#24: How Agile Organizations Respond to Challenging Economic Times with Scott Dunn

Scott Dunn joins Brian to talk about how Agile teams and organizations respond in difficult economic times.

Overview

Right now, the word recession is being bandied about, and big companies like Apple and Facebook are already beginning to scale back. But economic downturns can present opportunities for the right individuals.

Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Scrum Trainer with more than 20 years of experience.

Today on the show, Scott joins Brian to discuss why now is the moment to hone in on your mission and determine your job market value and how Agile training can prepare you for any opportunity that comes your way.

Listen now to discover:

[01:52] - Brian shares how the word recession triggers companies to batten down the hatches.
[03:19] - How leaning into Agile in an organization creates a natural operating cost reduction.
[04:52] - Studies show organizations that invest during recessions are better positioned at the back end of it to, you know, accelerate like a rocket out of it.
[06:55] - Scott explains how the Japanese concept of ‘danger opportunity’ offers teams a chance ‘to really do Agile’ and operate efficiently with less.
[9:34] - How difficult times help companies prioritize and hone in on their mission and vision and stop trying to be everything to everybody.
[12:57] - How organizations create unease and lack of employee trust.
[14:46] - How Agile can help workplaces bring humanity back when responding to change.
[16:18] -Scott shares a conversation with his daughter about voting with your feet and your values.
[19:16] -Scott explains why companies need to invest in top talent to lower their technical debt.
[20:17] - Why times like these require ruthlessness in proving out your theories.
[22:10] - Scott shares why down economic times are opportunities in disguise for individuals to determine the types of environments they want to help flourish.
[25:13] - Determining your job market value and the importance of looking at the total package of an opportunity.
[28:30] -Is it really Agile, or is it Agile in name only?
[31:33] - How taking classes at Mountain Goat can prepare you to bring your knowledge and skills to any opportunity.

Listen next time when we'll be discussing…

Scaling with Henrik Kniberg.

References and resources mentioned in the show

Mountain Goat Software
Agile Mentors Community
Scrum Alliance
Jim Collins The Hedgehog Concept

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This episode's presenters are:

Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.

Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Scrum Trainer with over 20 years of experience coaching and training companies like NASA, EMC/Dell Technologies, Yahoo!, Technicolor, and eBay to transition to an agile approach using Scrum.