Welcome to the November 2020 edition of the UNHIDING newsletter! Fall is a busy time for squirrels and that has certainly been the case at SquirrelNorth. As we turn the clocks back and head into the home stretch of 2020, we would like to share with you the latest in Kanban content, news, and events. A lot has happened since we last reached out to you in August. We'd like to bring you up to date on some new items as well as inform you of what is in store for the upcoming weeks. We know that these times are challenging for everyone and we wish to extend our best wishes to all our readers. We hope that you and your families are doing well and staying safe during the pandemic. Enjoy this latest edition of UNHIDING! -The SquirrelNorth Team |
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12 FOCUSING QUESTIONS FOR AGILE COACHES |
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Are you able to see what other Agile coaches don't see? The most effective coaches notice things that others don't. How do they do it? We are going to show you how. It's essential that coaches be able to accurately assess the situation they are in so that they can respond in the most contextually appropriate ways in their efforts to help the people they are working with. In this two-part series, James Steele shares 12 Focusing Questions that can help us do exactly that! The first six focusing questions are revealed in Part 1 and the remaining six are in Part 2. . |
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6 OUTDATED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES |
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In our continuing series of videos on Modern Management, Martin Aziz brings our attention to 6 outdated management practices and offers up some alternatives that are more suited to managing work in the 21st century. In Part 1 of this series we focus on the first three management and leadership practices that are probably better left to the 20th century. |
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MANAGING FLOW - WHAT KIND OF FLOW IS THAT FLOW? |
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When talking about “managing flow”, what “flow” are we referring to exactly? There’s the aspect of flow that refers to personal productivity, and it’s achieved within the zone that intersects our perceived level of challenge with our level of skill: people (and teams) are said to be “in the zone” when they feel their work moves along with ease, as if time were suspended. This kind of flow certainly needs management, but its not the flow Kanban refers to with its "manage flow" general practice. So, what is this flow we speak of? If Part 1 of his series on managing flow, Fernando Cuenca challenges us to recognize flow as a concern that is beyond that of a single team. In our efforts to improve service delivery we must acknowledge that management of flow needs to be considered from the perspective of how the customer experiences it. Then in Part 2, Fernando offers some practical guidance on what we can do to model this flow that extends beyond the team in such a manner that more accurately reflects the end-to-end system that is responsible for how customers experience our service(s). . |
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START YOUR KANBAN JOURNEY |
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There is no better way to start your Kanban learning journey and finish your 2020 professional development investments than with our Kanban Systems Design (KMP1) course. One week from now we'll be hosting our last certified KMP1 online class of the year. We have invested a tremendous amount of time in revamping this class so that we can deliver it online in the most entertaining, engaging, and sustainable way possible. We've perfected the online delivery and feedback from participants over the last several months has been outstanding. Who Should attend? This class is for those who take responsibility for improving the delivery of products and services to customers of their technology and, speaking more broadly, professional service businesses. Your classmates may include first and second line managers, project managers, product managers, experienced individual contributors and technical experts, scrum masters, business unit leaders, C-level executives, their improvement coaches and consultants. What Will You Learn? Understanding the Kanban method, principles and practices
Apply systems thinking to design and introduce a unique Kanban system in your unique work environment Graduate from organizing your work with a team Kanban board to designing a Kanban system to improve customer-focused service delivery and to make a difference in your business REGISTER NOW! |
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In October, SquirrelNorth was invited by Digité to deliver a webinar on the topic of helping Product Management keep their promises! Product managers need to manage multiple challenges & risks on a daily basis: What should we work on now, later, or never? When will it be ready? What is the status of our current commitments? Do we have enough capability and capacity? In this webinar the 4 partners at SquirrelNorth explored ways that Kanban can help product managers improve decision making, manage risk, improve transparency, and make promises they can keep. You can view a recording of the entire webinar. |
