Agile Coaching

Agile; Standup

Do you have the best job in the world?

By Emma Sharrock / January 15, 2020 / Comments Off on Do you have the best job in the world?

Happy New Year! I’m sure I am one of many people wishing you the best for 2020. After a fast-paced 2019 packed with excitement and challenges, I’m getting curious about how this year can be different. I’m in the process of doing my Past Year Review (I wrote about this last year) to capture the…

Read More
time to grow, agile

Time to Grow

By Emma Sharrock / December 19, 2019 / Comments Off on Time to Grow

Have you ever felt stuck? Restless? Listless? Lazy? Or had trouble finding joy in activities that have brought joy to you in the past? Just me? I didn’t think so… These feelings are normal and could be for a number of reasons – change of season, change of life, change of job. But it is…

Read More

The power of unlearning

By Emma Sharrock / December 3, 2019 / Comments Off on The power of unlearning

Can you believe it’s December? I’m sure I’m not the only one noticing the days racing by. I think it’s a sign that a lot is happening If I thought I would coast through November in the wake of the glory of my book launch (I didn’t think this fortunately!) I would have been wrong.…

Read More
Agile; Standup

What is your Purpose and How do you Learn?

By Emma Sharrock / November 12, 2019 / Comments Off on What is your Purpose and How do you Learn?

Can you believe it’s the final quarter of the year? After the excitement of the PMI Project Excellence Award announcement in our last stand up, October continued to deliver! The big news for October is I officially launched my new book: High Performance Executive Leadership. As subscribers you got an opportunity to get your hands…

Read More
HeartHands

5 Signs You Are Living Your Values

By Emma Sharrock / November 7, 2019 / Comments Off on 5 Signs You Are Living Your Values

A few weeks ago I shared an experience where I received both negative and positive feedback in the same week. One was an international award and one was from a stakeholder I had worked with briefly at the same time I was coaching the award winning team. I reflected at the time that both pieces of feedback…

Read More
PMI Award Agile Team

Learning from Winning

By Emma Sharrock / October 15, 2019 / Comments Off on Learning from Winning

I truly believe that we never stop learning. And we can learn in the most unexpected situations, like a chance encounter with a long-lost friend. Or in a more expected situation, like a classroom. Often it’s a humbling experience, as many learnings come from failures – from experiments that didn’t go the way we thought…

Read More
Agile; Standup

Showing up and winning

By Emma Sharrock / October 9, 2019 / Comments Off on Showing up and winning

This has been one of my most exciting newsletters to write. Mainly because I have been sitting on news that I could not share until after the official announcement! A team I coached last year in Agile ways of working has won the 2019 Project Management Institute (PMI) Excellence Award. This is international recognition, and…

Read More
SmallSlice

Small Slices – the How To

By Emma Sharrock / September 18, 2019 / Comments Off on Small Slices – the How To

Last blog we talked about the power of a small slice. It very  much talked to why they were so important and I provided some examples. Now we’re going to talk about how to do this. There is no shortage of technical advice on this, and simply re-posting what experts like Ron Jeffries, Jeff Patton…

Read More
Choices

The Power of the Small Slice

By Emma Sharrock / August 29, 2019 / Comments Off on The Power of the Small Slice

Recently the focus of my coaching has been working with Agile teams to prioritise work. It’s been challenging. But not because ‘everything is priority #1’, but more because their work is too big. “But they HAVE to be big! It’s BIG work!” is a common answer, but do they? Is it? What would it mean…

Read More
Agile; Standup

No update from me today

By Emma Sharrock / August 18, 2019 / Comments Off on No update from me today

I have a confession to make. Every month when I sit down to write this newsletter, I have the same worry: Do I have anything to say? Is any of it interesting? Relevant? What if I look back on my month and see nothing but crickets? Or not even crickets?? What will I say? I…

Read More
Agile; Strengths

The Super Powers of your Agile Team

By Emma Sharrock / July 19, 2019 / Comments Off on The Super Powers of your Agile Team

*** Warning: Avengers End Game Spoilers in this post *** How talented is your Agile team? Short answer: Very. Longer answer: They most likely possess Super Powers. But did you know this? Recently I coached an extremely talented Agile team – let’s call them The Avengers. They are a high performing DevOps team working in…

Read More
Agile; Standup

June Stand Up – Did you finish it?

By Emma Sharrock / July 9, 2019 / Comments Off on June Stand Up – Did you finish it?

And just like that… the first half of 2019 is done. What a fast six months! How has it been for you? As if the cold Melbourne weather wasn’t enough, I took a few trips to Tasmania to spend time with family and enjoy the Winter Feast of Dark Mofo – literally a celebration of…

Read More
Agile; Strengths

Agile: Start with Talent, Finish with Strengths

By Emma Sharrock / June 26, 2019 / Comments Off on Agile: Start with Talent, Finish with Strengths

Recently I was certified as a Gallup Strengths Coach. This was especially exciting, as for years I had loved the concept of strengths; but even though I am an accredited coach, I was very much an ‘enthusiastic amateur’ when it came to strengths. My love of learning encouraged me to learn more, and passion for…

Read More
Agile; Standup

What do you need to finish to end this FY successfully?

By Emma Sharrock / June 12, 2019 / Comments Off on What do you need to finish to end this FY successfully?

May was a great month for me. How about you? The cooler weather and autumn colours in Melbourne are not just hinting at winter but giving us a live demo! While I love the cool change, I took the opportunity to have a break in some warm weather—something I’ve not done in a long time.…

Read More

4 Agile Myths and how to avoid them

By Emma Sharrock / May 28, 2019 / Comments Off on 4 Agile Myths and how to avoid them

In the past, I used to kick off most Agile capability sessions with some common Agile myths. I rarely do this now as so many of them have been debunked and most participants enter the room with an understanding that surpasses this need. However, in the course of my day to day coaching and training,…

Read More

The Iteration of Why

By Emma Sharrock / February 22, 2019 / Comments Off on The Iteration of Why

The more I examine my NOT to do list, the more I notice the themes in criteria between my peak positive experiences, and also between my negative experiences. It has become a real proving ground for me to hone my WHY. What I’ve noticed is that there is a direct feedback loop between my actions,…

Read More