You need Agile Business People to achieve Business Agility (#2)

“I think a good SPC has to be a coach, too … You have to use the language of the people who have to become agile because agile isn’t the goal. It’s using the agile things to become faster, to become better, to have better user feedback” - Niko Kaintantzis

Stephan Neck and Niko Kaintantzis join Mark Richards in the first ‘reprise’ episode.  The initial iteration of SPC’s Unleashed delved into some critical dimensions in a theoretical manner.  We felt the need to revisit these dimensions, infusing our unique perspectives and real-life experiences from the field. And what better place to start than with Lean Thinking People and Agile Teams from the Organizational Agility competency?

We kick off by sharing our practical experiences of teaching the SAFe courses to non-technical audiences.  Niko enlightens us about ‘Greifin’ (touching or grabbing), and Stephan underscores the significance of linking the audience’s pain points to breathe life into the concepts in their own context.

There’s a natural progression from training to coaching, so the second topic we explore is coaching non-technical people. Stephan’s first ART was actually in HR, so he has some great stories to share. Niko stresses the importance of coaching skills and ‘using the language of the people’ to connect worlds.

Next, we reflect on how valuable the recent evolution of SAFe’s built-in quality article has been in supporting non-technical teams.

Our final topic was the Patterns for Agile Business and Technology.  Questioning which of the five patterns was most popular revealed that we have tried making every ART a Business-Enabled ART for years.  Niko and Stephan share some great insights about their experiences coaching Agile Executive Teams and Combined Portfolios.

Cast:

Mark Richards (Moderator)

Niko Kaintantzis  

Stephan Neck 

Links:

Marshmallow Challenge

Pair Drawing Activity

Organizational Agility Article

Built-in-Quality Article