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Lean On Agile (& Elevate Change) Show

Lean On Agile (& Elevate Change) Show

By Shahin Sheidaei

Lean On Agile (& Elevate Change) Show is a Webinar + Podcast about Agile & Beyond. We share stories of success, learning, and conversations with thought leaders. The topics include but not limited to Agile Software Development, Agile Methodologies, Transformation, and related topics.
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Agile & the Fluency of It Talk With Diana Larsen

Lean On Agile (& Elevate Change) ShowMay 04, 2020

00:00
57:07
Systems Thinking, Leadership Habits, and Organizational Change with Don Gray

Systems Thinking, Leadership Habits, and Organizational Change with Don Gray

In this episode, Don joined Shahin to talk about Systems Thinking, Leadership Habits, and Organizational Change.


The following have been topics of our conversation:


Transitioning from technical skills to people management.

  • The importance of people in software development, highlighting their creative force and impact on success and well-being.
  • The importance of trusting and empowering knowledge workers, who are closer to the work than managers.
  • Jerry Weinberg (author) highlighted the shift from Taylorism (structured tasks) to coaching (personal and process-related goals), with managers becoming more interested in people's educational and career goals.

Leadership development and problem-solving.

  • The importance of adapting to change and the need for problem-solving leaders to observe and understand motivation, organization, and information.

Software development, leadership, and personal growth.

  • The importance of developer satisfaction, citing the costly consequences of losing experienced developers.
  • Find empathetic leadership insights through reading and self-reflection.
  • Software development challenges, complexity as the primary issue.
  • Agile methodology requires tailoring to individual contexts, rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach.
  • Organization must be ready to start software development before investing time and money.

Leadership habits and systems thinking.

  • Management prioritizes cost over readiness, despite worker demand for training and success.
  • Coach helps team break habits and improve systems in leadership roles.
  • The "core habits" for leaders, including sharing the vision, measuring actual delivery, and creating free informational flow.

Systems thinking, agile development, and team dynamics.

  • Wardley maps visualize product evolution, highlighting reinforcing and balancing loops.
  • The importance of understanding how personal and cultural factors impact decision-making in complex systems.
  • Agreeing to try and visioning with team members led to successful product development.

Software development, leadership, and organizational change.

  • Using organizational change management techniques to facilitate change within software development teams.
  • The increasing presence of women in leadership positions in the tech industry
  • The importance of happiness in software development.


Follow us

Visit us at http://www.leanonagile.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Elevate_Change

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ElevateChange

Mar 22, 202456:19
How to Have Effective Daily Meetings (Standups)?

How to Have Effective Daily Meetings (Standups)?

Standup Meeting in Agile Teams
- Standup meetings are short daily meetings held in agile teams to discuss progress and challenges.
- They are typically held at the start of the day and should be kept to 15 minutes or less.
- Standups can be helpful for identifying and resolving issues early on.
Managing Lengthy Team Meetings
- Discussing the issue of lengthy team meetings that exceed 15 or even 30 minutes.
- Exploring strategies for addressing this problem and ensuring efficient use of time during meetings.
- Providing practical tips and techniques for keeping meetings focused and productive.
Impact of Lengthy Stand-up Meetings on Productivity
- Extended stand-up meetings can significantly reduce productivity.
- A 15-minute meeting for 8 people equates to 2 man-hours spent in unproductive discussions.
- Prolonged meetings result in the loss of valuable work time and hinder progress on tasks.
Considering Reducing Meeting Time
- Discussion on whether to reduce meeting time.
- Concerned about losing valuable insights and support from leadership.
- Need to consider if dependent teams have representatives in the meeting.
Effective Meeting Strategies
- The purpose of a meeting should be to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among team members.
- Reducing the time spent in meetings is a desirable outcome.
- Focusing on challenges and roadblocks should be avoided.
Transparency and Collaboration in Meetings
- Collaboration and community occur during meetings.
- Leaders suggest improvements during conversations.
- Identifying the purpose of meetings can reduce meeting time.
Separate Dependency Management Meeting
- Daily meeting with team representatives to discuss important matters.
- Separate dependency management meeting with representatives from dependent teams.
- Clear focus and goal of the dependency management meeting.
Daily Standoff Meeting
- Daily standoffs can help teams prioritize meetings and focus on important outcomes.
- Effective for well-functioning teams that communicate well and are aware of team goals.
- Not necessary for teams that already communicate effectively through offline and online channels.
Effective Daily Standup Meetings
- Daily standup meetings should be short and focused, with a clear purpose and agenda.
- The more meeting time taken from team members, the less time they have for actual work.
- Customize daily meetings to fit the team's environment and purpose.
Feb 22, 202412:21
Decision Making as Change Agents!
Feb 13, 202414:47
Burnout, NLP, Self-care and Personal Growth with Anna Romanovska

