AGILE COACHING, TRAINING An Agile Transformation is a big deal.Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided Agile Training and Scrum Certification to over 100 teams in various industries.. We’ve provided Agile Coaching to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. THE 5 BEST AGILE BOOKS FOR 2021 Fearles s Change : Patter ns for Introd ucing New Ideas by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising. Impleme nting Lean Softwa re Develo pment: From Concep t to Cash by Mary and Tom Poppendieck. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Out of WHAT IS AGILE AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Doing agile is about executing agile practices. It is about organizing so that we efficiently and effectively deliver the best solution for our customer in the least amount of time. You can think of doing agile as applying the Scrum Framework with 2-week sprints and a STOP TRYING TO CONTROL PEOPLE The giver needs it so that they can feel better than themselves. Most individuals who try to control others suffer from some sort of anxiety. They attempt to relieve their anxiety by controlling others. Offering unsolicited advice is just one way to control people and it is generally pretty benign. Probably I was over reacting to that email

above.

AGILE SUCCESS STORY

The agile success story for Bank of America Agile included the following: 1. Leading by Example. The leadership team went first in terms of their Agile and Scrum training, and several of them made personal sacrifices to add value to the organization. 2. 5 TIPS TO IMPROVE PRODUCT BACKLOG REFINEMENT Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when DO YOU NEED A FULL TIME SCRUM MASTER FOR SCRUM? I’ve outlined some options below: 1) Hire a full-time SM. 2) Train the team manager to be a SM. 3) Ask for a team member to volunteer to be a half time SM and work as a developer for the other half their time. 4) Rotate the SM role within the team. 5) Have no SM. A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMSSEE MORE ON

VITALITYCHICAGO.COM

HEY SCRUM MASTERS, YOU'RE NOT THE JIRA LACKEY! Hey Scrum Masters, You’re Not the Jira Lackey! Many Scrum Masters act as if their job is to keep all the tasks up to date in the online agile tool. They act like mother hens, constantly chirping about team members not moving their tasks to done. Or, they are the only one with admin rights to make changes in Jira, TFS or whatever. HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE AGILE TEAMS TO BECOME HIGH-PERFORMING Agile leaders and managers play a big part in setting the context for success. Some of the ways that they create context that motivates agile teams include: Get the right people on the teams, based on the work to be performed. Train the teams on the technology, the business domain, Agile and Scrum and anything else that will help them perform

well.

AGILE COACHING, TRAINING An Agile Transformation is a big deal.Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided Agile Training and Scrum Certification to over 100 teams in various industries.. We’ve provided Agile Coaching to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. THE 5 BEST AGILE BOOKS FOR 2021 I am frequently asked about the best books for learning about agile and Scrum. It’s not easy to answer. I have nearly 100 books on agile-related topics and there are so many new agile books published every year that it is difficult to keep up! WHAT IS AGILE AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? For convenience, I’ve numbered the 12 principles but on the website they are just listed without numbers.. The first principle is the highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. The words “valuable software” bothers some people. STOP TRYING TO CONTROL PEOPLE The giver needs it so that they can feel better than themselves. Most individuals who try to control others suffer from some sort of anxiety. They attempt to relieve their anxiety by controlling others. Offering unsolicited advice is just one way to control people and it is generally pretty benign. Probably I was over reacting to that email

above.

AGILE SUCCESS STORY

The agile success story for Bank of America Agile included the following: 1. Leading by Example. The leadership team went first in terms of their Agile and Scrum training, and several of them made personal sacrifices to add value to the organization. 2. 5 TIPS TO IMPROVE PRODUCT BACKLOG REFINEMENT Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when DO YOU NEED A FULL TIME SCRUM MASTER FOR SCRUM? I’ve outlined some options below: 1) Hire a full-time SM. 2) Train the team manager to be a SM. 3) Ask for a team member to volunteer to be a half time SM and work as a developer for the other half their time. 4) Rotate the SM role within the team. 5) Have no SM. A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMSSEE MORE ON

