MERCH: Produce Planning Cards™ for Agile Teams

Planning cards help agile teams estimate work. Products for sale typically involve cards with numbers (exempli gratia, 0 … 34) or sometimes alternatives such as t-shirt sizes (exempli gratia, XS … XL).

Custom agile planning cards, Produce Planning Cards™, were created by Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. They feature a unique combination of both number values and images of fruit. For example, the 1 card has the number 1 and a picture of a blueberry, while the 34 card has the number 34 and a picture of a pineapple. With these cards, estimators can reference the numbers, the different size fruit, or both. "Produce" in the name of the cards has a double meaning: It relates to both the
noun produce (specifically fruit) and the verb produce (as in to create). This is explained below.

The Produce Planning Cards™ were originally developed as a promotional item, distributed to clients of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. Reactions were incredibly positive, and several people subsequently asked how they could get their own set. Based on demand, Produce Planning Cards™ are now available for purchase while supplies last. This brief article provides an overview and update on the product.

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Video: Produce Planning Cards™ Help Agile Teams Estimate Work




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Product Specs



  • Type of cards: Poker sized
  • Number of cards per deck: 54
  • Dimensions in inches: 2.48 x 3.46
  • Dimensions in mm: 63 x 88
  • Printing: Full color print
  • Material stock: 330 GSM professional weight stock
  • Material finish: Finest quality, superior smooth finish
  • Material sourcing: Printer sources materials from well-managed forests, and it supports green practices
  • Printer: Printer is a prominent manufacturer in the gaming industry

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Additional Information Including Suggested Usage



The Development Team—which may be comprised of business analysts, coders, testers, etc.—collaboratively estimates each item in the product backlog in story points. Story points are a relative measure of complexity.

Participants

  • Product Owner
  • Development Team
  • Scrum Master (facilitator/observer)

Frequency

  • Once or twice per sprint

Time-box (not to exceed duration)

  • One hour for each week of the sprint
  • It’s a common practice to limit each meeting to one hour and have multiple meetings as appropriate

Prerequisites/Inputs

  • Product backlog containing user stories, bugs, and other requirements
  • One set of planning cards for each member of the Development Team

Suggested Steps

  • 1. If each member of the Development Team does not already have their own set of planning cards, the Scrum Master provides materials as needed
  • 2. The Product Owner describes an item (a user story, bug, or other requirement) from the product backlog and mentions its intent and business value
  • 3. Each member of the Development Team silently picks a card best representing their assessment of the complexity of the work and places the card face-down
  • 4. After all of the Development Team members have made their selections, the cards are turned face-up, and the values are read aloud
  • 5. If all of the selections have the same value, the Product Owner records it as the estimate, and that completes the exercise for the item; otherwise, proceed to the next step
  • 6. Team member(s) who gave an outlier value —such as someone who gave a high value and/or someone who gave a low value—explain their reasoning
  • 7. After a brief discussion, the team may take the most common value (the mode average) as the estimate or they may play another round of this planning game (steps 3-7)
  • 8. Steps 2-7 are repeated until each item in the product backlog has been estimated
  • 9. The Product Owner updates the product backlog with the estimate values

Options

Some organizations use a subset of the cards and slice product backlog items when the estimate is "too large." Here's an example:

  • Development Team uses cards with the following values: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and 21
  • Predetermined that 21 is "too large"
  • If a product backlog item is estimated at 21, it is sliced into two or more parts in collaboration with the Product Owner, and the resulting smaller items are estimated by the Development Team

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What's Included



  • Each deck of Produce Planning Cards™ contains four sets of cards—enough for four estimators
  • Each of the four sets has a unique color on the front side of cards—it’s in either blue, green, orange, or yellow
  • Cards are based on the Fibonacci sequence, where every number after two is the sum of the two preceding numbers
  • Each set includes cards with the following values and images:

— 0 (No picture)
— 1 (Blueberry)
— 2 (Cherry)
— 3 (Strawberry)
— 5 (Plum)
— 8 (Apple)
— 13 (Orange)
— 21 (Coconut)
— 34 (Pineapple)
— "?” (No picture)

  • Each deck includes instructions
  • Each deck comes in a storage case

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Produce Planning Cards™ are Available for a Limited Time


While supplies last, Produce Planning Cards™ are $9.95 per set plus sales tax and shipping. For additional information and to place an order, visit our
MERCH page.


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Project Management Isn't Magic

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"Project management isn’t magic. But high-caliber project management professionals can apply the tradecraft to organizations’ strategic initiatives and consistently complete them on-scope, on-budget, on-time, and on-satisfaction. Which is sort of magical."

— Scott M. Graffius, CEO, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ is a professional services firm. We partner with client companies to help them achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. We provide project, program, portfolio, and PMO management services inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches to development and delivery. Business results include upgraded responsiveness to business needs, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, higher customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and greater competitive advantage.

For more information, you can
review what we do, see who we are, visit our newsroom, read additional stories from our blog, and check out our diverse infographics (each brief article includes a link to a downloadable infographic):


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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.

Scott is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them s
trengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’ book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Credit is shared with Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, the technical editors on the publication. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, the PM World Journal, Learning Solutions, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more are in the digital media kit at https://AgileScrumGuide.com. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Strand Books, Harvard Book Store, Books-a-Million, The Booksmith, and other retailers, distributors, and partners.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Within the IEEE, Graffius is a member of the Computer Society, the Consumer Electronics Society, the Broadcast Technology Society, the Internet of Things Community, and the Consultants Network.

He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional global standards. He was a member of the team which produced the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition and The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Congress 2019.

Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events in the United States and internationally where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and custom vibrant visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use. For additional information on Scott's speaking engagements, visit
http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.

Scott resides in Los Angeles, California.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

For more information, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ


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.
Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius to Speak at Los Angeles Chapter of Project Management Institute

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An updated version of the story is available here.

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions and author of Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, will present "Getting (More) Benefits from Agile" at the Los Angeles chapter of the Project Management Institute. He will deliver practical information including top factors from successful Scrum implementations—based on his first-hand experience and 116 sources—which attendees can leverage to gain (more) benefits from agile. This will be Scott's second talk at the chapter. The session will be held in Santa Clarita, California on June 2, 2020.

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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.

Scott is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them s
trengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’ book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Credit is shared with Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, the technical editors on the publication. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, the PM World Journal, Learning Solutions, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more are in the digital media kit at https://AgileScrumGuide.com. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Strand Books, Harvard Book Store, Books-a-Million, The Booksmith, and other retailers, distributors, and partners.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Within the IEEE, Graffius is a member of the Computer Society, the Consumer Electronics Society, the Broadcast Technology Society, the Internet of Things Community, and the Consultants Network.

He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional global standards. He was a member of the team which produced the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition and The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Congress 2019.

Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events in the United States and internationally where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and custom vibrant visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use. For additional information on Scott's speaking engagements, visit
http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.

Scott resides in Los Angeles, California.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

For more information, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Los Angeles Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-LA)

The Los Angeles chapter (PMI-LA) was chartered by the Project Management Institute in 1974. The chapter's vision is "PMI-LA will be recognized as a premier PMI chapter for the advancement of project management and a benchmark for other PMI chapters." Its mission is “To provide opportunities for individual growth in project management and increase corporate awareness of the project management profession.” For more on the PMI-LA, visit
https://pmi-la.org. The chapter's hashtag is #PMILA.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius to Deliver Talk at California Inland Empire Chapter of Project Management Institute

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Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions and author of Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, will present "How to Deliver Your Projects with Faster ROI, Competitive Advantage, and Additional Benefits Using Agile Scrum" at the California Inland Empire chapter of the Project Management Institute. The session will provide attendees with a vibrant and highly visual presentation of Scrum, the most popular agile development and delivery framework for products and services. Scott will cover the roles, responsibilities, tools, and techniques unique to Scrum—spanning from vision through release—based on best practices and top factors from successful implementations. Attendees will be presented with practical information they can use. This will be Scott's second talk at the chapter. The session will be held in Murrieta, California on Saturday, February 16, 2019. For more information, visit here.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.

Scott is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them s
trengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’ book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Credit is shared with Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, the technical editors on the publication. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, the Dallas Business Journal, the PM World Journal, Learning Solutions, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more are in the digital media kit at https://AgileScrumGuide.com. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Strand Books, Harvard Book Store, Books-a-Million, The Booksmith, and other retailers, distributors, and partners.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Within the IEEE, Graffius is a member of the Computer Society, the Consumer Electronics Society, the Broadcast Technology Society, the Internet of Things Community, and the Consultants Network.

He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional global standards. He was a member of the team which produced the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition and The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Congress 2019.

Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events in the United States and internationally where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and custom vibrant visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use. For additional information on Scott's speaking engagements, visit
http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.

Scott resides in Los Angeles, California.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

For more information, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Project Management Institute California Inland Empire (PMICIE) Chapter

The PMICIE—chartered by the Project Management Institute in 2002—is based in Rancho
Cucamonga, California. The chapter is committed to the advancement of the project management profession. It provides its members with networking, training, and professional development opportunities. The website for the chapter is https://pmicie.org.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Agile Project Management Expert Scott M. Graffius to Speak at Techstars Startup Week

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Scott M. Graffius, Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, will be speaking at Techstars Startup Week. He will be presenting "Agile Scrum Helps Innovators, Disruptors, and Entrepreneurs Develop and Deliver Products at Astounding Speed Which Drives Competitive Advantage." The talk will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 4, 2018, at The Box Riverside (also known as The Box Theater) in Riverside, CA. For more information and to register for the event, please visit https://ie.startupweek.co.

Techstars Startup Week provides presentations, workshops, events, and mentoring sessions designed to inspire, educate, and advance startups and others in the local entrepreneurial community.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ helps organizations achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives via world-class project management. The firm provides expert advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management in agile, traditional/waterfall, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.














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Talk at Project Management Institute California Central Valley Chapter Dinner Meeting on September 13, 2018

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This is an update from
Scott M. Graffius, Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.

I had the honor of speaking on agile project management at a dinner meeting of the Project Management Institute - California Central Valley Chapter (PMI-CCVC) in Bakersfield last night. The presentation provided a highly visual overview of Scrum — including the roles, responsibilities, tools, and techniques unique to the framework — with a focus on best practices and top factors typical in successful implementations.

Thank you to Fred Valenzano for the invitation and thank you to all of the PMI-CCVC members who attended the session. I enjoyed meeting and talking with everyone.

The feedback was fantastic. For those not at the event: an example of a sticky note used to collect comments at the end of the meeting is shown (the example is a blank one — not filled out — for privacy). It's excellent to know "What Went Well?" Potential improvements, however, typically come from the other question: "What Would You Change?" (Additionally, attendees can provide feedback via an online survey.) All of the feedback is important, appreciated, and valued.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.














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Yahoo Finance: Scott M. Graffius to Speak on Agile Scrum at Techstars Startup Week

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Scott M. Graffius, Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, will be speaking at Techstars Startup Week. A press release, distributed today, was carried by Yahoo Finance and other media outlets. You can read it on Yahoo Finance here.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.














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Scott M. Graffius Spoke at Techstars Startup Week on October 4, 2018

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This is an update from Scott M. Graffius
of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.

I had the pleasure of speaking to a highly-engaged audience of startups and others in the entrepreneurial community at the Techstars Startup Week in the Inland Empire on Thursday, October 4th. My talk was on agile project management. It covered Scrum—including the roles, responsibilities, tools, and techniques unique to the framework—with a focus on best practices and top factors in typical successful implementations. Benefits such as rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement were incorporated in the talk as well.

Thank you to everyone who attended the event. Special thanks to
Steve Massa and all of the conference organizers, Michael Ring for managing the control booth/ops in the theater, and Lara Phillips for the excellent photographs of the event.

Here's the link to the home page for the Techstars Startup Week conference: https://ie.startupweek.co.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.














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Scott M. Graffius to Speak at Project World Business Analyst World Toronto

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Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions and author of Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, will be speaking at Project World * Business Analyst World Toronto 2019. He will be presenting best practices on project management, including tools and techniques which attendees will be able to immediately apply at work. Scott's session will be held on Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. You can read more about it here: http://bit.ly/AGILE-1.

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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.

Scott is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. The consultancy provides project, program, portfolio, and PMO management services inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. Business results include improved responsiveness to business needs, faster delivery and time-to-market, upgraded on-budget performance, higher customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and greater competitive advantage. For i
nfographics and additional resources, visit http://Exceptional-PMO.com.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. The publication has garnered 17 first place awards. Scott and his book have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Dallas Business Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Innovation Management, and additional media outlets. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards and more are available at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets.

Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events in the United States and internationally where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates and includes professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use. His upcoming and past appearances are listed at
http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.

Additional information is available at
http://Exceptional-PMO.com/who_we_are/bio.

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About Project World * Business Analyst World Toronto 2019

The conference—which appears stylized as ProjectWorld*BusinessAnalystWorld—is an educational and training event for project management and business analysis professionals. Thought leaders will arm attendees with new skills, tools, and techniques that can be immediately applied in the workplace. Over 30 expert speakers will present more than 40 interactive sessions, workshops, and keynotes. All sessions are Project Management Institute (PMI) and International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) accredited. Offering professional development units (PDUs) and continuing development units (CDUs) for each hour of learning, attendees can earn up to 26 credits over the four-day period. It will be held on May 27-30, 2019 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. The official hashtag is #PWBAWTOR19. The website for the conference is here:
https://www.pmbaconferences.com/toronto.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.














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"Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions" by Scott M. Graffius Quoted by Informa Middle East

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Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, had consulting engagements with a division of a global entertainment business. A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with that client was the inspiration for Scott's book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is an update related to the book.

Content from
Agile Scrum (Scott M. Graffius, author; Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, technical editors) is quoted in a piece by Informa Middle East. Informa is a leading Dubai-based company offering business intelligence, academic publishing, and services in event management.

A red arrow in the accompanying image (a higher resolution version is available
here) points out the quote. You can read the Informa article by Anishka Abraham—which includes what to do and avoid with metrics—here: https://www.informa-mea.com/blog/7-mistakes-to-avoid-when-measuring-innovation/.

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About Scott M. Graffius


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Scott M. Graffius, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author. He is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. The consultancy provides project, program, portfolio, and PMO management services inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. Business results include upgraded responsiveness to business needs, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, higher customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and greater competitive advantage. Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets. Additional information is available at: http://Exceptional-PMO.com/who_we_are/bio.


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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 1

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the first installment of the eight-part story.

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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 1: The Call

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The assistant to the executive vice president (EVP) of technology for a division of a global entertainment company contacted me by phone. I was told that I was referred by someone who knew me and thought I would be a good fit for contract work. A one-hour consultation with the EVP was scheduled for the next day. I then received an email with several attachments including a non-disclosure agreement which needed to be executed and brought to the meeting.

