The Benevolent Disruptor

In this episode, Niall explores the 8 Measures of Software Delivery Performance and their significance in an organisation. Join in as he delves into their pivotal role, unveiling their impact on operational efficiency and overall success.Niall also gives you a sneak peek into his latest blog post on supercharged software delivery processes. Don't miss the upcoming episode to uncover more details!

If you ask a fish "what is water?", they would be puzzled. Because they are in water, they have no sense of what it is and why they need it. Executive team problems are similar; it difficult for them to see problems due to them being part of the culture that is the target of change.As a coach Niall McShane has worked with many executive teams as they embark on Agile transformation journeys; enabling them to see the system and then enable them to sponsor changes to it.In this episode Niall takes listeners through the 6 most common hurdles he sees executive teams facing as they lead and sponsor Agile change programs:The first team to change and the shadow they castover-delegation/under-adoptionDis-connection from purpose (why?)Over-enablement/under-sponsorshipDeclaring victory (way) to earlyFake urgency/lack of perspective

In this episode Niall McShane interviews Daniel Hill; between the two of them they have 8 transformation programs worth of experience.In this episode Niall and Dan discuss:how to (really) win the hearts of your people during a change programwho/what to focus on when the system is underperformingwhy reconnecting to purpose is THE most powerful change tool

Often, I work with executives that feel Agile has reduced their ability to feel comfortable with the level of assurance of delivery. In this podcast episode I provide some simple but useful guiding principles and questions that a CIO can use to ensure they have what they need to assure Agile delivery in their organisation.

In this podcast Niall McShane provides 8 tools/techniques to guide executives through their participation in an Agile transformation program.Niall talks you through the following eight topics: Strategic versus tactical Agile change; your role in eachWhy you need to embrace lower mastery to get in flowThe "happy-clappy" phase of change and how to not get distracted by itHow to avoid being labelled as not having an Agile mindsetWhy pragmatism rules (eventually)A psychometric test to consider "Learning Agility"The power of vulnerabilityYou are perfect just the way you are (but could do with a little improvement).

Often Agile change or transformation programs are mobilised without proper consideration. If executives and sponsors could just ask these five questions BEFORE they agree to change the way the organisation works, you stand a much better chance of success.WHY (bother) changing; why now?WHERE does it make sense for Agile to be adopted across the organisation?WHO needs to change how they work (hint: it's not who you might think)?WHAT is the cost of change and the price of disruption?HOW to change (the least important); how to do agile comes last after the other questions have been answered.

In this episode Niall McShane shares some advice for sponsors and executives on how to deal with the new language agile brings with it. Confusing terminology does not have to lower a leader's mastery and capability.In this episode you will hear about:Daniel Pink's Autonomy-Matery-Purpose approach and when and how leaders should push back when asked to learn new (confusing) language.Why monitoring, controlling and assuring is still required in agile operating models.The leader's shadow; how it is cast across the organisation and its peopleWhy vision is more important that process for a leader of change

This episode:  Niall McShane is your host, and he introduces the podcast and its theme through exploring the "productivity versus purpose" tension.In this episode some topics discussed include:why cost-out and agile change programs don't mixhow to tap into the workforce's discretional effortthe 'hard' and soft' aspect of an agile change program; how the interactfear of change and how to reduce its effect on an agile programa short book review as it relates to this episode's topic