NEW YEAR RESOLUTION So it's a new year. New Year, new start, yadda yadda yadda... Maybe you are considering some New Year Resolutions so I wanted to invite you to take our 2017 waste-loss challenge by decreasing your Sabotagile Quotient. This challenge builds upon my previous blog - "Agile or S...

Scrum Teams will always face impediments because the work is complex and dynamic. The question is whether we tackle those impediments or live with them. In this post I share 5 challenges and actionable tips to overcome them.

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma looks at the situation where there is so much to do and not enough time or money? Join us in this episode to learn how this challenge confounded us in our preparation to move to our new home.

In Scrum, delivery is a usable Increment by the end of a Sprint.  Because we are dealing with complex work, we do not know everything about what is needed and how to deliver it before we start working.  This is where the concept of emergence comes in.

This year I was in the lucky circumstance to be part of some awesome (Scrum) teams. It certainly wasn't all "Scrum by the book" but I've learned a tremendous amount of lessons and generated lots of values insights. As always, some things turned out to be a success, other things failed miserably. Thi...

I would like to kick off a series of posts in this blog trying to debunk some common myths about Scrum. Many of them arise sometimes from a poor understanding of the Scrum Guide, and even more often, from not having read it at all. What is velocity? According to the Scrum.org glossary, Velocit...

The Sprint Goal helps provide focus on an objective we want to achieve and allows the flexibility to negotiate the work to achieve that objective. Creating a clear Sprint Goal can be challenging for Scrum Teams.  Here are four common problems with Sprint Goals and a few tips for improving them.

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a Done Increment, I identified a lack of team collaboration as one of those challenges. Collaboration is what enables the whole team to be greater than the sum of its parts. Collaboration allows a team to work together to complete a Product Ba...

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a Done Increment, I identified a lack of team ownership as one of those challenges. The Scrum Team is accountable as a whole to create a valuable, useful Increment by the end of the Sprint. There are 3 specific accountabilities within the Scrum T...

Recently I got asked what I consider the most common challenges with Agile projects. These are projects that have such a high rate of uncertainty and complexity on how and what to build, an Agile approach is necessary. Although my gut feeling immediately provided an answer, I gave myself some more t...

As a Product Owner and the CEO of Scrum.org, Dave West was invited to speak at ProductTank NYC earlier this year about the conflict between the roles Product Owner and Product Manager.

​ Table Manners There is a striking similarity between good table manners and good agile behaviours - "agile table manners". It is even more clear when viewed through the lens of the Scrum values: Focus, Respect, Openness, Courage and Commitment. The intent of manners is to help it be as safe ...

In this video, Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma answers the question as to how the kitchen island impacted the course of our life and how we can apply what we learned in the world of complex software delivery.

Because there's no easy way in telling you this, I'll just share it straight away... Next week I'll be setting up a Jira environment for the product teams I'm coaching... Yes... Jira! The issue & project tracking system for software teams created by Atlassian. It's pretty easy to find negativ...

In this video, Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma answers the question: Do your teams sometimes struggle with having conversations that are necessary but so difficult that you keep sweeping them under the carpet? Does this stop you from improving and get in the way of winning the game of complex ...

This discussion features Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma as a host with a featured panel of expert PSTs Rich Visotcky, Simon Reindl, Mikkel Toudal Kristiansen, and Gary Pedretti.

Development Team was removed from the Scrum Guide in the 2020 release. However, the ideas expressed in this blog still provide value when understanding the dynamics of the Scrum Team. What are the characteristics of a good Development Team and how does a Development Team evolve when it is using S...

Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma kicks off his series of video blogs with an introduction to the series.  In this first video, he asks: Do you sometimes struggle with understanding or explaining the what, why and how of Agile Software Delivery? Would you like to explore the power of s...

It is 1995 and Cyberdyne Systems are on the verge of launching their new automated military artificial intelligence software, CloudNet. “Come with me if you want to live!” cries Ant Schwarter, the enthusiastic Scrum Master, as he ushers the development team at Cyberdyne Systems into the conferenc...

What Is Self-Organization? “Knowledge workers have to manage themselves. They have to have autonomy,” says Peter Drucker. Scrum Promotes Self-Organization By specifying a lightweight framework: three roles, five events, and three artifacts. By removing titles for the Deve...

Are we there yet? It’s becoming like nails-on-a-chalkboard to hear phrases like “We’re going Agile” or “We’re doing this because it’s agile.” People are putting everything they can under the Agile umbrella, right down to cleaning up your workspace at the end of the day. What does it mean to say you’...

Empiricism means working in a fact-based, experience-based, and evidence-based manner. Scrum implements an empirical process where progress is based on observations of reality, not fictitious plans. Scrum also places great emphasis on mind-set and cultural shift to achieve business and organizationa...

Here is a list of just some of the books that have been published by Scrum.org Founder Ken Schwaber

EMBARRASSING CONFESSION OK, so this will be awkward, and maybe cringe-inducing post. But we are approaching the new year. Plenty of people might be making new year resolutions. Many will be around fitness. So everyone needs to read this. I was once really impressed by 24 Hour Fitness. I used...

Sin importar donde estés en tu transición a Scrum, el rol del Scrum Master se puede malinterpretar muy fácilmente.

