The world of Not For Profit organisations is a rich and diverse arena demonstrated when Sam Horsman of The Wellcome Trust; Julian Stanley of the Bounceback Project and Gary Henderson of Millfield School sat down for a chat with Ian Gill and Joanna Spicer-Brown of Agility By Nature.
As we approach the end of Lockdown 3 we are all looking forward to days ahead when the work day is not conducted entirely from a laptop at home, Zoom fatigue fades, and maybe we get ot have a holiday somewhere even if it is just at the end of our street. But will it be as simple as the end of one thing and the start of another?
Millfield School is an International Boarding School and when the doors re-opened on the 8th although many of the students walked into the school, the many non UK based students, currently unable to return to the school, continued to study remotely.  Millfield is therefore moving to a Hybrid model of teaching with some children learning face to face and some still via technology with the teachers needing to deliver successfully through both channels.  
This perhaps is just the first of the many aspects of education which will move to a new normal in the coming months and years.  As Gary discussed, the education eco system contains a lot of different actors, and change does not come easily, but perhaps the lessons we have learned over the last year give us an opportunity to re-imagine what schools are trying to achieve.
Although there are many children desperate to be back at school, some children have faired much better in an online environment and it will be interesting to see how the gains experienced by such children be capitalised on in future?
But, it is not just school children who will be experiencing this Hybrid model.  With recent surveys regularly showing that many, currently remote based, office workers would like to return to a model of some office based work, and some work from anywhere based work, what does this mean to the modern office and company dynamics?  
Sam lamented the days when during the course of an office based day she would speak with people outside her immediate responsibilities about nothing and everything. Without that banter and discourse office relationships become more formal and benefit less from non official means of communication. How, when you don’t see people walking back to their desk after a tough meeting do you know that members of your team could do with a coffee and a de-brief. 
Julian could also see the day when resentment might occur between people whose role require them to be more office based (whose costs of travel in terms of both time and money will be higher) and those based at home (who see the office people networking without them)
Working with offenders and those at risk of offending Julian and the Bounceback Project work to reduce the rate of re-offending.  A rate which is heavily influenced by education, skills, employment and a support network.  With only 16 prisons in the UK cabled for the use of technology in the cells how do offenders, and society, work towards a successful release with no access to face to face education, training and mentoring and such limited access to the online resources that the rest of us take for granted.  
Something everyone agreed on is that as we move forward, and hopefully lockdown eases, as a society and organisations we will try different ways of making it work and we won’t get it right first time.  In the best Agile traditions we will need to fail fast, learn from our mistakes, and make alternate plans.

www.agilitybynature.com

#nfp #charity #government

The world of Not For Profit with Agility by Nature

Catherine Botting - If you can’t manage change, you cannot manage!

Go on everyone do some agile.as long as you will align everything and change yourself. More often than not, companies struggle rolling out company wide change and transformations. Including Agile transformations.
Catherine Botting Change, innovation and leadership specialist & Lecturer at University of York is fascinated by leadership and what makes for successful change. Her journey started with
 GE, under the leadership of the legendary and notorious Jack Welch purveyor of the “Boundaryless Organisation”. This proved to be the masterclass in  understanding how change comes about and the influence of leaders is crucial in making that happen right.
Catherine gives us fabulous insight into what is needed so that
everybody has the capability, the support and the understanding to play their part. She shares her thoughts on shareholders and short-termism and whether people and customers are the better focus for leaders. How to facilitate, manage and communicate change- and keep humanness in your organisation. And do hierarchies really work?
We discuss the management obsession with creating structures and process for change without engaging, thinking and being part of the change themselves. Change needs alignment, comprehensive action and that is all encompassing…tinkering at the edges is pointless
Catherine  is incredibly passionate about her specialist subject particularly helping young students and graduates become leaders and change managers. Her insights into change what works and what doesn’t is forthright and evidenced based on being a practitioner and an Academic. Ignore at your company’s peril!
Catherine’s Current study: Catherine's doctoral research is exploring the change management capabilities of Agile practitioners and consultants in the software development industry. Her aim is to provide new knowledge that will drive forward both effective practice and academic thinking in the implementation of Agile across organisations.

