I’m delighted to welcome Yuri Kudyn, Yuri Lapin, and Filip Tomaszewski to today’s conversation. These are the brilliant minds behind Release Management‘s Advanced Kanban Boards (AKB), a tool that fundamentally changes how teams work with Jira.

What makes their work particularly valuable is how it solves a problem nearly every Kanban practitioner faces: Jira is non-negotiable, but it lacks the features true Kanban implementation requires. The combination of AKB and Nave’s Kanban Analytics Suite creates what I consider the complete Kanban solution for Jira, enabling the policies and practices teams need without forcing them to abandon their existing toolchain.

I’m excited to explore how AKB helps teams visualize end-to-end flow, apply work-in-progress limits effectively, and maintain the human-centered focus that makes Kanban powerful.

Seeing the Complete Picture

“In Kanban, it’s very important to see everything from idea to completion,” Yuri Kudyn explained. “Only then can we see how value is created, identify bottlenecks, and build a truly efficient flow.”

The problem? Most teams cut their flow into pieces. Product management gets one board. Engineering gets another. Marketing gets a third. Each board looks manageable, but the full picture disappears.

Yuri Lapin shared a telling example: “We had a client with separate boards for each function. Everything looked fine inside each board, but backlogs kept growing and time in the backlog kept increasing. They never saw it because they didn’t have one single view of value creation.”

Creating one massive Jira board sounds like the solution, but anyone who has tried knows it becomes unusable. Columns stretch endlessly across the screen.

AKB solves this problem. Teams can zoom in and out, collapse or expand any column, and save custom views for different roles. DevOps engineers see only deployment columns. Testers see testing stages. Product managers see requirements preparation. Everyone works on the same board but focuses on what matters to them.

“We can pre-define views and save a lot of time,” Yuri explained. “No more clicking around constantly.”

Column groups take this further. Teams can group columns by function (like all engineering steps) and apply policies to the entire group, not just individual columns. The board stays readable while showing the complete flow from idea to production.

WIP Limits That Support Your Maturity Level

Here is where AKB truly delivers on the Kanban promise. In my opinion, a Kanban board cannot be called a Kanban board if there are no WIP limits on it.

AKB provides WIP limits at multiple levels, which perfectly supports teams at different stages of their journey.

For teams just starting with flow management, personal WIP limits help individuals avoid overload. “We can assign a work in progress limit to each team member,” Yuri noted, “so we can spot who is overloaded and who is not.”

As teams mature, column-level limits keep work moving. But the real power comes with column groups, especially when combined with doing and done separation.

“We can apply work in progress limits not only to certain work like architecture review or code review, but to the whole engineering function,” Yuri explained. “And we can see how our people are busy.”

This matters because done columns are parking lots. Work sits there waiting. Without limits on these queues, they become black holes. AKB lets teams mark columns as active or waiting, then automatically calculates efficiency scores based on where work actually spends its time.

Swimlanes add another dimension. Teams can allocate capacity by work type, dedicating 70% to strategic initiatives and 30% to maintenance, for example. Each swimlane gets its own WIP limit, ensuring the team stays aligned with business strategy while managing day-to-day work.

Keeping Work Moving and Visible

Blockers kill flow. AKB makes them impossible to ignore.

Beyond Jira’s basic flagging capability, AKB lets teams specify impediment reasons using custom fields. Hovering over the flag shows the reason immediately, no clicking required. Over time, teams can analyze which blockers happen most often and eliminate root causes.

Dependencies get the same treatment. Visual links on the board show connections between work items, with different colors for different link types. Critical blockers appear in red. A special window tracks dependencies outside the team, separating internal and external coordination needs.

But here is what really impressed me: health indicators.

Teams set thresholds for acceptable time in each column. Instead of mentally tracking dozens of variables, a simple color-coded indicator shows green (all good), yellow (warning), or red (problem).

“We see that the aging limit for the whole flow is exceeded,” Yuri demonstrated. “Also on column groups, we’re developing more than expected. We have more returns than expected. Efficiency is low. Such indicators show items where we need to pay attention.”

Returns between columns are particularly insidious. Work might not violate WIP limits or stay too long in any one column, but ping-ponging back and forth destroys efficiency. AKB tracks how many times each item returns and flags excessive movement.

Finally, AKB makes process policies accessible where teams actually work. Instead of burying definitions of done in Confluence pages no one reads, teams add them directly to columns, column groups, or the entire board. Hover over any column to see its exit criteria and agreements.

“Information should be easily accessible,” Yuri emphasized. “We believe in information radiators, not information refrigerators. You don’t need to open it and look inside.”

If you’d like to explore Advanced Kanban Boards, you can find it in the Atlassian Marketplace.

For deeper discussions or to book a demo, visit their website and use the “Book a Demo” option. Mention “NAVE” in the description to access the special offer and get tailored guidance on your specific use case. The team will discuss how to solve your problems based on their experience with other clients and their Agile and Kanban consulting background.

AKB makes Jira work the way teams need it to work. Combined with Nave’s analytics, teams finally get the complete picture: how work flows, where it gets stuck, and what to do about it.
I wish you a productive day, and I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for more managerial insights. Bye for now!

The post How to Build Real Kanban Boards in Jira appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Allison Bacher, also known as the Agile Angel, one of the most thoughtful voices at the intersection of coaching, data and AI. Allison has spent years working with CTOs and product leaders, helping their teams perform at a high level while staying human-centred and commercially grounded.

She is also the co-creator of Performalise, an AI-powered coaching platform that shines a light on what she calls the “silent data” behind team performance.

I am excited to share her insights on blind spots in coaching, how AI can help at scale and what it really takes to prove the value of agility in the boardroom.

Seeing the Blind Spots Coaches Cannot Avoid

Most Agile coaches work across several teams. Different locations, different time zones, different levels of maturity. It sounds normal, but Allison is very clear about what this means in practice.