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If you ask most people what Kanban is, they may refer to it as something to do with tickets and boards. It may even be referred to as an agile or lean process. The Agile Regina (Lean Coffee) Meetup recently asked Martin Aziz to help distill the Kanban Method for us. In his session, Martin explored the essence of the Kanban Method and how it all comes down to an approach that seeks to improve business performance through balance. This was an engaging, interactive, and informative LIVE ZOOM session. You will want to check this out if you are interested in hearing about how to unlock increased business performance by achieving balance throughout the organization. You can download the presentation deck here. A recording of the event will be made soon. |
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The SquirrelNorth team has been active contributors at Kanban conferences around the world over the last decade. Continuing our commitment to attend, speak, participate, and share knowledge with the Kanban community across the world, SquirrelNorth is pleased to announce that we will be an integral part of the 2020 Kanban India Conference. Alexei Zheglov keynoted this conference in 2018 and we are looking forward to continued presence this year. We'll have some exciting news to share on that front shortly. Stay tuned! In the meantime we would encourage you to register for the event which will take place online 04-05 December, 2020. |
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SQUIRRELNORTH & AGENDASHIFT PARTNERSHIP |
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We are thrilled to announce our corporate partnership with Agendashift. Our clients already know that we extensively use Mike Burrows' Agendashift framework in our coaching and consulting engagements. We've strengthened that further with this new partnership. SquirrelNorth's, Alexei Zheglov recently penned a few words about how we use Agendashift in our client engagements. Check it out if you want to see how SquirrelNorth's approach to shifting the agenda could make a real difference in your business. And in case you missed our webinar with Mike Burrows where we talked about what Agendashift offers to organizations, their leaders, managers, coaches, and consultants - you can view it here. |
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We have completely redesigned our training offering for online delivery. We started the journey with some hypothesis of what would make an online class fit for our customers. Some of them were validated, while others were disproved and required pivoting as we went along. In the end this is what some of our students had to say about it: |
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"You managed to mix theory and practice very well. After seeing several other virtual training sessions from supposedly 'virtual training experts', I can tell you that yours is amongst the best I've seen in the last 5 months of quarantine."
Omar Bermudez Engagement Manager with McKinsey |
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"I enjoyed the format of the course and it worked well remotely. The course material and moderators provided some great real life examples and simulations to really understand Kanban that has allowed me to immediately apply with my team. " Steve Luu Group Product Manager with Nulogy |
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"Over the last year, I've done in person (KMP-1, KMP-2) and online (KMM, KCP) training with SquirrelNorth. Their delivery online and in-person is of exceptional quality and is highly engaging, filled with activities, and interactive conversations. Each time, I walk away with a completely new perspective and new pragmatic tools that I can use and integrate into my coaching right away. The SquirrelNorth team has been very approachable and helpful inside and outside of the classroom. I truly believe they are invested in the success of each student. I do not hesitate when I say 'choose SquirrelNorth', as I will continue to do for my own professional development. You will not regret it." Kyle Chandler Coach & Trainer with IntelliPivot |
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Our online classes are designed to minimize "zoom fatigue" by spreading the content in multiple days with morning only sessions that include ample breaks. We provide a "virtual classroom" that contains all the material, exercises, and bonus content in a unified environment that promotes interactivity. By having multiple trainers present in each session we can support multiple breakout rooms direction as well as encouraging a learning environment where multiple points of view and a variety of experiences are shared. We've been very happy to hear the positive feedback from our students, but at the same time realize that it hasn't been an accident. It wasn't the result of simply trying to give them a pleasant experience, but the outcome of paying close attention to fitness criteria and adjusting service delivery and implementation accordingly. You can now also experience these results. |
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Thanks for reading and stay safe everyone! Let's keep the conversation going on SLACK. This Newsletter Not for you? We took care to send this to newsletter out to our direct contacts, but maybe you are not the right person for this newsletter (please unsubscribe below with our apologies), and maybe we missed someone who will find it useful (can you please forward it to them?) The SquirrelNorth Team |
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