Four Ways to Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills Today



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Strategic thinking is often considered essential to an organization's successful performance. Some have even advocated for companies to develop the strategic thinking skills of their executives and other staff as a core competency. How can strategic thinking skills be developed? But first, here's a definition.

“Strategic thinking is a distinctive management activity whose purpose is to discover novel, imaginative strategies which can rewrite the rules of the competitive game; and to envision potential futures significantly different from the present. Furthermore, strategic thinking is specified as being conceptual, systems-oriented, directional (linking the future with the past), and opportunistic.”
— Ellen F. Goldman


In other words, strategic thinking is a process used to broaden an individual's perspective to achieve successful outcomes such as competitive advantage. And it can happen at every level of the organization; it's not just for executives.

Here are four specific things you can do to improve your strategic thinking skills.

1. Schedule Time for Strategic Thinking

You are investing in your success as well as that of the organization. Find the time to focus on strategic thinking. A tip is to place a recurring event on your calendar to reserve time for strategic thinking activities.

2. Monitor the Big Picture Including Trends

The default focus at most organizations is on what’s directly ahead. However, "peripheral vision"—including keeping sight of the big picture and industry trends—is essential for long-term success. Some tips follow. Keep abreast of industry organizations and publications. Build external networks to help you best scan the competitive landscape. Determine the unique perspective that your role provides, and define its favorable impact on the organization’s vision, mission, and/or strategic objectives.

3. Ask Questions to Uncover Patterns

Further to your mindfulness of the big picture and understanding of changes in the industry, you can put strategic thinking to work by asking yourself and others questions. A few examples follow. "What if _____?" questions are frequently effective in helping one "see around the corner." And variations such as "If _____, then _____?" often yield insights as well.


4. Embrace Uncertainty and Conflict

Strategic thinking involves envisioning the future and potential proactive ways the organization can change to remain competitive and successful. You should accept that the future is uncertain, and challenging assumptions by asking questions and other tactics may make some people uncomfortable. Remaining mindful of those aspects will help you stay the course in regularly practicing strategic thinking and securing the benefits summarized in this article.

Conclusion

By sharpening your strategic thinking skills, you benefit both yourself and your organization. It helps you make a greater contribution to the business—which may also support your advancement—and it helps the company enjoy greater competitive advantage and long-term success. So, start work on your strategic thinking skills today!

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Bibliography

Atsmon, Yuval (2017, May 2). How to Unleash Your Strategic Thinking. Digital article. McKinsey & Company.

Bonn, Ingrid (2005, June). Improving Strategic Thinking: A Multilevel Approach.
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26 (5). DOI: 10.1108/01437730510607844.

Cowan, N. (2001, February). The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory: A Reconsideration of Mental Storage Capacity.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24 (1): 87-119.

Dixit, Avinash K. and Nelebuff, Barry J. (1993).
Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Goldman, Ellen F. (2007, Summer). Strategic Thinking at the Top.
MIT Sloan Management Review, 48 (4): 75-81.

Graffius, Scott M. (2016).
Thinking Strategically and Acting Tactically. Winnetka, CA: Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions.

Reynolds, K. (2013). Strategic Thinking for Today's Project Managers. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2013—North America, New Orleans, LA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Syrett, Michael and Devine, Marion (2012).
Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times. London, United Kingdom: Profile Books.



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About the Author

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ


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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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The short link for this article is
https://bit.ly/4-strategic.
This article was first published here. Later—on August 24, 2021—the article was posted to LinkedIn
here as well.


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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.




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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at Microsoft Conference



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๐Ÿ”ฅ Update: The conference recorded sessions and made the videos available to the public. The video for Scott's session is included at the end of this post.

Scott M. Graffius will present “But First, the Team!” at the Microsoft Azure Community Conference 2020, a multi-track virtual event running from November 24-26, 2020.

