An overview of the Agile Results™ system presented in the upcoming book, "Getting Results the Agile Way" by J.D. Meier. It covers the 3 keys to getting started on the Agile Results system: 1. The Rule of 3 2. Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, and Friday Reflection 3. Hot Spots This presentation was made to a Microsoft team in March 2010. You can read a pre-release version of the book NOW for FREE at http://gettingresults.com

1. Getting Results
the
Agile Way
A Personal Results System for Work and Life
J.D. Meier

2. … Are you getting results?

3. Objectives
1. Share an effective approach for daily and weekly results
2. Help you get your groove on and make the most of
what you’ve got
3. Share some success patterns, recipes, and smarter ways
for better days
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4. Agenda
 A Story
 The Secret of Results
 The System
 How To Apply It
 Q&A

5. "Absorb what is useful,
reject what is useless,
add what is specifically your own.“
– Bruce Lee
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6. A Short Story – Your Mindset Matters
 It was a warm, sunny day. I was driving a teammate to our lunch destination – our favorite pizza spot, where
great thoughts happen.
 When I glanced into my rear-view mirror, I thought about our enormous backlog. It felt like a great weight. I
just wanted a fresh start, with the wisdom of our backlog, but without the weight.
 It was at that moment that I realized what bothered me most about our backlog. It wasn’t the backlog itself.
It was the mindset. I turned to my colleague and said, we need to think in terms of value delivered. We
need to get out of the backlog burn-down mindset.
 My colleague pondered. I continued. If we think in terms of value delivered, we leverage timing and
opportunity. The problem with a backlog is rot. What if, instead, we viewed it as an input stream, but we
actively triage delivering value each day? My colleague’s eyes lit up. The light-bulbs went off.
 This mind-set puts the key question front and center – “what’s the next best thing we can do, right now?”.
The next best thing may happen to be the next item in the backlog. Or it may be responding to an emerging
customer need. Or it may be nailing a fleeting window of opportunity. Asking the question helps reveal the
answer.
 Either way, the mind-set renewed us. The mindset was the key. We were once again in control of our results.
We were deliberately carving out value and that felt good. The lesson I learned was …
… Think in value delivered over backlog burn-down!
- J.D. Meier

7. The Secret of Results
Spending the right time, on the right things, the
right way, with the right energy

8. The System – Agile Results
3 Key Things –
 1. The Rule of Three
 2. Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, and Friday
Reflection
 3. Hot Spots for Life

9. The Rule of 3

10. The Rule of 3
 Set a limit of 3 things.
 Group things in 3’s.

11. Why Use the Rule of 3?
Setting a limit of 3 makes it easy to focus and
prioritize on meaningful results.
Grouping things in 3’s makes them easy to
remember and repeat.

12. How To Use the Rule of 3
Think in 3’s …
 3 stories for your day.
 3 stories for your week.
 3 stories for your month.
 3 stories for your year.

13. Example – Start Your Day with The Rule of 3
Ask yourself, “What are the 3 most important
results I want to accomplish today?”
Examples
 Soak up the sun (smell the roses now and Zen)
 Win a raving fan.
 Test my idea.
 Wipe my backlog.

14. Example – Add The Rule of 3 to Your To Do List
Identify the 3 most important results you want to accomplish today and
bubble them to the top of your To Do list.
Before After (The Rule of 3)
Prioritize your day against your 3 results, whether it’s incoming requests
or you’re making your way through your backlog of things to do.

15. Example – Add The Rule of 3 to Your New Year’s Resolution
Ask yourself, “What are the 3 most meaningful results I
want for this year?”
Before After (The Rule of 3)
 Drop 20 pounds. 1. Get to my fighting weight.
2. Take an epic adventure.
3. Finish my book.

16. Test Yourself
 What are the 3 key results you want to
accomplish for today?
 What are the 3 key results you want for the
year?
You should be able to say the 3 things you want to accomplish
for the day without looking them up. The more you do it, the
easier it gets.

17. Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, and
Friday Reflection

18. What is Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes,
and Friday Reflection?
It’s a simple pattern for helping you achieve results each week.
The Pattern:
 Mondays - identify the 3 stories you want for the week
 Daily - Each day you identify the 3 stories you want.
 Fridays - you identify 3 things going well, and 3 things to
improve.

19. Why Use Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes,
and Friday Reflection?
It helps you create a rhythm of results. When you
“fall of your horse”, you can easily get back on.
Key Benefits
 You make your week meaningful.
 You get a fresh start, each day and each week.
 For that day, you focus on what’s your best value
 You get the system and the rhythm on your side
 Lower priority or lower value naturally sloughs off
It combines positive psychology, project management, time
management, energy management, … etc. in a simple,
but effective way.