“Agile coaches do not scale,” she told me. “We are not in every meeting. We do not hear every comment. By the time something shows up in a retrospective, the moment for a real intervention has already passed.”

Those missing moments create blind spots. Teams may share curated metrics or filtered feedback, and important patterns stay hidden.

This is where Allison sees AI as a partner rather than a threat.

“We can use AI to look for patterns in flow, churn, rework, stakeholder satisfaction and even team confidence,” she explained. “It picks up the behavioural signals we would never see in real time on our own.”

Instead of relying only on what teams choose to report, coaches can work from a richer picture of how the system actually behaves.

At scale, the challenge becomes even sharper. A few coaches. Many teams. A lot of pressure to tell leadership what is really happening.

Allison is careful about the role of metrics here.

“A single metric is a very blunt instrument,” she said. “Velocity on its own does not tell you anything useful. What matters is clusters of metrics that show trends. We do not want to become the metrics police. We want to be the people who see the patterns.”

She emphasises that the intent is never to compare teams or name and shame. Instead, AI can highlight where refinement is weak, where work repeatedly rolls over, or where stakeholder engagement is low.

“If I have 5, 10, even twenty teams, I do not need to look at everyone every day,” she said. “With the right metrics and dashboard, I know exactly which five I need to see today and why.”

The result is more focused coaching and less noise for teams.

Proving That Agility Is Working

Sooner or later, every coach hears the question: “Is this Agile thing working?” Often very early, sometimes after the very first sprint.

Allison’s advice is to start in the executive’s world, not ours.

“We have to get in their shoes first,” she said. “What do they actually care about? Time to market. Risk. Customer outcomes. If we answer with story points and velocity, it does not land.”

Instead of promising that things will be faster, cheaper and better, she suggests using “rich data” that connects directly to outcomes.

“Show them that quality is improving. Show that cycle time is coming down. Show how better stakeholder engagement is reducing rework,” she explained. “When you have trends and leading indicators, they relax. They can see that we see the risks early and that we are on it.”

AI helps by turning thousands of small data points into readable patterns. Coaches no longer have to spend hours assembling spreadsheets. They can spend that time explaining what the data means and what needs to change.

Of course, AI brings its own fear. Some coaches ask her directly whether tools like Performalise are meant to replace Scrum Masters. Allison does not hesitate.

“No!” she said. “AI is there to do the work humans cannot do at scale. It handles repetitive analysis so we can focus on the human conversations. It moves us from reactive, after the car crash, to proactive, seeing that a crash is coming and going there now.”

“But AI is not taking away the judgement or the relationship. It is taking away the parts that machines are better at, so the humans can do the work that only humans can do.”

Silent Data and Performalise

Toward the end of our conversation, Allison introduced the idea of “silent data”.

“It is the data that tells the real story. The comments people make in daily scrums, the sentiment in reviews, the small signals that never make it into a slide deck.”

Performalize sits on top of tools like Jira or Azure DevOps and focuses on these human aspects of performance. It helps coaches see patterns across teams and gives leaders a more truthful picture of what is happening.

If you would like to explore Performalise, you can visit performalise.com or go to performalise.com/partner if you are a coach interested in working with the platform.

Allison’s insights are a powerful reminder that real agility is not just about boards, backlogs and ceremonies. It is about seeing what is really happening, telling the truth with data and keeping the human conversation at the centre of change.

I wish you a productive day, and I will see you next week, same time and place, for more managerial insights. Bye for now.

The post How AI Amplifies Agile Coaching: Allison Bacher’s Approach appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

I’m really pleased to welcome Tomo Lennox to today’s conversation. Tomo brings deep experience helping teams figure out how to work smarter, not harder. With decades of experience in software delivery, project management and coaching, he’s worked with organizations of all sizes to improve how they deliver value.

What makes Tomo stand out is how grounded he is in the real world of work. He has helped countless teams bridge the gap between Scrum and Kanban. He challenges rigid frameworks and encourages teams to think critically about what actually fits their business context.

In our conversation, we explored one of the most common questions agile teams ask: When should you use Scrum, and when is Kanban a better fit?

The session is packed with examples, visual models and practical lessons that show how blending the two can lead to smoother workflows and more balanced teams.

We also had a quick Q&A session after, where Tomo and I dive deeper into topics like workflow efficiency, story sizing, forecasting, and how to keep your process truly human-centred.

The Truth About Idle Time and Flow

Many managers still believe that if people are not constantly busy, productivity must be slipping. Tomo Lennox loves to challenge that idea.

He tells a story that perfectly captures the problem.

A manager buys a baseball team. He looks out at the field and notices that half the players are just sitting on the bench. Frustrated, he shouts, “I am paying you to play, not to sit! Everyone get up and start throwing balls!”

Within minutes, the field turns into chaos. Balls are flying everywhere, no one knows what is happening, and the game completely falls apart.

Tomo laughs when he tells this story, but his point is sharp: “Sometimes idle is a good thing. You do not fix a bottleneck by keeping everyone busy.”

In Kanban, the goal is not to make sure every person is working at every moment. The goal is to make sure the right work is flowing. When a bottleneck appears, Kanban tells the team to shift their attention to where it is truly needed. That simple act of collaboration can lead to stronger relationships and faster progress overall.

Tomo explains, “Before you idle people, you move people. That is what Kanban teaches.”

Idle time is also where innovation starts. When there is a quiet moment with no urgent task, people can learn something new, improve a tool, or explore a better way to work. “Idle time is not wasted time,” Tomo says. “It is the space where learning, improvement, and creativity happen.”

In the end, it is not about doing less. It is about working smarter, finding the real rhythm of your team, and building a pace that people can sustain. As Tomo puts it, “Work should have a human rhythm. You do not need to sprint forever to get somewhere.”

The Power of the Board: Shifting Focus from People to Flow

One of the biggest traps teams fall into is turning their daily meetings into status updates. Everyone goes around the circle, saying what they did yesterday and what they plan to do today. The meeting ends, and nothing really changes.

