In some of my classes, people tell me they are using Scrum—but they can't call it Scrum. Why? Because someone in their organization had a bad experience with it.

Psychological safety isn’t about fluffy “niceness”—it is the foundation of agile teams that innovate, adapt, and deliver.

Some teams struggle. They flounder in chaos, miss deadlines, and suffer from constant firefighting. Eventually, the pain becomes unbearable, and they take action—hiring an agile coach, changing their approach, or even replacing key team members. Other teams just get by. They hit their deadlines (so...

Scrum - when done well - actually promotes even greater accountability than waterfall, because the Scrum team is accountable for value delivery. And great Scrum teams measure - and reflect upon - customer outcomes so that they can adjust course and improve their ability to deliver value.

You can't force a team to improve; instead, create the conditions where they want to. Improvement must come from within, and your role as a Scrum Master, leader, or manager is to make that journey possible. In this article, I'll share questions to reflect on and offer tangible recommendations to get...

Scrum has been around for almost 30 years now yet there are so many misconceptions about what needs to be done and how it can be done effectively. Even today, as I coach and consult many teams I often see that the purpose of events is mostly lost. And people simply go through the motions, probably t...

Leverage AI tools in your day-to-day work and move to a new level of Scrum Mastery.

What is the relationship between Scrum and Lean Thinking? Please explain how Scrum enables Lean Thinking or how Lean Thinking fosters Scrum? These are my two favorite questions when I typically want to gauge the knowledge of Scrum Masters. And over the many interviews in the past couple of years I h...

Scrum Masters are human. And sometimes - even when they are trying to help - they can unintentionally overstep their authority. In this article, we will discuss the most common ways that Scrum Masters overstep themselves, and why.

The Scrum framework offers clear rules, guidelines, and constraints. Teams can use these as boundaries to self-manage and self-organize their work, minimize risk, and deliver value to their stakeholders. When teams are relatively new to Scrum, strictly following the rules and constraints makes sense...

Personal retrospectives can help you improve your life. This approach, similar to team retrospectives, encourages self-reflection. By assessing different areas of your life and identifying areas for protection and improvement, you can focus on a few small, actionable steps to achieve your goals and ...

Start-up Agility describes the mental disposition within which leaders can learn to swim through uncertainty, build their teams in ebbs and flows, and deliver value at every growth point. By fostering connections, empowering teams, and remaining flexible, agile leaders set up the engagement for ...

Adopt one of these New Year's resolutions at your next Sprint Retrospective!

In this vlog, join hosts Andreanna Marshall and Grand Scrum Master Scott as they dive into practical strategies for implementing Scrum principles seemingly solo. 🚀 Discover how to navigate resistance and transform your workplace from the ground up!

Elevating Katas: Driving Continuous Improvement in Organizational Topologies In the evolving landscape of software development and organizational design, Elevating Katas play a crucial role in fostering continuous improvement. These structured, repeatable exercises help teams refine their workflo...

This article explores the conditions under which pure Scrum thrives, the organizational DNA required to support it, and practical scenarios where it works best—along with a candid look at where it struggles.

The Scrum Guide emphasizes the importance of fostering an environment for success—not controlling teams or stakeholders. Discover how Scrum Masters can shape the conditions for growth, collaboration, and effectiveness at every level.

Scrum was designed to be simple—deliberately so. Adding too much too soon can actually slow you down, making it harder to reach the value Scrum is built to deliver.

Two Words Check-in - Focusing on the human connection aspects of the Daily Scrum

Learn more about addressing impediments imposed by leaders by redefining success, aligning incentives, fostering alignment, and balancing autonomy with standardization.

Starting with Scrum can feel overwhelming. It’s a framework with defined events, accountabilities, and artifacts that might seem rigid or even intimidating at first glance. But here’s the truth: it’s okay not to get everything perfect on day one. The real magic of Scrum unfolds as you practice and i...

In questo episodio esploriamo una delle sfide più comuni nelle organizzazioni che adottano Scrum: cosa succede quando il Product Owner non ha vera ownership sul prodotto? Insieme al nostro ospite Michael Forni, Agile Coach con esperienza nel settore finanziario, analizziamo le cause, le conseguenze ...

For a Scrum Team to gain autonomy, they must first show they are trustworthy. And how do you build that trust? By making your work visible. By embracing transparency, Scrum Teams can take greater control over their work and deliver even more value to their stakeholders and organizations.

Psychologischen, organisatorischen und strategischen Gründe warum Führungskräfte das Product Operating Model unterstützen, wenn "Agile" zuvor nicht erfolgreich war.

