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Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Every week day, Certified Scrum Master, Agile Coach and Business Consultant Vasco Duarte interviews Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches from all over the world to get you actionable advice, new tips and tricks, improve your craft as a Scrum Master with daily doses of inspiring conversations with Scrum Masters from the all over the world. Stay tuned for BONUS episodes when we interview Agile gurus and other thought leaders in the business space to bring you the Agile Business perspective you need to succeed as a Scrum Master. Some of the topics we discuss include: Agile Business, Agile Strategy, Retrospectives, Team motivation, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Backlog Refinement, Scaling Scrum, Lean Startup, Test Driven Development (TDD), Behavior Driven Development (BDD), Paper Prototyping, QA in Scrum, the role of agile managers, servant leadership, agile coaching, and more!
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Now displaying: April, 2015
Apr 30, 2015

The role of the Scrum Master is new. It is not an adapted Business Analyst role or a slightly changed Project Manager role. Many fail to understand how unique this role is, and therefore fail to help the teams effectively. In this episode we also discuss how Scrum Masters can evaluate their own performance.

About Francesco Attanasio

Francesco Attanasio is an Agile practitioner, Certified Scrum Professional® (CSP) and Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM), Developer, Trainer, Reader, Dreamer and Runner.

He's now been working as Scrum Master for more than 3 years. Having worked so far as Scrum Developer and Scrum Master in several teams, Francesco has fieldwork experience of how Scrum can be implemented with success. He provides Lean/Agile/Scrum training and coaching to Product Owners, Scrum Masters and Development Teams.

You can find Francesco Attanasio on twitter. You can also find Francesco Attanasio on LinkedIn, and in the Scrum Alliance website.

Apr 29, 2015

Scrum Masters are above all change agents. In this episode we discuss a model for change agents, and how to look out for Scrum Masters that can play that role when recruiting.

About Francesco Attanasio

Francesco Attanasio is an Agile practitioner, Certified Scrum Professional® (CSP) and Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM), Developer, Trainer, Reader, Dreamer and Runner.

He's now been working as Scrum Master for more than 3 years. Having worked so far as Scrum Developer and Scrum Master in several teams, Francesco has fieldwork experience of how Scrum can be implemented with success. He provides Lean/Agile/Scrum training and coaching to Product Owners, Scrum Masters and Development Teams.

You can find Francesco Attanasio on twitter. You can also find Francesco Attanasio on LinkedIn, and in the Scrum Alliance website.

Apr 28, 2015

Enabling team success is not a simple art, we must lookout for its main enemies like shaming, blaming, defensiveness. Collaboration becomes a critical tool for Scrum Masters to understand. Francesco directs us to the book Radical Collaboration by James W. Tamm.

About Francesco Attanasio

Francesco Attanasio is an Agile practitioner, Certified Scrum Professional® (CSP) and Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM), Developer, Trainer, Reader, Dreamer and Runner.

He's now been working as Scrum Master for more than 3 years. Having worked so far as Scrum Developer and Scrum Master in several teams, Francesco has fieldwork experience of how Scrum can be implemented with success. He provides Lean/Agile/Scrum training and coaching to Product Owners, Scrum Masters and Development Teams.

You can find Francesco Attanasio on twitter. You can also find Francesco Attanasio on LinkedIn, and in the Scrum Alliance website.

Apr 27, 2015

Without knowing how to effectively manage conflict in teams, Scrum Masters are unable to help their teams perform at the peak of their performance. Conflict is part of the growth of the team. Francesco gives us some tips on how to manage conflict. For more details you can read Francesco’s article on managing conflict available here.

About Francesco Attanasio

Francesco Attanasio is an Agile practitioner, Certified Scrum Professional® (CSP) and Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM), Developer, Trainer, Reader, Dreamer and Runner.

He's now been working as Scrum Master for more than 3 years. Having worked so far as Scrum Developer and Scrum Master in several teams, Francesco has fieldwork experience of how Scrum can be implemented with success. He provides Lean/Agile/Scrum training and coaching to Product Owners, Scrum Masters and Development Teams.

You can find Francesco Attanasio on twitter. You can also find Francesco Attanasio on LinkedIn, and in the Scrum Alliance website.

Apr 24, 2015

Software development is not the same as building a road, or building a house. There’s a key concept called Complexity that explains why many of our assumptions of how software development happens are false. Stefano explains his views of how we can understand the performance of the team in the context of the performance of the whole organization and what to do about it.