Tomo Lennox has a better way. “When I act as a Scrum Master,” he says, “we do not talk about people, we talk about tasks.”

For him, the board whether it is Scrum or Kanban, is the single source of truth. It shows the real state of the work, not personal progress reports.

The focus shifts from individual updates to collective progress.

This simple change has a huge impact. Meetings become shorter, more meaningful, and energizing instead of repetitive. Teams stay aligned without micromanagement. And perhaps most importantly, people start collaborating instead of reporting.

Story Size and the Myth of Estimation

When the topic of story estimation came up, Tomo Lennox did not hesitate to share “I do not believe in story points, I believe in right-sizing.”

His approach is refreshingly simple. If a story feels too big to finish in a week, the team just splits it. And he has solid data to prove his point. After analyzing more than seventy thousand stories from a large organization, Tomo found almost no correlation between story points and how long the work actually took. “Estimation gives the illusion of precision,” he said, “but it does not make work more predictable.”

Instead of wasting time assigning points, Tomo encourages teams to ask smarter questions:

How many acceptance criteria does this story have? How many possible exit conditions could affect it?

These questions get straight to the heart of complexity and lead to better, faster planning.

The goal is not to measure everything; it is to understand the work well enough to move it forward.

Forecasting with Probability, Not Guesswork

Tomo Lennox is not a fan of guessing games. “Project managers have been doing estimation for decades, but most of it is just junk science.”

Instead of relying on gut feelings or point estimates, Tomo champions probabilistic forecasting, a data-driven way to predict delivery outcomes. “Rather than asking when something will be done, look at how your system actually behaves,” he explained. By modelling throughput and backlog trends, teams can forecast outcomes based on evidence, not opinion.

Using techniques like Monte Carlo simulation, a team might see that they have a 70 percent chance of finishing by a certain date. That data gives leaders options. They can accept the risk, change priorities, or adjust scope before it is too late.

“Probabilistic forecasting turns guessing into decision-making,” Tomo said. “It gives you real numbers to have real conversations.”

The result is clearer planning, earlier insights, and a healthier way to manage uncertainty. Teams can finally stop pretending they can predict the future and start working with it.

Looking Ahead: AI and the Future of Agile

As the conversation wrapped up, Tomo shared a glimpse into his newest project, RenJi. While Scrum and Kanban have served teams well for years, he believes a new era is emerging, one shaped by artificial intelligence.

“Agile was designed around humans,” Tomo pointed out. “All those ideas about limiting work in progress and avoiding overload make sense for people. But AI is different. It can handle many things at once.”

He imagines a future where AI continuously aligns work with strategy, automatically evaluating stories for cost, value, and impact. “What if an AI agent could look at your backlog, check which stories fit your strategy, estimate their cost based on past data, and even predict their potential revenue?” he asked. “Then, when you pull the next story, you already know it’s the best bet.”

He envisions AI not as a replacement for Agile, but as an extension of it, a way to connect strategy, flow, and delivery into one continuous system. “AI could help us do what Agile always promised, continuous learning, continuous delivery, and better decisions.”

He is still building RenJi and invites others to join him on this journey.

If Tomo’s ideas inspire you and you would like to be part of what comes next, get in touch at tomo@tomolennox.com and learn more about his newest venture, RanJi – an exciting step toward the future of Agile with AI.

I wish you a productive day, and I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for more managerial insights. Bye for now!

The post Kanban vs Scrum, and Beyond: Practical Lessons from Tomo Lennox appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Joel Foner, one of the most insightful coaches and consultants I know. For more than 15 years, Joel has worked across IT, management, leadership coaching, and communication. His experience spans from engineering to psychology, helping teams navigate complex human dynamics during business agility transformations.

I’m excited to share his insights on why teams get stuck, how to work through hidden conflicts, and the practical ways leaders can create real change.

Finding the Real Issues Behind Team Struggles

When teams come to Joel for help, they usually arrive with a long list of problems. Processes seem broken. Collaboration feels tense. Progress has slowed down. But, much like Cesar Millan’s “Dog Whisperer” approach, Joel has learned that the real issue is rarely the one people point to first.
“People bring all kinds of problems to the table,” he explained. “But often the real issue is somewhere else.”

His first step is to observe how the team communicates. Who avoids certain topics? Where are assumptions being made? Which conversations carry unspoken tension? These patterns often reveal the true friction points hiding beneath the surface. And when those are untangled, it usually takes only a small shift to unlock significant improvement.

A lot of communication challenges are fueled by personal reactions that have little to do with the topic at hand. Joel explains that people unconsciously play “social games” at work, just like the structured games we played as children.

“When someone has a big reaction, it often doesn’t come from the moment,” he said. “It comes from somewhere, maybe something that happened just before, or something inside them that triggered fear or anxiety, maybe a past experience that seems related to this one for them”

When team members learn to separate their own story from someone else’s reaction, they stop taking things personally. That shift changes defensive conversations into constructive ones and moves the focus back to solving the problem, not blaming the people.

Story Versus Reality

At the heart of Joel’s approach is a simple but powerful idea: the difference between direct experience and the stories we build around it.

What we see and hear is objective reality. Everything else is a story we create to make sense of what’s happening. Conflicts often arise when we confuse our story with the truth.

When teams begin to see that most disagreements are really story versus story, something shifts. Instead of arguing about who is right, they start exploring where those stories come from. This is where real collaboration begins.

Joel shared an example of a team that wanted to tackle technical debt while their manager pushed to deliver new features. Both sides cared about efficiency, but their definitions were completely different.
For the manager, efficiency meant releasing features quickly. For the team, it meant reducing technical debt to speed up future development. Once they uncovered this gap, they were able to align their priorities and create a plan. Conversations like these can clear months of frustration in a single session.

Micromanagement and Transparency

Micromanagement is another recurring challenge. Many teams see it as a manager problem, but Joel offers a different perspective.

Some managers micromanage because they are anxious about not knowing what is happening. When teams withhold information or give vague updates, that anxiety grows.

