MiramarMike: Blog

"Agile", a 5 letter word that can bring up thoughts, emotions, and even reactions. Of course it does, it's a loaded word that can mean as many things to as many people hearing it. It's a word that has been bandied around inside organisations for a number of years, it's been unfairly hooked to many other words, and it's still one that can cause confusion. Over the years I've worked with teams in all corners of organisations incorporating those that want to, "Do it, do it now!", through, "Up for it, but please help us", to, "Whah? Nah mate". Everyone, no matter where you are, has questions, and these are the top 5 I've heard but almost definitely not the top 5 out there, the comment box is right there at the bottom of this post for you. Right, onto the 5 questions heard from around the traps ... 1: What is the point of changing to agile? It's just more meetings I don't have time to change to Agile I'm too busy I&

Let's dive in and say it out loud, a backlog is merely a list of user stories BUT it is not a list of tasks . It's items within items within items. On a typical backlog you will have, Initiatives with Epics holding User Stories containing Tasks and even Sub-tasks. Initiatives and Epics we all mostly get correct, they are the big items spanning big(ish) timescales, say no less than 3 months. Tasks and sub-tasks, we get those as well. We're all used to writing lists of things to do, "Get the bins in", "Get a haircut", "Write the weekly report". Things we need TO DO. And there's User Stories, a weird in between thing that's not massive but, so you're telling me Mike, not a task. Why can't my Backlog be full of things to do, that's what lists are for, no? Taking this straight from, User Stories - the best we can create , a doc of hints and tips from me at ... well, somewhere ;) What is a User Story? Summary: A user story is an

Of course there are a LOT of nuances that this video hints at but doesn't go into ... and to be fair no 3-day course can prepare you for those either, it comes with experience. As an ex-colleague of mine once said, "[this is] The Best Video on YouTube. Ever.*", and he's not wrong. * about Agile

This is a great analogy of how  generative AIs  operate on top of  Large Language Models (LLM), they are definitely not intelligent, artificial or not. You're stuck in a room with a letterbox in one wall. Opposite is another letterbox with two lights, red and green, both unlit. After a while two pieces of paper come through the first letterbox, each with a Mandarin character on them. You stare at the papers, but don't speak Mandarin. After a while you think, "I'll post one through the other postbox, why not". You do so, and the green light comes on and goes back off. Cool you think. Another set of two pieces come through the first letterbox. You post the same Mandarin character through, green light. Nice. The next time with the next two pieces of paper your chosen post receives a red light. Ok, won't do that character again. Over time the pieces of paper come through in threes, fours, and then many. You also notice patterns, eg one character after another alw

It’s just two letters, and yet saying no can feel really hard - even complicated. For many of us, saying no doesn’t just feel awkward. It feels wrong. No-body likes to hear a straight out, "No." without context or reasoning. That doesn't mean we can't use the word, but we have to be much more empathetic when we say it. “Saying no is one of the best forms of self-care we can engage in,” Dr. Nicole Washington says, noting that saying "no" supports us in: creating space in our schedules to rest and recharge engaging in activities that actually align with our current goals setting boundaries with loved ones and colleagues Here's a few ways of saying, "No ..." that can help you negotiate your workloads and ensure we make people awesome whilst keeping safety a prerequisite. "No, not yet" This leads on to a discussion and hopefully and agreement of both realistic and understandable timings leading to an, "OK, yes starting on Tuesday&

Intellectual curiosity is the driving force behind scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, and innovative new technologies. Without it, our world would not progress and evolve as it has been. source: Your Guide to Intellectual Curiosity Sounds like curiosity is the driving force behind a few organisations I have been speaking with recently. In other organisations it may be safety, and in others perhaps it's security, or even entertainment. Bill Gates famously said, “‘I don’t know’ has become ‘I don’t know yet’” and admits that much of what has propelled his career is a sense of wonder and curiosity. One way of showing curiosity is when you are personally challenged by a team member. With so many diverse, interesting, and dynamic people it's small wonder we meet people that can, initially, rub us up the wrong way (I am absolutely one of those people that can cause a little friction). This is the perfect time to be curious, both about the person themselves and their motiva