"Doing Agile Right: A Guide for Leaders and Managers"

Thinking about scaling Agile in your organization? 🤔 The SAFe® Implementation Roadmap offers a structured, 12-step path to success! It's not just about adopting new practices; it's about transforming your culture and delivering value more effectively. Here’s a quick look at the journey: 🚀 Getting Started: 1️⃣ Reach the Tipping Point: Define a compelling "why" for change. 2️⃣ Train Lean-Agile Change Agents (SPCs): Empower internal leaders. 3️⃣ Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders: Ensure leadership understands and champions the shift. 4️⃣ Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE): Establish a guiding hub. 🚄 Launching and Scaling: 5️⃣ Identify Value Streams and ARTs: Organize around customer value. 6️⃣ Create the Implementation Plan: Map out your rollout strategy. 7️⃣ Prepare for ART Launch: Get teams and backlogs ready for the first Program Increment. 8️⃣ Train Teams and Launch the ART: Execute your first PI Planning – the heart of SAFe! 💨 Sustaining and Accelerating: 9️⃣ Coach ART Execution: Provide ongoing support and guidance. 🔟 Launch More ARTs and Value Streams: Expand the transformation. 1️⃣1️⃣ Enhance the Portfolio: Align strategy with execution at the highest level. 1️⃣2️⃣ Accelerate: Embed the Lean-Agile mindset and continuously improve. This roadmap provides a fantastic framework to navigate the complexities of scaling Agile, ultimately leading to better time-to-market, improved quality, and increased productivity. 💪 Have you used the SAFe Implementation Roadmap in your organization? What was your biggest takeaway? Share your experiences in the comments below! 👇 #SAFe #Agile #ScalingAgile #AgileTransformation #LeanAgile #Leadership #Egypt #Cairo #BusinessAgility

🚀 Agile Talks: Beyond Agility – Day 18 Topic: Agile at the Executive Level – Leading Change from the Top Agile isn’t just for developers and delivery teams. For true transformation, executives and senior leaders must embrace agility too. 👉 Why Executives Matter in Agile: 1️⃣ Strategic Alignment – Leaders ensure that teams are working on the right problems, not just shipping features. 2️⃣ Cultural Role Models – Teams mirror leadership behavior. If leaders resist change, so will everyone else. 3️⃣ Funding & Governance – Executives decide whether investments follow rigid annual plans or flexible value streams. 4️⃣ Breaking Silos – Only leadership can dismantle organizational walls that slow agility. 🔑 Executive Behaviors that Enable Agility: Encourage transparency instead of punishing bad news. Shift from “command & control” ➝ to “align & empower.” Invest in capabilities and outcomes, not just projects. 💡 Pro Insight: Agile transformations fail when leadership says, “Agile is for teams, not for us.” True agility is an enterprise mindset, starting at the top and flowing down. 📌 Takeaway for Today: Executives who embrace agility unlock the full potential of their organizations. Without executive agility, team-level Agile is just a local optimization. #Agile #Leadership #ExecutiveAgility #BusinessAgility #Scrum #BeyondAgility

🚀 Agile Talks: Beyond Agility Topic: Agile at the Executive Level – Leading Change from the Top Agile isn’t just for developers and delivery teams. For true transformation, executives and senior leaders must embrace agility too. 👉 Why Executives Matter in Agile: 1️⃣ Strategic Alignment – Leaders ensure that teams are working on the right problems, not just shipping features. 2️⃣ Cultural Role Models – Teams mirror leadership behavior. If leaders resist change, so will everyone else. 3️⃣ Funding & Governance – Executives decide whether investments follow rigid annual plans or flexible value streams. 4️⃣ Breaking Silos – Only leadership can dismantle organizational walls that slow agility. 🔑 Executive Behaviors that Enable Agility: Encourage transparency instead of punishing bad news. Shift from “command & control” ➝ to “align & empower.” Invest in capabilities and outcomes, not just projects. 💡 Pro Insight: Agile transformations fail when leadership says, “Agile is for teams, not for us.” True agility is an enterprise mindset, starting at the top and flowing down. 📌 Takeaway for Today: Executives who embrace agility unlock the full potential of their organizations. Without executive agility, team-level Agile is just a local optimization. #Agile #Leadership #ExecutiveAgility #BusinessAgility #Scrum #BeyondAgility

🌟 **Unlocking Success through Agile, Lean Six Sigma & Delivery Methodologies** 🌟 In a world where speed and efficiency are critical, the ability to innovate and adapt can set organisations apart. Recently, I had the opportunity to coach teams in Agile and Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) practices, which led to a remarkable 22% increase in delivery velocity. This transformation not only accelerated our project timelines but also fostered a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. By introducing Kanban boards for project tracking, we enhanced transparency and facilitated better communication across teams. This initiative proved instrumental in identifying bottlenecks and ensuring that we aligned our efforts with strategic business objectives. As Peter Drucker wisely stated, “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Our hard work paid off, enabling us to deliver high-quality results efficiently. How have you adapted your methodologies to enhance delivery within your organisation? I’d love to hear your experiences! #Agile #LeanSixSigma #DeliveryMethodologies #ChangeManagement #OperationalExcellence #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Innovation

