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Blog Post

Optimizing Product Backlog Refinement

March 28, 2017
I've recently been involved with several Scrum Teams that are struggling to have the right level of detail in their Product Backlog items. Some symptoms: difficulty during Sprint Planning sessions, a massive or very small Product Backlog, or a lack of understanding during a Sprint. All of the teams I spoke with had refinement activities in place.
Blog Post

Maximize Scrum with the Scrum Values: Courage (Part 3 of 5)

March 27, 2017
The Scrum Values are easy to remember, but it can be difficult to understand what they mean, how to apply them, and how to recognize them in teams and individuals. These values are essential to maximize the benefits of Scrum. In this article, we look at how courage is essential in solving complex problems and growing high performing teams.
Blog Post

Change Leadership Will Long Outlast Agile

March 22, 2017
Having ‘agile expertise’ is in high demand these days – it seems everywhere I turn there are companies and recruiters looking for agile experts. Agile knowledge is important, but the expertise of being an effective change agent is even more important.
Blog Post

Maximize Scrum with the Scrum Values: Openness (Part 2 of 5)

March 19, 2017
The Scrum Values are easy to remember, but it can be difficult to understand what they mean, how to apply them, and how to recognize them in teams and individuals. These values are essential to maximize the benefits of Scrum.  In this post, we see how openness is crucial when we are dealing with complexity and unpredictability. 
Blog Post

Maximize Scrum with the Scrum Values: Focus (Part 1 of 5)

March 19, 2017
The Scrum Values are easy to remember, but it can be difficult to understand what they mean, how to apply them, and how to recognize them in teams and individuals. These values are essential to maximize the benefits of Scrum.  In this post, we look at how focus is essential in order to get anything meaningful done.
Blog Post

A Product Owner Self-Assessment

March 16, 2017
In this article I'll describe two topics that I've used as a tailor made Product Owner self-assessment. One is about Roman Pichler's Product Management framework. The other concerns the acronym DRIVEN which is described in Geoff Watts new book "Product Mastery - From Good to Great Product Ownership".
Blog Post

The Agile PMO

March 5, 2017
If someone asked you “what is the role of the Project Management Office in an agile organization”, what would you say to them?
Blog Post

Top 3 Scrum People Skills Myths

February 24, 2017
As part of the on-going Scrum Myths series at Scrum.org, here are three myths related to people skills.  When I say people skills, I mean topics like emotional intelligence, emotional IQ, and person-to-person interactions.
Blog Post

So, you wanna be a Scrum Master?

February 13, 2017
Per a January 20th, 2017 article by Daniel Shapero, VP of Talent Solutions and Careers at LinkedIn, the role of Scrum Master is in high demand. It’s ranked number 10 on his list of most promising jobs of 2017.
Blog Post

"What's a good code coverage to have?"

February 10, 2017
“What is a good speed to drive?”. The answer depends on a lot of things like: where do you drive (in a residential area, on a highway), are there speed limits, what are the weather conditions, etc.
Blog Post

Zombie Scrum - Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

January 26, 2017
At first sight, Zombie Scrum seems to be normal Scrum. But it lacks a beating heart. The Scrum teams do all the Scrum events but a potential releasable increment is rarely the result of a Sprint. The team also don't have any intention to improve their situation. Actually nobody cares about this team. The stakeholders have forgotten the existence of this team long time ago.
Blog Post

Scrum for life

January 13, 2017
Clients and training attendees ask me "Can you use Scrum for something else than software?”. What they usually mean is building some other products or organizing team’s work. Let’s explore a more exotic idea.
Blog Post

3 Ideas to Improve a Scaled Sprint Review

January 6, 2017
At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol we're using an Agile approach to realize a large digital program. This program includes 5 value streams with multiple teams. Due to the increasing scale of the program, some challenges arise. For example: