Archive for the ‘Who is ?’ Category

Who is Yvonne van der Laak?

no comments | Posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, BookList, Who is ?'

When I asked Yvonne to be in the book, she was really surprised. Not fake suprised, as some actresses do when they get an Oscar, she was surprised because technically she is not an agilist. She used to work for the Dutch branch of Xebia) as a Marketing Coordinator. I have not met Yvonne, yet for me, her interaction on twitter showed me that her mindset was really agile. I don’t know if that’s because of the influence of working for an agile company (which some of us would like) or because Xebia has great hiring skills. This book wants to show off people who understand agile and who breathe it and that is why Yvonne is in the book.

 

 

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?

I am an idealist. My goal in life is to make the world a better place, especially when it comes to animal welfare. I have always known that this is something I care about, but only recently realized that it is actually the thing that drives me. My goal is to make a difference in the world. Social media helps me to get there.
 
If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?

Well actually, I am not in IT myself anymore. I used to work for Xebia, but started my own business – Start With Y – in social media and online branding. I have a background in communication and marketing. Some of my clients, however, are from the Agile community.
I have never deliberately chosen to be in IT. It sort of happened, but I must say that working at Xebia has definitely changed me. I have met so many great, driven people that have inspired and encouraged me. They have introduced me to the wonderous world of agile which still comes in handy as agile is definitely not just an "IT thing" anymore.
 
What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?

Being an entrepreneur. I am not a very disciplined and orderly person, so having to manage myself and not having anyone to report to, is quite a challenge sometimes. Still, I am also the one that feels the pain as soon as I am slacking, so that keeps me going.
Just recently I have decided to look for a ‘real’ job  again and keep my business on the side. Working for myself has been an amazing experience so far. It helped me figure out what I want and like and how to get there. It made me very independent, but it also reminded me that I have to ask for help sometimes…
 
What drives you?

Happiness. Respect. Personal development. Fun. My fiancé. Animal welfare. And of course, world peace Winking smile

I am always looking for new things to broaden my horizon. This often results in my friends saying ‘You are doing what?! Why?!’ or ‘That’s so typical for you’, whenever I tell them about my new Russian language course, sports club (rarely), collecting books for schools in Surinam (in progress) or organizing a beach cleanup (coming soon). I love learning new things and contributing to social or environmental projects. I love sharing knowledge and creating awareness, especially amongst my friends. And I am fortunate to have the most amazing guy supporting me and watching my back, no matter what I do.
 
What is your biggest achievement?

Leaving the stability of a job behind and starting my own business. With all the struggles and insecurities that come with it. And I am enjoying every minute of it. Well, maybe not every minute, but at least a few hours every day ;)
 
What is the last book you have read?

You mean actually finished? Let me think… I am halfway through Start With Why by Simon Sinek, the same goes for Social Media ROI by Olivier Blanchard. I am reading a few Dutch books about starting up your own business. And I have a pile of about 20 books that I still want to read, most of them related to social media, general management or personal development.
Furthermore, I’ve just read The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz by Denis Avey and I am now reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
The next book I am going to buy for fun is Il Etait un Fois by Benjamin Lacombe. I love fairy tales and picture books with pretty drawings.
 
What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?

Who inspires you/is your role model? Similar to ‘what drives you?’ but not quite the same.
If I would have to name a few of my role models they would be

Sir Richard Branson (a self-made business man and idealist who works together with the biggest leaders in the world, trying to make a change and having fun while doing it),

Farah Fawcett (an amazingly strong woman who even when she was dying, wanted to help others by making a documentary of her illness)

Lady Gaga (a very young, driven and talented woman who has managed to build one of the biggest and tightest fan clubs in just a few years time).

And closer to home: Roos van Vugt, who is one of the biggest influencers in the Dutch social media/online community, has a great career, 4 kids and is a very nice person.

Last but not least my soon-to-be-hubby. Corny but true.
 
Who do you think I should ask next?

Definitely some Dutchies! I’d be curious about the anwers of Lillian Nijboer and some of my fomer collegues e.g.  

Last week Yvonne’s answers were already published in the Who is agile book together with the answer to the question: If you could have any super power, what would it be?

Who is Ola Ellnestam

no comments | Posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, BookList, Conferences, Who is ?'

