Stan Ponder’s Post

Still pondering the question, "What does 'agile enough' mean." I called this video series "Agile Enough." Here is the summary for those not able to watch the video... Agile is not just about completing tasks or checking items off a list. It’s about creating value. Don't get bogged down with ‘shadow projects’—work that’s unplanned, unprioritized, and might not be adding value. Get comfortable sometimes saying ‘no’ to work that doesn’t align with your organization’s priorities. Powerful Questions: How do you currently determine the value of each project or task? Who’s involved in that process? Do you have visibility into ‘shadow projects’ or non-prioritized work that might be pulling resources away from higher-value work? How do you measure whether a project is delivering customer, business, or technical value? Are there times when you realize a project isn’t worth the time or resources being spent?

🤔 Are We Experiencing Agile Fatigue? As someone who's been hearing word and semantic debates recently, I've noticed a trend that I call "agile fatigue." It's the overuse of agile jargon to the point where the words start to lose their impact. We've all heard phrases like: "You have to BE agile, not just DO agile" "Agile is a mindset, not a methodology" "We need to embrace agility to stay competitive" While these statements are well-intentioned, the repetition can make them feel like empty buzzwords, especially to younger generations entering the workforce. Don't get me wrong - the core principles of agile are crucial. Flexibility, collaboration, customer-centricity - these are all important values. But we need to focus on applying these principles in a meaningful way, not just repeating catchphrases. So how do we combat agile fatigue? By having authentic conversations about how we can embody agile principles in our day-to-day work. By being open to change, working collaboratively, and always keeping the end user in mind. It's about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Let's strive to be truly agile in our approach, not just in our vocabulary. I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Have you experienced agile fatigue in your workplace? How do you think we can address it? #AgileFatigue #AgilePrinciples #CorpSpeak #AuthenticLeadership #NextGenWorkforce

If the thought of another "agile transformation" makes you want to run for the hills... (and you're not getting the business results you want) I have experienced this working with executives everyday and have experienced this firsthand. Getting excited about standing up a whole bunch of teams only to end up with silos on top of silos and stifled employees with low morale. I hear you, and I've been there. I've made every possible mistake related to agile change at least once. The good news is I have learned and I can share with you too. Instead of going in guns blazing with agile, think about experimenting with these steps the next time you want to seriously shift the way your organization works: 1. 𝗙𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗦 → Not Agile. Business and customer outcomes 2. 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧, 𝗪𝗛𝗢, 𝗪𝗛𝗬 → What is the work, who is asking for it, why? 3. 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦 → Lower the temperature. Identify the true emergencies And here's the MOST IMPORTANT PART: 👇 No amount of frameworks or consulting dollars will take away the reality that success comes down to how your leaders engage with the rest of the organization. Your ability to work with your leadership to engage and empower your teams is what makes life better. If you want to learn the secret to lead your organization along a change journey towards awesome teams delivering awesome outcomes... Join me on Tues August 20th at 7:00pm EST for a Free LinkedIn Live explaining how. Comment 'Simplicity' so my team can share with you the link.

While we all agree that Agile aims to mitigate the disruptions caused by ever-evolving businesses, projects and customer needs. we often overlook a critical element that brought agile to life: People. Let's get back to basics. Since we are discussing Agile, as a starter we need to read the manifesto. It highlights as its first value "Individuals and Interactions." Individuals mean people -your core factor of survival, backbone of your organization, your cornerstone of success-.   I believe they chose the word "individuals" to emphasize the unique and extraordinary nature of people; We are all different. We think, behave, interact, connect and perceive things in diverse ways. Numerous scientific studies have been exploring human behavior for centuries, only to conclude that people are, indeed, different. While there are some commonalities, we must understand and embrace these differences.   While working with organizational agility activities, I see that a crucial aspect is often missed in transformation planning: Humanizing work. Introducing practices, frameworks, structures, roles, and procedures is relatively easy. The real challenge lies in humanizing our work and planning accordingly. So, my two cents are: understand human nature, model vulnerability when leading the change and appeal to both the head and the heart, before focusing on practices, frameworks, and policies. Keep in mind, transformation brings challenging and time-consuming change. Leading people demands a delicate balance of guiding them through discomfort while also raising awareness of the change and its advantages. The true win lies here in Humanizing the journey with your people.  #Humanizing_Work #Agile_Coaching

Buzzing with thoughts as we just finished our Lean Coffee with about a dozen leaders from F500 firms discussing Agile topics. Spoiler Alert: Agile is not Dead! In fact, the consensus seemed to be that the notion is pure clickbait used to drive attention on this platform. I thought it would be useful to share this data point, as there seems to be angst around this question in the one on one discussions I have. In the real world, we are still wrestling with the best way to measure the impact Agile teams are having, which has been a perennial problem and difficult to definitively solve. People love to point to an empirical approach, but we don't live in laboratories so there really is never a true before and after state which can be pointed to as objective truth on how much things have improved due to new practices and patterns being introduced. There seemed to be agreement that measures have a shelf life and when the pursuit of a measure becomes the goal it ceases to be a good measure. Can't say we solved the problem in the hour we spent together, but learning about what people are doing in the trenches and the different approaches that are being taken has a value in itself. Thanks to all our participants!

