The agile mindset is the #1 thing that has helped me advance as an agile practitioner - but that doesn't mean it's easy to shift to this way of thinking.

1. THE AGILE MINDSET:
EASIER SAID THAN DONE
Rachel Gaddis
March 2018

2. Ippon Technologies 2018Ippon Technologies 2018
Agenda
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2
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4 TAKING THIS BACK TO WORK TODAY
WHAT IS THE AGILE MINDSET?
HOW DOES THIS HELP US?
5 QUESTIONS
OVERVIEW
2

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OVERVIEW

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OVERVIEW - WHO’S HERE?
Any agile
practitioners? Any
project managers
or product
managers?
Developers?
Analysts?

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WRITE DOWN 1 WISH
Before we begin, think about the
biggest thing you’re not satisfied
with right now on your team (or
teams)... the number one thing
you’d fix if you could.
Jot it down on a sticky note --
just for yourself.
We’ll come back to these later.

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WHAT IS THE AGILE MINDSET?
IT’S LEARNING.
Learning constantly. Applying what we learn. Delivering small pieces of work
(increments) so we can get feedback
sooner.

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WHY THIS TOPIC?
An agile mindset is the #1 thing that’s
helped me become a better scrum
master and agile team member.
Questions I used to ask…
● Is there a template I can re-use for this?
● Am I doing this right?
Questions I ask now…
● How can we do this better next time?
● What can we learn from this?
● Is the team feeling productive?
● Is the client getting value out of this?
● How can we get feedback more quickly, so
we can find out what to adjust?

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WHO IS THIS PERSON?
Rachel Gaddis
Print publishing → Advertising → Web
Content → Consulting, doing Business
Analysis → and then, landed on an agile team
BOOM
I fell in love with agile and never looked back.
Currently an agile coach at Ippon USA, based in
Washington DC. I also love sailing.

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THE AGILE MINDSET:
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT

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THE AGILE MANIFESTO
When we adopt an agile mindset of continual learning,
do we get any insight into the Agile Manifesto?
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

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THE AGILE MANIFESTO
Focus on
continual
learning
Seek
feedback
frequently
Apply what
we learn
Iterate &
Build
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

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THE 12 AGILE PRINCIPLES & THE AGILE MINDSET
PRINCIPLES
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in
development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users should be able
to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence
and good design enhances agility.
4. Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.
10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount
of work not done--is essential.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams.
6. The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how
to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.
When we adopt an
agile mindset of
continual learning
-- seeking feedback
as quickly as
possible so that we
can apply what you
learn -- how does
that change our
view of the Agile
principles?

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THE 12 AGILE PRINCIPLES & THE AGILE MINDSET
PRINCIPLES
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in
development. Agile processes harness change for
the customer's competitive advantage.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users should be able
to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence
and good design enhances agility.
4. Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.
10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount
of work not done--is essential.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals.
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams.
6. The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how
to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.
Focus on
continual
learning
Seek
feedback
frequently
Apply what
we learn
Iterate &
Build

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HOW THIS HELPS US

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DECISIONS
DECISION MAKING
It’s easier to make and defend
decisions that align with agile values
and principles when we have a single
guiding mindset.
That same mindset makes it harder
to go along with decisions that put
us in conflict with agile values or
principles.
With a clear sense of direction, it’s
easier for me to stay aligned with
agile values and principles when
we’re asking ourselves one question
instead of 4 (or 12).

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FOCUS
A focus on delivery of working
software helps eliminate clutter
and prioritize the most important
features and activities.

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RESPONSE
By having a clearer, simpler
decision making process, we
speed up our decision making,
and become more responsive
teammates.

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TAKE BACK TO WORK TODAY

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THIS MINDSET STUFF SOUNDS A LITTLE HOKEY
It’s true that we have a lot of guidance already with regard to agile.
● Ceremonies like standups, retrospectives, sprint closeout / demos
● Guidelines for story writing, acceptance criteria, story planning
● Best practices for definition of ready, definition of done
But you can do all that stuff and not see any benefit, because:
● The true magic of this happens when we decide that we want to keep
learning all the time
● The true magic happens when we believe it’s OK to try something
new to try to solve a problem; it may not work but we might learn
something that could lead to a better solution.
● The true magic happens when we believe that if we keep working, if
we keep learning, we’ll be better tomorrow than we are today

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Still Got Your Sticky Note?
Look at your note from earlier.
How can we apply the agile mindset to the challenge you
wrote down?
Jot down a couple of ideas. If you need a sticky note, wave me
over and I’ll bring you one.

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STAY SHARP
Something that’s worked for me is that as I meet people I like or find interesting, I
follow them on twitter and then follow cool / interesting agile people they’re
following on twitter, read things they mention… you get the idea.
● Agile Manifesto - Nothing beats the basics: http://agilemanifesto.org/
● The Great ScrumMaster - by Zusana “Zuzi” Šochová, link here for more info:
https://greatscrummaster.com
● Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great - by Esther Derby and
Diana Larsen
● Mike Cohn - author of User Stories Applied, Agile Estimating and Planning,
and more… his blog is here: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog
● Scrum: Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time - by Jeff Sutherland
@AgileUprising
@jeffsutherland
@zuzuzka
@baileyrk

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Questions?

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ONE LAST THING…. ROTI (RETURN ON TIME INVESTED)
Can you give me one
last sticky note, this
time indicating a
ROTI for this
meeting for you? All
you have to do is
scrawl a number on
the note.
Rating Description
5
Excellent. Really useful meeting worth more than the time I
spent on it. High value.
4 Above Average. Time well spent. I gained a lot. Good value.
3 Average. I gained enough to justify the time spent. I have not
wasted my time, at least.
2 Useful but it wasn’t worth 100% of the time spent on it. So I
wasted some of my time.
1 Useless. I gained nothing. I wasted all of my time. No value at all.

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Thank
you!