“The right collective organization tends to have fewer blind spots, because, by definition, a team is a transactional memory system of sufficient predictive power that we can know how to work together”
Luke Hohmann
When we decided to start inviting interesting guests to join our portfo...
"The journey to get there isn’t easy. The outcomes, when it works, are pretty amazing and unbelievable, but you’ll find a whole new set of problems you never imagined could go wrong"
Eric Willeke
With the initial arc complete, this episode adopts a new perspective triggered by our conver...
“As an SPC on the Portfolio Level: The first time just be an assistant, not the head coach. Learn about how companies work, how they speak, how they behave.”
Nikolaos Kaintantzis
Hosts Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Stephan Neck, and Mark Richards take a deep dive into Lean Portfolio Management (L...
Ten Essential LPM Behaviors
Don’t cripple your LPM implementation
A few years back I helped several large companies in adopting lean portfolio approaches at the same time, and the same set of questions around “what matters most?” kept coming up. People found the “do everything” mindset unhelpful a...
One of my favorite exercises in our Product Owner Program involves asking the students to review a sample feature canvas and compare it to the features they currently prepare for PI Planning. I measure the effectiveness of an exercise by the commitment to action that follows the debrief, and this o...
“Design for easy repairability, especially in complex systems that must evolve over time.”
Ali Hajou
In this episode, the SPCs Unleashed team tackles the complex dimension of continually evolving live systems, with a particular focus on large, cyber-physical systems. Mark Richards, Ali Ha...
As I'm teaching today*, I was reminded of a way I used to describe system constraints back when I taught a lot of kanban classes and helped design kanban systems. This quick post captures them for reference and to seed a discussion.
This post was originally created in 2020, and was recently refres...
If only our executives would commit, we could…
“They” don’t support what we’re trying to do…
Interesting words. What do you really want from “them”? Who is this “them” anyway? Is it one leader? Is it a team? Is it really the whole executive team? How do you know they don’t support you? What is ...
"Experiment like a scientist, not a mad scientist"
Mark Richards
Have you ever pondered, "How can a lean approach work wonders for massive systems?" That’s exactly where we dive into this episode of SPCs Unleashed. Hosted by Swiss SPCTs Stephan and Niko, Dutch SPCT Ali, and Aussie SAFE Fe...
“It's a wonderful toolbox, but you don't have to stand up a large solution to start using the toolbox.”
Mark Richards
In this engaging episode of SPCs Unleashed, hosts Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Mark Richards, Stephan Neck, and Ali Hajou dive deep into the complexities of enterprise solution ...
“Show up. Keep up. Shut up.”
(Change agent’s creed, borrowed from golf pro caddy creed)
Stephan Neck
Mark Richards, Ali Hajou, and Niko Kaintantzis join Stephan Neck in this ‘reprise’ episode with Leading Change from the Lean-Agile Leadership competency.
We start by sharing our passion...
“the drummer sets the beat and the rhythm that the band shines against… a good leader sets the beat, and they create the backdrop against which great performances happen from their people.”
Mark Richards
In this enlightening podcast episode about Leading by Example, Mark, Stephan, and Nik...