Mastering Work Intake: The Key to Sustainability and Flow

How do you deal with prioritization of the flood of new requirements, requests, and ideas?

Let’s discuss the challenges of mastering work intake to achieve sustainable productivity and flow. In this fantastic recording of the 64th Hands-on Agile Meetup, authors Jeremy Willets and Tom Cagley will share new ideas on a classic challenge for every team. (The video was recorded in English.)

📺 Watch the Video now: Mastering Work Intake w/ Jeremy Willets and Tom Cagley — Hands-on Agile 64.

👉 Join 400-plus peers for the FREE Hands-on Agile 2025 on Feb 4-6: Hands-on Agile 2025 Is Here: From Concept-Based to Context-Based Agility. 👈

Abstract

Agile and Lean embrace the idea that teams and organizations pull prioritized work. But what happens when work gets pushed on a team or organization? If you’ve seen this anti-pattern, you’re no longer dealing with work “intake” — you’re dealing with work “entry.” Pushing work kills sustainable pace and consistent flow of value delivery. Mastering the work intake challenge could very well make or break your career. Or even your company.

In this session, Jeremy Willets and Tom Cagley started by defining work intake. Then, they focused on how work enters different levels of organizations and discussed strategies for recognizing and solving work intake anti-patterns.

📺 Watch the Video now: Mastering Work Intake w/ Jeremy Willets and Tom Cagley — Hands-on Agile 64.

Slides

You can find Jeremy Willets’ and Tom Cagley’s slides here.

🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 The Advanced Product Backlog Management Course — Release Date: January 27, 2025

Are you facing problems aligning vision, stakeholders, and your team and delivering real value?

Is your contribution as a product leader questioned?

Then, prepare to transform your career with my comprehensive, self-paced online class. Dive deep into professional Product Backlog management techniques supported by videos, exercises, and an engaging online community.

👉 Please note:

• The course includes membership in my professional students' brand-new Hands-on Agile community.
• The course will only be available for sign-up until February 3, 2025!

🎓 Join the Launch on January 27: Learn How to Master the Most Important Artifact for any Successful Agile Practitioner!

Meet Jeremy Willets

Jeremy Willets is a team lead at Rockwell Automation. He started in software as a Technical Writer on a Scrum team more than a decade ago: “It wasn’t long before I fell in love with Agile. I’ve served thriving organizations as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Senior Agile Coach, Release Train Engineer, and mentor. I’ve even been fortunate enough to speak at a few conferences. When I’m not working with people and teams, you can find me with my family or maybe even making music as TLNGO.”

Meet Tom Cagley

Tom Cagley is a consultant, speaker, author, coach, and agile guide who leads organizations and teams to unlock their inherent greatness. Tom helps teams and organizations improve cycle time, productivity, quality, morale, and customer satisfaction and then proves it. Tom has been an internationally respected blogger and podcaster for over 18 years, focusing on software processes and measurement. His blog entries and podcasts have been listened to or read millions of times. He co-authored:

• Mastering Work Intake with Jeremy Willets, and
• Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques with Murali K. Chemuturi.

Connect with Jeremy and Tom

Jeremy Willets on LinkedIn.

Jeremy Willets’ Website.

Tom Cagley on LinkedIn.

Tom Cagley’s Website.

Mastering Work Intake: The Key to Sustainability and Flow—Related Content

A Forensic Product Backlog Analysis — Making Your Scrum Work.

27 Product Backlog Anti-Patterns.

Download the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide for free.

📺 Watch the Video now: Mastering Work Intake w/ Jeremy Willets and Tom Cagley — Hands-on Agile 64.

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

See all upcoming classes here.

If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in this article, please forward this email—it would mean the world to me!

Have a great day!

Best,