Recap Lean Coffee March edition

The site was down for some days. But after a restore most of the content is there.
On the 31th of March we had a great (small) gathering!

We discussed the following topics:

  • Scaling: With heavy weight Framework or from culture change?
  • Focus shifting to higher and middle management?
  • How to deal with external parties?
  • Conferences in 2014
  • How to improve Lean Coffee Alkmaar

Next Lean Coffee will be on 28th of April!

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Recap fourth Lean Coffee Alkmaar – 27 january 2014

Today the fourth Lean Coffee Alkmaar is a fact! Because two of the participants had their birthday yesterday we ate carrot cake with our coffee. After that we had good discussions about different subjects.

The main take aways:

  • Coaching is a skill (maybe we should invest more in that)
  • Clear KPIs like Cycle/lead time, % first time right
  • Clear goal and scoping (and maybe some more boundaries)
  • Searching for balance between consultancy and coaching

Next meetup will be 24 february 2014! Please join us at Meetup.com

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Next Lean Coffee will be the 27th of january!

The next Lean Coffee will be the 27th of january!
This because of Christmas and New Year. Happy holidays and hope to see you on the 27th of january.

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Recap meeting 25 november 2013

The 25th of November the third LeanCoffee Alkmaar was held at Doppio Espresso Alkmaar. A small group of 5 people came together for some great coffee and good conversations.

We discussed four interesting topics:
– Should we start DevOps bottom-up? Or do we need management commitment before we start ?
– Can the success of Agile be a problem for the business?  (as a result of the frequency at which systems are changed )
– How to organize the world of product owner ?
– The new way of work (HNW) and Agile : experiences so far

Of course we had a few take-aways:
– Allow the product owner to be visible and to change direction with complete transparency.
– Introduce a chief product owner who’s dealing with epics and themes (vision). Leave the details (features, stories) to the ‘normal’ product owners.
– Exposure to the outside means rapid and frequent delivery. Stability on the inside means some stable release moments. Try to find a good mix.
– If you think in projects you’re talking about costs, when you think of products you talking about value!
– Make the choice together, not only from IT!

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Recap meeting 28 oktober 2013

Under heavy weather conditions we held our second Lean Coffee Alkmaar. Again Doppio was host of this Lean Coffee and while enjoying our delicious coffee we had good conversations about these different topics.

Continuous Improvement and leadership within teams are often a difficult subject. Some take aways:

  • Use external (of the team) coaches
  • Create a teammanifest. It helps the team to discover their purpose.
  • Share best/good practices across teams
  • The team should be in balance (personalities). Use Belbin, Profile Dynamics to find out.

Some teams, when starting Kanban, drop process policies. The use of explicit policies is important for all kind of reasons. We discussed about how it can help to make sure you deliver quality with your team. Take aways:

  • Start with what (and how) you do now
  • Use explicit policies to ensure quality
  • Use short feedback loops and adjust policies when needed

We also discussed the Agile Manifesto. Some people are miss-using it. For example a team did not produce any kind of documentation. It did create lots of problems later on. Also the term “pull” is often miss-used. It doesn’t mean the team can pull (pick) anything they like from the Product Backlog. It does mean when they take on new work.

Take away: be sure to learn the team how to interpret the Manifesto.

 

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Recap meeting 30 september 2013

Today the first LeanCoffee Alkmaar (also in the Netherlands?) is a fact!
A total of 10 people came together for some great coffee and a good conversation at Doppio Espresso Alkmaar.

Some takeaways from our session
20130930_110524

I tried to translate it to English:

  • Evolving workflow
  • Start with Continuous improvement
  • Eventually the result counts
  • Facilitate improvement
  • Start small: from Push to Pull
  • Images/Pictures says more than words
  • ABCD
  • Focus on people who want to change
  • Try not too convice too much

20130930_105025 20130930_100536

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Welcome!

Welcome to Lean Coffee Alkmaar (The Netherlands).

location: Doppio

Our first Lean Coffee Alkmaar will be on 30 september 2013 from 09:30 till 11:00 at Doppio Espresso Alkmaar. Please join us!

 

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