It’s All About Leadership
Lately there has been a lot of discussion around scrum and failure. What was once seen as the saving grace of software development is now showing similar signs of failure as its waterfall predecessor. A survey conducted by Ambysoft in 2007 showed that 71.5% of Agile projects were successful as compared with 62.8% of waterfall projects.(1) This 8.7% difference is a much smaller margin than the 54.8% increase in success that was heralded by the original implementation of scrum over waterfall.(2)
Digital Onion is one of a minority that continues to experience great success in Scrum. In 2008, its engagements succeeded 80% of the time; an 8.5% margin over average Agile projects and a 17.2% margin over waterfall projects.
So, what allows some companies to experience continued success in scrum while others to fail? Digital Onion thinks it has found the answer.
Many companies we see today are implementing the mechanics of Scrum because most of the training out there only describes Scrum as a basic framework for success. What’s missing is the underlying principle of leadership. In his book “Agile Project Management with Scrum” Ken Schwaber even admits that “it’s not always easy to understand the role of the ScrumMaster.”(3) This leads us to believe that there is something more than just going through the motions of scrum.
Digital Onion’s Point Man Leadership System™ bridges the gap that companies are discovering between Scrum mechanics and successful projects. It recognizes that there is more to successful projects than procedures, and provides the missing ingredient for YOUR PROJECT SUCCESS.
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(1) IT Project Success Rates Survey: August 2007 http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/success2007.html
(2) CHAOS, Standish Group Report, 1995 (16.7% waterfall success)
(3) Agile Project Management with Scrum, Ken Schwaber, Page 35
February 4th, 2009
Why DO Chooses to Make Choices
We explored the power of words in Dialogue Determines Direction where we consciously altered our speech to increase the accuracy of our communication. Today we take it one step further and look more deeply into the inherited meaning that some words carry with them.
At Digital Onion, we don’t make decisions, we make choices, and we do this very purposefully.
Decisions carry a finality with them. How final? Take the suffix of the word: –cide. In Latin, it literally means “to kill.” Suicide. Pesticide. Genocide. So, when you decide to go one way or another, what you’re really doing is killing off all other opportunities.
It doesn’t mean Digital Onion believes in keeping all doors open at once either. That’s where the beauty of choosing comes in. When we make a choice, we give it our entire focus, but it’s not permanent. We follow the choice for only as long as it’s useful. When the choice is no longer useful, we change it.
By choosing and not deciding, you give yourself the focus to follow one path with dedication, without killing off the possibility of other choices down the line.
So, what will it be – chocolate or vanilla?
January 26th, 2009
It Takes Accountability
Accountability is one of Digital Onion’s core company values. It’s one of the cornerstones around which we build our projects, our business and our lives.
Accountability is defined as the responsibility to someone or for some activity.
We talk about accountability in the context of teams, and how each team member is accountable to each other. In order for projects to achieve extraordinary results, accountability must be in place within teams.
If a team member is late to a meeting, an accountable team would track that person down and make sure he/she shows up on time. If a co-worker is late with his/her tasks, an accountable team member would help solve the issue. Does this happen in your projects?
These are the foundations of being a team. Without accountability, there is no teamwork; there is just a cluster of people. What makes an extraordinary team is a common a goal and accountability to each other to reach that goal, no matter what.
January 24th, 2009
Bootstrapping an Agile Team
Where: Gorilla Nation Media, LLC, 5140 W Goldleaf Circle Floor 3, Los Angeles, CA 90056
When: Monday, February 9th from 6pm-9pm
Who: Interested Agile Practitioners. Admission is FREE but you must RSVP.
What: Please join our very own Tony Wong as he moderates an open discussion about creating extraordinary Agile teams.
For more details, visit ScrumClub.org or join the LA Scrum Club Meetup to be the first to hear about all our upcoming events.
January 14th, 2009
Timeboxing
Most people have a negative connotation with the word “limit.” A quick scan of the thesaurus turns up vocabulary such as “restriction,” “boundary,” “confinement” and “hinder.“ No wonder.
Here at Digital Onion, we view limits as a good thing. In our language, a synonym for “limit” is freedom. Sound too good to be true? Keep reading.
Take the concept of time for example. We’ve all felt the truth of Parkinson’s law at one point or another:
“Work expands to fill the time available.”
At Digital Onion we use a concept called “Timeboxing” to keep us from spending too much time on any one thing, and to encourage decisive thinking. It’s a simple concept, put into action by setting a time limit around a task or a decision and sticking to it, no matter what.
We can create trainings sessions in 4 hours. Plan an entire month of work in 8 hours. And reflect and improve our processes in just 1 hour.
We can do this because we say we are going to do it, and we stick to that.
This can take some getting used to. Spending lots of time on something is comfortable, easy, safe. But, this thinking is born out of the fear of making a decision. Once that fear is overcome, you will see your effectiveness and use of time improve tremendously.