I brought the documents to the session. The EVP explained that his division of the company was experiencing an alarming trend of problems with project management. He reported that deliverables were not meeting expectations, there was a marked decline in satisfaction, and
this was characterized as "the straw that broke the camel's back"a highly skilled and very well-respected team member quit, citing the problems as her reason for departure.

After an hour with the EVP, we agreed to extend the meeting (initially, my complimentary consult) an additional hour (billable time). I learned that this division of the company previously used a traditional plan-driven/waterfall approach for development and delivery. The EVP explained that things worked reasonably well then and that they were "close enough" to being on-scope, on-budget, and on-time that team members and stakeholders were satisfied.

The EVP explained, however, that he wanted to adopt a model (Scrum) employed by some of the other divisions of the company. The EVP said that he conducted a search for a value-added reseller (VAR) to help his group move to agile. A VAR-partner of a popular software solution was selected, and the VAR transitioned the group to Scrum. Reportedly, very few problems surfaced during the VAR's contractual engagement, which ended two weeks into the first sprint (then, the duration for sprints was four weeks). Many problems surfaced subsequently, however. The VAR had been gone for two months at the time of my meeting with the EVP.

The EVP asked me to make things right. I explained that change depends on many people and multiple factors and that a specific end result could not be guaranteed. I suggested, however, that I'd be honored to work with his group in the first step
an assessmentwhich would help inform the subsequent work of foundational planning. The objectives of the assessment include working closely with the EVP, the Scrum Team and stakeholders to understand their goals—and the environment, roles and practices. He asked me when I could start. I asked him when he needed me, and he replied "immediately." I agreed to start the next day.

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions continues with Part 2: The Goals.



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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.












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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 2

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the second installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the first post, you can find it here:
Part 1: The Call.

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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 2: The Goals

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Highlights related to the goals follow.

The executive vice president (EVP) identified his top three desired outcomes:

  1. Accelerate the development and delivery of products and services—to be faster than the earlier baseline of 6-12 months,
  2. Improve the satisfaction of the Scrum Team—to be the same or better than it was earlier with the traditional/waterfall approach, and
  3. Improve the satisfaction of stakeholders—to also to be the same or better than it was earlier with the traditional/waterfall approach.

I individually met with and carefully listened to each member of the Scrum Team. There were recurring themes. We then met as a group and I asked them to identify their top two or three goals. They discussed the matter, voted, and decided on these:

  1. Meet or exceed the expectations of management, and
  2. Deliver valuable products.

I individually met with executives from different departments (the stakeholders). In every case, they related that things were OK with the earlier traditional/waterfall approach, but that things were worse now. The stakeholders indicated that, with the earlier approach, someone on the project team worked with their group to gather requirements, and around 6-12 months later the results were deployed. However, it was reported that with the then-current approach, the projects' purpose and requirements were not understood, and that what was produced was unusable. The goals of the stakeholders were:

  1. For them or their representatives to be as—or more—involved as earlier with the traditional/waterfall approach, and
  2. Get a usable product as often as—or more frequently than—earlier with the traditional/waterfall approach.

Here's a recap of everyone's goals. The EVP wants the development and delivery of products and services to be faster than 6-12 months, improved satisfaction of the Scrum Team, and improved satisfaction of stakeholders. The Scrum Team wants to meet or exceed expectations of management, and deliver valuable products. The stakeholders want (themselves or via their representatives) to be more involved in requirements/user stories and get useable project-delivered products more frequently than every 6-12 months.

Everyone permitted their goals to be shared with others. After discussing the subject with the EVP, I wrote the goals on oversize paper and posted it in a common area proximate to the Scrum Team and accessible to the stakeholders.

Highlights on the environment, roles, and practices—primarily focused on the Scrum Team—follow.

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions continues with Part 3: The Environment.



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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 3

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the third installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the earlier parts, you can find them here:


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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 3: The Environment

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Highlights on the environment including roles and practices
primarily focused on the Scrum Teamfollow.

I learned that the Scrum Team was composed of 16 people: one Scrum Master, one Product Owner, and 14 Development Team members. Both the Scrum Master and the Product Owner explained that they were familiar with agile, but that they had no prior work experience with agile/Scrum and no related training—except for what was provided by the value-added reseller (VAR). The Development Team consisted of 14 people: a technical architect, a UI designer, a business analyst, seven developers, three testers, and a technical writer. Eleven of the 14 members of the Development Team had no prior work experience with agile/Scrum and no related training—except for what was provided by the VAR. Of the 16 people on the Scrum Team, 15 were local (at an office in the greater Los Angeles area), and one
the Product Ownerwas based out of her office in Paris, France.

Of the 16 people on the Scrum Team, two
the Scrum Master and the Product Ownerwere full time on the project. All of the others were allocated about 50% on the project.

I was given a copy of the training binder left by the VAR. I was told that the contents—about 500 pages—reflected the totality of the training and reference material. The training session, led by the VAR, was attended by the Scrum Master and the all of the Development Team members. The executive vice president (EVP) attended portions. The Product Owner attended portions, listening by phone. The first page in the binder covered the Agile Manifesto, the second page was a two-column table which compared and contrasted waterfall and Scrum (e.g., waterfall freezes scope, Scrum freezes schedule), and the third page showed success rates of waterfall vs. Scrum (e.g., 29% of waterfall projects fail vs. 9% of agile projects). The remaining pages provided information about the VAR company and detailed instructions on how to use their software product. That constituted the training.

The Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team reported that they followed the training and instructions provided by the VAR. I won't delineate the then-current roles further or describe all of the events and artifacts. However, some examples follow.

The Product Owner created a product vision statement and stored it in the software, but nobody else remembered seeing it.

The Product Owner created a product backlog in the software, but nobody else claimed to have seen it.

The Scrum Master facilitated a Sprint Planning event where the Development Team estimated work in terms of complexity, and the results were recorded in the software tool. It was reported that
due to the time differencethe Product Owner did not attend Sprint Planning meetings.

It was communicated that during Sprint execution, the Scrum Master would ask the Development Team if they had any notable progress; and only if the answer was yes, there was a Daily Scrum. As a result, the Daily Scrum event occurred around once or twice a week. When the meeting took place, the Scrum Master did a quick interview with each member of the Development Team and noted the results in the software tool.

I was told that the team followed the recommendation of the VAR for the sprint duration of four weeks.

The Sprint Reviews were attended by the Scrum Master, the Product Owner (remotely), all of the Development Team members, and the EVP. However, the other stakeholders did not attend the events. On average, about half of the work planned and committed to the sprint was "done." Both "done" and not-"done" items were demonstrated at the Sprint Review.

The Scrum Master reported that the team did conduct a Retrospective event at the end of each sprint and that the results were saved in the software tool. When I reviewed the information, I saw comments such as "we worked very hard" under the what went well category. Everything under the "what didn't go so well/opportunities for improvements" category were ideas for enhancement requests for the software tool. I was informed that the VAR instructed staff to convert everything that didn't go well into a suggestion for a future general release of the software or a request for a custom enhancement of the software.

None of the work from any of the sprints was released.

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions continues with Part 4: The Options.



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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 4

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the fourth installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the earlier parts, you can find them here:


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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 4: The Options

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After gaining a broader and deeper understanding of the organization including their Scrum implementation, I met with the executive vice president (EVP) and we discussed next steps. I presented three options:

  • No change,
  • Revert to the earlier waterfall-only model, or
  • "We can try different things" (aligned with the value of openness) with the objective of improving their agile implementation and achieving their goals.

I said, "we can try different things" because while I believed that changes would likely result in improvements, success could not be guaranteed. I also said, "we can try different things" because any meaningful change would require the cooperation and collaboration of many people. The EVP decided on the third option: trying different things.

The doing of "different things" started with training. I first met with the EVP. I then met with the Scrum Master in several one-on-one meetings. And since he was committed to education and improvement, he later on completed the Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) training and certification. The Product Owner was unable to attend the office in person for one-on-one training, but we communicated by phone and Skype. The EVP soon decided that the Product Owner needed to be co-located with the Scrum Team. He found a new Product Owner within the organization. I met with the new Product Owner in multiple one-on-one sessions. And—similar to what occurred with the Scrum Master—since the new Product Owner was committed to education and improvement, he subsequently completed the Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) training and certification. I delivered training to the Development Team as a group. It included an overview and more in-depth coverage of certain topics such as pair programming and technical debt. Later on, some Development Team members completed the Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) training and certification. Stakeholder training follows next.

I delivered a one-hour overview of Scrum to the executive stakeholders in a group session. The attendees asked questions and made comments throughout the meeting. One stakeholder suggested that we do what the American Management Association says is best for Scrum. Then other attendees mentioned additional potential sources for information on agile. I explained that different organizations may have their own perspective on what works well for agile/Scrum, and that one way to go (I mentioned this in part to continue their engagement, involvement, and buy-in) is to look to the Scrum Alliance, a leading authority on the subject, but also see if others have ideas that are aligned with the authority and also fit the desired future state of the organization. I committed to doing the research and the stakeholders thanked me in advance.

I already had a library of 76 items on agile/Scrum—consisting of material from the Scrum Alliance, Project Management Institute, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Gartner, KPMG, Harvard Business Review, IEEE, MIT, Forbes, and many others. I expanded it to include sources mentioned by stakeholders during the training session and I diligently reviewed all of the content. The diverse sources identified several values and practices as being central in successful Scrum implementations, and such factors were typically consistent with guidelines from the Scrum Alliance. I then met with each of the stakeholders individually and presented them with a summary of information from the Scrum Alliance and others.

I facilitated a follow-up group meeting with the executive stakeholders. Information from the one-hour training and the diverse sources was summarized. The stakeholders concluded that the central problem with the then-current implementation was that people were not following good practices. They then discussed, voted, and identified what they viewed as the high-level top 10 success factors for a Scrum implementation at the organization based on the previously presented information. In no particular order, the top 10 items were:

  • Support from management;
  • Each member of the Scrum Team (Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team) is 100% allocated to the project;
  • There is an agile coach, agile Project Management Office or agile Center of Excellence;
  • Satisfaction is a crucial metric;
  • The Scrum Team has no more than 11 people;
  • The Scrum Team is co-located;
  • There are consistent practices and processes;
  • There is a digital wallboard or other information radiator;
  • There are frequent and high-quality interactions; and
  • There is continuous improvement/inspect and adapt.

Some of the items overlap/are not mutually exclusive, and the items are not exhaustive. I thanked the executive stakeholders for their support, and I told them that the 10 factors are built into the go-forward plan. The stakeholders expressed their appreciation.

The EVP and I conducted a mini-retrospective on the training sessions. The EVP was enthusiastic about what we've done so far, and he said that morale had improved. He authorized company-paid CSM, CSPO, and CSD trainings and certifications for staff (mentioned earlier). The EVP said we could advance to the next stage: piloting changes. I asked if he was open to terminating the use of the software tool introduced by the value-added reseller (VAR). He initially said that so much time and money had been invested in it that it would be hard to justify doing so. I said it differently: "We can try different things" could mean putting the software tool
on vacation for a period. He agreed. We moved to the pilot—which involved doing many things differently. Examples follow.

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions continues with Part 5: The Pilot — Vision, Roadmap and Release Plan, and Product Backlog.



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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 5

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the fifth installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the earlier parts, you can find them here:


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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 5: The Pilot — Vision, Roadmap and Release Plan, and Product Backlog


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We advanced to the pilot—which included doing many things differently. Examples follow.

The Product Owner and I discussed techniques on developing a product vision statement. He opted to use the template attributed to Geoffrey Moore. The Product Owner created a draft of the vision and sent it with a request for feedback to the stakeholders. After receiving feedback, the Product Owner revised and finalized the product vision. He wrote the statement on oversize paper and posted it in a prominent location where the Scrum Team (Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team) and stakeholders could easily see it.

The Product Owner and I then discussed techniques on creating and maintaining a product roadmap/release plan. He opted for a simple table with four rows and four columns. The rows included:

  • Name (the title of the product or major release),
  • Goal (the reason for creating it),
  • Features (a high-level list of features), and
  • Estimated number of sprints.

For the columns, there was one for each quarter of the year. Similar to what was done with the product vision, the Product Owner sent the plan with a request for feedback to the stakeholders. After receiving feedback, the Product Owner revised and the plan, wrote it on oversize paper, and posted it next to the product vision statement.

Aspects of team formation were covered already. The new Scrum team totaled 11 people. All were co-located and 100% allocated to the project.

The Product Owner and I discussed techniques on developing and maintaining the product backlog. He opted to employ a simple table format with six columns:

  • ID#,
  • User story/description,
  • Category (he decided on four types: feature, bug, technical debt, and other),
  • Story point estimate for complexity,
  • Priority based on business value, and
  • Status.

To help with user stories, the Product Owner often referenced the INVEST (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable) model developed by Bill Wake. For priority, the Product Owner initially used the MoSCoW method (Must have, Should have, Could have, or Won't have). Later, the Product Owner found the business value/risk method (where each item is rated as high or low in two dimensions—business value and risk, ...) to be the most beneficial, and the Product Owner continues to use that approach today. In a session facilitated by the Scrum Master, the Product Owner presented the user stories to the Development Team, and participants provided story points (using physical cards for the exercise) for estimates of complexity of each item. Later, the team tried t-shirt sizing (S, M, L, and XL designations) for estimates of complexity, but they decided to return to story points.

Previously, sprints were four weeks in length. Now the team was using the shorter duration of two weeks. A key benefit was that the Scrum value of focus was improved.

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions continues with Part 6: The Pilot — Sprint Planning and Sprint Execution.



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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.












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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 6

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the sixth installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the earlier parts, you can find them here:


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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 6: The Pilot — Sprint Planning and Sprint Execution

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The Product Owner, Scrum Master and I discussed sprint planning techniques. The Scrum Master decided that the meeting event would be handled via two separate sessions—part 1 (what will be committed to for the upcoming sprint) and part 2 (how to accomplish the work identified in part 1).

For sprint planning part 1, the timebox (not to exceed duration) for the meeting was calculated as:

  • 2
  • multiplied by the number of weeks in the upcoming sprint (2 in this case),
  • which equaled 4 hours for the event.

The Scrum Master made the following information visible during the event: start and end dates for the sprint, (after a sprint was completed) the results of the last sprint review event, and (after a sprint was completed) the results from the last sprint retrospective event. The Product Owner reminded the Development Team about the product vision statement, and the Product Owner shared the sprint goal (such as "implement shopping cart functionality ..."). The Development Team determined their capacity in work hours for the upcoming sprint. It was calculated as:

  • the number of people in the Development Team
  • multiplied by the number of project productive hours (which excluded time outside the sprint such as company meetings, trainings, vacation time, etc.) per workday
  • multiplied by number of workdays in the sprint.

(Estimation via story points, and prioritization by the Product Owner were already taken care of.)