Who is Ola Ellnestam?
Ola Ellnestam was invited by Zuzi. Zuzi wrote she was interested in Ola‘s answers.
You might know Ola from his Mikado method. You gotta love a man that invents a method called Mikado. I’m not sure where I met Ola, I think it was at SDC 2010. Oh and don’t mix Ola up with Ole one letter different, two different countries (Ola is from Sweden, Ole from Denmark) and two total different people, both in their own special way.

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?

I have no formal education when it comes to programming. Actually I haven’t attended any ‘higher’ education at all. After 13 years in school I decided I’ve had enough. So, at the age of nineteen I told my mother I wanted to work with people and computers and she looked at me like I was from outer space. ‘You can’t work with computers and people, it’s either or …’

Two months later I was hired as a software & hardware support technician at Sweden’s largest emergency hospital, where I stayed for three years. After coming in contact with a lot of bad and good computer programs, and more importantly the people who used them I realize how important it is for software to be really fit for purpose.

If I had continued studying I probably would have missed the computerization of the Stockholm area health care and a lot of learning opportunities as well.

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?

My first real memory regarding a career choice was related to flying. I dreamt about being a fighter pilot or traveling in space. Probably because I built a lot with Lego and around that time the coolest parts were the space Lego. Later when I considered myself too old for playing with Lego, I felt something was missing and it would take me another 5 years before I could put my finger on what. It was programming that filled the hole I’d felt, the creative, experimental aspect of it and the development and realization of ideas I had. They could all be done with computer programs.

In a way I have my dream job so I haven’t thought much about an alternative. But if I were to reconsider my career now, it would definitely include people and something very creative.

Maybe creating social games or being an artist.

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?

Living in the ‘now’ is what causes me most conflict really. I sometimes catch myself planning the next family dinner or party in my mind, while being at a party or having dinner with the family. It’s sort of the opposite of running around and taking photos of everything. Photographing would be documenting, while sort of trying to imagine the future and creating it, there and then.

What comes out of this constant planning for the future is a lot of options though, which I do appreciate. And this inclination I have towards exploring options and preparing comes in handy in my work where adaptivness and flexibility often are appreciated and a lot easier if you have thought a bit ahead.

What drives you ?

I guess it’s an [un]healthy mix of curiosity and a feeling that there’s always a better way. I constantly have this nagging feeling that I can do better, this code could be a bit clearer and I just can’t sit idle and watch something being done inefficiently. Or even worse, see people spend energy, money or time in a manner that I feel is ineffective.

What is your biggest achievement?

That’s a really tough one because I don’t feel like I ever achieve something as I tend to minimize my own part in what I do. But if I trick myself and rephrase things a bit I would say I’m very proud of my family, my three kids and my lovely and supportive wife. I’m also proud of the company I started 5 years ago with my colleagues. Again if you look at what drives me, I think my biggest achievement is somewhere in the future, I like to think that tomorrow I’m going to do even better.

What is the last book you have read?

The last one I’ve actually read the final page of was Idealized Design by Russel Ackoff et al. It was interesting because of its practical advice and interesting stories about systems thinking.

But my reading is more this pile of books that are lying around and waiting to be finished. I got a handful going at the moment and somehow it feels like I never really finish books, apart from fiction books, which I feel are more important to actually read from cover to cover. Books that are non fiction almost always cause me to pick up a new book, as I get ¾s into them. That obviously doesn’t help me in finishing books. At least not in the sense ‘reading the last page’.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?

What is your favorite question right now?

The answer is ‘Could you please tell me something I don’t know about <>.

I love asking people that because it spawns really interesting conversations when you time it right.

Who do you think I should ask next?
Chris Matts or Aki Salmi .

Chris because of his energy, his drive and constant challenging of current views and ideas.
(Ola answered this before Chris his Who is was published.)

Aki because of his humility and his engagement in creating an active Agile community in Finland.

If you like these answers, you might want to buy the Who is agile book it contains tons of answers like this, with extra questions not on my blog.

Who is Zuzi Sochova

one comment | Posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 | Read more articles about 'BookList, WebExpo, Who is ?'