  • Location: Virtual event
  • Session description and speaker bio on conference website: https://www.azconf.dev/speakers/Scott-Graffius/
  • Date and time of session — Pacific Standard Time: Tuesday, November 24th from 8:30-9:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
  • Date and time of session — India Standard Time: Wednesday, November 25th from 10:00-11:00 a.m. India Standard Time

For more information and to register for the virtual event, visit
https://www.azconf.dev/#home.

Attendees of this session may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to one hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it’s 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it’s 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.

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Description of Talk

Want great Cloud or Web Development projects? Among other things, it takes a great team! Enter Bruce Tuckman's phases of team development — a model that’s stood the test of time because it remains highly relevant and beneficial. If you are a leader (or aspire to be one), a member of a team (or may be in one in the future), or a just looking to develop your skills, this talk (based on Tuckman's model, but with fresh angle) will give you a practical framework with actionable tips for working in and leading teams successfully. You'll learn about the five phases — Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning — including detailed descriptions of each along with proven strategies for addressing challenges or issues that may occur along the way. You'll understand how to use the model to your advantage by effectively navigating all of the phases, from team set-up to the after-party!



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Speaker Bio

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and international speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been featured and used by media outlets, publications, businesses, governments, and universities including Yahoo Finance, Computer Weekly, Innovation Project Management, MobileAppDaily, Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer on Agile.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the Azure Community Conference 2020

The Azure Community Conference (#AzConfDev) is a three-day multi-track conference running from November 24-26, 2020. It is aimed at Cloud and Web Developers working with open source and cloud native technologies on the Microsoft Stack. The event hosts technology experts from around the globe to educate, network, and share their expertise with attendees on:

  • .NET/C#/ASP.NET/Developer Technologies (anything that runs on Azure);
  • Front-end/Javascript Frameworks/UI/UX;
  • DevOps and Cloud Native Technologies on Azure;
  • Data, IoT, and Application Security;
  • Life Hacks / Career & Work Skills; and
  • Other developer-centric topics.

Usually conducted in-person in Bangalore, India, the event is virtual this year.

To learn more about the conference, visit
https://www.azconf.dev/#home.

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Update on December 5, 2020

If you missed the live Microsoft Azure Community Conference 2020, recordings of the sessions are now on YouTube. Scott's talk is at at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IePi5Z67sYc and the video is shown below.




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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.



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Scott M. Graffius Speaking on Team Dynamics at UX Healthcare Europe Conference



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UPDATE: CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS CANCELLED THIS EVENT

Scott M. Graffius will speak on team dynamics at the UX Healthcare Europe Conference. The event will bring together a diverse group of clinicians, technologists, and thought leaders linked by a commitment to help improve the health care experience — "Because better user experience can save lives." The conference will be a virtual event.


For more information and to register for the conference, visit
https://uxhealthcare.co.

Attendees of this session may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 0.50 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it’s 0.50 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it’s 0.50 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About UX Healthcare


The following includes excerpts from the UX Healthcare website.

We live in a world of constant change. Technology is evolving more rapidly than anyone would have ever thought. In healthcare, this change is generally not embraced as much as in other industries. Most healthcare systems weren’t designed for this world. UX Healthcare aims to make a difference, because better design is needed in the healthcare industry. From clinicians, healthcare insurances to hospital equipment manufacturers and others - the goal is to help healthcare around the world implement the best user experiences possible. For more information, visit the UX Healthcare website at
https://uxhealthcare.co.

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About UX Healthcare Europe Conference


The UX Healthcare Europe Conference will bring together a diverse group of clinicians, technologists, and thought leaders linked by a commitment to improve the health care experience. "Because better user experience can save lives." The conference will conducted as a virtual event. Originally scheduled for 10 December 2020, it was rescheduled to 21 January 2021. To learn more, visit https://uxhealthcare.co.



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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.


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Scott M. Graffius Quoted in Publication of the National Academy of Sciences



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Scott M. Graffius was quoted in a publication of the National Academy of Sciences.

