Lyssa Adkins : Agilists Superpower and Challenge

@LyssaAdkins
LyssaAdkins.com
AND OUR PLANETARY CHALLENGE
Regional Scrum Gathering Japan 2023
THE AGILISTS’ EMERGING SUPERPOWER
Image by Oberholster
Venita from Pixabay

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©2023 Cricketwing Consulting @LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
We are in a huge shift all over the world.
From the conception of organizations as machines…
Image generated by DALL·E

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
…to the dawning realization that organizations
are complex, like ecosystems, like rainforests.

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
Perpetual – occurring all the time
Pervasive – unfolding in multiple areas of life at once
Exponential – accelerating at an increasingly rapid rate
Source: Harvard Business Review
Volatile ⚡ Uncertain ⚡ Complex ⚡ Ambiguous
+

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@LyssaAdkins
Source: InspireMe! card deck
Design by Deborah Hartmann Preuss
@LyssaAdkins

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
Agility &
Leadership
Coach
2nd Gen.
Certified
Scrum
Trainers
Developed 10,000 Agilists
PMP
in 2000
PMO
Leader
(twice)
Project
Manager
Oil & Gas
Municipal Water
Defense Systems
Credit Cards
MayoClinic.com
Legal & Compliance
Loyalty Platforms
Many many IT Systems

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
sprint
minimum viable product
product increment
retrospective
backlog
standup
burndown
user story
release
big room planning
UNLIMITED NUMBER OF
PRACTICES

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
Visualization attributed to Ahmed Sidky, ICAgile and Riot Games
AGILE IS A
MINDSET
DESCRIBED BY
A FEW VALUES
DEFINED BY
12 PRINCIPLES
MANIFESTED THROUGH AN
UNLIMITED NUMBER OF
PRACTICES
Scrum
Kanban
XP
SAFe

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@LyssaAdkins
Agile frameworks are
They need practices and behaviors from other disciplines
You are meant to inspect & adapt into a
way of working for your situation
without capitulating
to limiting beliefs and structures that no longer serve

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@LyssaAdkins
Agile frameworks are
for metabolizing change
again, and again, and again, and again, and again,
and again, and again, and again, and again, and again,

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@LyssaAdkins
Agility makes it safe to change
Regularly deliver business value so you
Fast feedback loops to
Inspect & adapt to
Built-in cadence to pause, reconsider and
Plan again to deliver a

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@LyssaAdkins
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Standup
Daily
< 4 weeks
Sprint
Retrospective
Delivered
Value
🎉
Sprint
Review
SCRUM
FRAMEWORK
Sprint
Planning

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@LyssaAdkins
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Standup
Daily
< 4 weeks
Sprint
Retrospective
Delivered
Value
🎉
Sprint
Review
Sprint
Planning
Regularly deliver
business value so you

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@LyssaAdkins
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Standup
Daily
< 4 weeks
Sprint
Retrospective
Delivered
Value
🎉
Sprint
Review
Sprint
Planning
Fast feedback loops to

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@LyssaAdkins
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Standup
Daily
< 4 weeks
Sprint
Retrospective
Delivered
Value
🎉
Sprint
Review
Sprint
Planning
Inspect & adapt to

View Slide

@LyssaAdkins
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Standup
Daily
< 4 weeks
Sprint
Retrospective
Delivered
Value
🎉
Sprint
Review
Sprint
Planning
Built-in cadence to
pause, reconsider and

View Slide

@LyssaAdkins
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog
Standup
Daily
< 4 weeks
Sprint
Retrospective
Delivered
Value
🎉
Sprint
Review
Sprint
Planning
Plan again to deliver a

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@LyssaAdkins
Focus
Let the team
focus &
deliver…
minimize
distractions.
Done Done
Get to
Done Done
each sprint...
don’t carry
work over to
the next
sprint.
Change
Bring in
change at
start of a
new sprint…
not in the
middle.
Courage
Be
courageous
when
inspecting
and
adapting…
hide nothing.
Events
Get good at
the recurring
events…
don’t let them
become
meaningless
rituals.
FOR USING AGILE WELL TO METABOLIZE CHANGE
Top 5 Tips

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@LyssaAdkins
“Implement Scrum and
all of the reasons that an
organization has
trouble delivering
quality [product]
on schedule are
thrown up in your face
day after day,
month after month.”
Ken Schwaber
Co-creator of
Scrum
“The only thing
Agility is
guaranteed to
deliver
100% of the time
is impediments.”
Lyssa Adkins
Agility is a
relentless
impediment
revealer

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@LyssaAdkins
Jonathan Smart
Impediments are not IN the path;
impediments ARE the path.
@LyssaAdkins

