Sam Falco

(he/him/his)

Languages

English

United States

About Sam

I’m a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) based in Saint Petersburg, Florida, with over twenty years of experience in software development. I’ve worked in a variety of industries, including publishing, financial services, auditing, information technology security, sportswear, and insurance.

When I’m not teaching and coaching Scrum, I enjoy writing crime fiction, travel, and reading.

Some of my speaking engagements have included:

The Values that Power Scrum, Tampa Bay Scrum Masters Guild
Why Scrum? Tampa Bay Scrum Masters Guild
Building Relationships for Healthy Conflict, Global Online PMDay 2021 Autumn
Coaching Around Resistance by Using Humble Inquiry, Agile + DevOps East 2018, Orlando, FL
Coaching Around Resistance, Path to Agility 2018, Columbus, OH
From Blank Canvas to Product Vision. Tampa Bay Agile, March 2018, Tampa, FL.
Coaching Around Resistance. Coaching Agile Journeys, January 2018 (online)
Impostor Syndrome: The Flip Side of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Agile 2017, Atlanta, GA

Want to know how I can help you? Send a message!

Applying Professional Scrum

Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills

Professional Scrum Master

Professional Scrum Product Owner

Other Services by Sam

Coaching/Consulting
Private Courses

Latest Blogs by Sam

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The Power of Product Thinking

Struggling with unclear priorities, technical debt, or stalled progress with your Scrum Teams? Adopting a product-focused approach can unlock your team's potential and drive continuous value. Discover how one team went from nine months of frustration to delivering game-changing solutions in just weeks by shifting their focus from 'completing projects' to solving real customer problems. Ready to transform your results? Read on to learn how product thinking makes all the difference.

Oct 24, 2024

The 268% Solution: Why Scrum Teams Need Time to Refine and Plan

A recent study claims to prove that agile practices fail more often than non-agile ones. What it really proves is the value of robust refinement and planning. Scrum teams that fail to allow enough time for those activities fall into predictable anti-patterns. But those problems are not hard to fix.

Jun 12, 2024

Acceptance Criteria Aren't Enough

What's the difference between Acceptance Criteria and Definition of Done? Teams that use Acceptance Criteria without a Definition of Done are skipping a crucial element of Professional Scrum!

Mar 12, 2024

Going Beyond Three Questions with the Daily Scrum

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.

Oct 20, 2021