I had this originally posted at the MATRIX Resources Blog. I remember it well. It was about 11:40 am and we had been meeting with senior directors, vice presidents, and a number of influencers since 9:00 am the previous day. The conference room was strewn with the remainder of breakfast and a high number of … Continue reading Scaling Agile: Don’t Fall for These Misconceptions
Author: joshuaajack
Joshua began leading teams and organizations in Metro Atlanta in order to drive transparency, change, performance, and innovation. For nearly 25 years, Joshua has focused on solutioning cutting edge products and “ways of working” that have brought increased effectiveness and profitability to Fortune 50 organizations and Startups alike. For the last 15 years, his passion has transitioned from systems and networks-related management and consulting to that of organizational and leadership transformation, adoption of agility in all methodologies, "principle" improvement, and enterprise coaching.
Working with many different approaches, Joshua is dedicated to jumping right into the midst of organizational challenges. His jovial and lighthearted professionalism help make sometimes difficult transitional periods relaxed and natural. He also uses his background in family counseling and service as just one tool in his toolbox to help others learn to overcome structural impediments.
Joshua’s focus areas in both coaching and speaking are the sociology and make up of high performing agile teams, identifying practical solutions for impediments to agile transformation, applying agility across non-IT organizations, agile startups, transitioning PMOs, mentoring effective team members, and much more. He uses humor (story time), hands-on exercises, and practical knowledge to create an atmosphere of ease and excitement.
In addition to his professional life, Joshua lives Agile at home with his family to organize their hectic life of school and extracurricular activities. He resides with his wife and three children in rural West Georgia. He is an avid musician as well as a music and movie enthusiast.
Leaders: Why You Should Wear Jeans. Revisited.
A couple of years ago, I wrote this initial blog. It was in response to a client that seemed to have a "class" issue. Not that didn't have class but rather certain classes of people dressed and responded to casual days in different ways. I thought it would be good to revisit this post, make a few updates, and reblog it.
Agile Dad: A Discussion with My Son on Team
As a Dad, there are never a loss of times that can be used to grow closer to, educate, enrich, empower, and even correct my kids. The art is knowing which of those – growing closer to, educating, enriching, empowering, correcting – is needed at which time. Sometimes, we use the situation or problem to … Continue reading Agile Dad: A Discussion with My Son on Team
3 Ways to Apply Agile at the Executive Level
A while ago, I read a book and a short white paper that fit both of my user story needs. The first was about how leadership can apply agility at the executive leadership level. The second was about how we must change to get the right talent in our current Agile environment. Both brought up key Holistic Agile concepts that I constantly attempt to apply in Agile adoptions and transformations at MATRIX. When it happens successfully, the initiative seems to “take a turn” for the better as the organization (not just IT) “gets it.” When these practices are not applied to senior leadership, there is a chasm that drags Agile transformations to a halt. Without Holistic Agility, organizational change will fail. These practices and principles are building teams, being responsive, and self-management.
Agile Dad: The Beginning
My first thoughts about Agile practices were not those of increasing productivity (even though they can), improving product speed to market (which they do), or even breaking down the walls between traditional "business" and "IT" (which happens, all the time). Rather, I kept seeing a cultural and environmental shift in the ways people interacted - from the client relationships to the leadership relationships. I saw how, at the core, we empowered people to do what they do even better and deliver things of value in order to improve relationships and the subsequently the wealth of all parties involved.
