I think many of us have been going about this predictability thing all wrong. Don’t misunderstand. It’s not for lack of trying, and we’ve had all the right intentions. Still, in many cases, we’ve done more harm than good, and I’m just as much to blame as anyone else. A colleague had much the same […]
So You Want More Predictability? Read More »
I’ve been mentoring a group of young Scrum Masters for the last seven months, and recently one of them asked me a question: How do I foster trust within my team? Immediately, two thoughts came to mind: But why? Whether family, friends, or colleagues, we’re surrounded by people most times of the day, and our
How Do I Foster Trust Within My Team? Read More »
I’ve said it before, and it’s worth repeating. What civilians call agility the Marine Corps calls leading Marines. I’ve compared my decade in the Corps to my experiences as an agile coach in a pair of blog posts here and here, and I think it’s time to revisit this theme. Today we’ll focus on the
The Relationship Between Agility and Discipline Read More »
A Medium follower asked me a few questions recently: What’s the difference between a Scrum Master and agile coach? How can they both be involved in Scrum? Why is it seen as a natural ‘progression’ to move from Scrum Master to agile coach? These are popular questions, and I’ve run across many–maybe too many, in
What’s the Difference Between a Scrum Master and Agile Coach? Read More »
Teams that don’t deliver working product frequently aren’t agile. I hold firmly to this truth for many reasons. For example, how can we iterate on a product that isn’t real? Wouldn’t you agree that continuous improvement is at the heart of agility? So if the product isn’t real, how can we be sure we’re learning
Six Reasons Agile Teams Deliver Frequently And Why It Matters Read More »
Ask most Scrum Masters, and they’ll tell you their favorite event is the retro. It’s rewarding to create space for learning or to inspire a conversation between team members as they discover brilliant, new ways of working together. And you’d think that after the 750+ retros that I’ve facilitated that I’d have it down to
A Guide to Surviving Your First (Or Hundredth) Retro Read More »
What’s my plan? That’s a question I was asked recently. It occurred to me in that moment that I didn’t have one. Sure. I had a vision, I knew the next few steps, and I knew where I wanted my teams to get. However, the longer term was fuzzy, and it depended on how a
What’s Your North Star? Read More »
Editor’s Note: Tanner here. I’m usually the one doing the writing but not today. I ran into Sjoerd a few days back. Awesome guy, great writer, and he has some refreshing perspectives on agility and Scrum Mastery. Also, he’s been gratuitous enough to share his thoughts on my blog with all of you today. For more
Breaking the status quo as Scrum Master Read More »
I often get asked what to do when a Scrum adoption begins to stall. This is especially true to those in the earlier stages of adoption. Whenever these conversations occur, it inevitably leads to the same answer. I can’t help. I just don’t understand your context or your organization. Don’t misunderstand. I want to help,
Is Your Scrum Adoption Stalling? Read More »
In my last blog post, I wrote about the side effects of manager as Product Owner. In it, I talked about how I believe these roles should be filled by different people. So if the manager isn’t directing the work, what’s s/he doing? How does a manager help his/her people when they’re distributed across multiple
Practical Advice for Managers in an Agile Shop Read More »
