Kick Off Sprint 2019
Start your personal or professional agile journey today! It is 2019 and the year just started a couple of days ago. Chances are that you thought about your New Year resolutions for 2019. Many people do, when a yearly iteration comes to an end and a new “Sprint” starts. And while you were reading those introductory words, you might got slightly irritated when I used the word “Sprint” to describe what usually is referred to as a “Year”. If this resonates with you, I invite you to keep reading and stick with me on my journey with ExpeditionAgile.com. With this blog I want to inspire you to think “agile” outside the box by showing you irritating perspectives, describing motivating examples from real life and explaining the mechanics behind many agile methods. Viewing a “year” as just another “Sprint” on a larger scale is one of those perspectives.
In my personal life I use this opportunity to “review” the past year and reflect on my achievements in 2018. Then I reflect on good and bad behaviors and habits that I have shown. This can be seen as kind of a “Retrospective”. Finally, I commit to Sprint Goals (or New Year resolutions) for the next Iteration. Part of my Sprint Goal for 2019, is starting a blog about agile. So, here we are!
Start “ExpeditionAgile.com”
Even though I am working as a full-time Agile Coach since a couple of years now, I was still falling into a common trap when starting this blog: I spent almost a full week preparing the launch because I did not feel “ready” yet. I did not know anything about WordPress, SEO, Writing, etc. I felt like I need to study those topics first before I can launch anything.
Until I realized that I was using the “waterfall” approach to procrastinate and waste time. Instead, I needed to start before I felt ready. This was the moment, when I began writing these lines. Of course, it will not be the most inspiring post you’ll read about agile. And maybe this site will not be SEO optimized and beautifully designed with pretty pictures. But I will learn a lot by just working on it and I already did learn a few things. Consequently, my blog will continuously improve to bring you the valuable insights you were looking for. After all, this is what I wanted in the first place: learning how to blog, to bring you valuable insights about agile.
Integrate Learnings
I just changed my strategy from conceptualizing through studying to learning by doing. Even though this might seem like a pretty outdated and obvious advice, it is still a relevant insight and core element in every agile endeavor. So remind yourself to learn more while doing instead of conceptualizing. Just be aware that the next trap is following right after this insight: It does not mean, that you should completely stop studying any topic and solely rely on doing. It only means, that you should not feel blocked, just because you believe you do not have all the knowledge to start something. So, I encourage you to start your journey and begin with implementing your vision right now! Also, feel free to share your project in the comment section below.
Key Takeaways
- Your personal life offers many opportunities to implement agile methods
- Do not waste too much time preparing for your goals until you feel “ready”
- Learn more by doing instead of conceptualizing