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GET AN IMPEDIMENT IN
MIND RIGHT NOW
(write it down)
An impediment
is anything that
slows or stops
your ability
to deliver.
@LyssaAdkins

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@LyssaAdkins
the power to
metabolize change
for good
We have an emerging superpower…

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@LyssaAdkins
What’s the
current reality?
(the primary)
What’s trying
to emerge?
(the secondary)
Change
Edge
LIFE PUTS US AT
CHANGE EDGES
Being a couple… …to being parents
Having horrible stage fright… …to playing guitar in bars
Enjoying unrestricted mobility… …to being in lockdown
Sources: Edge Theory of Change by Arnold Mindell,
Application to Coaching by CRR Global: Organization
& Relationship Systems Coaching ™

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@LyssaAdkins
Edge
Behaviors
AGILE PUTS
US AT EDGES
Being told what to do… …to volunteering for tasks
Deciding for the team… …to letting the team decide
Avoiding failure at all costs… …to embracing “fail fast” to learn

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@LyssaAdkins
Change
Edge
COMMON CHANGE
EDGES FOR ORGS
Inflexible plans that resist change
because they deliver at the end…
…to flexible plans that welcome
change because they deliver frequently
Specifying the product and
waiting for delivery at the end…
…to guiding the product and getting
incremental delivery all the time
Bottom-up, annual budgeting to
fund disconnected projects…
…to continuous budgeting of long-lived
products linked to team delivery capacity

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@LyssaAdkins
Change
Edge
COMMON CHANGE
EDGES FOR YOU
Alleviating discomfort as
fast as possible…
…to experiencing discomfort
as a positive indicator of growth
Waiting for change to
happen from above…
…to being an agent of
change from where I sit
Doing what I'm told…
…to asking questions and
voicing opinions so we can all
discover what's better

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A main reason
change edges are not crossed and
impediments continue to exist is Remember that
impediment you thought
about a little while ago?
To address it, what
conversation do you
need to have?
@LyssaAdkins
CONVERSATIONS
WE ARE NOT
HAVING

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@LyssaAdkins
GET READY TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION
Inner work
PAUSE.
Get clarity, alignment and integrity within yourself.
Get to the essence of what you need to assert or ask for.
Outer work
Practice key moments of the conversation then…
Go Do It!

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@LyssaAdkins
GET CLARITY, ALIGNMENT, INTEGRITY WITHIN YOURSELF
Inner work
What is your intention in having this conversation?
What is the positive difference that could happen if this
conversation goes really well?
How much better could it get if the change edge is crossed or
the impediment is alleviated?
What do you need to ask for? What do you need to assert?

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@LyssaAdkins
Practice key moments of the conversation with a friendly
colleague.
Pro tip: Start the conversation with the answers from your Step 1
questions before diving into “what’s wrong.”
Just prior: Connect to your intention for having the conversation.
Keep it in mind throughout. Let your intention guide you.
GO DO IT!
PRACTICE LEY MOMENTS, THEN GO DO IT!
Outer work

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins

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@LyssaAdkins
Instead of thinking of agility as
something to “do”
or even as something to “be”,
think of it instead as a
brilliant, emergent response
that helps us thrive in
constant change and disruption.
@LyssaAdkins

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@LyssaAdkins

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@LyssaAdkins
TODAY
THE AGE OF
REGENERATION
OUR PLANETARY CHALLENGES HAVE THEIR ROOTS IN
4 MAIN AREAS OF SEPARATION

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@LyssaAdkins
FULL EXPRESSION OF ALL QUALITIES IS NEEDED
MASCULINE QUALITIES
Competitive
Assertive
Protective
Goal-oriented
Rational thinking
Independent
Mono-task
Bias for action
FEMININE QUALITIES
Collaborative
Receptive
Nurturing
Relationship-oriented
Intuitive feeling
Interdependence
Multi-task
Bias for flow
Source: Hutchins and Storm

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@LyssaAdkins
@LyssaAdkins
What are you applying agile to that is worthy of you?

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@LyssaAdkins
ありがとうございます

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Lyssa Adkins : Agilists Superpower and Challenge

Lyssa Adkins : Agilists Superpower and Challenge

Yasunobu Kawaguchi
PRO

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Transcript

Lyssa Adkins : Agilists Superpower and Challenge

Lyssa Adkins : Agilists Superpower and Challenge

Yasunobu Kawaguchi PRO

More Decks by Yasunobu Kawaguchi

Other Decks in Technology

Featured

Transcript

Yasunobu Kawaguchi
PRO