the world was not built for the self-employed. Many institutions are simply not keeping up with the pace of change — like banks, retirement savings, employment insurance, and accounting services. FreshBooks is among the innovators who have stepped up to provide a new accounting solution in this rapidly changing world. FreshBooks is offering a 30-day unrestricted free trial to our listeners. To claim it, just go to freshbooks.com/uibreakfast and enter UI BREAKFAST in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.