I'll be there (for you) ...

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Agile conferences , Leadership skills

I am very excited and happy to announce that you can hear my talk at two Agile conferences in Europe:

...and What If You Are Just a Small Planet at the Edge of the Milky Way

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Project management , Business strategy

I recently had a conversation with my colleague about the importance of having a domain expert available in a project to clarify domain-specific questions.

Building Knowledge in a Team: Main Mistakes and Strategies

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Team management , Software development

Introduction

For IT leaders, the topic of knowledge management is often unexplored territory. There is a silent assumption that it happens on its own. While it’s true to some extent, as software developers, we constantly need to learn new things to stay relevant. However, it’s not enough if only some team members learn independently. For a team to work efficiently, they need consistent and up-to-date knowledge. Cutting-edge technology skills alone have limited value.

If You Were to Do One Thing, It Should Be...

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Leadership , Project management

Avoid Starting Unnecessary Projects

I have had an interesting conversation with my friend who is also a manager in one of the Polish companies. At a certain moment, he said:

Simple, Complicated, Complex and Chaotic Systems, in Other Words Cynefin. And How Does It Relate to Software Development?

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Software development , Agile practices , Complexity theory

Intro

You might have already come across terms such as complex systems, complicated systems, or complex adaptive systems; especially, if you have read Management 3.0 by Jurgen Appelo or heard about Ken Schwaber’s ideas about the applicability of Scrum. It might sound intriguing, but finding logic in it is difficult without some background theory. This is the point at which Dave Snowden’s Cynefin concept comes in handy. This concept is based on complex systems theory, anthropology, evolutionary psychology, and, last but not least, cognitive psychology.

Simple, Complicated, Complex, and Chaotic Systems: The Cynefin Framework

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Complexity theory , Software development

Perhaps you’ve previously encountered concepts such as complex systems, complicated systems, or complex adaptive systems, for instance when reading Jurgen Appelo’s Management 3.0, or when considering Ken Schwaber’s thoughts on the applicability of Scrum. This might sound intriguing, but it can be difficult to find logical sense in it if one lacks a certain theoretical foundation. This is where it’s worthwhile to examine Dave Snowden’s concept called Cynefin, which is based on complex systems theory, anthropology, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive psychology.

Technical Leader Worries: I Have Too Many Things to Do

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Leadership , Productivity

Technical Leader Worries: I Have Too Many Things to Do

Those wonderful days when the only thing you did was writing code are gone. Now you are a leader. You are doing everything: attending or conducting meetings, removing impediments, mediating between team members and the rest of the organization, reading or writing some kind of reports (and you deceive yourself that spending two hours in Excel counts as programming because of some smartly used formulas) and so on. You are in a hurry all the time, and it never ends.

A Morning Thought: The Greatest Contribution of Agile

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Agile philosophy , Technology and culture

A Morning Thought: The Greatest Contribution of Agile

Today morning I came across Henrik Kniberg’s video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0O0Lgs9zU titled Culture over Process. What hit me was that it was about Culture.

Technical Leader Worries: My Organization Is a Mess, and Nobody Cares

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Leadership , Workplace dynamics

Technical Leader Worries: My Organization Is a Mess, and Nobody Cares

Some time ago, I coined a funny equation like this:

Technical Leader Worries: I Am Not a Born Leader

• Mariusz Sieraczkiewicz
• Leadership , Technical management

Technical Leader Worries: I Am Not a Born Leader

Have you ever heard about Alexander the Great, Napoleon, J. F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King? I bet you have. These are great historical leaders. These names often come to mind when we think about leadership. When coupled with Hollywood movie characters, we imagine leaders as heroes with strong charisma and exceptional talent for public speaking. This stereotype is hard to shake. But wait a minute… Is this what we should adhere to when talking about technical leaders?