I met Zuzi at the first edition of AgileEE in 2009, were she gave a presentation about scrum under extremely short conditions. I did a presentation directly after her in the same room. Usually I concentrate on my own presentation and don’t pay much attention to what is being said. And then she started talking about half a day sprints. Taking about extreme agile. Yes I heard Pascal Van Cauwenberghe talking about small sprints too, but this proved he was a leader and not a lone nut. There went my concentration…

Some time later she invited me to WebExpo, where she organized the agile part of a great conference. I was really pleased when she said yes to Who Is and I could learn some more about this smart women with great organizing skills. And again I learned more then I could wish for. Enjoy her answers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?
I’ve always wanted to have the hair of bright color, but all the time I was afraid to go for such colors so I was experimenting with just light tones. And then, one day I went to a hairdresser and left with real bright red hair color. I was kind of scared at first, but after a while, I realized it was really me and from that time I’m changing the hair colors almost every month.

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?
I guess I would like to be a photographer. Or a dive master. But seriously, I had chosen IT and I still like it. It’s fun. Working with developers and testers on daily basis is a creative work. I like software, it’s easy and fast to try out your ideas and prove them by prototyping, a thing that is not possible in any other industry.

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?
My biggest challenge is to run my own business. In order to start it, I had to learn how to find people to cooperate with, which skills I need myself and which is better to find elsewhere. I would say the biggest lesson learned so far was to accept that I have to let some businesses pass away if they don’t fit, in order to get the right ones later on.
Speaking more general, the biggest challenge is to keep doing things in my way, even though the rest of the people say I should not. Do what I want and believe in, not what I’m expected to do.

What drives you?
The biggest satisfaction and motivation to go on for me is seeing the success of my work. If I help individuals, teams or companies to be better, more efficient and flexible or just have less stress and more fun, it’s the best bonus I can ever get.

What is your biggest achievement?
About six years ago, I had been working at one huge US company for 6 months. After a while I was able to succeed in the different culture and to fit the team there.  In the end, I started the long-term cooperation with that company back from the Czech Republic and it’s still successfully running even without me :)

What is the last book you have read?
The last book I have read is called End of Punk in Helsinki (Konec punku v Helsinkach). It’s a Czech book, I’m afraid there is no translation planned yet.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?
My favorite question is ‘where do you want to be in 10 years?’
Just imagine one of the nice islands somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, white sand, beach, coconut trees, and myself, lying in a hammock with my new 23rd generation iPad, driving my own business. However, why should I wait all 10 years to make it true? ;)

Who do you think I should ask next?
I will suggest Ola Ellnestam as I’m really interested in his answers

If you like stories like this, please buy our Who is agile book. It contains answers from different people and in the near future will contain an answer from Zuzi on another question.

Writing a book the agile way…

no comments | Posted on Saturday, February 4th, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, BookList, PairWork, Who is ?, WorkLifeBalance'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For quite some time I have been asking (bugging) agile authors why they don’t write their books in an agile way.

Most told me it’s impossible.
Some of them have tried. With (in my opinion) nice results.

Agile Retrospectives is written by two authors. If I remember well Diana & Esther had writing sessions where they would write together. (PairProgramming)

For Agile Coaching Rachel and Liz both wrote on their own, but they reviewed and reworked each other’s text (collective code ownership). They also used a kanban board to make their work visual.

Robin Dymond and Gabrielle Benefield have been doing distributed pairwriting using skype and google docs.

All very nice examples, yet I hadn’t yet heard of iterations or at least regurly deploys.

I was told that a book is a one shot option. Hmmm, how many clients have told me that? And how many of them were right?

Last year when I was working on a book on Agile Games, I set up CI server and built the book at regular intervals. I only had a pdf version, but having a real version felt good. The big problem was I was spending so much time on layout and building issues I hardly had time to write. At the same time Johanna told me that writing a book with multiple authors was much harder then with one author. Looks like I was trying to run before I could walk. As a result I failed in public.

Now having time free, I started the Who Is Series on my blog. It is a weekly publication that includes one new person who answers the same set of questions. That very quickly became popular, so popular I had a stock of answers ready to post.

And then I noticed that Laurent Bossavit had published a book. Now Laurent is one of those people in the agile world who is miles ahead of all of us. He used LeanPub.

Leanpub gives people the possibility to publish in a lean way and to republish a book whenever there are changes.  Hmmm, looks like my idea of publishing a book the agile way is coming closer. I made up my mind that if I ever write a book, I would use LeanPub.

And then Elisabeth published There is always a duck. She had the idea. She created the book on LeanPub and after only 4 days she published her book. Wow that was LEAN.

OK, it was content she had been creating the last 15 years. Yet, for someone who had been trying to create multiple books and never succeeded, creating a book in 4 days was impressive.

