In the past few years a number of Agile people I respect have published top 100 or even top 200 lists. While I, like many others, appreciate the attention they’ve brought, the whole idea seems very anti-agile. Agile promotes a democratic meritocracy. These lists do the opposite, they create “heroes” – people whose ideas are more important others. Instead, I think we should be widely read in the Agile community, often reaching outside our immediate realm. To that end I’m asking for your help creating a list of voices we should hear more from. My goal is find ~100, the limit is more from my time and energy than the lack of more people we could find.
Some simple ground rules:
- Nominees have to be a track record of doing something Agile for at least a year
- Not the top 100 of any previous list
- There are no algorithms involved – when I discuss backlog ranking/ordering in my Scrum training I suggest that human ordered lists have more value than those ordered ROI calculations
- I’m most interested in people who write about their experiences (good or bad)
- Please don’t suggest yourself
- I will reject suggested people for no visible reason Ok this one is poorly phrased, the only point is that if I don’t include someone I won’t write a paragraph about why.
- Inclusion in this list is completely arbitrary, based entirely on my judgement (there is no appeal board 🙂
When you suggest someone please tell me:
- Who they are and why they’re interesting
- Where they write blog (or some other source)
- Twitter ID, Google+ link, etc…
If you suggest someone but don’t include their blog it makes hard to find their writing, please make it easy for me. This list will only be about Agile people. Another time I will shine a light on interesting sources outside the Agile community. Suggested #100Agilelessorknowns – not perfect but it’s shorter.
In the spirit of inspect and adapt I’m open to suggestions that will make this better.
Update: “I will reject suggested people for no visible reason” – It was suggested that this was poorly said. Agreed. When I other talked to the authors of other lists they say they use stats to make the decision to avoid controversy and having to justify their choices. This list will come from the heart and might not include someone who you think should be there. My only point was that when I do exclude people I don’t want to spend the time writing about why. I acknowledge the list is arbitrary as is any human curated list that’s what will make it interesting.
Mark Levison has been helping Scrum teams and organizations with Agile, Scrum and Kanban style approaches since 2001. From certified scrum master training to custom Agile courses, he has helped well over 8,000 individuals, earning him respect and top rated reviews as one of the pioneers within the industry, as well as a raft of certifications from the ScrumAlliance. Mark has been a speaker at various Agile Conferences for more than 20 years, and is a published Scrum author with eBooks as well as articles on InfoQ.com, ScrumAlliance.org an AgileAlliance.org.
oooh, oooh, I can probably think of 100 ppl just on my own. But it is late as I write this, so let me start with just two. Lanette Creamer, https://testyredhead.com, is out there on the leading edge of agile testing. Lanette embraces the geeky side of testing, teaching herself Python to see how it would help her do more. She is also an expert exploratory tester, who knows how to pass this skill on to others (a feat I cannot seem to do). She’s a true agilista, helping her teams continually improve, looking for ways to continually improve herself. Her presentations at various agile and testing conferences are helping agile practitioners find new ways to “bake quality in”.
Marlena Compton’s academic research got her invited to important places, such as MS and Google, to present her research results. I don’t know if Marlena primarily identifies herself as “agile”, though she values the Agile Manifesto highly (see https://marlenacompton.com). Marlena breaks new ground in testing, and builds community while doing that. She was featured in the 2010 “Women in Agile” project sponsored by the Agile Alliance.
I’ve learned so much from these two women. But, as I say, there are many more “lesser known” agilistas influencing me, I will probably suggest more to you! This is such a cool idea BTW!
Thanks – Lisa I will add them to the list. I already knew Lanette (virtually speaking) and am pleased to meet Marlena.
Please keep suggesting great people.
Cheers
Mark
Howdy Mark,
This is jsomara from twitter. Great start putting this list together. Myself and a few others recommend web_craftsman to you as one of the great agile voices. This guy is a true master craftsman and has been delighting his customers (and apprentices) with his pragmatic applications of agile for years. He’s a pretty old-school software craftsman and he doesn’t have a blog – intentionally, but he’s taught scores of apprentices and hundreds of customers the benefits of deliberate, thoughtful programming and the agile methodology. He’s convinced an amazing number of non-technical customers to write cucumber tests! He prefers that he keeps his internet persona somewhat anonymous and strictly in the realm of Twitter. You’ve got to respect the past generation for embracing such a youthful medium though!
