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For instance there’s a fire house near the conference hotel and I spent some time there asking them how they spread knowledge about new techniques given that the stakes are so high. It turns out that after every engagement they hold a retrospective; they question everything; they constantly devise and evaluate new techniques; they train each other in new techniques as well as seek out opportunities to anticipate new situations such as new architectural fashions; new techniques are proven at a local level before being slowly disseminated and verified by other houses and finally everybody is expected to be able to use every tool but they accept that some people will always be better with certain tools.
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Honda was trying to develop the CVCC engine, which had lower emission and higher fuel efficiency. Souichiro Honda, the founder and then CEO of Honda one day told his engineers that the engine would finally give Honda the opportunity to beat Big 3. The engineers looked at Mr. Honda, and said, “Please, don’t say such a thing. We are not doing this to beat other guys. We are doing this for our children.” Mr. Honda was ashamed of himself, and said that he realized that he had become too old, and decided to retire.
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ScrumMaster of Last Resort

That’s something I think the Agile Alliance should do.

Too often these days, the ScrumMaster is thought of as the boss of the team, when in fact the roles were originally reversed: the team was the boss of the ScrumMaster. The team would say, “Behold, there is an obstacle in our path. Pray remove it, Good ScrumMaster.” And the ScrumMaster would do so.

I care about joyful teams. It seems I often visit teams that could both do better work and be happier doing it, except that the corporate structure around them won’t let them. The company thinks it’s doing Agile, but it’s not. As a result, there’s a perverse uneconomic trade: the company gets less value for its money, and in return the team gets less satisfaction from its work.

So I’d propose that the Agile Alliance be available to fly in qualified people to evaluate a situation and (if justified) wield the authority of expertise and outsidership to both give a shove in the right direction and also stiffen the resolve of the team.

Teams would request that service. They would have to pay for it by providing service in return to the larger community (negotiated in advance, part payable in advance).

The service would be provided by people like me in exchange for payment of expenses and perhaps gifts in kind (I’m thinking of free membership in conferences).

This would be in keeping with the Agile Alliance’s purpose: “… SUPPORT those who explore & apply Agile principles & practices to make the software industry productive, HUMANE, and sustainable.”