Agile
Story Points - A Tool to Solve Problems, Not a Metric
In Agile development, story points are one of the most valuable tools we use to estimate work, but like any tool, their effectiveness depends on how well they are used and understood. Story points help teams plan and communicate around complexity, capacity, and risk. However, without clear communication and alignment-especially across multiple teams-they can easily lead to confusion, misinterpretation, and even frustration, particularly for stakeholders focused on schedules and budgets. In this post, I'll share my thoughts on the best ways to use story points, the importance of viewing velocity as a team metric, and how to avoid common pitfalls when communicating story points to both teams and stakeholders.
Leadership Traits - Communication - The Underrated Trait
Communication is often seen as a basic skill, but in leadership, it's one of the most vital-and underrated-traits. It's not just about keeping your team informed; it's about ensuring the right people, both inside and outside your team, know what's happening at the right time. In my experience, clear and thoughtful communication can make or break a project, especially in consulting where so many external factors are at play. Let's dive into why communication is more than just passing information-it's an art that can define your success as a leader.
Architecture - The 'Good' Kind of Lazy
When it comes to building solutions, there's a fine line between crafting something scalable for the future and over-complicating things to the point where even you can't find what you built six months later. We've all been there. But what if the key to better, faster, and more maintainable solutions lies in a mindset that might sound counterintuitive at first-being just the right amount of lazy? Yes, that's right. The good kind of lazy. Let's talk about how this strategic approach can help you avoid the pitfalls of over-architecting and keep your projects streamlined for success.
Sprint Durations - Finding the Sweet Spot for Your Team
When it comes to Agile, one of the most debated topics is the length of a sprint. While many teams default to the standard two-week sprint, the truth is that sprint duration should be as dynamic as the Agile process itself-tailored to the team's capabilities and the business's ever-evolving needs. Whether you're optimizing for complex features, or navigating critical deadlines, the question isn't just "How long should a sprint be?" but rather, "What sprint length best serves the team and the project at this moment?"
Leadership - The Power of Feedback
In today's dynamic professional landscape, waiting for feedback can leave you steering without direction. Proactively seeking feedback isn't just a good practice-it's a vital tool for continuous improvement and success. This post delves into why taking the initiative on feedback matters and how it can transform your approach to leadership and teamwork.
Leadership - The Art of Speaking Last
Have you ever noticed how the dynamics of a meeting shift when the most senior person speaks first? Conversations narrow, diverse ideas fade, and the collective potential of the team diminishes. In leadership, sometimes the most impactful action is not speaking at all-at least not until everyone else has. Inspired by Nelson Mandela's wisdom and Simon Sinek's insights, let's explore how the simple act of speaking last can transform your team's collaboration and unlock hidden solutions.
Leadership - Validate Success Like You Validate Failure
We're quick to dive into root cause analysis when things go wrong, but do we apply the same scrutiny when things go right? It's easy to celebrate success and move on, but true growth comes from validating what made that success possible. Are we taking the time to understand why things went well so we can repeat them?