2008: A Retrospective
Things I’m most grateful for:

My first Agile deathmarch with a casualty of 1. Me. Lesson Learnt: Always agree on Acceptance Criteria before doing anything.
Learning from a diverse bunch of people: my fellow Exxies (folks from Exoftware), my client teams and especially Agilistas such as TJ, Pascal Van Cauwenberghe, Vera Peeters, Duncan Pierce, David [...]

Congratulations! THE BIG DAY you’ve been training for for the past 364 days will soon by upon us. It’s time to cash in on the benefit of the thousands of Agility exercises you’ve been putting into practice at work. Let’s hope all the agile flexing of both brain and brawn pays off. 
Ho! Ho! Ho! Contenders [...]

The first and most important thing I share with any team I work with are the Agile Values, also known the XP Values from Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres.
The Five Agile Values
1. Communication is a two way thing. It’s about talking and listening.
2. Simplicity is about simple solutions that do what’s required, no more, no [...]

‘SimBlogging‘ offers a his and hers viewpoint as Pascal and Portia timebox-blog simultaneously
“Fun, Learning, Sharing, Smiles and Laughter”
These five words best describe my first and last impressions of XP Days Benelux 2008.
The conference opened with a warm welcome from the organisers Pascal Van Cauwenberghe, Vera Peeters, Nicole Belilos and me. Next up were Day 1 [...]

Playing to learn about the Theory of Constraints
It’s 5 pm on a Thursday night and everything’s already pitch dark outside. We need at least 7 players to play the Bottleneck Game created by Pascal Van Cauwenberghe but we only have 6 eager participants. Being an Agile Coach has taught me to be resourceful (think Macgyver), [...]

‘To some, responsibility is a burden. To others, responsibility is a reward. For many, responsibility means having someone to point to.’
- Christopher Avery
It was great to finally meet Christopher Avery at the Agile Business Conference this Wednesday. His presentation on the Responsibility Model, delivered in person, was every bit as insightful and entertaining as I [...]

Adopting Agile brings out the best in people, it brings out the worst in people. That’s because Agile is a challenge for change: for the individual, for the team and, above all, for the organisation.
For many people, Agile evokes fear. Fear of uncertainty, fear of looking foolish, fear of being held accountable, fear of the [...]

One Agile coach says to another, ‘How do you find the strength to carry on?’
The other coach replies, ‘I believe in “happily ever after“‘.
Going Off the Rails
In my experience, the toughest period on any Agile Enablement gig is the first two iterations. Some have described it as a rollercoaster ride - the corkscrew-space-mountain type where [...]

There’s a lot to be said for French charm. The crowd of witty, friendly and plain speaking Parisian Agilistas with whom I had the pleasure of dining twice this week has to be the highlight of my Paris visit.
Le lieu du crime
(Un clan d’agilistes dans un restaurant à côté des Champs-Elysées)
L.: Remarques, avant que je [...]

Why Exoftware?
So that on a beautiful summer’s day I find myself cycling along the low road on one of the Aran Islands to spend time with the most diverse, smart, nice and fun bunch of Agilistas I know.