As many of you already know, beLIthe, LLC is a small company.  In fact, we only have two employees.  As the Managing Director, I do it all.  Keep track of the books, invoice, sell, deliver, develop content, blah, blah, blah.  Alex, my son, works with me providing support, editing videos and podcasts, and developing my crazy software ideas.

So, being a small company, we can accomplish a lot, but struggle with doing more than one thing at a time.

On August 25th, I entered the ER at IU Methodist Hospital.  That started what turned into a perfect storm.  I had a heart attack!  The heart attack was so severe, that we were directed to The Heart Failure group.

Fast forward to October 3.  I woke up with new transplanted heart.  As word as spread, the outpouring of support has been overwhelming.  Down days have been often turned positive by a text or phone call.

My anticipated future is gone.  Yet, I am here because of the medical heroes at Methodist.  Check out this link.  Not best picture!

The future of beLithe is also obviously up in the air.

I would ask that you consider this one point:  Despite all the I have been through, I am determined to make this the best thing that has happened to me.  Caveat:  outside of my wife and three great kids.  I am considering this as a reboot of my body and mind.

I am planning on sharing my journey in an effort to help others.  I will draw clear lines so that those of you who are interested can follow.  Those of you who aren’t interested won’t be bothered.

More to come.  Thanks for your support.

Chris

Cleaning out my inbox, I found an email from Seth Godin titled “The do-it-yourself at-home surgery kit”.

As some of you know, I am a huge fan of Seth Godin.  He is one of the easiest folks to follow.  Every morning, you get a short email with a singular thought.  It’s an easy read, and it always seems to be poignant.

Reading Seth’s post, my mind immediately leaped to the approach I see from time to time.  When you think about DIY related to the home improvements, there are a variety of outcomes ranging from perfection to disaster.  Perfection looks as though a professional craftsman completed the work flawlessly.  Disaster, on the other hand, looks as you hired an amateur to take on the project.  What’s more, a professional craftsman can create a disaster as well at the instance of the homeowner.   Over the years as a homeowner, I have created more disasters than perfection.

Many times, I see a lot of DIY Agile that looks like a disaster.  Is it a result of a professional craftsman (Agile coach) creating a disaster at the instance of the homeowner (the organization)?  Or, could it be the result of an amateur (inexperienced Agile Coach/Scrum Master) trying DIY for the first time?

In my experience, DIY Agile is a result of neither one.  The problem isn’t whether you hired a professional craftsman or an amateur.  The problem is you are not a self-learning organization. 

Every opportunity I get, I say basically the following sentences: “A high performing team doesn’t just wake up one day to find they are high performing.  They iterate their way to become a high performing team.  If you get nothing else from this workshop, remember the retrospective is the most important thing you can get right.”

An organization or team that embraces the concept of retrospectively looking in the mirror, identifies the good and bad of what it sees, and then fix the bad will become high performing.  Why do I say that?  They are continuously correcting and adjusting as they go, prioritizing to solve the worst things first. 

In other words, they are finding and fixing their problems. 

That’s all we need to do is start fixing problems. It sounds simple, yet it can be hard to start.  Once you start, DIY Agile will fade into the background.

Chris

 

The digital transformation market grows daily and might surge to $1,392.91 billion by 2027.

Businesses need digital consulting services to achieve their goals and stay relevant in the industry. They also need digital services to keep up with technological changes in the global business world.

Today, there are many promising consultancy services, thanks to increased digital marketing awareness. Therefore, businesses have a vast array of options to choose the ideal consultants for their specific wants.

Even with in-house consulting experts, it is imperative to hire external digital transformation consultants for specialized services. Here are compelling reasons why you might need external digital consultants.

To Get More Skills

Digital marketing is extensive. Besides SEO, it includes web development, graphic designs, and so on. There are too many tools and technical skills for an individual to possess them all.

An excellent digital marketing strategy requires the firm to put all these aspects in place. This is overwhelming for an individual. An outside external digital transformation consulting firm fills the void.