Joel’s solution is simple: share clear, useful updates that give managers confidence in the team’s direction. When communication improves, micromanagement often fades on its own, without conflict or power struggles.

He also compares change to physics. The harder you push, the more pushback you create. Instead of forcing transformation, Joel focuses on creating an environment where people choose to change.

“You have to meet people where they are,” he said. Sometimes that means starting with clear, prescriptive steps and gradually introducing more autonomy as trust builds.

He recalled working with a team whose manager believed the group needed strong guidance before they could self-organize. Joel adjusted his approach, met them at their starting point, and within a few months their way of working was completely transformed.

Proving Return on Investment

For many enterprise clients, proving value quickly is difficult. Joel begins this process before any transformation starts. He works with the organization to define the specific business outcomes they want to achieve, whether that’s faster cycle time, higher quality, or something else entirely.

Once those outcomes are clear, he establishes a baseline. Without it, it’s impossible to measure real progress later.

He shared a story about a company qualifying cameras for a vision system. Everyone assumed the bottleneck was in the lab setup. Joel mapped out the process and discovered that four weeks were being lost waiting for vendor specifications. By making the process visible and setting clearer expectations, the team cut their cycle time dramatically without adding staff or changing tools.

Visualization exposed the real bottleneck, and improvement followed almost immediately.

Joel’s approach brings together practical strategies and a deep understanding of human behavior. By helping teams separate story from reality, communicate with greater clarity, and create environments that support change, he enables them to unlock their full potential.

If you’d like to connect with Joel, you can find him on LinkedIn or visit https://joelfoner.me/programs02 to explore his current leadership and communication programs. He also works with students on building communication skills for the future.

Joel’s insights remind us that real change is not about grand gestures. It is about empathy, clarity, and understanding the human stories behind every interaction.

I wish you a productive day, and I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for more managerial insights. Bye for now!

The post The Human Dynamics That Drive or Derail Team Performance with Joel Foner appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

In many enterprise environments, introducing new tools like Nave can be a slow and complex process. Security assessments, vendor approvals, procurement hoops, it can take six to twelve months before you’re even allowed to connect a new platform to your data.

But what if you could avoid that delay completely and start seeing results today without compromising your company policies?

The fastest and easiest way forward is, of course, to connect Nave directly to your system. But if that is not an option from the start, here is the next best one.

In this article, I’ll walk you through a community-built solution by Amanda Varella, a long-time Nave champion, who created a simple yet powerful tool to anonymize your data from Jira and upload it to Nave, all while your approval processes run in parallel.

Let’s dive in.

Why This Solution Exists

Amanda strongly believed in Nave’s ability to transform her teams’ forecasting and delivery performance, but the companies she worked for (like Canva, Envato, Vista, and 99designs), had strict enterprise-grade security practices.

Amanda Varella Engineering Manager at Envato "We needed to show the value of Nave to the business, but we couldn’t even connect Jira without months of paperwork."

So she found a way to upload data securely, using a simple file exporter, a masking script, and Nave’s API.
That process has now evolved into an automated open-source tool that you can use today.

Before you start, here is what you need:

• A Jira API key
• A Nave API key
• Access to a code editor like Cursor (optional, but helpful)

In essence, here is what the solution does:

• It exports your data from Jira in a JSON format
• Then, it replaces all email addresses with fake ones, masks all URLs with randomised placeholders, and replaces content of fields like “name”, “goal”, “body”, “summary”, and “description” with randomised text
• Finally, it uploads the data to the Nave API in the required format

Essentially, this solution lets you create a dashboard and analyze your workflow by uploading only your IDs and timestamps. Everything else is anonymized, so none of your business data is exposed.

Amanda Varella Engineering Manager at Envato "Even before we had security approvals, I was able to start using Nave in a compliant way by removing all identifiable information."

This means you can test and demonstrate value with zero risk to company data starting from day one.

Step-by-Step Set Up of File Uploader

1. Clone the GitHub Repository

Here is how to make this work.

Visit Amanda’s repo: https://github.com/amandavarella/navefileuploader

Here you’ll find the source code, setup instructions, and explanations of how masking works.

2. Install and Configure the Tool

You can run the project using an AI-assisted code editor like Cursor or VS Code. In the README, you’ll find:

• How to install dependencies
• How to input your Jira and Nave API keys
• Instructions to run the script manually

The script will prompt you to:

• Download JSON from Jira
• Mask all personally identifiable and sensitive data
• Upload the cleaned file directly to Nave

3. Run the Script

To run the sync process, just type: Nave-sync

In less than a minute, the tool will:

• Connect to your Jira board
• Export and clean your data
• Upload it to Nave using the API

Your Nave dashboards will update automatically with the latest (anonymised) data.

Why This Works

This approach gives you a safe, secure way to build a business case for Nave from day one.

• Security compliant – No direct integration, no sensitive data
• Fast results – Get analytics from Nave instantly
• Open-source – Use, fork, or adapt freely

You don’t need to be a software engineer to use that solution. Give it a try now.

And if you stumble upon any issues, my team would be happy to help. Just contact us at hello@getnave.com and we’ll take it from there!

The process runs within your own environment. No sensitive data leaves your network.

Amanda is a power user who wanted to get results faster and found a way to do it.

“I just wanted to solve my own problem, and it turned out to be useful for others too.”

If you’re looking to do the same, try the uploader today and start delivering value without delay.

I hope this guide is helpful. See you next week, same time and place for more managerial insights! Bye for now.

The post A Fast and Secure Way to Show Nave’s Value From Day One appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. York Rössler, a systems thinker, consultant, trainer and educator who has spent years helping teams build Kanban systems that actually work, not just in theory but in real business environments. What makes York’s approach stand out is his mix of academic depth and hands-on experience. He is currently putting all of that into a book about designing Kanban systems from the ground up.

