Category Archives: Facilitation

Global Listening While Remote

Global Listening When Remote

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Global Listening When Remote

Many people are working from home at this point and this will obviously continue for a while. Many organizations had already been working remote. I’ve worked on a number of remote teams and with a number of remote organizations well before the current situation we are in. I’ve done remote work as a coach, trainer, product manager, and team member well before the current situation we are in.  Each of those instances I found myself enjoying some aspects of the work and also wishing for aspects to be in person. One of the most challenging things to do remotely is to listen. Continue reading →

Proposing Open Space Technology Sessions

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When I am at conferences or events being run using Open Space Technology (learn more about attendee driven conferences), people often ask me “should I propose a open space session?” As we get into the discussion I tend to ask the same core questions:

  • Are you passionate about the topic?
  • Are you clear enough on what the topic is?
  • What would your 30-second pitch and summary of the topic to propose at the marketplace?
  • Are you comfortable hosting the session or, if not, is there 1 or 2 more that might help you?

Continue reading →

Open Space Conferences – Attendee Created Conferences!

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Open Space is one of my favorite types of conferences. I was under the impression that most people in the agile, coaching, and leadership communities knew what Open Space was. I was wrong. Many have never experienced it.I_heart_openspace That is sad, to an extent, but that also means there are many people who will experience it for the first time this year (I hope!).

I am co-facilitating, with Allison Pollard, Open Space on Day 2 of the Scrum Gathering San Diego this year.  This will be a very large event, we are guessing 1000-1200 people will participate! Super excited to be co-facilitating with Allison, since she is an amazing coach and facilitator, funny, and intuitive – someone who can observe a group interacting and engage with them in just the right way!   Continue reading →

Project retrospectives that focus on every project detail are frustrating!

Why Project Retrospectives Are Challenging

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Project retrospectives are challenging. I spoke a bit about this in lessons learned vs. project retrospectives. You might look at a merger, acquisition, implementation of a new ERP system, or even a major upgrade of an ERP or CRM system. These are non-reoccurring events. A retrospective of this type is quite different from a typical agile retrospective, primarily because on this type of project, people will change and the project will not repeat (the definition of a project is that it is a unique endeavor). At issue here is the fact that if the people will not be the same and the project does not reoccur – then they can’t come up with actions they will apply right away based on what they learned. Ideas for change often just end up in a spreadsheet, a book shelf, or some electronic tool. A big book of “lessons learned” that sits on the shelf gathering dust does not provide much, if any, value. Continue reading →

Agile Safari – What’s Not Being Said?

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agile-safari-elephant-in-the-roomHave you been in a situation where no one would bring up the problem that everyone knew was “in the room?” I’d guess that everyone has been there. So often, we don’t bring up the “elephant in the room.” For anyone who has not heard of this, the elephant in the room is a saying for the real or obvious truth that is not being addressed. Given an elephant in a room would be hard to miss, when people ignore it, they are typically pretending it is not there. Continue reading →