Burnout, NLP, Self-care and Personal Growth with Anna Romanovska

In this episode, Anna joined Shahin to talk about Burnout, Technology, and Personal Growth.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • Burnout, stress, and self-care.
  • NLP and its role in communication.
  • NLP and its effectiveness in personal growth.
  • NLP and coaching with a focus on organizational change.
  • Work-life balance and self-validation.
  • Feedback, burnout, and mental health.

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Jan 11, 202439:04
Kanban Ninja, Leadership Retreat and New Open Space

Kanban Ninja, Leadership Retreat and New Open Space

In this episode, ⁠Shahin⁠ talks about Kanban Ninja, KLR and New Open Space.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • Insights from attending Kanban Leadership Retreat in San Diego
  • Customized open space format for efficient topic selection and discussion.
  • "Kanban ninjas" session in KLR23 to teach techniques for using Kanban method without telling people, focusing on efficiency and effectiveness
  • Techniques to smooth burndown chart in scrum fashion, including "look right, look up, look left" rule.
  • Encouraging team members to take ownership of tasks by providing excuses for not completing them.
  • Discussing techniques like "last one to the meeting" and "CFD with arrival and departure rates" to improve team productivity and time management.
  • Encouraging teams to celebrate small victories and identify areas for improvement.
  • Assume positive intent keeps a healthy atmosphere in the team.
  • Introducing a color-coding voting technique to help teams identify areas for improvement in Kanban maturity model.
  • Discusing techniques like "What do you really do well?" to uncover sources of dissatisfaction in a team conversation.

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Nov 21, 202318:16
Embracing Failure, Coaching, and Clear Goals with Fahd Khan

Embracing Failure, Coaching, and Clear Goals with Fahd Khan

In this episode, Fahd joined Shahin to talk about Embracing Failure, Coaching, and Clear Goals.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • The following have been topics of our conversation:
  • Breaking down a large program into smaller teams.
  • Letting things play out and not being afraid of coaching.
  • The importance of welcoming failure and pauses.
  • Recommendation for people starting their journey.
  • Iterative development and iterative development.
  • The importance of being a service leader.
  • Assume positive intent keeps a healthy atmosphere in the team.
  • The challenge of having clear goals.

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Jul 25, 202352:23
Kanban, Collaboration, and Culture with Horia Balog

Kanban, Collaboration, and Culture with Horia Balog

In this episode, Horia joined Shahin to talk about Kanban and Various Aspects of Coaching & Consulting, as part of the Kanban Clinic series.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • Collaboration is the main mechanism to untangle the system.
  • One of our responsibilities is to manage our own workload.
  • What is your self-care as a coach & How to avoid burnout in your career?
  • How do you deal with changes?
  • Basic steps for listeners to get to a trustful environment.
  • Collaboration, alignment and teamwork.
  • Hacking the culture of agile & the evolution of agile at each level.
  • Correlation between agile practices and culture.

