Positive Bias: the Foundation for High-performance Teams

It seems like everyone has high-performance teams on their mind. Just this morning, I had a great conversation with a young army veteran who had led teams. He said he experienced some incredibly bad teams during his stint in the army. The teams were toxic. They were run by bullying and negativity. His team leaders complained about everything that [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:33-04:00June 19th, 2017|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Positive Bias: the Foundation for High-performance Teams

How to Create More Love

I joined my wife, Molly, and a group of around 25 old and new friends at the Open Space Institute’s conference on Peace and High Performance. I drew this quick sketch of Harrison Owen, creator of Open Space Technology as he reminded us how easy it is to connect using Open Space: just sit in [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:34-04:00March 1st, 2017|Uncategorized|Comments Off on How to Create More Love

Building Great Teams with the Core Protocols, the Tuckman Model, and Google’s Psychological Safety

I’ve been on tour, sharing my Building Great Teams with the Core Protocols class and talk all over North America and in London. And I’m honored and grateful for the positive reviews, reflections, and connections to other people’s work. Hannes Horn writes about his experience in my half-day class on Medium . He describes [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:34-04:00April 14th, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Building Great Teams with the Core Protocols, the Tuckman Model, and Google’s Psychological Safety

Experience Agile

Want your students or clients to really learn Agile? Then get them to teach Agile to themselves. Experience Agile is the activity I use to close my two-day Agile class. Students learn Agile by doing Agile and by teaching Agile to each other. The assignment: Design, implement, and deliver a product that teaches you everything [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:34-04:00August 4th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Experience Agile

Manifesto for Greatness

On May 1, 2015, a group of 16 people gathered at Crystal Lake near Seattle, Washington. We announced to the world that we feel. That we suffer and that we are responsible. That we want a world filled with abundant love and greatness. That we have been "booted" running a new operating system, the [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:35-04:00June 10th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Manifesto for Greatness

How to: A Great Product Backlog Refinement Workshop

Are your Sprint Planning meetings painful? Are your Sprint outcomes always as great as you want? Have you ever held a Sprint Retrospective and decided to get your Product Backlog truly Ready? Here’s an outline of a Product Backlog Refinement Workshop I use with teams I manage and coach: Goals The goals [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:36-04:00May 20th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on How to: A Great Product Backlog Refinement Workshop

The best of the best: family-size team in a family-size space

I build great software with great people. We need a great space in which to do it. For the last year, we’ve been experimenting with an open plan collaboration space. Instead of working as individuals in cubicles, we work together in a space with no walls between us. For the first six months, [...]

By |2023-04-22T21:12:46-04:00March 27th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The best of the best: family-size team in a family-size space
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