CHOW #313: Reconciling performance orientation with enjoying the journey: A leadership conundrum
CHALLENGE I said, “Ringo, when I interviewed you on January 26th, I asked you about performance-oriented culture, and how well you are aware of this, because this is an important principle by which our organization operates, and you will need to inculcate this into the startup that we will acquire and merge into our eco-system […]
Leadership principles in the Generative AI age
(This article is an edited extract from PM Power’s upcoming book Full Stack Leadership) It is interesting to see where AI has reached from when it started. Research on AI started as early as the 1950s and 1960s. By the beginning of this millennium, newer AI models like deep neural networks and ways to manipulate […]
Language that shapes compassionate communication
Introduction Have you ever wondered at times why you said what you said? It happened to me a couple of days back: I said something cheeky to my mother during a normal conversation in the evening and her facial reaction revealed ‘mild hurt’, but she quickly recovered and moved on! ‘Mild’ is my interpretation. I […]
Navigating Career Paths as a Scrum Master
In recent times, I’ve received numerous inquiries from Scrum Masters about potential career paths. This concern is highly relevant given the current uncertainties surrounding agile roles, with some companies even reducing the number of dedicated agile positions. Many organizations are now prioritizing roles that contribute directly to product development or business operations, moving away from […]
Middle Managers & Leadership Styles (Blogging with AI)
As you can make out from the title, I am targeting two objectives for this blog: Leadership styles depend on context, role and typical followers, do they not? So, let’s look at a comparison of senior managers and middle managers along those dimensions. Senior managers Middle managers Context: Broader market, competitor and company growth perspective […]
A look at non-obvious wastes and “needed” wastes in software development
Waste reduction and elimination is a well-known process in lean implementation. PM Power’s latest book “A Practitioner’s Guide to Enterprise Agility” ( https://www.pm-powerconsulting.com/a-practitioners-guide-to-enterprise-agility/ ) examines this practice and its application in a customer context. Toyota’s Production System (TPS) pioneered this concept as part of their lean manufacturing process. The one thing they did was to […]
Relating to Relative Size Estimation
There has been a great deal written about relative size estimation and its many benefits: simplicity, speed and adequacy commensurate with the level of planning. Despite all that, we find that adopting relative size and story point estimates by teams is not without its challenges. This blog covers some tips to coaches for getting teams […]
CHOW #304: Travails of a young coach
As agile coaches, we have all had our initial travails, cutting our teeth in the first engagement and at times learning the hard way. One can walk down memory lane, maybe with a rueful smile! Here is a quiz of three questions which may make you reminisce! For those who are not coaches, it may […]