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Jun 05, 202340:43
Kanban, Coaching & Consulting with Craeg Strong

Kanban, Coaching & Consulting with Craeg Strong

In this episode, Craeg joined Shahin to talk about Kanban and Various Aspects of Coaching & Consulting, as part of the Kanban Clinic series.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • From extreme programming to Kanban.
  • The differences between implementing kanban at the organizational level vs. the team level.
  • The importance of having a beginner mindset.
  • Other branches of kanban, exploring different aspects.
  • Differentiating and differentiating from cheap knockoff kanban.
  • Taking kanban beyond teams and groups to enterprise level.
  • Portfolio kanban and strategy level kanban.
  • How kanban helps with visualization and leadership.
  • Finding opportunities to use kanban tools.

Note: It is the speaker’s intent to add that Nimble, formerly known as Swif, does not suffer from the limitation implied.

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May 15, 202352:25
Product and Innovation with Carlos Oliveira

Product and Innovation with Carlos Oliveira

In this episode, Carlos joined Shahin to talk about the product and innovation.

The following have been topics of our conversation:

  • The secret sauce of becoming a successful learner and being able to apply that.
  • Identifying where to start in the customer journey.
  • Don’t be afraid to fail.
  • The two ways to look at innovation: solving problems and improving the overall experience.
  • The two ways to look at innovation: incremental or breakthrough.
  • The challenge of getting a shared understanding in the room.

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Mar 13, 202340:25
Dependencies and Scalability in Kanban with Andreas Rein

Dependencies and Scalability in Kanban with Andreas Rein

In this episode, Andreas joined Shahin to talk about Dependencies and Scalability in Kanban, as part of Kanban Clinic series.

The following has been topics of our conversation:

  • Dependency management in Kanban vs waterfall.
  • Kanban management of dependencies vs Scrum.
  • How to implement business agility in your organization.
  • Kanban, simple or complicated?
  • Kanban v.s. Scrum
  • The easiest way to understand Kanban fully.

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Oct 17, 202248:49
Lean Change, Modern Change and Agile Change with Jason Little

Lean Change, Modern Change and Agile Change with Jason Little

In this episode, Jason joined Shahin to talk about Lean Change, Modern Change and Agile Change and much more.

The following has been topics of our conversation:

  • Lean Change Management
  • Modern Change Management
  • Agile in Startup and Large Orgs, and in Different Pockets
  • Lean Startup Machine
  • Enterprise Aware
  • Exceptional Change
  • Who is Responsible for Change?
  • That Change Show

The followings we have referenced:

  • Becoming a Change Artist - Jerry Weinberg
  • Are your lights on?
  • The secrets of consulting
  • The psychology of computer programming
  • Virginia Satir Ecosystem
  • MIT's Leading Organization Change
Jul 25, 202242:07
Kanban, Leadership, Games and more with Mike Burrows

Kanban, Leadership, Games and more with Mike Burrows

In this episode, Mike joined Shahin to talk about Kanban, Leadership, Strategy, Games and non prescriptive Agile and much more

Quotes from this session:

  • Leadership is about providing just the right amount of space.  Don’t give them so much space that they lose heart, control, or their  grip on what they are trying to do.
  • If Agile is something that happens to you, it’s pretty awful.
  • Rolling things out is a recipe for pain, not for success!
  • There is no way a leader can control anybody!
  • The world would be very very dull if we are only allowed one framework.
  • Agile can be done in investment banking.

The following has been topics of our conversation:

  • Kanban Through Its Values
  • Kanban From The Inside
  • non prescriptive agile and change
  • 3 layers of leadership
  • Servant leadership, Host leadership, Leader leadership, Clear leadership
  • Mindset of integration
  • Descriptive vs. prescriptive models and designs
  • Clean language
  • Leader is not a therapist
  • Generative question and conversations

Games:

  • Featureban
  • Changeban
  • 15 minutes photo
  • Celebration 5W

The following books we have referenced:

Where you can find more about Mike and his work

May 01, 202201:02:50
Practical Agile with Ricardo Lee

Practical Agile with Ricardo Lee

In this episode, Ricardo joined Shahin to talk about Practical Agile; and indulge in an in-depth conversation on Agile through time from trenches to executives, and much more.

