Some notes about “8 Best Practices to Start a Scrum Project” article

Regularly I read Barry Overeem’s notes because he gives practical advice about Scrum, always in a concise and understandable way. In this recently updated article, he demonstrates 8 practices to set up at the very beginning of a Scrum project: before and during Sprint #1. If you find his article too long to read, here are some notes to sum it up.

Although they are relevant insights to set up a successful Scrum Team, I bring some comments (framed with <NC></NC> tags) because in my opinion this is too close to an ideal world: a majority of organisations are not designed to enable such a way of working.

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Agility in Corporate

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.

agility in corporate collaboration

Following a presentation I did for my colleagues at Altran Belgium, here are some notes about my own perspective on Agile applied to the change in the way companies work today.

Agile is a mindset, a culture, some even say it is a philosophy, so it can be applied to all aspects in life. Specifying “Corporate” means how business and companies handle rapid changes and adapt successfully within their VUCA environment. When becoming Agile, a company’s structure and way of working can be highly impacted.

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Some notes about “Ten Agile Axioms That Make Managers Anxious” article

Steve Denning writes outstanding articles about Agile, and I would like to give you some insights: here are some extracts from Ten Agile Axioms That Make Managers Anxious published in June on forbes.com.

Most managers have themselves grasped the need to be agile: a recent Deloitte survey (PDF) of more than 10,000 business leaders across 140 countries revealed that nearly all surveyed respondents (94%) report that “agility and collaboration” are critical to their organization’s success. Yet only 6% say that they are “highly agile today.” So, what’s the problem? Why the 88% gap between aspiration and actuality.

It’s not lack of knowledge as to what is agile management or how to implement it. The Laws of Agile are simple but their implementation is often difficult. That’s in part because they are at odds with some of the basic assumptions and attitudes that have prevailed in managing large organizations for at least a century. For example, Agile makes more money by not focusing on making money. In Agile, control is enhanced by letting go of control. Agile leaders act more like gardeners than commanders. And that’s just the beginning.

That’s one reason why merely training staff on Agile processes and practices by itself won’t make a firm agile. Implementing Agile requires a mindset that is fundamentally different from the traditional preoccupations with profit maximization and a philosophy of controlism.

Let’s look at ten of the Agile axioms that leave managers apprehensive, agitated, even aghast.

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Online course ‘Becoming an Entrepreneur’ – part 1

Do you plan to start a career as an entrepreneur? Or do you want to know more about entrepreneurship activities?

One of the best platforms for MOOCs, edx.org, featured recently the courseBecoming an Entrepreneur‘. It has been designed by the MIT via its entrepreneurship program LaunchX. Here are some notes I wrote about it.

Main purpose of the course: Learn how to map your customer’s full use case — from when they discover they have a problem, through creating value, and getting word of mouth referrals from a satisfied customer.

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