VITALITYCHICAGO.COM

HEY SCRUM MASTERS, YOU'RE NOT THE JIRA LACKEY! Hey Scrum Masters, You’re Not the Jira Lackey! Many Scrum Masters act as if their job is to keep all the tasks up to date in the online agile tool. They act like mother hens, constantly chirping about team members not moving their tasks to done. Or, they are the only one with admin rights to make changes in Jira, TFS or whatever. HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE AGILE TEAMS TO BECOME HIGH-PERFORMING Agile leaders and managers play a big part in setting the context for success. Some of the ways that they create context that motivates agile teams include: Get the right people on the teams, based on the work to be performed. Train the teams on the technology, the business domain, Agile and Scrum and anything else that will help them perform

well.

AGILE FOR PRACTITIONERS (AGILE CERTIFIED PRACTITIONER OR The Agile For Practitioners Training Course is an in-depth, workshop-style course that will teach participants the principles and values of Agile, the most popular agile frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, Lean Software Development and Extreme Programming (XP), and help them apply Agile practices and techniques to their current projects.. This course qualifies as education contact hours for the AGILE LEADER TRAINING COURSE This two-day Agile for Leaders Training provides leaders with the understanding and tools they need to effectively lead Agile and Scrum teams and support an Agile culture. The course provides a brief overview of Agile Values and Principles, lean concepts, and a summary of the most popular agile frameworks.

TESTIMONIALS

The attitude of the instructor towards teaching and the trainees is crucial. The instructor requires motivation to teach and motivation comes from inner drive to achieve something. You are dedicated, self-motivated, methodical, and engaging instructor. A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS A high performing team shares all the characteristics of Real Teams. In addition, they have two characteristics that set them apart. With High-Performance Teams, the individuals are deeply committed to the growth and development of their teammates. They are also committed to the success of each team member and the group as a whole. WHY I AM NOT GOING TO RENEW MY PMI, AGILE & SCRUM Updated 2020: Over the last year I have explored professional certifications in detail. I have learned that many of the Agile and Scrum Certifications expire if you don’t renew them. And the renewal, while ostensibly about learning, is really just a way for the certifying bodies to make more money. So I am not going to renew my

certifications.

FOR HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS, STOP ASSIGNING PEOPLE TO In summary, continuing to assign people to multiple projects and teams reduces productivity, decreases business agility, and undermines the performance of your high performing teams. The more you do it, the more you will reinforce the practice and you will create a spiral that is impossible to break out of. Despite reading this, you’ll ignore

it.

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AGILE COACH TRAITS? What are the top Agile Coach traits that great coaches should have? Today there are more and more individuals hanging out a shingle and calling themselves Agile Coaches. With good reason – Indeed.com listed Agile Coach as #18 on their list of top jobs in 2019.At $161K average salary, it was the highest paid of the best jobs listed. THE BENEFITS OF STABLE, LONG-STANDING TEAMS The team went on to dominate and win all their games and the gold medal. Most organizations ignore the benefits of long-standing teams and they move people around like pawns on a chessboard. If a team is “behind”, they throw people at the problem so that they can catch up. They seem unaware of the certain negative impact on team

performance

USING THE DRAMA TRIANGLE IN AGILE COACHING The drama triangle is a relationship pattern consisting of three roles. The victim is represented at the bottom of the triangle because it is viewed as below the other two roles: Victim – It all starts with a victim, someone who feels that they are being attacked or persecuted by another. THE ROLE OF AN AGILE LEADER DURING AN AGILE TRANSFORMATION An agile leader is a person who fosters agile ways of thinking and working, creates an environment where teams can do their best work, and champions agile throughout their organization. Definitions of Agile Leaders vary widely and this is an area where certification is

new and evolving.

