Klean A/S - Klean weblog - om bedre websites

Web Analytics for Hospitals: The Business Case for Patient Care

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Last week I had the privilege to present to the Region Hovedstaden in Copenhagen. This region, the largest in Denmark, comprises 13 hospitals and 36,000 employees and serves a population of 1.6 million inhabitants. The accomplishments of information managers of this organization are impressive; one out of our every four residents uses the region's website, not to mention their respective hospital website. Nevertheless, the information managers want to continue to drive improved patient care and efficiency through their websites.

To date, websites have been less important to hospitals, as the major drive for information technology (IT) has been around medical informatics. This is a robust movement comprising electronic medical records, decision support systems, data standardization, controlled medical vocabularies, hand held devices for data entry/retrieval, not to mention a separate but related field of bioinformatics. Medical informatics is coupled with all of the business intelligence and process improvement of hospital administration itself. Indeed the Region Hovedstaden is in the midst of a large enterprise resource planning (ERP) project, which is projected to save the region hundreds of millions. The European division of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) provides guidelines for hospital IT, and it has recently released a 7 stage model for achieving a paperless patient record environment.

The Role of the Hospital Website
Yet, a hospital's website can still be a vital part of patient care. From patient portals to support groups to public health advocacy podiums, hospital websites are evolving from purely informational warehouses to tools to empower patients to manage their health and reduce overall healthcare costs.

Understanding the analytics on the website is a great place to start. Web analytics allows us to answer the same diagnostic questions a doctor would ask a patient: What is going on and what to do about it.

It is not necessarily an easy job to be a webmaster of a hospital website. There are many stakeholders (government officials, the press, patients, health care providers, region employees and so on) and volumes of information. This webmaster must be a master of multiple priorities and endeavor to satisfy many needs on a limited budget and work within the defined framework of the hospital's content management system (CMS).

Hospital Websites Can Help Reduce Healthcare Costs
The USA is leading on website innovation largely for cost reasons. This nation spends 60% of its healthcare budget on chronic disorders, diseases largely reflective of post-modern lifestyles and environment (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma etc). While these diseases can be managed through expensive medications, surgeries, and therapies, education and prevention are much less costly. Hence the website become crucial to this task.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) has documented the cost savings of health education for years. For example, every $1 spent on asthma education saves $17 in health care costs. An asthma attack can result in a frightening, costly, and even deadly experience in the emergency room. This is definitely an instance where prevention should prevail over treatment. Educating patients about how to take medications in the proper dosage, using devices in the proper manner, and managing home and workplace triggers are essential. Providing this information via quality downloadable videos--either on its own website or YouTube--is one low-cost way a hospital can support its patients.

The website can also assist in reducing costs in the hospitals setting. When a visitor cannot find something on the website, the person calls the hospital. The calls can be expensive, 50 DKK ($10) or more, and taking staff from other activites. A website with clear navigation, FAQs, and content structured the user's needs can reduce load on the hospital side. To address this, the webmaster might investigate the top 10 reasons why calls are placed to the hospital and then match it against the top content browsed on the website. Next investigate the bounce rate to see whether it is too high for top content (generally 30%). Finally, if onsite search accounts for more than 2% of users visits, then there may be an issue that the user can't find the desired information on the website.

Social Media, Mobile, and Healthcare
IT is about automation, which removes people from performing repetitive tasks that a computer can do. But people are still a part of healthcare, and promoting good health and good behaviors requires social support. We cannot overstate the role of human contact in the healing process. While ERP may take the human out of healthcare, social media can bring the human back in.

The time of a medical professional is valuable, but it is also expensive. It is no surprise that visits to the doctor is short and dear. Still, patients still need education and guidance about their care, and IT can help. Just as software, electronics, and consumer products companies that are starting to outsource technical support to the customers themselves with social media, peer to peer patient groups are starting to form in various online social networks such as DailyStrength.org as well as scores of disease specific groups. Hospital groups such as the Mayo Clinic are setting the global standard for online health via social media. The Mayo Clinic hosts its own YouTube channel, which provides thousands of videos made both by patients and providers and is organized in easily searchable topics.

Mobile technology offers a way to get more time with the doctor and health information. The iPhone 4 has downloadable video, allowing doctors and patients to meet via mobile phone. Already mobile video appointments have been taking place between doctors and patients, each with the mobile phone.