Contact Catherine:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinebotting/

A brief into to Jack Welch:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Welch

Contact: www.agilitybynature.com

#transformation #leadership #management

A conversation with Catherine Botting and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Samantha Horsman - Infrastructure is Sexy! 
 
How to liberate your user community.
 
Putting people first is not just a tired cliche at the Wellcome Trust  where  we discover  putting users first guides the leadership team. 
 
Samantha Horsman  is the Platform Manager for Wellcome Trust a Not for Profit that is focussed on health, supporting a museum and Library, funding activities into cutting edge healthcare research and a trading floor to name a few.
 
Being able to support facilities, curators  scientists and financiers means “90% of my job is a communicator” and everyone is a ViP and special.  
 
This has meant  liberating technology  that enables a diverse user group do their best job with tools that work for them (not just a  budget holder’s view of the one size fits all enterprise ) ”IT can’t happen to people it has to work with people”
 
Sam describes the use of agile in infrastructure (yes agile in infrastructure!) For Sam the user is central to everything they do, what is it the user needs, are we checking back to see if this is right?
 
Samantha presents how modern , responsive  IT leadership can work without disguising the challenges in balancing user needs and keep the “Blinky” boxes working safely and cost effectively. The organic v enterprise, the arbitrage between alignment and personal choice, is not a simple one to navigate.  The core brief remains: We need to have an environment that anyone can plug into safely. But  where are the boundaries?
 
Sam is the refreshing face of enlightened IT leadership where  Infrastructure is sexy and IT engineers are computing educators. She brings warmth, energy and pragmatism to her role that is infectious. The question for IT managers now is: are you really enabling your users or are you  just another IT says no? 
 
Learn more about Wellcome Trust:
 
https://wellcome.org
 
Learn More about Human Experience:
 
https://wellcomecollection.org/?utm_source=wellcome&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=.ac.uk&utm_content=trusthomepage-text-banner
 
(Re-opens 18th may 2021)
 
Plan Like Samantha:
 
https://www.liquidplanner.com
 
(Other planning tools are available)

https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

#infrastructure #planningtools #agile

A conversation with Samantha Horsman and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Michael Short -  Stop turning the handle of  the sausage machine. Working with social animals!
  
Michael Short, Founder of Culture Works Consulting, uses Executive Coaching with his business experience to support others achieve leadership and cultural change, he is also an extremely experienced Agile Coach and certified GCIndex practitioner. 
  
And he knows that the productivity in most companies is simply not good enough! But, instead of looking for silver bullets in ways of working frameworks, managers should really be working with people and teams to harness strengths, passions and energy. 
 
When you give people things to do  that they want actually want to do, where their energy and passion truly lives,  they can become incredibly productive. And this  is also the path to  the holy grail of business: innovation.
 
We explore the five state model in the GC Index with roles of:
 
Game Changers, 
Strategists,
Implementors
Polishers
and Play Makers. 
 
How do they map to performance in different scenarios and phases of a project or work generally? 
 
Importantly, Michael helps us understand how psychological safety is not just pop-psychology babble, but really works and is truly necessary to get the very best of teams, out of people.
 
 If you are serious about delivering value, engaging with your people, and getting real productivity this is for you. Get the right mix of happy.
 
Write  To Michael:
 
michael.short@cultureworksconsulting.com
 
Talk to Michael:
 
Tel: 07711875909
 
https://cultureworksconsulting.com
 
Read:
 
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety (Defining the path to Inclusion and Innovation) - Timothy R. Clark
 
Visit and Interact:
 
https://cultureworksconsulting.com
 
More about the GC Index:
 
https://www.thegcindex.com

Contact us:
https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

#coaching #people #leadership

A conversation with Michael Short and Agility by Nature (Ian GIll)

Ramz Shaft:  Welcome to the Chaos!    Travels of a not so new Scrum Master. 

We've been off the air for a few months focussing on our new website and working with our client’s projects. But we are back with today’s guest Ramz Shaft who shares his journey to become a scrum master.

Ramz did not start his career in the IT project management space, but rather as a gamer, entrepreneur and salesman. He has  a big personality who has learned how to manage his enthusiasm to be a rather more selfless facilitator, where empathy is critical. He talks about his career, the persistence and networking needed to get where he is and the reasons behind such a significant career change.

