It’s Hard to Roadmap Your Way to Agile Excellence

Written By Allison Pollard

Photo by Lindsay Henwood

Imagine a Powerpoint slide with a graphic of a roadway that stretches from left to right. Along the road, there are callouts for different scenic features or attractions along the way. You can imagine what you’d see as you move along the road. It’s visually appealing and easy to understand.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen these road images used as a metaphor for the agile transformation journey. They can be reassuring to leaders in providing more certainty of what changes will happen and when. They can be challenging for agile coaches to create and agree upon.

If you find yourself struggling to create a roadmap to excellence for your agile transformation, check out this presentation on Getting to Better Problems that Tim Haagenson and I shared virtually at the AgileShift conference. We applied the improvement kata to frame desired outcomes and experiments, and we found that it enabled teams to have more ownership and buy-in of the changes needed for success.

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard helps overwhelmed technical leaders debug their management approach. She teaches them how to manage up, support people through change, and make time for strategic work. Her education in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University helps her connect technical work with people management. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Allison focuses on improving product delivery and leadership culture. Her experience includes work in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries. Allison regularly speaks at global conferences like Scrum Gatherings and Agile Alliance's Agile20xx. She promotes women's leadership as the program director for Women in Agile's Mentorship program. When she's not working, Allison likes to drink lattes and listen to Broadway musicals. Allison is a proud glasses wearer and co-owner of Middlegame Partners.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
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