When you hire them, you will have an all-round set of skills in your organizations. The consultants are well trained, and they have the skills to improve marketing in your business.

So, your business will have a more creative team with exceptional digital marketing wealth.

To Access the Right Digital Marketing Tools

Your in-house staff may be creative but still lack the right tools. Digital procedures are quite technical, and they need great software and tools.

Some of the tools are costly, and they need regular subscriptions. Besides, every tool has unique features, meaning that you need many tools to enjoy the features.

If you subscribe to them all, your business will invest too much in the digital marketing sector, and possibly, sink in losses.

An external digital transformation consulting expert can assess your business and recommend the best software you should apply. The consultant might also provide the exact tool so that you won’t incur losses trying to test different marketing tools and strategies.

To Win Time

Entrepreneurs need time to work on every segment of the business. Besides digital marketing, you will still need time to hire new workers, oversee your financials, review your goals, and so on. All these activities are overwhelming, and they need total attention from the entrepreneur.

When you hire an external digital marketing consultant, you will focus on the other segments of your business that need nurturing.

In this way, you will create more time to interact with your customers, your suppliers, and the other stakeholders. All that you should do is to hire a trusted team so that you can comfortably concentrate on other things.

To Relieve Employees

Employees have their job descriptions. They focus on their daily duties to carry out their short terms goals. When you give them extra responsibilities, the chances are high that they will get struggle under the increased load and their overall performance will suffer as a result.

An outside digital marketing consultant can relieve your employees of the burden of working on many business sections.

To Bring in New Ideas

The digital marketing world changes daily. New businesses are also joining the online space hence an increased competition. To survive, companies must upgrade the skills of their employees. They should also improve their social media platforms, produce new content, and develop their websites.

Every update requires fresh ideas, and that’s why it’s often best to have an outside digital marketing consultant come in. The external consultant will analyze your business’s current situation and bring in new ideas to ignite your company again.

To Cut Costs

The thought of hiring an external consultant might seem costly at first. However, digital transformation consultants are affordable, plus their inputs can help you reduce long term costs.

Also, consultants do not have any social costs because you should only pay for the hours they work.

Most importantly, the consulting agencies have their tools; hence you don’t have to invest in anything. However, it’s still important to compare costs and negotiate whenever you feel that the consulting services are costly.

Tips for Hiring an Outside Digital Marketing Expert

Your business can only enjoy the above benefits when you hire the right digital transformation consultants. However, you might find the hiring process quite overwhelming due to a large number of similar options. Here are a few tips on how to choose the right outside consultant:

Create a Budget

Consultant firms have different pricing tiers for their services. However, it’s imperative to have your budget regarding the services. Also, consider the service package which comes with the consultant’s price.

Consider the Niche Experts

Be specific on the types of consultants you are looking for. If you need an SEO expert, avoid the people who have never done an SEO job.

The ideal provider should be an expert in that niche, and they should have a proven record of successful projects they have done in the past.

Consider the Reputation of Potential Digital Transformation Consultants

Find out what other people think about consultant individuals or the agency. You can find this out by checking their websites and viewing the reviews sections. You can also consider third parties that review the best consultancy firms.

Don’t work with people who don’t reveal much information about themselves.

Improve Your Business Performance With Digital Transformation Consultants

If you would like to remain competitive in your niche, it would be helpful to consider hiring digital transformation consultants. By doing this, you will enjoy the above benefits.

BeLithe offers training and coaching services to help you get the right certifications for career advancements. If you are an aspiring agile practitioner or product owner, our training will equip you with the skills you need to manage your business more effectively.

Contact us today for more information in regards to our certifications. Our excellent customer care team will get back to you promptly to help you.

Are you a software development team working hard to understand the Agile Manifesto? If so, don’t worry, it can be difficult to break it down and get everyone on your team onto the same page.

As you work towards creating a lean and agile team, have everyone read this article so they can see what it is you’re working towards. When everyone is reading from the same script and embraces these twelve principles and four values, you will see amazing success.

History of Agile

If you’ve ever been to Snowbird, Utah in February you know that the powder-soft snow makes for amazing skiing. What you might not know is the story about a dozen software rebels who met for three days of skiing nearly two decades ago.

Despite being competing developers, this small group of software developers agreed on one thing. If the software world was to keep up in the new digital age they would need to move far away from the archaic organizational business model.

What came from this meeting was more than a few days of fun skiing and warm dinners but also a proclamation that software development couldn’t, and shouldn’t, thrive in the old model any longer.

They wrote a short manifesto that still rings true today. It has led a movement for young entrepreneurs to follow. Now, industries across the globe have adopted this way of thinking that spans much further than software.

You too can bring your team into this lean movement through incorporating the values and principles that came from that ski lodge in Utah almost twenty years ago.

4 Agile Manifesto Values

Every individual and every organization makes decisions and choices every day. Some are good and others are questionable, but we all make choices.

In order for your team to make good, cohesive choices that move the project towards completion, everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to your company values.

The agile manifesto outlines these four values to ensure success and agility in delivering great software to the client.

1. Value the Individual

Whether your working with your team members, the customer, or another department within your organization, value each individual over the process or tools. Yes, efficient tools can make your work faster and more efficient. However, when you value each individual you will motivate everyone to buy-in on the project and work towards the end goal.

2. Value Customer Collaboration

Your customer isn’t a paycheck and they aren’t the enemy. Work with them, listen to them, figure out their pain points. These will allow you to create the best product for them and will ensure customer satisfaction with the final deliverable.

3. Value Change

Don’t let yourself get stuck in following the plan simply because it was what everyone agreed upon at the beginning. Sometimes your best plans are a guess as to what will happen in the future. Since we can’t predict the future, be open to valuing change when the plan doesn’t work out.

4. Value the Working Product

While creating documentation is valuable and beautiful mock-ups are great for presentation purposes, the main focus of everyone on your team needs to be the working product. Getting this working product into the hands of your customer is the main goal and must remain the focus of everyone on your team.

12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto

Working as part of a team can be the most rewarding, and yet most frustrating experience for many developers. To ensure maximum efficiency and productivity, teams must work from the same set of principles and have complete trust in their colleagues.

Here we outline the twelve core principles that make up the agile manifesto and allow teams to work efficiently and cohesively.

1. Be Customer-Focused

Your highest priority is a happy customer. And happy customers have the final product in their hands a quick as possible. Deliver working software on a regular basis and don’t keep the client waiting.

2. Accept Change

Change can be difficult, but in the agile framework, the change should be embraced and welcomed at any time. And this includes even at the end of your project. Many companies force a product to market simply because they have spent years working on it. If you reach the end of your product development and find the market has changed or the client isn’t happy, don’t be afraid of change.

3. Work in Short Time Frames and Deliver Frequently

Long delivery time frames are out-dated and won’t keep your customer happy. Work in short time frames and deliver your product at the end of each sprint. Get a working prototype into the hands of your client so they can see it and use it. Their feedback will be immeasurably better when they have a working deliverable to test out.

4. Break Down the Silos

Your R&D team should not be kept separate from your sales and marketing team or customer service. When all your departments work together, great software is developed and delivered to happy clients. Daily meetings are great to get everyone together and on the same page.

But you can also go a step further, have the sales team spend some time in the developing department. Send your top developer to spend a day with customer service listening to the questions and problems your customers are having. This will spark creativity and problem solving that can’t be done when everyone is kept in their separate silos.

5. Trust and Motivate Your Team

Hire the best, and then trust them to do their job and be the best. Motivated people will work hard and enjoy their work. Set goals and get your team on board with them, this will ensure great work done quickly.

6. Face to Face Is Best

Email communication has been a great addition to efficiency in the workplace. And yet at the same time, it has been a great hindrance to efficiency in the workplace. Many times that question you have for your co-worker is best when done face to face.