The respective content is: “If you don’t collect any metrics, you’re flying blind. If you collect and focus on too many, they may be obstructing your field of view.” — Graffius, Scott M. (2016).
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.

Chris Hare Colin Giffen were the Technical Editors on Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.

For details on the respective National Academy of Sciences publication, see the
accompanying PDF.



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About Scott M. Graffius


ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the National Academy of Sciences


The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to the National Academy is one of the highest honors in the scientific field. Members of the National Academy of Sciences serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation" on science, engineering, and medicine. The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code.

Founded in 1863 as a result of an Act of Congress that was approved by Abraham Lincoln, the NAS is charged with "providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. … to provide scientific advice to the government 'whenever called upon' by any government department."

To learn more, visit the NAS website at
http://nasonline.org.



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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.



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Scott M. Graffius Speaking on Team Leadership at Netherlands Chapter of Project Management Institute

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Scott M. Graffius will present "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility" at a virtual event of the Netherlands Chapter of the Project Management Institute on Thursday, January 21, 2021. To learn more and to register for the event, visit
https://pmi-nl.nl/calendar?eventId=6953.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius


ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and international speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been featured and used by media outlets, publications, businesses, governments, and universities including Yahoo Finance, Computer Weekly, Innovation Project Management, MobileAppDaily, Gartner, Oracle, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Liberty Mutual Group, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, Bosch, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, James Madison University, Santa Clara University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer in three domains: Agile, Digital Transformation, and GovTech. His full-length bio is available here.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ


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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the Netherlands Chapter of the Project Management Institute


The Netherlands Chapter of the Project Management Institute endeavors to deliver maximum value to its members and other stakeholders by providing an environment — inclusive of activities and events — supporting the development, certification, and networking of current and aspiring project, program, and portfolio management professionals. To learn more, visit the chapter's website at https://pmi-nl.nl.



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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.



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Scott M. Graffius Speaking on Tech Team Leadership at IT | Pro Dev Connections 2020 Conference



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๐Ÿ”ฅ Update: The conference recorded sessions and made the videos available to the public. The video for Scott's session is included at the end of this post.

Scott M. Graffius will speak on team leadership at the IT Pro | Dev Connections 2020 Conference. Normally conducted in-person in Athens, Greece, it will be a virtual event this year.

  • Dates: December 12-13, 2020
  • Location: Virtual (online from Athens, Greece)
  • For details and to register for the conference, visit itprodevconnections.gr

Scott's session will be on Saturday, December 12th at 5:30-6:15 p.m. local (Athens, Greece) Eastern European Standard Time (7:30-8:15 a.m. Pacific Standard Time).

Attendees of this session may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 0.75 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it’s 0.75 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it’s 0.75 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About IT Pro | Dev Connections 2020 Conference


IT Pro | Dev Connections 2020 is a tech conference serving the Greek technical communities — inclusive of
autoexec.gr, azureheads.gr, sqlschool.gr, *ngThess, VMUG Greece, Ministry Of Testing, MS Learn, Thessaloniki.NETThessaloniki Software Testing and QA, Cloud Experts, and Hotelier ITPRO — and others around the world. Normally conducted in-person in Athens, Greece, it will be held as a virtual event on December 12-13, 2020. To learn more and register for the conference, visit itprodevconnections.gr.

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Update on December 16, 2020

If you missed the event, recordings of sessions are now available on YouTube. Scott's talk is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0JVK99OLpE and the video is also shown below.



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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.




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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at DevConf.CZ 2021



devconf-cz-vg9-twitter-0028lr20029-squashed



๐Ÿ”ฅ Update: The DevConf.CZ 2021 conference recorded sessions and made the videos available to the public. The video for Scott's session is included at the end of this post.