His career mirrored the arrival of the now all pervasive web and digital world we see today. He reflects on the tools we use old and new, and the many techniques and strategies he has learnt over the years. And especially how he has tailored his approach  when dealing with small to large companies . Hierarchies anyone?

For any fledgling Scrum Masters, fresh from their CSM, can get insight into the challenges Ramz has overcome, his thinking on complexity and those difficult conversations we all bump into. Welcome to his chaos!

Find Ramz: linkedin.com/in/ramzshaft

Ramz Book Reference: Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen (https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/bruce-patton/difficult-conversations/978067092134)

A Conversation with Ramz Shaft, Welcome to the Chaos

Lina Kehlenbeck: Uncompromisingly Digital and confident Product professional takes us on a tour of retail and Europe.
From fashion & design to baked beans &  technology, Lina shares her observations about digital change, the constraints of legacy technology and managing wafer thin margins. She describes the critical importance of C Suite sponsorship  to ignite digital change and the fierce competition for talent in the market (and you will need more than just working from home to win)
Her view on the need to adopt  digital is forthright (it is not a choice anymore) and even has time to form a view (hypothesis!) about agile in Europe. 

And has excellent taste in wine.....

An Agile Audience with Lina Kehlenbeck and Agility by Nature.....

To BA or Not to BA....

Our expert Business Analysts, Vicky Hilton and Ben Newman discuss the role of the BA in Agile Teams.
The Agile Business Analyst is much discussed but not always well defined in agile projects, where some say the role is not needed at all. Ben and Vicki beg to differ and unpack the valuable, critical skills, they bring to the team and the enterprise .
What are the key skills of a BA and how does Agile change the way you work, where the focus is no longer on producing an excellent document but part of team to create working software. The output is no longer the specification but the outcome .
Vicki and Ben share their thoughts on:
- Working with teams and incremental delivery
- Working with Product Owners - where they overlap and compliment each other
- Time to do the job Properly
- Independence and Clarity of Thought
- Being comfortable with ambiguity and failing fast.
- Facilitation skills
- BDD and other tools 

Real world insight from two experienced BAs that will have resonate with both experienced practitioners and those new to agile teams.

#agile #businessanalyst #productowner

An Agile Audience with Ben Newman & Vicky Hilton and Agility by Nature

A conversation with Louisa Mensah and Agility by Nature......

Louisa Mensah -  so you want to be a scrum master?
 
Fellow night owl, Louisa Mensah, earned her stripes in IT support roles  and is now a well established scrum master/coach. Her experience includes large telecoms and Banks and  provides real insights into the day to day role of a Scrum Master
 
So we unpack what it means to be a ‘servant/leader”,  how to take a step back and use the power of observations. Louisa creates safe spaces and  tells how you need to be brave. No surprise she is happy to take on challenges and and accepts nothing less than the best for her team. We talk about the relationship with (often over stretched) Product Owners and how to maximise value. Tango dancing comes to mind at the beginning …
 
Louisa explains how she helps an organisation deal with all this agile change, in a way people across the business can understand and work with. It’s not disruption for disruption’s sake and agile buzz words get shown the door. We discuss scaling, managing dependencies and working on the right things: what are we trying to achieve? Louisa has been there and willingly shares her views.
 
Plain speaking, Louisa is passionate about people, very engaging and is pretty frank. And you know good things will get done.
 
Mamma is in the house. There might be trouble.

#agility #scrummaster #agile

A conversation with Louisa Mensah and Agility by Nature......

Cyrille Quemin -  Saving the planet one customer at a time. 

Head of Engineering at So Energy, Cyrille is a real digital native with an extensive career in mobile engineering,  developing products that help people manage and change their lives for the better. Cyrille has a deep expertise in the use and management of secure digital identities -  and he outlines the challenges and benefits of mobile development. His passion for a frictionless, paperless world is infectious!
Cyrille explains how he builds teams to develop great products - passion, skill and comms are  all part of the mix. And exactly how do you scale up a proper, digital startup, do this agile thing and manage innovation? Cyrille has real life experience of how to handle these questions and so much more, delivered with confidence and verve.
And from mobile to green energy. The mission of So Energy is to provide renewal energy, at a good price, with an excellent customer service. Cyrille makes a seductive case  that they genuinely want to engage with customers and how turning on the light  doesn’t  have to cost the earth. His review of the energy world and us as consumers is direct and fascinating.
Cyrille sets the bar high,  is refreshingly honest and a wonderful teacher.