To avoid interruptions to workflow, save your questions for the predetermined, scheduled scrum meeting. When everyone knows that every day after lunch the whole team will meet for fifteen minutes, this enables them to have these important face to face conversations, saving wasted minutes checking email and avoiding interruptions by stopping by their office.

7. Focus on the Working Software

Progress reports and mock-ups have their place but not at the expense of getting the working software into the hands of the client. The only deliverable you need to focus on is that of the functioning software your client can use.

8. Work at a Sustainable and Repeatable Pace

While the agile framework focuses on getting your product and project done as quickly as possible, you still need to maintain a sustainable pace. It doesn’t do you or your team any good to work so hard you burn out and have to take a month off. Focus on agility while also being able to repeat this process again and again.

9. Pay Attention to Quality

Just because you’re focused on getting your product to the customer as fast as you can, doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice quality or technical excellence. A quality product is more efficient and easier to improve upon. Don’t sacrifice quality for speed of production.

10. Keep It Simple

You don’t need overly long and drawn-out processes. Do just what is necessary to get the job done. Long workflows and complicated delivery schedules are a thing of the past. Keep it simple and only do what is necessary to get the working product to your client as fast as you can while also delivering top quality.

11. Teams Can Organize and Regulate Themselves

Don’t fall into the trap of micro-managing your team. You’ve put together a talented and brilliant team, trust them to do their job. It doesn’t do you any good to hunt the best software developers only to then micro-manage or question their choices or decisions. Allow your team to self-regulate and watch them break records while doing it.

12. Reflect and Adjust

Schedule time into each project development process to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Don’t just keep going to the next project, reflect how can we do this better? Continual change and progress will keep your team agile and successful.

A Simple Guide to a Complex Framework

Learning about the agile manifesto can be a life-changing process. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. To learn more about how to get your team on board with operating in the agile framework, consider investing in team development courses today.

You can learn more about our training here. This could be the best investment you make in your team this year, so don’t delay.

Are you a leader looking to improve your team’s productivity? The agile framework for planning your product launches can take your productivity to the next level.

But for many teams, understanding the roles each team member must play can be confusing. Don’t worry, we’re going to break it down for you so that you can help your team to deliver top-notch products at break-neck speeds.

Keep reading to learn more about the agile framework, and the difference between agile product manager vs product owner. When everyone knows the role they must play your team can use these principles to hit your company KPIs every time.

Agile Roles and Responsibilities

Within the agile process, there are several key roles within the team. Unfortunately, these can become confusing, especially when job roles and descriptions become are not clear.

These roles include:

• Scrum master
• Product owner
• Development team

The most important thing to remember with agile roles is that they are not indicative of any particular team member’s job description. Within each sprint, anyone can play any of the agile roles.

Agile teams are self-organizing allowing them to adapt to the ever-changing needs of delivering products.  Agile managers see their role shift from taskmaster to coach.  A good agile manager will provide opportunities suitable for the different team members with different projects based on their skills, strengths, and personal job goals.  As a coach and servant leader, the manager will empower team members by supporting and teaching team members as they grow.

Meeting with your team members on a regular basis, a trusting environment forms where both agile managers and team members can share and receive feedback towards their personal goals.  In addition, agile managers help team members achieve their goals by aligning them with projects and roles that constantly provide opportunities for growth.  Companies who embrace the entire agile process and mindset see their employee morale boost significantly.

The scrum master is the protector of the team and an evangelist of the Agile mindset. The product owner is responsible for the product backlog, ensuring the highest priority items are broken down into chunks of functionality that are small enough to be completed in a two week period.  Both the PO and Scrum master roles often are confused with the traditional project manager role and can be tempting for leaders to assign them to themselves.

With a self-organizing team, team members must be allowed to organize themselves to get the work complete. This gives employees a sense of belonging and control, it also increases their job satisfaction and overall morale.

