Focused Attention

This is Part 4

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3    Part 4     Part 5 
In the context of practicing a musical instrument or a sport, the student can Practice, Practice, Practice all they want, but if they are mindlessly practicing they will not achieve the same level of proficiency as when they are focused towards achieving specific goals.

A few years ago I worked with a client where the IT group was very consistent in their delivery. Unfortunately, they were consistently late on every major initiative. I attended a meeting two weeks prior to the scheduled launch of a newly developed system where the team was discussing basic requirements questions. On another initiative the testing plan was first being discussed as the team was preparing for final data conversion and system launch. I watched other project teams fall victim to delays because of partially allocated resources. And the list goes on.

A Great Coach

This is Part 3

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3    Part 4     Part 5

Great coaches know their sport, know their game, know their playing field and are able to guide & teach to improve performance for individuals and the team as whole. Great Coaches get the most out of their teams.

If you're adopting agile, you're new to it and no one in your organization knows much about agile, it's best to find a great coach to help you get started and progress rapidly. 

Practice, Practice, Practice

This is Part 2

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3    Part 4     Part 5

Growing up I was in the marching band, in the drum section, which to me was the coolest section. As I was learning to play the drums we practiced rudiments - single stroke rolls, multiple bounce rolls, flams, paradiddles, ... Rudiments are the components that allow drummers to play various techniques creating the wide variety of sounds you hear in music. When first learning it took extra time to figure out how to control the sticks, how to keep the right beat, how to play the right sequences. We practiced slow at first then began to increase in speed. We practiced over and over and over again.

The same was true for the times I played sports. For example, in tennis we had a ball machine that would launch one ball after another to the same spot, where I would have to hit cross court forehands over and over and over again. This style of practice allowed me to improve my skills and become a better drummer and tennis player.

In the lean and agile worlds there are a couple of key aspects that allow us to practice.

Learning Agile - Thing One, Thing Two, Thing Three & Thing Four

This is part 1 of 5
Part 1     Part 2     Part 3    Part 4     Part 5

Growing up I enjoyed playing sports. I played little league baseball as well as basketball, tennis, golf and volleyball. In those sports I had very different experiences learning each one and looking back I see how those experiences apply to the world of agile coaching.

A new day

"Agile - day by day" is simply a place to talk about practical ways of applying lean and agile principles and practices for individuals, teams and organizations. What I see in the work I do to help teams move to agile approaches, typically with a mix of Scrum and XP, will be the primary source for my blog entries. However, looking to other areas & other fields, will also yield interesting and useful information we can  apply in our agile world.

The first few blogs will be based on what it takes to become good at something in general and how those same ideas apply to learning agile principles & practices. An initial look at how students learn to play a sport or a musical instrument will show the keys to learning anything new.