His greatness is twofold: getting customers bought in and strongly involved in the Agile process, and mentoring fledgling developers (he calls them Apprentices). He’s an amazing teacher, but I understand your list is more about Agile. I met web_craftsman about a year into his foray into Agile methodology and he was already a true believer. He’s a consultant at a software firm by trade, not an in-house engineer, and he was so thrilled to find a methodology that was both easy for non-technical customers to understand and that produced such excellent, customer-pleasing software. Never in my career as an engineer have I seen another engineer make customers so happy.
I take his request for privacy pretty seriously, but it’s safe to say that you’ve already heard words of recommendation from apprentices and customers alike. Sometimes his customers even _become_ apprentices. This guy is unreal. His reach and influence on Twitter will continue to grow as he gets more comfortable with the medium. I understand his anonymity might seem somewhat mysterious – but sometimes social media could use a little mystery.
Good luck with the list – keep on scrummin’!
John I’m testing comment moderation by email. Let’s see if this works. Thanks for the suggestion consider web_craftsmen nominated.
Cheers
Mark – from the back of a taxi
I suggest David Hussman. He lives and works in Minneapolis, where I live and work. He runs a small consulting firm of agilists. He has been instrumental in contributing to the energy of our local agile community. https://devjam.com/ He runs a few user groups where agilists come to eat, drink, and argue. He has cosponsored our local Code Freeze https://www.umsec.umn.edu/events/Code-Freeze-2011.
Oh, and I see Lisa Crispin below. Well she cannot nominate herself but I would nominate her too. I read the book she co-authored on Agile Testing. It is great.
David – I know David Hussman and think him a great suggestion. I love Lisa but she’s already very well known. I’m hoping we will find some other less well known voices.
Please suggest more.
Cheers
Mark
I nominate Alexis Hui, who has been my comrade in arms in several large scale IT transformations involving Kanban and Agile. He has played a pivotal role in changing the working culture of several IT departments of several 100s. He is also spreading agile across Deloitte, the firm we work for.
He writes with me at agileconsulting.blogspot.com.
Jeff – thanks for the nomination, duly noted. I’ve heard good things about him from other sources recently.
Cheers
Mark
Mark,
I would recommend Jeff, https://agileconsulting.blogspot.ca/.
And I would recommend Mike Burrows, https://positiveincline.com/.
Cheers,
Drew
Andrew – thanks for the suggestions. Duly noted.
Cheers
Mark
Chris Matts, for his work on trying to get people in the agile community to listen to voices from outside of the agile community, as well as introducing real options, and feature injection.
Kent – what a great idea Chris is wonderful voice.
Cheers
Mark
It would help me if you could reference the “top lists” that you know of so I can abide by your rule “Not the top 100 of any previous list”.
The two major lists are:
https://www.noop.nl/2009/09/top-200-blogs-for-developers-q3-2009.html and
https://agilescout.com/top-agile-blogs-200/
I hadn’t included refs to them in the original post because I didn’t want to draw more attention to them. I figured since this was my idea it was responsibility to check names.
Cheers
Mark
Some Australians
Rowan Bunning and Kane Marr who campaigned across the country teaching Scrum for the last few years. They have to be significant figures in Australia’s agile journey.
Also Geoff Burns from Australian Computer Society, who has been active in arranging and facilitating agile related Special Interest Groups, bring Agile to the IT establishment.
Ed Wong who blogs as ProjectsLittleHelper and is a driving force in our newest local Agile conference.
Jason Yip, David Joyce as lean and systems thinking voices. Also active community builders in their cities (Sydney, Melbourne)
@AgileRenee at the Agile Forrest in Brisbane
There are also a couple of ‘not specifically agile’ guys who also bring a lot of goood critical thinking to the table; Paul Culmsee and Kailash Awaiti who are bloggers and authors currently promoting Dialogue Mapping as a means of collaborating on discovery and design activities.