Scott M. Graffius will present "But First, the Team!" at DevConf.CZ 2021. Now in its 13th year, the Red Hat sponsored tech conference will bring together developers, DevOps engineers, and other contributors to open source technologies. Normally conducted in-person in the Czech Republic, DevConf.CZ will be a virtual, three-day event in 2021. It will run from February 18-20. For more information and to register for the conference, visit
https://www.devconf.info/cz/.

Attendees of Scott's session may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 0.75 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it’s 0.75 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it’s 0.75 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About DevConf.CZ 2021


DevConf.CZ 2021 is the 13th annual, free, Red Hat sponsored conference for developers, admins, DevOps engineers, testers, and other contributors to open source technologies. The conference includes topics on Linux, middleware, virtualization, storage, cloud, mobile, tech leadership, and more. Usually conducted in-person in the Czech Republic, DevConf.CZ 2021 will be a virtual event this year, running from February 18-20. To learn more, visit https://www.devconf.info/cz/.

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Update on March 19, 2021


If you missed the event, recordings of sessions are now available on YouTube. Scott's talk is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9njtVesgt0 and the video is also shown below.




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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.





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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at Microsoft 365 Applications Conference




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Scott M. Graffius will present "Want Great IT? It Takes a Great Team!" at M365 Saturday Coimbatore. The tech conference will bring together IT professionals involved or interested in Microsoft Collaboration and Cloud technologies. It will be conducted as a virtual event on Saturday, December 19, 2020. For more information and to register for the conference, visit spsevents.org/event/m365coimbatore2020.

Attendees of Scott's session may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 0.75 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it’s 0.75 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it’s 0.75 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius


ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including: Gartner, Oracle Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Agile. His full-length bio is available at https://www.scottgraffius.com/bio.html.

His full bio is available here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About M365 Saturday Coimbatore


M365 Saturday Coimbatore will bring together Information Technology professionals to share best practices, lessons learned, and more related to Microsoft Collaboration and Cloud technologies. It will be held as a virtual event on Saturday, December 19, 2020. To learn more, visit
spsevents.org/event/m365coimbatore2020.



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© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.



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Scott M. Graffius Speaking on Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning at Monterey Bay Chapter of Project Management Institute



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Scott M. Graffius will present "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility" at a virtual event of the Monterey Bay Chapter of the Project Management Institute on Thursday, April 15, 2021, from 7:00-8:30 p.m. Pacific Time. For additional information and to register for the event, visit
https://www.meetup.com/PMI-MontereyBay/events/277035774.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the Monterey Bay Chapter of the Project Management Institute


Chartered by the Project Management Institute in 2004, the Monterey Bay Chapter serves the Southwest North America region—more specifically the California counties of Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito. The Chapter is committed to advancing the project management profession by sharing knowledge and providing training and networking activities for its members and other stakeholders. To learn more, visit the PMI Monterey Bay Chapter's website at https://pmi-mbay.org.




© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.




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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at PMI Alaska



pmi-ak---twitter-updated-lr-squashed



Scott M. Graffius will present "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility" at an online event of the Alaska Chapter of the Project Management Institute on January 27, 2021, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Alaska Standard Time. To learn more and to register for the event, visit
https://pmiak.org/index.php/component/eventbooking/january-chapter-meeting.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius


ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the Alaska Chapter of the Project Management Institute


The mission of the Alaska Chapter of the Project Management Institute is to provide a forum for professional project managers to promote the principles of the Project Management Institute through networking with other project managers, sharing project experiences, providing and receiving training, and supporting project managers in their certification and continuing professional development efforts. To learn more, visit the chapter's website at https://pmiak.org.



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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.




custom - back to main page of blog


Scott M. Graffius Speaking at North Alabama Chapter of PMI



pmi-north-alabama---for-twitter-v2-lr-squashed



Scott M. Graffius will be speaking on team development at a virtual event of the North Alabama Chapter of the Project Management Institute on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 11:00-12:00 Central Time. Everyone is welcome to attend — membership in the Chapter is not required. To learn more and register for the event, visit
https://bit.ly/pmi-nac.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.




