Welcome to our Agile leadership articles library, check out our Scrum & Agile leader articles to support you with your journey.
What is your biggest regret as an agile coach?
What is your biggest regret as an agile coach? I’m not somebody that believes in regret. Professiona…
How do you earn trust from a new team when you are a contract agile coach?
How do you earn trust from a new team when you are a contract agile coach? So, the contract element …
What is the ‘go to’ exercise for a sprint retrospective?
What is the ‘go to’ exercise for a sprint retrospective? It used to be ‘Mad | Sad | Glad’. Many moon…
What are the 3 things that trip you up as an Agile coach?
What are the 3 things that generally trip you up as an Agile coach? This is an interesting one. Ther…
How do you sell a concept to a team and a client as an Agile coach?
How do you sell a concept to a team and a client as an Agile coach? Your first step is to stop think…
What is the one thing you must do before starting any engagement as an agile coach?
What is the one thing you must do before starting any engagement as an agile coach? It’s contract. I…
One thing I know now, as an Agile coach, that I wish I knew when I started out.
One thing I know now, as an Agile coach, that I wish I knew when I started out. That is a tricky one…
Agile coaching myth 5: You need an Agile coach.
Agile coaching myth 5: You need an Agile coach. I used to think this was true. Maybe that was my ego…
Agile coaching myth 4: It takes a long time to see results from agile coaching
Agile coaching myth 4: It takes a long time to see results from agile coaching This is an interestin…
Agile coaching myth 3: All teams are coachable.
Agile coaching myth 3: All teams are coachable. This is an interesting one. It’s something that I ha…
Agile Coaching myth 2: The Agile Coach needs to be an expert in all agile frameworks
Agile Coaching myth 2: The Agile Coach needs to be an expert in all agile frameworks This is one of …
The Definitive Guide to Scrum Training
Why take Scrum training? Scrum may appear simple at first, but it is deceptively difficult to do wel…
Agile Coaching Myth 1: Coaching is only for teams that have problems.
Agile Coaching Myth 1: Coaching is only for teams that have problems. All teams have problems and op…
What would an Agile coach consider as important metrics to measure?
What would an Agile coach consider as important metrics to measure? I’m going to put my consultant h…
How does an Agile coach gain buy in for a pilot project from leaders within the organization?
How does an Agile coach gain buy in for a pilot project from leaders within the organization? I’m go…
How does an agile coach facilitate sprint planning?
How does an agile coach facilitate sprint planning? This answer may be a bit different to how a scru…
On-demand Scrum Master Preparation Exams
For many, the Certified ScrumMaster® or Professional Scrum Master™ exam is the most nerve-wracking a…
On-demand Agile Leadership & Business Agility training
Agile leaders thrive in times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Tough times buil…
The 6 Enablers of Business Agility
by Karim Harbott In this book Karim Harbott does not offer a book of recipes, he focuses on min…
How Agility has Moved Outside the IT Industry and is Shaping Top Companies Around the World
For many, the mention of the word agile conjures up images of software engineers, stickie notes…
6 Proven Ways to Make your Organization More Agile
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries organizations saw great leaps forwards in t…
The 6 Enablers of Business Agility – Creating the Organizational Operating system for Success
We live in a world that is more interconnected, more volatile, and more unpredictable than at a…
Powerful Questions in Coaching
A powerful question is a question that evokes or draws out a reaction, an insight, a fact, or an opp…
Benefits of Coaching to the Coachee
As the world becomes more complex, many managers and leaders are turning to certified coaches to hel…
Avoiding Assumptions in Coaching
Assumption is defined as ‘a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof &#…
Product Owner Origins: Liam Neeson or Dragon’s Den?
Product Owners hold a lot on their shoulders. Responsibility for return on investment, ens…
Meetup: ‘Co creating Great Employee Experience’ with Natal Dank
Online event, co creating Great Employee Experience Meetup with Natal Dank, who heads up learning, c…
Meetup: ‘The 6 Enablers of Business Agility’ with Karim Harbott
Online event 6 Enablers of Business Agility Meetup with Karim Harbott – Agile Centre partner a…
Meetup: ‘Business Agility: Pivot or Perish’ with Richard Cheng
Online Business Agility: Pivot or Perish Meetup with Richard Cheng – Vice President of Trainin…
Why Coaching is the Number One Skill for Leaders in an Uncertain World
It is often said that everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change themselves. The…
5 Levers for Changing Organisational Culture
Organisational culture is one of the most powerful, and misunderstood, concepts around. Leaders and …
Is your Agile getting stale? Take the Mani-fresh-to Challenge!