AGILE COACHING, TRAINING An Agile Transformation is a big deal.Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided Agile Training and Scrum Certification to over 100 teams in various industries.. We’ve provided Agile Coaching to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. THE 5 BEST AGILE BOOKS FOR 2021 Fearles s Change : Patter ns for Introd ucing New Ideas by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising. Impleme nting Lean Softwa re Develo pment: From Concep t to Cash by Mary and Tom Poppendieck. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Out of A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMSSEE MORE ON

VITALITYCHICAGO.COM

AGILE SUCCESS STORY

The agile success story for Bank of America Agile included the following: 1. Leading by Example. The leadership team went first in terms of their Agile and Scrum training, and several of them made personal sacrifices to add value to the organization. 2. THE MESSY MIDDLE GROUND OF AGILE TRANSFORMATION The Messy Middle Ground of Agile Transformation. Many people think of transformation as a linear process. Whether it is a digital or agile transformation, or even a personal transformation, we like to think of it as a straight line from where we are to our goal. As a coach, and a “change agent”, I’ve been overly enthusiastic about the WHAT NOT TO DO AS AN AGILE COACH Mind Your Words as an Agile Coach. Inappropriate humor has been the bane of my professional experience. Geez, you’d think I would have learned it back in 1989 when I cracked an ill-conceived joke about my then officemate and her head nearly exploded. And as recently as this year in an offhand comment to one of the Scrum Masters I was coaching. DO YOU NEED A FULL TIME SCRUM MASTER FOR SCRUM? I’ve outlined some options below: 1) Hire a full-time SM. 2) Train the team manager to be a SM. 3) Ask for a team member to volunteer to be a half time SM and work as a developer for the other half their time. 4) Rotate the SM role within the team. 5) Have no SM. WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AGILE COACH TRAITS? What are the top Agile Coach traits that great coaches should have? Today there are more and more individuals hanging out a shingle and calling themselves Agile Coaches. With good reason – Indeed.com listed Agile Coach as #18 on their list of top jobs in 2019.At $161K average salary, it was the highest paid of the best jobs listed. TRANSITION FROM PROJECT MANAGER TO SCRUM MASTER It will be too hard to separate one from the other and to be good as a scrum master. Instead, focus on learning and mastering the scrum master role. 2. Focus on the mindset change. Be open to change and let go of old ways of thinking. Recognize your desire for HEY SCRUM MASTERS, YOU'RE NOT THE JIRA LACKEY! Hey Scrum Masters, You’re Not the Jira Lackey! Many Scrum Masters act as if their job is to keep all the tasks up to date in the online agile tool. They act like mother hens, constantly chirping about team members not moving their tasks to done. Or, they are the only one with admin rights to make changes in Jira, TFS or whatever. AGILE COACHING, TRAINING An Agile Transformation is a big deal.Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided Agile Training and Scrum Certification to over 100 teams in various industries.. We’ve provided Agile Coaching to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. THE 5 BEST AGILE BOOKS FOR 2021 Fearles s Change : Patter ns for Introd ucing New Ideas by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising. Impleme nting Lean Softwa re Develo pment: From Concep t to Cash by Mary and Tom Poppendieck. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Out of A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMSSEE MORE ON