With Denmark's emphasis on "selvbetjening" (self-service) solutions, the role of the website should likely increase, especially for websites such as Sundhed.dk, Denmark's national patient portal. Lessons might be learned from America's Kaiser Permanente, a private healthcare organization with 8 million members, almost half of whom actively use the patient portal for everything from scheduling appointments, refilling prescriptions, to self-diagnosis and care.

To learn more, there is a dedicated community of practice (CoP) for healthcare of information managers hosted by the J.Boye group. J. Boye runs a moderated network for online professionals and consults on digital strategies. The participants in the CoP gather in vendor-free environments to share ideas and best practice. On 2-4 November in Århus there will be a conference for these various group with a specific Online Health track. For more information click here or go to
http://www.jboye.com/conferences/aarhus10/program/tracks/online-health/

An abridged version of the slide deck from the presentation is available here.

Bogomtale: Desiging with the Mind in Mind

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Jeff Johnson - "Designing with the Mind in Mind". 200 sider. Morgan Kaufmann. 2010.

Jeff Johnson gennemgår i bogen de gammelkendte guidelines for web- og interaktionsdesign og konfronterer dem med den nyeste (neuro)indsigter fra den kognitive psykologi. På den måde bliver guidelinenes "hvordan" koblet sammen med en række solide "hvorfor'er", som rækker en del videre end "det véd vi bare virker".

Godt interaktionsdesign holder aldrig op med at være et mix af tolkningen af diverse guidelines. Det skal fra gang til gang vurderes, hvilke der skal insisteres på, og hvilke der kan gives køb på. Dér, hvor man så kan sikre sig den bedste kvalitet i de beslutninger, er bl.a. ved at vide, hvad der ligger bag reglen. Og det er den slags viden Johnson afleverer i et overskueligt og tilgængeligt format med sin bog.

Med bogen her bag sig er man blevet overordentligt meget klogere på emner som perception generelt, gestaltprincipperne for visuel perception, visuel struktur, læsningens dynamik (eller mangel på samme), farveopfattelse, synsfelter, opmærksomhed, hukommelse i flere nuancer, læringsprocessen i forhold til interfacet og endelig tidsoplevelsen i anvendelse af applikationer.

I vores bogomtaler giver vi tit anvisninger på, hvad man kan nøjes med at læse, hvis man har travlt. Men ikke her. Dén her skal læses fra ende til anden. Og den som læser den to gange, vil være foran på point.

Ja, og så alligevel...

Hvis du absolut vil snyde sig selv for resten, så spis dig selv af med bare at læse kapitel 12 "We have time requirements". Så har du fat i den lange ende i enhver diskussion om loadtider og opfattet tid. Men husk, at nøjes du med det, så springer du i dén grad over, hvor gærdet er lavest. Og tag mit ord for det; det her er ikke stedet at gøre dét.

Viden fra den her bog har potentiale til at gøre allerede gode designere bedre, og sætte dem i stand til at gå direkte ud og hæve standarden for, hvad godt, brugervenligt webdesign er for en størrelse. Så værsgo': gør bare dét :-)

Og lur mig, om der ikke vil følge en lille række af blogposter her på stedet med udgangspunkt i det, man lærer af den her bog. Designing with the Mind in Mind leverer langt hen ad vejen dét, som jeg havde håbet Neuro Web Design kunne. Hvilken lettelse. Thank you, mr. Johnson.

Klean deltager i undersøgelse af virksomheders brug af sociale medier

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Da Jan Futtrup Kjær først henvendte sig til mig, for at få os med i SocialSemantic.eu-projektet, gav jeg ham ikke mange chancer for at komme igennem med sit budskab. Jeg er kronisk skeptisk overfor idealistiske projekter indpakket i corporate look, egennavne indeholdende domænenavne og CamelCase. Så er det sagt.

Men Jans stædighed slog min skepsis.

Klean deltager nu i SocialSemantic.eu-projektet. Formålet med projektet er i al sin enkelthed at afdække, hvordan danske virksomheder bruger sociale medier i dag. Hvilke platforme bruges, hvilke ressourcer bruges og hvilke udfordringer er der forbundet med det? Bag ved undersøgelsen ligger en ambition om at hæve danske virksomheders modenhed i forhold til brug af sociale medier, så de i højere grad kan høste de forretningsmæssige værdier af brugen. Og så gennemføres undersøgelsen sammen med Zapera og Børsen.

