About Michael

Michael K. Levine is an expert on lean and agile software development and information technology He conducted international trade negotiation at the US Commerce Department, was a corporate banker for First Bank System, and became divisional CIO at Norwest Bank. After a stint at Wells Fargo he joined US Bank to deploy a new branch banking system (bringing lean and agile to a highly structured waterfall environment), then became technology lead for US Bank Home Mortgage. He now leads all consumer lending and business banking technology. His previous books are Tale of Two Systems: Lean and Agile Software Development for Business Leaders, and Tale of Two Transformations: Bringing Lean and Agile Software Development to Life. His third book is People Over Process: Leadership for Agility (Productivity Press, September 30, 2019). He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife, Holly Lindsay. Learn more at TheTalesofAgility.com

Today We Talked About

• How Michael got to where is now
• Lean vs. Agile
• Leadership Tips
• Meetings
• Agile vs. Scrum
• How important People are to leadership
• Develop people to do the right kind of work
• Chief Engineer – not in scrum but in Lean product development
• Rigor, Efficiency, Alignment
• Frameworks
  • A3 framework
  • Amazon Approach
• Behaviors
  • Provide Options
  • Helps teams to learn
• How to do a good meeting
  • Meetings to Plan for meetings
  • Make them valuable
  • Respect people’s time
• Informal meetings
  • Coffee or Beer meeting
  • Listening and building relationship
• Management by walking around
• Why write this book? – People over Process
• Leadership Models
  • Facilitative Leadership
  • Creative Software Development
• Valuing People and their autonomy
• Balancing Autonomy and Responsibility
• Agile is not an excuse not to plan
• Biggest Mistakes in Technology Management
  • Misunderstanding of the nature of the work
  • Is it creative?
• Career Advice
  • Think about what is valuable to the market
  • Develop your leadership skills
  • Make good decisions
  • Be Efficiency
  • Align with the business

Connect with Michael

• Tales of Agility

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