Canadian businesses recognize the need to change in order to remain competitive in an increasingly digital marketplace.
Not a week passes without you hearing about some company (from banks, to media and marketing agencies, to consumer service providers, etc.) making announcements of their inroads in the digital domain. “We’re a technology company that happens to do [INSERT YOUR BUSINESS DOMAIN HERE].”
Organizations quickly associate this drive towards offering digital services with the need to achieve higher levels of “business agility”, and quickly couple their technological transformation with some form of process/cultural transformation, with the hopes of achieving the property of being nimble and adaptive to a rapidly changing business context.
Globally in the past decade, Kanban has been an effective way of addressing all these challenges.
There is an increasing body of evidence, collected around the world, that shows how Kanban helps organizations better manage and deliver services to their Customers, and how the Kanban Method works as a catalyst to introduce the “evolutionary change” gene into the organizational make up, allowing it to become (and stay) fit-for-purpose.
We have noticed, however, that the Canadian market is still largely unaware of the opportunities created by applying the Kanban Method. It is not that Kanban is absent from the vocabulary, but it is mostly understood as a team-level agility device, and in that way it ends up being applied at the level where Kanban has the least leverage.
We believe that we can play a role in changing that situation.
Our overall mission is to raise awareness and bridge Kanban to the Canadian marketplace through our services and educational outreach.
Our Team
SquirrelNorth is a partnership of management consultants and Kanban professionals with a wide range of experiences, backgrounds and depth of knowledge. We have a commitment to grow the Canadian Kanban community, through educational and networking activities, as well as helping businesses become more effective through the application of the Kanban Method.
Martin Aziz brings years of experience working in the Fortune 500 as a senior leader, executive and change agent. A teacher and guide, he has a track record of developing new leaders and transforming companies. He is an accredited Kanban Coaching Professional (KCP)
Fernando Cuenca blends management consulting expertise with a strong technical development background, bridging the gap between process practices and technical disciplines. He is an accredited Kanban Coaching Professional (KCP)
James Steele provides pragmatic, actionable, evidence-based guidance. His focus is on helping people and organizations solve real problems by leveraging his 25+ years of experience, including 7 years as CTO of a Global E-Learning company. He’s an accredited Kanban Coaching Professional (KCP) and Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT.)
Alexei Zheglov’s mission is to bring modern management ideas and pragmatic actionable guidance to complex intellectual organizations that want such ideas and guidance to achieve their full potential. He delivers it in small batches and world-wide, where he's known as Lean-A-to-Z. He’s an accredited Kanban Coaching Professional (KCP) and Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT.) He’s also an author; his most recent book is “Fit for Purpose”, which he co-authored with Kanban thought leader David J. Anderson.
Our New Web Site
On our web site you can find here our latest thoughts, ideas and insights, in the form of blog posts and articles. We find ourselves often presenting at various conferences and other public events. We will post slides and other materials here, as well as video recordings when available. You can also expect to find a list of upcoming events (both local and world-wide) you might want to consider attending.
But it’s not just about us! We will share here a curated list of reference material (such as videos, books and articles) produced by other thought leaders in the community, that we hope will help you deepen your Kanban knowledge.
A big part of our mission is to grow the local Kanban community. Our main vehicle for that are two meetups: KanbanTO (in downtown Toronto) and Kanban Ottawa. We’ll be making meeting announcements here, and providing means for you to register. These free events are also a great networking opportunity!
Finally, you may also feel that you need more direct assistance in developing your skills, and managing your work. You can find here the various ways we can be of help, through Consulting, Coaching and Training services. In particular, you can also find here our scheduled public training classes, where we offer official training, accredited by LeanKanban University.
Let's Talk
We hope you explore our new website to get to know us better, and that you keep coming here as your source for Kanban-related information and resources. Better yet, we hope to meet you soon and share your journey to improved business fitness.
- The SquirrelNorth Team