​​​​​​​According to the 15th annual State of Agile Report, there has been a tremendous increase in the adoption of agile frameworks this year.  Within software teams, agile adoption grew from 37% in 2020 to 86% in 2021.  This rapid growth undoubtedly means many individuals working within agile frame...

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.

In this episode of Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer, PSTs Mark Wavle and Chris Conlin along with Patricia Kong from Scrum.org take your questions about Evidence-Based Management (EBM) and content covered in the new Professional Agile Leadership - Evidence Based Management (PAL-EBM) training course! ...

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

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 imp...

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

With remote work increasing we look at how Scrum can enhance and accelerate you remote working practices

Can a Scrum Team simply decide to abandon Scrum? After all, the Scrum team is self-managing, according to the Scrum manual, also known as the Scrum Guide. So, let’s explore this question at the very heart of team autonomy.

A Scrum team consists of three clear accountabilities: one Scrum Master, one Product Owner, and Developers.  Often, when working with a Scrum team struggling with excessive conflict or a lack of trust, I find the culprit is a lack of clarity around each of these accountabilities.  Even with the best...

I am often asked how to create better goals. This comes up at the team level, and it also comes up for the wider organization. When we are dealing with complexity, there is no one right way, no perfect template, and no best practice. And I find it helpful to look at the goals people are using today,...

The role of an agile leader is to create and foster an environment where empiricism thrives to support the delivery of value. Evidence Based Management supports this, by providing a framework to link goals and objective measures to provide insights in to how effectively the organisation is working.

Professional Agile Leadership – Evidence-Based Management (PAL-EBM) is the newest course in the Scrum.org portfolio. To prepare the launch and our trainer community for this one-day workshop, we ran several train-the-trainer events. I enjoyed participating in one of those, and I am glad to share my ...

Today, Scrum.org launches the new Professional Agile Leadership - Evidence Based Management ™  (EBM) training course.

We have now launched a new Scrum.org course – Professional Agile Leadership – Evidence-Based Management (EBM), and it is an exceptional occasion to share my experience with implementing the framework.

TL; DR: Ignoring Self-Management — Undermining Scrum from the Start 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. One of Scrum’s first principles is self-management. It is based o...

How should leaders ensure that they and their teams execute against what they know? Check out this blog post for some key ideas

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.

"We need to bring the IT resource managers along," I said.  "It's important that they understand their role in ensuring the success of the product". 

Download this datasheet to learn more about the Professional Agile Leadership = Evidence-Based Management training class.

Scrum is an agile project management framework that enables teams to deliver value in 30 days or less. The two most notable roles in Scrum are the Scrum Master and Product Owners. But for those new to Scrum, question we sometimes get asked is, can the Product Owner and Scrum Master be the same perso...

The Product Owner is a critical accountability in Agile and Scrum. And although the Scrum Guide doesn’t give much guidelines around great Product Ownership, the role is still absolutely necessary for great Agile and Scrum Teams.

Arguably the most famous role in Scrum is the Scrum Master. But for those new to Scrum, it’s a bit of a mystery what a Scrum Master does day to day – here are five things that Scrum Masters do.

A recent piece in the Harvard Business Review entitled ‘Have We Taken Agile Too Far?’ (penned by two former Amazon execs) claimed that “many organisations are taking [Agile] too far and using it to avoid careful planning and preparation.”

I had a leadership nightmare. It was as if most of the directors I have heard and met so far gathered and accompanied me….

How to become a Scrum Master – 5 Simple Steps! So you read the blog about What is a Scrum Master and you’re ready to start your journey! Great job! The Scrum Master is probably one of the most famous Agile roles. And rightly so, because the Scrum Master pays a pivotal role in helping the team ...

Want to be ready for that tough Scrum Master interview? Here are 52 questions from the team at www.FractalSystems.co.uk that will help you really ace the upcoming interview and give you confidence during your Scrum Master interview.

Are agile and Scrum the same thing? Learn about the difference from the team at www.FractalSystems.co.uk

The Scrum Master is probably one of the most famous Agile roles. And rightly so, because the Scrum Master pays a pivotal role in helping the team with the efficient and effective use of Scrum. Learn more from the team at www.FractalSystems.co.uk

The Professional Scrum Master I from Scrum.org is a challenging online assessment where you’ll answer 80 multiple choice questions within an hour.

In an earlier blog post on Servant Leadership, Commander’s Intent and Decentralised Command we discussed the ways in which decentralised command and decision-making has rapidly become a business essential for all.

This talk with Professional Scrum Trainers Matthew Hodgson and Mia Horrigan will give you a playbook to measure agility.

One continuing problem we see with many of today’s business leaders is that they rarely adopt Agile at the leadership level. It’s not that they are resistant to the idea of creating an Agile organisation. Most understand the value of agility at the level of the project/delivery teams, but all too of...

Why perfect is the enemy of good - using lean change to apply agile in context

Have you been wondering how you can measure the impact of your Scrum Masters? And how these Scrum Masters or Agile coaches can really help with the bottom-line result?

In this blog post, Joshua Partogi talks about the meaning of true leadership of the Scrum Master.

Se você é ou busca ser um Líder Ágil, você precisa conhecer essa técnica de como deixar seu time mais ágil.

Unbelievable: the agile manifesto turns 20. Agile leadership has grown up. With it, the community around agile frameworks of all kind has grown over the years. The Scrum community is the most favorite one of them. To celebrate this achievement, a community driven, worldwide festival goes online i...

I've been asked several times now about Nexus and SAFe - what are the similarities, differences, etc. If you’re not familiar with either Nexus or SAFe I recommend taking a look at the Nexus Guide and the SAFe whitepaper first.

Sempre recebo perguntas do tipo: O que é um Líder Ágil? Preciso me tornar um? O que ganho com isso? Resolvi então escrever esse artigo, para tentar ajudar a comunidade.

The new Scrum Guide describes the whole Scrum Team as self-managing. But how do you lead these teams? Do they need leaders? And if so, where should we leaders focus on? Peter Koning - author of Agile Leadership Toolkit - gives three practical tips

Scrum and agility create frameworks for diversity. A healthy mix of men and women will benefit from this. In this post I want to explain why.

Based on my experience working in agile environments since 2010, I did some research and had general observations on the topic. Regardless of the business domains or product area, there are some common rules that may devastate your efforts toward agility.

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado qué hacen los gerentes en Scrum?

In late 2018, Vodafone New Zealand set out to improve its customer experience by adopting a ‘digital first’ mindset. Investing in agile would underpin this approach by introducing ways of working that reduce complexity, improve collaboration and bring the customer to the forefront of each decision.

Angesichts des Hypes um Agilität, Business Agility und „New Work“ höre ich aus Unternehmen häufig: „Wir brauchen eine neue Kultur!“ Dieser Ausruf wird dann von Consultants gekontert mit dem Allgemeinplatz: „Kultur kann man nicht machen. Kultur entsteht!“ Wie aber entsteht diese Kultur? Und wesha...

There is no such thing as an Agile Transformation, Digital Transformation, DevOps Transformation, or any of the Whatever Transformation that you can think of or have been sold. You can’t buy agility, and you certainly can’t install it. There is no end state, no optimal outcome, No best practices. We...

Do you need an emergency fund as a change agent—whether you are acting as Scrum Master, Product Owner or agile coach—

In our Professional Agile Leadership training, we talk about changing your organisations hiring practices to hire more of the right sort of people to create the company that you want, not the company that you have. Hire the right people also implies that you will have to, within your cultural constr...

With the new normal, online training has exploded, but potential students are confused about what makes a great online training course and the results seem hit and miss.