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 »
The Scrum Guide doesn’t talk about the role of managers. So does that mean that one day we have managers, and then as soon as we begin an agile transformation, they suddenly disappear? Of course not. So what do we do with them? Many organizations use managers to direct the work of their reports so
Why Manager as Product Owner Will Usually Fail Read More »
Who here just started a new job? Or maybe you’re about to start a new job? This is the situation I recently faced. It’s stressful, and it was important to me that I make a strong, lasting, and positive first impression. In fact, let’s talk about that today, but before we do, I’d like to
Starting a New Job Is Tough Read More »
Let’s try something different today. I’d like to tell you a story. To do it justice, I won’t write about it. Instead, I’ll share a video where I told this story to an agile group here in Silicon Valley, and it began as I wrestled with several questions: Can data help our teams improve?
What Metrics Will My Team Find Useful? Read More »
Words are hard. They shouldn’t be, but they are. We each internalize a definition of a word, and more oft than not, our internal definition conflicts with someone else’s. Even ancient Greek philosophers like Epictetus faced this problem offering this advice: First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. Today, let’s talk
Why Process and Efficiency Are Terrible Words Read More »
We’ve begun experimenting with Large-Scale Scrum, or LeSS, and thus far, it’s been an interesting journey. I eluded to this experiment with LeSS in Two Principles for Scaling Any Agile Approach, and I also gave a bit of background into where we are in our agile evolution. The abridged version is we’re several years into a
Should You Experiment with LeSS? Read More »
Today, I wanted to talk about Large Scale Scrum, or LeSS. We’ve begun experimenting with it in our organization, and I wanted to share my experiences thus far. However, I felt I couldn’t. It felt premature. Before I could tell that story, I first needed to explain where we are, how we got there, and
Two Principles for Scaling Any Agile Approach Read More »
