In recent months I have seen hundreds of people on LinkedIn and other places, who have been laid off. I see many people encouraged by well-intentioned, helpful outplacement services to tweak their resumes to get ingested by a ranking tool. If you’re lucky this might result in an interview and in some rare cases a […]
Scrum
Onboard New People Without Losing Scrum Team Magic
Agile teams have been struggling since the earliest days with how to bring new people on to a team. In one of the first Agile books, there was a story of Alistair Cockburn walking a new hire through the team’s flip charts and telling the story of their work. I haven’t seen a team use […]
The Modern Guide to the Daily Scrum Meeting
Many people who attend Scrum training courses start with the impression that the Daily Scrum is the whole of Scrum. Others think the Daily Scrum centres on three questions (this was true a long time ago). This guide to the Daily Scrum meeting was created to address these misconceptions as well as answer common questions. […]
The Sprint Backlog: A Truly Complete Guide with Examples
We might not be able to make Sprint Backlogs exciting, but we can make them more effective. Let’s look at what a Sprint Backlog is, what purpose it serves, and how to create, manage, and improve it. What is a Sprint Backlog? A Sprint Backlog is a list of Product Backlog Items (PBIs) that the Developers think they can complete during the […]
In Agile, Where Change is Valued, Why Is a Stable Team So Important?
A stable team is one in which team membership doesn’t change often and, instead, is consistent over time. Why should we care? Isn’t Scrum like basketball where you can change the players on the court anytime there is an interruption? Let’s find out… High-performing teams —or teams that gets stuff done with insanely high quality— […]
Why Having a Tech Lead or Manager as Scrum Master is a Bad Idea
Have you ever had friends or family ask, “I know you’re called a scrum master, but what does that mean? What do you actually do?” Go ahead. Tell them that the role of ScrumMaster is as a servant-leader, coach, and facilitator, navigating the dynamics of the team to ensure Scrum practices are followed and value […]
Two Key Things for Sprint Retrospective Facilitation
Retrospectives are a critical element in Scrum but they won’t work well if your team hates them. A Sprint Retrospective needs someone to facilitate and keep it on track to encourage effective discussion. It’s more of an art than a science, but these key things will help. 1. Remain Neutral From the Cambridge Dictionary, facilitation […]
Scrum by Example – Same Old Song in Sprint Retrospective
The World’s Smallest Online Bookstore team has just come out of their Sprint Review. For those who’re keeping score, the team committed to a Sprint Goal: Have basic reader review system in place so book buyers can see a variety of opinions about a book. Their plan included completing seven Product Backlog Items and fixing […]