For each item in the product backlog, participants discussed the user stories/requirements including acceptance criteria, assumptions, dependencies, risks, and anything else requiring a conversation to get a good understanding of the item. The Development Team then committed to the entries which they thought could be completed in the upcoming sprint. The technique they employed involved asking "Can we do this first item in the product backlog?" If the answer was yes, they selected it and proceeded to the next item and continued until the team believed that no more work could be done in the sprint. After the Development Team had worked together and had data on actual velocity (the number of story points completed in a sprint), they also considered that historical metric—comparing it with story points for items in the sprint. The Product Owner updated the product backlog, identifying the items committed by the Development Team to be done for the upcoming sprint.

For sprint planning part 2, the timebox for the meeting was calculated as:

  • 2
  • multiplied by the number of weeks in the upcoming sprint (2 in this case),
  • which equaled 4 hours for the event.

The Scrum team created the sprint backlog. It had the following columns:

  • ID#,
  • Description,
  • Story points,
  • Task information (meetings, designs, coding, code review, testing, etc.),
  • Estimation in hours (they adopted the practice that if effort is greater than eight hours, split the task into smaller ones),
  • Owner (where members of the Development Team self-assign tasks),
  • Status, and
  • Hours of work remaining.

During the meeting, the Scrum team compared the total estimated work hours for the sprint with the Development Team’s capacity (mentioned under the part 1 meeting) for the sprint. If the Development Team believed that the sprint backlog contained too much work to be done during the sprint, they collaborated with the Product Owner to remove one or more items. If the Development Team believed they could handle more work during the sprint, they worked with the Product Owner to move one or more of the high priority items from the product backlog to the sprint backlog.

The Product Owner, Scrum Master and I discussed sprint execution. Select examples of what was decided and done are highlighted next.

The Development Team set up a task board (also known as a Scrum board) to reflect the work in the current iteration. They went with a simple format. The board depicted work in rows and columns where rows included work items, and columns reflected status (To Do, Doing, and Done). Work was addressed from top (highest priority) to bottom, and work migrated from left to right on the task board as it progressed. The task board is also covered in the daily Scrum meeting.

The Scrum Master decided to use a sprint burndown chart to track and communicate progress during the sprint. He set it up and updated it each workday, usually immediately after the daily Scrum meeting.

The Scrum Master created an impediment backlog to capture things preventing the team from progressing or improving. This backlog was updated daily, typically immediately after the daily Scrum meeting.

At the daily Scrum meeting event, the Development Team shared status, plans, and any impediments. Before this pilot with changes, the team was not conducting the daily Scrum (or updating the task board, burndown chart, and impediments backlog) consistently. Under the pilot (and subsequently), the Development Team met for up to 15 minutes (timebox) each workday, and it was conducted at the same time (10:00 a.m.) each day. At this daily stand-up session, the Development Team and the Scrum Master met where the task board, sprint burndown chart, and impediment backlog were posted. Each Development Team member described what he/she worked on since the last Scrum meeting, and he/she updated the task board. Next, the same Development Team member explained what he/she would work on that day, and he/she updated the task board. Lastly, the same Development Team member reported any impediments. (The Scrum Master recorded any issues in the impediments backlog. If a discussion was required, it took place immediately after the daily Scrum. The Scrum Master helped resolve impediments.) The steps were repeated for other members of the Development Team.

The Scrum Team built an increment of functionality during every sprint, and the increment was potentially shippable because the Product Owner might decide for it to be implemented at the end of the sprint. Said differently, potentially shippable is defined by a state of confidence or readiness, and shipping is a business decision. Commencing with the pilot, the organization started releasing products as often as every sprint (two weeks).

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions continues with Part 7: The Pilot — Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective.


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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 7

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the seventh installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the earlier parts, you can find them here:


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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 7: The Pilot — Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective

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The Scrum team—Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Development Team—and I discussed techniques for the sprint review. The event is sometimes referred to as the sprint demo. The timebox (not to exceed duration) in hours for the meeting was calculated as:

  • 1
  • multiplied by the number of weeks in the upcoming sprint (2 in this case),
  • which equaled 2 hours for the event.

Participants included the Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team, and stakeholders. All of the stakeholders (the executives mentioned in earlier parts of the story) were invited to and attended the sprint review. At the session, the Product Owner welcomed attendees and communicated the agenda. He pointed out the sprint goal, which was displayed on the wall in the meeting room. Next, the Development Team listed the work that was committed to the sprint. They then listed the work that was completed and the work that was not completed. For each completed story/feature, the Development Team demonstrated the "done" working functionality and answered questions. Stakeholders were invited to interact with the "done" working functionality and they did so. Then the entire group reviewed the product backlog and collaborated on what to do next. The Product Owner incorporated feedback into the Product Backlog. It involved adding new items to the backlog and/or re-prioritizing existing items. After the sprint review, the Scrum Master incorporated any feedback related to problems into the impediments backlog.

The Scrum Master and I discussed techniques for the sprint retrospective event. The timebox in hours for the meeting was calculated as:

  • 0.75
  • multiplied by the number of weeks in the upcoming sprint (2 in this case),
  • which equaled 1.50 hours for the event.

At the sprint retrospective, the Development Team identified what went well, what didn't go well, and improvements to be implemented in the upcoming sprint—an example of inspection and adaptation. For improvements to be implemented, each member of the Development Team wrote their top one, two or three suggestions on sticky notes. Each idea got its own sticky note. Then the Development Team grouped the sticky notes into categories/themes, and they discussed the items and voted to determine the top one (initially limited to one, later it was raised to two) for adaptation and improvement. The Development Team committed to the change and the Scrum Master recorded the information.

The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions concludes with Part 8: The Success.


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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, “Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions” | Part 8

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The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps companies achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. A fantastic agile transformation outcome with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott's award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. This is the story behind the book—told by Scott. Identifying details have been changed and certain elements are not included.

This article is the final installment of the eight-part story. If you haven't already read the earlier parts, you can find them here:


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Agile Transformation at an Entertainment Company | Part 8: The Success

By adopting an agile mindset and providing improved engagement, collaboration, transparency, and adaptability via Scrum's values, roles, events, and artifacts, the results were excellent. After one sprint, satisfaction ratings for the Development Team and stakeholders were higher than the target. After three sprints, the output of the Scrum Team became consistent and predictable, satisfaction increased even further, and all of the
seven goals mentioned earlier were achieved. Here's an overview:

🎯 Goal 1
  • Source: This goal was identified by the EVP (executive vice president)
  • Desired outcome: Develop and deliver products and services faster than 6-12 months
  • Result: The goal was achieved (with the agile transformation, delivery occurred as often as every two weeks)

🎯 Goal 2
  • Source: This goal was identified by the EVP
  • Desired outcome: Improve the satisfaction of the Scrum Team
  • Result: The goal was achieved

🎯 Goal 3
  • Source: This goal was identified by the EVP
  • Desired outcome: Improve the satisfaction of the stakeholders
  • Result: The goal was achieved

🎯 Goal 4
  • Source: This goal was identified by the Scrum Team (Scrum Master, Product Owner, and the Development Team)
  • Desired outcome: Meet or exceed the expectations of management
  • Result: The goal was achieved

🎯 Goal 5
  • Source: This goal was identified by the Scrum Team
  • Desired outcome: Deliver valuable products/services
  • Result: The goal was achieved

🎯 Goal 6
  • Source: This goal was identified by the stakeholders
  • Desired outcome: For stakeholders or their representatives to be more involved in requirements
  • Result: The goal was achieved

🎯 Goal 7
  • Source: This goal was identified by the stakeholders
  • Desired outcome: Get useable products delivered more frequently than 6-12 months
  • Result: The goal was achieved (with the agile transformation, delivery occurred as often as every two weeks)

The EVP, Scrum Team, and stakeholders declared the pilot a success and they made this implementation of Scrum the preferred approach for the development and delivery of products and services going forward.

In addition to achieving the goals summarized above, the agile transformation also supported the organization's efforts to innovate and drive their competitive advantage. It became more successful. As the business grew, so has the number of Scrum teams. Originally numbering one, the division presently has six Scrum teams.

This concludes
The Inspiration for the Book on Agile Project Management, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.


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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott M. Graffius’s multi award-winning book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242).

Here's an excerpt from the book: "Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive. Traditional development and delivery frameworks such as waterfall are often ineffective. In contrast, Scrum is a value-driven agile approach which incorporates adjustments based on regular and repeated customer and stakeholder feedback. And Scrum’s built-in rapid response to change leads to substantial benefits such as fast time-to-market, higher satisfaction, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage."

With clear and easy to follow instructions, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps you:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow. Get your copy today!


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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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11 Most Valuable Technology Certifications

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🔥 A newer version of this article is here.

In Technology, there's no substitute for experience. However, certifications remain a valuable tool for advancing one's career. Employers want candidates with up-to-date knowledge and skills, and certifications demonstrate a person’s mastery of the respective subject. Eleven certifications emerged as the most valuable in Technology and two of them are related to project management. [1] [2]

These are the most highly valued technology certifications today:

1. Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
2. AWS Certified Solutions Architect
3. Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
4. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
5. Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
6. Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
7. CompTIA A+
8. Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC)
9. ITIL
10. Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure
11. Project Management Professional (PMP)

If you're interested in learning about the project management related certifications, visit the
Scrum Alliance for the Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) and the Project Management Institute for the Project Management Professional (PMP).

Many employers prefer to hire certified professionals, especially those who also have college degrees and successful work experience to accompany them. Those who invest in professional credentials typically enjoy larger salaries among other benefits.

Sources:

[1] Robert Half. “Which IT Certifications are Most Valuable?” The Robert Half Blog. October 4, 2018,
https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/salaries-and-skills/which-it-certifications-are-most-valuable.

[2] Robert Half Technology (2018).
Technology Salary Guide 2019. Menlo Park, CA: Robert Half International, Inc.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

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Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a
Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

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Let's Connect

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A version of this article also appears at ScottGraffius.com and AgileScrumGuide.com. Both of those sites and Exceptional-PMO.com are owned by Scott M. Graffius.

© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, provides a revealing first-hand account of an organization's agile journey in his new book, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change. This is Graffius' second book.

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About the Author

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Scott M. Graffius is a project management expert, consultant, speaker, and author. He is CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Graffius' first book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, garnered 17 first place awards. Graffius and Agile Scrum have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, Learning Solutions, Informa, Innovation Management, and additional media publications. He regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world. Additional information is available at https://www.exceptional-pmo.com/who_we_are/bio.

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About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 978-1072447962) provides a revealing behind-the-scenes story about an actual successful agile implementation at a global entertainment company.

The award-winning book — a quick (60-90 minute) read — is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle formats in the
United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



It's on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" list as shown in the screen shot.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a
Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Trailer for "Agile Transformation" (TRT: 30 Seconds)



Based on a true story,
Agile Transformation by Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ Principal Consultant and CEO Scott M. Graffius provides a revealing behind-the-scenes account of a successful agile implementation at a global entertainment company. You're invited to watch the trailer for the book. The total run time is 30 seconds.

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About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 978-1072447962) provides a revealing behind-the-scenes story about an actual successful agile implementation at a global entertainment company.

The award-winning book — a quick (60-90 minute) read — is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle formats in the
United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. While every engagement is unique, outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery time, improved on-budget performance, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and more consistent realization of business results. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ confidently backs its services with a Delighted Client Guarantee™.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius to Speak at a Virtual Event of the Los Angeles Chapter of the PMI

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An earlier version of this story appeared on March 22, 2019. This version includes the update that Scott's talk will be a virtual event.

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions and author of Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change, will present "Getting (More) Benefits from Agile" at a virtual event of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Project Management Institute. He will deliver practical information including top factors from successful Scrum implementations—based on his first-hand experience and 116 sources—which attendees can leverage to gain (more) benefits from agile.

Location: Virtual event
Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Time: 5:30-7:15 p.m. Pacific Time

For more information and to register for the virtual event, visit
bit.ly/agile-virtual.

This will be Scott's second talk at the PMI-LA.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius is a technology leader, project management expert, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. His content has been used by corporations, governments, and universities.

Scott is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The consultancy provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. The firm’s expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery time, improved on-budget performance, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and more. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ confidently backs its services with a Delighted Client Guarantee™.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s first book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 9781533370242). It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, Informa, Innovation Management, the Dallas Business Journal, Computer Weekly, the PM World Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, NHD Podcast, Learning Solutions, Dr. Harold Kerzner’s Innovation Project Management, and additional media outlets and publications. The trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a list of awards, and more are available in the digital media kit.

His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 9781072447962), was named one of the best Scrum books of all time by BookAuthority.

Scott's content has been used by corporations, governments, and universities—including Cisco, RSA, Ford, LITE-ON Technology Corporation, Liberty Mutual Group, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, The Open University, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, and others.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds seven professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional - ScrumMaster (CSP-SM), Certified Scrum Professional - Product Owner (CSP-PO), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional standards. He was a member of the team which produced the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition, The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition, and The Practice Standard for Project Estimating—Second Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA Congress 2019, and he served as a member of the review team for the Scrum Alliance’s Global Scrum Gathering—New York City 2020.

Scott regularly speaks at in-person and virtual online conferences and other events around the globe where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates content on professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use.

Scott resides in Los Angeles, California.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

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Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

For more information, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About the Los Angeles Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-LA)

The Los Angeles chapter (PMI-LA) was chartered by the Project Management Institute in 1974. The chapter's vision is "PMI-LA will be recognized as a premier PMI chapter for the advancement of project management and a benchmark for other PMI chapters." Its mission is “To provide opportunities for individual growth in project management and increase corporate awareness of the project management profession.” For more on the PMI-LA, visit
https://pmi-la.org. The chapter's hashtag is #PMILA.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Gartner Featured Content by Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius

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The photo was taken during Gartner VP Cathleen Blanton’s session on IT Governance at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Orlando, Florida on October 20, 2019.

The quote on metrics ("If you don’t collect any metrics, you’re flying blind. If you collect and focus on too many, they may be obstructing your field of view.") is from
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step InstructionsScott M. Graffius, Author; Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, Technical Editors.

The whole context of the presentation was on governance and decision-making. Cathleen conveyed that the idea for the slide pictured was that if you measure something that matters, you can use those metrics to drive better behavior through visibility and focus.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, PMP, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private companies with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. Scott is the author of two award-winning books on agile project management,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 978-1533370242) and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 978-1072447962). Scott's content has been used by businesses, governments, and universities—including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, LITE-ON Technology Corporation, Liberty Mutual Group, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, The Open University, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, and others. He regularly speaks at in-person and virtual online conferences and other events around the world. Additional information is available in Scott’s full bio at https://www.exceptional-pmo.com/who_we_are/bio.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.



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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid models. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About Cathleen Blanton

Cathleen Blanton, Vice President at Gartner, is a member of their Public Sector Government team. She focuses on U.S. Federal agencies, covering strategic planning, governance, and ensuring IT enables businesses and mission value. Cathleen specializes in helping CIOs position themselves to partner with executive counterparts on the issues that help their organizations achieve outcomes in both efficiency and mission effectiveness. She takes an approach that is both pragmatic and tailored to organizations’ culture. For more information, visit
https://www.gartner.com.