We talked about his journey into Kanban, the gaps he has seen in existing methods, and how his own Fit Framework for Individualized Tailoring helps companies design systems that fit them perfectly.

York’s first encounter with Kanban was not love at first sight. But over time, as he began to witness the outcomes it could deliver, everything changed. “I discovered the power and what it can do, what great outcomes it produces. And I totally fell in love with Kanban.”

Kanban Designed Around You

When asked about his role, York likes to call himself a “bespoke tailor.” He explains it with a story: imagine buying a luxury suit that doesn’t fit. Instead of tailoring it, the shop assistant tells you the problem is your body, not the suit.

“That’s exactly what happens in companies all the time,” he said.

Some approaches treat the system as fixed and expect companies to change themselves to fit it. York takes the opposite view: “What we do is take what already works for you (your routines, your processes, your approach!) and build the system around that.”

For York, Kanban is a way to bring out the best in each organization by building on its own strengths and ways of working.

Finding the Right Balance

Two moments pushed York to develop his Fit method. The first was tough feedback from a client who felt left alone after a workshop. The second was the sheer risk of running large workshops. “If that workshop does not work well, and you are not having a proper Kanban system at the end, you have basically burned 40, 50-person days of value without having a good result.”

To reduce that risk, he designed a more structured approach. Not too little guidance, not too much, just the right balance. That’s how his 10-step method came to life, adding design patterns, forms, and checklists on top of STATIK to make it stronger and more reliable.

The Fit Method

York walked me through his 10-step sequence, highlighting why each step matters. Just to give you a sneak peek:

• Improvement opportunities: “I do not like to call it sources of dissatisfaction as in STATIC because it comes along as a negative connotation.” Instead, he starts by uncovering stakeholder pain points, making sure the system is shaped around real opportunities.
• Demand and capacity: He helps teams identify work items, separate them from process steps, and analyze them qualitatively and quantitatively.
• Modeling workflow: One technique he uses is modeling backwards from the end to the start, which he finds easier for teams.
• Meeting structure: York insists this is vital. “A Kanban board is basically just a dead artifact if people don’t gather in front of it and talk.”
• Policies: Workshops end with a checklist of commonly used rules to ensure nothing is missed.

By layering in checklists, forms, and design patterns, York makes sure teams leave workshops with a working system in place.

When asked if this method replaces STATIC, York was clear: “It is totally a refinement. I would not claim that this is something totally new.” Instead, he sees it as a way to add more guidance, consistency, and timing to the existing structure.

The method works both for teams starting fresh and for those already running Kanban but struggling to make it effective.

Watch the full conversation to walk through all ten steps and see how the method comes together in practice.

Results That Speak for Themselves

York’s method was shaped in real workshops, not theory. Over the years, it has supported teams across industries and company sizes. One of his favorite examples comes from working with large cosmetics brands like Chanel and Dior.

”They began small, using Kanban only for quality checks in product development with a team of four or five. Today, the entire design and development process for new cosmetic products runs on it, involving close to 200 people and multiple interconnected Kanban systems. And every single one of them was built using this approach.”

York is now capturing his method in a book that’s coming out very soon!

In the meantime, you can get in touch with him directly through egeria-consulting.com, where he offers training and tailored Kanban system design.

At the heart of York’s message is a simple truth: you don’t need to change who you are to make Kanban work. The system should adapt to you, not the other way around.

I hope this conversation sparks new ideas about how to design systems that truly work for your teams. See you next week, same time and place, with more managerial insights. Bye for now.

The post Rethinking Kanban System Design with Dr. York Rössler appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with three people who have spent years thinking deeply about leadership, collaboration and the dynamics of great teamwork. Patricia Kong, David Spinks, and Glaudia Califano, are the co-authors of Facilitating Professional Scrum Teams, a book that offers not just practical advice, but a mindset shift around what it truly means to lead. Their collaborative work brings a new lens to facilitation: one that blends leadership, inclusion, and human dynamics into a skillset that’s no longer optional in today’s management world.

I spoke with them about their journey, what facilitation really is, how it plays out in a high-stakes environment and how anyone (regardless of title!) can become better at it.

So grab your favorite beverage and let’s get into it.

Facilitation isn’t just a skill; it’s the heart of modern leadership. As David Spinks, Patricia Kong, and Glaudia Califano, co-authors of “Facilitating Professional Scrum Teams,” shared in a recent conversation, facilitation is fundamentally about enabling collaboration and deeper understanding within teams.

Embracing Facilitation as Enabling Leadership

“Think of yourself as an enabler,” David highlighted, reflecting on when facilitation truly clicked for him as a leader. It marked a shift from controlling outcomes to enabling them. Patricia Kong reinforced this sentiment, explaining that effective facilitation involves “managing good conversations” and often requires the facilitator to “shut up and listen.”

The role of a facilitator is to step back, creating space rather than dominating the conversation. “A great facilitator is not putting themselves in the center. It’s about putting the group together and managing the group dynamic,” David explained. This neutrality, according to Glaudia, is crucial: “You advocate for the process…but content-wise, you stay neutral.”

Building trust is equally essential. Patricia warns against breaking that trust: “You can’t say, ‘I’m here to listen,’ and then ignore everything and do it your way.” Trust emerges when participants know their voices matter. Glaudia illustrated this with a simple principle—the Vegas rule: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Upholding confidentiality assures the team their conversations are safe.

Navigating Messy Conversations

Great facilitators also know how to navigate messy situations. David suggested discomfort isn’t failure; it’s necessary: “If people are getting frustrated, if there’s discomfort…that’s just a natural part of group dynamics.” Glaudia recommends visualizing ideas, saying, “When people see their ideas recorded, it’s much easier to move on.”

Creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their voice, even if uncertain, is paramount. One useful technique David shared involves intentionally seeking “the worst possible idea” first. This practice reduces fear of judgment, as “people start to feel more comfortable putting ideas out there.”