  • Coach please come on in, help us with this. That's the dream scenario.
  • Never hire Agile Coaches that are gonna tell you what they are going to do to make things better.
  • The one thing I recommend is never to be a hero!
  • Hiring for Leader: I am hiring you for how you think. I can teach you what you do not know. But I can't teach you how to think.

The following has been topics of our conversation:

  • Scrum Fit and/or Kanban Fit
  • CSP through times - Scrum Alliance
  • Coaching & Consulting Stories
  • 10 years of Agile
  • How to start Agile
  • Don’t stop at Scrum

The following books we have referenced:

We mentioned the following people:

Contact Information:

Jan 12, 202242:07
Kanban Clinic with Dave White

Kanban Clinic with Dave White

In this episode, Dave joined Shahin to talk about Kanban; and indulge in an in-depth conversation on Kanban going main stream, Consulting, Kanban vs Others, Training, and much more. 

The following has been topics of our conversation:

Kanban Facts

  • Kanban’s take on Estimation
  • Kanban Spread to Whole Company
  • What really does Kanban do?
  • Misconceptions of Kanban
  • Kanban offers a long-term solution rather a short-term achievements
  • One reason that the Kanban Method was created, was to make life better for people.
  • Kanban;  it’s just a way to see your problems, describe solutions, put them in a  place that everybody understands, and to bring all of your people  together to solve these problems.
  • Scrum, SAFe, XP Barrier on evolving change in any organization

Kanban Going Mainstream

Lean Software Society Boston 2012

High-Performing Team vs High-Performing Organization

The following books we have referenced:

We mentioned the following people:

Contact Dave:

Oct 28, 202156:22
Kanban Clinic with Joey Spooner

Kanban Clinic with Joey Spooner

In this episode, Joey joined Shahin to talk about Kanban; and indulge in in-depth conversation with select audiences.

  • Kanban as a Method vs a Tool
  • Upstream and Delivery Stream
  • Stealth Kanban
  • KLR - Kanban Week
  • Q&A with JoeyScrum and/vs Kanban in large organizations 
  • Kanban in Transformation world 
  • Chaos being hidden as Expedie

The following books we have referenced:

We mentioned the following people:

Sep 13, 202156:10
All Things Kanban with David Anderson

All Things Kanban with David Anderson

In this episode, David joined Shahin to talk about all things Kanban; KMM, the new Kanban Guide, and more.

Kanban Resources:
To learn more about The Kanban Guide, please visit https://resources.kanban.university/kanban-guide/
To learn more about the Kanban Maturity Model please visit https://kmm.plus/en/

Kanban Maturity Model Book
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3fbl30M
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3cYZ8Hu

Kanban Blue Book
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2P64Cbl
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/31dRymX

First State of Kanban Survey
https://www.lean.ws/KanbanSurvey

Mar 30, 202158:27
Open Space with April Jefferson

Open Space with April Jefferson

In this episode, April joined Shahin to talk about Open Space. 

Topics

  • Penguin Role in Open Space
  • Groundhog Role in Open Space
  • Art of Holding Space
  • Organizational Open Space 
  • Mindcamp

Books

Open Space Technology (Amazon US | Amazon Canada)

Dec 31, 202033:28
Value, Stream, Mapping or All! with Steve Pereira

Value, Stream, Mapping or All! with Steve Pereira

In this episode, Steve joined Shahin to talk about Value Stream Mapping. For the first time, we had a live audience recording the episode. Peter, Ali, and Nasima from the audience asked questions from Steve by the end of the show.

Topics

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Value Streams let you see the big picture and your biggest bottlenecks, risks, and opportunities.
  • A value stream captures a view beyond common Agile and DevOps visibility to how we create and deliver value.
  • A Value Stream Map lets to share that view with others and align on what to do next.
  • A map should be simple to start (you can always add more data if you want) – avoid heavy/complex approaches.
  • People are the most important part. Facilitation, handoffs, incentives, psychological safety are major factors.