VITALITYCHICAGO.COM

AGILE SUCCESS STORY

The agile success story for Bank of America Agile included the following: 1. Leading by Example. The leadership team went first in terms of their Agile and Scrum training, and several of them made personal sacrifices to add value to the organization. 2. THE MESSY MIDDLE GROUND OF AGILE TRANSFORMATION The Messy Middle Ground of Agile Transformation. Many people think of transformation as a linear process. Whether it is a digital or agile transformation, or even a personal transformation, we like to think of it as a straight line from where we are to our goal. As a coach, and a “change agent”, I’ve been overly enthusiastic about the WHAT NOT TO DO AS AN AGILE COACH Mind Your Words as an Agile Coach. Inappropriate humor has been the bane of my professional experience. Geez, you’d think I would have learned it back in 1989 when I cracked an ill-conceived joke about my then officemate and her head nearly exploded. And as recently as this year in an offhand comment to one of the Scrum Masters I was coaching. DO YOU NEED A FULL TIME SCRUM MASTER FOR SCRUM? I’ve outlined some options below: 1) Hire a full-time SM. 2) Train the team manager to be a SM. 3) Ask for a team member to volunteer to be a half time SM and work as a developer for the other half their time. 4) Rotate the SM role within the team. 5) Have no SM. WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AGILE COACH TRAITS? What are the top Agile Coach traits that great coaches should have? Today there are more and more individuals hanging out a shingle and calling themselves Agile Coaches. With good reason – Indeed.com listed Agile Coach as #18 on their list of top jobs in 2019.At $161K average salary, it was the highest paid of the best jobs listed. TRANSITION FROM PROJECT MANAGER TO SCRUM MASTER It will be too hard to separate one from the other and to be good as a scrum master. Instead, focus on learning and mastering the scrum master role. 2. Focus on the mindset change. Be open to change and let go of old ways of thinking. Recognize your desire for HEY SCRUM MASTERS, YOU'RE NOT THE JIRA LACKEY! Hey Scrum Masters, You’re Not the Jira Lackey! Many Scrum Masters act as if their job is to keep all the tasks up to date in the online agile tool. They act like mother hens, constantly chirping about team members not moving their tasks to done. Or, they are the only one with admin rights to make changes in Jira, TFS or whatever. THE MESSY MIDDLE GROUND OF AGILE TRANSFORMATION The Messy Middle Ground of Agile Transformation. Many people think of transformation as a linear process. Whether it is a digital or agile transformation, or even a personal transformation, we like to think of it as a straight line from where we are to our goal. As a coach, and a “change agent”, I’ve been overly enthusiastic about the AN ASSESSMENT OF MODERN AGILE ASSESSMENT TOOLS It was subsequently picked up by Jeff Sutherland and expanded to include Scrum practices. It remains a simple and quick test of agile and Scrum. The Nokia Test is not nearly as popular as the big three agile assessment tools that followed. Let’s look at MY FAVORITE AGILE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM HENRIK KNIBERG OF A picture is worth a thousand words. As a trainer and coach, I appreciate great graphics that help convey topics that would be hard to explain. Many of my personal favorite images come from Henrik Kniberg. Without sounding too much like hero-worship, here are my favorite agile diagrams from Henrik Kniberg and his colleagues at

Spotify.

WHY I AM NOT GOING TO RENEW MY PMI, AGILE & SCRUM Updated 2020: Over the last year I have explored professional certifications in detail. I have learned that many of the Agile and Scrum Certifications expire if you don’t renew them. And the renewal, while ostensibly about learning, is really just a way for the certifying bodies to make more money. So I am not going to renew my

certifications.

5 VITAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT AGILE LEADERS NEED Even team members in an Agile environment are expected to be “emergent leaders”. Everybody leads. Leaders are expected to be “on”; to bring energy and positivity to situations and teams. To do that, leaders can work harder and give more time and life energy. Or they can work smarter, and they do that by investing in key

relationships.

CREATING REALITY-BASED FORECASTS IN AGILE PROJECTS Creating Reality-Based Forecasts in Agile Projects. Agile approaches for estimating and forecasting are better than traditional approaches because they deliver better and more predictable results. Agile project forecasts are also easy to understand and easy to update because they are based on the team’s actual velocity. FOR HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS, STOP ASSIGNING PEOPLE TO In summary, continuing to assign people to multiple projects and teams reduces productivity, decreases business agility, and undermines the performance of your high performing teams. The more you do it, the more you will reinforce the practice and you will create a spiral that is impossible to break out of. Despite reading this, you’ll ignore

it.

5 TIPS TO IMPROVE PRODUCT BACKLOG REFINEMENT Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when HEY SCRUM MASTERS, YOU'RE NOT THE JIRA LACKEY! Hey Scrum Masters, You’re Not the Jira Lackey! Many Scrum Masters act as if their job is to keep all the tasks up to date in the online agile tool. They act like mother hens, constantly chirping about team members not moving their tasks to done. Or, they are the only one with admin rights to make changes in Jira, TFS or whatever. HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE AGILE TEAMS TO BECOME HIGH-PERFORMING Agile leaders and managers play a big part in setting the context for success. Some of the ways that they create context that motivates agile teams include: Get the right people on the teams, based on the work to be performed. Train the teams on the technology, the business domain, Agile and Scrum and anything else that will help them perform

well.