Now I wanted to start writing myself. Although my first blog post was in 2002, I had abanded that blog. So Elisabeth’s option of using my blog content was not an option for me. Or was it?

I realized that the Who Is series was actually a good candidate for a book. I had popular content and I added answers every week. And it was written by multiple people.

The Who is Agile book was born. It took me a week or 3 to publish the first version - not because I wanted it to be perfect, but because safety is important to me and I wanted to be sure that I had the permission from all 30 people in the book. That was the hardest part.

When I had the permission of 25, I decided I would publish that week, no matter what.

I would withdraw the people that had not given me permission.

And so yesterday the first version was published.

Is it finished? No, it’s a MVP
Do I know what will be in the finished version? No it’s an MVP, so I use this to figure out what my customers want.

Is it bug free? No. At this moment the pictures are not optimized for the book. This means the book is too big. That’s fine. People can read it. And when I update that part (or find someone who is better than me at doing this) I will republish the book and my readers will get the new version of the book in their mailbox.

Along the way Andrea Chiou presented herself to edit the book. She is an agile coach with a quality control history and some free time. Wahoo - now I had a real team.

We used a google spreadsheet to keep track of the work. We did not have standups but used mail to synchronize the work, looks like we have some place for improvement in our team.

That is the future of publishing for me. At least for technical books where people can’t wait for the book to be finished to learn about a technique.

Why would people pay for content that is already free on the web?

I have asked the authors to answer one extra question. So people that read the book do get extra content. It seems to work as I let people pay what they want – some pay nothing, but most pay 29,99.

And while publishing, I thought about so many other things that I want to add to the book.

Does that sound familiar? Yes - pushing the release button has that effect on projects.

Publishing a book the agile way, it’s no longer the future. You can do it today.

Next up? A retrospective with Andrea to see what we can improve…

Update: If you want to experience how agile publishing works for readers, buy the Who Is Agile book and see for yourself.

Who is Peter Saddington

2 comments | Posted on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 | Read more articles about 'BookList, Diversity, Who is ?, WorkLifeBalance'

Peter was proposed by Don Gray. I know Peter from Agile Scouts. His top 200 Agile blogs was one of the reasons I started the WhoIs serie.  I have not met Peter in person, but we are reading eachothers blog and tweets. I know he is looking forward to have his answers published. We both share the same idea that the WhoIs should be fun. He send me multiple pictures, all pretty hilarious.
An agile coach with a supersonic crossbow, wow…

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?
The biggest influences in my life are good books and education.
First off, good books: People may look at my copious amounts of writing and think that I tend to be very light-hearted (which I am) and somewhat surface level (which I am), but I’ve spent more of my adult life in education than many people that I know. I’m a HUGE consumer of books. Books on technology, social media, and software development are my daily reads. Frankly, one of the reasons I wrote a book “The Scrum Pocket Guide is really a response to the plethora of 300+ page management and software development books that line my bookshelf. I wanted to write something pragmatic, useful, and easy to consume. It’s only 50 pages after all. I’m a huge consumer of philosophy, social science, and even theology books. They bring the rest of the human issues to light and round out the technological slant that I generally have.
Second, higher education: I have a Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate degree. But most people don’t know that I also have three (3) Masters degrees in social sciences: M.A. Counseling, M.A. Education, and a Masters Divinity in Theology. Just think about how much time I have spent in higher education! Learning everything from the human aspect of communication and counseling, understanding empathy, root-cause issues, and communication techniques. What about education philosophy? Everything from different learning styles, to personalities, to education techniques for every group of people. What about Theology? How our ideas about God transform our morals, ethics, ethos, and our worldviews? Mash all of these together and I think you begin to more fully understand the nature of man, his drivers, his personalities, and the deep parts of the soul that make people work.
I always encourage people to “grow their craft” . I believe you become ineffective the day you stop personally striving to learn and grow yourself. Armchair theorists and philosophers have no place in my worldview. That’s why being an Agile Coach  is a perfect fit for me as a role and a passion. I love working with people and technology. It doesn’t get much better than that.

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?

I can’t imagine a world where I would be without IT. I love technology, social media, people, and coaching teams to agility. I’ve been doing it since I was a developer back in the mid 90′s. Ever take the Strength Finders test? Well I’m a: Futurist, Competitive, Communicative, Significance, Individualization. This means that I look for the best in people, I want to win, I love to collaborate, I want to do something important for myself and others, and I care deeply about others and their goals. Being an Enterprise Agile Coach allows me to do all of that!!!
But… if I were to stretch my thinking, I think I would be in some sort of medical field, helping others… and probably over time, finding Agile-approaches to doing medicine…

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?