Yet facilitation isn’t solely about encouraging speech. Glaudia pointed out the importance of active listening: “People are judged on how much they talk, but active listeners still contribute and engage, just differently.” Patricia added, “Practice not speaking. Literally count five or ten seconds in your head.” Such silence, though challenging, often encourages deeper engagement.

Leveraging Technology and Human Insight

While technology, especially AI, can aid facilitators by summarizing sessions or suggesting techniques, it cannot replace the human element. Patricia cautioned, “It’s a very human experience. You have to read the room.” David echoed this, stating, “If you throw your question into AI and just take what comes out, you’ve already lost.”

For teams struggling with facilitation, the authors offered straightforward advice: “Practice in a friendly environment,” Glaudia recommended. Patricia added practical tips: pause before responding, reframe feedback positively, and remain open to learning from mistakes.

If you’re doubting your voice or fearing judgment, David advised testing your ideas openly: “Put things out there and learn if they are bad or not.” After all, innovation often arises from challenging and exploring even seemingly bad ideas.

Ultimately, facilitation is about enabling teams to move toward better outcomes together. As Patricia summarized, “It’s being prepared to reach an outcome through inclusive conversation.” So if you’re just starting, remember this straightforward advice: Start small, stay curious, and keep practicing.

And of course, if you’re looking for practical guidance rooted in real experience, check out their book Facilitating Professional Scrum Teams, you can find the book on Amazon, Pearson, or through the authors directly on LinkedIn. You’ll find hands-on techniques, thoughtful principles and stories that will help you grow, not just as a facilitator, but as a leader.

I hope this conversation leaves you inspired to rethink what it means to lead, facilitate and build stronger teams. I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for further managerial insights. Bye for now!

The post Facilitation Is Not About You: A New Take on Leading Teams appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Hunter, founder of Uncommon Teams and host of the Uncommon Leadership interview series. Michael has a unique take on leadership, team dynamics, and personal growth. I’m really excited to have him here today to share his insights and talk about what makes great leaders and teams really thrive.

The Spark Behind the Uncommon Leadership Podcast

Since Michael was talking to leaders at the beginning of his career, he noticed something. Most of them acted like everyone else had everything working except for them. They felt they were the only ones always failing, and assumed those who had “made it” were always on top from the beginning.

“And none of this is true,” Michael said. “I struggle all the time even now.”

He realized that most leaders fail to appreciate their value because their strengths are either unknown to them or ignored by those who know them. That’s when the idea for the podcast was born.

“With my podcast, I wanted to show how wrong all of this was, that everyone is successful right from the start, that we all struggle all the way through,” he shared.

His goal was to showcase the real journeys of leaders: the setbacks, the experiments, the moments of clarity, and the continuous process of finding their next best step.

How ‘Uncommon’ Leadership Stands Apart from Traditional Leadership Models

Where traditional leaders might give up after an approach fails, uncommon leaders see every action as an experiment that brings data. They iterate, adjust and continue forward.

“They just keep going,” he said. “It’s resilient, adaptable, and easeful.”

Michael helps leaders develop on three main aspects starting with resilience, where they can bounce back no matter what happens. Next there is adaptability, where one can respond in several real ways to different situations. And lastly there is ease, where leadership is natural, intuitive and playful.

“That sense of play and ability to just try things and see what happens… is what helps us solve all the gnarly problems,” he said.

The Framework Behind Uncommon Leadership

Michael does have a framework. And at the most basic level, it starts with a daily practice of reflection.

“Spend a few minutes every day reflecting on what happened today. Where did it go exactly the way I wanted? What helped it do that? Where did it turn out differently than I hoped?”

He takes leaders on a journey of finding their inner self, what he terms their “disco ball” and makes them realize how these traits connect to what he calls the six pillars of uncommon leadership. They are handling change, showing up to play, maintaining movement, remaining in alignment, managing impact and leading uncommonly.

The process also involves becoming attuned to one’s own inherent pace, slow and steady or rapid, and embracing different energies of feeling like encouragement, containment or grace.

“Every person that we interact with, this question is in the back of our mind of how does this show up for me and them in this interaction,” he explained.

What Uncommon Leaders Achieve That Traditional Ones Don’t

Michael described it in a ping pong ball metaphor flying in an open space. Without awareness, everyone is bumping into each other all the time. But few leaders know their own path and begin to move with intention.

They stop bumping into others. And in the process, they make room for others to move with intention as well.

“If I can do this and also help my team start doing this even just a teeny tiny bit, then everyone else starts being able to do this as well,” he said.

This, he said, is how you see actual results in business metrics like efficiency and employee engagement. “Everything that the business is measuring, that’s all gonna go through the roof,” he added.

The Journey That Shaped Michael Hunter’s Approach to Leadership

Michael has always been drawn to helping people discover who they are. That mindset started early, growing up in Sierra Leone where his parents were missionaries.

“They were there as… how can we help you build that stronger?” he explained. That attitude of collaboration and mutual respect left a lasting impression.

Life in America appeared to be more complex. He experienced dissonance in relationships and expectations. That dissonance pushed him to “debug” people’s behavior just as he once debugged code.

“I started out debugging code, and then I switched to debugging people, and now I help people debug themselves,” he said.

His leadership style evolved naturally over the years by doing it with teams, reflecting continuously, adapting and refining what worked. His model slowly fell into position, sharpened by those real-world discussions and experiences.

One Key Piece of Advice for Truly Connected Leadership

Michael shared two.

The first is to start meetings with something that welcomes people to show up as who they are. It can be as simple as asking for one word that describes how they are feeling.

“This shows your team that you want them to show up as who they are. You don’t want them hiding what’s going on,” he said.

The second is to take five minutes every day to ground yourself.

“Just ask, what’s present for me right now? What do I want to do about that?”

By doing that, you’re not only helping yourself. “You’re helping everything settle down and be a little more present, a little more conscious, a little more intentional,” he added.

Michael is putting all he’s learning into a book, releasing fall 2025.