🌟 **Unlocking Success through Agile, Lean Six Sigma & Delivery Methodologies** 🌟 In a world where speed and efficiency are critical, the ability to innovate and adapt can set organisations apart. Recently, I had the opportunity to coach teams in Agile and Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) practices, which led to a remarkable 22% increase in delivery velocity. This transformation not only accelerated our project timelines but also fostered a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. By introducing Kanban boards for project tracking, we enhanced transparency and facilitated better communication across teams. This initiative proved instrumental in identifying bottlenecks and ensuring that we aligned our efforts with strategic business objectives. As Peter Drucker wisely stated, “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Our hard work paid off, enabling us to deliver high-quality results efficiently. How have you adapted your methodologies to enhance delivery within your organisation? I’d love to hear your experiences! #Agile #LeanSixSigma #DeliveryMethodologies #ChangeManagement #OperationalExcellence #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Innovation

If teams can manage themselves, what’s left for managers to do? In founder-led companies, managers often fall back on task-tracking and reporting. But in reality, the leadership work that creates growth is different: 💡 Defining value → What problem are we solving? 🛠️ Creating value → Deliver. Quality. Sooner. ⚡ Accelerating value → How do we remove friction? 👉 Achieving results is about shaping the conditions for success, not policing the work. 💬 How much of your week is spent “managing tasks” versus “unlocking value”? #Leadership #Agile #Scrum #Value

💡 In today’s dynamic IT landscape, agility is not just about delivering faster—it’s about adapting smarter. As a Scrum Master, I’ve seen how the right facilitation empowers teams to embrace collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement. At the same time, my experience in Change Management has taught me that successful transformation isn’t only about new processes—it’s about people, mindset shifts, and clear communication. 🔄 Agile thrives when change is managed thoughtfully. Whether it’s driving a sprint goal, enabling a smooth release, or helping stakeholders align, the intersection of Agile and Change Management ensures change isn’t disruptive but transformative. At the end of the day, agility + structured change = sustainable success. 🚀 #Agile #ScrumMaster #ChangeManagement #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement

Projects succeed when there are control points, clear roles, and measurable value. That’s where the updated PRINCE2 Agile (Version 2) can bring value, with new guidance on: ✅ managing agile teams within structured governance  ✅ fostering an agile mindset  ✅ delivering measurable outcomes that teams and executives can trust Because today, it’s not enough to manage projects. We need to measure benefits, assess leadership, and evaluate culture with metrics that truly matter.  And this is exactly what the PROJECT, AGILE & LEADERSHIP Conference 2025 will explore under the theme: 📏 Measure to manage, assess to lead. PeopleCert is proud to support this important conversation as a Bronze Partner in an event that brings together 500+ leaders, project professionals, PMOs, agile coaches, and executives in Prague. Our colleague Imran Ahmad, Senior Adviser Agile & Scrum at PeopleCert, will take the stage to share how PRINCE2 Agile helps align governance with culture and set up project controls that highlight impact, not just reports. You’ll also hear from inspiring speakers such as Mark Wild (CEO at HS2, former Crossrail), Lenka Pincot (Chief of Staff, PMI), Marian Jelínek (coach & leadership mentor), and many more from across Europe and beyond. 👉 Join us this September in Prague and elevate your projects from metrics to real impact. 📅 24-25 September  📍 Cubex Centrum Praha #PALConf2025 #PRINCE2 #ProjectManagement #Leadership #Agile #PeopleCert

Title: Standing Up an ART: Where Do Organizations Go Wrong? Standing up an Agile Release Train is one of the most exciting — and challenging — steps in a SAFe journey. Done well, it creates alignment, predictability, and momentum. Done poorly, it creates frustration and “fake agility. Here are some common anti-patterns I’ve seen when ARTs are launched incorrectly: 🚫 Treating the ART like a short-term project team instead of a long-lived value stream 🚫 Forcing teams into PI Planning before they’re ready 🚫 Running PI Planning like waterfall planning — rigid commitments instead of adaptive plans 🚫 Filling roles just to fill them (POs without authority, RTEs as project managers, Business Owners in name only) 🚫 Skipping Inspect & Adapt, losing opportunities for continuous improvement But when ARTs are launched well, the impact is powerful: ✅ Teams feel empowered and connected to strategy ✅ Leadership actively participates and removes roadblocks ✅ PI Planning becomes collaborative, adaptive, and energizing ✅ Continuous improvement fuels momentum across PIs The difference between success and struggle often comes down to mindset: Is SAFe being used as a rulebook, or as a framework to enable agility at scale? 👉 What challenges — or successes — have you seen when organizations stand up their first ART?

Hezekiah’s Lesson for Agile Leaders: Removing the Idols of Competition in Scrum As organizations adopt Agile practices, internal competition and silos can undermine collaboration and innovation. Drawing inspiration from the biblical story of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18–20), my recent paper explores how leaders can remove the "idols" of competition in Scrum environments to build a culture of collaboration and resilience. By temporarily setting up Scrum-of-Scrums task forces, focusing on team-based rewards, and promoting servant leadership, Agile leaders can stabilize dysfunction and foster long-term success. Key Takeaways: The danger of unhealthy competition in Agile environments. Using Scrum-of-Scrums as a stabilization strategy. Transitioning from individual accomplishments to team-based goals. Drawing biblical insights to support leadership strategies. Please read the full article to explore how we can build more effective, inclusive, and cooperative Agile teams. #AgileLeadership #Scrum #OrganizationalCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #BiblicalLeadership