Shows
Frontline InnovatorsHaving Empathy - Frontline Innovators - Episode # 071Kyle Spitzley is the OKR Coach and Change Management Professional at Amway. He has a wide span of experience within change management, using many many different mindsets to show how change can be effective. Kyle joins host Justin Lake to talk about some of the challenges that face frontline workers and how actions speak louder than words.
Takeaways
The greatest challenge for frontline workers is that they are the least represented at moments of strategic planning.
Don’t build to the average means of everyone. Each employee has different needs and th...
2022-05-0342 min
For Agility's SakeFor Devs: How to See Code DifferentlyIn this episode Arlo Belshee, Aaron Coville and Marc Denman discuss how small changes in our coding behaviors can lead to incredible results. Arlo believes we can achieve a bug-free world, Aaron agrees with him on some points of that... Listen to hear the debate and more:Imagining a bug free worldWhy we waste so much time making and dealing with bugsThe average developer creates 3 bugs a day (even Senior Devs)What is “The insight loop” (16:36)Teaches you how to see code differently and How to refactor legacy code safelyYour engineering culture will creat...
2021-04-0541 min
For Agility's SakeDrive Better Results with OKRsIn this episode, Sameera Moinpour, Sr. Director of Strategy Solutions at Workboard, explains how OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) can help drive better results for your team. OKRs are a key component of Amway's Agile Workflow Model, ensuring teams are clear on what outcomes they want and how they will measure progress against them. Listen to learn:What are OKRs?How to keep teams aligned to common goalsWhere to integrate OKRs into your current operations cyclesShowing up to review cycles "already informed" instead of "to be informed"How to get started with OKRs on your team2 pronged approach...
2021-02-0936 min
For Agility's SakeBecoming an Agile Leader - Rituparna GhoshRituparna Ghosh, General Manager and head of DevSecOps at Wipro shares her view on Agile Leadership. Ritu will be the first to tell you, she is still on the journey of becoming an Agile and Servant Leader. In this episode we discuss:How leadership styles have changed over the past 15 years - what used to be "nice to have" leader skills are now a "must-have."What it feels like to transition from "command and control" to "servant leadership."The importance of psychological safety in creating the space for team members to dissent.Respecting the hierarchy of c...
2020-12-0737 min
For Agility's SakeThe Evolution of Agile - Hannes FärberböckIn this episode Hannes Färberböck shares his rich, 20+ year history of agile and its various methodologies with us. Hannes is the Managing Director of Nagarro's Austrian operations and the had of their Testing Business Unit. He first started his journey by learning and applying Extreme Programming (XP), and then conducting trainings for other teams on XP. Hannes recalls hearing about the first ever XP conference, where many of the signatories of the Agile Manifesto were in attendance (before it actually existed). Looking back over time and seeing how agile has evolved, here are some...
2020-11-2324 min
For Agility's SakeQA in an Agile World - Chris MastnakHear from Chris Mastnak, "Global Practice Lead - Agile Testing" at Nagarro, on what it means for QA/Testing team members to work in an agile environment. According to Chris, life in QA gets easier with agile. He tells a story of major User Acceptance Test events at the end of a large 9-12 month build carrying a significant amount of risk. It's simply too wide of an area to cover with testing after nearly a year of development. Thanks to agile, QA can be much more confident with testing because they're covering smaller batches of functionality.
2020-11-0931 min
For Agility's SakeBeing an Agile Leader - Daniel EderDaniel Eder, Enterprise Agile Coach from Nagarro, talks about the role of a leader in an agile organization (and more). When he realized that traditional development was brokenHis first organic agile transformationRole of a LeaderPeople oriented: aka making people awesomeCoach and mentor people to make wise decisionsRelieving the daily pains the team deals withProvide context and broader perspectives to implications of team decisionsEmbrace your technical expertise (but leave your title at the door)The greatest barrier to agile transformation, "uncertainty," and what you can do about itWhat to do when you don't have enough t...
2020-10-2138 min
For Agility's SakeScaling Agile with Portfolios - Lisa GordonAgile Portfolio Manager Lisa Gordon explains the importance of blatant honesty, difficult tradeoff decisions and maintaining relationships across teams. Lisa has been instrumental in establishing Agile at Amway, particularly in our Agile Portfolios. Here are some of the highlights from this episode:What is a Portfolio ManagerMaking difficult tradeoff decisions while maintaining relationshipsWhat a Portfolio Manager needs from a Product Owner Doubling down with a radical focus on what matters mostQuestions? Reach out:Kyle.Spitzley@Amway.comLisa.Gordon@Amway.com
2020-08-1021 min
For Agility's SakeWhy Agile Fails - Lee WiesehuegelCoach Lee tells us "why agile fails" at scale and what needs to be addressed to reduce the chances of it happening to you and your organization. Most of us know that Agile is easy and effective on a single team, but those of us in the business of Agile Transformation are not working with single teams - we're working with large corporations, multiple departments, external service providers and dozens upon dozens of teams. So how do you avoid failure with agile at scale?3 key elements of agile at scaleTeamsBacklogsWorking Tested "Stuff"...