AGILE COACHING, TRAINING An Agile Transformation is a big deal.Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided Agile Training and Scrum Certification to over 100 teams in various industries.. We’ve provided Agile Coaching to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. WHY I AM NOT GOING TO RENEW MY PMI, AGILE & SCRUM Updated 2020: Over the last year I have explored professional certifications in detail. I have learned that many of the Agile and Scrum Certifications expire if you don’t renew them. And the renewal, while ostensibly about learning, is really just a way for the certifying bodies to make more money. So I am not going to renew my

certifications.

THE MESSY MIDDLE GROUND OF AGILE TRANSFORMATION The Messy Middle Ground of Agile Transformation. Many people think of transformation as a linear process. Whether it is a digital or agile transformation, or even a personal transformation, we like to think of it as a straight line from where we are to our goal. As a coach, and a “change agent”, I’ve been overly enthusiastic about the MY FAVORITE AGILE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM HENRIK KNIBERG OFSEE MORE ON

VITALITYCHICAGO.COM

AGILE SUCCESS STORY

The agile success story for Bank of America Agile included the following: 1. Leading by Example. The leadership team went first in terms of their Agile and Scrum training, and several of them made personal sacrifices to add value to the organization. 2. WHAT NOT TO DO AS AN AGILE COACH Mind Your Words as an Agile Coach. Inappropriate humor has been the bane of my professional experience. Geez, you’d think I would have learned it back in 1989 when I cracked an ill-conceived joke about my then officemate and her head nearly exploded. And as recently as this year in an offhand comment to one of the Scrum Masters I was coaching. TRANSITION FROM PROJECT MANAGER TO SCRUM MASTER It will be too hard to separate one from the other and to be good as a scrum master. Instead, focus on learning and mastering the scrum master role. 2. Focus on the mindset change. Be open to change and let go of old ways of thinking. Recognize your desire for WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AGILE COACH TRAITS? What are the top Agile Coach traits that great coaches should have? Today there are more and more individuals hanging out a shingle and calling themselves Agile Coaches. With good reason – Indeed.com listed Agile Coach as #18 on their list of top jobs in 2019.At $161K average salary, it was the highest paid of the best jobs listed. 5 TIPS TO IMPROVE PRODUCT BACKLOG REFINEMENT Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE AGILE TEAMS TO BECOME HIGH-PERFORMING Agile leaders and managers play a big part in setting the context for success. Some of the ways that they create context that motivates agile teams include: Get the right people on the teams, based on the work to be performed. Train the teams on the technology, the business domain, Agile and Scrum and anything else that will help them perform

well.

AGILE COACHING, TRAINING An Agile Transformation is a big deal.Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided Agile Training and Scrum Certification to over 100 teams in various industries.. We’ve provided Agile Coaching to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. WHY I AM NOT GOING TO RENEW MY PMI, AGILE & SCRUM Updated 2020: Over the last year I have explored professional certifications in detail. I have learned that many of the Agile and Scrum Certifications expire if you don’t renew them. And the renewal, while ostensibly about learning, is really just a way for the certifying bodies to make more money. So I am not going to renew my

certifications.

THE MESSY MIDDLE GROUND OF AGILE TRANSFORMATION The Messy Middle Ground of Agile Transformation. Many people think of transformation as a linear process. Whether it is a digital or agile transformation, or even a personal transformation, we like to think of it as a straight line from where we are to our goal. As a coach, and a “change agent”, I’ve been overly enthusiastic about the MY FAVORITE AGILE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM HENRIK KNIBERG OFSEE MORE ON

