Agents Unleashed

Fuel the enterprise’s ability to dynamically transform itself by becoming a Learning Organization (#10)

"At the heart of a learning organization is a shift of mind - from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing problems as caused by someone or something 'out there' to seeing how our actions create the problems we experience" - Peter SengeAs an SPC or agile change agent, how do you bring the Learning Organization dimension of SAFe's Continuous Learning Culture to life in your organization? In this episode, Ali, Niko, and Mark continue in their quest to provide insight and inspiration by sharing their personal journeys and war stories from the field.Ali hosts as Mark describes the tension between the slow but sustainable growth from coaching time-poor executives on the journey and the rapid acceleration when you focus at the team level. Niko reminds us that the coach's job is to make themselves redundant as he describes an organization that achieved "learning on auto-pilot." After Mark explains his love affair with the Improvement Kata for developing reflective conversation skills, Ali shares his experience with the value of templates and tools to help people start on the journey.Regarding Measure and Grow metrics, we are fully divided on our favorites. Ali's favorite is an "organization [that] continuously creates, acquires, shares, and transfers knowledge." Niko wants "organizations [that] encourage employees to challenge the status quo," and Mark wants "Teams [that] work collectively to achieve common objectives by sharing knowledge, solving problems, and learning together."Cast:Ali Hajou  (Moderator)Niko KaintantzisMark RichardsShow NotesBook References:The Fifth Discipline - Peter SengeToyota Kata - Mike RotherLeadership is Language - David MarquetThe Psychological Safety Playbook - Karolin Helbig and Minette NormanOther References:Building a learning organization - Harvard Business Review

Put the customer at the center of every decision with Customer Centricity and Design Thinking (#9)

"Test it while it feels unfinished. Otherwise, you fall in love with your solution and defend it instead of accepting feedback." - Niko Kaintantzis As an SPC or agile change agent, how do you support your organization's mastery of Customer Centricity and Design Thinking? In this episode, Ali, Niko, Stephan, and Mark continue in their quest to provide insight and inspiration by sharing their personal journeys and war stories from the field.Stephan hosts while Niko gets passionate about an ISO standard (yep, it is possible), Ali fights the constant idea of developing a one-size-fits-all solution, and Mark gets fired up about the importance of product strategy. Ali shares a great story about how a cyber-physical company found a way to be 'first on the market,' Mark reminisces about a group of Product Owners who brought the customers to life for their developers, and Niko stresses the importance of involving teams in the design thinking process.As usual, we're divided on our favorite Measure and Grow metric, but Mark and Ali win Niko over to their view that the presence of true rolling-wave roadmaps implies that the organization is incorporating customer feedback. Stephan is left in the minority, fighting for ‘Empathy’ as the most critical metric.Cast:Stephan Neck (Moderator)Ali HajouNiko KaintantzisMark RichardsShow NotesBook References:Lean UX: Jeff Gothelf and Josh SeidenLean Startup: Eric RiesRunning Lean: Ash MauriyaUsability und UX kompakt: Produkte für Menschen (IT kompakt)User-Centred Engineering: Creating Products for Humans (English Edition

Create more and better products for less money with happier customers through Relentless Improvement (#8)

"Scream and shout that you've done good things" - Ali HajouAs an SPC or other agile change agent, how do you help your organization turn Relentless Improvement from something you talk about to something you do? In this episode, Ali, Stephan, and Mark continue in their quest to provide insight and inspiration by sharing their personal journeys and war stories from the field.Mark moderates, as Stephan and Ali share secrets they've discovered about bringing it to life. Ali recounts the story of a client who came up with a gamification approach to generate a beginning that snowballed. Team members went from being demotivated and departing to happy and sticking around.  Meanwhile, leadership went from reluctant to excited about allocating time for improvement activities as the results piled up. Stephan illustrates the importance of discipline and structure in improvement efforts by taking us on a personal journey he followed with his health and fitness.In the battle to pick a favorite Measure and Grow metric, Stephan and Mark join forces to argue the importance of facts and data. At the same time, Ali sits firmly behind his belief that it's about "the organization giving improvement activities priority, visibility, and resources.Cast:Mark Richards - SAFe Fellow (Moderator)Stephan Neck - SPCT Ali Hajou - SPCTShow NotesBook References:Toyota Kata: Mike RotherFour Types of Problems: Art SmalleyThe Lean Machine: Dantar P. OosterwalThe No Asshole Rule: Robert Sutton

Reliably meet Customers’ needs with Built-in Quality (#7)

"You can build a hut on rotten ground, but not a skyscraper" - Niko KaintantzisAli, Niko, Stephan, and Mark are on a quest to help agile change agents, particularly SPCs, grow their skills and impact beyond certification. In this episode, they share insights from their personal journeys with the Built-in Quality dimension of the SAFe Team and Technical Agility competency.Ali hosts Niko, Stephan, and Mark reminisce on their days as developers and how they learned the importance of built-in quality practices early in their agile journeys with XP. Stephan and Mark explore the criticality of BDD and insights to be gained from the Context Driven Testing movement, while Niko stresses the fact that you need to test that you're building the right thing as well as whether you're building the thing right. The battle to pick a favorite metric in the Measure and Grow assessment becomes spirited as Stephan, Mark, and Ali unite behind "Our team's testing practices catch defects early." At the same time, Niko staunchly defends his choice of "Our team gathers feedback from users."Cast:Stephan Neck - SPCT (Moderator)Ali Hajou - SPCTNiko Kaintantzis - SPCTMark Richards - SAFe FellowShow NotesBook References:Specification by Example - Gojko AdzicLessons Learned in Software Testing - Kaner, Bach, PettichordTest-Driven Development - Kent Beck Usability und UX kompakt - Produkte für Menschen: Richter, FlückigerUser-Centred Engineering - Creating Products for Humans: Richter, FlückigerOther References:BDD in actionSpecification by Example course by Gojko AdzicContext-driven-testing.com