I’m the Senior Scrum Master at a small 100-person startup in Silicon Valley. The work and my teams rock, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I’m also responsible for helping us hire new Scrum Masters. After reviewing hundreds of resumes, talking to a multitude of candidates on the phone, and conducting a number of on-site interviews, […]
Getting Hired As A Scrum Master Read More »
I recently had the honor of meeting and learning from Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum. He was teaching a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) course in Palo Alto here in Silicon Valley. Granted, I’ve had my CSM for many years, but it was an excellent opportunity to learn from one of the titans in the Scrum
Techniques for Better Learning Read More »
Two months ago, my 91 year-old grandmother asked me what I did for a living. On the surface, it seems like an easy question to answer, but it wasn’t. I struggled. The role of the scrum master was difficult to put into words, especially with someone unfamiliar with the complex world of software development. Since then,
Describing the Role of the Scrum Master Read More »
Many months ago, I wrote my top 10 tips to be a successful Scrum Master. That blog post resonated with many of you, but it was missing something. It focused entirely on mindset and behavior, and while valuable, I thought some practical advice for Scrum Masters might also be helpful. So let’s talk practical with
Tools of Successful Scrum Masters Read More »
I think every agile team should be viewed as a small startup. When you do so, you can begin viewing senior leadership largely as venture capitalists (VC). They’ll occasionally visit your office, they’ll provide valuable expertise and insights that will help your small company succeed, they’ll paint a vision of your competitive landscape so you
A Simple Model for Better Decision Making Read More »
Impact over velocity. In other words, don’t just do things. Do the right things. It seems obvious, but how many of us are guilty of deciding the success of a sprint by how many stories or story points we completed? But don’t worry. You’re not alone. Velocity is an easy number to get at, but easy isn’t always
Impact Over Velocity Read More »
One in a series of posts intended to provide retro techniques to facilitators by way naming a flavor* and then describing tricks or insights to help tackle that flavor. * flavor – an often implicit vibe, emotion, or general attitude of a team that can inhibit fruitful conversation. I recently had a delightful opportunity come my way:
Retro Technique: Building Team Empathy Read More »
This blog post is part of a series where we hope to provide our readers with facilitation tricks, tips, and tools to make your retrospectives a success. You can find more of our retro flavors here. Ever been part of a retro where a single team member (or sometimes the product owner) dominated the conversation? It’s not
Navigating Dominant Personalities At Retros Read More »
Spikes. It’s part of my blog’s name: Spikes and Stories, and it’s a bit of word play, which I’ll explain at the conclusion. Because of this, it seems only appropriate that I pay homage to spikes and explain how I’ve used them with teams. They have their origins in Extreme Programming (XP), and I define a spike as:
Spikes: Purpose And Usage Read More »
Great scrum masters and great agile coaches are a rare and special breed. They often do their best work behind the scenes, and they seldom want credit for a job well done. Instead, they’re most satisfied when they see their teams grow and succeed. In many ways, it’s like watching our kids grow up. They
Qualities of Great Agile Coaches Read More »