VITALITYCHICAGO.COM

AGILE SUCCESS STORY

The agile success story for Bank of America Agile included the following: 1. Leading by Example. The leadership team went first in terms of their Agile and Scrum training, and several of them made personal sacrifices to add value to the organization. 2. WHAT NOT TO DO AS AN AGILE COACH Mind Your Words as an Agile Coach. Inappropriate humor has been the bane of my professional experience. Geez, you’d think I would have learned it back in 1989 when I cracked an ill-conceived joke about my then officemate and her head nearly exploded. And as recently as this year in an offhand comment to one of the Scrum Masters I was coaching. TRANSITION FROM PROJECT MANAGER TO SCRUM MASTER It will be too hard to separate one from the other and to be good as a scrum master. Instead, focus on learning and mastering the scrum master role. 2. Focus on the mindset change. Be open to change and let go of old ways of thinking. Recognize your desire for WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AGILE COACH TRAITS? What are the top Agile Coach traits that great coaches should have? Today there are more and more individuals hanging out a shingle and calling themselves Agile Coaches. With good reason – Indeed.com listed Agile Coach as #18 on their list of top jobs in 2019.At $161K average salary, it was the highest paid of the best jobs listed. 5 TIPS TO IMPROVE PRODUCT BACKLOG REFINEMENT Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE AGILE TEAMS TO BECOME HIGH-PERFORMING Agile leaders and managers play a big part in setting the context for success. Some of the ways that they create context that motivates agile teams include: Get the right people on the teams, based on the work to be performed. Train the teams on the technology, the business domain, Agile and Scrum and anything else that will help them perform

well.

THE 5 BEST AGILE BOOKS FOR 2021 I am frequently asked about the best books for learning about agile and Scrum. It’s not easy to answer. I have nearly 100 books on agile-related topics and there are so many new agile books published every year that it is difficult to keep up! DISCIPLINED AGILE SCRUM MASTER (DASM) Disciplined Agile Scrum Master is a nine-lesson, instructor-led course that shows you how to use Disciplined Agile (DA) to improve your team’s way of working. In just 3 half-days, you’ll become familiar with foundational agile and lean practices that DA supports, practice using the tool kit to solve problems, and learn how to build high-performance teams. A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS A high performing team shares all the characteristics of Real Teams. In addition, they have two characteristics that set them apart. With High-Performance Teams, the individuals are deeply committed to the growth and development of their teammates. They are also committed to the success of each team member and the group as a whole. PMI GOES ALL IN ON AGILE WITH DISCIPLINED AGILE AND FLEX By anyone’s guess, Scaled Agile is outselling both Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org in the sales of training and certification. Scaled Agile – Estimated at $30M. Scrum Alliance – Estimated at $16M. Scrum.org – TBD. It is important to note that PMI dwarfs all HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE AGILE TEAMS TO BECOME HIGH-PERFORMING Agile leaders and managers play a big part in setting the context for success. Some of the ways that they create context that motivates agile teams include: Get the right people on the teams, based on the work to be performed. Train the teams on the technology, the business domain, Agile and Scrum and anything else that will help them perform

well.

5 TIPS TO IMPROVE PRODUCT BACKLOG REFINEMENT Product Backlog Refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when FOR HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS, STOP ASSIGNING PEOPLE TO In summary, continuing to assign people to multiple projects and teams reduces productivity, decreases business agility, and undermines the performance of your high performing teams. The more you do it, the more you will reinforce the practice and you will create a spiral that is impossible to break out of. Despite reading this, you’ll ignore

it.

THE MINDSET CHANGE FOR AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT Last year I wrote Project Managers Don’t Get Agile for the ProjectManagement.com website. I also wrote The Myth of the Project Manager in Agile.As I have thought about it since then, I see that part of the PM’s challenge comes from the mindset change that is required to understand agile. 6 REASONS WHY YOU NEED AGILE AND SCRUM TRAINING If people see that Agile and Scrum are effective ways of working when used properly, they will be open to learning about other improvements. They will become more open to change and trying new things. The alternative that I have seen is when Agile and Scrum are used against people, they become more resistant to change. HEY SCRUM MASTERS, YOU'RE NOT THE JIRA LACKEY! Hey Scrum Masters, You’re Not the Jira Lackey! Many Scrum Masters act as if their job is to keep all the tasks up to date in the online agile tool. They act like mother hens, constantly chirping about team members not moving their tasks to done. Or, they are the only one with admin rights to make changes in Jira, TFS or whatever.