My biggest challenge was pushing myself through a decade of higher level education. Knowing the challenges, the TIME COMMITMENT, and the long late nights of studying it was hard to keep a positive attitude about it at times. Thank God for Agile practices though. I planned accordingly, used a personal kanban board and completed my education and learned discipline, time management, and work-life balance that you can’t learn from a book. Nothing worth working for that is hard will yield little. You learn through the process, you grow as an individual, and end up on the other side grateful that you pushed yourself to do that which is hard. I will soon be embarking on a doctorate in the next couple of years. Why? Because it’s so much fun to learn.

What drives you?

Goodness. Have I covered this enough? Learning and growing. I’m addicted to information. My blog, is a testament to that. I love gathering data, radiating that data and information, and seeing what happens. Some could call me an education junkie. Sure. That works for me. Now, if you actually get some time to sit down with me, you’ll see that I’m a full-of-energy and passionate guy. I may even be a little ADHD, but never had anything diagnosed. I just love to work, seeing the fruits of my labor, and #winning at life.

What is your biggest achievement?

Pro-creating. I have the most beautiful daughter in the world. Thanks to a willing participant in my wife, I did that which far exceeds my greatest successes in business. The second biggest achievement is getting married. But that, my friends, is a story for another time.

What is the last book you have read?

Hard to say. I currently read multiple books at any given time.
Currently I’m reading:
David J. Anderson’s book on Kanban - I’m reading this for the 3rd time because it helps to be reminded of small facets of kanban to help a client I’m working with right now.
C. Stephen Evans Philosophy of Religion – A great book that was published in 1982. My second go at this one.
Daniel Pink’s Drive - Want to take a run on the wild side and take a peek into what motivates us? Totally worth the read. My second time reading this.
Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Generation – Fantastic book on how to build a business
Jack Welch’s Winning – Listened to the audio version of this book. Never do that! Jack is a terrible narrator. Read the book instead.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?
“What fruit do I resemble and why?“

I would like to think of myself as a coconut. K-thx-bye.

Who should be the next person to answer these questions?

Who is Lyssa Adkins

one comment | Posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, Who is ?'

Lyssa career is a nice example that people can recover from Command & Control.  (Paraphrasing her words, read her book coaching agile teams  if you want to now more about it.) I first met her through one of her articles about conflicts. We exchanged some e-mails. I was too late to be a reviewer of her book. It did not matter, I read it multiple times after that. I still owe her a text for her website.

Everytime I see her, she (like a lot of people in our community) is smiling.   And she proposes as the next person someone with the same name as on of my kids. How touthful of her…

This WhoIS  has less funny links  as what I used to do. I spend my WE doing a coachRetreat and working on the book version of WhoIS. On top of that today my godfather died, so I did no take time to be funny.

The Who Is book will contain an extra answer from everyone, so subscribe, once I have 50 subscribers I will publish the first version. (And as I am using LeanPub, you will be able to download the new versions as they appear.)

 

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?
I am a singer and learning to sing in a chorus is an exercise in shining and blending. Back and forth, letting your voice shine while blending with the others, weaving in and out with the other voices in the choir. Singing in a choir also takes tremendous attention and hard work – it’s not for the feint of heart! My choral experiences have taught me discipline and they have solidified my already strong blue-collar work ethic (that I learned from my parents). Most of all, singing in a choir had taught me about exquisite moments of pure joy, when the harmonies come together just perfectly, when the emotion gets conveyed and everyone in the performance hall can feel it. Bliss!

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?
I wanted to be a marine biologist but may parents strongly discouraged me because they thought I wouldn’t find a good job after all of that education and training. what really sealed my fate, though, was chemistry and really, anything mathematical. I just could not figure that out (still can’t). So, my days as a biologist were numbered. Although my undergraduate degree is in Management Information Systems, I never really had my heart set on building IT systems. I was always more interested in the business-end of the systems and drove people crazy by asking “why?” all the time. They fixed that, though. Even in my earliest jobs after college, I was constantly assigned as the project manager – because I was loud and could organize things (especially people). So, I got buried for the next 15 years in project management process and paperwork and didn’t have time to ask “why?” anymore. Six years ago, agile restored the ability to ask questions that matter and I am forever in debt to agile for that.

