Agility as a movement started with software developers uncovering better ways of doing what they do. Today that movement is driving even business leaders to rethink how they lead their organizations. What does it mean to "be" agile? How can agility be applied to leading organizations? Where do successful agile leaders start? Three stories, three secrets and three tips to apply agility to your life and work.

1. Three secrets of Agile Leaders:
Leading others by leading yourself
Peter Stevens
peter@saat-network.ch
Leadership

2. https://tinyurl.com/LSZ-Multitasking
Help me understand the impact of multi-tasking!

3. Who is in the room? Would you consider yourself …
• Developer – you design, create, test or deploy a product or service
• Project Manager – you lead people to deliver something specific
• Scrum Leader – you serve as a Scrum Master or Product Owner
• Team Manager – you have developers reporting to you
• Group Manager or higher – you have team managers reporting to you

4. Who is in the room? Would you consider yourself …
• A Startup Founder – the company is your baby?
• Working in a startup - you are living off investors’ money?
• Working in a successful startup - you are living off customers’
money?
• to be in an “Agile” company?
• to be in a company that is transforming to be more Agile

5. About Peter Stevens
About Peter Stevens

6. As a Certified Scrum Trainer, I teach hope

7. Let’s explore agility, leadership, and share stories…
Secrets Tips

8. Pop Agility Quiz! Ask you neighbor…
What is the first sentence
of the Agile Manifesto?

9. How many of you…
• Are hoping I don’t ask for a show of hands?
• Went to your phone to find the answer?
• Had no idea?
• Talked about
“Individual and Interactions over Processes and Tools”?
• Kind of, sort of knew?
• Are confident, you have the right answer?

11. IMHO the first sentence represents the Agile mindset

12. IMHO the first sentences represents the Agile mindset
Learning
Collaboration
Purpose

13. Agility is
Purpose
Learning Collaboration

14. The Agile Manifesto
doesn’t talk much about the role
of leadership

15. I’d like to share a video
that changed how I think
about leadership
Leadership…

16. Watch Derek Sivers
First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

17. What if I told you…
Much of what you have been told
about agile transitions
is wrong?

18. Agile Transformation is Hard

19. Is Agile Transformation Hard?
What do you think?

21. Bonus tip: Start with Yourself
Tips Secrets

22. I’d like to share three examples of successful leaders and
reveal their secrets of agile leadership
We wanted to
change,
but we
couldn’t,
until…
To save my
company, I first
needed to…
How I lost 10kg

23. How I lost 10kg

24. Secret #1: Change is easy if you want to do it

25. How I lost
10kg

26. “Many solutions were suggested
for this problem, but most of these
were largely concerned with the
movements of small green pieces
of paper...”
-- Douglas Adams

27. I don’t like how sugar makes me feel.
So I want to avoid sugar and carbohydrates.

28. Imagine you’re the captain of a
sailing ship…

29. What happens if you are
caught in storm?

30. Christmas represented a severe thunderstorm!
“They are good,
they are really good”
SugarPressure.com: Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
https://www.sugarpressure.com/2010/12/trader-joes-milk-chocolate-peanut-butter-cups.html

31. Do I want to get back on course?

32. If you want to go there,
you’ll get back on course

33. You are the captain of your ship!
Make Values & Goals Actionable
Tie desired actions to wants and feelings

34. Tip #1: Know your “Jamaica” & why you want to go there
Secrets
• Change is easy
if you want to do it
Tips
• Know your “Jamaica” and why
you want to go there
• Start with yourself

35. Secret #2:
Getting Clear on What Really Matters Can Change Everything!

36. Joerg Ewald
General Manager
Volirium AG
To save my
company, I first
needed to take
care of myself

37. 6 Questions of Personal Agility
Stuff done,
Closer to who
you want to be
Celebrate & Choose
Who you are,
What you did
3. What
could I do
this week?
5. What do
I want to
get done?
1. What
really
matters?
Do
4. What is
important,
urgent or 😀?
6. Who
can help?
2. What
did I do
last week?
🎉

38. Visualize the Answers
on your Priorities Map

40. Get Clarity on What Really Matters
Communicate it right away
Your people will notice the difference right away

41. Tip #2: Communicate right away
Secrets
• Change is easy
if you want to do it
• Getting clear on what really
matters can change everything!
Tips
• Know your “Jamaica” and why
you want to go there
• Communicate it!
• Start with yourself

42. Secret #3:
Multitasking kills performance.

43. Secret #3:
Developers have solved the multitasking problem

44. How long does it take to recognize and fix impediments?

45. Speed comparison
This is you working on one thing at time
1 week

46. 1 1 week
20 weeks
Speed comparison
This is you working on five things at once
1
2
3
4
5

47. How much do leaders multitask?
Image ©2019 Peter Stevens
Licensed CC-BY-NC-ND
Data source: preliminary results of Management and Multitasking, by Peter Stevens, not yet published

48. Walter Stulzer
Executive Director
FutureWorks.ch
We wanted to
change,
but we couldn’t,
until…

49. Six months later…
• “We accomplished everything needed
to achieve our initial goals.
• “Half of our initial ideas proved unnecessary, so we didn't do them.
• “We were able to achieve all our goals with ½ the work & ¼ of the time
• “And the the results are already visible in our finances!”
-- Walter Stultzer, Executive Director, Futureworks AG

50. Initiatives Capacity
“We had as many initiatives as people.
After two years, we had made no progress.”

51. Initiatives
By stretching themselves too thin, they slowed to a crawl
Waste
Things
That HelpCap
acit
y

52. What are the top agile practices used in Development?
• Daily standup
• Sprint/iteration planning
• Retrospectives
• Sprint/iteration review
• Short iterations
Source: VersionOne, 12th Annual State of Agile Report, 2018

53. As part of their job to improve your organization,
does you manager…?
Practice
• Daily standup
• Sprint/iteration planning
• Retrospectives
• Sprint/iteration review
• Short iterations
% of development teams that use
• 90%
• 88%
• 85%
• 80%
• 69%
Source: VersionOne, 12th Annual State of Agile Report, 2018

54. How they did it
• “I committed to making this a
success
• “Every three weeks or so, my
management and I got
together…
• “Personal Agility was the most
important part of all

55. Start dancing! Apply personal agility yourself
Reduce multitasking
Apply the top agile practices to management

56. There is a huge potential
to improve company performance
by eliminating multitasking in management.

57. Tip #3: Apply Scrum or Agile to your own work
Secrets
• Change is easy
if you want to do it
• Getting clear on what really
matters can change everything!
• Developers have solved the
multitasking problem
Tips
• Know your “Jamaica” and why
you want to go there
• Communicate right away
• Apply Scrum or Agile to your
own work
• Start with yourself

58. Agility begins in each of us

59. Questions?

60. As a Certified Scrum Trainer, I inspire hope
• Peter Stevens
• peter@saat-network.ch
• @peterstev
• I am here for the rest of the
conference