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WHY CHOOSE US FOR YOUR AGILE COACHING AND TRAINING? We have a solid track record of helping organizations deliver business results with AGILE AND SCRUM TRAINING COURSES, AGILE COACHING, and SCRUM CERTIFICATION TRAINING. We’ve provided _Scrum and Agile Training_ to over 100 teams in various industries, trained hundreds of leaders in our Agile Leader Training and coached dozens of Fortune 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. TRAINING, COACHING AND TRANSFORMATION

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I want to grow my Agile team through Agile Training or Scrum Certification Training I want to get Scrum certified to open up new job opportunities and improve my performance Vitality Chicago specializes in delivering AGILE TRAINING and SCRUM CERTIFICATION courses. We provide role-based Training for new Agile Teams. We also provide training for Managers and Leaders. We also provide SCRUM CERTIFICATION TRAINING for SCRUM MASTERS, PRODUCT OWNERS, and AGILE LEADERS. We also offer advanced Agile Training Courses on Estimating and Planning, Leading and Coaching Agile Teams, and Agile Transformations. Finally we offer the Agile for Practitioners Training Course which leads to the PMI AGILE CERTIFIED PRACTITIONER (PMI-ACP)

CERTIFICATION.

Please visit our Agile Training Page for details on all our Agile

and Scrum courses.

Learn More about Agile Training AGILE COACHING & TRANSFORMATION CONSULTING I want to hire an Agile Coach to help my Agile Teams or start an Agile

pilot

I want agile coaching to support Agile Transformation in my

organization

An AGILE TRANSFORMATION is a big deal. Let our experienced Agile Coaches and Agile Trainers help you succeed. We’ve provided AGILE TRAINING and SCRUM CERTIFICATION to over 100 teams in various

industries.

We’ve provided AGILE COACHING to help teams improve their practices and deliver value. We’ve also coached dozens of FORTUNE 500 organizations through their Agile Transformation. Whether you want to pilot agile, or scale up from an existing pilot, we can support you to succeed with your Agile Transformation. Please visit our Agile Coaching and Transformation Page

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Learn More about Coaching & Transformation WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY "Jonathan was very engaging and provided really good content in a short amount of time. His delivery and mastery of DASSM content was impressive!" Caesar BernardoSenior Technical Program Manager "Anthony is the guru of Agile. His ability to understand team dynamics, organizational challenges and Sprint/Scrum/Agile principles are second to none! His training sessions are interactive, very engaging and effective." Mary Beth LoVerdiSenior Vice President, Client Digital Strategy & Product Management "Jonathan Lee is a world class trainer. I found the DA training intellectually stimulating and fun at the same time. I highly recommend Jonathan Lee to any organization looking for a transformative learning experience." Srinivas Saineni, PMPPresident, PMI Chicagoland Chapter "I attended Agile for Leaders presented by Anthony Mersino. He has an expert command of the Agile frameworks and he showed coaching techniques and Agile transformation tools and processes." Shawn McNamaraExecutive Technology Leader and Liaison "Jonathan Lee has the expertise and practical know-how to relay what made sense, preparing us well to understand the concept and take the DA certification exam which I passed on my first attempt." Susan Leszczewicz, PMPSenior Project Manager "The Agile for Practitioners Training was helpful in providing a good foundation. I love the hands-on experience through the various exercises. I recommend this course for giving me a practical understanding of how to apply Agile concepts." Lakecia WhimperTechnology Project Manager "Jonathan was very engaging and provided really good content in a short amount of time. His delivery and mastery of DASSM content was impressive!" Caesar BernardoSenior Technical Program Manager "Anthony is the guru of Agile. His ability to understand team dynamics, organizational challenges and Sprint/Scrum/Agile principles are second to none! His training sessions are interactive, very engaging and effective." Mary Beth LoVerdiSenior Vice President, Client Digital Strategy & Product Management

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