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About the North Alabama Chapter of the Project Management Institute


The North Alabama Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-NAC) was initially formed in 1990 as the Tennessee Valley Chapter. Since its formation other PMI Chapters were formed in Birmingham, AL; Memphis, TN; Nashville, TN; Chattanooga, TN; and Knoxville, TN. In 2002, the Chapter was renamed the North Alabama Chapter to best reflect the area it serves. The PMI-NAC's mission is to provide leadership and value to members, communities and industries in north Alabama through the provision of information, professional development, and activities that advance the project management profession. To learn more, visit the Chapter's website at https://pmi-nac.org.



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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.




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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at Southern Nevada Chapter of Project Management Institute



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Scott M. Graffius will deliver a talk — "Navigate the Phases of Team Development with Speed and Agility" — at a virtual event of the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Project Management Institute on Thursday, March 18, 2021, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. To learn more and to register for the event, visit
https://pmi-snc.org/calendar?eventId=7586.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius

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Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the Southern Nevada Chapter of the Project Management Institute

The Project Management Institute Southern Nevada Chapter's vision is to be the professional organization of choice for the project management community of Southern Nevada. Its mission is to Provide premier networking, education and presentations to support the needs of the project management community. And holds seven core values: Create an environment and opportunity to develop knowledge, skills and professionalism in the application of project management; foster and enabling corporate, community and educational networking opportunities; partner with business and academia to unleash the power of project management; attract, developing and retaining leadership to ensure the future of the organization; offer professional development unit (PDU) opportunities to members; offer programs to enhance members’ project management skills; and have nationally known speakers make presentations at monthly meetings at least twice a year. To learn more, visit the Chapter's website at https://pmi-snc.org.



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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.





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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM)



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Scott M. Graffius will be a guest speaker at the California Institute of Advanced Management, where he will deliver a talk on team development and leadership to an audience of MBA students and professors on March 13, 2021.

Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 1.00 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 1.00 professional development unit (PDU), under the Leadership category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 1.00 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius


ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About the California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM)


The California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM) is a non-profit, boutique university specializing in one single, revolutionary MBA program, designed to provide its students with "battle ready" business skills for today's ever-changing business world. Whether a student wants to be an entrepreneur, enhance their value to their existing employer, or transition to a new career, the CIAM's MBA program will help get them where they want to go. To learn more, visit CIAM's website at https://www.ciam.edu.



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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.





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Scott M. Graffius Speaking at ConFoo Developer Conference 2021



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Scott M. Graffius will be speaking at the ConFoo Developer Conference 2021. The annual event is normally conducted in-person in Montreal, Québec, Canada. This year, ConFoo will be online. Scott will present “But First, the Team!” on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, from 3:15-4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.


Attendees may be eligible to receive continuing education unit (CEU) credit, equivalent to 0.75 hour. For reporting with the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's 0.75 professional development unit (PDU), under the Technical Project Management category. For reporting with the Scrum Alliance, it's 0.75 Scrum educational unit (SEU), under either the Learning category or the Events category. For reporting with other organizations, refer to their respective instructions.



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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, based in Los Angeles, California. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books (Agile Scrum and Agile Transformation), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Deloitte, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, Project Management Institute, the IEEE, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. Graffius has spoken at 58 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:


Follow_ScottGraffius_-_v22020507-SG-BLG-LR-SQ

black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



black_spacer_lr_sq_v3

About the ConFoo Developer Conference


ConFoo is a multi-technology conference for development professionals. It features a stellar lineup of renown international speakers, new, innovative and surprising topics, and networking opportunities. The annual event is normally conducted in-person in Montreal, Québec, Canada. In 2021, ConFoo will be entirely online. To learn more and register for the conference, visit https://confoo.ca/en.



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© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.




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Should You Be Nasty or Nice in Negotiations?

