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Nine things to do in your Sprint Planning

November 4, 2022
There are eight hours available for Sprint Planning. In those eight hours, a lot can be done. Too often this event is rushed, limiting the ability to maximize the possible achievements. In this article, I share nine things to do to make the most of your Sprint Planning.
Blog Post

When Scrum Doesn't Work

November 1, 2022
Scrum is not designed to solve all problems in all business domains. There are times when Scrum used properly is a great fit for complex problem solving. But when and where does Scrum not work? When should we not be using Scrum? When would it be too much overhead for the value derived?
Blog Post

Fixing OKR Theater Using Agile/Scrum Principles

November 1, 2022
Many organizations are trying to improve the alignment between strategy and execution with the OKRs framework (Objectives and Key Results). There’s good intent there, but more often than not, looking under the hood, you notice:  OKRs that look more like tasks than strategic objectives – especially by the time they reach working teams OKRs are used to micro-manage teams and individuals rather than empower and enable them.  Too many OKRs are set without any respect/consideration of the ability to deliver them sustainably while dealing with other work in the organization. Defining OKRs and then forgetting about them until it's time to grade them. (Even worse, some organizations don’t even bother with a serious consideration of how they did on their OKRs…)  These are smells of "OKR Theater" or "OKRs in Name Only."
Blog Post

Stop Looking for Leaders, Start Looking for Teammates

October 31, 2022
Prof. Yaneer Bar-Yam, an eminent scientist who is known for his contribution to the mitigation of ethnic violence in Europe, the eradication of the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, and establishing the field of Complex Systems Science, discussed the reasons behind the success of self-managed and cross-functional teams.
Blog Post

What happens if a Scrum team becomes too large?

October 31, 2022
According to the Scrum guide, Scrum teams typically have 10 or fewer people, including Developers, Scrum Master and Product Owner.  But what happens with a Scrum team that includes more than 10 people?  What if the Scrum team has 10, 15 even more people?

Cómo Devops y Scrum se complementan

October 29, 2022
Otra gran pregunta recurrente, ¿Por qué tenemos que hacer DevOps si hacemos Scrum?. Son 2 cosas complementarias, porqué están muy alineadas en las maneras de pensar. DevOps se trata de lograr la mentalidad correcta, igual que la mentalidad que necesita Scrum.

Facilitar los eventos Scrum

October 26, 2022
Scrum define eventos para crear cadencia, ritmo y mejorar la transparencia. Puede suceder que los miembros del equipo no encuentren utilidad en su uso o que el resultado no sea efectivo o el esperado. Estas circunstancias pueden ser mejorados con una facilitación para impactar en forma positiva en el resultado que se necesita obtener.
Blog Post

Superhero Scrum Masters; helpful or bottleneck?

October 25, 2022
What would happen if Superman wasn't around to save the earth? We, as mere mortals, would perish quickly, and the superhero movies would be super short. Wouldn't it be more helpful if the flying solver-of-all would teach out to save ourselves?
Blog Post

6 Trümpfe: Wie du die Interaktivität von Onlineworkshops so steigerst, dass die Teilnehmer noch lange davon schwärmen

October 24, 2022
Es war ein langer Weg bis zu dieser Rezension: „Durch die Interaktivität bin ich nicht nur Teilnehmerin, sondern wirklich Lernende. Kein passiver Konsum – wir haben uns das neue Wissen erarbeitet. Gespickt mit hilfreichen Tipps von Simon für den Arbeitsalltag. Langeweile? Fehlanzeige.“ – Sandra Nach über zwei Jahren und über 940 Teilnehmern in meinen Trainings und Workshops habe ich endlich den Bogen raus, wie ich Trainings in eine interaktive Lernsession verwandeln kann. Seitdem finden sich in jedem Review Wörter wie „interaktiv“, „kurzweilig“ oder „didaktisch gut strukturiert“. Wenn du weiterliest, dann lüfte ich den Vorhang und verrate dir meine Geheimnisse, wie du jede „Powerpoint-Frontalbeschallung“ in eine interaktive Lernreise für die Teilnehmer verwandeln kannst.
Blog Post