 Be prepared to be taken out of your comfort zone!

#energy #smartenergy #engineering

https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

A conversation with Cyrille Quemin and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Neighla Cain - Trust me, I’m a trainer.  

Coach, Tech Trainer, Writer, Broadcaster, Neighla is an irrepressible people person and change agent, who learnt her trade in the early days of mobile handset sales and promotion. The resilience, discipline and genuine warmth  evident then, comes together to help form bespoke training across all technology, custom apps, and  platforms -  always focussed on users and customers with various levels of tech skills
Neighla dissects the two types of training: impart knowledge and facilitation, where the latter requires a great deal of skill. She discusses the use of NLP in both training and sales,  and other ways to read the room. Focussed engagement is the fundamental key. And for employers, how do know you are getting good ROI?  
Finally, Neighla makes the case for the importance of Change Managers in the business.
Neighla’s  book :
The House: Is the house you  live in really your home? 

The house is a metaphor for the UK. It looks at the relationship between those born in the house compared to those coming to live in the house from elsewhere. It follows the journey of a curious character named Shereen who is on a quest to understand the mindset of many people and establishments we come across daily. It is a call to action to be open minded about the different things we have been taught. The House also suggests we don’t have to follow the structure and norms society expects and to not be afraid to go our own way. 

Neighla is a great example of the power of doing!
https://tulsans.co.uk/shop/the-house-paperback-book/ 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Neighla-Cain-ebook/dp/B07XZKV3YW

How to get hold of Neighla for training (esp Microsoft 365) helpyourselfbooks@live.co.uk & https://www.linkedin.com/in/neighlacain/

#training #coaching #mentoring

A conversation with Neighla Cain and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Yuri Malishenko -  The Art of Visual Thinking 

Yuri Malishenko is a highly experienced agile practitioner with a passion for using and teaching visual thinking in the workplace and beyond. Yuri is host of the wonderfully diverse, Visual Thinking podcast, and shares his thoughts on the the power of visualisation, including:
Helping teams to collaborate and talk the same language
Super charge your  facilitation skills
To build trust, empathy and buy in.
And all this is available to all - no drawing skills required!
Yuri brings together his career as a graphic designer, consultant, coach, project manager and product owner and shares his insights regarding:
The need to be customer centric,
Why transformation programmes do not succeed (it is not a software upload),
The use of frameworks (peak inside the boxes)
How to build long term change
And deep down, we are “Homosapienscontrolfreakios”
Yuri is thoughtful and wears his agile experience lightly, who brings the subject matter alive with is unique perspective.

#agility #visualisation #agileideas

https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

A conversation with Yuri Malishenko and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Johanna Rothman -  Management is Easy: Myth busting for thoroughly modern managers.

Actually, management is not easy and managers are real people trying to do a good job.
Fortunately, Johanna Rothman, self confessed Queen of the Career Limiting Conversations,  has poured a great deal of direct, practical experience  in managing yourself , others and the innovative organisation with three new books:

Practical Ways to Manage Yourself
	Practical Ways to Lead & Serve (Manage) Others
	Practical Ways to Lead an Innovative Organisation

Johanna outlines the common principles shared in the books and we discuss some guilty behaviours such as”inflicting help”, whether technical managers can be the manager but also keep their hand in the tech and why we need to “decriminalise” making mistakes.

Johanna really helps us to reframe our understanding of management today and to create an innovative organisation that can flourish in today’s world. She disects the meaning of servant leader, the costs you really need to think about in making decisions, and the fundamental importance of purpose, value-based integrity and experimentation.

Johanna brings  solutions to HELP you with the problems we face in modern management. Although she is direct, there is great warmth and wisdom which make this new series irresistible. Johanna Rothman is great: I’m a fan and hope you will be too. Its time to find the sweet spot 

Contact Johanna
https://www.jrothman.com
https://twitter.com/johannarothman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannarothman/

References:
https://www.jrothman.com/modern-management-made-easy-a-three-volume-set/
This is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox (Niklas Model & Par Ahlstrom)
Donald-G-Reinertsen The Principles of Product Development flow and other books

For further information: https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

A conversation with Johanna Rothman and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Paul Stafford -  Hot Servers: Modern Infrastructure and Operations Management  

Infrastructure and operations, is the  engine room of digital and technology services. Taken for granted when invisible but can cause unbelievable anguish and expense when it goes wrong.