For Klean er det interessant at deltage i undersøgelsen, fordi vi gerne vil være med til at tegne et samlet billede af danske virksomheders brug af sociale medier, og fordi vi får vigtig viden, så vi kan blive endnu sejere til at rådgive vores kunder på feltet samt bygge de rigtige, digitale tilstedeværelser for dem.

Hvis du i forvejen er kunde hos Klean, så kan du godt regne med, at der kommer et spørgeskema fra os. Nu er du advaret :-)

Du kan også deltage i undersøgelsen allerede nu - uanset om du er kunde hos Klean eller ej. Og uanset som du organisation allerede bruger sociale medier eller blot overvejer det. Når du har udfyldt spørgeskema, kan du efter undersøgelsens afslutning modtage resultaterne.

Udfyld spørgeskemaet her.

Læs mere om SocialSemantic.eu's undersøgelse.

Facebook Places vs. Google Places. A Guide for Business.

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It's a lot of work to keep up with the war between Google and Facebook, and it's not getting easier. To make it more difficult, Facebook released a product called Places. Google also has a product called Places, but it is very different. Places in Google is a powerful mapping and database marketing tool for business. In Facebook, it is just a me-too tool of Foursquare, the social networking tool of geolocation and games. To help you make sense of this, we have prepared this summary and "cheat sheet".

Facebook Places is a new feature of location-based services using one's mobile network. Facebook attempted to buy Foursquare, the recent sensation allowing users to earn badges whenever they "check-in" to network locations, but ultimately, decided to launch its own service and integrate it within the Facebook platform.

	Google	Facebook
Places	Suite of products to market your business in Google (formerly Google Local and various map products)	Individual user geolocation based service
URL	google.com/local/add/businessCenter	facebook.com/places
Technology	Geographic Information Service (GIS), web cartography, and enterprise business directories	Location-based Service (LBS-Mobile Network), Real time locating system (RTLS)
Why Use It	Help customers find your business/organization. Collect data about your customers. Make offers.	Lets your friends know where you are, connect with people.
Downsides	Bulk upload for up to 10 stores works well. After that, that you have to verify each listing individually. Use a service such as Axciom if you have many locations.	Individual: No game or reward aspects like Foursquare which allows you to collect points and badges. No ability to leave comments or an itinerary. Not yet a viable option for business. No ability to provide discounts, coupons, ads. Allows users to check out or be removed from other's checking. Allows merchants to add this feature to their pages, but once in, cannot opt out.

Google Places, on the other hand, is a powerful suite of technologies to help you market your business. The search engine pioneered a number of map related products including Maps, Local, Ride Finder (Transit), and Street View based upon geographic information systems (GIS). These geographic data are merged with business directories, giant online Yellow Pages, so that millions of businesses worldwide can be indexed and found on Google. Taken together, these tools are called Places. Lars Rasmussen, the Danish-born wunderkind, was one of the engineers (His other project was Wave, a social networking service that has been disbanded). Google Places allows you to see illustrated maps of almost every street in the world, and when combined with phone and address directories, users have a valuable service for research and way-finding.

Google Places automatically enters your company and address into Places, but if you are the business owner, you can revise and enhance the entries. You can post reviews, provide directions and descriptions; define a service area; note operating times and payment accepted; select categories of products, upload pictures and videos of the location and merchandise; and provide coupons. Companies with multiple locations can upload a spreadsheet file in lieu of entering addresses individually (A business with hundreds or thousands of locations typically will purchase this service from a provider such as Axciom.). By doing this, the entry receives a "owner-verified" badge on the location along with secure PIN protection. All of this data integrates with Google Analytics and AdWords, allowing the company to conduct geo-based marketing campaigns. What is especially interesting is the ability to determine how users find the place of business, providing a geographic map overlay of where customers are located. If the company uses paid search, the owner-verified Google Places result will be included in the ad, taking up more valuable real estate on the Google results page.

One of Klean's customers has started to use Google Places, IDEMøbler. With 40 stores in Denmark offering high quality Danish furniture at a good value, IDEMøbler can offer its customers a number of benefits with Google Places. For one, IDEMøbler can provide store information for each location as every store has special hours based upon customers' needs.

Some patrons have started to post reviews for their favorite stores.

Also interesting for IDEMøbler is the ability to see where users are located when when request directions to the store. This helps IDEMøbler understand its customers better, refine is target area for offline marketing, and improve other services such as home delivery.

Google has been criticized of late for various reasons, but it still offers some valuable services for business. Places is something that every company should investigate.

Klean har fået iPads: Her er nogle af de bedste apps

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Lige før sommerferien ankom en stor pakke til Klean HQ, poststemplet i Silicon Valley hvor en god ven af Klean havde sørget for at indkøbe og afsende indholdet, som var 10 spritnye iPads.

Det skal ikke være nogen hemmelighed at vi hos Klean er forfaldne til Apple produkter. Ifølge Bubbers opgørelse ejer vi i fællesskab mindst én kopi af (næsten) samtlige produkter, som Apple har lanceret de seneste to år, men alligevel var sendingen med iPads ventet med spænding.

Efter halvanden måneds brug er her min personlige status over de bedste apps og funktioner.

Tre ting jeg havde glædet mig til

Jeg har længe været en begejstret bruger af Instapaper, som gør det nemt at bookmarke lange tekster i en webbrowser og senere læse dem på en iPhone eller - nu - en iPad. Tekstformatering og interaktionsdesign i iPad app'en gør det en ren fornøjelse at indhente al den læsning, man får lagt i kø til sig selv.

Når man første gang ser en video på en iPad forstår man hvorfor iPhone-skærmen altid har virket for lille til formålet. Billedet er skarpt og farvemættet og der er en overraskende nærhed i en skærm man holder på så kort afstand. Adam Lisagor har helt ret i at iPad'en er TV for your chest™ og at det er stort.

Ikke alle gode iPad-oplevelser er visuelt overvældende. Simplenote app'en er simpel i sit design, men er et fantastisk stykke funktionel cloud computing, som helt usynligt synkroniserer min database af noter mellem min iPad, min iPhone og Notational Velocity på min Mac.

Tre ting der overraskede mig

Flipboard skabte røre da den blev lanceret for et par uger siden, og med god grund. App'en giver mulighed for at browse alle de links ens venner deler på Twitter i et lækkert magasin-layout. Det var ikke et behov, jeg havde forudset, men det er perfekt eksekveret og overraskende brugbart.

Google Earth er en gammel kending efterhånden, men på iPad'en har programmet endelig fundet sin rette form. At snurre jordkloden rundt med fingrene virker som det mest naturlige i verden, og pludselig er det digitale atlas blevet til en interaktiv globus.

På trods af de tusindvis af iPad apps, der findes, foregår meget af min tid på iPad'en i web-browseren Safari. Hvis jeg hurtigt skal tjekke noget på nettet tager det få sekunder at tænde iPad'en og åbne browseren, og hvis jeg skal fordybe mig i websurfing på sofaen, er en touch skærm meget mere nærværende og praktisk end en bærbar computer.

Tre ting jeg stadig glæder mig til

Apples egen iBooks app er et lækkert stykke software, og den Peter Plys bog, man får gratis med i købet, har langt mere stil og charme end en Amazon Kindle ebog nogensinde får. Desværre er det endnu ikke muligt at købe nye bøger i Danmark, så vi må nøjes med det omfattende men efterhånden velkendte arkiv af klassikere fra Project Gutenberg. Heldigvis kan ebøger opstøves andetsteds og så er iBooks også en glimrende PDF-læser.

Det er måske snyd at sige at jeg glæder mig til at få Times på min iPad, da jeg allerede har købt den nyligt lancerede app. Jeg har dog ikke haft meget tid til at bruge den endnu, så jeg har glæden til gode. Times gør for RSS feeds hvad Flipboard gør for Twitter-links og tilmed i et endnu lækrere interface. Der findes mange RSS-læsere til iPad'en, men Times er nærmere en personlig avis.

Den app, jeg i øjeblikket glæder mig allermest til at lege med, er SoundPrism, som netop er dukket op til download. SoundPrism er en af de apps, der på bedste vis udnytter at iPad'en er en tabula rasa fuld af kraftfuld teknologi, som kan få præcis den funktionalitet, man har lyst til at den skal have. I dette tilfælde bliver den til et helt nyt og interessant interface til at spille musik, og dermed også et bevis på at iPad'en bestemt kan bruges til creation og ikke bare consumption.

