Measurement is important, but it's not just about what we measure. It's about understanding why we measure and how we use those measures. In this post, I will share some common patterns I have noticed that lead to using measures poorly.

If the Empire had used Scrum, then Darth Vader would surely have been considered the Product Owner for the Death Star.  While Darth Vader does appear to have engaged in some of the traditional activities of a Product Owner, such as stakeholder engagement, his methods and his lack of faith in the Scrum framework are… disturbing.  

All elements of the Scrum framework play a role in enabling empirical process control. Sprint Goal is a commitment that reinforces empiricism, however, it remains a part of Scrum which often is being neglected or causes challenges to many Scrum Teams.

In a recent episode of Your Daily Scrum, Professional Scrum Trainers Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley address a general question in Scrum circles: How Do You Increase the Velocity of a Scrum Team?

In this blog post, Dave West answers the question - How do you, for the lack of a better word, “manage” Stakeholders?

Agile isn’t the right fit for every business problem–it’s simply a tool in the toolkit–one of many.

Many Scrum Teams make use of Velocity. In the right hands, it's an incredibly useful measure. In the wrong hands, it can become a tool of obfuscation and even oppression.

In a recent class, a student asked, “What are the common difficulties teams face when starting with Agile?”  To  answer this question, I refer to the Tuckman Model of group development. Psychologist Bruce Tuckman discussed team performance in his 1965 paper, Developmental Sequence in Small Groups, introducing the four phases of team dynamics.  He labelled these phases "forming, storming, norming, and performing.” For Agile teams, the goal of the Scrum Master or Agile coach is to get teams through the first three phases (Forming, Storming and Norming) as quickly as possible so that the team can get to Performing.  In this article, I will discuss the tools that are used at each phase of the Tuckman model to coach teams towards peak performance.

This latest update to the interview guide addresses Product Owner anti-patterns from Product Backlog management and refinement to the Sprint Review.

What drives you to achieve? Money? Promotion? Skill mastery? Whatever it is that motivates you, that’s okay — be thankful that you are motivated to move forwards. Without motivation in any form, you can personally and professionally stagnate to a point where you become a detractor in a team environment. This blog will explore how to avoid falling into that trap and some of the common dysfunctions it causes.

Have you ever completed a multi-billion-dollar project only to see it blow up in your face?  Twice?  If you answered yes, you’re in good company with the Galactic Empire.  The Rebel Alliance destroyed two Death Stars as well as their successor, the Starkiller Base, using similar tactics.  If the Empire had used Scrum, the Death Star might never have been destroyed at all.  

In this blog post, Derek Davidson shares advice on launching a career in Scrum.

On a recent episode of Your Daily Scrum, Professional Scrum Trainers Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley address a frequent question in Scrum circles: Why Do Organizations Fail at Scrum? 

This workshop was delivered on 16th September 2021 and focused on introducing the core concepts of the Sprint Review and its empirical nature.

I have had the opportunity to work with some truly amazing teams that have achieved pretty amazing outcomes. One thing that every team has had in common is that, at one time, they were new to Scrum. When I engage with teams to discuss implementing the Scrum framework, they often raise potential impediments to adopting Scrum. Below are the five most common objections to Scrum and why they don’t hold any weight.

The past 18 months have been a whirlwind. Coronavirus, elections, inequality and conflict – a quagmire of micro and macro complexities that impact the feelings and behaviours of Scrum Teams. In my opinion, it would be fair to say that teams who consistently attempt to mitigate environmental and sociological complexities are ones that thrive. It is the purpose of this blog to explore how some Scrum Teams have successfully done this in an age of remote working by focusing on one thing – the Scrum Values.

When we are confident that we know everything, certain that our perspective is correct and our plan is good, we miss things. Sometimes these things are critical.

If I were to summarize the purpose of a Sprint, I would say that it’s to deliver a Done, usable increment that meets the Sprint Goal.

Nexus es un marco de trabajo que se basa en Scrum que sirve para escalar el trabajo de varios equipos Scrum desarrollando un producto.