This is not a singular phenomenon. As we send you off to try Timeboxing on your own, take this quote from Jack Welch with you:
“I learned in a hundred ways that I rarely regretted acting but often regretted NOT acting fast enough. I could scarcely remember a time when I said, ‘I wish I’d taken six more months to study something before making decision.’ “
If he can be fast and decisive in running the world’s third largest company, just think what you can do as you apply these same principles to your life.
January 12th, 2009
Dialogue Determines Direction™
As we enter 2009, many of you will be making New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you want to quit smoking. Join a new business or networking group. Spend more time with loved ones. Give back to your community. Start a fitness program. Promote your business more regularly.
Whatever your aspirations, personal or professional, Digital Onion thinks this is a good time to introduce you to Dialogue Determines Direction™ – the idea that HOW you say something is even more important than what you say.
Have you ever sat in a business meeting and heard someone set the direction for the week by saying: “Let’s try to launch the website by Wednesday.” or “Let’s work on the platform integration for the next couple days.”
Think about the words used in those two sentences. What’s getting accomplished? Nothing. People are trying, people are working, but toward what?
If you want to set a clear direction, think about how you’re using your words. Instead of trying to launch the website, say: “We will launch the website on Wednesday.” That’s a statement. A declaration. A goal in and of itself.
So this New Year’s Eve when the ball drops, start off 2009 in the right direction. Dream big, be bold and DECLARE it.
There are approximately 175,000 distinct words in the English language. Choose wisely.
January 1st, 2009
What’s Good and What’s Bad
As we enter the holiday season and look back on 2008, no one can deny that it’s been one hell of a year. Many adjectives spring to mind: challenging, tumultuous, extreme, uncertain. But are these necessarily bad things? What if the events of 2008 were good?
Take this story for example:
An old farmer worked his farm, with his only son, and one horse to pull the plough. One day, a herd of wild horses came through the valley and the farmer’s horse ran away with them. The farmer’s neighbors were horrified… they said, “What bad luck! How will you manage to plough your fields without a horse?” But the farmer said, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”
Sometime later, the farmer’s horse returned to the farm, bringing with him some of the wild horses. The farmer’s son managed to catch the wild horses. The neighbors said “What good luck! You’ll be able to sell the horses at the market! You’ll be rich” But the farmer said, “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?”
The farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses, but was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors said “What dreadful luck! How will you manage the farm without your son’s help?” And the farmer said… (you’ve probably got the hang of this now, eh?)
The next week, the army arrived in the valley and took away all the able-bodied young men to fight in a war far away. But they left the farmer’s son behind, because of his broken leg…
The point is, all we can really be sure of is that we don’t know what’s just around the corner. In life as in business, opportunity isn’t handed to us – it’s found by those with a different perspective, and made by those who can see the positive when others can’t.
As we move forward from these challenging/tumultuous/extreme/uncertain times, don’t focus on the “bad” but rather look for the opportunity in what’s to come.
December 23rd, 2008
The Space to Create
These days everyone has a lot on their minds. The economy. The holidays. Wrapping up the year. The mortgage meltdown. Travel. Family. Not to mention the usual day-to-day life and work.
With so much conversation in your head, how is it possible to break through the clutter and focus on the things that matter most? How do you have room to solve problems? The flexibility to create and ideate?
Here at Digital Onion, we do something that we like to call “Sitting for Ideas.” It’s a simple process that can help you create the mental space you need to let the answers you’re seeking come to you effortlessly.
The next time your struggling to find and answer, stop looking and let the answer find you by following these simple steps:
1. Find a clean, empty room. The more minimal, the better. Lock yourself in.
2. Leave cell phones, iPods, computers, people and ALL DISTRACTIONS at the door.
3. Place a blank piece of paper and a pen/pencil in front of you.
4. Just sit there.
The sitting without distractions allows you to clear your mind and let that which is important become clear to you.
It’s a simple process that yields unbelievable results. We use it often at Digital Onion, and the answer has never taken longer than 15 minutes to find us. Usually it comes closer to 5 minutes.
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If you’ve tried this, we’d love to hear your experiences.
Have your own way of clearing some mental space? Please share too!
December 20th, 2008
Creating a Possibility of a World that Works
Digital Onion’s mission is to lead the industry with project management systems that produce extraordinary teams that produce extraordinary results. We are committed to transforming project management in software development by working with our clients to deliver projects that are Successful, Effortless and Fun.
But Digital Onion has taken a stand far beyond project management and software development. Here we strive to create a possibility of a world that works, not just a single project or company.
In an effort to become connected to the greater whole and give back to our community who has given us so much, Digital Onion introduces weekly blog posts. Topics will range from project processes to lifestyle attributes, and everything will come full circle to engage YOU in our efforts to create a possibility of a world that works.
We look forward to your readership, your input and, most of the all, the possibility of what we can achieve together!
December 8th, 2008
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