Category: Training
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The Ultimate Stress Test For Your Agile Release Train
Protect Your Agile Release Train During Reorgs, Leadership Turnover, and Enterprise Turbulence In this follow-up to 4 Warning Signs Your Agile Release Has Slipped into “Zombie Agile”, we focus on how to use the ultimate stress test to identify Zombie Agile in your department. In Part 1, we exposed the warning signs of Zombie Agile.…
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4 Warning Signs Your Agile Release Has Slipped into “Zombie Agile”
Agile Release Trains don’t collapse overnight. They drift quietly into “Zombie Agile,” where ceremonies, metrics, and retrospectives look healthy on the surface but mask stalled delivery and fading discipline. In this post, we outline four warning signs every RTE and PMO Director should watch for, and how to recognize when your train has slipped into…
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Part 3-Embedding Accuracy Into How Your Organization Operates
From Heroics to Habits: Agility In Motion There’s a moment that happens after the crisis is over—after the date is corrected, the plan is aligned, and the client relationship is back on steady ground. The immediate issue is resolved, but the underlying conditions that allowed it (the over‑promise) to happen still exist. This is where…
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Part 2-Repairing and Strengthening Relationships When Managing The Aftereffects of “Over-Promises”
By the time you’ve diagnosed the root cause, reset expectations, and corrected the internal misalignment, the immediate crisis is usually over. The unrealistic date has been addressed. The team is aligned. The system is steadier. Operationally, things are back on track. But even when the mechanics are fixed, something still lingers, and most leaders know…
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A leader’s Playbook for Managing Over-Promises Without Breaking Trust (Part 1)
When A Product Manager or Other Team Member Provides Unrealistic Dates to Clients There’s a special kind of dread that hits a leader’s stomach when they hear a Product Manager, Sales Rep, or Business Development Manager, etc. confidently tell a client, “Yes, we can deliver that by next quarter,” when you know with absolute certainty…
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Maintaining High-Performing Agile Teams Through the Turbulence of Reorganization
The Executive’s Dilemma: Growth vs. Stability Reorganizations (“reorg”) are often a necessary response to growth, market shifts, or strategic pivots. From an organizational chart perspective, a reorg looks like a logical realignment of resources. But from the perspective of an Agile team, a reorg can feel like an earthquake, or worse yet a personal attack…
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And Then There’s the Ellipsis… My Soft-Landing Punctuation
In my last blog, I defended the em dash—my dramatic soulmate, my expressive interrupter, my punctuation ride-or-die. But now, we are shifting from bold entrances to quiet exits. Because while the em dash makes statements, the ellipsis… let’s you breathe. The ellipsis doesn’t judge. It doesn’t interrupt or demand structure or precision. It just… lets…
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In Defense of the Em Dash “—”
My Longtime Love Affair with a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark In writing recently, I’ve caught myself replacing my beloved em dash with other punctuation—most notably the semicolon. While the semicolon is a great mark, it’s not the same. Why Replace the Em Dash? AI engines are huge users of this punctuation mark and “everyone” is saying…
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Agile Training Is Not Just For Your New Hires
Outdated Agile Habits Hurt Everyone When is it time for a team to review its Agile ceremonies? Is Agile training only for your new hires? More importantly, when does a team slip into the dangerous mindset of: “We already know Agile; we don’t need any updated training!”? Teams frequently become comfortable with the rhythm of…