Agileety

Change Agent Map – Transforming the Agile Coaching Competency Framework

Mar 26, 2019 / Jordann / 1 Comment / Reading time: 6 minutes

For me a ‘mandatory’ part of my job is reflecting on how good I am at helping my clients at their transformation. Also looking at what gives me energy and where I can improve myself. As a continuous learner I need help to focus on a few things at a time instead of learning all the things at once! (I’m the kind of person that runs into mobile Safari’s limit of having max 500 tabs open…)

In this regard one of my most valuable tools has been the Agile Coaching Competency Framework [PDF], created by Michael Spayd and Lyssa Adkins. Besides helping myself, I have also mentored and coached quite some agile coaches, change agents, Scrum masters, etc in their learning journey. I find the framework gives me and them good guidance to conduct an appreciative inquiry interview around their personal development.

If you just came here to download the free goodies, here is the PDF with the change agent maps and explanations. Use as you wish, all I ask is to please respect and not remove the references to the original framework and this blog, thanks!

Change Agent Map [PDF] (Need the old version or interested in the name change from agile coaching? Read further!)

Podcast Chief Blabla Officer

Jan 11, 2019 / Jordann / 0 Comments / Reading time: 2 minutes

TLDR;
iTunes podcast [media; Dutch]
Spotify podcast [media; Dutch]
Or search for ‘de toekomst van organisaties’ on your preferred podcast platform.

In December I was back in the Netherlands to facilitate the Liberating Structures Immersion Workshop after migrating to Germany the month before. Taking the opportunity, my old colleagues/friends Roel & Just invited me to record a podcast before we went to a meetup at Keytoe (awesome Dutch company living quite some teal and agile principles, without using any of the dogmatic jargon).

My Playpplication for Play4Agile 2019

Nov 20, 2018 / Jordann / 0 Comments / Reading time: 1 minute

It’s time to enroll for Play4Agile again, a serious gaming unconference in Germany.

So, last year this happened: I made a Playpplication [blog] to apply for a spot. Except I forgot to fill in the official form that goes with it.
Oh well, “Ordnung muss sein” I guess… Anyway, my application wasn’t processed and I ended up on spot #42 on the waiting list… which meant I never got to attend it. 🙁

Scaled Monster Retro @ Retrospective Facilitators Gathering ‘18

Apr 22, 2018 / Jordann / 1 Comment / Reading time: 7 minutes

Few years ago I got invited to attend RFG16 (Retrospective Facilitators Gathering ‘16) in Portugal. It is hard to describe such an event, but the simple description would be that it is a week long unconference [wiki]. A limited group of 30 wonderful people comes together to share their bright minds about continuous improvement as well as facilitation.

Second week of March I’ve spend a week at RFG18. I love to take opportunities like these to sharpen my skills on designing and facilitating scaled retrospectives. The attendants are often open-minded towards experimentation and it helps the next organizers to make the event even better. Added benefit is that I volunteered to be one of the organizers for the next edition of RFG in Europe in 2020!
Every year the event switches between Europe and America, and I was lucky enough that in 2018 it took place in my home country at Noordwijk, Netherlands. Being in a different place and context for a week, still made it feel like I was on vacation abroad.

There is way too much to share about what I got out of the week, so the focus of this blogpost will be on the scaled monster retro I designed together with @Toby Baier and @Silvana Wasitova. To get people in a creative mindset when trying to come up with improvements, I prefer to design retro’s which have a strong theme with some storytelling. The version I’ll share with you below is a combination of how we hoped it would go, what we actually ran and what came out of the evaluation (retroception) to do differently next time.

Header image by AnimeVeteran on DeviantArt. On the right the good Dr. Jekyll and on the left the bad Mr. Hyde.

My Playpplication for Play4Agile 2018

Nov 26, 2017 / Jordann / 1 Comment / Reading time: 1 minute

Once again I’m hoping to join the serious games unconference Play4Agile next year, so here is my Playpplication. 🙂

I love checking out new (un)conferences every year, but this one around serious games is becoming a regular one for me. Serious gaming is the act of using games or game metaphors to explain certain concepts, amplify group dynamics, let people experiment in a safe environment or as a learning tool.