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?
My biggest challenge is that, sometimes, I trade being kind for being right. I can be really scathing and too-blunt sometimes, and I can cut people down with just a slantwise glance. I work to improve this all the time. I even have a coaching structure to help me – it’s a big art-glass heart necklace and I wear it to remind myself to bring my heart and kindness along for the ride. I’m still going to be forthright because I believe that often serves people the best. It’s just forthright-ness with more kindness.

What drives you ?
What drives me is the absolute waste of human potential I see around me everyday. I keep thinking, “if we could recapture and inspire even just 10% of that wasted potential, there is nothing on this planet we couldn’t do.” This is why I’m so passionate about agile coaching. Agile coaches are in the perfect spot to either uphold the broken systems that waste our human potential or liberate people from those same systems. I’m for the latter. I work hard to give agile coaches the skills they need to liberate!

What is your biggest achievement?
“Waking up” enough to see that my dear friend was also my life partner. I credit agile with this, too. When I stopped being a project manager and (nicely) bossing everyone around, I learned that it’s essential to slow down and get genuinely interested in people. So many discoveries awaited me when I started to really *see* people! And, it allowed me to really see him, the man who was right by my side already. We’ll be married 6 years this next April and I am thankful every day that agile helped me wake up.

What is the last book you have read?
OK…I have to admit it. Summer is trash novel time. I just finished the entire Black Dagger Brotherhood series, including the “Insider’s Guide.” That’s how hooked I got. The novels are about a group of warrior vampires and their mates. I have a new bookshelf in my room because my husband was getting tired of the stacks of books on the floor. It’s full of all the books I have in progress. The shelves are overflowing.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?
What’s next?

What’s next for me is to continue to pay attention and sense what the agile coaching community needs most next. And, then work with whomever I need to so that we can provide that thing – whatever it is. The important part is sensing what’s really trying to happen rather than simply having my own path and foisting my ideas on the community. This is a wonderfully creative and illuminating place to work from. And, it’s the source of creativity that allows me to join my whole life together – work, family, play, learning – all of it.

Who do you think I should ask next?
Bent Myllerup

Who Is Dennis Stevens

one comment | Posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, BookList, Who is ?'

This weeks Who Is is Dennis Stevens. Dennis was proposed by Don Gray. I personally don’t know anything about Dennis (which makes it exiting to have him in Who Is).
On his websits I find a few intriguing things about Dennis, one he combines PMI & agile and he did Lean Value Stream mappings in 1994. They year I started to work…

This is what Don said about him:  I like Dennis approach to introducing managers to both the benefits of improving their work systems and the practical approach of continuous improvement.

Announcement: the Who is Series will be turned into a book, pre-register at Leanpub

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?

I played the violin in high school. I was a four time all-state violin player and a National Scholastic Orchestra Award Winner as a senior. I was also the student conductor of the high school orchestra for two years. Then I was a music major at Florida State University where I learned more about conducting and performing. Although I wasn’t talented enough to be successful in a performance career, my experiences had two huge influences on me. First, I learned to balance individual preparation with the teamwork of performing as part of an ensemble. Second, I learned that every role in a production has a high level of craft to it. What looks easy from the outside is very challenging to perform at a high level. I carry the lessons I learned with me into my coaching and consulting interactions.

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?

I would have been a high school teacher and baseball coach. I love baseball and I find creating a passion for performance and teaching solid fundamentals a successful and rewarding strategy.

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?

I am actually an introvert. This leads me to be very prepared when I get in front of a group of people to teach and interact from a coaching standpoint. It also allows me to step back and observe the interactions of the people around me because I don’t need to be in the center of it.

What drives you ?

Learning how to improve the situations and challenges I see around me.  From Business Analysis, Project Management, Product Development, Testing, and Organizational Leadership I try to understand why non-productive behavior makes sense and try to find better ways to do the work and ways to communicate the better ways. People shouldn’t have to live and work under unreasonable circumstances when healthier and more productive ways are within reach.

What is your biggest achievement?

Raising my children.

What is the last book you have read?

Gerald Weinberg‘s Perfect Software and Gojko Adzic’s Specification by Example. Probably written 30 years apart, both contain an awful lot of pragmatic and useful information regarding testing software.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?

