My first role on an Agile team was as a scrum master. The only product I had to sell at that time was my experience being the conduit between development and business. Previous roles in quality assurance had sufficiently prepared me if only to understand I had a lot more to learn. The next role […]
Read more "What Exactly Is My Product as an Agile Coach?"When exploring a word, I often use the definition according to Merriam-Webster. It’s nice to start at the original intent of a word and step forward. And for the first time in forever, I couldn’t locate a word. I found refactoring on Wikipedia when referencing its combination with software. Developers know how to use the […]
Read more "My Thoughts On Refactoring Agile"“Can I give you some feedback?” Take stock of how you feel after reading those words. Not great right? Your blood pressure and pulse probably spiked a bit. There aren’t many other sentences that put us more on edge in the workplace. Right out of college, the scariest thing one could tell me was the […]
Read more "Feedback Doesn’t Have To Be Scary"The advent of this holiday season has brought a fair amount of discomfort for my family. My kids see family photo time as a reminder that their mom is celebrating the holiday somewhere else. My parents see their child and grandkids trying to make the best of who is and isn’t there around the table […]
Read more "How Can We Help In Times Of Discomfort?"“When you drop any new idea in the pond of the world, you get a ripple effect. You have to be aware that you will be creating a cascade of change.” — Joel A. Barker I love kick off week. New starts always gives me a jolt. Everyone’s filled with hope, or at least a desire […]
Read more "Fostering Change Is A Team Sport"“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson Love that quote from the greatest boxer of my childhood. Tyson punched the first 19 plans he faced in the mouth, 12 in the first round. Those opponents were left wondering what happened to all the months of training and preparation. In […]
Read more "My First Change Experiment: Bumps In The Road"Great things start, and then they end. Today, I start my last day at Bottle Rocket Studios. My time at this amazing place has come to and end. It started with reading blog posts, a stroll around Glassdoor, and some exploratory emails to recruiting. Julian was the best in guiding me through the process, but the […]
Read more "Saying Goodbye To Bottle Rocket"Review season is upon us all again. Don’t tell me you love it, because while some pieces of feedback can be valuable from peers there is a ton of pain points along the road to a finished review. At Bottle Rocket Studios, we use360-degree feedback to fuel our bi-annual ritual; and I must say that […]
Read more "What Story Is My Career Telling?"“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” – Benjamin Franklin What does my production, my work output, and the opinions of my peers say about me? My dad told me long ago that all you have is your name, so there is an argument to […]
Read more "What Do Your Numbers Say About You?"“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” — Frederick Douglass Change is hard. Mr. Douglass knew all too well how struggle and change go hand in hand. Born a slave, he managed to find as much of an education as he could in those days. Once he could read, he read as much […]
Read more "Change Is Hard, So Get Started Already!"
Chris Murman 