TLDR; Everything changed in 2020, even the Scrum Guide got an update, but the Agile Manifesto didn’t…
On Agile & Mastery
I’m lucky enough to find my job professionally satisfying. That’s because I think the line of work I…
Meetup: ‘Testing Business Ideas’ with David Bland
Live, online Agile Leadership & Business Agility Meetup hosting David Bland – co-author of Testing B…
Introduction to SAFe
SAFe® is an acronym for Scaled Agile Framework® and was introduced in 2011 by co-creators Dean Leffi…
Leading SAFe with Jon Spruce
SAFe® (Scaled Agile Frameworks for enterprise) is one of the most popular frameworks for large organ…
Meetup: ‘Coaching Leaders through Uncertainty’ with Tracy Sinclair
Live, online Agile Leadership & Business Agility Meetup event hosting Tracy Sinclair – Director …
Why OKRs aren’t enough on their own: Goals and Standards
Objectives and Key Results – OKRs – are a well known goal-setting technique; there’…
Essential Skills – Critical Analysis
In a recent conversation with Tyrrell Basson from Manchester University, we explored the topic of ‘e…
Creating Alignment and Autonomy
We know from Dan Pink’s work that high levels of autonomy are a powerful contributor to motivation. …
Meetup: ‘Bringing Leadership Agility to Agile’ with Bill Joiner
Join us for our next live Online event, this time hosting Bill Joiner – author of Leadership Agility…
There Are Sabre-Toothed Tigers in Your Office
An ancient part of our brains that existed to keep us alive in a world of danger has evolved. But ra…
The SCARF Model – How it affects agile teams
In the previous article ‘There Are Sabre-Toothed Tigers In Your Office‘, we discussed ho…
Agile Coaching Capability
I’m a bit of a rugby fan and often find myself wanting to run out with the lads, moving through the …
Leading SAFe ® – Certified SAFe ® Agilist – Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprise
During this two-day course, attendees gain the knowledge necessary to lead a Lean-Agile enterprise b…
Innovation versus Protectionism
The last time we suffered a global pandemic that brought the world to its knees was in 1918. A littl…
I’m in a Theory X Team, Get Me Out Of Here!
For 20 years, ITV’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” has been a staple of the UK pre-Christmas …
Leading SAFe – Certified SAFe Agilist
During this two-day course, attendees gain the knowledge necessary to lead a Lean-Agile enterprise b…
ORCA – A powerful feedback model
Ken Blanchard described it as “the breakfast of champions”; Bill Gates said “We all need people who …
Where did you get that hat?
In my previous blog post “Where are all the managers in Agile?”, I discussed why agile doesn’t need …
Where are all the managers in Agile?
The heart of agile is described in the few words of the Agile Manifesto and its accompanying princip…
Bring rigour to your thinking
“Belief is so often the death of reason” – Lord Varys, Master of Whisperers – Game of Thrones …
Genesis: Levels of Agile Capability and Competence
Once upon a time, circa May 2016, the world was a comparatively predictable place. For the most part…
Why did we create Agile Centre?
Watch Jon Spruce, Karim Harbott and John McFadyen discuss the origins of creating Agile Centre: brin…
Covid Hack – Intention Versus Strategy
Small, cross-functional teams working closely together to frequently and consistently deliver featur…
The History of Hierarchies
For 95 percent of the 200,000 years modern humans have walked the earth, there was no such thing as …
Covid Hack – Resilient versus Robust
Many of the corporations we work with are inherently designed to be robust. A concept that permeates…
Covid Hack – Technical Debt
We’ve all experienced massive disruption, complexity and ambiguity in the face of Covid-19 hitting t…
Agile Centre Webinar: “Pivoting in a pandemic” by Jon Spruce
Jon Spruce takes part in the Oliver Bernard Meet-up for Agile.London with a talk titled 'Pivoting i…
Facilitate rapid and effective decision-making
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a collaborative, coaching-style workshop that brings together the team…
Covid Hacks – Hiring
In a recent Zoom session with Laura Howie, CEO of Reel Media Africa, we chatted about the importance…
Management versus Leadership
5 Weeks ago, our revenue streams dried up, literally overnight. The Covid-19 fairy waltzed in the fr…
Our Client Experiences – Testimonials for Agile Centre
We have pulled together a film of our client's experiences working with Agile Centre and how our str…
The Coaching Imposter #2
When I last posted something, before life changed significantly for all of us, I was coming to terms…
Customers and Developers in the same room. WTF?