BY SCOTT M. GRAFFIUS | ScottGraffius.com

Scott M Graffius - Negotiation - Nasty or Nice - X Format without Title - Jan 21 2024 - LwRes

A PDF of this article is here.

Note: When discussing moods and behaviors related to negotiations, the respective research uses the terms “angry” or “nasty,” contrasted with “happy” or “nice.” For that reason, this article uses those same terms. Also consider that an unhappy, irritated, or frustrated person may be labeled as “angry.” And a tough, difficult, or demanding person may be labeled as “nasty.”




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Introduction


Chances are that you’ve already participated in some form of negotiations in your personal or professional life and that you’ll do so in the future. Negotiation is defined as a discussion between two or more parties aimed at resolving points of difference, crafting outcomes to satisfy various interests, or otherwise establishing an agreement. Handling a job offer, asking for a promotion, and buying and selling property such as a car or a house are just a few examples of deals you may have executed. Enhancing your negotiation strategies, tactics, and skills can have a big payoff on the outcomes of future deals.


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Main Section of Article

What can you add to your arsenal to help you maximize value at your next visit to the bargaining table? How about this: Is it advantageous to be nice or nasty in a negotiation? “The Interpersonal Effects of Anger and Happiness in Negotiations” — a study by Gerben A. Van Kleef and colleagues at the University of Amsterdam — uncovered the answer. Read on to gain insights from the work.

The study encompassed three experiments. The first experiment involved a computer-mediated negotiation in which participants couldn’t see their opponent. And participants were led to believe their counterpart was either happy or angry. The findings follow. Participants with an opponent who they thought was angry placed lower demands and made larger concessions than did participants with an opponent who they thought was happy.

The procedure for experiment 2 was similar to the first one. This one further explored the effect of the informed mood of negotiation counterparts. The results showed that participants used information on mood to infer their opponents’ limit and they adjusted their demands accordingly.

The third and final experiment examined the interplay between experienced and communicated emotion. It showed that angry communications (unlike happy ones) induced fear and thereby mitigated the effect of the counterpart’s experienced emotion.


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Conclusion

In conclusion, the study by Van Kleef and colleagues found that negotiators are influenced by their counterpart’s emotions. It showed that the expression of anger can be advantageous in some negotiation scenarios, challenging the “golden rule” that always being nice wins.

However, being angry or nasty doesn’t mean acting unethically. And if a person is simply acting a certain way, doing so could backfire if their counterpart sees through the display.

Based on the study and additional resources delineated in the references/sources section of this article, here are some considerations regarding behavior and mood during negotiations.

When to be nice in negotiations:

  • Long-term relationships: In repeated negotiations, fostering goodwill with friendly gestures like concessions or expressing empathy can benefit both parties in the long run. It builds trust and cooperation, creating a more positive environment for future deals.
  • Information exchange: When seeking information from your counterpart, a friendly approach encourages them to be open and share more readily. Creating a comfortable atmosphere lowers their guard and increases cooperation.
  • Concessions for compromise: When seeking a compromise, initiating friendliness can signal your willingness to concede and encourage reciprocation from the other party, leading to a mutually beneficial agreement.

When to be nasty in negotiations:

  • Short-term gains: In one-off negotiations, a strategic display of toughness (e.g., setting high demands, expressing firm resolve) can intimidate your opponent and pressure them into accepting less favorable terms.
  • Protecting resources: When facing an unfair or demanding adversary, a firm and assertive stance can help protect your resources and prevent exploitation.
  • Signaling strength: In situations where your bargaining power is unclear, projecting confidence and strength through assertive communication can deter the other party from taking advantage of you.

This article highlighted select valuable work on the nuances of negotiation behavior. For a deeper understanding, exploring the full research is highly recommended.