I like Play4Agile specifically because the attendees create a safe and open environment where everyone feels free to experiment, fail and learn a lot together. There hasn’t been a year I wasn’t inspired to try multiple games afterwards or I didn’t get to experiment with multiple concepts I had in my mind. Hoping to get through the lottery and see this tribe again next February!

Will keep you updated.

[EDIT]: I forgot to fill in some form, so I’m at spot #42 on the waiting list, which means I’ll not be attending this year…

Try to INVEST in Not Needing a Definition of Ready

Mar 20, 2017 / Jordann / 9 Comments / Reading time: 2 minutes

Hopefully I lured you in because you’re looking for ways to make sure you don’t set yourself or your team up for failure. Look no further! Actually the first rule of online is you should look & learn further and not blindly trust an agile creative dude on the internet. Still I hope this visualization and background give you a nudge in the right direction. Could also have called it “How to Make a Good Story Great!”

> Free high-res download of visualization at bottom of post
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First Steps into Video Scribing

Feb 16, 2017 / Jordann / 0 Comments / Reading time: 4 minutes

All of you have probably seen one of those whiteboard-style animated videos. You see a hand with a marker visualizing the concepts which you hear in the voice-over. They are often made to easily and visually explain concepts or as a nice way to help understand the highlights from inspiring talks (TED-like) or books; like this one on Drive by Daniel Pink [vid].
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Happy Salmon Holidays!

Dec 30, 2016 / Jordann / 5 Comments / Reading time: 1 minute

Few months ago I went to SPIEL ’16 [web] in Essen; the biggest board game fair in the world. Ever since I’ve been obsessed with a new game I discovered there, Happy Salmon [BGG].

It’s one of the fastest games I’ve ever seen. One can explain it in one minute and play it in the next. Considering it only takes two minutes, it brings a huge amount of joy and instant gratification, making it my default energizer in workshops, trainings and other sessions now.
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My Playpplication for Play4Agile 2017

Nov 25, 2016 / Jordann / 3 Comments / Reading time: 5 minutes

At the beginning of this year I went to one of the most fun and educational unconferences I’ve ever been to; Play4Agile [web].

Typically at an unconference, the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. Unconferences typically feature open discussions rather than having a single speaker at the front of the room giving a talk, although any format is permitted. This form of conference is particularly useful when the attendees generally have a high level of expertise or knowledge in the field the conference convenes to discuss.

– Wikipedia

The main topic was about games in agile. How to use games for explaining certain agile concepts, apply gamification in learning, use existing games as a metaphor for real life situations, etc.
Last year it was sold out in under 15 minutes, so this year the organising committee reinstated that one will need to apply in order to join.
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Mar 10, 2016

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® & Agile

‘Exploded view’ of what I learned this workshop. OCD, you ask?

Just now I attended an introduction workshop to LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® [web] in the context of agile. The purpose of this method is to use hands-on, minds-on creative thinking to let people build metaphors with LEGO bricks. That way it enables possibilities in their ideas and communication.

“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than you can from a lifetime of conversation.” – Plato

Trust me when I say there are numerous workshops using LEGO out there. This is the only method which LEGO has endorsed. My excitement was high as the great @Martin van Dijken was one of the facilitators. 🙂 I find it valuable and so far think it matches my coaching style. The next step is deciding if I want to become a certified facilitator.

Agileety

putting the fun in functional

Change Agent Map – Transforming the Agile Coaching Competency Framework

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Podcast Chief Blabla Officer

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My Playpplication for Play4Agile 2019

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Scaled Monster Retro @ Retrospective Facilitators Gathering ‘18

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My Playpplication for Play4Agile 2018

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Try to INVEST in Not Needing a Definition of Ready

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First Steps into Video Scribing

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Happy Salmon Holidays!

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My Playpplication for Play4Agile 2017

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LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® & Agile

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