Each chapter will present a leadership problem, transition or method, and a demonstration of how that plays out in the real world. The reader will have concrete steps to take the concepts personally and with their team.

There will also be self-assessments, reflections and even an interactive electronic workbook to further enable discovery.

“My intent here is I can’t work one on one with everyone in the world. And so this is a way for an offline me to work with everyone who’d like to start in this,” he said.

And after this conversation, one thing’s for sure. Uncommon leadership is not being perfect. It’s being purposeful. Being resilient. And being here, fully and authentically, every single day.

I wish you a productive day, and I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for further managerial wisdom. Bye for now!

The post How Michael Hunter Is Redefining Leadership Through Resilience, Adaptability, and Ease appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

This week, we had a chat with Pawel Lewinski, a Scrum Master and Accredited Kanban Trainer who helps organizations optimize their processes and ultimately improve their business outcomes.

Pawel has been using Nave for about six months now, and the results he has managed to achieve in such a short period utilizing the platform are really impressive!

You’ll be astonished by how small tweaks can lead to massive improvements. So, without any further ado, let’s dive right in!

How to Overcome Initial Data Visibility Challenges

Pawel’s teams use Jira to manage their processes. However, they faced significant challenges that hindered their performance:

“We are using Jira, and the main issue with it is that it doesn’t give us any visibility to flow metrics. The data is there, but we cannot actually see it in an easy way,” Pawel explained.

The lack of visibility into the metrics he wanted to track with his teams forced Pawel to manually extract data into Excel. This process was time-consuming and prone to errors.

“I was forced to either use what was there, which was not perfect, or copy stuff to Excel, do it manually, and create all the formulas.”

This manual extraction and analysis of data were really inconvenient.

“It was not very convenient because it was also pretty limited in access for people and not very useful,” he added.

Additionally, certain metrics, such as WIP aging, were impossible to track accurately using Excel. This limitation prompted Pawel to search for a more effective tool that could support his teams and streamline their workflow.

The Role of the Nave Analytics Suite

Pawel set out to find a tool that could improve data visibility and better support his teams.

He tested various solutions but found most to be either too simplistic or lacking in necessary functionality. Nave’s analytics solution stood out due to its comprehensive metrics, ease of use, and appealing visual design.

“What I like about Nave is how easy it is to get started with, and it provides almost everything I was looking for in terms of metrics,” Pawel noted.

The visual aspect of Nave was also a significant factor in his decision.

“It has a nice design. I like to see things in a nice way,” he said.

The ability to present metrics in an aesthetically pleasing manner was important for Pawel, especially when sharing information with business stakeholders.

How Pawel’s Teams Improve Their Delivery Times by 30% (in Just a Few Weeks!)

Despite implementing Scrum, Pawel incorporated flow metrics, typically used in Kanban, to gain insights into his teams’ processes. By focusing on the most important metrics of every agile team, WIP aging, Pawel and his teams could identify and address what was slowing them down.

“Flow metrics fit pretty well for Scrum teams and are actually very useful,” Pawel explained.

The adoption of flow metrics provided immediate benefits. One of the most significant improvements was the reduction in delivery times.

Pawel’s teams improved their 85th percentile delivery time from 33 to 22 days within a month!

Agile teams all over the world utilize the Cycle Time Scatterplot by Nave to track their time to market.

Pawel’s team managed to improve their delivery times by 30% (in just a few weeks!) Try Nave’s analytics suite now, it’s free for 14 days→

“Just by using the Aging Chart, we reduced delivery time by ten days in a month,” he highlighted. This improvement was achieved without altering existing processes, proving the major impact that better visibility and data-driven decisions had for them.

The Secret Behind Enabling Continuous Improvement

On a day-to-day basis, Pawel’s teams use the Aging Chart by Nave during their daily stand-ups to trigger the right discussions at the right time and ensure tasks move efficiently through the workflow. This practice has significantly reduced overlooked tasks and improved the flow of work.

“When I joined the team, the daily stand-ups were like, ‘Okay, I’m working on a, b, c,’ and everyone was just syncing on what they were individually doing. Nobody was looking at the whole picture of what was going on with tasks or the team’s progress,” Pawel recounted.

Pawel’s teams developed a more holistic view of their workflow by integrating the Aging Chart into their daily standups.

“Right now, we as a team are focused on moving the work forward,” he said. This shift in focus led to more efficient workflow management and reduced delivery times.

During retrospectives, the teams analyze their Cycle Time Scatterplot and Breakdown Chart to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

“We use the Cycle Time Scatterplot and Cycle Time Breakdown chart during retrospectives to get a bigger picture of the current situation,” Pawel explained.

These charts help the teams understand where time is being consumed in the process and identify opportunities for improvement.

Agile teams use the Cycle Time Breakdown chart by Nave to identify where their work spends the most time. See a dashboard with your data now →

For example, they noticed that tasks spent a significant amount of time in the “Ready” column, prompting them to be more cautious about committing to work.

The Shift to Strategic Goals

The flow metrics provided by Nave also inspired strategic changes within Pawel’s teams.

One notable initiative was the introduction of a hackathon approach, where the team focused on a specific task for a short, intensive period.

This approach demonstrated the value of focused work and led to changes in how the team planned and executed their work.

The data from Nave supported these strategic discussions and helped the team prioritize tasks more effectively.

“With the support of the metrics, it sparked a very interesting discussion within the team,” Pawel noted.

By focusing on completing one task before starting another, the team was able to improve their workflow and reduce the time tasks spent in the system.

“Thankfully, we don’t have to report metrics to top management. The focus is entirely on delivering value,” Pawel explained. Metrics serve as a tool for the teams to drive continuous improvement.

The impact of Nave’s analytics suite on Pawel’s teams is evident in the tangible results they have achieved.

Here’s your action item: If you haven’t integrated Nave with your management platform yet, now is the time. It’s free for 14 days, no strings attached →

It took less than a month for Pawel to provide a clearer view of their workflow and enable data-driven decision-making, ultimately resulting in 30% faster delivery times!

