Viewing entries tagged
Experience

Is experience the only thing that matters?

Comment

Is experience the only thing that matters?

Cliff Berg shared the following article on LinkedIn. It’s a view that to be honest, I’m struggling with. Why? I guess first, because of the privilege that Cliff has as an influential and leading voice in the agile community. And second, because I’m not sure my experience (and opinion) aligns with his…

Here’s a snippet from the article—

Let’s make this very tangible: If I needed to assemble a team to build a product, and I had a choice between ten inexperienced but smart programmers or five very experienced and equally smart programmers, I would pick the team of five, hands down. I would not hesitate one second.

And even if I had a choice between ten inexperienced smart programmers or five highly experienced but slightly less smart programmers, I would still pick the latter.

Let me put it another way: If I had a choice between five inexperienced and smart programmers, or five experienced and smart programmers who cost twice as much, I would pick the latter. In fact, if those experienced programmers cost three times as much, I would still go with them. Five times as much? Yes - I would still go with them.

While Cliff is absolutely entitled and privileged to this perspective, I passionately disagree with it.

Comment

CAL class Focused on EXPERIENCE

Comment

CAL class Focused on EXPERIENCE

I’ve been teaching a Scrum Alliance, Certified Agile Leadership (CAL-I) class since 2017. In that time, I’ve evolved quite a bit in my goals, intentions, and approaches within the class.

Initially, it was all in-person and largely a training event. Sure, I tried to share my experiences and the feedback was great. But I don’t believe folks left with much more than knowledge. And often I’m guessing, 6-months later, much of that knowledge had faded into the chaos of real-world agile execution.

Over time I’ve transitioned from wanting the class to be a learning event to more of a holistic experience. An immersed learning experience that I hoped would have—

  • More lasting impact on attendees;

  • Not easily be forgotten;

  • Causing ongoing reflection, experimentation, and discovery;

  • Improved ideas for new ways of leading.

Then, when Covid-19 hit and I pivoted the class to virtual delivery, I was even more intent on creating an experience for attendees. As much to retain their level of engagement as for the learning and retention.

So, what have I learned or focused on?

Comment