People from the Agile community who inspire me

Some gratitude to kick off a new year of blogging

The last year has been especially challenging. I closed the blog with a sharp and clear article. What better way to start the new year with an expression of gratitude? After all, despite all problems, there will always be:

• things that work

• things that still work

• things that work now

But instead of praising content, ideas, and topics, or books, videos, and courses, I want to highlight some people whose work has helped me in the last 12 months. The idea actually comes from one of them!

To get this article done, and to avoid it becoming an endless list, here are some self-chosen limitations:

1. I will not praise (former) colleagues. Otherwise, I would need to mention dozens of people. Or even worse, I would never dare to write it, fearing I would forget to mention someone. This is why Willem-Jan Ageling is not featured, despite having written many articles over the years. Happy to still be a colleague and regular discussion partner!

2. I will refer to articles and blog posts of the last year. No doubt that there is a lot of older material that rang true and was useful, and older writing that I discovered now. However, if I started to list this, I fear it might too easily become a collection of "the usual suspects", and the stuff that has proven time and time again to be valuable is also likely to be the best known one.

3. I will not mention books or do extensive praises, although both the books and their writers would deserve it. This is to escape the perfection trap. Books are worth separate entries, and who knows, maybe I will do this in the future.

4. I will not link or refer to LinkedIn posts. I admit that several posts of some of the people mentioned below helped me. I still prefer blog posts, and smart bloggers quote or paraphrase what they found worth mentioning on social media.

Let's get started - without any specific order of merit.

Bob Galen

Very experienced, self-reflected, humble, kind - in other words, how I would like to be one day. Many blog posts inspire me to think of what I do or what I can change about myself. For that to happen, the blog posts do not need to be perfect or about big ideas. Neither do I need to agree on everything. That is the magic.

Sample content selection:

Whatever Happened to Software Engineering Excellence?

The 7+1 Biggest Mistakes We Made with “Agile”

R. I. P.

Let’s Stop Conflating Life Coaching with Agile Coaching

Barry Overeem

I have learned from him in the past, and I found his words balanced and down-to-earth. He asks open questions and reacts to comments on his posts.

Sample content selection:

Are Agile Coaches (And Scrum Masters) Burning Out?

Don’t Get Stuck In Your Scrum Bubble!

The Benefits Of Agile

How To Show Your Value As An Agile Coach Or Scrum Master?

Stefan Wolpers

I first heard the name during the Agile Learning Lab Berlin a couple of years ago. Over the time, I have learned to appreciate his content more and more. His articles have a calm tone, the words always seem so well-chosen. Every now and then, he shows some humor that makes me laugh out loud. And he has a graphic designer that captures the topic of the post in a brilliant way. Plus, in all the discussions I had with him on Slack, he was really polite!

Sample content selection:

Product Team Empowerment Anti-Patterns

Product Washing

Why Leaders Believe the Product Operating Model Will Succeed Where Agile Initiatives Failed

Transformed Meets the Scrum Guide

Founder Mode: The Dark Side of a Hyped Model

Sjoerd Nijland

I admit that years ago, I envied him for his learning journey. He seemed to learn everything he wanted and remained a modest, positive person, always sharing what he learned. He is the one person of this selection that I met in person and with whom I had face-to-face conversations last year - which, unfortunately, I cannot feature here, although they supported me a lot. He is the living proof that mental sharpness and politeness go well together.

Sample content selection:

Agile on Trial

Simon Reindl

This is the newest addition to this selection. Although I already knew his name and some of his work, I discovered the depth of his contributions only last year. This shows that times of crisis and uncertainty do not mean you resort only to the "old and known". There is always an opportunity to find new value! Plus, his example shows that you do not need to write dozens of articles to be memorable.

Sample content selection:

Unproductive Polarising Extremes

Don't Try to Sell Scrum

(Yes, I wanted to mention articles. I liked this short video so much that I wanted to feature it.)

Thanks to all of you for your work!

883: Grazie mille