How to make wall-related decisions in Distributed Agile projects

I authored the following article for Cutter which got published today. So, it is hot out of the press.

The subject that every distributed Agile team is questioning is the topic of setting up visual walls. Conflicts arise when purists argue in support of setting up visual boards across all locations, while the distributed teams consider it an inconvenience.

Many companies don't realize the importance of making the right decisions related to visual walls. Typically, wall setup is left to the ScrumMaster. These companies don't realize that this "single-handed" decision could result in loss of productivity, increased stress levels, and thousands of dollars in loss due to waste.

====  I am recommending a principle based approach for deciding if the information needs to be displayed on Physical wall or Digital wall. ===============

Wrong wall decisions or forcing wall decisions on a team could end up with stale walls and thousands of hours could be wasted in maintaining these walls. Be sure your organization considers the core principles during its exploration of walls.

Since this article is available only for Cutter Members, kindly continue reading rest of article on Cutter

If you are start up, think beyond one user

As I am coaching and mentoring a few start ups in Melbourne and elsewhere, I have noticed common pattern of issues across the board.

• All start up founders are really enthusiastic and dream of becoming rich –> Nothing wrong with it
• All start up founders have a strong idea in mind ---> Nothing wrong with it
• Most start up founders believe that their idea would take over the world, even though they have never tested beyond one user   ---> Something wrong with it

Recently read a story about startup failure “Patient Communicator”.   The founder built fantastic features applying iterative development method, however, it was never tested beyond his father’s medical center.

As the founder shares his experience, PC began as a product for my father’s medical practice.  Plain and simple, I never assessed the market need for a patient portal.  It’s extraordinarily difficult to take a product that was built perfectly for a particular user and commercialize that into a broader market.

If you are in start up journey, think beyond one particular user !