Paul Safford is an Operations veteran , managing complex, global infrastructures for over 20 years. We take a walk through the fundamental changes in the ops environment  and service provision (with a few war stories thrown in!) 

We cover the Operations mindset (nurture the system) and how it is has changed over the decades with the emergence of cross team collaboration.  Paul shares his views on hiring the right team and the signals to look out for in a well run Ops department.

We discuss  budgeting, funding and investment , and the very intimate understanding you can now have of the cost of your estate. And of course we address Security and DR and what should you recover first in your DR plans. 

Covid of course is discussed and the real drivers and benefits of Cloud adoption and critically Cloud management 

For anyone who recalls the  Big Bang releases over the weekend in the 80’s to the “always on, always deploying” systems of today will recognise the depth of experience and professionalism Paul has

Contact Paul:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulstafford/  or quick link www.pstafford.com

#infrastructure #hardware #agilitybynature

https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

A conversation with Paul Stafford and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Philippe Guenet: Understanding Successful Digital Change Journeys -  getting  on the right Coach.

Companies are facing the imperative to change and adapt. Leadership is lonely and leaders need to consider their change partners very carefully before embarking on their digital and organisational transformations.

Philippe Guenet is an Executive Coach and Leadership development expert who focuses on the work system organisation, practices, people & leadership development associated with Digital and Agile transformation. His work in many substantial companies gives him a deep well of direct experience to draw from when advising his clients, coupled with his formal coaching training.

Philippe explains  the differences between coaches and consultants and gives a wonderful and detailed tour of the role of the coach in organisations - from helping teams at the coal face and especially at the exec level. 
His insight into authentic coaching, agility, and organisational change is thoughtful, well considered and compelling

For Execs thinking about transformation in their organisation, Philippe provides a primer for the key areas, cadence and importantly, the people to consider in the journey to come. A change that starts with you being involved. In the journey into change and uncertainty, Philippe is challenging but ultimately, reassuring too. He is the trustworthy voice by your side, assisting the journey of change through coaching.

Contact Philippe:

https://www.henko.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippeguenet/
https://www.meetup.com/DigitalLeadership/

References:
Simon Wardley -  “recovering consultant” https://blog.gardeviance.org
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement  by Eli Goldratt

https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

#agility #agile #wardley

A conversation with Philippe Guenet and Agility by Nature (Ian Gill)

Chris Foulkes -  Regaining the lost art of change and innovation 

Chris Foulkes is an internationally experienced CIO, CTO and strategist with an award-winning track record in IT innovation and delivery. Chris generously shares his key insights and tools to help companies and their senior teams navigate todays challenges be it Innovation, Digital, Change Programmes and  the best use of Offshoring.

We explore the dichotomy of those who can run and those who can build. Large, mature Companies have forgotten the art of change after their early days of the entrepreneurial beginnings and have hollowed out the ability to do and develop. They have the skills to scale “the same” but stifle creativity.

Chris shows how he helps companies plan and roadmap change effectively and understand the pitfalls most companies fall into -  including why embarking on an agile transformation is a bad sign!

Chris explains why it is vital to align the vocabulary and  the importance of agreeing what good looks like then forming an incremental approach to achieving it.

And he outlines the why and  how a focus on customer & user experience and UX thinking can transform engagement throughout the business (including the Execs) into a change platform.

Is a “bodge” still a great customer focus and learning experience? Don’t delay in learning from customers by waiting for your systems to be ‘right’. If there is a will there is a way!

Finally we explore good and bad uses of offshoring and what we can learn to adapt to all remote working.
 
Chris recognises the hard work involved in change, but he makes  it seem entirely achievable and shows why he is such a motivational leader!

Contact Chris:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfoulkes/ 

Reference:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-transformation-parallel-process-chris-foulkes/?trackingId=ITrFwICIQ7SL6ZZFKOtI8g%3D%3D

Contact: https://agilitybynature.com/contact-us/

#transformation #coaching #agileteams

AgilityByNature

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