If they can do this, you can do this too. So, don’t hesitate any longer, go ahead and create your dashboards now!

Then send me a note to let me know what you’re seeing. I’m on LinkedIn, and I’m looking forward to hearing about all the insights you reveal using our analytics suite.

P.S. Pawel looks forward to further leveraging Nave, particularly in areas like probabilistic forecasting, to continue driving improvements.

“We are just starting with probabilistic forecasting, but it is the very beginning of using it. Hopefully, next time we speak, we will be further along, and I will be able to tell you that we are using Monte Carlo forecasting to plan our work in the bigger picture,” he says.

Exciting times!

I hope Pawel’s story has inspired you to take the next step in your continuous improvement journey! I wish you a productive day ahead, and I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for more managerial insights. Bye for now!

The post How This Kanban Team Managed to Improve Their Delivery Times by 30% (in Less Than a Month!) appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.

Founded in 2007, Doodle has become the most established scheduling platform, seamlessly coordinating group meetings, events, and one-on-ones.

By integrating with all major calendar platforms, Doodle ensures effortless planning for both teams and individuals, allowing users to focus on what matters most while Doodle handles the logistics.

I recently had the pleasure of talking to Jens Naie, CTO at Doodle and Timofey Yevgrashyn, Agile Coach and Trainer, where they revealed the story behind their business agility transformation.

The Challenge with Story Point Estimates

Behind Doodle’s success is a dedicated team of about one hundred employees. Engineering at Doodle today includes three product development teams and an additional growth team.

Before adopting Nave, Doodle relied on traditional estimation methods like story points and T-shirt sizes. However, these methods often led to inaccuracies and stress.

“Estimates are always wrong,” Jens states. “Teams would commit to a due date and then end up working overtime to meet it. This was something we needed to change to improve work-life balance.”

The need for a new approach became apparent. “Using traditional estimates caused a lot of stress at the end of projects,” Tim adds. “We wanted to create a more relaxed work environment and focus on quality.”

The Transition to Probabilistic Forecasting

Doodle’s journey from story point estimates to no estimates began in 2020 when Tim joined the company. “We introduced Nave as a feedback tool at the end of 2020,” Tim recalls.

The teams at Doodle use Nave’s analytics suite to track their performance. They observe nearly a 2x improvement in cycle time compared to the same period last year. See a dashboard with your own data →

The Nave platform allowed their teams to gain insights from data and foster a culture of continuous improvement. Each team has a Delivery Manager who acts as a People Manager and an Agile Coach, helping to improve processes and coordinate efforts.

The real turning point came when Nave was used to replace traditional estimation methods with probabilistic forecasting. “Switching from estimates to probabilistic forecasting was a game-changer,” Jens notes. “Using statistics instead of fixed dates allowed everyone to work more relaxed and focus on quality.”

Tim conducted workshops to educate teams on Kanban, emphasizing the importance of the key flow metrics and practices such as implementing WIP limits.

Doodle’s engineering teams use the Cycle Time Breakdown Chart to track the time spent in each process state.

“We played the Kanban board game with each team to highlight these concepts,” Tim says. This hands-on approach helped teams understand and apply the probabilistic forecasting method effectively.

Initially, some teams experimented with T-shirt size estimates, believing it would help them better manage their workload. However, Tim explains, “Our delivery managers and teams tried using T-shirt sizes for a while, but it turned out to be a waste of everyone’s time. The cycle times were often longer than expected, leading to more confusion and delays. Teams decided to trust the probabilistic forecasts instead.”

Tracking the Cycle Time Histogram, one Delivery Manager at Doodle, Liudmyla Sribna, says her team managed to shorten the cycle time of their tickets and deliver more of them in 2024 compared to 2023.

Realizing the Benefits

Within six months, Doodle saw significant improvements. “We started to really rely on probabilistic forecasts,” Tim explains. The shift allowed teams to focus on delivering high-quality work without the pressure of arbitrary deadlines.

At first, teams were skeptical of the new forecasting method. “Developers didn’t believe the forecasts initially,” Tim shares. “They thought they could complete tasks faster than what the data suggested. But after a few iterations, they realized the forecasts were far more reliable than their own predictions. This built trust in the data-driven approach.”

“Our cycle time averages around seven days now,” Tim notes, indicating a dramatic improvement in efficiency.

Doodle’s teams started using Monte Carlo simulation to forecast delivery dates. In a couple of experiments comparing the team’s estimations with the probabilistic forecasts generated by the platform, Nave gave astonishingly precise results.

Doodle didn’t stop there. The company continues to refine its processes, driven by data insights from Nave. “We regularly review our processes and look for areas of improvement,” Tim explains. This commitment ensures Doodle remains agile and responsive to changing needs.

Nave’s success at Doodle extended beyond engineering. “Our people operations team uses Nave to track their processes and improve efficiency,” Jens shares. This cross-departmental adoption underscores the platform’s versatility and value.

For companies struggling with delivery challenges and time-to-market pressures, Jens and Tim offer clear advice. “Understand your workflow and use a tool like Nave to gain actionable insights,” Jens advises. Tim adds, “Having an easy-to-use feedback mechanism is crucial. It enables teams to make data-driven decisions and continuously improve.”

If you haven’t connected Nave to your management platform, now is the time! Create a dashboard with your own data and start forecasting today →

I hope that Doodle’s story inspired you to explore the concept of probabilistic forecasting, especially if your current approach doesn’t work well for you. With Nave, you can come up with reliable delivery forecasts in less than a minute! That’s how you build credibility and foster a more efficient, stress-free work environment for your teams.

Start making data-driven decisions today and experience the difference it can make for your company! I wish you a productive day ahead, and I’ll see you next week, same time and place, for more managerial insights! Bye for now.

The post How Doodle Transitioned From Story Point Estimates to No Estimates with Nave in Less Than 6 Months appeared first on Nave Blog: Expert tips and guidelines for agile teams.