Sin importar donde estés en tu transición a Scrum, el rol del Scrum Master se puede malinterpretar muy fácilmente. En este webinar, Joel Francia -Professional Scum Trainer- nos guiará en la exploración de algunas preguntas comunes acerca del rol del Scrum Master y como puede afrontar las diferentes ...

Here are the slides for this webcast.

I am listing out some commonly observed Scrum Myths, Mysteries, and Misconceptions from my experience. Scrum Teams are assigned to several projects or features. This results in context switching (i.e., multitasking), and the outcome is increased cycle time and delayed value delivery to busines...

UNFLATTERING WISDOM OF HIND SIGHT As I look back at my many years as an Agile Coach - helping organizations introduce, optimize and scale Scrum, I am amazed and disappointed by the number of contradictory things I have been asked to do as an Agile Coach. And in all humility, I am also disappoin...

Since 2009 Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainers have helped over 60,000 people in their journey to Scrum mastery through training. They have worked with thousands of organizations delivering a consistent training experience and many of those organizations have made professional Scrum part of th...

SCRUM IS NOT THE END. IT IS A MEANS TO THE END… The end goal of empirically building strong, self-organizing Scrum Teams to help your business… Increase Sustainable Value Sustainably Decrease Waste & Sustainably Manage Risk It seems quite straightforward, however, ...

The Nexus Integration Team (NIT) is a new role that is essential within the Nexus™ framework. It is a role that is performed by a team of people. As described in the Nexus Guide, “the Nexus Integration Team exists to coordinate, coach, and supervise the application of Nexus and the operation of Scru...

I see four common reasons an agile implementation doesn't get the benefits hoped for. These reasons include a failure to limit risk, long end-to-end delivery lead times, consistent cost-overruns, and no one knows why you do what you do. Are you in this situation? Read on to see if these match up to ...

This week I got a question from a colleague about the Scrum Retrospective. She's Scrum Master of a team that for sure has room for improvement. But somehow, during the Retrospective nobody is really challenging each other and the burning issues aren't discussed. Therefore the Retrospective often res...

In the Professional Scrum Product Owner course, we teach that high performing Product Owners are entrepreneurial. They not only act with the business in mind, they have the authority to make important decisions. What should we do now versus later? What choices give us the best return on investment? ...

Watch our international panel of Professional Scrum Trainers, as they share ethical challenges they have seen software delivery teams face in the real world and learn about an interesting approach your teams might use to tackle these challenges.

Ask a plumber not to bother with gluing the PVC piping under your sink. The fit is snug enough and will likely be just fine. It’s your risk to take, right?How would a professional plumber respond? It would probably be along the lines of “I can’t do that. It is against code and I could lose my l...

A small software shop within a government organization where multiple Scrum Teams are serving the same cause is building one product that has several sub-systems. Sometimes, those sub-systems need to be integrated.

You hear a lot in Agile circles these days about the ‘declining need for managers.’ We may not need the managers of yesterday but, make no mistake, we certainly need the leaders of tomorrow. Leadership has become about creating a healthy environment for high-performing teams to thrive in – wh...

The Daily Scrum, or most of the time referred to as the "stand up." Probably the most well-known event when we talk about Scrum. An event that lasts no longer than 15 minutes and where the Development Team inspects the plan for the sprint and see whether this plan is still valid. That is it! Nothin...

Organizations who don’t understand why they want to become Agile also often take the wrong path to get there. Agility requires empowering teams and helping them make decisions on their own, learning from their experiences as they go. They must organize themselves, yet they often have Agile practices...

What were you doing on Oct 19th 1995? According to the internet, not much with most of the news reminding us of Black Monday that had happened 9 years before. But for what is now over 11 million people who practice Scrum on a daily basis, it was a big day. That was the day that Scrum was offic...

I’m currently helping a small software shop within a government organization where multiple Scrum Teams are serving the same cause. They are building one product that has several sub-systems, which sometimes need to be integrated. Mostly, they have a low amount of dependencies between teams and syst...

This is the original paper on Scrum, based on the presentation at OOPSLA 1995 where the concept of Scrum was initially introduced.

This poster represents the Nexus Framework as developed and designed by Ken Schwaber, the co-creator of Scrum.

ScrumButs are reasons why teams can’t take full advantage of Scrum to solve their problems and realize the full benefits of product development using Scrum. Every Scrum role, rule, and timebox is designed to provide the desired benefits and address predictable recurring problems.

According to the Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted. Scrum Masters do this by ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory, practices, and rules. The Scrum Master is a servant‐leader for the Scrum Team. He or she helps those outside t...

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at how organizations are using DevOps to improve their software delivery cycle time, their ability to innovate, and their ability to improve quality. I’ve heard some people go so far as to say that DevOps has replaced Agile, but I don’t think that’s true. If anything...

In this session, Karel Deman, global agile lead at Avanade, and Patricia Kong, who leads the Scrum.org scaling initiative, will describe how Avanade improved their organizational agility. They will also share the successes and challenges Avanade faced in scaling ability across the enterprise to best...

This summer, during the Olympics, the Euro Soccer Championships and the Tour the France, while cheering in front of the tv, I noticed something in the way teams perform. And it worried me. Even more because I see the same thing happening in organizations. Why did the English soccer team fail agains...