Author name: Jimmie Butler

Jimmie Butler is the founder of the Timeless Agility concept and the author of the book Pursuing Timeless Agility: the Path to Lasting Agile Transformation. As a coach, he specializes in helping teams and organizations to be more effective by challenging and transforming cultural mindsets. He has worked across a variety of industries, including federal government, helping teams continuously get better at discovering and delivering the next right thing, sooner. Connect on LinkedIn | Order the Book | Learn More.

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Are You Responding or Reacting to Change and Why It Matters
One is always good. The other is mostly bad.

Being agile is all about how well you can pivot and change direction, right? If your team can stop what it’s doing and immediately pivot to support that new urgent policy mandate, it’s the epitome of agile success. You are the perfect example of the Agile Manifesto statement that says you value “responding to change […]

Are You Responding or Reacting to Change and Why It Matters

One is always good. The other is mostly bad.
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Man with puzzled or surprised look

My Recent Revelation About Story Points
The agile metrics advice you might not have heard before

If your organization references story points in its performance metrics, then you shouldn’t be using story points. — Cue tilted head and confused look — You read that right. If anything related to story points is part of your performance metrics, you don’t need story points and should stop using them. Let’s unpack what I

My Recent Revelation About Story Points

The agile metrics advice you might not have heard before
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Woman at whiteboard

Hire Better With a Show, Not Tell Interview Process
Get past the rehearsed answers to common interview questions

Do a search on the Internet and you’ll find many lists of the top interview questions and tips on how to answer them. Relying on many of these questions when conducting interviews will provide you with well-rehearsed answers that sound nice, but aren’t necessarily helpful in hiring the best candidates. I remember a time when

Hire Better With a Show, Not Tell Interview Process

Get past the rehearsed answers to common interview questions
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Hammer

Stop Forcing Agile on Everything
Contrary to popular belief, Agile isn’t always the answer.

A whopping 94% of companies report they are practicing Agile today, according to the 15th State of Agile report. You’re just antiquated in the public eye if you’re not pushing agile everywhere. Despite this notion that Agile is the answer to everything, I believe some organizations are forcing “agile” where it does not fit. In

Stop Forcing Agile on Everything

Contrary to popular belief, Agile isn’t always the answer.
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Man looking disappointed or upset

“So…Who Died?”
This question completely changed my outlook on making mistakes.

When I was in tech school (many years ago) and someone in class messed up (sometimes me), we’d get flustered and worried, but Mr. Fields would calmly ask, “So…who died?” His point was we didn’t do anything that can’t be fixed. We are going to make mistakes. Most all of them are fixable. It’ll be

“So…Who Died?”

This question completely changed my outlook on making mistakes.
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Woman biting pencil, fretting over work

You Don’t Have Time to Craft the Perfect Plan
Even if you did, it would be a waste of time

Let’s see if you can relate with me on this. You spend an inordinate amount of time meticulously crafting your plan. Something unexpected hits your plan like a tornado and you’re left scrambling to stay on track. To avoid the impact of future disruptions, you spend equal amounts of time thinking through all possible risks

You Don’t Have Time to Craft the Perfect Plan

Even if you did, it would be a waste of time
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House of cards

Would Your Business or Team Fall Apart If You Took a Month Off?
Accelerate your growth by getting out of the way

Bottom line up front — if you can’t take a month off without your business or team falling apart, you don’t have a business and you don’t have a team. “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact,

Would Your Business or Team Fall Apart If You Took a Month Off?

Accelerate your growth by getting out of the way
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Two women talking in an office.

The Answers Are in the Questions You Ask
Words matter. Techniques for better product management.

My kids learned early on that words matter. They would ask something like, “can we go to some place?” My response was, “yes.” When they realized that we weren’t going anywhere, they learned that my response wasn’t agreement and their question wasn’t specific enough. They’d try something like, “can we go to some place now?”

The Answers Are in the Questions You Ask

Words matter. Techniques for better product management.
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Guy with tape over his mouth - silenced

The Least Talked About Reason Why Digital and Agile Transformations Fail
Transformation isn’t implemented, it’s cultivated

There are countless articles on the reasons why digital and agile transformations fail, but here’s the problem no one is talking about — we live in an instant-gratification world that seeks to buy and implement our way to success. If we’re being honest with ourselves, transformation success is an anomaly. Up to 84% of companies

The Least Talked About Reason Why Digital and Agile Transformations Fail

Transformation isn’t implemented, it’s cultivated
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Lego figure in pieces representing breaking problems down into first principles

You Shouldn’t Ask Users What They Want
Learn why building what your customers ask for is a recipe for failure

You are human-centered and customer-centric when it comes to managing your software products. You learned that requirements should come from listening to the customer and delivering what they want. Building relationships with your customers is the panacea of previously failed projects. “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

You Shouldn’t Ask Users What They Want

Learn why building what your customers ask for is a recipe for failure
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