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About Gartner IT SymposiumXpo

Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is billed as “the world's most important gathering of CIOs and IT executives.” The conference enables more than 9,000 attendees to shape the future of IT and business strategies. For details, visit
https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/symposium-us.

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About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. Their products and services include research, executive programs, consulting, and conferences. Gartner equips business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities today and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. To learn more, visit
https://www.gartner.com.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius Speaks at Events Around the World


Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, delivers dynamic and engaging talks at in-person and online conferences and other events—public and private—around the world. He delights audiences with presentations on IT leadership and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with information they can use. Check out his speaker reel (above).

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Bio for Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius is a project management practitioner and consultant with expertise in project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. He is an award-winning author and international speaker. His content has been used by businesses, governments, and universities.

Scott is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The consultancy provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to governance and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. The firm’s expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery time, improved on-budget performance, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and more. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ confidently backs its services with a Delighted Client Guarantee™.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s first book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 9781533370242). It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book has garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, Informa, Innovation Management, the Dallas Business Journal, Computer Weekly, the PM World Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, NHD Podcast, Learning Solutions, Dr. Harold Kerzner’s Innovation Project Management, and additional media outlets and publications. The trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a list of awards, and more are available in the digital media kit.

His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 9781072447962), was named one of the best Scrum books of all time by BookAuthority.

Scott's content has been used by businesses, governments, and universities—including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, LITE-ON Technology Corporation, Liberty Mutual Group, the State of Wisconsin, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, The Open University, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, and others.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds seven professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional - ScrumMaster (CSP-SM), Certified Scrum Professional - Product Owner (CSP-PO), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional standards. He was a member of the team which produced the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition, The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition, and The Practice Standard for Project Estimating—Second Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA Congress 2019, and he served as a member of the review team for the Scrum Alliance’s Global Scrum Gathering—New York City 2020.

Scott delivers dynamic and engaging talks at in-person and online events in the United States and around the world. He delights audiences with presentations on technology leadership and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with information they can use. To learn more, visit here.

He resides in Los Angeles, California.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid models. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius Named a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile

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Scott M. Graffius is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions. Content from his award-winning books on agile project management, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, and others.

Thinkers360, the world’s first open platform for thought leaders and influencers, named Scott as a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile. Thinkers360's highly-differentiated and patent-pending approach to rating thought leaders and influencers factors each candidate’s diverse contributions and content such as articles, books, media coverage, podcasts, social media, speaking events, videos, and more.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius is a project management practitioner and consultant with expertise in project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. He is an award-winning author and international speaker. His content has been used by businesses, governments, and universities.

Scott is a Principal Consultant and the CEO of
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he helps clients strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The consultancy provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to governance and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. The firm’s expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery time, improved on-budget performance, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, and more. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ confidently backs its services with a Delighted Client Guarantee™.

A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client organization in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s first book,
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions (ISBN-13: 9781533370242). It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. The book garnered 17 first place awards from national and international competitions. His second title, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 9781072447962), was named one of the best Scrum books of all time by BookAuthority. Scott and his works have been featured by media outlets and publications including Yahoo Finance, Computer Weekly, the Boston Herald, NBC WRAL, Informa (UAE), Innovation Management (Netherlands), the Dallas Business Journal, the PM World Journal, ip-label (United Kingdom), BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Software Quality Management, Human-Station (France), Learning Solutions, DZone, Innovation Project Management by Dr. Harold Kerzner, NHD Podcast, and others.

Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets, as well as experience spanning 20 countries.

Scott has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus in Human Factors. He holds seven professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional - ScrumMaster (CSP-SM), Certified Scrum Professional - Product Owner (CSP-PO), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

He has been actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the development of professional standards. He was a member of the team which produced the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures—Second Edition. Scott was a contributor and reviewer of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge—Sixth Edition, The Standard for Program Management—Fourth Edition, and The Practice Standard for Project Estimating—Second Edition. He was also a subject matter expert reviewer of content for the PMI EMEA Congress 2019, and he served as a member of the review team for the Scrum Alliance’s Global Scrum Gathering—New York City 2020.

Scott delivers dynamic and engaging talks at in-person and online events in the United States and around the world. He delights audiences with presentations on technology leadership and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with information they can use. For details including his speaker reel video, visit the public speaker section of his website.

Content from Scott's award-winning books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, LITE-ON Technology Corporation, Liberty Mutual Group, Atlassian, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the State of Wisconsin, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, The Open University, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, and others.

He resides in Los Angeles, California.


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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius Quoted in BMC Article on Software Metrics

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Shout out to Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ CEO Scott M. Graffius for being quoted in BMC Software's article, Software Quality Metrics Explained. An excerpt from Graffius' first book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, heads up the BMC article. The content is “If you don’t collect any metrics, you’re flying blind. If you collect and focus on too many, they may be obstructing your field of view.” Thank you to Stephen Watts and BMC for including it!

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Liberty Mutual Group, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, The Open University, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer. He resides in Los Angeles, California.

To learn more, see his
full-length bio.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About BMC Software

BMC Software, Inc. is an American enterprise software company. BMC offers SaaS-based and on-premises software and services in areas including cloud computing, IT service management, automation, IT operations, and mainframe.

BMC has unmatched experience in IT management, supporting 84% of the Forbes Global 100, and earning recognition as an ITSM Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for six years running. Their solutions offer speed, agility, and efficiency to tackle business challenges in the areas of service management, automation, operations, and the mainframe.

For more information, visit their website at
https://www.bmc.com.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

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Our mission is to help organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid approaches.

While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage.

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions has a Delighted Client Guarantee™. Our proven approach organizes projects into manageable deliverables with success criteria. When our clients are delighted with the results, we get paid.

To learn more, visit
https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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10 Agile Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow on Twitter

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🔥 The top 10 list was updated. The latest version is here.

This is a select list of agile project management thought leaders and influencers on Twitter. We started with over 200 prominent accounts and we got it down to the top 10. We're transparent about the criteria for making this list, so here's how we did it. To qualify, Twitter accounts were required to meet all of the following characteristics:

  • account is for a person or a professional association,
  • account is 3 or more years old,
  • account is active (1 or more tweets in the last 30 days),
  • 1,000 or more tweets,
  • 7,000 or more followers, and
  • 90% or more of tweets have engagement (e.g., likes and retweets).

The list is sorted by engagement level, presented in descending order. In cases where multiple accounts have the same engagement level, the number of followers breaks the tie. Data source: Twitter. Data is as of September 9, 2020. Disclosure: Scott M. Graffius is the Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. Source of screen shot images: respective Twitter accounts. Names, marks, and images are the property of their respective owners. Here are the top 10 accounts meeting all of the criteria described above.

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#1
Scott M. Graffius

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  • Twitter handle: @scottgraffius
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/scottgraffius
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "I'm an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Thinkers360 named me a top thought leader and influencer."
  • Account is 10 years old
  • 187 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 4,292 tweets
  • 8,053 followers
  • 100% of tweets have engagement

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#2
Project Management Institute (PMI)

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  • Twitter handle: @pminstitute
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/pminstitute
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Our mission—Making you and your projects more successful."
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 175 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 23,118 tweets
  • 128,093 followers
  • 99% of tweets have engagement

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#3
Scrum Alliance

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  • Twitter handle: @scrumalliance
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ScrumAlliance
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "We are Transforming the World of Work. Since 2001, we have supported the agile movement as the only member-driven nonprofit certifying body in the agile space."
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 23 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 9,835 tweets
  • 59,324 followers
  • 98% of tweets have engagement

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#4
PM Voices

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  • Twitter handle: @pmvoices
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/pmvoices
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Insights on all things PM, created by and for project practitioners"
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 47 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 10,873 tweets
  • 52,250 followers
  • 98% of tweets have engagement

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#5
Mike Cohn

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  • Twitter handle: @mikewcohn
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/mikewcohn
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "I'm an agile software development consultant, trainer, author and practitioner. I blog at http://mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog #MGSClasses"
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 11 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 5,187 tweets
  • 48,218 followers
  • 97% of tweets have engagement

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#6
Jeff Sutherland

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  • Twitter handle: @jeffsutherland
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/jeffsutherland
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Co-Creator of #Scrum"
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 6 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 2,523 tweets
  • 49,615 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement

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#7
Alistair Cockburn

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  • Twitter handle: @TotherAlistair
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Chaotic-good Lawful-neutral project witchdoctor. Bard. Dancer, specialty massage, poet. Sits underwater. Playful, wreaks havoc on the unsuspecting."
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 67 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 30,365 tweets
  • 29,342 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement

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#8
Lisa Crispin

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  • Twitter handle: @lisacrispin
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/lisacrispin
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Now available, Amazon & LeanPub: _Agile Testing Condensed_! See AgileTestingFellow.com, agiletester.ca, She/her. Quality owner, @OutSystems R&D, #o11y-bound!"
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 413 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 134,332 tweets
  • 19,618 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement

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#9

Agile Alliance

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  • Twitter handle: @agilealliance
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/agilealliance
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Agile Alliance is a nonprofit global member organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of #Agile software development as outlined in the #AgileManifesto."
  • Account is 10 years old
  • 137 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 9,636 tweets
  • 34,045 followers
  • 93% of tweets have engagement

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#10
Roman Pichler

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  • Twitter handle: @romanpichler
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/romanpichler
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Product management expert. Author of 'How to Lead in Product Managment’, ‘Strategize', and 'Agile Product Management with Scrum.'"
  • Account is 10 years old
  • 2 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 1,819 tweets
  • 14,151 followers
  • 93% of tweets have engagement

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Follow the 10 Twitter accounts listed above to join the conversation and learn ideas for implementing agile.

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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This story was simultaneously published here at https://www.exceptional-pmo.com and at https://agilescrumguide.com.

© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius to Speak on Strategic Alignment at CIE Chapter of Project Management Institute

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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO
Scott M. Graffius will present “10 Ways to Score and Prioritize Project Proposals Based on Multiple Factors, Including Strategic Alignment” at an event of the California Inland Empire Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMICIE).

  • Date: February 9, 2021
  • Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
  • Location: Virtual

Everyone is welcome to attend (PMICIE membership is not required). For more information and to register for the event, visit
here.

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Speaker Bio

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile. His full-length bio is available at:
https://bit.ly/bio-smg.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About the Project Management Institute California Inland Empire (PMICIE) Chapter

The PMICIE—chartered by the Project Management Institute in 2002—is based in Rancho
Cucamonga, California. Committed to the advancement of the project management profession, the Chapter provides its members with networking, training, and professional development opportunities. Its website is https://pmicie.org.



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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius to Speak at Scottish Summit 2021 Conference

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🔥 Update: The Scottish Summit 2021 tech conference recorded sessions and made the videos available to the public. The video for Scott's session is included at the end of this post.

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, will lead a session on achieving more benefits from agile at Scottish Summit 2021 on Saturday, February 2021. The tech conference is normally conducted as an in-person gathering at the University of Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow, UK. In 2021, the event will be virtual.

• Location: Virtual
• Date: Saturday, February 27, 2021

For more information and to register for the conference, visit
https://scottishsummit.com.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile. His full-length bio is available at:
https://bit.ly/bio-smg.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About Scottish Summit 2021

Scottish Summit is a diverse and inclusive tech conference that features a broad range of topics presented by the best speakers. It provides attendees with an excellent experience in a fun, relaxed, and friendly environment. Normally conducted as an in-person gathering at the University of Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow, UK, the event will be virtual in 2021. To learn more, visit https://scottishsummit.com.

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Update on March 5, 2021

If you missed the event, recordings of sessions are now available on YouTube. Scott's talk is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydwIehQdLKU and the video is also shown below.




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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius Speaking at PMI-CVC

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Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, will lead a session on ensuring the strategic alignment of initiatives at an event of the Central Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-CVC). His talk, “10 Ways to Score and Prioritize Project Proposals Based on Multiple Factors, Including Strategic Alignment,” will be conducted as a live online session on June 16, 2021, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

This session will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organization by being able to:

  • Understand the benefits of scoring and prioritizing project proposals based on strategic alignment and other key factors.
  • Identify selection and prioritization criteria appropriate for their unique organization, leveraging the flexible framework and some or all of the 10 factors presented during the talk.
  • Put the practical, actionable information presented to use. During the session, an example project proposal will go through the process, step-by-step. And attendees will receive a summary “cheat sheet” digital download that they can reference as a guide to help implement or improve this process at their organization.

To learn more and to register for the PMI-CVC event, visit
https://pmicvc.org/calendar?eventId=6905.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB has generated hundreds of millions of dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. He is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author (
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), and international speaker. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from Scott's books, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer in three domains: Agile, Digital Transformation, and GovTech. His full-length bio is available at https://www.scottgraffius.com/bio.html.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Central Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute

The vision of the Central Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMICVC) is to be the premier professional project management organization for business, civic, government, and education communities in Central Virginia. Its mission is to serve the professional interests of chapter members by enhancing expertise through project management education and training, supporting PMI certifications, and promoting association with other project management professionals. To learn more, visit the PMICVC website at https://pmicvc.org.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius Speaking on Strategic Alignment at Southwest Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-SWVA)

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Agile project management expert and influencer Scott M. Graffius will deliver the talk, “10 Ways to Score and Prioritize Project Proposals Based on Multiple Factors, Including Strategic Alignment,” at a virtual event of the Southwest Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute on May 11, 2021, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. To learn more and to register for the event, visit
here.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.50 hours. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.50 professional development units (PDUs), under the Strategic and Business Management category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.50 Scrum educational units (SEUs), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB has generated hundreds of millions of dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. He is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author (
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), and international speaker. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from Scott's books, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Brigham Young University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer in three domains: Agile, Digital Transformation, and GovTech. His full-length bio is available at https://www.scottgraffius.com/bio.html.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Southwest Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute

The Southwest Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute was founded in 2003 to serve the southwestern part of Virginia including the metro areas of Roanoke, Lynchburg, Blacksburg, Lexington, Martinsville, Danville, and Bristol. The Chapter's mission is to foster a community of project management excellence in Southwest Virginia. To learn more, visit https://pmi-swva.org.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius Speaking on Projects and Strategic Alignment at Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Project Management Institute

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Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, will deliver a talk on projects and strategic alignment, “10 Ways to Score and Prioritize Project Proposals Based on Multiple Factors, Including Strategic Alignment,” at an online event of the Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Project Management Institute on Tuesday, July 13, 2021, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. To learn more and to register for the event, visit
https://suncoastpmi.org/meetinginfo.php?id=125.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.50 hours. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.50 professional development units (PDUs), under the Strategic and Business Management category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.50 Scrum educational units (SEUs), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB has generated hundreds of millions of dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. He is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from Scott's books (
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Penn State, Virginia Tech, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer in three domains: Agile, Digital Transformation, and GovTech. His full-length bio is available at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Project Management Institute

The Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) leads the local community in the advancement of project management by promoting the PMI’s values and principles, as well as by organizing and facilitating events, activities, and initiatives to support individuals and organizations. The Chapter's objectives include:

  • Advance the mission and objectives of the Project Management Institute within the West Coast Florida area.
  • Develop a growing and committed membership of local Project Management Professionals through an aggressive recruiting and retention plan.
  • Promote Professional Project Management principles and techniques with local businesses, universities and professional associations.
  • Support and enhance Project Management Professionalism by developing and providing quality programs based on local Project Manager needs.
  • Create and deliver an educational program that strengthens local Project Manager skills and supports the Project Management Institute Certification Program.

