The Delivery Space

The Role of Leadership in complex product environments : Willem-Jan Ageling

Whether you're a seasoned leader or aspiring to step into a leadership role in a product-focused organisation, this conversation with Willem-Jan Ageling will equip you with the perspectives you will need to succeed.
Willem-Jan Ageling coaches organisations to create high value products, and he's passionate about the effectiveness of Agile and Scrum.
He's a Senior Agile Coach with Worldline Global and Co-founder, Editor and Writer for Serious Scrum.
 
🎧 What's Inside This Episode?
 
🔹Redefining Leadership: Discover how leadership within a product-centric environment marks a departure from conventional project-based approaches, emphasising flexibility, vision, customer focus and trusting our teams to problem-solve.
 
🔹Navigating Challenges: Willem-Jan shares insights into the key hurdles leaders encounter in complex product landscapes and strategies to navigate these challenges effectively.
 
🔹Impactful Decisions: Real-life instances where decisive leadership transformed a product's market performance, offering valuable lessons on focusing on desired outcomes and business value.
 
🔹Measuring Success: Using metrics and performance indicators that matter in a product-focused organisation and how they differ from traditional metrics.
 
🔹The Power of Adaptability: The critical role continuous learning and adaptability play for leaders to sustain the growth and evolution of products
 
🔹Balancing Innovation and Risk: Get expert advice on striking the perfect balance between fostering innovation and managing the inherent risks in complex product development.
 
Serious Scrum: https://www.seriousscrum.com/
Connect here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willemjanageling/
Sign up for Willem-Jan's Ageling on Agile newsletter here: https://ageling.substack.com/
 
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/
 

Rocking Scrum and Kanban : Karen Clayton

Karen's story is awesome, and proves what you can do as a Scrum Master with a fail fast mindset!
During this chat with Nisha and Sharon, you'll hear how she used Scum and Kanban to manage a diverse team to create and host a live rock festival! 🎸
Neither Karen, nor the rest of the team had any experience in the music or live events industries...they were just a group of individuals with a shared passion for rock music.
It all started with the Quarantune Rocks! Facebook group they setup during Covid: https://www.facebook.com/groups/quarantunerocks (we love the name too!)
Connect with with Karen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-clayton-07863711/
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

Beyond Conflict, Strengthening Team Bonds : Jay Abbasi

The latest episode of The Delivery Space podcast has landed! 
⭐️Jay Abbasi joined Nisha Joshi and Sharon Williams to share tips on negotiating conflict, to get the best out of these situations and move our teams towards the most optimum outcomes.
In 2014, Jay's father passed away suddenly from a heart attack. It was devastating. At the time, his marriage was falling apart, he was working at a job that didn’t fulfil him, and he was thousands of dollars in debt. This began a search to uncover a methodology to find success and fulfilment in life. The methodology he discovered changed his life completely. It led to him joining Tesla and in under 4 years he worked his way up to running national training programs, responsible for the development and execution of training/coaching programs for approximately 1,000 employees throughout North America. It also led to him finding peace, contentment, and fulfilment no matter the external circumstances. Now, Jay's mission is to leverage his skills and expertise to help professionals build careers they love while avoiding stress, anxiety, and burnout through 1 on 1 coaching and group coaching programs.We discussed:📌 Conflict that’s not immediately visible. How we can shed light on the ‘elephant in the room’ and use it more constructively.📌 The ‘sweet spot’ between taking a stand and suppressing📌 The role language plays in conflict resolution📌 Advice for those who are uncomfortable with handling conflict in teams
Jay helps his clients build the life and career they love.  During this episode you'll hear some awesome tips and tactics for communicating more effectively within your teams.
Connect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayabbasi/
Check out his official website: https://jayabbasi.me/
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

The Importance of Learning & Development : Bobby Banerjee

Bobby is passionate about the power of L&D, he has specialist expertise in the recruitment industry, and has been helping recruiters outperform the market since 2016!
During this chat with Nisha and Sharon you'll hear about the power of being allowed to thrive (rather than just survive) in the workplace, supporting staff to grow, and how investing in L&D can improve quality and overall productivity.
Connect with Bobby here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbybanerjee/
Check out his company Elev8 Learning here: https://www.elev8learning.co/
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

Volunteering as a Scrum Master to earn your stripes - Anuradha Aravindh Raj

Anuradha is a Scrum Master, a Human value maximiser and a massive advocate of volunteering to gain experience.
During this chat with Nisha and Sharon, you'll hear how powerful volunteering can be to hone your skills as a Scrum Master, and not just within software teams, but through application across various industries.
Connect with Anuradha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuradha-aravindh-raj/
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/
 

Psychological Safety in the Agile Community : Evelien & Christiaan

We welcome Evelien Acun-Roos and friend of the podcast and regular contributor, Christiaan Verwijs for our next episode.
Have you ever felt unsure or insecure within the Agile community?
Evelien and Christiaan are on a mission to make our community a safer space for more people, with their scientific psychological safety study and would love your input.
The results of their study will be available in March/April of 2024. 
Tune into this episode where Evelien and Christiaan share why they started this study. 
We also swap our own personal experiences of psychological safety within the Agile community. An episode full of reflections. 
Take a listen and let us know what you think!
If you enjoy our content, then how about a bit of love in return? A quick rating and a nifty review from you would be brilliant. ✍️It’ll keep us improving, motivated and creating more content that’s relevant to you. Go on, it'll only take a sec!
#agile #agilecommunity #psychologicalsafety #thedeliveryspace #theliberators
Connect with Christiaan : https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiaanverwijs
Connect with Evelien : https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelienroos/
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/
 

The Importance of Facilitation : Charles-Louis De Maere

Back by popular demand: Charles-Louis De Maere returns for series 4!
During this chat with Nisha, he talks about the importance of pivoting during facilitation sessions, obtaining the right balance of clarity and vagueness, and you'll hear an (initially shocking) but very interesting story about his time in Niger.
Here are some key highlights:
Global Facilitation Experiences: Charles Louis shares his unique facilitation experiences in various countries, highlighting the importance of adapting to different cultural contexts.
 
