The Agile Farmer

I am smiling, really... Earlier this week I did not want to go for a morning run.  It was chilly, and there was an obstinant breeze that chased away any warmth.   But I looked back to a recent baseline and hit the road anyway. A few months ago I set a baseline to hold myself accountable to run regardless of the conditions around me.  On a brisk, sunny morning in January I completed a 5k trail run with an ambient temperature of -5 degrees (F).  Yes, it was cold but I layered appriately and stuck to my plan. Often in project leadership it is helpful to establish a baseline, especially when there have been significant delays.  Acknowledge where you are, establish goals for where you want to be, and identify steps to take each day to help the team move foward.  When you can look back to a rough spot and see the progress you've made despite the challenges and uncertainty, it is a lot easier to see a path forward for success. Here's to hoping 2024 doesn't pr...

Bee-ing agile! To capitalize Agile or not to capitalize agile?  Is it Scrum, scrum, or SCRUM?  Kanban, KAnbAn, KanbAn, KAnban? While spelling is important, I prefer to put more emphasis on simply "being" agile. For me, Agile is an umbrella that covers a myriad of methodologies and practices that encourage teams to work with a growth mindset to collaborate, communicate transparently, and deliver value. The amazing honeybee is a good example.  She is often called a bee, a bumblebee, or even a wasp.  But she just goes about her business supporting the hive, sharing the location of pollen, and producing a delicious product.  She's not concerned about being named "honeybee" or "Honey Bee". The term Agile gets used a lot in business today, and not without a fair amount of ambivalence.  If we focus on specific practices, it is easy to relegate it all to only software development. But, if we instead consider all of the tools available under the agile...

Are you talking to me? It's probably safe to assume that we've all asked questions, and that we've all had questions asked of us.  Also, it's likely that we've all prefaced a question with the phrase "This may be a dumb question...".  And we've all no doubt heard the saying "There are no dumb questions". So there seems to be a question about questions. I have learned to be comfortable asking questions, and I think that the ability (and dare I say courage) to ask a question can be a real asset for a team.  Now, I won't assume to know whether or not there are EVER "dumb questions", but I will posit that a question asked with some sincerety and a little curiosity will overcome ignorance. In fact I believe that a big part of the value I have contributed to teams over the years is the understanding of when and how to ask a question.  As a leader who has worked primarily in IT and software development with people who are much more tec...

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God Romans 8:28 A blessing has dropped into my life; or rather I dropped into a blessing. When Covid initially mandated that we all stay home my wife and I developed an outdoor exercise course - largely intended to get our two boys outside to burn some energy.  One of the things we added was a 25' climbing rope hung from a tree in our woods (as hind sight usually provides I now have full clarity that maintenance and routine inspection should have been something to not neglect).    On Thursday, 20 October shortly before noon I decided to run through the course quickly before meeting friends for lunch.  After I reached the top of the climbing rope the portion wrapped around the tree limb broke and I fell approximately 20' to the ground. I could tell my back was hurt, but I was able to move and actually stood up right after the fall.  However, my right foot was not able to support my weight and I ...