A deep dive into the purpose of each Scrum artifact

October 24, 2022
Understanding the “why” behind the Scrum framework can help Scrum teams improve their ability to deliver value to the organization.  We previously discussed the purpose behind each Scrum event and the purpose behind each Scrum accountability.  In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the purpose of each Scrum artifact. 
Blog Post

Usable, Useful and Valuable

October 20, 2022
Usable, Useful and Valuable are attributed to the Increments in Scrum and these terms should not be used interchangeably. A product cannot be useful if its not usable and in addition, a product cannot be valuable if it's not useful.

Porqué ser mentor es importante

October 20, 2022
Ser mentor es ejercer la influencia, guía o dirección dada sobre una persona que quiere ser mentorizada. Y un mentor es alguien que enseña o brinda ayuda y consejos a una persona menos experimentada y, a menudo, más joven. O no más joven como acostumbra ser mi caso.
Blog Post

A Deep Dive into the purpose of each Scrum Accountability

October 17, 2022
​​​​​​​Scrum Teams that understand the “why” behind the Scrum framework can better increase value delivery to the organization. Internalizing the purpose behind the events, artifacts and accountabilities of Scrum allows the team to get the most benefit from them.  In this article, we will discuss the purpose of each of the three accountabilities in Scrum.
Blog Post

Entenda de uma vez por todas o que é Definition of Done

October 15, 2022
Muitas pessoas que estão começando sua jornada como Scrum Master ou estão dentro de Scrum Teams, possuem dificuldade para entender o que é o Definition of Done (DoD), e a sua verdadeira importância. Na maioria das vezes, acabam confundido com critérios de aceite, ou limitam o compromisso a um simples check list, que após sua criação raramente é revisado pelo time. O desconhecimento sobre o assunto, faz com que essas pessoas tenham dificuldades na hora de realizar a prova e tirar a tão sonhada PSMI. Então resolvi escrever esse artigo para desmistificar o que é a Definition of Done e trazer exemplos da sua aplicação em diferentes situações.

¿La integración continua está muerta?

October 15, 2022
Cuando empecé a trabajar, unas de las primeras cosas que me pidieron fue profesionalizar la construcción de software. Esto me lo pidieron como el 2010. Siempre pensé que pasaria de moda, que las máquinas montarían el software solas. Pues esta semana del 2022, me han pedido volver a definir una integración continua para una organización. ¿Tu crees que la integración continua está muerta?
Blog Post

Is Revenue a Good Product Goal?

October 14, 2022
Interestingly, so many organizations have revenue or profit as their Product Goals as well as Strategic Goals. Some organizations do not consider using Product Goals at all. Or they are not aware of this need.
Blog Post

Improving Private Equity Outcomes using Agility / Evidence-based Operating Systems

October 13, 2022
In this article, I’ll explore the need for and the attributes of an agile business operating system related to Private Equity (PE) portfolio companies. It hopefully helps leaders of such companies and PE professionals focused on the operations side expand their perspective on what “Agile” and "Agility" mean in their world and how they can help them improve returns realized in their investments. 
Blog Post

Interview with the Scrum Cow

October 13, 2022
We interview the world's first Scrum Cow. As it turns out, Scrum has become very popular on the farm and cows everywhere are performing stand ups on a regular basis! Watch to learn moooooooore! 
Blog Post

The Efficiency Trap

October 11, 2022
Many people choose to do things efficiently, because they probably assume that it is the best way to be successful and that it is the best way to get the highest value with the least amount of effort. But substituting efficiency for effectiveness makes things worse instead of better. The fact is that efficiency and effectiveness are two different things.
Blog Post

Minecraft Scrum - 3 Years of Teaching and Learning

October 11, 2022
Here are my observations made after teaching Scrum using Minecraft Education for approximately 3 years. Minecraft is used to create a world (metaverse?) in which students are asked to develop a product. The immersive nature of the platform replicates the workplace and invites students into reflection how are they approaching work as an individual and as a team.