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 […]
Teams
Is Your Scrum Team Good Enough?
If your Scrum Team has been together for years and you’ve been following the Agile principles and Scrum structure, you might be feeling quite confident. Scrum isn’t an inherently easy methodology to adapt, especially since it requires change beyond the personal behaviour level to see the biggest results. So if your team has gotten to […]
Forcing People Back to the Office
In December the Treasury Board of Canada ordered that, starting in mid-January, all employees would be expected to return to the office for two to three days a week. Among the stated goals were: Innovation, Creativity, Fairness, and Consistency. This all ties in well with the Agile Manifesto which includes the principle “The most efficient […]
Why are Group Decision-making Techniques Important?
Whether we’re facilitating Retrospectives, Sprint Planning, or a Strategy session, there are always decisions needed. How you approach those decisions should vary depending on the degree of cost and whether the decision is easily reversible or not. Given the speed at which Agile moves, we can’t afford a lot of time spent waiting for simple […]
How Escape Rooms Teach About Teams
Mark and his wife, Doris, along with a small group of their friends, have become very good at solving challenges and escaping locked rooms. In their first escape room in 2015, they were two puzzles away from success but failed to get out. So they changed the team membership. Over the years, they failed another […]
What is the Recommended Scrum Team Size?
Nearly every client I work with asks me this question at some point. The Scrum Guide offers very limited guidance, suggesting 3-9 people per team (exclusive of ScrumMaster and Product Owner), without giving reasons or context for those numbers. There isn’t one universally correct answer for optimal team size, but there are a number of […]
Scrum by Example – How to Handle Production Support Issues in Scrum
Whenever you are building and deploying a complex system, there are always going to be bugs, defects, and unforeseen problems with usability — commonly referred to as Production Support issues. Today, our ScrumMaster and their Team grapple with these issues, to help you understand how they affect a Scrum Team and what you can do […]
Scrum by Example – How to Deal with Bad User Stories as a ScrumMaster
It is common in the early stages of Scrum implementation for there to be misunderstandings about what User Stories are for and what makes them useful. A ScrumMaster’s task is to be able to help the Team and Product Owner when they are faced with ineffective User Stories as they go into Sprint Planning. Dramatis […]