Blog
Hypotheses - what are they? Why are they important in Xagility?
It is essentially re-wording an assumption or set of assumptions in a way that is put more like a question, or something that needs to be tested, eg. we believe this particular set of assumptions to be true, and we will know if we are right if X happens.
A lot of what passes for Scrum today isn't really Scrum at all. It's Water Scrum Fall dressed up in agile language, with confused roles, broken definitions of "done," and Product Owners chosen for their availability rather than their authority. But alongside that decline, something more authentic is quietly growing — and it's worth paying attention to which version of Scrum you're actually part of.
How do we deliver value in Kanban and isn’t Kanban just about outputs?
Isn't Kanban just about outputs? Doesn't it miss a trick on value and organizational capability? This piece pushes back on both assumptions, using Scrum.org's Evidence Based Management framework — with its four key value areas of current value, unrealized value, time to market, and ability to innovate (or, more honestly, "inability to innovate") — as the lens. The argument: Kanban is a strategy for optimizing the flow of value, not just stuff out the door, and when used with discipline it improves all four areas. Along the way: why classes of service often make things worse (with a thought experiment about queues at the Ukrainian border), why intangible work earns its keep, why prioritizing already-started work is a classic trap, and why the dance of finishing, watching for aging, and avoiding starvation is the heart of doing Kanban well. Take the time it takes, so it takes less time.
We talk constantly about "maximizing value" in agility — but what actually is value? This post draws sharp lines between value and the things often mistaken for it (inputs, activities, unreleased outputs), explores the multiple perspectives value can flow from, and explains why forecasting value is always relative, context-sensitive, and only truly realized when something gets used.
What Value does an “Agility Change Chef” Offer?
Most people have an idea what value an agile coach brings — but what value do they typically not offer? This piece makes the case for the "Agility Chef": someone who goes beyond the usual coaching toolkit to bring deep transformation and change expertise, situational leadership (including Tipping Point Leadership when coaching isn't the right move), and minimized confirmation bias (because agility is a means to an end, and sometimes not the right answer at all). It also argues for an antidote to WaterScrumFall, BigBangScrum, and cynically applied frameworks, plus an appreciation that in the 21st century, resilience matters more than "better, faster, cheaper." Plus a look at Spiral Dynamics Integral as a tool for more effective conversations with difficult stakeholders, a few honest reflections on framework bias (CSTs recommend Scrum, Kanbaners recommend Kanban), and an invitation to influence the thinking through pairwise surveys.