To learn more, visit the Chapter's website at
https://suncoastpmi.org.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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10 Agile Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow on Twitter: 2021 Update

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🔥 The top 10 list was updated. The latest version is here.

Follow these top agilists to learn ideas for implementing agile.

This is a select list of agile project management thought leaders and influencers on Twitter. We started with over 220 prominent accounts and we got it down to the top 10. We're transparent about the criteria for making this list, so here's how we did it. To qualify, Twitter accounts were required to meet all of the following characteristics:

  • account is for a person or a professional association,
  • account is 3 or more years old,
  • account is active (defined as 1 or more tweets in the last 30 days),
  • 1,000 or more tweets,
  • 7,000 or more followers,
  • 90% or more of tweets have engagement (e.g., likes and retweets), and
  • Tweets were retweeted 0.75 or more times on average.

The list is sorted by engagement level (weighted at 4) and the sub-factor of average retweets per tweet (weighted at 1). In cases where multiple accounts have the same engagement level or average retweets, the number of followers breaks the tie. Data source: Twitter. Data is as of April 24, 2021. Disclosure: Scott M. Graffius is the author of
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. Source of screen shot images: respective Twitter accounts. Names, marks, and images are the property of their respective owners. Here are the top 10 accounts meeting all of the criteria described above.

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#1
Project Management Institute (PMI)

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  • Name: Project Management Institute (PMI)
  • Twitter handle: @pminstitute
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/pminstitute
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Our mission—Making you and your projects more successful."
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 269 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 25,331 tweets
  • 131,844 followers
  • 100% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 2.78 times on average
  • Project Management Institute (@PMInstitute) placed 1st

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#2
Scott M. Graffius

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  • Name: Scott M. Graffius
  • Twitter handle: @scottgraffius
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/scottgraffius
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Agile project mgmt. practitioner and consultant. CEO @Exceptional_LLC. Author @AgileScrumGuide. International speaker. Named a top thought leader & influencer."
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 275 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 6,222 tweets
  • 8,423 followers
  • 100% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 3.44 times on average
  • Scott M. Graffius (@scottgraffius) placed 2nd

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#3
Jeff Sutherland

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  • Name: Jeff Sutherland
  • Twitter handle: @jeffsutherland
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/jeffsutherland
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Co-Creator of #Scrum and #ScrumatScale and Signatory of the #AgileManifesto"
  • Account is 13 years old
  • 1 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 2,537 tweets
  • 51,129 followers
  • 98% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 10.25 times on average
  • Jeff Sutherland (@jeffsutherland) placed 3rd

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#4
Scrum Alliance

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  • Name: Scrum Alliance
  • Twitter handle: @scrumalliance
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ScrumAlliance
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "We are Transforming the World of Work. Since 2001, we have supported the agile movement as the only member-driven nonprofit certifying body in the agile space."
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 55 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 10,142 tweets
  • 60,437 followers
  • 98% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 2.44 times on average
  • Scrum Alliance (@ScrumAlliance) placed 4th

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#5
Mike Cohn

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  • Name: Mike Cohn
  • Twitter handle: @mikewcohn
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/mikewcohn
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "I'm an agile software development consultant, trainer, author and practitioner. I blog at http://mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog #MGSClasses"
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 16 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 5,288 tweets
  • 49,137 followers
  • 97% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 7.66 times on average
  • Mike Cohn (@mikewcohn) placed 5th

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#6
Alistair Cockburn

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  • Name: Alistair Cockburn
  • Twitter handle: @TotherAlistair
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Chaotic-good Lawful-neutral project witchdoctor. Bard. Dancer, specialty massage, poet. Sits underwater. Playful, wreaks havoc on the unsuspecting."
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 74 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 32,299 tweets
  • 30,044 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 1.62 times on average
  • Alistair Cockburn (@TotherAlistair) placed 6th

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#7
Lisa Crispin

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  • Name: Lisa Crispin
  • Twitter handle: @lisacrispin
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/lisacrispin
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Now available, Amazon & LeanPub: _Agile Testing Condensed_! See http://AgileTestingFellow.com, http://agiletester.ca, She/her. Let's succeed w continuous delivery together."
  • Account is 13 years old
  • 383 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 140,849 tweets
  • 20,088 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 0.78 times on average
  • Lisa Crispin (@lisacrispin) placed 7th

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#8
Roman Pichler

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  • Name: Roman Pichler
  • Twitter handle: @romanpichler
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/romanpichler
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Product management expert. Author of 'How to Lead in Product Managment’, ‘Strategize', and 'Agile Product Management with Scrum.'"
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 3 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 1,882 tweets
  • 15,188 followers
  • 94% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 8.7 times on average
  • Roman Pichler (@romanpichler) placed 8th

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#9
PM Voices

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  • Name: PM Voices
  • Twitter handle: @pmvoices
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/pmvoices
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "Insights on all things PM, created by and for project practitioners"
  • Account is 12 years old
  • 61 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 11,296 tweets
  • 53,205 followers
  • 95% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 1.33 times on average
  • PM Voices (@PMvoices) placed 9th

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#10

Agile Alliance

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  • Name: Agile Alliance
  • Twitter handle: @agilealliance
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/agilealliance
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: "#Agile Alliance is a global nonprofit membership organization dedicated to people and organizations that apply the values and principles of the #AgileManifesto"
  • Account is 11 years old
  • 98 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 10,526 tweets
  • 35,036 followers
  • 90% of tweets have engagement
  • Tweets were retweeted 1.84 times on average
  • Agile Alliance (@AgileAlliance) placed 10th

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Follow the 10 Twitter accounts listed above to join the conversation and learn ideas for implementing agile.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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This story was simultaneously published here at
https://www.exceptional-pmo.com and at https://agilescrumguide.com.

The short link for this article is: bit.ly/agile-influencers.

© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at Frug'Agile Conference


Scott M Graffius Speaking at Frug Agile Conference October 2021 - LR - SQ
Scott M. Graffius will speak at October 2021 edition of Frug'Agile Conference (Photo of Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat by Andrew Behesnilian; used under license, CC BY-SA 3.0)


🔥 Update: The Frug'Agile Armenia 2021 Conference recorded sessions and made the videos available to the public. The video of Scott M. Graffius's session is included at the end of this post.

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, will present “The Journey to Happier and More Productive Agile Teams” at the Frug’Agile Conference on October 15, 2021, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Armenia Time.

The conference will take place in Armenia and France, attendees can participate in-person or virtually, and sessions will be delivered in French or English (Scott's will be in English).

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 Professional Development Hour (PDH). For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 Professional Development Unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum Educational Unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.

To learn more and to secure tickets for the conference, visit
https://www.frugagile.org.

Scott M Graffius Speaking at Frug Agile 2021 v9G INSTA LR SQ
Scott M. Graffius will speak at October 2021 edition of Frug'Agile Conference (Photo of Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat by Andrew Behesnilian; used under license, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://www.exceptional-pmo.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About Frug’Agile Conference


Frug’Agile 2021 is a global conference on agile. The theme for this edition is "back to basics," and it runs from October 14-15. The conference features speakers from Armenia, France, and around the world. Sessions will be presented in either French or English, and attendees may participate in-person — from venues in Armenia or France — or virtually.

To learn more about Frug’Agile, visit
https://www.frugagile.org.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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Update on November 13, 2021

If you missed the event, recordings of sessions are now available on YouTube. Scott's talk is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewokhrpMCIE. The video also appears below.


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The short link for this blog post is:
https://bit.ly/frug-21
The short link for a related post on LinkedIn is:
https://bit.ly/frug-in



© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at PMI Budapest

Scott_M_Graffius_Speaking_at_PMI_Budapest_Hungary_2022_-_v-220128-BLG-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius—founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™—will deliver a talk on leadership at an event of the Budapest Chapter of the Project Management Institute. He will present "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility for Happier and More Productive Teams" on 16 February 2022, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. Central European Time. The event is virtual and free. Register at
https://pmi.hu/en/calendar?eventId=9624.

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About "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility or Happier and More Productive Teams"

Description

Want happier and more productive teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams of all types successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success.

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from the Project Management Institute, Google, Microsoft, IEEE, MIT, Software Engineering Institute, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Benefits/Key Learning Objectives

This talk will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organizations by being able to:
  • Understand the five stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
  • Learn the characteristics of each phase.
  • Apply proven strategies to help handle challenges or issues experienced by teams. By doing so, they’ll advance the teams' (and their own) success.

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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, LSSGB, ITIL | High resolution photo available here



Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over 1.75 billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://www.scottgraffius.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Agile_Transformation_Book_by_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v20220316TYPFIX-LR-SQ

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 978-1072447962) provides a revealing behind-the-scenes story about an actual successful agile implementation at a global entertainment company.

The award-winning book — a quick (60-90 minute) read — is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle formats in the
United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.


🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇷 Greece
🇮🇳 India
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇯🇵 Japan
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

🌏 More countries

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Budapest Chapter of the Project Management Institute


The Budapest Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI Budapest) is a professional project management organization, chartered by the PMI in 2003. The Chapter works as a community of volunteers to improve the quality of the project management profession by increasing the recognition and value of project management certifications, and by building relationships. To learn more about PMI Budapest, visit https://pmi.hu.

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About the Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading professional association for a growing community of millions of project professionals and change-makers worldwide. As the leading authority on project management, the PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education, the PMI helps prepare organizations and individuals to work smarter in a dynamic and rapidly changing world.

Building on a prominent legacy dating to 1969, the PMI is a “for-purpose” organization working in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, strengthen organizational success, and enable change-makers with new skills and ways of working to maximize their impact. The PMI provides global standards, certifications, online courses, thought leadership, tools, digital publications, communities, and more.

To learn more about the PMI, visit
https://www.pmi.org/.

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Let's Connect

exc-li-badge-19093011-lr-squashed

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-bud

© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Scott M. Graffius Delivering Talk on Project Team Development and Leadership at PMI United Arab Emirates

Scott_M_Graffius_Speaking_at_PMI_UAE_V8G-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius—founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™—will deliver a talk on team development and leadership at a complimentary online event of the United Arab Emirates Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI UAE). The complimentary online session — "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility for Happier and More Productive Teams" — will be held on January 13, 2022, from 7:00 to 8:15 p.m. Gulf Time. Register at
https://pmiuae.org/en/event-registrations/webinar-navigate-the-phases-of-team-development-with-speed-and-agility-for-happier-and-more-productive-teams.

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About "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility or Happier and More Productive Teams"

Description

Want happier and more productive teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams of all types successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success.

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from the Project Management Institute, Google, Microsoft, IEEE, MIT, Software Engineering Institute, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Benefits/Key Learning Objectives

This talk will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organizations by being able to:
  • Understand the five stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
  • Learn the characteristics of each phase.
  • Apply proven strategies to help handle challenges or issues experienced by teams. By doing so, they’ll advance the teams' (and their own) success.


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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, LSSGB, ITIL | High resolution photo available here



Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over 1.75 billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech. His full bio is available at https://www.exceptional-pmo.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Agile_Transformation_Book_by_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v20220316TYPFIX-LR-SQ

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change (ISBN-13: 978-1072447962) provides a revealing behind-the-scenes story about an actual successful agile implementation at a global entertainment company.

The award-winning book — a quick (60-90 minute) read — is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle formats in the
United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.


🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇷 Greece
🇮🇳 India
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇯🇵 Japan
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

🌏 More countries

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the United Arab Emirates Chapter of the Project Management Institute


The United Arab Emirates Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI UAE) is a professional project management organization, chartered by the PMI in 2014. The Chapter’s vision is: “Empower and influence individuals with the innovative Project Economy principals to turn ideas into a reality.” Its mission is: “To disrupt and create value driven to our chapter members and partners to become agile, innovative, productive in the platform for the growth of Project Economy.” And the Chapter is driven by 11 values: innovation, accountability, trust, equality, compassion, collaboration, commitment, community, determination, engagement, and learning.

To learn more about the PMI UAE, visit
https://pmiuae.org/en/.

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About the Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading professional association for a growing community of millions of project professionals and change-makers worldwide. As the leading authority on project management, the PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education, the PMI helps prepare organizations and individuals to work smarter in a dynamic and rapidly changing world.

Building on a prominent legacy dating to 1969, the PMI is a “for-purpose” organization working in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, strengthen organizational success, and enable change-makers with new skills and ways of working to maximize their impact. The PMI provides global standards, certifications, online courses, thought leadership, tools, digital publications, communities, and more.

To learn more about the PMI, visit
https://www.pmi.org/.

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

Let's Connect

exc-li-badge-19093011-lr-squashed

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-uae

© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













custom - back to main page of blog

Scott M. Graffius Presenting 'Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams' at Microsoft Teams Community Day Conference

Scott_M_Graffius_Speaking_at_Teams_Community_Day_2022_LR_SQ

Scott M. Graffius, CEO of
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary, will present “Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams” at Microsoft Teams Community Day 2022. The conference is a free community-driven annual event providing talks and workshops in German and English from experts around the world. In 2022, the event will take place online and in-person on January 28th from 22 locations: Berlin, Bochum, Bremen, Cologne, Dresden, Emden, Graz, Hamburg, Hanover, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Lingen, London, Lüdinghausen, Madrid, Munich, Münster, Nürnberg, OWL (Paderborn, Bielefeld, Gütersloh, Herford, and Lippstadt), Saarbrücken, Trier-Föhren, and Vienna. To register for the event, visit https://teamscommunityday.de/en/registration-2022/.

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About "Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams"

Description

Want happier and more productive teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams of all types successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success.

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from Microsoft, Google, IEEE, MIT, Project Management Institute, Software Engineering Institute, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Benefits/Key Learning Objectives

This talk will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organizations by being able to:
  • Understand the five stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
  • Learn the characteristics of each phase.
  • Apply proven strategies to help handle challenges or issues experienced by teams. By doing so, they’ll advance the teams' (and their own) success.

Teams_Community_Day_2022_Graffius_Speaker_v2022-2-LR-SQ

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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, LSSGB, ITIL | High resolution photo available here



Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over 1.75 billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books, workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://www.scottgraffius.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About Microsoft Teams Community Day


Created in 2017, Teams Community Day is a free community-driven annual conference providing talks and workshops in German and English from experts around the world.