The iPad. Will it make me happy?

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Apple closed a record second quarter in June. Even with the iPad launch, Macs had their best performance ever: 3.47 million sold, up 33% over last year. iPhone sales were up 61% over the same period with 8.4 million units. Even though iPods are in a slight decline, Apple still sold 9.41 million of them. Sales are split equally between the US and the rest of the world, so no reason to write off the iPod. To the first time buyer in Estonia, for example, it is just as cool as the iPad to an American.

What everyone is talking about--and won't shut up about, in fact--is the iPad. Apple sold 3.27 million in the second quarter. So popular, they are rationed them in the store. No more than 2 per person. What's even more impressive is that the first million iPads sold in just 28 days. The iPhone took 72 days to reach the million mark. And we haven't even mentioned apps.

With $15B in revenue, Apple has a nice fat 20% profit margin. Steve Jobs is enjoying demigod status, the modern day Moses bringing the tablet down from the Apple Mount. I am hard-pressed not to find any person who does not love his iPad. I only know of one guy who dares to speak the sacriledge of enjoying paper over the digital notebook.

Trying to put all this into perspective, let's investigate the Hype Curve from the Gartner Group. This graph illustrates the typical pattern of innovation and uptake in the market. We start with the hype or the Peak of Inflated Expectations then crash to the Trough of Disillusionment, then we move to the Slope of Enlightenment, and at last the Plateau of Productivity. If the continued sales are any indication, it seems that Apple is enjoying an extended peak of Inflated Expectations. Some iPad lovers have told me that this peak will go on forever.

Beyond the hype, there is a bigger question. The sentiment is captured so well by the New Yorker carton from the May 31, 2010 issue. The cartoon features Mac lovers in an Apple store trampling across each other to buy an iPad. One unwitting bloke asks the Mac Specialist (that's the store employees are called), "Will it make me happy?" Cartoonist David Sipress lampoons the craze.

Indeed, if we take the classical view of economics, man is a rational being. These record sales for iPad means that consumers are intending to their own gain and maxizing their utility. One thing is for certain: iPad makes Steve Jobs happy.

We should also commend Apple not just for making so much money and spreading global happiness, but also for providing, at last, the answer to "couch computing". Check out the recent ads featuring an iPad on the sofa. Now you watch TV, drink beer, eat chips, and use your iPad. Now what could make one happier than that? Maybe iPadTV. Don't worry. It's in the works.

Fremtidens corporate site er socialt

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Se klippet på Børsen TV, hvor Andreas forklarer, at virksomhedens almindelige site i fremtiden slet ikke er dødt - som man ellers kunne tro, når man følger med i mediernes og konsulenternes historier om de sociale medier.

En af pointerne er, at vi i stigende grad kommer til at integrere de sociale medier og det traditionelle site mere. Platforme som Facebook og Twitter gør det i dag muligt at integrere med andre sites, så man kan dele indhold på tværs og dermed lettere nå ud til målgrupperne og samtidig trække dialog ind på sit eget site. Ud over dette kommer vi i højere grad til at bruge de erfaringer med dialog, som vi gør os på de sociale medier, på virksomhedens site. Det skaber dialog og tilstedeværelse på det almindelige site, der ellers blot har været en publiceringsplatform.

På Klean er vi specialister i at lave "hele" løsninger, der inddrager både sociale medier og traditionel webkommunikation. Tag gerne fat i Andreas, hvis du vil have en snak om mulighederne.

IBM Buys Unica

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

No longer can we call IBM slow. It has snatched up marketing software companies as if they were going out of style. Today, Friday the 13th no less, IBM announced the purchase of Unica Corporation for $480 million, adding to its juggernaut of WebSphere Commerce (a B2B retail platform) and Sterling Commerce (a B2B solution set). With the deal, IBM gets Unica's 1500 customers (adding to the 2000 from Coremetrics) plus about 500 employees from Unica. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

IBM reports that the Unica will be brought into its "Business Analytics and Optimization Consulting organization - a team of 5,000 consultants and a network of analytics solution centers, backed by an overall investment of more than $11 billion in acquisitions in the last five years". If this is case, the IBM is implementing a strategy that a few have thought about: integrate web analytics into overall business analytics. (See my earlier blogpost on the Coremetrics aquisiton.)

