• Tag Archives agile

  • Your Own Journey; Look for the Road Signs

    Posted on by Tim

    Are you willing to put in the work to find your next waypoint on your journey?

    I appreciate Pam Dukes.  In the process of getting to know her, she has become one of the people I bounce ideas off around professional development and growth.

    STW team Plano, TX
    Tim Dickey, Pam Dukes, Nigel Thurlow, and John Turner during the “Scrum the Toyota Way” beta update

    Pam and I were chatting this week on Slack.  I was asking her about a concept and how it might have influence her as an Olympic athlete.

    She asked a couple of clarifying questions and then shared this nugget.  It sums up what I have been posting about around the themes of #showing_up as #humans_being.

    This is a simple phrase that is worth considering and sharing.  My journey is not your journey. The opposite is the same, your journey is not my journey.

    As a #veteran, I did not have a guide in my transitions off active duty.  I transitioned 3x, once after my time in the submarine force and twice after my deployments to Afghanistan.

    Transition is a constant in the private sector as well.  No guide from Carnival Cruise Line to government contracting.  No guide from Miami to Dallas to Verizon, Navy Reserve retirement, etc.

    I found guides in the #Agile community who helped me as I moved into my current role at Improving Enterprises.  It took discipline, dedication, effort, energy, and time to get to this waypoint on my journey.

    My journey is and will always be unique to me, original.  So distinctive that Hollywood could not write a script for it!

    I want to challenge you to think about these questions.

    What is unique about your journey?  Could you use a guide to help you along the way?


    📂This entry was posted in Personal 📎and tagged

  • Finding Furry Animals In Unusual Places Like The Home Vacuum

    Posted on by Tim

    During my weekend cleaning routine, I finally solved a problem I had been avoiding for a few years.  I hate to remove waste, especially when it’s not mine.

    I regularly vacuum the common areas of our home while our daughters take care of their rooms respectively.  There’s only one issue that neither of my teenagers sees as something to fix.  It might be considered a humans being thing.

    The photo for this post is one where I removed an impediment to completer and more efficient floor cleaning.  I spent about one-hour removing hair from the rotating brush head and the resulting pile of hair was about the size of a small, furry household pet.

    Remove waste - Hair removed from vacuum
    Removed waste from vacuum. Looks like a furry animal

    Remove waste

    So, I wonder, how much waste (Muda) did I allow by not cleaning the hair off the brush head? What sort of long-term cost had I created for myself over the last three or four years by not keeping the brushes clean? I may never know.

    Learning to see waste is challenging. Toyota works at it daily. We should to.

    When it comes to teams and teamwork, do you think similar situations exist? Just asking for a friend interested in large hairballs.


    📂This entry was posted in Personal 📎and tagged

  • The Fear Of Feeling “Less Than” In A New Position Or Role

    Posted on by Tim

    This was originally posted on LinkedIn. Changing roles creates mental conflict. My colleague wrestled with perception versus reality which prompted this post.

    Are you conflicted?

    Professionals can become conflicted for many reasons.  The potential list is nearly endless, because we are humans being.

    I attended a “lean coffee” session at lunchtime with my colleagues at Improving.   I join the Teams meeting when I’m able. Because these calls surface thoughtful discussion around challenges and insights within our Agile coach and Scrum Master community.

    One topic came up that led to this post.  A colleague wanted feedback.

    He is considering a role change from a technologist to an Agile coach at his current client.  Certainly, he was concerned about being perceived as “just a technologist”, not truly an Agile coach.

    Wow!  What a conflict!

    Volcanic eruption Sicily, Italy

    Perception versus reality

    During the 5-minutes timebox, we discussed how there may not be as much of a conflict between the roles of technologist vs. Agile coach.  Importantly, he had valid concerns about how his current role, as a technologist, might diminish his future influence as an Agile coach.

    Do you think his concerns are valid?  How might you coach him past his conflict?

    I can understand his concern. I faced similar feelings when I accepted a management role.

    Would I be accepted? What happens if I make a huge mistake? How will I deal with people problems?

    The waves of conflict can overtake anyone. Find an anchor, phone a friend, there’s plenty of help to around.


    📂This entry was posted in Personal 📎and tagged

  • Learning Made Easy For Hard Heads Like Mine

    Posted on by Tim

    This was originally posted on LinkedIn. A Scrum training learning enhancement tool I endorse.

    Actual game results

    Learning is my thing. It just is. I enjoy concept application as much as the experience of expanding the boundaries of my understanding.

    What about you?

    My interest leads me to continually improve my skills as a Scrum Master. As a result, playing games are complimentary to my willingness to learn. 

    I was introduced to a tool that may enable Scrum teams to learn by practice.

    Scrum training – online scrum card game

    Tim, the creator of Scrum Card Game – Scrum Simulation. Simple and realistic. He walked me, James, Sweta, and Valerie through the most recent updates to the simulation. 

    We learned the “why” behind its creation and had Tim as our coach while going through the Sprints.

    I’m not going to spoil the enjoyment you might receive from trying this experience out, so there are no details provided in the remainder of this post!

    I will give you a peak behind the curtain with this video. 

    Tim shared that the online version of the experience came from community feedback. He noted that the online game is based on iterative development of the original, physical product that he used in training classes.

    As the tool evolved, it was met with more positive feedback, going from a PDF file to a physical card deck to the online version of the same, but better!


    📂This entry was posted in Scrum Teamwork Training 📎and tagged

  • Oh, The Challenges Of Being Human While Being Human!

    Posted on by Tim

    This was originally posted on LinkedIn.

    How do you show up? Being human is tough.

    Generally, I can tell you that I am hit-and-miss, inconsistent about how I show up.  In both my personal and professional life.  There is no distinction between how I live privately or show up at work.

    Could showing up be a part of our problems? Is it one of the “whys” behind our challenges?

    Basically, I do not know, but I am trying to figure out if showing up is a factor in our challenges.  Let me pause here to offer some context as to what I perceive as “showing up.”

    To clarify, for me, showing up is parts authenticity, curiosity, determination, grit, transparency, and probably more nouns than this post allows.  Specifically, I work hard to avoid “cognitive dissonance”; inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, in the personas, roles, and stances I find myself in daily.

    For me, it takes self-discipline to show up daily in life; it is a constant struggle.

    Steps in the Salzburg Castle, Austria

    Being human

    I was encouraged by a conversation I recently had.

    So, I asked one of my mentors, Ravi Verma, this question during an Agile for Patriots coaching call.

    “What made certain graduates successful at finding roles as Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Product Owners?”

    I was surprised by the insight he shared.

    Ravi stated that in some ways, successful graduates relentlessly pursue improvement. 

    For example, he explained that successful graduates are like a runner who sets a goal to shave a half-second off or her race time. Additionally, The runner then sets another goal for a half-second reduction and repeats the process to achieve the desired results.

    Maybe this might help you in the coming week. Please let me know how it did.


    📂This entry was posted in Agile Personal Scrum 📎and tagged