Should SAFe Strategic Themes include gradable Key Results?
Strategic Themes in SAFe represent strategic choices at the Enterprise/Portfolio level that should guide decisions throughout the portfolio. A qualitative Objective accompanied by a quantitative, valuable, and measurable evidence-oriented Key Result connected to a portfolio KPI is a great way to make sure the strategic theme is pointing toward desired outcomes without going into too …
Professional Scrum Trainer Spotlight w/ Yuval Yeret
I’m featured in the latest Scrum.org Community Podcast PST Spotlight series. Dave West and I talked about my background in DevOps and product development and how I developed my passion for agile and empiricism that has developed over the years. We talked about how I became a PST while introducing Kanban to the Scrum.org community, …
The Fixing OKRs Live Stream Series
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with livestreaming around Fixing OKRs. This is a topic I’ve been writing and talking about for a while, here in the blog and on the conference circuit. If you’re interested in tuning in to upcoming live streams, you can follow me on LinkedIn or subscribe to my …
Mapping Flow Metrics in SAFe, Professional Scrum with Kanban, Project 2 Product and Evidence-based Management
Suggested New Year Resolution – Improve Flow of Value!Start with Measuring Flow… but how? There are different flow metric taxonomies – how are they similar/different? In this live stream, I reviewed the PSK, Project 2 Product, SAFe, and EBM flow metrics taxonomies and how they map to each other. I also discussed the bigger picture …
Deconstructing SAFe Criticism – Focusing on the SPC role
The SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC) is a crucial aspect of SAFe’s implementation and scaling approach. In this live stream, I shared my perspective about some of this model’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from the perspective of a leader of a large-scale agility journey leveraging SAFe. Check out the video, let me know what you …
Expanding My Collaborative Horizon – Teaming Up with Flow Sphere
Today, I want to share a major business update. Last week I associated my SAFe SPCT (and Fellowship) with Flow Sphere as part of a strategic partnership between Flow Sphere and my consulting practice Yeret Agility. Flow Sphere is a premier boutique agile consultancy, SAFe Gold SPCT Partner, and Scrum.org PTN, led by Sacha Czudek …
OKR Implementation Tips
OKRs – Yet Another Silver Bullet It seems OKRs are the new “silver bullet” – VC/PE/GE Investors give John Dorr’s “Measure What Matters” book to their CEOs and strongly suggest that their portfolio companies use OKRs. While the idea of using OKRs to improve strategic focus and alignment with execution is great, things often go …
Exploring the controversy around SAFe’s approach to Product Ownership
Exploring SAFe’s Approach to Product Ownership What is SAFe’s perspective on the Product Owner role? How does it differ from the Scrum Guide? Why is Product Ownership split to Product Owner and Product Manager in SAFe? SAFe’s approach to Product Ownership draws quite a bit of criticism. As a Professional Scrum Trainer who’s also a …
Elevating business scaling constraints through agility
Growing Pains I’ve been helping companies improve their operations for over a decade. A repeating pattern is where a successful company is facing growing pains, affecting its ability to scale to the next level. Some examples of the challenges I’m called in to help with: Losing the Ability to Get Complex Stuff Done You often …
The Future of Agile Roles != The Future of Agility
The story of Capital One laying off hundreds of people in Agile roles is making the rounds. I have no direct connection to Capital One, so I can’t comment about what’s going on there. What I can share is for years now, I’ve been coaching companies and leaders to see the Scrum Master and similar …