Just another song about depravity, astrophysics, and acceptance letters. 

Words and Music by OurFounder
Played through the special instrument of Susanne Synapse

The Limits Of Metrics

This is floating ambient stream of consciousness, trying to find floating peace in a world hell bent on hate.

OurFounder stuff here.

Looking For Alignment

Dennis Stevens joins drunkenpm for a deep dive into the challenges faced by middle management in organizational change. Dennis argues that Agile and transformation efforts often fail because they treat middle managers as a roadblock, when in fact, these managers are simply victims of a badly designed system. The core idea is that companies shouldn't try to eliminate these roles but must instead design specific organizational "containers" and routines that force middle managers to leverage human nature (like self-interest and competition) to drive innovation. The goal is to shift strategy from a static plan to a dynamic process that lives in the interactions between people, ensuring all the work being done is strategically aligned, measurable, and ultimately successful.

Key Takeaways
Middle Management is the Constraint: Organizational change, adaptability, and innovation will either happen or stall at the middle management level.

Systemic Failure: Middle managers are often marginalized as the "stepchild" and are expected to manage tasks and activities instead of creating the conditions necessary for teams to achieve outcomes.

Strategy is Dynamic: Strategy doesn't happen when a leader speaks; it becomes real when people start talking to each other and applying it, which requires designing routines that create safety for delegation.

Embrace Human Nature: Successful organizational design must leverage human nature, where competitiveness is the fuel, rather than relying on idealistic notions of "no ego, total alignment".

Conditions Over Practices: The success of Agile is due to the environment and conditions created for the teams, not the specific practices (like stand-ups or language). A key function of management is to consciously create those conditions.

Constraints Drive Innovation: Setting clear goals and enforcing constraints and consequences within the designed container will drive innovation by forcing teams to be efficient and reinvent, as opposed to operating without pressure.


Key Moments
0:02:24 The Core Thesis: Stevens introduces the central argument: "If you're trying to change how an organization runs, middle management is where it will either happen or stall."
0:03:41 The Problem Defined: Stevens uses the "stepchild" analogy to describe the plight of middle managers: having "fake power," lacking strategy, and being blamed for a system that was not designed to support them.
0:08:50 The Root Cause: Stevens identifies the problem: it's not a failure of management but a failure of the organization to deeply understand the conditions necessary for teams to innovate coherently in a complex system.
0:15:26 The Anti-Commune Stance: Stevens argues against the idealistic view of self-organization, stating that to succeed at scale, a system must be built where competitiveness is the fuel, rather than expecting people "to not be people."
0:20:08 The Glue of Strategy: Stevens defines where strategy truly exists: "Strategy becomes real when people start talking to each other." He stresses the need to build routines that create safety for delegation.
0:30:46 Constraints & Innovation: Stevens explains that constraints drive innovation by forcing efficiency, while a lack of constraints leads to inefficiency and a lack of pressure to reinvent.

Dennis's Article: Innovation By Design https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/innovation-design-orgwright-qeipe/?trackingId=6eh7kgcyKabru1Cdv4%2BERg%3D%3D

Links from the Intro:
Productivity Survival: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/markkilby/1905697
No One is Coming to Save You
	Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yhdk785j	
	Leanpub: https://leanpub.com/surfthechaos

Contacting Dennis
	LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennisstevens/
	OrgWright: https://www.orgwright.com/
	The Agile Network: https://tinyurl.com/2tywk29e


Contacting Dave
	LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo/
	Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mrsungo 
	The Agile Network: https://tinyurl.com/y3rhnnxp



Making the Case for Middle Management with Dennis Stevens

Joe tells the absurd story of a priest, a rabbi and a hyena on a train. From "Duplicity," a show created solely for his web site. You can listen to the full show by becoming a Member! 

Duplicity

The Joe Frank Catalog

A Priest, a Rabbi and a Hyena

his Spring at Agile Australia 2018, Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist at Thoughtworks and Agile Manifesto co-author gave a Keynote titled "The State of Agile Software in 2018". He recently published the text of his talk here. (If you refer video, you can find it on InfoQ.) His Keynote centered around 3 specific concerns with the current state of Agile, the first of which was The Agile Industrial Complex and imposing process on teams.

In this episode of SoundNotes, LeadingAgile CEO, Mike Cottmeyer shares his thoughts on the Agile Industrial Complex and some of the problems it can create. During the interview we dig into why the challenges come into play and what we can do to try and resolve them.

Contacting Mike
If you’d like to contact Mike you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/mike-cottmeyer/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcottmeyer
Email: mike@leadingagile.com

Contacting Dave
If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo
Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com
If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

The Agile Industrial Complex and Imposing Agile Practices w/ Mike Cottmeyer

One of the unfortunate challenges faced by those who have served as members of the armed forces is that once they have completed their service, it can be difficult figuring out how to translate that work experience in a way that is compelling to employers in technology. In this episode of SoundNotes, you’ll learn how LeadingAgile’s Jim Sutton was able to offer assistance to a veteran who recently completed his time in the Air Force and was struggling to figure out how to present his work experience in a way that made it relevant to potential employers. By taking the time to talk through his experience in serving the country, Jim was able to help him reframe his accomplishments during job interviews. If you know someone who has served and is struggling to find a gig in IT, or if you are in that situation yourself, what you’ll find in this podcast is a valuable case study explaining how to leverage experience in the service and present it in a compelling way. Those who have served have sacrificed a great deal for the rest of us and we owe it to them to take the time to help them find a path to a rewarding career. This interview provides tips on how you can take a step towards repaying the debt we owe them. Also - please make sure to listen all the way to the end of the podcast to hear how things turned out.

Contacting Jim Sutton

LeadingAgile: 
https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/jim-sutton/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-sutton-b17208/
Email: jim.sutton@leadingagile.comContacting 

Dave Prior

If you’d like to contact Dave you can reach him at:

LeadingAgile: https://www.leadingagile.com/guides/dave-prior/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsungo

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsungo

Email: dave.prior@leadingagile.com

If you have a question you’d like to submit for an upcoming podcast, please send them to dave.prior@leadingagile.com

And if you're interested in taking one of our upcoming Certified ScrumMaster or Certified Scrum Product Owner classes, you can find all the details at https://www.leadingagile.com/our-gear/training/

Being of Service to Those Who Have Served w/ Jim Sutton

One of the things a Project Manager and a ScrumMaster have in common is that at times, they are both called upon to act as a coach and act as a mentor. For anyone in a leadership role, creating clarity around the difference between the two can be challenging. And even for seasoned pros, knowing when to act as a mentor and when to act as a coach is not always easy. 

This podcast is about on mentoring and features Brandon Brown. Brandon has built a career that is deeply rooted in providing mentorship and serving others. His work focuses on creating, ensuring and sustaining safe places for young people to flourish so that they can, as he says, replace him. 

During the interview we dig into mentoring: what it is, how it is different from coaching, what it requires, and what the mentor and the mentee should expect from the relationship.

We also spend time during the beginning of the podcast discussing some of the work Brandon is currently doing around trauma for Temple University's Lewis Katz School of Medicine. This is a subject we will be revisiting at a deeper level on an upcoming podcast. 

If you'd like to reach out to Brandon with follow up questions, here is how you can reach him:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brbphilly/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/b_pbs
AboutMe: https://about.me/brandonrbrown

The Art of Mentoring with Brandon Brown

A podcast about Agile and Project Management

Making the Case for Middle Management with Dennis Stevens

drunkenpmradio

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