Coach Dan's Blog

We have all been there. The squad finishes a sprint planning meeting. The goals are clear, with a solid hypothesis and a reasonable path forward. The team is locked in. Then, two days into the iteration, the shrapnel starts flying from three different directions at once: An executive pops by with a "quick request" that needs immediate attention. A competitor goes to market with a flash sale, causing a sudden, reactive shift in your own marketing plans. An upstream or downstream partner team realizes they need a "last-minute" piece from your squad—even though their own sprint was supposed to be completely planned out. In an instant, your team's precious focus is shattered. The "Middle Manager’s Vise" Reopened I’ve talked before about how Scope Churn is the silent killer of team efficiency. It erratically injects unplanned work into a fixed period of time, stalling your predictability and putting your original customer promises ...

  Focus on what matters... I get to be in some incredible discussions.  This week I sat in on a Crew Leader's Meeting (Crew Lead, Product Owners, Tech Lead, Area Chapter Leads and Coaches.)   The Crew is refining their various roadmaps and aligning them to focus on Crew Goals.  The Crew Lead kicked us off with a review of our company's Five Business Priorities.  The discussion that followed was nothing short of inspiring.   While there is still work to do, I feel like everyone is  aligned with the business priorities and the crew goals .  They are editing their individual priorities to better align together, and are  putting in place a solid approach to work together to achieve their goals , and contribute to the things that are most important for the company! Row in the same direction... Imagine you're in a canoe on a small lake with your friend.  You both decide you  want  to visit the shore, and start paddling....