Craig – that’s an awesome list. I was surprised to realize that Rowan and Kane would on a list of voices that aren’t as well known. I will have to give that some thought. You do realize my quest is almost impossible, no matter what I will miss some good people.
I know many of the others and will add them to my list.
As for the exclusive to Agile part – I had to draw the line somewhere, next time out it will be voices outside the community that we should hear 🙂
Thanks for the comment
Cheers
Mark
Hmmm. Kane has >10,000 followers on twitter I think he’s well known 🙂 Great voice though.
Yes, they are well known. But they weren’t on the other lists I don’t think.
Anyway – I like what you are doing. Great idea.
sounds like more of the same flatulence, self promotion and narcissism from coaches who don’t code.
Mark, you are hardly a coach who should demand such notoriety. I wish you’d just shut up and go back to your job at the grocery store
It would be great if @web_craftsman were added to the list.
Adding in my voice for Craig Smith (@smithcdau) who is a co-host to our The Agile Revolution podcast (https://www.theagilerevolution.com/). Craig has a blog at https://craigsmith.id.au/ and also posts for InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/author/Craig-Smith
Hi Mark,
Cool project you’re undertaking here. I’d like to add a couple of others to your list for consideration.
1) Ilan Goldstein
Twitter = @ilagile
Blogs at https://www.scrumshortcuts.com/blog
I
was surprised to find that he’s not on either the Noop list of the
AgileScout list. He blogs about techniques and approaches that he’s
tried and tested in the real world. I’ve paid more and more attention to
him as his blog has helped me solve my own issues on more than one
occasion. He’s also got a book coming out soon as part of the Cohn
Signature Series and is speaking at Agile Australia 2012. I’m sure he’s a
name we’ll be hearing more and more but I reckon he’s a good find for
your list. Will be good to see what comes out in his book.
2) Martin Kearns
Twitter = @kearnsey
Can’t find a blog but have heard him speak a few times. Video of him can be found here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RXS_myJK5Y and here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcrs7meE4Vw
He’s a passionate Agilist, a Certified Scrum
Coach and is one of the advisors for Agile Australia 2012 and does lots
to further Agile in Australia. I guess you don’t hear much form him
because the company he works for does a lot of ‘private’ coaching for
large organisations in Australia but his influence in getting Agile
transitions happening at the tough end of town can’t be overlooked.
Enjoy my 2 Australian cents (which is worth more than it has ever been based on our favourable exchange rates) 🙂
I’d like to hear from Alex Viggio, Brad Swanson, and Somnath Ghosh of Agile Denver. They’ve quietly and capably lead the Agile Denver organization, including instigating and operating Mile High Agile 2011 and Mile High Agile 2012. They tend to be quiet organizers and I’d like to hear more of what they’ve learned as practitioners.
Excellent suggestions all.
Renee – thanks for the suggest. Duly noted. Like you I like Craig.
Cheers
Mark
Richard – worthy suggestions both, As to the exchange rate you’ve a very slight edge on the Canadian dollar this week (about 1%), I will take note.
Cheers
Mark
FYI Someone left some rather blunt comments using the shield of a fake name and email address. I will post the comments if you have the courtesy to use your real name as confirmed by an email address.
Cheers
Mark Levison – a coach who to the surprise of some actually writes code
I recommend Cátia Oliveira, a Portuguese Scrum Master and Agile Coach, now working at Berlin.
Besides writing about her own experience and people surrounding her, their practices and work environments, she provides some tips and quite interesting insights of her own.
Plus, she does it with a “twisted” funny unique sense of humor and I especially love the way she makes use of irony to highlight important stuff.
Give it a try!
Her twitter avatar is @CatOliv:disqus and the blog can be found at https://scrumplicity.net
Scrum made simple!
Susana – thanks for the recommendation I will be sure to check her out.
Cheers
Mark
A colleague of mine, Cain Hopwood, blogs on agile and management at https://www.cainhopwood.com/category/agilescrum/. We’ve been using one form or another of Agile and Scrum for the last few years here so he tends to focus on issues that relate to getting Agile accepted in enterprise environments where momentum against change is a particular challenge.
