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 [...]

Half way through my Christmas shopping mission, I meet up for coffee with my friend TJ, even though he drinks neither tea nor coffee. I tell him about an article I’d just been reading about people’s fitness and gyms.
‘According to the highly experienced instructor in the article, most people put in around 7/10 amount of [...]

As an Agile Coach, the greatest challenge for me on any Agile Enablement gig is The Wall. And I don’t mean the Project Wall (aka Kanban Board), the one with the iteration backlog on display for all to see, where stories and tasks take their turn journeying across the columns of TODO and In Progress [...]

What Went Well
Team Compensation by Vera Peeters and Yves Hanoulle: I attended the rehearsal session by Vera and was ‘WOWed’ by the excellent use of Playmobil to illustrate the impact of a maladjusted reward system on team behaviour. This session is a definite MUST-SEE workshop if you get the chance!
Coaching Self Organisating Teams by Joseph [...]

‘Twas the night before Geekmas…
‘Happy Geekmas Eve!’ said Portia and Pascal.
‘What’s Geekmas Eve?’ I hear you gasp with anticipation.

Geekmas Eve marks the official day before the launch of the latest version of the Real Options Space Game. It’s an auspicious day when species gather from around the galaxy to marvel at the folly of humankind.
‘Can [...]

Ho! Ho! Ho!
(Over coffee during an Agile training course)
Student: You weren’t what we were expecting.
P.: What do you mean?
Student: We were expecting a male trainer.
P.: I see.
Student: Actually we were expecting a big man with a beard.
P.: You’re right. I’m no Santa Claus.
What you see isn’t always what you get
A recent conversation with a student [...]

Change Happens
P.: I hear you’re an Agile Coach.
Agilista: You are correct.
P.: What do you do as a coach?
Agilista: I change people.
P.: In my experience, you can only change yourself.
Agilista: I change people. Like psychologists do.
P.: My mistake. I thought you said you were an Agile Coach.
With great power comes great responsibility
Agile Coaching is a people [...]

My friend Thoughtful Jim is the silent type. Whenever I pose a philosophical question (such as ‘Can we be paid well for doing what we love?’), instead of accusing me of overthinking, TJ usually replies, ‘I can’t answer an important question just like that. Let me think about it.’ TJ’s a deep thinker. And when [...]

Still Life
P.: Richard’s a nice guy.
Z: He’s changed a lot since meeting a lady friend recently.
P.: (Pauses) Has he changed for the better?
Z: Definitely. Richard’s got potential.
P.: (Smiles)
Z: I like to think of him as a work-in-progress.
Life as Art
I’d never heard of someone being described as a ‘work-in-progress’ before. My friend Z. is an artistic, [...]

Conversation overheard in a galactic corridor
(At an Agile conference in a galaxy near you)
A: I am Agamemnon the Agile.
P: That’s nice for you.
A: I am Leader of the Alliance.
P: There are many alliances.
A: Join us.
P: Thanks, but I prefer to keep my options open.
What are Real Options?
Real Options is a decision-making process for managing uncertainty [...]