2020-06-0145 min
For Agility's SakeCOVID-19 and Agility - Tom FoxThe world is in a state of significant flux. If there was ever a time when individuals, corporations and society as a whole needed agility, it's now. In this episode Tom Fox, Manager of the Agile Transformation Office at Amway, speaks on the impacts of COVID-19. His words are his own and do not represent the position of Amway as a company, but as you'll hear, they speak admirably of the culture at Amway. How does "Work from home" affect the Agile Transformation?How do you coach teams when you're completely distributed?What are we learning from this? ...
2020-04-2834 min
For Agility's SakeAgility is a requirement to survive and thrive - Tina AbdooTina Abdoo, VP at Amway shares how agile is a way to thrive in an ever-changing marketplace.Why it matters to a leaderYour team is happier!Your team is more stable, predictable and autonomous, so you can have higher confidence in the things you commit to. Challenges you can expect during transformationYou will experience ups, downs, forward momentum, back sliding and forward progress again. Persevere. The myth that we don't need KPI's and metrics anymore - we do, they're just different. Fear of measurement (aka metrics) leading to jud...
2020-04-1322 min
For Agility's SakeAgile isn’t easy; it’s worth it - Gaye GarvelinkSys. Analyst Gaye Garvelink recounts her experience with agile and how it hasn't been easy, but more than worth it. My favorite quote from this show was "We were working really hard, but we loved every minute of it."In this episode we discuss:How agile creates an environment that allows teams to flourish while bringing out the best in each individual. Agile before Agile was "cool"Lean / Continuous improvement / Toyota Production SystemAgile makes learning new things feel saferWork gets better for everyone w/agileBrings the team togetherKeeps everyone informedMakes work visible It do...
2020-03-3031 min
For Agility's SakeMaking Progress Over Making Perfect - Gayle EvansGayle Evans, Digital Experience Delivery Mgr at Amway, explains how an agile transformation is really a transformation of individuals. It does not require us to know everything up front, but it does require that we continue to make progress.Individual TransformationServant LeadershipAgility is the only way to thrive todayManaging an agile teamRemove hurdles and support your teamGet out of your team's way - trust them and let them do the workSwooping in to save the team means they miss the opportunity to learnCast the visionMaking progress is more important than making perfectCulture is at the center of making...
2020-03-1634 min
For Agility's SakeAgile Explained in Simple Terms - Luke NieuwenhuisLuke Nieuwenhuis, VP of ABO Incentives at Amway explains how Agile is a way of getting work done. We often overcomplicate it, but it's really about how we get things done as an organization. WHY IT MATTERSOur ability to move more quickly from one thing to another (markets, projects, strategies, etc.) is paramount to our ability to keep serving our customers. On the ground floor, our teams can be very flexible. They often know that what we're working on might not be the most important thing - the struggle is to...
2020-03-0231 min
For Agility's SakeProduct Management in a Complex World - Scott SehlhorstProduct Management Coach Scott Sehlhorst goes deep into how an Agile Workflow Model and Product Management can enable a company to thrive in an increasingly complex world.Our Agile Workflow Model is a robust decision making system; providing clarity and alignment at each decision point. This is the only way we can manage the complexity AND stay aligned as we execute. Scott explains the difference between a "regular workflow" and an "Agile workflow" and much more: Cross-functional collaboration over multiple Product teams and how they should work together. Product Teams should be focused on the...
2020-02-1746 min
For Agility's SakeBuilding resiliency through safeguarding - Llewellyn FalcoHe's back! Tech Craftsmanship Coach Llewellyn Falco shares stories of his second visit to Amway. Some of the topics he touches on in this episode are:Anti-fragile: a systemic way of implementing things so that when they break, you get stronger. More resilient. If your system is dependent on discipline, it’s broken.Safeguarding: after an issue was resolved, the team reflected on these 3 questions to help them build more resiliency for the future: What allowed us to create this situation?What made it hard for us to discover what it was?What made it...
2020-02-0335 min
For Agility's SakeExperience Design & Empathy - Kate KronemeyerExperience Owner Kate Kronemeyer shares her thoughts on agile, empathy and a hyper-focus on the user. "Design is more disciplined than you think."Other topics we touch on:Building empathy.Design is more disciplined than you think.With agile, everyone can help make things better.Satisfying the customer is EXCITING!Agile isn't just a process change. It's a personal transformation. Stay focused on the user - Literally walk a mile in their shoes.Learn more about your user than you think you need to know. Sometimes your user doesn't know wh...