At the turn of the 20th Century, the father of modern Business Management – Frederick Winslow …
The Business Agility Canvas
True success in large-scale change initiatives is a rare thing. A McKinsey study found that over 70 …
Assessing Scrum Masters with our Capability Model
In the past year, we’ve left the EU, stared down a legislative dismantling of the independent contra…
First they ignore you
‘How do I get the senior leadership team to buy into Agile?’ is a question I’m often asked. It’s a g…
Stealth Agile
I recently connected with Tyrrell Basson from the University of Manchester in one of my ‘Ask me Anyt…
We didn’t do anything wrong
‘We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.’ – CEO of Nokia There’s a moment where the CEO o…
We didn’t have time for Governance!
Many Agile coaches and trainers often speak about the unicorns of Agile. Spotify. Netflix. Amazon. A…
Building bridges amidst disruption
The Case for Business Agility As an Agile coach, consultant and trainer, I pretty much live in a wor…
Coronavirus and The Corner Shop – A Portrait of Agility?
If ever one wanted the ultimate portrait of a VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex, and a…
The Coaching Imposter
Agile Coaching? Hmm, yes I know what you’re thinking, “what does that mean and how is that an actual…
Exploring & Exploiting: Striking the Right Balance
In 1913, Henry Ford implemented one of the greatest innovations ever seen in manufacturing: the movi…
Agile Bootcamp #4 – Using Story Mapping to Teach Agile
User Story Mapping is a great technique to help teams explore their product scope and plan how they …
Agile Bootcamp #3 – Scrum Simulation with the Inception Deck
There are lots of ways to help introduce the concepts of Scrum to teams and to give them a chance to…
Agile Bootcamp #2 – Behind The Scenes at an Agile Bootcamp
The bootcamp is planned, the travel arrangements made and suitcases packed. Now, the hard work start…
Agile Bootcamp #1 – To Fail To Plan is to Plan To Fail
When we were asked if we could help another organisation start on their journey to agile, I was keen…
The opportunity of IR35 for organisations and start-ups
The recent announcement from HMRC that IR35 and Off-Payroll Tax would come into effect on the 6th of…
Meteors, VUCA, and Business Agility
Once upon a time, two-ton wombats lumbered across the Australian Outback. Around the same time, sabr…
Predict Success by Finding Problems
Agile was supposed to make things easier. It was supposed to fix the problems of large projects with…
How Agile Centre works differently
Agile Centre Managing Partner John McFadyen walks us through 'How Agile Centre works differently' to…
How Agile Centre works differently
Agile Centre Managing Partner John McFadyen walks us through 'How Agile Centre works differently' to…
Don’t Blame People, Fix The System
If you've ever been responsible and accountable for a project yet have no control of the systems and…
Scrum Beyond Scrum
On my professionalisation journey to Scrum Alliance Certified Team Coach, I am collecting badges and…
The 6 Enablers of Business Agility
When I first started my journey as a Scrum Master, I devoured books on how Scrum worked. I le…
Agile Project Management
To say the words ‘Agile Project Management’ in front of Agile purists falls somewhere in the spectru…
The Scrum Framework
The Scrum Framework is an Agile framework within which various Agile methodologies can be both emplo…
What is Project Management?
Project Management, as both a profession and specialised discipline, is relatively young. From the d…
Don’t look back in anger
Continuous improvement is a core agile principle. The retrospective is an important event in all agi…
The Peak of Mount Stupid
This is a blog about coaching; specifically, lean and agile coaching, though it applies to leadershi…
Ways for a group to reach a decision
There are always moments in a project when decisions must be made. How those decisions are reached w…
Personality traits of an excellent Scrum Master
“Bring it to the team” should be the daily motto of an excellent Scrum Master. Nobody can truly fulf…
How Agile benefits Kanban and XP Development Frameworks
Above all, Agile is about focusing on the customer in the most streamlined way possible. Fundamental…
The Origins of Scrum and Agile
As leadership guru Steve Denning has written, Agile is “not about doing more work in less time:…
Scrum and the Agile Manifesto
The values and principles of the Agile manifesto are designed to remind you of one thing above all: …
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
by Ed Catmull Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new height…
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
by Clayton Christensen In this book, Clayton Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new…
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action
by Simon Sinek Start with Why analyses leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Steve Jobs and discove…