Embracing Vagueness: Charles Louis discusses  ‘Kishotenketsu’ an organic narrative storyteller's pattern originating from China that has shown to be ideal for learning. The aspect of 'Kishotenketsu', Charles Louis talks about is emphasising the value of being 'vague enough' to foster creativity and engagement in facilitation. (See comments for a  ten-day workshop design and facilitation program offered by Charles Louis and Francis Laleman who gradually developed over the last few decades)
 
Impactful Stories: Charles recounts impactful stories from his facilitation work, including experiences in Peru and Niger, illustrating the diverse applications and profound impact of effective facilitation.
 
Facilitation in Diverse Settings: The discussion also touches upon facilitating in various settings, including for NGOs in South and Southeast Asia, and adapting to online facilitation during lockdowns.
 
What happens when things don’t go to plan and you have to pivot?: Charles-Louis mentions running facilitation skills training programs, focusing on the practical aspects of facilitation and how to handle unexpected challenges.
 
Follow Charles-Louis on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleslouisdemaere/
Check out Exploration Labs SRL here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/explorationlabssrl/
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Follow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/
Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/
 

Maximising Team Performance Using Dysfunction Mapping

🚀 We’re Kicking off Season 4 with a cracker of a podcast with Michael Lloyd, talking about my own experiences of Dysfunction Mapping and the workshop I attended to equip myself with practitioner skills.⭐️ Michael has created #DysfunctionMapping as a means to surface anti-patterns, monitor symptoms and help fellow Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches tailor their coaching strategies, to ensure they are making lasting changes to bring the most benefit to teams and organisations. As Michael put’s it, Dysfunction Mapping allows us to be deliberate about our coaching, allowing us to get to the core of why dysfunctions exist, and put in place solutions to measure the improvements we’re making.These dysfunctions can present as behaviours, or patterns that can hinder teams in their ability to work effectively, collaborate, and deliver business outcomes.Grab a cuppa and tune into the episode.We discussed:01:19 - My feedback on The Dysfunction Mapping workshop and its impact on my own growth01:20 - My personal reasons for attending the Dysfunction Mapping workshop01:48 - Approach to improving team performance, the importance of identifying areas for improvement within teams, and the value you bring as a Scrum Master.11:03 - Challenges faced while coaching Scrum Masters and analysis of the underlying reasons for these issues in different teams.11:50 - Exploration of common patterns and root causes in dysfunction within teamsFollow Nisha Joshi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/Follow Sharon Williams here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/Follow Michael Lloyd here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lloyd-124621177/

PMO Learnings from Montserrat

🎯In this episode Nisha & Sharon met with Martin Parlett to discuss PMO Learning from the island of Montserrat, and what a heartwarming conversation we had. Montserrat was left devastated by two major natural disasters in the form of a hurricane in 1989 and a volcano in 1995. Martin gave us an insight into how the PMO lead a major countrywide social and infrastructure repair programme, and why as he describes “right practice beats best practice”. In this podcast we cover the following:00:00 Introduction02:25 The challenging environmental conditions that the team faced. 09:41 Capabilities required to deliver the change and how to overcome environmental constraints17:15 The role of local knowledge and cultural understanding in delivering change28:39 Facilitating effective dialogue41:49 Key learnings from the experience53:18 Tips for people who want to get involved in similar programmes Martin Parletts’ LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-parlett/Follow Nisha on https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/Follow Sharon on https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

The Double-Edged Sword of Diversity

🚀 Our latest episode of the Delivery Space is here! The Double-Edged Sword of Diversity features a conversation with Christiaan Verwijs about the impact of diversity on agile teams. 📚In their latest research paper, Christiaan and Professor Daniel Russo explore how differences in gender, age, role, and cultural background affect how well a team works and the level of conflict within it. They also examined the part psychological safety plays in the effectiveness of diverse teams. Their research included over 1,118 participants from 161 teams and is soon to be published! Our discussion delves into the research findings from the research paper. Link is in the comments 👇🏽We also share our personal experiences and insights of working in diverse teams and how our experiences have made an impact on us, putting a spotlight on the complexities and benefits of diversity in various different contexts. 🔍Here are some highlights:👉🏻 Research on Diversity and Team Effectiveness - Christiaan shares insights from his research with Professor Daniel Russo, highlighting their findings and the complexity of the topic👉🏾 Real-World Examples and Experiences - We discuss lived experiences from our careers and the impact they’ve had on how we’ve experienced diversity in teams👉 Cognitive Resource Diversity Theory - Christiaan explains the theory suggesting diverse teams bring varied viewpoints and perspectives, potentially leading to greater effectiveness, depending on the nature of the work being undertaken 👉🏿Practical Example of the Similarity Attraction Paradigm - An example is given illustrating how discovering similarities instead of focusing on differences, even in every-day contexts like shared food preferences or social activities, can positively impact team effectiveness​👉🏻The Categorisation Elaboration Model (CEM) - Christiaan explains how it integrates Cognitive Resource Diversity Theory & Similarity Attraction Paradigm and the significance of CEM is his latest research paper that is soon to be published!👉🏾 Using Liberating Structures and other facilitation exercises to explore diversity and team member’s value systems to deepen connection and understanding.