Scott M Graffius - Negotiation - Pxls - Jan 21 2024 - LwRes

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References/Sources

Select (partial) bibliography:

  • Barry, B. (1999). The Tactical Use of Emotion in Negotiation. Research on Negotiation in Organizations, 7: 93-121.
  • Clark, M.S., & Taraban, C.B. (1991). Reactions to and Willingness to Express Emotion in Two Types of Relationships. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27: 324-336.
  • Frijda, N.H. (1986). The Emotions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  • Harvard Law School (2010, March 9). Should You be Nasty or Nice? Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School. Available at: https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/should-you-be-nasty-or-nice.
  • Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999). Social Functions of Emotions at Four Levels of Analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 13: 505-521.
  • Hüffmeier, J., Freund, P. A., Zerres, A., Backhaus, K., & Hertel, G. (2014). Being Tough or Being Nice? A Meta-Analysis on the Impact of Hard- and Softline Strategies in Distributive Negotiations. Journal of Management, 40 (3): 866-892.
  • Pietroni, D., Van Kleef, G.A., De Dreu, C.K.W., & Pagliaro, S. (2008). Emotions as Strategic Information: Effects of Other’s Emotions on Fixed-Pie Perception, Demands and Integrative Behavior in Negotiation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44: 1444-1454.
  • Reis, H.T., & Collins, W.A. (2004). Relationships, Human Behavior, and Psychological Science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13: 233-237.
  • Schwarz, N., & Clore, G.L. (1983). Mood, Misattribution, and Judgments of Well-Being: Informative and Directive Functions of Affective States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45: 513-523.
  • Sinaceur, M., Adam, H., Van Kleef, G. & Galinsky, A. (2013, May 1). The advantages of being unpredictable: How emotional inconsistency extracts concessions in negotiation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49: 498-508.
  • Thayer, S. (1980). The Effect of Facial Expression Sequence Upon Judgments of Emotion. Journal of Social Psychology, 111: 305-306.
  • Van Beest, I., Van Kleef, G.A., & Van Dijk, E. (2008). Get Angry, Get Out: The Interpersonal Effects of Anger Communication in Multiparty Negotiation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44: 993-1002.
  • Van Kleef, G. A. (2009). How Emotions Regulate Social Life: The Emotions as Social Information (EASI) Model. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18 (3): 184-188.
  • Van Kleef, G.A., De Dreu, C.K.W., & Manstead, A.S.R. (2004). The Interpersonal Effects of Anger and Happiness in Negotiations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86: 57-76.
  • Voss, C. (2016). Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It. New York, New York: Harper Business.

scott_m_graffius_-_blog_spacer_-_v23111107_-_cite

How to Cite This Article

Graffius, Scott M. (2024, January 22). Negotiation Alchemy: Turning Frustration into Fuel for Win-Win Outcomes. Available at:
https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/win-win.html.


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About Scott M. Graffius

ScottGraffius-181024_1000x1000_152KB-lowres-sq

Scott M. Graffius, PMP, SA, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, thinker, creator, multi-award-winning author, and international public speaker. Founder and CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™, he has generated over $1.9 billion for Global Fortune 500 businesses and other organizations he has served. Graffius and content from his books, talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, Yale University, Tufts University, and others. He delights audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile project management, AI, Tech leadership, video game development, strategic alignment, the science of high performance teams, and more. To date, he's presented sessions at 89 conferences and other events across 25 countries.

His full bio is available
here.

Connect with Scott on:



Follow Scott M Graffius on Twitter - v22122107 1000x1000 lr - sq

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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Scrum_v22123007_LR_1000x1000_sq

Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.

There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.

With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions,
Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:

  • Implement and use the most popular agile frameworkโ€•Scrum;
  • Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
  • Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.

Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”

Winner of 17 first place awards.

Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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About
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change

Scott_M_Graffius_Agile_Transformation_LR_1000x505

Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.

Based on actual events,
Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.

The award-winning book by
Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.



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The short link for this article is: https://bit.ly/win-skill

© Copyright 2024 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.


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