OMS Consulting Partners, LLC

If you don’t laugh, it will make you cry... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5N00ApR_k

In Agile, servant leadership and self-organization are critical elements.  In traditional business, the "boss" or HIPPO (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) calls the shots . Here's a great article on how to train your HIPPO ... http://agileatheart.com/how-to-train-your-hippo-ace2016/

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." -- Nelson Mandela It does not seem accidental that "courage" is the first Scrum Value on the list.  When coupled with "psychological safety" - open communication becomes not only possible - but the expected norm. Safety is the responsibility of management and the overall culture of the organization. Courage is the responsibility of the individuals in the organization. When Organizational Safety meets Individual Courage - the sky is the limit.  

General Colin Powell (former Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Army Brigadier General) recalled a story he heard the day he was promoted to brigadier general.  In the story, President Abraham Lincoln receives a message during the Civil War saying a Confederate detachment captured a brigadier general and 100 horses.  President Lincoln said out loud "Sure hate to lose those horses".   When asked about the brigadier general, he commented, "I can make a brigadier general in five minutes, but it's not easy to replace 100 horses." “What it says is it’s the horses that count, it’s the troops that count, it’s the seals that count, it’s the sailors that count,” Powell said.  "Communicate the vision and give them everything they need to be successful." Don't think that you are irreplaceable, none of us are.  Therefore, your number one priority each and every day should be taking an active role in development of your subor...

Another GREAT article from OrgMindset.com https://orgmindset.com/2017/11/03/climbing-the-bs-mountain-agile-for-the-sake-of-agile/

Thank you to Alex Yakyma from OrgMindset.com for this FANTASTIC article!  http://orgmindset.com/2017/11/28/anti-pattern-anemic-transformation/

Agile and Scrum are frameworks with a broad range of options but also some pretty hard guardrails . With the best of intentions, some will espouse their ideas/agenda as solid agile, but I'd recommend sticking to the core reliable sources , and look at anything outside of that circle with a critical eye to make sure they are sticking closely to the principles of Agility. To that end, here's a few reliable resources . Reliable Scrum Resources: Scrum Alliance:   www.scrumalliance.org (Mike Cohn - where the most recognized certifications (CSM, CSP, CTP, etc.) come from) Agile Manifesto:   www.agilemanifesto.org (Where it all started) Agile in a Nutshell One Pager:   http:// blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Agile-poster-2016-ver14.pdf Scrum Inc :   https://www.scruminc.com / (Jeff Sutherland co-inventor of Scrum) Version One:   https://www.versionone.com/ Rally:   https://www.ca.com/us/why-ca/about-us/acquisitions/rally-is-now-ca-techn...

If you have children (or if not, if you ever were a child ;-)), at one point in time you may have experienced a child that did not want to clean their room. One option as a parent/guardian is to educate the child on the benefits of a clean room.  Another is to offer inducements/incentives to motivate a child to clean their room.  However, in the end, without the threat of compulsion, education and inducements will only succeed some of the time with some of the people. According to the 'Rogers Innovation Adoption Curve' ( http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_rogers_innovation_adoption_curve.html ), 16% of the population will resist change strongly enough to be classified as "laggards". Laggards are defined as: "Traditional people, caring for the "old ways", are critical towards new ideas and will only accept it if the new idea has become mainstream or even tradition".    In Agile Transformation, if "laggards" are in a posit...