To Infinity and Beyond

Why Agile?
Being an Agile consultant-coach means I'm constantly challenged by what I do, how I do it and, most importantly, why I do it. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn about myself and others by striving to be agile. Fortunately, that's one of the things that gives most meaning to the work I do.

Agile Everything
I recently presented at SPA and shocked the audience when I alluded to my experience of having been on an Agile death march project.

'Surely that's not possible?' replied the first gasp from the audience.

'Isn't that blasphemy?' resonated a second gasp around the room.

'I'm intrigued by your negative Agile experience,' said an Agile coach with a gleeful smile, pen poised, ready to mark me down on my Agile competency.

Why wouldn't Agile death marches exist? After all, Agile is just another methodology. It's simply another way of getting people to work together. You can't immunise your project from failure just because you say you're doing Agile. Now that would really be make believe. I call it play pretend.

Growing Old Gracefully
Q: What could possibly be tougher than growing old?
A: Trying to be agile when everyone else believes they are but aren't.

Earlier this month, I spent a lovely Spring evening with a bunch of young Agile enthusiasts at QCon London and was asked, 'What would be your top 3 life tips?' I surprised myself with the following response.

1. Be true to your passion. Do what you love. I didn't believe this was possible or sustainable when I was younger. I now know it is. Depending on your point-of-view, to do otherwise would either be a pity or a waste.
2. Being better than the rest is easy when everyone else is striving for mediocrity. If you want to stand out from your peers, you only need to be mediocre++. Is that all you really want to achieve?
3. Use your gut instinct to help make informed decisions. Having only ever had a career in IT, over the years I had learnt to value my logical brain over my creativity side. Experience has taught me that tapping into my creativity creates opportunities I never thought possible.
   

One life. Live it well.
The only real currency we have is time. Invest wisely.