Each agile sprint needs a development team to develop the product to completion. The team should be cross-functional and include all the skills required to complete the job.  The team may include members from a variety of departments and job descriptions. Being a member of a cross-functional team, it is important for an individual to contribute their skills and strengths in the effort for the team to evolve into a high performance team while delivering a valuable working product.

Agile Product Manager vs Product Owner

As mentioned earlier, the product owner is responsible for the product backlog.  Based on feedback from a variety of stakeholders, they determine the priority of the items for the team to work on.  The team defines the steps required, when each step will happen, and who will do it. The self-organizing team keeps itself focused and on track to complete the work by the end of the iteration.

The product owner should be available to the scrum team on a frequent basis throughout the iteration.  The product owner clarifies confusion, answers questions, solves problems and collaborates on the scope as required.

In contrast, the product manager is the liaison between the internal development team (including the product owner) and the external world. They meet with the sales team, the product users, and other stakeholders who might be affected by the new product being developed. They are optional at many of the events or stand-ups but are not required at all of them.  In their role of supporting the team, the product owner’s presence should be apparent at all the events.

The product owner is focused on the product backlog, the team, and achieving the sprint goal. The product manager is focused on the customer and the overall market for the product being developed.

Together they form a synergistic relationship that relies on each other to stay focused in their own lane. In doing this they keep the product moving forward towards completion and launch.

To liberally use the quote popularized by Stephen Covey, the product owner ensures that the team reaches the top of the ladder and completes the project. While the product manager is responsible for ensuring that the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

How To Use These to Hit Your Goals

When these two roles work together your agile teams will see exponential growth and productivity. You will see many successful product launches and your company will reach your overall goals and objectives.

Within the agile framework, it can be difficult to know who is in charge. But, in true agile ideology, every individual handles defining their own functions and executions.

Looking at the big picture, each of the roles has its own domain over which they are in charge. Specifically, the product manager is the large strategist ensuring that there is a market for the product being developed. They work with the consumers to ensure that the product fills a need and will do well when launched to market.

Within each individual agile team, the product owner is responsible for ensuring that the backlog is prioritized and clearly defined. Once the product owner determines the priorities within the backlog, the developers choose which items they can work on and how they will complete the activities for the work to be completed.  They determine this based on their own schedule, skills, and personal development goals.  By the team engaging in the process to select what and how the work is to be completed, the team is accountable for the completion of the work.

By giving each person autonomy to determine their contribution the team sees greater accountability. Product ownership improves both morale and productivity.

Finally, the scrum master is responsible for the agile process itself. Their focus is on the scrum process and to limit distractions within the sprint itself. They also make sure the definition of done is upheld and new responsibilities are not added. Finally, they coach the team members in their day to day activities to ensure progress towards completion.

While the scrum master is a true expert on the agile and scrum process, the entire team is encouraged to complete agile training. This ensures everyone knows their roles and how they can best complete their goals.

Know Your Roles to Achieve Your Goals

Additionally, when you encourage those on your team from a variety of job descriptions across your company you will see an increase in job satisfaction and company morale. You will allow your team to lean into their strengths and use their unique skills to move products forward from idea to creation to production.

Stop wondering who is supposed to complete what parts of the agile process. When it comes to comparing the agile product manager vs product owner, you now know who is responsible for what components.

To better educate your entire team, contact us today. We will work with you to ensure everyone knows the various roles on a scrum team. And, they will know how to ensure responsibility and accountability across the entire team.

When you ask the typical person about a personal transformation in their life, the overwhelming sense you get is positive.  However, if you ask that same person about a transformation in their job, the underlying emotion is fear or negativity. Why is that?

How can people feel invigorated by their personal goals, yet fail to see the positivity in organizational change?

Maybe it’s about empowerment on one end of the spectrum and loss of control on the other. Here are five ways that change management leadership teams can invigorate organizations to feel empowered.

What Is Change Management Leadership

The idea of change management leadership comes from John P. Kotter. A Professor of Leadership from Harvard Business School, he invented an eight-step process that businesses use to lead change in their organizations effectively.

