Category Archives: Strategy

Is the impact of Agile just a Hawthorne Effect ?

Posted on February 20, 2013 by

The Hawthorne Effect is a human behavioural theory drawn by various social scientists from trials undertaken between 1927 and 1932 at Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works. The trials found that improvements in behaviour, and productivity changes observed after adjusting a workplace, … Continue reading →

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Agile, Lean and Systems Thinking – What’s the Deal?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by

A Luna Tractor client asked me the other day, “What’s the relationship between Agile and Lean? How do you know which to choose?”  It’s a great question and the answer is actually pretty simple: most of the time you need … Continue reading →

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Ground Hog Day

Posted on September 17, 2012 by

I just saw this graphic of American Print Newspaper Advertising (adjusted for inflation) and had a strong sense of deja vu: Exhibit A: Newspaper Ad Revenue in the US Exhibit B: US Recorded Music Revenue in the US Business Insider … Continue reading →

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WHY ?

Posted on August 18, 2012 by

At various times I’ve heard Fiona, Nigel and myself telling people “If you only adopt one Agile practice make it the retrospectives” … But why ? The boards are useful, but they are really just give you a prompt when … Continue reading →

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Luna USA Field Trip: lessons for the future of retail in Australia

Posted on June 11, 2012 by

If I had a dollar for every whinging column-inch where our Australian newspapers copy and paste press releases from Myer, David Jones and Harvey Norman’s PR departments, blaming the dreaded interweb for the end-of-days in our retail stores, I’d be … Continue reading →

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Luna USA Field trip: more skunkworks reflections

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

The 14 rules of the Skunkworks, written by Kelly Johnson of Lockheed Martin in the 1940s are are clear antecedents of the 2001 Agile Manifesto, and the Agile Principles behind the manifesto. James talks about Skunkworks in our YOW! presentation, … Continue reading →

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Luna USA Field Trip: Wright Brothers – less money, less resources, more innovative

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Simon Sinek has a great talk on the rivalry at play in the early part of the 20th century to successfully fly a heavier than air, powered aircraft. It is an important tale for agilists, as the small budget and … Continue reading →

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Luna USA Field Trip: Space Shuttle – a monumental engineering achievement

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

In our YOW! 2011 talk we discussed the space shuttle era that began in the late 1970s – an era of USA and Soviet rivalry based foolishly on strategic parity (‘our goal is just to have what they have’). Horrifically, … Continue reading →

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EXCLUSIVE! Australian incubator launches Airbed.com, hot new social travel transaction platform

Posted on April 1, 2012 by

1 April 2012 Luna Tractor has been leaked advance details of the hottest new internet property to emerge from The Y-Axis, Melbourne’s most successful  incubator and startup investor, proof positive of the benefits flowing from one of the nation’s first … Continue reading →

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From Insight to Strategy to Innovation – while standing at the Toyworld Checkout

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

Listen up lean and agile thinkers. This is a simple illustration of the kind of things that make innovation and strategy easy – a gift from someone on a toy shop counter that probably earns less than $20 an hour. … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Customers, Disruption, People, Strategy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments