What I wish I knew when I was new to agile

I attended my first lean coffee at Agile Cambridge 2017 this week. I found it delightful and I’m looking forward to attending more. So much so that I just RSVP’d to the next Lean Coffee London – join us on Tuesday, 24th October.

I had some thoughts about “What I wish I knew when I was brand new to agile”, one of the lean coffee topics and my reflections were too long for twitter… so here they are 😄

Selfie of Kathleen musing at Cambridge train station, the words Agile Cambridge 2017 appear on the photo

New to agile?

Begin with agile principles and values, not with processes and practices. Because the latter are essential, but what to do is easy to discard and hard to defend without the context of why.

Focusing on values and principles expands my understanding and makes me more persuasive. As a result, every moment on the agile principles has been time well spent for me.

Check out Fran Avila’s Agile Manifesto map because it links principles to practices. Fran’s Agile Practices Map spreadsheet includes extensive references for each practice too.

Get in touch with me if you’re new to agility or Scrum Mastering. I love meeting aspiring Scrum Masters and exchanging ideas & learning. You can catch me in person at a variety of agile events in London.

In the meantime, I highly recommend Barry Overeem’s white paper, The 8 Stances of a Scrum Master. Check out my recommendations for agile events in London too.

Comments welcome on Linked In and on Twitter