This article explains what Sprint zero is and how it is used in Scrum.

Many people dislike estimating work items as estimates supposedly open the path to the misuse of velocity by the managers, reintroducing Taylorism, micro-management, and excessive reporting through the backdoor.

This workshop was delivered on 2nd September 2021 and focused on introducing the core concepts of Kanban & Flow.

 In this video I provide visualisation what the "increment" in Scrum means which hopefully can provide better understanding for people those of you who are new to Scrum.

Learn from Johanna Rothman how to adapt your leadership style for agile success as a manager in an agile organization in this 54-minute long video from the Agile Camp Berlin 2021.

Being a Product Owner is tough. Having the accountability for maximising value can sometimes feel like a huge weight is on your shoulders and sometimes - it's hard to know where to begin. As a Scrum Master, you’re accountable for helping to establish empirical product planning – but how could you do that? Optilearn have created a visualisation to help.

If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 54 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate.

Velocity is an excellent measure and a terrible target. Once a measure becomes a target (ie: for performance measurement), it loses the ability to provide meaningful, trustworthy, transparent data.

This part I of a three-part series will focus on goals. We’ll examine how the goals set out in the EBM guide correspond to the Scrum Guide and some tools and formats for setting workable goals. Part II will focus on experimentation, and Part III will focus on measurement.

One frequent question that I often get from candidates that I train is - Venkatesh, what is the career path of a Scrum Master? I am a Scrum Master now. How can I build my career to the next level?

A few years back I wrote 2 popular posts that talked about the best Scrum Masters I ever worked with. This time around I am going to share some stories about the best Product Owners I have encountered. This post is about Gerry, the proxy Product Owner who was successful!

Do We Need Agile Coaches when Practicing Scrum? I do believe that this construct is flawed: When practicing Scrum correctly, Scrum Masters are all you ever need.

This blog post discusses client expectations from coaches.

In this blog post, we discuss how team size and organization can be considered when scaling Scrum.

Penser, agir, décider en tant que manager agile

Recientemente conocí a un CTO via Twitter que hizo lo correcto aunque sea díficil desde su posición.

It is a common question that do we still need a Scrum Master for a mature Scrum Team. I would like to use the metaphor of a Soccer Referee to explain.

In this article Dave West discusses the importance of Kindness and the benefits agile teams get when people are thinking about kindness.

It's hard to be a good Scrum Master. It's even harder to be a great Scrum Master! So, what sort of things should you be doing to be great? Here are some Scrum Master tips to help you get started on day one in a new job.

If you're like many, you've seen plenty of agile-hybrids with funny names like Water-Scrum-Fall, or others. But do these hybrids work? usually not because they fail to reduce risk, deliver value early, or even allow you to change directions quickly.

Ce blog vidéo décrit des façons de gérer la complexité.

In this blog post, PST Ravi Verma shares tips on how to manage outcomes with Evidence-Based Agility

OKRs are a great framework for setting goals. Setting high quality goals, goal clarity, and self-management, positively affect team performance [3].

Ryan Ripley and Neil Killick discuss the 3 levels of story slicing that all Product Owners can use to create great Product Backlog Items.

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone.

According to the 15th annual State of Agile report, there has been a tremendous increase in the adoption of agile frameworks over the last year. Within software teams, agile adoption grew from 37% in 2020 to 86% in 2021.

Hey hey hey. How's it going awesome people? I hope you had a great week and keeping excited. I have noticed that several Scrum practitioners around me think that writing the Product Backlog items as a user story is mandatory.

Recientemente, estoy trabajando en mí mismo para servir mejor a los demás así que decidí empezar a andar en el mundo del coaching profesional.

This workshop was delivered on 19th August 2021 and focused on introducing the core concepts of Scrum & Empiricism. I used a combination of Liberating Structures, Microsoft Teams, and Mural to deliver an interactive session.

A few years back I wrote 2 popular posts that talked about the best Scrum Masters I ever worked with. This time around I am going to share some stories about the best Product Owners I have encountered.

TL; DR: Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone.