Insights from Joshua
Content That Can Drive Your Business Value
The founder of Process Mentors, Joshua Barnes, has put tremendous energy into Disciplined Agile’s success. He has trained thousands of individuals and coached hundreds of teams throughout the world. Having faced all sorts of challenges, he shares his insights here.
In addition to Disciplined Agile, Joshua has the experience that he draws upon with industry-leading agile and lean approaches such as Scrum, Kanban, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Extreme Programming (XP), Unified Process (and its variants RUP, OpenUP, Enterprise UP, etc.).
Browse our latest articles on topics such as:
- Value Stream Management
- Minimum Business Increments
- Transformational Roadmaps
- Agile Training
- Agile Certifications
Latest Articles
All Things Value Delivery Management – Value Flow Factor 1: Small Items
Is the size of work the minimum scope to provide value a customer can consume? In most cases, the answer is no. However, whether it is a project, business case, charter, work package, epic, etc., we can almost always identify a minimum business increment. Relentless...
Project Manager to Value Delivery Manager
Here we have a common problem. The “agile team” comprises a product owner, team coach, and team members. Far too often, I hear something like, “there are no project managers in agile.” Agile teams are empowered to make decisions and determine how to get the work done....
All Things Value Delivery Management – Value Flow Factor 1: Small Items
Is the size of work the minimum scope to provide value a customer can consume? In most cases, the answer is no. However, whether it is a project, business case, charter, work package, epic, etc., we can almost always identify a minimum business increment. Relentless...
Project Manager to Value Delivery Manager
Here we have a common problem. The “agile team” comprises a product owner, team coach, and team members. Far too often, I hear something like, “there are no project managers in agile.” Agile teams are empowered to make decisions and determine how to get the work done....
New Series for 2023: All Things Value Delivery Management
Delivering value continues to increase in complexity and is driven more than ever by digital transformations. The result is a growing emphasis on dependency management and coordination - but that will only get you so far. As organizations realize the benefits of...
Is there a Simplified Version of Disciplined Agile?
Disciplined Agile ("DA") is a sizable body of agile and lean knowledge, and it keeps growing. Is there a simplified version of Disciplined Agile? Yes, I know of many simplified versions of DA. However, before jumping right to the simplified versions, I want to have a...
Is Disciplined Agile Too Complicated?
Last week I was asked to deliver a Disciplined Agile training course on short notice. Coverage was needed for the training by someone with lots of experience delivering this specific course and significant experience coaching teams to put the theory learned into...
Value Creation Structure
Melvin Conway developed an adage stating, “any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.” The adage has become known as Conway’s Law, and it articulates how, over...
Roles of Value Stream Management – Part 2 of 2
This article is part 2 of 2 and focuses on a brief overview of two new roles to consider and the evolution of responsibilities of two typical existing roles. The first new role is the Disciplined Agile Value Stream Consultant, or “DAVSC.” Released as both a role and...
Roles of Value Stream Management – Part 1 of 2
If we move to Disciplined Agile’s strategy for Value Stream Management (VSM), are there any new roles we need to consider? Yes. In addition, existing roles will evolve with new responsibilities and ways to add value. This article is part 1 of 2 and focuses on evolving...
Feature Tetris – Value Flow Planning
How do we maximize the flow of value delivery for a Minimum Business Increment? Conduct a type of Value Flow Planning I call Feature Tetris. In the Look Ahead Value Flow Planning article, I covered a type of Value Flow Planning I call MBI Tetris. It is a dynamic way...
Value Flow Planning – MBI Tetris
How do we maximize the flow of value delivery? For example, how do we determine the potential flow of Minimum Business Increment (MBI) delivery in a period such as a quarter? We conduct Look Ahead Value Flow Planning.
The Idealized Value Stream
Disciplined Agile’s definition of a value stream references Wikipedia’s definition: “a value stream is the set of actions that takes place to add value to a customer from the initial request through the realization of value by the customer.”
Minimum Business Increment (MBI) Example
In last week’s article, I wrote the MBI is one of the most significant additions to Disciplined Agile. That article focused on a systemic problem in the Development Value Stream that MBI’s solve. So let’s take a look at how the MBI provides a communication bridge...
The Minimum Business Increment
The most significant recent addition to Disciplined Agile – the Minimum Business Increment (MBI) - can solve many problems we see in organizations. This article will focus on how adopting MBIs can solve a systemic problem in the Development Value Stream. Next week’s...
What Do Agile Teams Need to Know?
I asked several people covering a range of experience concerning an agile way of working in a few organizations in different industries what they felt agile teams needed to know. It was all very informal, just a way to get some insights and gather my thoughts before...
What Is a Project?
How can an organization get its hands around all of what is needed to deliver value to customers?
Where Transformations Typically Start, Could Start, and Options
Guidance from leading agile frameworks and countless consulting companies often start and focus on teams adopting agile. Select a pilot or a few early adopter teams and get going. Then, make a bit of progress and expand the coverage to more and more teams. Sound familiar? Is this what you experienced at your current or a previous company?
Disciplined Agile Courses Now Available on LinkedIn!
I am excited to share with you that my first on-demand LinkedIn Learning course, “Introduction to Disciplined Agile,” is now live. This is the first in a suite of LinkedIn learning courses on Disciplined Agile that I will be releasing that will include covering: DA...
The Value of Process Mentors Agile and Lean Boot Camp
The learning approach that has consistently yielded the best results is our Just-In-Time training strategy. As one of the most valuable aspects of the Process Mentors transformational roadmap to achieving business agility, in almost all situations, the best option is...
Building the Bridge to Business Agility Unconference
No one needs to tell you this year has been different. Despite all of the unique and significant hardships, on the positive side, we continue to see strong interest in Disciplined Agile with practitioners and leadership. As the global pandemic emerged in every corner...
The Time is Right for a Disciplined Agile Community Space
This week, I enjoyed co-instructing with Glen Little in the delivery of the newest Disciplined Agile certification workshop, the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master “DASM”. One of the concepts we covered in that course (which has been a part of the previous certification...
Disciplined Agile for Non-Software Work
I am increasingly asked the question, “Can an agile way of working be used to deliver value not related to software?” In my experience and the Disciplined Agile toolkit’s guidance, the answer is a resounding YES! As the world is gaining more and more awareness of...
Virtual Collaboration and Process Goals
All of us are quite aware of the changes that COVID-19 brought and the need to social distance in our personal and professional lives. As organizations are coming to terms with the length of time their employees (and contractors/consultants) will be supporting...
Is it Just Time to Change Agile Training?
The benefits of Disciplined Agile are many. As a tool kit, it provides guidance to help organizations choose their way of working in a context-sensitive manner. Our strategy is similar in many ways to the adoption roadmap that has been part of Discipline Agile...
My PMO is Interested in How to Use DA, Where is a Good Place to Start?
During a recent "Ask Me Anything DA" Webinar, an experienced agile coach asked a great question that we often hear. "As an Agile Coach, I have been working with a few teams within my organization using the DA toolkit. We've seen some great success with adoption, and...