This article uncovers the psychological, organizational, and strategic reasons behind this seeming contradiction, exploring what motivates leaders to believe that a new approach will succeed where others have not.

🎙️ In questo episodio Fabio Panzavolta legge la Guida Scrum, il documento scritto da Ken Schwaber e Jeff Sutherland che definisce il framework Scrum. Scopriremo la teoria, i valori, gli eventi e gli artefatti che compongono Scrum, direttamente dalla fonte ufficiale tradotta in italiano.

Accountability. It's a word that can strike fear into the hearts of many. But it's not about blame or shame. It's about owning your commitments, delivering on your promises, and creating a culture of trust and transparency.

In questo episodio Fabio Panzavolta esplora gli artefatti di Scrum: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog e Increment. Scopriremo come questi elementi fondamentali del framework rappresentano il lavoro e il valore, e come sono collegati ai rispettivi impegni (commitment) che ne garantiscono l'efficacia.

In questo episodio Fabio Panzavolta esplora la Sprint Retrospective agile, l'evento conclusivo dello Sprint dedicato al miglioramento continuo del team. Scopriremo come questa retrospettiva Scrum permette allo Scrum Team di evolvere e ottimizzare il proprio modo di lavorare, garantendo maggiore effi...

In questo episodio, Fabio Panzavolta approfondisce la Sprint Review, un evento di Scrum che si concentra sull'ispezione dei risultati dello Sprint e sull'adattamento dei piani futuri. Scopriamo come i Team Scrum possono trasformare questo evento da una semplice presentazione a una sessione di lavoro...

When teams first start adopting Scrum, it seems like they often encounter similar challenges.  In this article, I will address some of the common commons facing new Scrum teams and how to overcome them.

Be mindful of your coaching distance. Too much distance from a team can lead to disconnection and false assumptions, while too close might block the team's growth and autonomy.

The effectiveness of a Sprint Review can influence a product’s future direction and success. It also helps understand possible challenges and how to overcome them in future development.

While Product Operating Models focus on developing new Products, they have implications and potential benefits for the teams operating the business and supporting these products. How can we improve the interface between product and business operations? Which elements of product operating models can ...

In diesem Artikel stelle ich fünf umsetzbare Praktiken vor, wie Sie mit Retrospektiven zu echten Veränderungen gelangen.

In this Ask a PST session, Agile Director, Executive Coach and Professional Scrum Trainer Jay Rahman answers listener questions and offers advice about their Scrum challenges and obstacles. Jay offers strategies for avoiding and recovering from product delivery failures. (60:26 Minutes)

How to Make Retrospectives Lead to Real Change and Stop Spinning Wheels.

An effective Sprint Retrospective ensures the team remains cohesive and aligned, leading to sustainable development and innovation. It is a dedicated time for reflection, learning, and improvement.

Rebuilding Agility from the Ground Up

In this PST Spotlight Episode, PST Ryan Ripley interviews Pawel Felinski about his journey into Scrum. Pawel shares how he became a Scrum Master and the initial challenges he faced, including the misconception that Scrum Mastery is simple, and the importance of practical experience over theoretical ...

If Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, and all other Agile practitioners want to survive, make more impact, and offer more value, they should use data, evidence-based feedback, and insights from scientific research to improve team and organizational effectiveness.

In this article, we explore the Kanban practice of "make policies explicit" and how it equips teams for self-management

Dive in to explore how the Agile community is coming full circle, rediscovering the essence that made Agile transformative in the first place.

Scrum is an idea. The word ‘Scrum’ comes from the game of Rugby: a whole team working together; their singular mission is to move the ball down the field. The idea grows out of a few important truths about team development and product quality.

In this episode, Dave West, our host and Mik Kersten, CTO at Planview and author of Project to Product discuss the critical shift from project-oriented to product-centric organizations.

Is the role of Scrum Master really relevant when Scrum has become the norm while the Scrum Masters themselves have not really upskilled or reskilled to support the Scrum Teams.

This blog post explores how Scrum's intentional pressure on both engineering and product management teams drives continuous improvement and excellence. It emphasizes the importance of the "Definition of Done" and the need to close the "Effectiveness Gap" between current and target practices. Ultimat...

In this blog, we dispel a series of myths associated with product discovery in Scrum. Myths such as “it's a phase in the process and can not be done in a Sprint,” “It's only for greenfield projects,” to “ The DoD stops us from doing Discovery”.

An introduction to the intersection of Practical Agility, IT Product Model and Collaborative Incentives.

The Scrum Guide outlines essential elements of the Scrum framework, each serving a critical purpose. Understanding the true purpose of these elements, rather than common misconceptions, is vital for effective Scrum practice.