The Most Interesting Day

I had a very interesting day. Today, I tried to quit my job. Somehow, I kind of failed at it.I know exactly why I need to quit - and I know that it is what I must do. I am also aware of a few things that are happening around me and how these things affect what is going on. And I thought that maybe, some of you have similar situations and may benefit from my experience.

The Hydra and the Abyss

I recently had occasion to speak to a good friend about the state of agility in general and the needs he was looking at in his organization. This brought me to the question – what is your biggest problem and how are you trying to address it? The answer surprised me a little – because I have dealt with it before. He was looking at the integration of the “last piece” of the IT structure. How do we get the mid tier and back end IT support groups into the Agile umbrella? If I recall my mythology correctly, the hydra is a dragon like monster with many heads – and when you cut one off, two heads grow in its place. I find this an ideal metaphor for transformations, because it seems just when you identified and resolved a core issue – you have two more issues take its place. The challenges I face are always interesting, but they seem to circle around three “heads” – management misalignment of expectations, team misalignment of expectations and product team involvement. I have dealt with all three of these recently, and have realized that any one of these can “kill” a coach immediately.

When I grow up...

Lately, I have been thinking about what kinds of things I LIKE to do. I have been thinking about my personal environment and my personal preferences. After some time, I finally had a revelation on it. Like everything else, it was triggered by a conversation that a few friends kept having with me. It always starts differently, but somehow it seems to always end the same. The question often comes up "how are you able to do X?" The answer seems to be "It depends on the team"!!