This is one of the better explanations on the value proposition of the agile manifesto I’ve seen. It’s worth a read.

It’s time to borrow a page from the Agile playbook... Agile isn’t just for developers anymore—it's a game-changer for Customer Success too! Here’s how you can leverage Agile to scale your CS efforts and keep your team ahead of the game: Embrace Iterative Improvements 🔄 Imagine running Customer Success sprints like your favorite tech companies. By setting short-term goals and iterating on your approach every few weeks, you ensure that your strategies stay aligned with your customers' evolving needs. Adopt Scalable Frameworks 📊 Consider using frameworks like Kanban or Scrum to manage your Customer Success workflows. For example, you might use a Kanban board to visualize tasks and track progress, helping your team stay organized and focused. These frameworks can streamline your processes, prioritize key tasks, and handle growth effectively. Boost Team Collaboration 🤝 Agile thrives on strong collaboration. When knowledge and best practices are shared, teams can avoid reinventing the wheel and leverage existing solutions to drive faster and more effective outcomes. #Scaling #CustomerSuccess #Agile

#AgileKitchen In one week, our next Agile Kitchen is happening - and there are still a few spots left! You should join if you want to: 👉 spread business agility throughout every level of your organization  👉 develop your own self-assessment that can serve as a roadmap for implementing and sustaining agile changes with impact.  👉 be inspired to grow further 😉 Sounds like you?  Then don’t hesitate, and book your free spot on our website. ↓↓↓ #lastcall #BusinessAgility #Agile #AgileImpact #event

Last week I had the good fortune to spend several hours with two coauthors of the Agile manifesto, Jim Highsmith and Jon Kern along with other Agile leaders including Patricia Remacle, Nevine White, Shannon Ewan, and host 🔑 Sanjiv Augustine 🎯. Now that our technology group has decided to transition to the Scaled Agile Framework, I see countless articles declaring "Agile Is Dead". I jumped at the opportunity to explore the topic with this group, and ask questions about how we could successfully transition to a more value-driven way of working. Here are some of the lessons I took away from this amazing conversation: • The Scaled Agile Framework can best be viewed as “dim sum” rather than a buffet. There are many options to choose from, but each carries an implementation and support cost. Thoughtfully select the elements that will have the biggest impact for the specific challenges and opportunities your organization faces. • Don’t spend dollars to save pennies as you pursue your Agile implementation.   • The 7 most expensive words in business are “That’s the way we’ve always done it”. • Agility is about balancing 3 elements: Autonomy Alignment Accountability • In some organizations there is an overemphasis on Autonomy which reduces the team’s ability to provide rapid incremental value to their organizations. Flattening the organizational structure can help to improve Accountability and Alignment.   • A product owner identifies what will deliver value, while a project manager ensures that the value that has been identified is delivered.   • People are not the same as their role. They develop diverse skill sets that enable them to provide value in ways that may not cleanly line up with a job title. For example, a project manager may have worked closely for such a long time on a particular technology that they also provide product management skills in that area.   • It’s critical to bring the Finance team along on the Agile journey so that they understand how value is delivered and can help align accounting practices with new ways of working.   • There is an effort underway to Reimagine Agile. The purpose is to return to core principles and embrace strong leadership practices to make Agile accessible to all. I’m still processing what I learned both from this conversation and from LitheSpeed's Global Agility and Innovation Summit, but I think the #1 thing I’ve walked away with is: 𝘋𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 “𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬”, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. Thriving in a VUCA world means questioning our existing scripts, learning to adapt and respond to events in real time. It's about 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 agile, not doing Agile.

As the year is slowly coming to an end, we’re already planning for next year. Which is why this month, our 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 – agile ones, to be exact. Over the next three weeks, Julia Dreyer will take you through everything you need to know about 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 – so you are fully equipped to tackle 2025! 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿-𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 In an era where change is the only constant, companies often face the challenge of 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 to new realities. Traditional strategies, rooted in rigid planning processes, are no longer sufficient to meet market demands. 🚀 But first things first: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆? Briefly, it’s a guiding framework to help navigate your business toward its goals. Agile strategies offer an approach that enables organizations to 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 while still following a common direction. They provide key elements that traditional strategic settings often lack: 👯 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Involving all stakeholders to leverage diverse perspectives, enriching the strategic process by building it from the team, for the team. 🔄 𝗜𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: Strategies are tested and refined in shorter cycles, allowing for timely adjustments when needed. 🎯 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀: Instead of long-term planning, the emphasis is on achieving specific goals that are regularly reviewed. We’ll demonstrate how to easily set up an agile strategy framework without committing months to writing a 120-page strategy paper that no one can operationalize in our upcoming webinar: ☕ 𝗖:𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 & 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 on November 21st from 08:30 – 09:30, online ☕ You'll come out empowered to build and steer a hands-on strategy that serves as a living tool and compass for you and your team. So don't miss out and sign up -it's free! Link in the comments.