“Many people in organizations think they are just too complex to have that business agility. However, as a company, AT&T proved that we could pivot and establish new ways of working to meet an urgent need.” What started with a small Agile group in 2012 has evolved into a growing effort to scale Agile across AT&T—a large enterprise with 200,000+ employees. In this episode, Mary Ellen Ferrara, who leads the AT&T Business Lean-Agile Center of Excellence, and Chandra Srivastava, an Agile coach in the AT&T Enterprise Agile Center of Excellence, share their SAFe journey at the company.
The best way to improve your skills is through practice. But practicing the wrong way can lead to bad habits. In this episode of the SAFe Business Agility podcast, SPCT Dwayne Stroman discusses the concept of “practice makes permanent” and how it helps drive a successful SAFe implementation.
Technical expert, cat-herder, change leader, entrepreneur. Lots of terms have been used to describe an architect. But a marine pilot? In today’s episode of the SAFe Business Agility podcast, senior consultant at cPrime and SPCT candidate Steve Adolph joins us to talk about that metaphor, plus the importance of the architect role, and why it doesn’t get enough visibility.
In between running the Value Stream and ART Identification Workshop and actually launching an ART lies an informal process to determine what people should be involved where. And when that informal process is rushed, it can lead to less than optimal outcomes. At least that’s what SPCT Marshall Guillory experienced as he worked with organizations at that point in their SAFe journey. In today’s episode, Marshall joins us to discuss the importance of team formation and self-selection.
Sometimes an Agile transformation is a lot harder than it needs to be. It can happen when an organization is launching an ART, or it can happen during something as simple as helping an individual team improve its demos. So how do you spot that friction and remove it from your transformation? In this episode, Eric Willeke, SAFe Fellow and founder of Elevate, joins us to discuss how tactics and different investments make it easier to do the work of successful change
A continuous learning culture can positively impact an organization’s performance, innovation, competency, and competitive advantage. But what exactly is it and how do you create one in your organization? In this episode, Jeff Shupack, SAFe Fellow and SPCT at Product and Team, joins us to define continuous learning culture, explain why it’s important, and describe what it looks like in the real world.
Lean-Agile practices thrive in a trust-based environment. And leaders play a huge role in creating that environment for everyone in the organization. But leadership skills and behaviors aren’t necessarily intuitive for all leaders. And leaders often don’t get the help they need to learn how to evolve and grow in their role. In this episode, Dr. Steve Mayner, SAFe Fellow and principal consultant at Scaled Agile shares insights he’s observed about leaders (and himself) while developing his Leading in the Digital Age development series.
Learning doesn’t just start in the classroom. It continues as learners take the knowledge they’ve gained and apply it to their role. So, how can instructors and trainers create a more powerful learning experience and give learners the support they need to grow? In this episode, we turn to our Scaled Agile colleagues, Tamara Nation, director of product management, and Bill Sizemore, SAFe content advisor for advice, tips, and stories from the field about how to become a great SAFe instructor.
When people think of intelligence, most associate it with IQ. But emotional intelligence is actually a better indication of how a person will succeed in their career. In this episode, Jennifer Fawcett, SAFe Fellow and semi-retired Agile coach, consultant, and speaker, joins us to discuss emotional intelligence, how it can help individuals and organizations succeed, and the role it plays in SAFe.
Defining and effectively managing value streams can translate to satisfied customers and competitive advantage. But what is value stream management and how does it relate to SAFe? In this episode, Richard Knaster, SAFe Fellow and vice president and chief scientist at Digital AI, and Marc Rix continue their conversation about why value stream management is important, and how it can help organizations succeed in the digital age.