Where will you be in 10 years? I will be working in organization’s trying to understand why they operate the way they do and hopefully leading efforts to improve performance. I will also be coaching young kids in basketball or baseball.

Who do you think I should ask next?

Shane Hastie

Who Is Vickie Gray

one comment | Posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, Ask For Help, BookList, BootCamp, Who is ?, WorkLifeBalance'

The next person on the WhoIs list is Vickie Gray. I met Vickie when I went to Texas for my first McCarthy Bootcamp. She was one of my five trainers. Although she technically is not part of THE agile community, I think her mindset is more agile then most of us. She is one of the persons I will ask for help without hesitation. When she does not have time, she will flatout say, without making drama. For that alone I dare to ask her for help more then anyone else. When I asked Jim & Michele over for the first European bootcamp she and her partner Paul helped me out when Jim was prevented from coming.  I was again amazed by her use of the Investigate protocol. As our own personal “Wood Come Story” (inside joke for bootcampers) her book Creating Time was released just in time…

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?

I teach yoga. The whole person approach of yoga changed how I saw myself in the world and influences how I see others, especially my clients. It’s so easy in IT to become just a head, all logic and curiosity, with an occasionally distracting body we drag around. That’s how I lived for years – completely in my head. Finally I was experiencing enough physical problems I couldn’t ignore it any more. Over the years I’ve tried all kinds of approaches to keep my body reasonably healthy and have settled on yoga. And when I teach it keeps me moving forward with my own practice.

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?
I may have become a university professor or writer

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?
Not being distracted by interesting new things. Innovation is important working with IT and people, and keeping the balance between bleeding edge and patience keeps me focused on what’s important for me and my clients.

What drives you ?
A sense of justice and optimism. I believe we are all capable of so much more than we believe ourselves to be, and we have everything we need right now to be awesome. I’m also attracted to new and shiny things. I’m not afraid of being an early adopter. It’s fascinating to get glimpses of what is possible as it’s emerging.

What is your biggest achievement?
Learning to love someone without reserve.

What is the last book you have read?
More Time to Think from Nancy Kline

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?
Sneaky! That’s my question! How about “How will the world be different because you’re in it?”
And the answer is, the people I touch, and the people they touch, will have an experience of their real potential for greatness, and real, tangible evidence that they can accomplish what they want to. Unequivocally. Every time.

Who do you think I should ask next?
Glenda Eoyang

Who is Linda Rising

4 comments | Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 | Read more articles about 'Agile, Agile20xx, Ask For Help, BookList, Who is ?, WorkLifeBalance'

The first person of the year 2012 to reply to the Who Is questions is Linda Rising . Linda was invited by Michele Sliger & Elisabeth Hendrikson. Linda wrote one of the few books that I think everyone can use no matter what job or function she has. (I use it in my personal life as well). (She actually wrote 4 books, but this one had most impact on me.) Also check out the Fearless Journey game that Deborah Preuss created based on the book.
The reactions to Linda’s keynote at agile 2011 are the only reason I regret that I was not there. She says that her  job is to give the weird talk at conferences. I always tell my kids, it’s better to be weird, then to be boring. Linda’s talks are NEVER boring. Although I only met her a few times, I think it’s safe to say that Linda is never borring.

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?

Most people don’t know that I started my professional life as a chemist, actually a biochemist. I have a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Kansas with a minor in biochemistry. The reason why I only have a minor in biochemistry is — there weren’t enough courses at the time to make up a major :-) ! I graduated in 1963. Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel prize for identifying the double helix structure of DNA in 1962 :-) ! I spent a short time as a research assistant in a pharmacology lab and learned many ways to kill rats. It was a revelation for me — biochemistry is the chemistry of living cells and researchers in that field kill (the technical term is “sacrifice”) a lot of animals. I couldn’t continue to do that day after day after day. Another day another rat :-( ! In the last ten years I have made a return to the biological sciences after I re-discovered the domain in a slightly different form –neuroscience, cognitive science. I am still fascinated by it, but I don’t have to kill any animals :-) !

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?

After I left biochemistry, I returned to school to study mathematics. Moving to computer science came only after realizing that there were very few jobs in mathematics, but, again, I loved mathematics and had I not been swept up with computers I probably would have been happy as a mathematician :-) !

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?

