Scrum Breakfast

How would a company function if its top leadership trusted each other deeply and truly shared a common vision for the future? This question burns in my mind as I ponder the impact of the retreat I attended last weekend.

I met Siraj while making contact with the Washington DC Agile/Scrum scene. I had offered to help him make high quality photographs of his collection of "influence maps." Having just moved to the DC area, and having time on my hands, I thought that some small acts of service would be a good way to get to know and integrate into the Agile community here.

An influence map is both a discovery tool and an information radiator for reflecting on and telling the story of your life. It was fascinating what I could learn about people I had never met just by looking at their maps.

There was always something mysterious about Siraj. As his name suggests, he is of Indian origin, but he grew up in Middle East and studied in a Jesuit school. His life has always bee…

Recently I wrote on ScrumDevelopment:

Agile is the vanguard of a general change in management, beyond "just" software. At the moment, it is seldom on the radar screens of today's MBA trained managers. Two responses arrived almost simultaneously:
"No. People like Deming, Goldratt, Ohno, (and several others...) are the vanguards of general change in management (to the extent that there is yet much of a change)" - Kurt Häusler

"Well said Peter!" - Srinivas Chillara
I really do believe Agile is the vanguard in the transformation of management.

There are two levels to Agile - one is about engineering practices, the other is about values. Let's leave the engineering practices aside for a moment. In this context I am referring to Agile as a management framework.

What management principles does Agile implement? Servant leadership, delegation, intrinsic motivation, high trust cultures, PDCA, and much more. These are all things that one routinely enc…

Steve Denning recently wrote that disruptive innovation is a disease which has destroyed company after company. A number of comments challenged his use of the word "disease." What is a disruptive innovation? Is it a disease, are you getting it, and what can you do about it?

The term disruptive innovation was coined by Clayton Christensen in his book 'The Innovator's Dilemma.' A disruptive innovation occurs when a new technology is developed that is lower cost and qualitatively inferior to existing approaches -- measured along the criteria of the existing market -- but offers other unique advantages to a new market. The new technology innovates faster than the established technology and eventually replaces the old technology at a lower cost, destroying the established players.

So calling the problem a "disease" is pretty close to the mark. The disease is not disruptive innovation per se, but the inability of established companies to react to it properly…

Agile as a management framework may be one of the best kept secrets, but the word is getting out. Here is a list of events where you can find out, learn and exchange information about
Radical Management, the approach for making the entire organization agile, and#Stoos, the movement to catalyze a change in management WorkshopsUSA-Washington, DC, May 21-23, Making the Whole Organization Agile, 3-day workshop with Steve Denning and Peter Stevens, Info and registrationUSA-Seattle, WA, June 26-28, Making the Whole Organization Agile, 3-day workshop with Peter Stevens, Info and registration, hosted by SolutionsIQNL-Amsterdam, July 5, Seminar on Radical Management, 1-day workshop with Steve Denning and Peter Stevens, Info and registration, hosted by Zilverline Radical Management, #Stoos, and related gatheringsBR-San Paulo, May 28, Radical Management BrazilDE-Frankfurt, StoosXchange, June 8-10USA-San Francisco, CA, MixMashUp, June 19 (by invitation) NL-Amsterdam, Stoos Stampede, July 6-7 …

Making the whole organization agile.

Join Steve Denning and Peter Stevens for their web-based MONTHLY MASHUP* call-in show on MAKING THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION AGILE. It's for:
Agile leaders and coaches wanting to convert the entire organization to Agile,Business leaders needing to understand Agile management or achieve continuous innovation, Public sector leaders seeking the agility to “do more for less”, and Entrepreneurs wanting to grow their startups without losing agility. Fed up with hierarchy and bureaucracy?  Want your organization to be more agile? In this interactive call-in show, share with us your biggest challenge in making your organization more agile and we’ll brainstorm with you to see what can be done about it.

Learn about the issues that others are facing and what you can do about the issues you face.

We’ll discuss what's involved in acquiring the breakthrough capabilities involved in making the entire organization agile.

Got a question for us to answe…

Mastering the Paradigm Shift to Radical Managementsm
May 21-23, 2012 in Washington DC
Today’s white-water environment requires the entire organization to be agile. With the abrupt, unpredictable and simultaneous shifts in markets, customers, communications, technology, competitors, talent and regulatory frameworks, the entire organization must be nimble to survive, let alone prosper. In this three-day workshop (May 21-23, 2012 in Washington DC), you will find out how to accomplish the necessary paradigm shift in your organization.


The biggest secret in management today Just over a decade ago, a set of major management breakthroughs occurred. These breakthroughs enabled software development teams to achieve both disciplined execution and continuous innovation, something that was hitherto impossible to accomplish with traditional management methods.

Over the last decade, these management practices, under various labels such as Agile, Scrum, Kanban and Lean, have been field-t…

Scrum is at the vanguard of a major shift in the management paradigm. The new paradigm is called Radical Management, based on Steve Denning's book of the same name. What is this shift and how does Scrum fit in?

This shift is due to a fundamental change in the marketplace. Due to globalization, customers now have incredible freedom about whom they choose to do business with. In order to keep customers, companies have to do more than just keep their customers satisfied. They have to delight their customers!

This shift impacts the five dimensions of management: Purpose of the Company, Role of Management, Accountability, Basic Values, and Communications.
Purpose of the companyOld: Maximize profits or shareholder value (or more recently, maximize management compensation)
New: Delight the customer
How Scrum does it: The product owner represents interest of the users, customers, and other stakeholders to the team doing the work. The product backlog is a list of items which bring value …