2020-01-2029 min
For Agility's SakeLessons from 15 Years of Transformation - Marty BradleyMarty Bradley, Sr VP at LeadingAgile, says Agile Transformation is NOT about Agile; it's a way of achieving your companies goals. Here are some of the other topics we discussed. It's not about Agile. It's a way of achieving your goals.Companies have to get better de-risking their investments.Example: Increasing Sky Atmosphere sales with fast feedback loops.3 elements of agility: teams, backlog, working tested softwareTeams: a stable cross-functional team has all of the members it needs to ship a product.Backlog: a healthy backlog of clearly defined work increases predictability.Working tested software: deliver something t...
2020-01-0633 min
For Agility's SakeLeaders: Agile is NOT the Goal - Brian HartBrian Hart, VP of ABO & Customer Solutions shares his thoughts on why agility matters, how leader behaviors MUST change, and a first step you can take toward agility - rapid experimentation.Other topics we touch on: Agile isn't the goal. It's a way to achieve your business goals.You can apply agile principles to the development of ANYTHING. An idea, a strategy, a physical product, a digital product, a service, etc.Leadership behaviors must change: your team can't change without you.As a leader, assess what your interactions with your team look like. Are you empowering t...
2019-12-1618 min
For Agility's SakeOvercoming the Silo Mentality - Francisco CalderonProduct Owner for Training & Development, Francisco Calderon explains how Agile can tear down the mentality of "us and them". He highlights the importance of cross-team collaboration and a constant focus on improving what we build and how we build it.
2019-12-0227 min
For Agility's SakeManaging Change is Easier w/Agile - Alyssa RawskyScrum Master Alyssa Rawsky shares her agile experience and how her first reaction was "I don't want this." Now, she encourages others with "don't be afraid of change!" Alyssa describes how she and her team are using agile practices to improve adaptability and team morale. A number of other topics are also covered:Misconceptions of the Scrum Master roleFail, adjust and adaptShout out to the Amway Social teamVisual Management is a game changerPlanning a year ahead with agile (continuous planning / it's okay to change your plan)Ideaboardz for retrosSpending time with...
2019-11-1820 min
For Agility's SakeRefactoring Code You Don't Understand - Llewellyn FalcoDevOps Coach Llewellyn Falco talks about improving code you don't understand, among other technical topics. Llewellyn is known for his unique coaching style, working with teams for 2 weeks at a time and getting into the technical details with them, creating a sense of safety that allows the team to practice new techniques with low risk. Given Llewellyn's area of expertise, this episode is more technical than others.This episode briefly touches on:MOB ProgrammingTesting code w/a compilerCode reviews / confidenceRefactoring a monolith legacy systemJava
2019-11-0522 min
For Agility's SakeScrum Masters & Agile Mindset - Nichole VanderlaanNichole Vanderlaan shares her experience as a Scrum Master, her love-hate relationship with Retrospectives and the mindset of responding to change over following a plan.
2019-11-0424 min
For Agility's SakeAgile & Psychological Safety - Kaylee BetzingerDelivery coach Kaylee Betzinger shares her recent experience in the world of agile and how it can create a positive culture of psychological safety on teams.
2019-10-2820 min
For Agility's SakeAgile feels like coming home - Erin HuttingaProduct Management Coach Erin talks about her experience with agile as a developer, a Scrum Master and an Agile Coach over the last decade.
2019-10-2129 min
For Agility's SakeThe 7th Day Effect of Agile - Kris ZoermanHear from Amway's Agile Transformation Office Program Manager, Kris Zoerman, on agile and the 7th day effect. The 7th day effect is a concept for what it feels like to finish a job and feel immediately satisfied because the results are immediately apparent (like mowing the lawn or cleaning a room). It's based on the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible, where God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th, admiring the work he completed.
2019-10-1420 min
For Agility's SakeProduct Ownership & Empathy - Alissa DornbosProduct Owner Alissa Dornbos talks about her experience as a Product Owner and the importance of having empathy for your customers.
2019-10-1115 min
For Agility's SakeDefining DevOps at Amway - Marc DenmanHear from Marc Denman, the Amway Agile Transformation Office DevOps coach about the practice of DevOps and how it's being applied at Amway. What is "DevOps"How we define and apply it at AmwayWhy it matters
2019-10-1128 min
For Agility's SakeWhy Agile at All - Tom FoxHear from Tom Fox, Manager of the Agile Transformation Office at Amway on why agile is so important to the company, its distributors and employees.
2019-10-1124 min
For Agility's SakeThe Agile Workflow Model - Kyle SpitzleyLearn about the Agile Workflow Model being used at Amway and how it can improve your work! In this episode of AgileNEXT podcasts we give an overview of the Agile Workflow Model at Amway. Here are the key points we cover:Why have a model at allWhat is "the model"How it works
2019-10-0113 min