Be an Artisan or Communicator
As AI gets better at digital tasks, we should focus on what makes us unique as humans. Emotional connection, creativity, and physical skills are more critical than ever.
Become a Specializing Generalist
The new organizational focus should be on teams filled with M-skilled (cross-functional) people who can connect the dots between multiple disciplines.
Product Backlogs Are Not Backlogs
A product backlog is not a backlog, as it mostly consists of ideas. Only the part where you’ve committed yourself to completing the items should be called a backlog.
We’re reorganizing our team
We are fully equipped for the new year and welcome any ideas for experimentation. If you have fresh ideas to take maximum advantage of the unFIX model and help us grow this brand, reach out, and we will explore the possibilities!
Don't Lose Your Annual Budget; Plan to Kill It.
Yearly budgets are a symptom of an unhealthy organization. Use your budget now by spending it on good medicine. Lead by example. Start the change from where you are. Introduce new ideas in the organization that, someday, will result in the dismantling of the archaic annual budgeting process.
The Purpose of a System Is What It Does
When a community claims its ideology intends to do A, but everyone can see that the actual behaviors of community members are B, then the system's purpose is B, not A.
“How Is unFIX Doing?”
Every week, people ask me, "What about unFIX? How is it doing?" The answer, of course, depends on how you measure it.
Rethink Your Job, or Prepare to Retire
The nature of the work has changed, and it's essential to rethink your role in this evolving landscape. I will not be replaced by AI; I will be replaced by someone who makes better use of AI.
Hard Agile, Soft Agile, and Not Agile
Labeling every non-pure Agile approach as “waterfall” is not helpful. Big Design Upfront only exists in the first quadrant, which we can indeed label as “Not Agile.”
Middle Managers Should Stop Coordinating
There's no need for middle managers to do any coordination. You just need a quick and civilized way for people to get together across the enterprise to coordinate decisions about a variety of topics.
Sometimes, You *Don’t* Want Focus
One exception to the idea of keeping focus is when you're working with a portfolio of options. Investors don't want focus; they want diversification to balance their portfolio.
The Standard Value Stream Concept Is Outdated—Here’s an Improved Definition
A value stream is the set of actions needed to discover or deliver on a job-to-be-done / value proposition from a signal to an experience. A value stream always begins and ends with a user or customer. The goal is to improve the experience by optimizing the whole value stream.
Breaking Bad Dependencies (Not Good Ones)
The idea of end-to-end responsibility is that nothing is blocked in this value stream. But autonomy is an illusion, and it’s impossible to break all dependencies. The problem is that many dependencies are not valuable.
The Agile Movement Is Shrinking but the Agile Mindset is Growing
While global demand for agile coaches and transformation leads (as a separate role) has declined, the need for proficiency in agile ways of working (as a skill) has surged.
Is Reteaming Something for You?
Resourcing is moving people around projects like cattle in a barn. Reteaming is people choosing to work in different contexts in a voluntary, autonomous, and self-organized manner.
I Don’t Do Sprints
It makes no sense to trigger all my processes with the same cadence. I don’t have one cadence. I have many.
Horizontal Scaling with Turfs
You can scale a small unit to multiple teams without adding a management layer by using the Turf Types patterns: Teams of Teams, Product Areas, Business Units, and Houses. Any of the four Turf Types mentioned in this pattern set may help grow your Base while your Crews remain small.
Draw your Base(s) with the unFIX Plotter
Do you remember the time when you wanted to draw your first Value Stream Crew? Do you also remember the feeling when reality kicked in, and you’ve realized that they expect you to copy and paste shapes from bloody PowerPoint slides? Well, I remember too… That was the point when I swore to resolve this once and for all, by coming up with a digital tool which can plot my organization to a canvas. And that is when the unFIX Plotter was born.
I’m Always a Bit Hesitant About Voting
Voting is like water. It’s an essential ingredient for a healthy, social system; but useless and maybe even poisonous when used in large quantities.
Six Steps in Goal-Setting
Goal-setting only happens when there is a process for it. The unFIX model defines six different patterns (or steps) for this process.