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Blog Post

Going Beyond Three Questions with the Daily Scrum

October 20, 2021
The 2020 version of the Scrum Guide dropped the classic “three questions” of the Daily Scrum. Yet many teams stick with the practice, even when it doesn’t produce the collaboration that is the hallmark of a valuable Daily Scrum. When a Scrum Team I worked with said that their Daily Scrum was lackluster and unproductive, I challenged them to design a better one. The new pattern we created shifted the focus from individual action to team collaboration toward the Sprint Goal.
Blog Post

Practical Fibonacci: A Beginner's Guide to Relative Sizing

October 19, 2021
The more ambiguous the requirement, the more difficult it is to calculate how long something will take. But teams still need to estimate their work to forecast releases. Relative sizing provides a realistic method for estimating. Ultimately, your team will find their own value scale and their own language that is meaningful to them. Until then, these Practical Fibonacci tips will help kick-start your relative sizing.
Blog Post

The Future is unknown

October 19, 2021
The future is unknown and although some people claim to be able to predict the future, most people can't. But to look a little ahead, into the future, to have a sense of when certain items on the Product Backlog are finished, predictability would be very useful. Although we can't be completely predictable, it is helpful if we are a little more predictable than we are now. And therefore we need some measurement results from the near past.
Blog Post

Unlock the Power in the Five Scrum Events

October 18, 2021
A Scrum Event is a meeting. So why don't we just call it that? Why create a new word? Given the poor reputation that meetings have, maybe it's not a surprise. Rather than replicate the name and pain of meetings, the Scrum Events are designed to replace them and be all that you need. The power of the Scrum Events is in the way they're time-boxed and in their purpose. Let's take a closer look.
Blog Post

3 Fehler, die Scrum Teams im Umgang mit ungeplanter Arbeit machen und wie sie vermieden werden können

October 14, 2021
Scrum Teams entwickeln eben nicht nur Produkte und Services, sondern betreiben diese auch. Ohne den Betrieb einer Anwendung ist es unmöglich, Feedback zu erhalten. Allerdings ist Feedback essenzielle für erfolgreiche Scrum Teams, da es die Triebfeder ist, um Nutzer- und Kundenwünsche zu erfüllen. Beim Betrieb von Produkten und Services kommt es zwangsläufig zu ungeplanter Arbeit. Fehler treten auf, Nutzer geben Feedback, Kunden brauchen Support und Notfälle treten ein.
Blog Post

Applying Professional Scrum is Scrum 101 and beyond!

October 7, 2021
The Applying Professional Scrum class is frequently overlooked when it comes to public classes.  People tend to go for the Professional Scrum Master class or the Professional Scrum Product Owner class instead.  And those are really great classes.  That is… they’re great for those who already have an understanding of the Scrum framework.
Blog Post

5 Easy Steps to Create a Product Backlog

October 7, 2021
The Scrum Guide has a lot to say about the Product Backlog, and rightly so. It's pivotal to everything a Scrum Team does. But one thing the Scrum Guide doesn't tell you, is how you create a Product Backlog. So, here's one way you can do exactly that.

Gestión Ágil de Producto

October 4, 2021
La agilidad provee capacidades para ser adaptables para crear productos innovadores y responder a los cambios. Esta innovación debe basarse en un nuevo modelo de negocio para responder a la incertidumbre del mercado.
Blog Post

Darth Vader and the Product Owner Role

October 3, 2021
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.  
Blog Post

Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing for Agile teams

September 28, 2021
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.
Blog Post

Motivational Debt — it will Fix itself, Right?

September 27, 2021
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.
Blog Post

If the Empire had used Scrum...

September 27, 2021
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.  
Blog Post

Top 5 Objections to Scrum (and Why Those Objections are Wrong)

September 24, 2021
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.
Blog Post

Living the Scrum Values in the Age of Remote Working

September 23, 2021
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.
Blog Post

15-Minute Sprint Hypothesis

September 14, 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.