The Delivery Space

Driving Business User Engagement

🔔New Podcast Alert - Latest episode On Driving Business User Engagement has landed 🚀How do you cultivate a relationship of trust and openness with business users when introducing change? What does it take to not only involve but also inspire business users - be they from Marketing, HR, Finance or Sales to get involved and help shape our transformation initiatives?Max Dave stands out in the consulting landscape as a transformative leader with over a decade and a half of dedicated service in optimising business processes. Her journey has been marked by her significant contributions to both venerable Fortune 500 companies as well as dynamic start-ups, where her strategic vision has been a driving force behind their operational success. Max has not only led these organisations through complex change but has also left an indelible mark on their operational frameworks and team culture.Max has redefined how businesses she’s worked with visualise and streamline their workflows, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Her skill in applying the best fit approaches and techniques for clients plays a critical role in aligning technical solutions with business needs, ensuring that she delivers value to the organisations she works with.Here’s what we discussed when Max joined us on The Delivery Space:1️⃣ Effective User Engagement - We discussed the crucial elements that constitute deep engagement and how to foster them within your user base (2:58)2️⃣ Dealing with Resistance - Max shares her insights on the hurdles she’s experienced when driving change and how to transform resistance into support (6:01)3️⃣ How we communicate matters - Communication strategies that resonate with users, breaking down complex transformations into relatable and compelling narratives. (20:56)4️⃣ Learning from Past Challenges - how these challenges have shaped Max’s approach to delivering value to business users. (21:25)5️⃣ Top Tips for Driving Business User Engagement (34:33)#TheDeliverySpacePodcast #UserEngagement #ChangeManagement #Leadership #DigitalTransformationFollow Nisha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/Follow Sharon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/Follow Max Dave here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-d-4a567/

Ways that PMO’s can support Organisational Maturity

Om this episode of the Delivery Space Podcast we are joined by Ken Burrell. He joins us from the PMO Professionals, a boutique PMO Consultancy. He has a background in Chemical Engineering and has worked in the brewing industry as well as manufacturing where he first starting working in Project Management. He now provides PMO services to various clients spanning a number of industries including retail, public sector and financial servicesKen Burrell’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenburrell/In this podcast we cover the following:00:00 Introduction01:45 How a PMO can bring benefits to an organisation03:43 Project Management Maturity06:48 How can PMO’s improve the organisation maturity14:01 When should an organisation start working on Project Management maturityFollow Nisha on https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/ Follow Sharon on https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

Agile Tour Vilnius Creating a Community Around a Conference

🔔New Podcast Alert. Brace Yourselves! The Community Builders behind Agile Tour Vilnius Have Landed! 🚀Our guests, Diana Borovik & Inga Keraityte, pull back the curtain to reveal the craftsmanship behind creating a vibrant community around Agile Tour Vilnius and other events hosted by Agile Lithuania (Agile Lietuva)Here’s what we discussed:1️⃣ The unique atmosphere at Agile Tour Vilnius - 1:262️⃣ Driving Community Engagement - Strategies for active participation. 18:283️⃣ Challenges & Triumphs - Overcoming obstacles while nurturing the community 19:304️⃣ Championing Diversity & Inclusion - Successful initiatives that made a difference 29:135️⃣ Networking Opportunities - The evolution of connections and collaborations 29:596️⃣ The genesis of the Agile Tour Vilnius community - What sparked the idea? 30:197️⃣ Future Vision - The roadmap for the community in the coming decade. 33:518️⃣ The essential Feedback Loop - Integrating community insights into conference planning 36:209️⃣ The ripple effect on the broader Agile community - Impact in the Baltics and beyond 37:41Diana Borovik is a board member at a non-profit association Agile Lithuania (Agile Lietuva) and is leading the organization of the biggest Agile conferences in the Baltics - Agile Tour Vilnius 2023. She is a data-driven professional with a strong commitment to tasks, teams, and quality. Diana is skilled in uncertainty reduction, stakeholders management, and effective communication. She possesses a keen eye for detail and a passion for improving things. Diana also is a PhD student at Vilnius University and is deep-diving into the interpersonal communication between managers and employees.Inga is a dedicated IT project manager with a profound passion for Agile methodologies. As a board member of Agile Lithuania, she is responsible for community and partner management. A true Agile enthusiast, Inga blends expertise with a heart for volunteering, making a meaningful impact in both realms.Take a few moments today to learn how this inspiring duo is making such a positive impact to the Agile Community in the Baltics.

The Role of Data and PMO in Transformation

On this episode of the Delivery Space podcast we are joined by Mignon Mapplebeck Mignon Mapplebeck is a Consulting Director in the UK delivering Digital and Data Transformation. She has worked for a number of global organisations ranging from Media and Entertainment, Retail, Financial Services to Charity. She was listed in 2021 and 2022 as one of the UK's Most Influential Women in Technology and qualified in 2022 through the London Business School in Design Thinking.She is a strong advocate in advancing women in technology and providing an equitable, inclusive environment to all the teams she works with.In this podcast we discussed:02:09 What purpose data plays in running a transformation08:17 How much does Intuition play a part vs Data Driven Decisions18:13 The role of PMO in transformation and why are they needed24:17 Agile coach tips for successful transformationMignon Mapplebeck’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mignonmapplebeck/Follow Nisha on https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/ Follow Sharon on https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

S03 E21 Building your Personal Brand

🎉 **Special Collaboration Episode Between The Delivery Space Podcast" and "The Podcast by the Agile Coaching Roundtable" 🎉❓Have you ever wondered how a strong personal brand can elevate your impact in the change and transformation community?❓What role does your LinkedIn profile play in shaping perceptions about your expertise? ❓How can you leverage content creation to build your personal brand?If these questions resonate with you, listen or watch our latest episode with Sharon Williams, Nisha Joshi, Ramya Shastri, Vivek Kuntoji,🎙️ Episode Highlights:🌟 Why is personal branding a non-negotiable for professionals in change and transformation? (5:03)🌐 How your online presence can be a game-changer for your personal brand. (7:38)🎯 Strategies for utilising your expertise to carve out a niche in the Agile, transformation, and business change space. (9:10)💼 Key elements of a LinkedIn profile that make recruiters stop and take notice.(17:26)🗣️ Crafting a compelling narrative around your unique value proposition on LinkedIn. (23:31)📝 The power of content creation and sharing for personal brand building. (30:39)🏆 Real-world success stories of leveraging LinkedIn for career advancement. (44:53)

Driving Value With Sprint Goals

On this episode of The Delivery Space podcast, we are joined by Maarten Dalmijn, the mind behind the much-acclaimed book on "Driving Value with Sprint Goals: Humble Plans, Exceptional Results".In our conversation, Maarten helps us tackle some pressing questions that many of us encounter in the software development industry:How can we move past the rigidity often seen in traditional planning and create an environment that is open to change and promotes collaboration? Isn't it about time we questioned the reliance on hierarchical structures, given that the market seems to be leaning towards more flexible, team-centric approaches? Maarten has been in the trenches for more than 10 years wearing many hats that are necessary to deliver value. He has worked with many award-winning start-ups, scale-ups, and corporations in various roles before taking the leap as an independent Product Management, Agile,and Scrum consultant working with companies all over the globe. Maarten believes in 'less, but better'. #productmanagement is aboutgetting the right things done. It is easy to come up with a list of things to add to make something better. It is much harder to decidewhich things to leave out to make something better. We discussed:Why storytelling is important? 3:18 Why Maarten picked the subject of Sprint Goals for his first book 7:18 How Sprint Goals empower teams 9:38 Why it’s so important to get a good read of your environment (refCynefin) 10:59 How Friction (frequent surprises) impacts our plans in complex environments 12:00What Humble Planning is and how it can help us adapt and respond effectively in complex software delivery environments 13:06 Roadmapping hell experiences 16:28 You can have as many experts as you want to plan, but in a complex environment there will always be surprises 19:00 There’s no sub team in a Scrum team 20:03 Maarten’s FOCUS acronym for crafting Sprint Goals 21:40 Complex environments and emerging plans in the movie industry, whatcan we learn from this? 24:31 What happens if there’s no Sprint Goal? The link between Sprint Goals and technical debt 29:20Follow Nisha on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/Follow Sharon on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/

Carving Out the Space for Innovation

🔔 'The Delivery Space' podcast is back with another engaging episode, featuring our guest, Karim Harbott. We dive into our topic 'Carving out the Space for Innovation,' discussing how innovation and business agility work hand in hand to navigate today's unpredictable business world. 🌐🚀Karim is a leadership and business agility expert, entrepreneur, author, non-executive director, and international keynote speaker. Over the past 20 years he has worked with some of the most complex agile transformations anywhere in the world.Karim is one of only a handful of people globally to hold the Certified Agile Leadership (CAL) Educator, Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST), and Certified Enterprise Coach® (CEC) status. He is also an ICF Professional Certified Coach® (PCC), Certified LeadershipAgility® 360 Coach, and holds a master’s degree in Innovation & Entrepreneurship.He is the creator of the Business Agility Canvas, a widely-used strategic tool for driving agile transformations. Karim also served as a non-executive director at the Scrum Alliance, and is the author of the best-selling book The 6 Enablers of Business Agility: How to Thrive in an Uncertain World.We cover several essential points:🔸The inception and impact of 'The 6 Enablers of Business Agility' (2:35)🔸Identifying and tackling obstacles to agility and innovation (10:43)🔸Understanding the levels of innovation needed for Business Agility (13:03)🔸Key traits and actions of leaders promoting innovation (21:00)🔸Where organisations struggle in their quest for innovation (24:03)🔸How some organisations have successfully shifted to a culture of innovation, leaving old ways behind (28:28)🔸The importance of imagination for innovation and creating room for it (30:19)And more…Links to the episode are in the comments 👇🏽 and the podcast is now available on the platform of your choice!#TheDeliverySpace #BusinessAgility #Innovation #culturetransformation #agile #agilecoaching #scrummasters #scrum #agiletransformation 🚀📘