People & Resources:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people and/or resources:

Book

People:

  • Karen Martin
  • Helen Beal
  • Marc Hornbeek
  • Jeff Keyes
  • Jack Maher
  • Roy Osherove
  • Mike Orzen

For more details please visit http://leanonagile.com.

Twitter: twitter.com/LeanOnAgileShow
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lean-on-agile

Aug 22, 202051:20
Agile is Over (Or Not) with Allen Holub

Agile is Over (Or Not) with Allen Holub

In this episode, Allen joined Shahin to talk about what truly Agile is in today’s world of Software Development.

Topics

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Agile or Not
  • Agile is nothing more than Better Software Better
  • What is Real Agile Thinking? Reasons to Avoid Agile
  • Fake Agile, Dark Agile (Foe Agile)
  • Trust is the heart of agile
  • SAFE v.s. Scrum; Kanban Board Assumes Linear Process

Agile in The Time of Corona

  • Scrum’s Response to Corona
  • Remote Working Went Bad – More Silos
  • The Complexity Of Working From Home
  • Work Is A Human Activity

Challenges of Successful Agile Transformation in Large Organization (And Typically Failures)

  • Experiments Failure in Big Organizations; PMO and Agile Failure Pattern
  • ING Transformation Story (New Zealand) + Home Depot
  • Dunbar Number

Agile Architecture

  • Designing Flexible (Agile) Code and Dependency (of code) with the Client; The Holub Principle
  • Architecture Process Code Culture Connected for True Agile
  • Mob Moves Forward Even If Individual Has To Drop Out And Come Back In

Social Software Development & Mentorship

People & Resources:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people and/or resources:

Books People:

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Twitter: twitter.com/LeanOnAgileShow 
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lean-on-agile

Jul 21, 202050:52
Disruption & Learning with Jamie Good

Disruption & Learning with Jamie Good

In this episode, Jamie joined Shahin to talk about the recent disruption all of us are experiencing.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Cognitive overload, learning tips, and personal disruptions
  • Disruptions in our professional lives and the following: Instagram Influencers, Lonely Planet, etc.
  • Responding to Change and Agile transformation at the time of covid19
  • Creative ways of teaching then and now: SMS based learning
  • Psychic Entropy: a state of mind where your thoughts cannot flow to have concrete ideas but are stuck in the same state of thought like a Merry go Round.

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

Peter Aceto  We cited the following resources:

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Twitter: twitter.com/LeanOnAgileShow 
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lean-on-agile

Jun 11, 202057:49
Agile & the Fluency of It Talk With Diana Larsen

Agile & the Fluency of It Talk With Diana Larsen

In this Episode, Diana joined Shahin to talk about Agile Fluency and other related topics.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

Rebecca Wirfs-Brock - Linda Rising - Esther Derby - Klaus Leopold (LeanOnAgile Show with Klaus) - Joshua Kerievsky - Ward Cunningham - Norman Kerth - Allison Pollard - Alistair Cockburn - Ron Jeffries - Arlo Belshee - Martin Fowler - James Shore

We cited the following resources:

By Diana & Co-Authors:

By Other Authors:

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Twitter: twitter.com/LeanOnAgileShow 
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lean-on-agile

May 04, 202057:07
Non Software Agile Talk with Gil Broza

Non Software Agile Talk with Gil Broza

In this Episode, Shahin and Gil talked about recent events, working from home, and Gil's new book of Agile for Non-Software Teams.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

  • Agility (small a Agile)
  • Working remotely
  • Designing your Agile
  • Need for Agile in Marketing
  • Agile for Non-Software Teams
  • Lean and Agile
  • Modern Agile

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

We cited the following resources:

Additional links for the show notes:

About Gil:
Gil Broza can help you increase organizational agility and team performance with minimal risk and thrashing. Dozens of companies seeking transformations, makeovers, or improvements have relied on his pragmatic, modern, and respectful support for customizing Agile in their contexts. These days, several of the world’s largest organizations are having him train hundreds of their managers in technology and business (up to SVP/CIO level) on practical Agile leadership. He is the author of three acclaimed books, The Human Side of Agile, The Agile Mind-Set, and the ground-breaking new Agile for Non-Software Teams.

