One of the most common problems teams face is starting more work than they complete. Neglected WIP is the gap between all the work you say you are working on and the stuff you are doing. The natural vagaries of office life can cause an item to get stuck due to someone being out sick or because your co-worker hit the lottery – stuff happens. A little might be ok, but more is bad. When neglected WIP passes that hurdle, real flow time will increase and velocity will slow. The combination of getting less work done and taking longer at it is a prescription for your stakeholders to start looking for torches and pitchforks.

We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the podcast. In this installment, we discussed the QA Lead’s role in agile teams. So just what does a QA Lead do in an agile team . . . Jeremy has some ideas.

Re-read Saturday News

I am going to combine the conversation of Chapters 12 and 13 of  Coaching Agile Teams this week because there is a common core in these two chapters. Chapter 12, When Will I Get There?, discusses when will you know that you have become an Agile Coach, and Chapter 13, It’s Your Journey, discusses the journey several coaches have taken to get there. Chapter 12 plots the journey and Chapter 13 provides several travelogues.

Remember to buy a copy of  Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3) and read along!

Logistics Note:  Next week we will wrap up Coaching Agile Teams and then on to  Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy your copy soon and start reading). Buy a copy now and start reading. 

Previous Installments

Week 1: Logistics and Introductionhttps://bit.ly/3A1aNTe 

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coachhttps://bit.ly/3nzDAHg 

Week 3: Expect High Performancehttps://bit.ly/3Rl4fFf 

Week 4: Master Yourselfhttps://bit.ly/3zL8t2n 

Week 5: Let Your Style Changehttps://bit.ly/3Q8zHWa 

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentorhttps://bit.ly/3QLcSIi 

Week 7: Coach as Facilitatorhttps://bit.ly/3AaP5KY 

Week 8: Coach As Teacher – https://bit.ly/3AURGdL 

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solverhttps://bit.ly/3C06Gr7 

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigatorhttps://bit.ly/3R6tmuc 

Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductorhttps://bit.ly/3fXoHOs 

Week 12: Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modeshttps://bit.ly/3T0FluQ 

Week 13: When Will I Get There? and It’s Your Journeyhttps://bit.ly/3MAe00v 

A quick advertisement:

Controlling work entry requires preparation and knowledge building to establish a path to control work entry (magic wands are normally not available), which is why Jeremy Willets and I have developed a work entry workshop. We recently delivered the workshop at the 2022 Path to Agility in Columbus, OH to rave reviews. Interested? Email us at tcagley@tomcagley.com or willetsjm@gmail.com

Next SPaMCAST 

In SPaMCAST 726 we will chat with Mr. Allan Kelly. I missed talking to Allan so we covered a wide range of topics including OKRs, Product Backlogs, and remote working. Allan brings incredible insight to the podcast.