The 2022 event will take place online and in-person on January 28th from 22 locations: Berlin, Bochum, Bremen, Cologne, Dresden, Emden, Graz, Hamburg, Hanover, Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Lingen, London, Lüdinghausen, Madrid, Munich, Münster, Nürnberg, OWL (Paderborn, Bielefeld, Gütersloh, Herford, and Lippstadt), Saarbrücken, Trier-Föhren, and Vienna.

To learn more, visit
https://teamscommunityday.de.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Top 10 Agile Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow on Twitter: Update for 2022

TOP 10 AGILE THOUGHT LEADERS AND INFLUENCERS TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER IN 2022 - EXC - LR - SQ

If you're involved or interested in agile, this article lists top agile thought leaders and influencers you may want to follow on Twitter.

We started with over 300 experts with Twitter accounts and progressively refined it down to the top 10. We're transparent about the criteria and calculations for making this list, so here's how we did it. To qualify, Twitter accounts were required to meet all of the following six characteristics:

  • Account is for a person or a professional association,
  • Account is 3 or more years old,
  • Account is active (defined as 1 or more tweets in the last 30 days),
  • 1,000 or more tweets,
  • 7,000 or more followers, and
  • 90% or more of tweets have engagement (e.g., likes and retweets).

The accounts meeting the above qualifications were ranked ordered and weighted on three factors:

  • Number of followers (weighted at 1x),
  • Number of tweets in the last 30 days (weighted at 1x), and
  • Percent of tweets with engagement (because this reflects the effectiveness of tweets, and to what degree they are connecting with followers, it was weighted higher—at 3x).

The top 10 accounts based on the criteria and calculations follow.

Notes: The data source is Twitter, and the data was collected on December 9, 2021. Disclosure: Scott M. Graffius is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. Source of screen shot images: Respective Twitter accounts. Names, marks, and images are the property of their respective owners.

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Top 10 Agile Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow on Twitter

#1 Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius

  • Twitter handle: @scottgraffius
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/scottgraffius
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “Agile project and PMO management leader. Consultant: @Exceptional_LLC. Author: @AgileScrumGuide. Speaker: bit.ly/entmt. Named a thought leader and influencer.”
  • Account is 11.7 years old
  • 375 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 8,572 tweets
  • 8,372 followers
  • 100% of tweets have engagement

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#2 Project Management Institute (PMI)

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Project Management Institute (PMI)

  • Twitter handle: @pminstitute
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/pminstitute
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “Our mission—Making you and your projects more successful.”
  • Account is 12.8 years old
  • 230 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 27,551 tweets
  • 134,096 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement

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#3 Jeff Sutherland

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Jeff Sutherland

  • Twitter handle: @jeffsutherland
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/jeffsutherland
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “Co-Creator of #Scrum and #ScrumatScale and Signatory of the #AgileManifesto”
  • Account is 13.6 years old
  • 3 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 2,548 tweets
  • 51,450 followers
  • 98% of tweets have engagement

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#4 Mike Cohn

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Mike Cohn

  • Twitter handle: @mikewcohn
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/mikewcohn
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “I'm an agile software development consultant, trainer, author and practitioner. I blog at mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog #MGSClasses”
  • Account is 12.4 years old
  • 17 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 5,385 tweets
  • 49,905 followers
  • 98% of tweets have engagement

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#5 Scrum Alliance

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Scrum Alliance

  • Twitter handle: @scrumalliance
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ScrumAlliance
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “We are Transforming the World of Work. Since 2001, we have supported the agile movement as the only member-driven nonprofit certifying body in the agile space.”
  • Account is 12.8 years old
  • 27 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 10,369 tweets
  • 61,016 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement

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#6 Lisa Crispin

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Lisa Crispin

  • Twitter handle: @lisacrispin
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/lisacrispin
  • Bio/description as shown on Twitter account: “Now available, Amazon & LeanPub: _Agile Testing Condensed_! See http://AgileTestingFellow.com, http://agiletester.ca, She/her. Let's succeed w continuous delivery together.”
  • Account is 13.5 years old
  • 452 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 145,111 tweets
  • 21,089 followers
  • 96% of tweets have engagement

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#7 PM Voices

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PM Voices

  • Twitter handle: @pmvoices
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/pmvoices
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “Insights on all things PM, created by and for project practitioners”
  • Account is 12.5 years old
  • 44 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 11,661 tweets
  • 53,667 followers
  • 94% of tweets have engagement

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#8 Alistair Cockburn

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Alistair Cockburn

  • Twitter handle: @TotherAlistair
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “Chaotic-good Lawful-neutral project witchdoctor. Bard. Dancer, specialty massage, poet. Sits underwater. Playful, wreaks havoc on the unsuspecting. He/him”
  • Account is 13.1 years old
  • 31 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 34,043 tweets
  • 30,981 followers
  • 95% of tweets have engagement

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#9 Scrum.org

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Scrum.org

  • Twitter handle: @Scrumdotorg
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Scrumdotorg
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “Scrum.org, the Home of Scrum, was founded by Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber as a mission-based organization to help people and teams solve complex problems.”
  • Account is 11.8 years old
  • 101 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 10,705 tweets
  • 46,591 followers
  • 91% of tweets have engagement

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#10 Agile Alliance

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Agile Alliance

  • Twitter handle: @agilealliance
  • Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/agilealliance
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: “#Agile Alliance is a global nonprofit membership organization dedicated to people and organizations that apply the values and principles of the #AgileManifesto”
  • Account is 11.5 years old
  • 41 tweets in the last 30 days
  • 11,144 tweets
  • 35,920 followers
  • 91% of tweets have engagement

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Follow the 10 Twitter accounts to learn ideas on agile.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

This story was simultaneously published here at https://Exceptional-PMO.com and at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.

The short links for this article are:
https://bit.ly/tw-2022 and https://bit.ly/agile2022

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Spoke at 40 Conferences and Other Events Across 17 Countries in 2021

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Scott M. Graffius, CEO and Principal Consultant of
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, delivered 40 dynamic, engaging, and diverse sessions at conferences and other events across 17 countries in 2021. His sessions spanned leadership, technical project management (inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management), and strategic and business management. Graffius incorporated everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provided audiences with practical information they can use. His engagements were highly rated by both attendees and event organizers.

Here's an abridged list his 40 sessions in 2021 (most recent shown first):

1.
🇺🇸 | Private event
2.
🇺🇸 | Private event
3.
🇺🇸 | DevOps Experience 2021 Conference
4.
🇦🇲 | Frug'Agile Conference Armenia 2021
5.
🇺🇸 | Private event
6.
🇺🇸 | IEEE Day 2021
7.
🇧🇷 | Private event
8.
🇬🇧 | BSides Newcastle England 2021 InfoSec Conference
9.
🇺🇸 | Private event
10.
🇧🇷 | Agile Trends Gov Conference 2021
11.
🇺🇸 | Private event
12.
🇭🇰 | Private event
13.
🇺🇸 | Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Project Management Institute
14.
🇺🇸 | Private event
15.
🇺🇸 | Central Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute
16.
🇸🇪 | Private event
17.
🇱🇹 | DevOps Pro Europe 2021 Conference
18.
🇺🇸 | Southwest Virginia Chapter of the Project Management Institute
19.
🇬🇧 | Private event
20.
🇱🇺 | Luxembourg Chapter of the Project Management Institute
21.
🇬🇧 | Private event
22.
🇺🇸 | Monterey Bay Chapter of the Project Management Institute
23.
🇦🇺 | Private event
24.
🇳🇿 | New Zealand Chapter of the Project Management Institute
25.
🇮🇪 | Private event
26.
🇺🇸 | Southern Nevada Chapter of the Project Management Institute
27.
🇺🇸 | California Institute of Advanced Management
28.
🇦🇺 | Private event
29.
🇬🇧 | Scottish Summit 2021
30.
🇫🇮 | Finland Chapter of the Project Management Institute
31.
🇨🇦 | ConFoo Developer Conference 2021
32.
🇺🇸 | Private event
33.
🇨🇿 | DevConf.CZ 2021 Conference
34.
🇺🇸 | Private event
35.
🇺🇸 | California Inland Empire Chapter of Project Management Institute
36.
🇺🇸 | Private event
37.
🇩🇪 | Private event
38.
🇺🇸 | Alaska Chapter of the Project Management Institute
39.
🇺🇸 | North Alabama Chapter of Project Management Institute
40.
🇳🇱 | Netherlands Chapter of the Project Management Institute

Visit
https://ScottGraffius.com/publicspeaker.html for detailed listings, videos (where available), testimonials, and more.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, LSSGB, ITIL | High resolution photo available here



Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over 1.75 billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions


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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/forty21

© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Delivering Talk on Project Team Development and Leadership at PMICIE

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Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will present “Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams” at an online event of the PMI California Inland Empire Chapter (PMICIE). The session will be held on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Register at
https://pmicie.org/events/calendar/future-meetings/march-8-2022-scott-m-graffius-level-up-the-happiness-and-productivity-of-your-project-teams.

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About "Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams"

Description

Want happier and more productive teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams of all types successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success.

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from the Project Management Institute, Google, Microsoft, IEEE, MIT, Software Engineering Institute, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Benefits/Key Learning Objectives

This talk will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organizations by being able to:
  • Understand the five stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
  • Learn the characteristics of each phase.
  • Apply proven strategies to help handle challenges or issues experienced by teams. By doing so, they’ll advance the teams' (and their own) success.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 59 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the California Inland Empire Chapter of the Project Management Institute


Chartered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 2002, the PMI California Inland Empire Chapter (PMICIE) is committed to the advancement of the project management profession and is focused on enhancing the growth of its members through networking, training, and professional development opportunities. The PMICIE’s mission, vision, and core values follow.

Mission

The PMICIE’s mission is to connect with its community to:

  • Recognize the value of project management.
  • Advance the practice of project management.
  • Deliver successful project results.
  • Improve their professional and personal lives.

Vision

The PMICIE’s vision is to be recognized in the California Inland Empire area as a dynamic organization dedicated to serving its communities through the advancement of the project management profession.

Core Values

The PMICIE’s core values provide continuity and a moral compass, communicating its key beliefs and guiding its behavior:

  • Trust and Integrity
  • Collaboration
  • Accountability
  • Commitment
  • Excellence
  • Engagement
  • Creativity and Innovation

To learn more about the PMICIE, visit
https://pmicie.org.

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About the Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading professional association for a growing community of millions of project professionals and change-makers worldwide. As the leading authority on project management, the PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education, the PMI helps prepare organizations and individuals to work smarter in a dynamic and rapidly changing world.

Building on a prominent legacy dating to 1969, the PMI is a “for-purpose” organization working in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, strengthen organizational success, and enable change-makers with new skills and ways of working to maximize their impact. The PMI provides global standards, certifications, online courses, thought leadership, tools, digital publications, communities, and more.

To learn more about the PMI, visit
https://www.pmi.org/.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-cie

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at PMI Ireland

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Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will deliver a talk on team development and leadership, “Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams,” at an event of the Ireland Chapter of the Project Management Institute. The session will be held on Thursday, April 14, 2022, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Register at
https://pmi-ireland.org/events/calendar/events/webinar-level-up-the-happiness-and-productivity-of-your-project-teams.

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About "Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams"

Description

Want happier and more productive teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams of all types successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success.

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from the Project Management Institute, Google, Microsoft, IEEE, MIT, Software Engineering Institute, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Benefits/Key Learning Objectives

This talk will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organizations by being able to:
  • Understand the five stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
  • Learn the characteristics of each phase.
  • Apply proven strategies to help handle challenges or issues experienced by teams. By doing so, they’ll advance the teams' (and their own) success.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 59 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Ireland Chapter of the Project Management Institute


Chartered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1998 the Ireland Chapter advances the mission and objectives of the PMI by promoting project management professionalism within businesses, universities, and professional organizations in Ireland. Its members include over 1,600 current or aspiring project, program, portfolio, and PMO management professions. To learn more, visit the Chapter’s website at https://pmi-ireland.org.

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About the Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading professional association for a growing community of millions of project professionals and change-makers worldwide. As the leading authority on project management, the PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education, the PMI helps prepare organizations and individuals to work smarter in a dynamic and rapidly changing world.

Building on a prominent legacy dating to 1969, the PMI is a “for-purpose” organization working in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, strengthen organizational success, and enable change-makers with new skills and ways of working to maximize their impact. The PMI provides global standards, certifications, online courses, thought leadership, tools, digital publications, communities, and more.

To learn more about the PMI, visit
https://www.pmi.org/.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-irl

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Speaking at Microsoft 365 Virtual Marathon 2022

Microsoft 365 Virtual Marathon 2022 - TEMP - LR - FOR BLG

Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will be speaking at one of the largest Microsoft events in the world. It's Microsoft 365 Virtual Marathon 2022, a 60-hour conference which will span from May 4-6. The event will feature talks from thought leaders around the world. Sessions will be presented in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Graffius's talk is “Tradecraft: Team Building.” To lean more and register for the event, visit
https://www.m365virtualmarathon.com.

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About "Tradecraft: Team Building"

Description

If you're a technology leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a tech team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to level up your leadership skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with an entirely fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams successfully.

You'll learn about the five phases—Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning—including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! By doing so, you’ll advance the teams' happiness, productivity, and success.

The session draws on the speaker's first-hand, real-world experience—with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from Microsoft, Google, Software Engineering Institute, MIT, IEEE, and many others.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 67 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About Microsoft


Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. To learn more, visit
https://www.microsoft.com.

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Let's Connect

exc-li-badge-19093011-lr-squashed

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-m365vm

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Speaking at PMI Greece

PMI Greece (sized for Twitter) - LR - TMP FOR BLG

Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will present “Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams” to an audience of project management professionals at an event of the Greece Chapter of the Project Management Institute. The session will be held online on April 6, 2022, from 18:30 to 19:30 Eastern European Time. Register at
https://pmi-greece.org/events/calendar/events/workshop/level-up-the-happiness-and-productivity-of-your-project-teams.

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About "Level Up the Happiness and Productivity of Your Project Teams"

Description

Want happier and more productive teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman's model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams of all types successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from team set-up to the after-party! Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success.

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from the Project Management Institute, Google, Microsoft, IEEE, MIT, Software Engineering Institute, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

Benefits/Key Learning Objectives

This talk will help attendees develop and enhance the contributions they make to their organizations by being able to:
  • Understand the five stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.
  • Learn the characteristics of each phase.
  • Apply proven strategies to help handle challenges or issues experienced by teams. By doing so, they’ll advance the teams' (and their own) success.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 67 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the Greece Chapter of the Project Management Institute


Charted by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 2002, the Greece Chapter serves its members and community stakeholders. The Chapter’s mission, vision, and goal follows.

Mission

  • Promote the aims and objectives of the PMI in Greece.
  • Disseminate developments in the project management related profession.
  • Provide a platform for the exchange of reflections and views on project management.
  • Encourage training, certification, and professionalism in project management.
  • Facilitate the connection of professional practice—in both public and private sectors—with the academic space in the field of project management.
  • Provide for the professional networking of its members.