20. How To Use Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes and
Friday Reflection
On Mondays …
 Identify 3 results you want for the week. This is your vision for the week.
 Ask yourself, “If this were Friday, what are 3 results I want to look back
on?”
Each day …
 Identify 3 results you want for the day. This is your vision for the day.
 Ask yourself, “What are the 3 best results I want for today?”
On Fridays …
 Set aside time for personal reflection. This is your time for “lessons
learned” and “victories won” (celebrate your wins)
 Ask yourself, “What are 3 things going well?”
 Ask yourself, “What are 3 things to improve?”

21. At a Glance
Monday Vision What are 3 results I want for the week?
Monday What are 3 results I want for today?
Tuesday What are 3 results I want for today?
Wednesday What are 3 results I want for today?
Thursday What are 3 results I want for today?
Friday What are 3 results I want for today?
Friday Reflection What are 3 things going well?
What are 3 things to improve?

22. Hot Spots

23. Hot Spots
Hot Spots are areas of focus.
Hot spots are a simple metaphor for thinking
about what’s important.
Key Concepts
 Imagine your life as a heat map with Hot Spots.
 Hot Spots are the key investment areas or choice points that need
your attention.
 Each Hot Spot can represent pain or opportunity or pleasure.

24. Hot Spots as Your Portfolio
Think of your life as an investment portfolio or a
heat map.

25. Why Hot Spots
Hot Spots provide a simple way to invest your time and energy
across significant areas of your life.
By looking at your life in terms of a heat map of pain, pleasure,
and opportunity, you can better invest your time and energy
to improve your results.
Key Benefits
 They give you a simple lens for looking at your life.
 They help you set boundaries.
 They help you focus and prioritize.
 They help you balance your life.

26. How To Use Hot Spots
See the forest from the trees.
Balance and focus your life.
You can use hot spots several ways:
 Achieve work-life balance - set boundaries in terms of how much time or energy you spend
in a given area of your life. You can set minimums or maximums.
 Ask better questions - Ask key questions about significant areas of your life using Hot Spots
as a lens.
 Focal points for improvement - Use hot spots as focal points to improve. For example, you
can find and test best practices for a given area of your life.
 Analyze your time and energy - Analyze your investment of time and energy across your
portfolio of Hot Spots.

27. Example – Setting Boundaries Using
Hot Spots

28. Take Aways

29. The Rule of 3
 Use The Rule of 3 to help you focus and remember key things.
 Use The Rule of 3 to identify 3 outcomes for the day, the
week, the month, and the year.
 If you already have a To Do list, add 3 key outcomes (not
activities), to the top.
 Use The Rule of 3 to design your day and drive your day.

30. Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, and
Friday Reflection
 Use Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, and Friday Reflection to get
results each week.
 Each week is a fresh start.
 Monday is your chance to create a compelling vision for your week.
 Each day is a fresh start and a new chance to make progress against
your vision for the week.
 Fridays are a chance to reflect on what’s going well and what you
need to improve.

31. Hot Spots
 Think Hot Spots as a portfolio or heat map.
 Use Hot Spots to invest your time and energy.
 Set minimums and maximums in terms of time or energy in
your hot spots.
 Achieve work-life balance by investing across your hot spots.

32. Call to Action
 Read the Guide – Getting Results.com
(http://GettingResults.com )
 Share it with a friend
 Share your success story
(GettingResultsTeam@gmail.com )

33. About J.D. Meier Guidance Explorer
J.D. Meier …
 Principal Program Manager on the Microsoft patterns & practices team
 Focus - Software Development, Project Management, and Effectiveness
 Research, author, run teams, and ship stuff
 10+ years deliberate practice in “best practices”
 750+ software architecture and design reviews
As a hobby and passion, I study success across Microsoft up and down the chain.
Key Projects (Blue Books and Software)
Blue Books for Microsoft (Technical Books)
 Application Architecture Guide 2.0
 Improving Web Services Security (The WCF Security Guide)
 Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications
 Team Development with VSTS/TFS (The TFS Guide)
 patterns & practices Security Engineering
 Improving Web Application Security (Threats and Countermeasures)
 Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability
 Building Secure ASP.NET Applications (The first Microsoft “Blue Book”)
Software / Tools
 Guidance Explorer (“ITunes for Knowledge”)
 Practices Checker (“Building Codes Inspector for Software Best Practices”)
Blogs
 J.D. Meier on MSDN (My Microsoft Blog): http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier
 Sources of Insight (My Effectiveness Blog) - http://SourcesOfInsight.com
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