These eight steps form the three phases of the change management process.

Phase 1: Creating a Climate of Change

In the first phase, organizations work to build urgency for change based around a compelling goal or initiative. The point of this phase is to create an organization-held shared vision.

Phase 2: Engaging and Enabling the Organization

In phase two, organizations communicate the vision and design organizational goals that can produce early wins. The point of this phase is to increase organizational buy-in.

Phase 3: Implementing and Sustaining for Change 

In the final phase, organizations build onto the change to create organizational processes that make the change stick. By establishing processes and procedures around new organizational goals, it now becomes an institutional habit.

5 Ways Organizational Changes Can Empower Everyone

Great organizations tend to have a few things in common. When you look at the leading organizations in our global economy, you tend to notice a few things.

To start, they value their employees from top to bottom. Next, they foster creativity and change. Last, they have a cohesive vision centered around their brand.

Great organizations grow and change often, yet their shared vision and goal as a company remains the same. One example is Apple’s “Think different.”

Great organizations tend to have five strategic imperatives that boil down to one common idea: putting people first.

1. Inspire Through Purpose

Most changes in an organization are the result of operational or financial goals. It can be empowering and energizing for leaders of an organization, but not for average workers.

Great organizations empower and energize their employees by connecting goals to a powerful sense of purpose. Take Lego, for instance, a company that has grown way passed their generic blocks that we all played with as children.

Now, there are sets for everything you can think of from Star Wars to Harry Potter. The choices are endless. Today, we have Legoland. A popular tourist attraction designated to the brand.

They have undoubtedly gone through a series of transformations as an organization and a global brand. Yet through it all, one powerful purpose has remained constant.

“Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.” 

Such a simple concept, yet so powerful, it is similar to Apple’s motto. Great organizations empower their employees by first inspiring them through purpose.

2. Go All In

Great organizations, inspired by their larger vision, attack their organizational transformations like runners attack their goal of finishing a marathon. They go all in.

Excellent change management starts with the purpose of going all in. To make changes, we may have to work harder, longer, and for a far off reward for our efforts.

Organizations may have to become leaner to remain competitive, similar to a runner shedding weight. Nonetheless, to win, you have to be willing to go all in.

To win, you must think about initiatives that drive growth, changes that streamline operational systems, and investments in both leadership and talent to push transformation further.

It is a deeper purpose, a shared vision that will make employees go all in.

3.  Enable People to Succeed

To energize employees, organizations must empower workers with the tools, skills, and strategies they need to succeed during the transformation and beyond.

Like working on personal goals, there are moments of becoming along the journey. It is analogous to companies looking to grow and change in our global economy.

To fundamentally grow, we need to change. Change takes becoming in the form of learning new tools and acquiring new skills. It takes recruitment, development, and investment in all employees to find the success that’s waiting on the other side.

4. Instilling a Culture of Continous Learning

When organizations create a culture of continuous learning, they also foster a culture of growth. It makes the process of change more empowering.

To learn requires people to buy-in. To really learn, you must be all in. To be all in, you must have some greater purpose that drives you. One is a domino that affects another and creates a culture of continuous growth.

When someone learns, they form new neuropathways in their brain. In some ways, you can say, they are forever changed. They look and understand the world in a different way than they did the day before.

Companies that empower their employees also empower their whole organization.

5. Inclusive Leadership

For organizations to empower their employees from bottom to top, leaders must embrace cooperation to put people first.

In order to transform an organization, there needs to be a clear vision from leadership, a roadmap to get there, and an engagement to start working and building as a team.

When leadership puts people first, employees feel valued enough to share their ideas to add to the vision, creating lasting change and transformation in the process.

Change Starts From Within

Organizations that put people first inspire change and transformation. This is the power of change management leadership.

If you think your company could use assistance in adopting a change management leadership approach that puts people first, contact us for more details.

For more information on how you can transform your organization, check our blog for more insight into leadership, management, and organizational transformation.