I believe I have the same challenge as anyone alive today — trying to keep up. I have read that the last person to know “everything” was John Stuart Mill, who died in 1873. In those days, someone could be a scientist, a philosopher, a theologian, a poet, an economist, because the amount of information available was so limited. I have also read that most information is less than 15 years old and that in some fields the amount of information doubles every 3 years. No wonder we struggle! However, this is also exciting. Not only the amount but the accessibility of information means that all minds on the planet can share in this wealth. No matter how restricted  the environment, you can plug in to the world of information. What a wondrous, hopeful state of affairs!

What drives you ?

What drives me now might be different from what has driven me in the past. Now I know that the more I read, the more I think, the more I struggle with problems, the better it is for my brain. Not only do I benefit from the enjoyment of learning, but the cognitive scientists tell me that it is good for me. I become better at this as a result of doing it. This is not only true for intellectual endeavors but also for physical challenges as well. My husband retired at the end of 2010 and we moved to a retirement community in Nashville, TN to be closer to our daughter, Amy, our only child (check out her website prising.com :-) !). We are surrounded by very active retirees. We have more time to do long bike rides and we are learning Pickle ball — an older person’s tennis . As I make poor shots and miss serves, I know that my muscles and bones are getting stronger and my eye-hand coordination is improving.

What is your biggest achievement?

I went back to school (for the last time I assure you!) at age 46 to finally finish a Ph.D. My goal was to ”finish by 50″ — I gave my defense one month before my 50th birthday. I was not only older than all my classmates, but also older than all my professors (except for 2). I was my very young adviser’s first Ph.D. student and I discovered in our first meeting that I was older than his mother :-) ! I was lucky in manyrespects. My classmates and professors treated me respectfully and my wonderful husband moved to another state to support me while I worked full-time on my degree.

What is the last book you have read?

This is a tough question. I am usually reading several books at once — so I will just mention the last book with the most impact — Carol Dweck’s “Self-Theories” — to prepare for the keynote at Agile 2011. The research that has come out of the social psychology domain on the topic of “mindset” is astounding. I can see in myself how a change in mindset over time has allowed me to keep on learning. We might be doing our children a dis-service by telling them how smart they are. We should instead be telling them how successful their effort was or how hard they worked. The message should be: it’s about effort not about a fixed talentor ability. I hope others find the talk useful. I know pulling the research together has been very rewarding for me.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?

The question I have been asking myself a lot is “What’s next?” I’m not retired yet, but in a way I have been for 10 years. That’s when I became an independent consultant and started working for the toughest boss I’ve ever had — me!! I pretty much do what I want — and that is the definition of retirement for most people :-) ! For me, what’s next is already happening. You know that I love patterns. I have written a few pattern languages and I have been involved in helping others write patterns since the mid-90s. My husband  and I are writing a new pattern language for helping third world development. This is not software development (although it could be!) but sustainable development of under-developed countries. The U.S. has an unfortunate history of appearing in areas that need help, identifying problems, solving those problems (as *WE* see it), then disappearing. The end result is that those countries and those people are worse off than when we arrived. We estimate that writing this pattern language will take the rest of our lives — a good project :-) !You can see the latest version on my web site: lindarising.org. We are working on a web site and wiki to bring others in since we know we cannot do this alone.

Who do you think I should ask next?

The person I most admire these days is Johanna Rothman. She faces physical challenges daily in addition to the ordinary struggles the rest of us encounter. She is my hero (heroine).




				


				
			

                        

		                        

			
			

                                

                                
Who Is J.B. Rainsberger

				2 comments |  Posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011  | Read more articles about 'Video, Who is ?'
				


				

					
The last WhoIs of this year, is from my friend JB Rainsberger. JB was invited by Dale Emery, Elisabeth Hendrickson and Linda Rising (coming up as first next year).

I met JB at the first edition of XPDay Paris. Met is a big word here as I do remember him being in our session room as an observer, but not participating.

It’s only later that I learned who he was, when we interacted on the multiple online fora. First time he really impressed me, was when he started talking about how he used agile to retire at 35. He recently gave an interesting talk about extreme personal finance at Xpday Benelux. A part of that session can be found on his blog: how much do you earn. If someone says it can’t be done, check JB he has probably already done it. His actions speak louder then anyone’s words.


Just like Laurent Bossavit,  JB created a “video”.   It’s is one of the most intimate and personal answers in the series so far.




Who is J. B. Rainsberger? from J. B. Rainsberger on Vimeo.