Making Difficult Conversations Easier

Drumroll, please…The latest Delivery Space Podcast is out and this week we’re talking about… Making Difficult Conversations Easier.Who among us relishes the thrill of a tough talk? Show of hands? Anyone? No? Didn't think so. We’ve all encountered scenarios where we’ve had to deliver bad news, ask for a promotion, a pay rise or even apologise for a mistake.These chats can turn even the bravest among us into a bundle of nerves. However, there are ways in which we can have these conversations to honour ourselves and the other person. Sharon Williams and Nisha Joshi were joined by the remarkable Sam Kiani who shared some helpful tips that we can put into action to help you navigate these conversations in a balanced way. Sam is a Change Alchemist, a Coach, Facilitator, Transformational Space holder with more than 25 years’ experience of delivering & leading change within both IT and the business, for some of the biggest Investment Banks where she reached Director level as well as entrepreneurial start-ups including my own.Throughout her career, Sam's experiences have revealed that the technical problems we face are never the things that hold us back and cause the most stress – it’s all in the way we work and collaborate – or not. Sam loves to help make working life better by helping Individuals, Teams and Leaders find their full capability, learn tools of successful collaboration and unlearn everything else that gets in the way of creativity, innovation and growth. Sam is also a yogi & bio-optimiser, trained by the Human Potential Institute, deeply looking into the factors that underpin exceptional performance, vibrant energy and radiant health.  Sam teaches performance breath work and mind training sessions both privately and for corporate clients.We delved into:The anatomy of a difficult conversation (6:25)The art of preparing for the dreaded talk (10:34) Managing emotions to stay present, express our truth, and truly listen (12:36) Turning the conversation into a positive experience (16:32) Tools to handle defensive responses (29:18) Join us in this enlightening conversation and empower yourself with these great tips!

The Artistry of Coaching Up

🎙 Scrum Masters & Agile Coaches - are you wanting to build impactful relationships with senior executives that you’re coaching ?Our latest episode of The Delivery Space podcast is a prime opportunity to pick up some super useful coaching tips!Sharon Williams and I had a delightful chat with Bob Galen 🇺🇦, Author of Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond, to discuss:⭐️The Artistry of Coaching Up⭐️Bob is an Agile leader, coach, author, speaker, and community builder.He has a knack for turning around struggling organisations, teams, and products in a sustainable and productive way. Bob is also a proven team builder and a servant-leader.For ~20 years, he’s been focused on leveraging agile methods as the best way to deliver software value. While not being a silver bullet, these methods simply work better than anything he’s tried.Bob is also a Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC) providing agile team coaching & training with a focus on Scrum+XP, Lean and Kanban practices.Our conversation included:🎯 Tips for building relationships with the exec so you can appreciate their vision, challenges and the organisation through their eyes. (09:42)🎯For those Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters who don’t necessarily have a management background, what steps they can take to advise senior executives when coaching up.(12:42)🎯 The push and pull elements of the coaching relationship (17:45)🎯 How reframing resistance allows Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters to build rapport, and a mutual understanding, so they can help organisations solve complex problems for customers and end users. (28:28)🎯 The importance of self-care for Agile coaches and Scrum Masters (35:22)Leave us a review and make our day !

The Meta-Skills of an Agile Coach

🎙️ 🚀 Exciting news! Our latest episode of The Delivery Space Podcast has landed, featuring an insightful conversation with Paddy Corry, a seasoned Agile Coach at ESW (eShopWorld), a rapidly expanding e-commerce business.🔑 In this episode, we explore meta-skills - the philosophy, attitude, and principles Agile Coaches operate from, shaping how they interact with their clients.This episode is brimming with insights on:📌 How Agile coaches can discern which meta-skill is needed for coaching situations 3:03📌 The Coaching Agreement and other tools that Agile coaches can use to frame the coaching conversation with teams and with leadership 8:46📌 Why Agile coaches need to be aware of their inner state, the energy that they are taking into coaching conversations and the impact of this on coaching conversations 20:32📌 The importance of reflection and feedback to evaluate how we show up as coaches 22:42📌 How to adopt the coaching stance of a disruptor, when we know it is needed but may not be received well 26:31📌 The range of stances we are comfortable adopting and recognising where we need further development 36:44Paddy's journey spans 20 years in software development, from developer to Scrum Master and Agile Coach. Currently, he's expanding his knowledge, pursuing Scrum Alliance Certified Team Coach certification, and the ICF's ACC certification. Paddy also writes for Serious Scrum on Medium.com. If you want to benefit from practitioners sharing their direct experiences on practice of Scrum and brining agility to organisations, check out Serious Scrum, it’s an invaluable resource.🚀 Working with the Lean-Agile Centre of Excellence team at ESW, Paddy is at the heart of a rapidly growing e-commerce business, guiding it to adapt and evolve through agile approaches.👥 Join us in this enlightening conversation and enrich your Agile Coaching journey! Follow Paddy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paddycorry/Follow Nisha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishajoshi1/Follow Sharon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-williams-pmo/