It will be interesting to see as well whether and how IBM can arm its workforce of 5000 consultants with the wisdom of marketing analytics. Given that IBM makes money on services than software or equipment, the acquisiton is certainly a play to their strength.

Now with Omniture (bought by Adobe), Coremetrics, and Unica out of the game, IBM's business analytics competitors have no other serious web analytics contender to buy, except perhaps WebTrends. This also leave Google Analytics uncontested as the leading free tool and Yahoo! Analytics as a distant second.

One other sweetener for IBM: Unica is their current analytics provider, so maybe that is one invoice Big Blue can cancel with its $2 billion buying spree.

80-20 Rule: 80 percent of Product Features Are Never Used

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

You have likely experienced this in your life: 80% of the effect, comes from 20% of the cause. This rule of thumb, the Pareto Principle, is named for the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who noted in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of its inhabitants.

The Pareto Principle has wide application in business, computering, software development, and product design. For example, most companies realize 80% of their revenue from 20% of their customers. You will get 80% of your web traffic from only 20% of your keywords. In software development as well, 80% of the features that customers request, they never use. Have you noticed that you don't use most of the features in Word or on your iPhone? (Power user excepted.)

The Standish Group, an information technology consulting firm has documented year after year the breakdown of features requested in enterprise software and those that customers actually use. The 80-20 is at work again.

Focusing on the key 20% of what customers want can save your organization time and money, not to mention headache and heartache.

The Scrum framework for agile software development can assist in helping your organization focus on that meaningful 20%. In scrum you fix the time and budget of a project, but allow the features and functionality to be modified. At the end of the project, you finish on time and on budget with those features that are most desired.

Ideally you will have a team that is experienced in scrum, including a scrum master, product owner, and team players. Together take the following steps.

1. Write clear user stories. "As a [role] I can [function] so that [rationale]."

2. Validate the user stories through testing and analytics.

3. Use evidenced-based approaches, not intuition, to prioritise features.

4. Product owner prioritizes the features based upon the test and validated user stories.

Book Review: Coaching Agile Teams

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Lyssa Adkins. "Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition". Addison-Wesley, 2010. 352 pages.

Companies and organizations are realizing the benefits of agile teams, namely projects completed on time and on budget, in addition to improved departmental cooperation and employee morale. But some companies and their senior managers have a hard time crossing the chasm to agile methods because they fear the loss of control. Further, project managers and scrum masters could realize more value for their projects if they learned to let go.

Lyssa Adkins, a noted Agile Coach and veteran ScrumMaster, explores these topics in her new book and provides a valuable handbook both for experienced team leaders and rookies. Her book is not the the usual litany of tired truisms and sports references, but instead is a refreshing and considered account of unconventional wisdom.

The crux of the book is that a successful agile team begins with a coach who is self-aware. If you want a good team, begin with yourself as the coach. Adkins provides candid assessment of her recovery from being a command and control manager and the journey to be an agile coach. In essence, a good coach is a mirror. The coach meets the team each day completely present and open to the needs of the team. The coach needs to leave personal baggage outside of the team experience and be absolutely centered for the team experience.

Adkins provides a primer on all of the roles of the coach-mentor, facilitator, teacher, problem solver, conflict navigator, and collaboration conductor-culminating in the metaphor that a highly functional agile team is like a beautiful symphony. She discusses how daily stand ups, planning sessions, and retrospectives can be indispensable teaching moments. Also offered are creative and novel forms of communication to senior management, such as a progress chart outside the board room so that executives have no excuse not to be informed.

The coach should have high expectations of the team, but the coach cannot do the team's work for them. Further, it is important that the coach empowers the team members to solve their own problems. When their is conflict between team members, she advises on how the coach can guide team members to resolution. She insists that negative feedback cannot be anonymous. The person with the grievance needs to reveal himself. In some cases, the coach should let the team fail so the team learns from its mistakes and can begin anew.

With a detailed coaching road map, toolkit, and list of role plays and techniques, the book is an essential resource for the professional who wants to become a more effective agile coach.

Read more on the book's website and find it on Amazon or Bogpriser.dk.