Vision

The vision of the Greece Chapter of the PMI is to be recognized for continuous contribution to the promotion of best practices of project management in the Greek business community, in both public and private sectors.

Goal

The goal of the Greece Chapter of the PMI is to make known and more widely understood the need for good project management to achieve business results in all sectors of the Greek economy.

To learn more, visit the Chapter's website at
https://pmi-greece.org.

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About the Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading professional association for a growing community of millions of project professionals and change-makers worldwide. As the leading authority on project management, the PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education, the PMI helps prepare organizations and individuals to work smarter in a dynamic and rapidly changing world.

Building on a prominent legacy dating to 1969, the PMI is a “for-purpose” organization working in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, strengthen organizational success, and enable change-makers with new skills and ways of working to maximize their impact. The PMI provides global standards, certifications, online courses, thought leadership, tools, digital publications, communities, and more.

To learn more about the PMI, visit
https://www.pmi.org/.

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

Let's Connect

exc-li-badge-19093011-lr-squashed

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-gr

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Speaking at Agile Nepal Conference

Scott_M_Graffius_Speaking_at_Agile_Nepal_2022_v22031307-TMP-BLG-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will be speaking at the Agile Nepal 2022 Conference. Endorsed and sponsored by the
Scrum Alliance, this event will feature speakers and delegates primarily from Nepal but also from around the world. Graffius will deliver the talk, “Level Up the Happiness of Agile Teams.” The conference will be conducted at the Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur, Nepal, on April 16-17, 2022. Register at https://AgileNepal.org.

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About "Level Up the Happiness of Agile Teams"

Description

Want happier agile teams? Among other things, it takes great leadership. And proven strategies can provide a real edge! Enter Bruce Tuckman’s phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are an agile leader (or aspire to be one), a member of an agile team (or may be in one in the future), or are just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Bruce Tuckman’s model, but with a fresh angle: 0% theory, 100% real-world-based) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading agile teams successfully.

You’ll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues which may occur along the way. You’ll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases with speed and agility, from set-up to the after-party. Which helps advance the teams’ happiness, productivity, and success!

The presentation draws on the speaker’s first-hand, real-world experience, with guidance supported by research, recommendations, and coverage from Scrum Alliance, Google, DevOps Institute, Software Engineering Institute, IEEE, MIT, NASA, Microsoft, Project Management Institute, GitLab, Harvard Business Review, and many others.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 67 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About Agile Nepal


Agile Nepal is an Open Agile Community that provides an opportunity for those involved or interested in agile to connect and learn about adopting or improving agile. It organizes meetups, workshops, trainings, conferences, and more to advance collaboration and learning. To learn more, visit https://agilenepal.org.

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About the Scrum Alliance

Founded in 2001, the Scrum Alliance is the largest, most established and influential professional membership and certification organization in the Agile community. The Scrum Alliance is a nonprofit association with more than 750,000 certified practitioners worldwide. Its vision is to "Transform the World of Work” with a mission to guide and inspire individuals, leaders, and organizations with practices, principles, and values that create workplaces that are joyful, prosperous, and sustainable. For more information, visit
https://www.scrumalliance.org.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/exc-an

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Speaking at D.C. Cybersecurity Professionals Meetup Group

Scott_M_Graffius_Speaking_at_DC_Cyber_Security_Professional_Meetup_in_2022-_-Blg-LR-SQ


Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will be speaking at the D.C. Cybersecurity Professionals Meetup Group. He will present “Level Up the Happiness of Cybersecurity Teams” at a virtual session on Saturday, April 16, 2022, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Eastern Time. To learn more and register for the event, visit https://www.meetup.com/DCCyberWarriors/events/284929925.


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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 71 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About the D.C. Cybersecurity Professionals Meetup Group


Founded in 2012 and with 9,120 members, D.C. Cybersecurity Professionals is the country's largest Cybersecurity Meetup Group. At in-person and virtual meetings, members and guests discuss the latest technology topics, conduct hands-on offensive and defensive sessions, and more. Visit https://www.meetup.com/DCCyberWarriors.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Speaking at BSides Vancouver Conference

Scott M Graffius Speaking at BSides Vancouver 2022 - Twitter Format v3 - BLG-LR


Scott M. Graffius, Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ division, will be speaking at BSides Vancouver 2022 — a not-for-profit, independently run, community supported cybersecurity conference. He will present a talk on leveling up team happiness on Monday, May 2, 2022, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Tickets are available at: https://sites.google.com/fourthplanet.ca/bsidesvan.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 72 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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About BSides Vancouver 2022


BSides Vancouver is a not-for-profit, independently run, community supported cybersecurity conference and part of the worldwide Security BSides movement. In 2022, the conference will be a virtual event. To learn more, visit https://sites.google.com/fourthplanet.ca/bsidesvan.

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Let's Connect

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is: (coming soon)

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius Has Delighted Audiences at 82 Conferences and Other Events Across 24 Countries

passport map style - delivered 82 talks and workshops cumulative - v Dec 3 2022 - for EXC - lr

Scott M. Graffius — agile practitioner, consultant (Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary), multi award-winning author, and thought leader and influencer — is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker. Businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities have invited him to deliver talks and workshops on agile, project management, and technology leadership. To date, he's spoken at 82 conferences and other events across 24 countries, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Committed to giving back, a set amount of work is provided pro bono (no charge) to non-profits and charities.

To learn more, visit our
blog and newsroom. Also see the public speaker section of Graffius's website.

#Agile #AgileCoach #AgileProjectManagement #Agility #Business #Collaboration #Culture #Development #DevOps #Innovation #InternationalSpeaker #IT #KeynoteSpeaker #Leadership #Management #MVP #OrganizationalAgility #PMO #Product #Project #ProjectManagement #PublicSpeaker #Software #Speaker #Strategic #Sustainability #Team #Tech #Technology #Tradecraft

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 82 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Pro_Bono_-_v-22012707-LR-SQ

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Let's Connect

exc-li-badge-19093011-lr-squashed

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/global-agile

© Copyright 2022 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Top 10 Agile Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow on Twitter: Update for 2023

Exceptional-PMO_com_Agile_Thought_Leaders_Blg-Bnnr-LR-3-2023_1000x479

If you're involved or interested in agile—and you're on Twitter—this article highlights agile thought leaders and influencers you may want to follow on the platform.

Update for 2023

We started with over 400 Twitter accounts and progressively refined it down to the top 10. We're transparent about the criteria and calculations for making this list; so, here's how we did it.

To qualify, Twitter accounts were required to meet all of the following six characteristics:

  • Account is for a person or a professional association,
  • Account is 3 or more years old,
  • Account is active (defined as 5 or more tweets in the last 30 days),
  • 1,000 or more tweets,
  • 7,000 or more followers, and
  • 90% or more of tweets have engagement (e.g., likes and retweets).

The accounts meeting the above qualifications were then weighted and ranked ordered on three factors:

  • Number of followers (weighted at 1x),
  • Number of tweets in the last 30 days (weighted at 1x), and
  • Percent of tweets with engagement (because this reflects the effectiveness of tweets, and to what degree they are connecting with followers, it was weighted higher—at 3x).

How We Did It - Making the List in 2023 - Exceptional-PMO_com - LR-SQ

Notes: The data source is Twitter. Conducted analysis on 9/21/22. Edited story on 1/1/23. Disclosure: Scott M. Graffius is the author of Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. Source of screen shot images: Respective Twitter accounts. Names, marks, and images are the property of their respective owners.


The top 10 follow.

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#1 | Project Management Institute (PMI)


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#2 | Henrik Kniberg

  • Twitter handle: @HenrikKniberg
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/henrikkniberg
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: Former Minecraft game designer/developer/coach @ Mojang. Cofounder of http://GoClimate.com. Like to jam! Previously Spotify/LEGO. I'm MrHenrik in MC.

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#3 | Scott M. Graffius

  • Twitter handle: @ScottGraffius
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/scottgraffius
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: Agile, project management and PMO leader. Award-winning author. Keynote speaker. Global Fortune 500 experience in leading business and tech transformations.

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#4 | Scrum.org

  • Twitter handle: @ScrumDotOrg
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/Scrumdotorg
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: Scrum.org, the Home of Scrum, was founded by Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber as a mission-based organization to help people and teams solve complex problems.

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#5 | Jeff Sutherland


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#6 | Mike Cohn

  • Twitter handle: @MikeWCohn
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/MikeWCohn
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: I'm an agile software development consultant, trainer, author and practitioner. I blog at http://mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog #MGSClasses

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#7 | PM Voices


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#8 | Agile Alliance

  • Twitter handle: @AgileAlliance
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/AgileAlliance
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: #Agile Alliance is a global nonprofit membership organization dedicated to people and organizations that apply the values and principles of the #AgileManifesto

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#9 | Scrum Alliance

  • Twitter handle: @ScrumAlliance
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/ScrumAlliance
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: We advance real-world agility by equipping changemakers with what they need to get the job and get the job done.

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#10 | Esther Derby

  • Twitter handle: @EstherDerby
  • Direct link: https://twitter.com/EstherDerby
  • Bio/description as it appears on Twitter account: Coach and consultant. Helping ppl create work environments that are humane and productive. Podcast: http://changebyattraction.simplecast.com

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Follow the 10 Twitter accounts for insights on agile.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and highly sought-after international keynote speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the CEO and Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. Content from his books, talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, U.S. Soccer Federation, Qantas, National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. National Park Service, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Warsaw University of Technology, and others. Graffius has delighted audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile and technology leadership at 82 conferences and other events across 24 countries.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.

🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇷 Greece
🇭🇺 Hungary
🇮🇳 India
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇮🇱 Israel
🇮🇹 Italy
🇯🇵 Japan
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇳🇴 Norway
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇦🇪 UAE
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

🌏 More countries

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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.


🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇷 Greece
🇮🇳 India
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇯🇵 Japan
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

🌏 More countries

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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This story was simultaneously published here and at
https://AgileScrumGuide.com.

The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/2023-agile.

© Copyright 2023 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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'Innovation Project Management' (Second Edition) Features Content from Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO and Principal Consultant Scott M. Graffius

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Innovation Project Management features content from Scott M. Graffius, CEO and Principal Consultant, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™.

As shown below, material from Graffius'
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions book heads up the Agile Innovation section of the second edition of Harold Kerzner's Innovation Project Management: Methods, Case Studies, and Tools for Managing Innovation Projects.

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About Scott M. Graffius

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_Exceptional_Agility_-_Scott_M_Graffius_-_v22021807-LR-SQ

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 82 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_-_Agile_Scrum_-_If_Youre_Interested_or_Involved_-_v22020507-EXC-BLG-LR-SQ

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

scott_m_graffius_agile_transformation_sq_lr_1000x1000

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

Exceptional_PPM_and_PMO_Solutions_-_We_Provide_Client_Organizations_-_-v220205-MtnTopSuccess-EXC-EA-LR-SQ

Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions helps client organizations strengthen their project management capabilities and realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. The firm provides advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. While every engagement is unique, business outcomes typically include getting more projects done, faster delivery and time-to-market, improved on-budget performance, better management of risks, improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction, more consistent realization of business results, and greater competitive advantage. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions provides a Delighted Client Guarantee™. For details, visit https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About Harold Kerzner

Harold Kerzner, Ph.D. is Senior Executive Director at the International Institute for Learning (IIL). He is a globally recognized expert on project management and strategic planning, and the author of many best-selling books including Innovation Project Management: Methods, Case Studies, and Tools for Managing Innovation Projects.

For 50 years, Dr. Kerzner has shared vital guidance for making project management a strategic tool for competitive advantage and helping companies around the world build a powerful foundation for organizational improvement and excellence.

Dr. Kerzner has an MS and Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Utah State University. He is a former Air Force Officer and spent several years at Morton-Thiokol in project management. Kerzner taught engineering at the University of Illinois and business administration at Utah State University, and he taught project management at Baldwin-Wallace University.

To learn more, visit
here.

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About Innovation Project Management: Methods, Case Studies, and Tools for Managing Innovation Projects by Harold Kerzner

The following information includes excerpts from the product description provided by the publisher.

The newly revised second edition of Innovation Project Management offers tools, processes, and metrics needed to successfully manage innovation projects, providing value-based innovation project management metrics as well as guidance for how to establish a metrics management program.

The highly qualified author analyzes innovation from all sides; through this approach,
Innovation Project Management breaks down traditional project management methods and explains why and how innovation projects should be managed differently.

The second edition has exclusive insights from world-class organizations such as IBM, Hitachi, Repsol, Philips, Deloitte, IdeaScale, KAUST, and more. It includes six all new case studies, featuring a dive into brand management innovation from Lego.

Some of the ideas discussed in
Innovation Project Management include:

  • Continuous versus discontinuous innovation, incremental versus radical innovation, understanding innovation differences, and incremental innovation versus new product development.
  • Identifying core competencies using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis and nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements.
  • Implications and issues for project managers and innovation personnel, active listening, pitching the innovation, and cognitive biases.
  • Measuring intangible assets, customer/user/stakeholder impact on value metrics, customer value management programs, and the relationship between project management and value.
  • With its highly detailed and comprehensive coverage of the field, and with case studies from leading companies to show how concepts are applied in real-world situations, Innovation Project Management is a must-have title for practicing project managers, as well as students in project management, innovation, and entrepreneurship programs.

To learn more, visit here.

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Let's Connect

Follow Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions on Twitter - v 22122207 1000x1000 lr - sq

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.


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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/ipm-2023

© Copyright 2023 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™.








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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ Presents Project Scoring and Prioritization Kit

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Project and program management focus on “doing the work right,” while project portfolio management (PPM) deals with “doing the right work.” PPM is a vital part of ensuring the success of the organization’s overall strategic plan.

This Project Portfolio Management Project Prioritization Scoring Tool (2023 edition) uses an array of primarily objective criteria to help technology and business leaders assess and prioritize projects to best achieve strategic objectives. Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ provides this tool a basic example for review and potential adaptation and adoption. The strategic objectives, criteria, scales, and other details must be tailored to your organization’s unique needs.

Project Portfolio Management Project Scoring Tool v2023 Thubnail for Blog

A high-resolution version of the infographic (5.6 MB PDF) is available here.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, and Exceptional Agility

Led by Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™ provides organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them build and advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities and results to best realize their strategic objectives and initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable.

The firm and its people and content has been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and many others.

To learn more, visit
https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Follow Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions on Twitter - v 22122207 1000x1000 lr - sq

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/ppm-2023

© Copyright 2023 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.













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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and Exceptional Agility™ Presents Agile Timeline Infographic

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When did Agile begin? Some say the answer is 2001, but that date doesn't appropriately reflect history. Agile's origins — including incremental software development — can be clearly traced back to 1957. Agile has a relatively long and colorful history. Many key events occurred before, during, and after 2001.