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Apr 11, 202050:35
Passion Talk with Bob Galen

Passion Talk with Bob Galen

In this episode, Shahin and Bob talked about Passion.

We conversed about and around the following topics:

We referred to and/or mentioned the following people:

We mentioned the following resources (and maybe more):

Bob's blog, site, podcast, and book (one of them)

Software Endgames

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Mar 09, 202048:00
Agile Alliance Talk with Declan Whelan
Feb 18, 202025:50
Fixing Your Scrum with Ryan Ripley

Fixing Your Scrum with Ryan Ripley

In this episode, Shahin and Ryan talked about the new book by Todd and Ryan's Fixing Your Scrum. Todd and Ryan wrote this book together and published it in Jan 2020.

We talked about various topics, and mentioned some people including the following:

Topics:

  • Agile For Human Podcast
  • 242 pages of fixing Scrum v.s. 15 pages of Scrum Guide
  • Scrum meetings go overboard
  • Decision Making Frameworks
  • Data!
  • Fixing Your Process, it's bigger than Scrum even!
  • Who this book is useful for? 
  • Approaches for Leadership to elevate Scrum
  • Scrum.org Community

People:

  • Todd Miller
  • Steve Porter
  • Dave Dame
  • Gunther Verheyen
  • Dave Sabine
  • Matthew Grierson
  • Simon Bourk
  • Daria Bagina
  • Jeff Sutherland
  • Daniel Vacanti
  • Ken Schwaber
  • Jeff Gothelf
  • Joshua Seiden
  • Troy Magennis

If you are interested to get a copy, you can get your copy of the book here:

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Feb 09, 202040:06
History behind Lean On Agile

History behind Lean On Agile

In this short episode, Shahin will be talking about what the Lean On Agile Show is. How it started and what you can expect from it.

We referred to the following podcasts:

Bob's keynote at GOAT (Gatineau Ottawa Agile Tour) can be found here.

You can also find a list of podcasts I recommend on Shahin's blog here.

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Feb 04, 202003:22
A Practical Guide to Speaking at Conferences, with Johanna Rothman

A Practical Guide to Speaking at Conferences, with Johanna Rothman

For the second episode, Shahin had the honor to talk with Johanna on the topic of Speaking at Conferences, tips and tricks on it and how to become a better one. She recently wrote the book "Write a Conference Proposal the Conference Wants and Accepts". We discussed the book as well. If you are thinking of starting your speaking journey, We recommend to listen to the show and highly recommend to read her book.

Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” provides frank advice for your tough problems. She helps leaders and teams see and solve their problems, resolve risks, and manage their product development. Johanna is the author of seventeen books and hundreds of articles. Find the Pragmatic Manager, a monthly email newsletter, and her blogs at jrothman.com and createadaptablelife.com.

Her new book: Write a Conference Proposal the Conference Wants and Accepts

Resources from the podcast:

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Jan 20, 202040:34
Agile Certifications

Agile Certifications

Welcome to Lean on Agile Podcast, a podcast about Agile & Beyound. I'm your host, Shahin.

This is our first episode. The topics we are covering in this episode:

How to Start in Agile Certifications?

  • What is Certification?
  • What are my thoughts about them?
  • What does it show?
  • From a beginner perspective
  • From a recruiter perspective
  • From a hiring manager perspective
  • From a knowledge perspective

Scrum bodies

ICAgile

Kanban

  • Changed recently, 3 levels

DAD

  • Recently acquired by PMI -my story

LeSS

  • Based on Scrum, I have done it, very close to Scrum@Scale it seems

SAFe

Technical Certifications

  • DevOps - ICAgile, SAFe
  • Not a unique body

For more details please visit http://podcast.leanonagile.com.

Dec 31, 201922:19