Anthony – thanks for introducing me to Cain.
Cheers
Mark
Mark, I was putting up a comment (elsewhere) and realized… Andrew Fuqua!!!
For example, see Andrew’s post (after Thanksgiving) about being the “Slack” for your team?
https://www.andrewfuqua.com/2011/11/slack-and-managers-role-in-scrum.html
That one was very inspiring! But if I didn’t know Andrew, and I didn’t have some slack time right after Thanksgiving, I might have missed that one too. ((sigh))
Now, I just saw that he’s got a new one…another perspective on retrospectives…I gotta read that one tonight! Andrew always manages to inspire me. Significantly.
When Andrew Fuqua talks, I listen. When he writes, I read. (Reminds me…I gotta do an RSS follow on his blog…it’s like a wake-up call for my brain!)
Cheers,
😉
Ken, great recommendation I’ve encountered Andrew before.
Cheers
Mark
Was listening to the Agile Revolution podcast on my commute home this evening and they gave you a shout out. So, Renee, Craig and Tony are my first recommendations. It’s a fun and informative podcast full of relevant information.
Second I’d like to recommend Benjamin Mitchell. He does a lot in the Lean Kanban community speaking about his experiences, Double Loop learning and how to approach difficult conversations. He also contributes to the ITKanban podcast.
Finally I’d like to recommend Clarke Ching, a kiwi in Scotland. He’s been the chair of Agile Scotland for a number of years and as such has contributed a lot to the growth of Lean, Agile and Theory of Constraints in Scotland. He has also written 2 great Agile business novels, Rocks into Gold and Rolling Rocks Downhill, neither of which actually mention Agile.
+1 for Clarke Ching
This week, I just discovered Stephanie Stewart’s “i.am.agile” blog, https://iamagile.com/
She writes, “A blog about an aspiring Agilist and her journey to transform an organization from traditional project management to Agile project management. Stephanie Stewart is Director of Project Management at Valpak.” (See https://iamagile.com/about/ for more.)
Apparently, in just 3 months of blogging, Stephanie has chronicled a glimpse of her journey together with her team mates at Valpak (Tampa, FL). Coming from traditional PM (16 years) they have been drawn toward the bright light of agile collaboration. Over the past 8 or 9 months, Stephanie and her colleagues have transformed themselves into passionate, born-again “Agile Project Leaders!” See their birth announcement and new job description, posted just this week, at https://iamagile.com/2012/05/22/the-birth-of-the-agile-project-leader/
Kudos to Stephanie Stewart and her colleagues at Valpak!
In her insightful “Light Bulb” post last month, she wrote “…I genuinely enjoy talking to others about the Agile transformation taking place here at Valpak. It’s a great story and I love to share it!” [NOTE: That is one post I’d like *everyone* to read. Don’t miss it!!! ~KCR] https://iamagile.com/2012/04/20/an-agile-light-bulb-moment-forming-projects-around-teams/
So, I nominate Stephanie (iamagile.com) as a new “Agile Voice” we should hear more from.
Cheers,
–Ken 😉
I just got back from SF Agile. You could pick just about anyone who attended that conference and they would be an agile voice you’d like to hear more from. Of course, some of them are already well-known, but there were many new voices that IMO are leading the revolution!
I’d like to nominate a colleague of mine, Troy Tuttle. He is one of the people I respect when it comes to agile and lean software delivery.
He blogs at: https://blog.troytuttle.com/
We have been working together using Scrum and eventually lean/Kanban for software delivery.
I’d like to nominate Maurce le Rutte. He was my Agile coach and ScrumMaster a few years ago. He’s very passionate about Agile and always willing to have a conversation or discussion about Agile software development.
He blogs in Dutch on https://www.scrummaster.nl/ and in English on
https://agilethings.nl (one of his articles:
https://agilethings.nl/?p=2995).
He also tweets on: https://www.twitter.com/scrumnl
Add to your list:
Derek Wade https://twitter.com/DerekWWade because he brings in people outside of the agile community and makes connections to a truly diverse community