Agile Has a Long and Colorful Heritage: A Timeline Infographic
highlights key events and advancements in agile over time. A criteria for inclusion is that each entry has one or more objective and credible citation(s). This infographic references matters spanning from 1957 to 2008; it's not an exhaustive list of every possible event.

Exceptional Agility - Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutiions - Agile Timeline Infographic - JPG - PREVIEW IMAGE FOR BLOG

A high-resolution version of the infographic (618 KB PDF) is available here.

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, and Exceptional Agility

Led by Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™ provides organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them build and advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities and results to best realize their strategic objectives and initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable.

The firm and its people and content has been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and many others.

To learn more, visit
https://www.Exceptional-PMO.com.

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Follow Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions on Twitter - v 22122207 1000x1000 lr - sq

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/agilehistory

© Copyright 2023 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.













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Content from Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions CEO Scott M. Graffius Featured by Hochschule Zittau Gorlitz University of Applied Sciences

Scott M Graffius Featured by Zittau Görlitz University of Applied Sciences - LR

Businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities have used and featured Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions Founder and CEO Scott M. Graffius and content from his books, talks, workshops, and more. Examples of organizations include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and many others.

This month, Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz (Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences) was added to the list of organizations. Dr. Ingo Cassack, Professor at the university, incorporated Graffius'
Phases of Team Development work into Dr. Cassack's material on project management. Two excerpts follow.

Scott M Graffius Featured by Zittau Görlitz University of Applied Sciences - Excerpt 1

Scott M Graffius Featured by Zittau Görlitz University of Applied Sciences - Excerpt 2

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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, and Exceptional Agility

Led by Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™ provides organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them build and advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities and results to best realize their strategic objectives and initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable.

The firm and its people and content has been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and many others.


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About Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz

Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz (Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences) is a non-profit public higher-education institution located in Zittau — in the border triangle between Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland . The institution also has a branch campus in Görlitz, Saxon, Germany. Officially recognized by the Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst (Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts), Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz is a top tier coeducational German higher education institution with no tuition fees, state-of-the-art equipment, and intensive support. Visit https://www.hszg.de to learn more.

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Follow Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions on Twitter - v 22122207 1000x1000 lr - sq

Connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The short link for this article is:
https://bit.ly/zgu-2023

© Copyright 2023 Scott M. Graffius, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.













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"AI is a Team Sport: A Confluence of Diverse Technical and Soft Skills are Crucial for Success" by Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions' Founder Scott M. Graffius

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This article covers the significance of well-rounded AI teams, including how both soft and technical skills are critical and fuel success. It’s informed by Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions Founder Scott M. Graffius' work with AI teams as well as research and coverage from DARPA, IBM, IEEE, MIT, Microsoft, Software Engineering Institute, Stanford University, United States Artificial Intelligence Institute, and others (all listed in the bibliography section of this article). This story was first published at: https://ScottGraffius.com.

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force across a growing number of industries, revolutionizing how we live, work, and interact. From autonomous vehicles and virtual assistants to personalized recommendations and medical diagnoses, AI systems have become integral to our daily lives. Behind these cutting-edge, life-changing solutions are AI teams that possess a combination of soft skills—also known as core skills, interpersonal skills, people skills, power skills, transferable skills, or transversal skills—and technical expertise.

This article highlights the synergy between soft skills and technical skills in the world of AI. While technical skills provide the general foundation for AI development, it’s the soft skills that elevate AI projects to new heights. From effective communication and critical thinking to leadership and teamwork, soft skills play a pivotal role in translating technical knowledge and capabilities into real-world applications.

The thesis of this article is that the successful development and application of AI requires a combination of soft skills and technical expertise. Technical competencies alone are not enough. Rather, it’s the combination and integration of soft and technical skills that truly unlocks the power of AI.

Next, this article focuses on the importance of soft skills in the AI landscape, highlighting how they complement and enhance technical abilities. The collaboration between these skill sets drives AI innovation.

Understanding Soft Skills in AI Teams

In the realm of AI, technical expertise often takes center stage. However, soft skills advance the successful outcomes of AI projects, as they facilitate effective communication, foster collaboration, and promote critical thinking. Soft skills are powerful facilitators of success.

Soft skills encompass a range of interpersonal and cognitive abilities that enable teams to work harmoniously, adapt to evolving challenges, and solve complex problems. In the AI landscape, where multidisciplinary teams come together to create innovative solutions, these soft skills are essential.

Effective communication stands at the forefront of soft skills in AI. AI teams must articulate complex technical concepts in a manner that is understandable to diverse stakeholders, including non-technical staff and internal or external customers/users. Clear communication promotes collaboration and ensures alignment of purpose and objectives throughout the AI development lifecycle.

Soft skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking are vital as well. AI teams frequently encounter multifaceted challenges, and it is through these soft skills that teams can identify potential bottlenecks, navigate complexities, and devise innovative solutions. By leveraging critical thinking, AI team members can evaluate different approaches, consider ethical implications, and make informed decisions that shape the development and application of AI systems.

Leadership and teamwork skills are also paramount. AI projects involve team members from diverse backgrounds, including data scientists, engineers, domain experts, designers, and others. Effective leadership enables the coordination of efforts and guides the project towards success. Similarly, teamwork skills foster an environment of trust and respect, promoting synergy among team members and enhancing overall productivity.

Recognizing the importance of soft skills in AI is crucial for fostering a balanced and effective team dynamic. It ensures that AI teams possess the interpersonal and cognitive abilities necessary to bring AI projects to fruition. The integration of soft skills alongside technical expertise sets the stage for a cohesive team capable of tackling complex AI challenges with agility and innovation.

The role of technical skills—including how they intersect with soft skills to create a powerful combination that drives success—are covered next.

The Role of Technical Skills in AI Teams

Technical skills provide the tools and knowledge required to design, build, and implement AI systems. This section explores the role that technical skills play in AI and their specific applications in various stages of AI projects.

  • Programming Languages and Algorithms: Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Java, or R is essential. These languages enable team members to write efficient code, manipulate and analyze data, and implement machine learning algorithms. Understanding algorithms, from classic ones like linear regression to cutting-edge deep learning models, empowers AI professionals to leverage mathematical principles and statistical techniques to train and optimize AI systems.
  • Data Analysis and Management: AI relies on data, making data analysis and management skills crucial. AI team members need to be adept at collecting, cleaning, and preprocessing data, ensuring its quality and relevance. They must possess the knowledge of statistical methods, data visualization techniques, and data engineering practices to extract insights from complex datasets and prepare them for AI model training.
  • Machine Learning and Neural Networks: Technical skills in machine learning are at the heart of AI systems. Understanding machine learning algorithms, such as decision trees, support vector machines, or convolutional neural networks, enables AI team members to create models that can learn from data and make intelligent predictions or decisions. Expertise in neural networks and deep learning architectures equips professionals with the ability to develop complex models capable of handling tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, and reinforcement learning.
  • AI Frameworks and Tools: Proficiency in AI frameworks and tools (such as TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch, Caffe, Scikit-learn, and others) are essential for building AI systems efficiently. These frameworks provide pre-built modules, libraries, and APIs that simplify the implementation of AI algorithms and models. Technical skills in utilizing these tools effectively enable AI team members to accelerate the development process, streamline model training, and optimize system performance.
  • Domain Knowledge and Application-Specific Skills: Technical skills also encompass domain knowledge and application-specific expertise. Understanding the nuances of the industry or problem domain in which AI is being applied allows professionals to tailor AI solutions to meet specific requirements. For example, healthcare-focused AI projects may require knowledge of medical terminologies and regulatory considerations, while AI solutions for financial services may demand expertise in risk assessment and fraud detection.

Technical skills are essential for AI projects. They enable team members to translate concepts, theories, and algorithms into practical applications. However, technical skills alone are not sufficient for success. The collaborative nature of AI development and the need for a well-rounded AI team—including the synergy between technical skills and soft skills—is covered next.

The Power of Synergy: Soft Skills and Technical Skills in AI Teams

The convergence of soft skills and technical skills is where true innovation and breakthroughs occur. The successful development and application of AI systems rely not only on technical expertise but also on the harmonious integration of soft skills. Here’s some examples of the power of synergy between these skill sets, including how they work together to drive AI advancement:

  • Effective Communication and Technical Expertise: Communication bridges the gap between AI professionals and others who may not possess technical backgrounds. AI experts with strong communication skills can articulate complex technical concepts in plain English, ensuring that everyone involved understands the goals, challenges, and progress of the project. By effectively conveying ideas, AI professionals foster collaboration, gather valuable insights, and create a shared vision for AI initiatives.
  • Collaboration and Problem-Solving: Collaboration is at the core of AI development, and soft skills such as teamwork, empathy, and active listening facilitate effective collaboration among diverse team members. AI teams with strong collaboration skills can effectively pool their technical expertise, brainstorm ideas, and solve complex problems together. By leveraging their collective intelligence and diverse perspectives, AI teams can overcome challenges, refine AI models, and optimize the performance of AI solutions.
  • Critical Thinking and Technical Innovation: Critical thinking, coupled with technical expertise, leads to innovative AI solutions. AI professionals with strong critical thinking skills can evaluate different approaches, challenge assumptions, and identify potential shortcomings or biases in AI models. They can think creatively to address issues such as data biases or fairness concerns, ensuring that AI systems are developed responsibly and ethically.
  • Leadership and Team Empowerment: Effective leadership in AI projects involves establishing and maintaining a collaborative and inclusive environment, empowering team members, and harnessing their full potential. AI leaders with exceptional interpersonal abilities can inspire and motivate their team, foster a culture of continuous learning, and provide guidance in navigating complex technical challenges. They encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, respect diverse perspectives, and drive the team towards achieving AI objectives.

The synergy between soft skills and technical skills is the catalyst that drives AI projects towards success. It enables AI teams to go beyond technical expertise and develop AI systems that address real-world problems effectively. By embracing a holistic approach that values both soft skills and technical skills, organizations can foster an environment where AI thrives, resulting in innovative solutions that have a positive impact on society.

Strategies for developing and nurturing soft skills are covered next.

Developing and Advancing Soft Skills in AI Teams

AI teams need soft skills to be successful. Organizations and teams should prioritize the development and advancement of these skills. Here are some strategies to enhance soft skills and foster a well-rounded AI workforce:

  • Training Programs and Workshops: Implement specialized training programs and workshops focused on enhancing soft skills. Offer courses in effective communication, leadership (including how to navigate the phases of team development), problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. These programs can provide AI professionals with the necessary tools and techniques to effectively apply soft skills in their work.
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage interdisciplinary collaboration by creating opportunities for AI team members to work alongside experts from diverse fields such as psychology, design, ethics, and business. This collaboration allows for cross-pollination of ideas, encourages different perspectives, and broadens the skill set of AI teams. Foster a culture of knowledge sharing, where professionals can learn from each other and leverage their collective experiences and expertise.
  • Real-World Project Engagement: Provide AI team members with opportunities to work on (other) real-world projects, allowing them to apply their soft skills in practical scenarios. Engaging in projects that involve interaction with clients, end-users, and stakeholders helps AI team members develop effective communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills.
  • Continuous Learning and Professional Development: Encourage AI team members to engage in continuous learning and professional development activities. This can include attending conferences, participating in webinars, reading industry publications, and pursuing certifications in relevant areas. Promote a growth mindset among AI team members, emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning and staying current with the latest developments in both technical and soft skills domains.
  • Mentorship and Coaching: Establish mentorship and coaching programs where experienced AI professionals guide and support individuals with less experience. Mentors can provide valuable insights, share their experiences, and offer guidance on developing skills. Regular feedback and coaching sessions help AI professionals identify areas for improvement and provide targeted development opportunities.

By implementing these strategies, organizations can cultivate a workforce that excels not only in technical skills but also in the essential soft skills required for AI success. Nurturing well-rounded AI professionals creates a collaborative and adaptive environment, where AI teams can effectively address complex challenges, drive innovation, and deliver impactful solutions.

The next section wraps up this exploration.

Conclusion

The successful development and application of AI systems rely on the synergy between soft skills and technical skills. While technical expertise forms the foundation, it's the integration of soft skills that elevates AI projects to new heights. Effective communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and leadership are among the key soft skills that enable AI teams to excel.

This article explored the significance of soft skills in AI, emphasizing their role in fostering effective teamwork, problem-solving, and innovation. It also acknowledged the indispensable role of technical skills in AI development, including programming languages, algorithms, data analysis, domain knowledge, and more.

Organizations can create well-rounded AI teams with a holistic set of abilities by embracing the power of synergy between soft skills and technical skills. AI team members with strong soft skills can effectively communicate their ideas, collaborate seamlessly, think critically, and provide leadership that empowers their teams.

To advance soft skills among AI professionals, organizations should invest in training programs, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, encourage continuous learning, and foster mentorship and coaching relationships. These efforts will help AI professionals develop the interpersonal and cognitive abilities necessary to thrive in the dynamic and collaborative AI landscape.

AI is a team sport that thrives on the confluence of soft skills and technical skills. By recognizing and embracing this synergy, organizations can unlock the full potential of AI, delivering innovative solutions that address real-world challenges and have a positive impact on the world.

Bibliography

All of the supplied links were functional when this article was published.

  • Graffius, Scott M. (2023, April 26). The Science of High-Performance Teams [Presentation]. Talk delivered at the DevOps Institute’s SKILup Day 2023 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.15888.28169. DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.15888.28169.
  • Graffius, Scott M. (2023, January 9). Use the Phases of Team Development (Based on Bruce W. Tuckman's Model of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning) to Help Teams Grow and Advance: 2023 Update. Available at: https://scottgraffius.com. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.10720.35846. DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10720.35846.
  • Graffius, Scott M. (2022, May 13). Want Happier and More Productive DevOps Teams? [Presentation]. Talk delivered at DevOpsDays Geneva, Switzerland 2022 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.22252.85127. DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22252.85127.
  • Graffius, Scott M. (2021, October 5). Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility for Happier and More Productive Teams [Presentation]. Talk delivered at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE Day 2021 Conference. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.20055.19365. DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.20055.19365.

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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, SA, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi-award-winning author, and international keynote speaker. He is the Founder of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. He has generated over $1.9 billion of business value in aggregate for Global Fortune 500 businesses and other organizations he has served. Graffius and content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, Qantas, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and others. He has delighted audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile, project management, and technology leadership at 85 conferences and other events across 25 countries.

His full bio is available at
https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

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Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

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Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.


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About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions

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Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and our Exceptional Agility™ subsidiary provides client organizations with advisory, training, speaking, embedded talent, and facilitative consulting services to help them advance their agile project, program, portfolio, and PMO management capabilities to best realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives, making them more competitive and valuable. Our seven core values are integrity, objectivity, collaboration, persistence, innovation, continuous learning and improvement, and exceptional results. We confidently provide a Delighted Client Guarantee™. To learn more, visit https://Exceptional-PMO.com.

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