In this episode, Stefano refers to Polarity Management, a way of looking at the role of management that can significantly increase the performance of the organization. For more, read this page on Polarity Management.

About Stefano Porro

Stefano is from Turin, Italy. He has worked since 2001 in IT projects and he feels lucky because he does what he loves. He learned about Scrum in 2007 when the company where he was working decided to adopt Scrum. For the first two years he was part of a Scrum team, and he was fascinated from the role of the Scrum Master because he always loved to help team's members. For him, becoming a Scrum Master, was a natural evolution.

You can find Stefano Porro on Twitter, and connect with Stefano Porro on Linkedin.

Stefano would also like you to be in touch with him through gmail (stefano.porro81@gmail.com) or skype (stefano.bowen). mail: stefano.porro81@gmail.com

You can follow Stefano’s blog to know more about his work and his ideas.

Apr 23, 2015

We need tools for Scrum Masters to evaluate their success in their role. Stefano shares with us one of the tools he has used to measure his impact on the team’s success, and how he defines his own success.

About Stefano Porro

Stefano is from Turin, Italy. He has worked since 2001 in IT projects and he feels lucky because he does what he loves. He learned about Scrum in 2007 when the company where he was working decided to adopt Scrum. For the first two years he was part of a Scrum team, and he was fascinated from the role of the Scrum Master because he always loved to help team's members. For him, becoming a Scrum Master, was a natural evolution.

You can find Stefano Porro on Twitter, and connect with Stefano Porro on Linkedin.

Stefano would also like you to be in touch with him through gmail (stefano.porro81@gmail.com) or skype (stefano.bowen). mail: stefano.porro81@gmail.com

You can follow Stefano’s blog to know more about his work and his ideas.

Apr 22, 2015

We all want to ace the Scrum Master interview. It can land us a job at that great company, or open the door for a future career. But is that how we should look at the interview? What about the recruiter, should she hire a person that passes the interview test with flying colors? Stefano tells us the story of a Scrum Master that aced the interview, but failed the test.

About Stefano Porro

Stefano is from Turin, Italy. He has worked since 2001 in IT projects and he feels lucky because he does what he loves. He learned about Scrum in 2007 when the company where he was working decided to adopt Scrum. For the first two years he was part of a Scrum team, and he was fascinated from the role of the Scrum Master because he always loved to help team's members. For him, becoming a Scrum Master, was a natural evolution.

You can find Stefano Porro on Twitter, and connect with Stefano Porro on Linkedin.

Stefano would also like you to be in touch with him through gmail (stefano.porro81@gmail.com) or skype (stefano.bowen). mail: stefano.porro81@gmail.com

You can follow Stefano’s blog to know more about his work and his ideas.

Apr 21, 2015

Teams don’t often take ownership of the daily meeting. They turn to the scrum master as if expecting an order, or confirmation. Stefano created a technique that helps his teams take ownership of the daily meeting, and make it a productive part of the daily routine.

About Stefano Porro

Stefano is from Turin, Italy. He has worked since 2001 in IT projects and he feels lucky because he does what he loves. He learned about Scrum in 2007 when the company where he was working decided to adopt Scrum. For the first two years he was part of a Scrum team, and he was fascinated from the role of the Scrum Master because he always loved to help team's members. For him, becoming a Scrum Master, was a natural evolution.

You can find Stefano Porro on Twitter, and connect with Stefano Porro on Linkedin.

Stefano would also like you to be in touch with him through gmail (stefano.porro81@gmail.com) or skype (stefano.bowen).

You can follow Stefano’s blog to know more about his work and his ideas.

Apr 20, 2015

We very often jump to the action straight away and without asking why. But is that wise? How can we create a mindset that leads to results if we don’t know why we are working on something? Stefano tells us a story of how he discovered, and changed his work to always start by asking why, or giving the “why” to the teams he works with.

Stefano mentions some of this favourite books about Agile:

About Stefano Porro

Stefano is from Turin, Italy. He has worked since 2001 in IT projects and he feels lucky because he does what he loves. He learned about Scrum in 2007 when the company where he was working decided to adopt Scrum. For the first two years he was part of a Scrum team, and he was fascinated from the role of the Scrum Master because he always loved to help team's members. For him, becoming a Scrum Master, was a natural evolution.

You can find Stefano Porro on Twitter, and connect with Stefano Porro on Linkedin.

Stefano would also like you to be in touch with him through gmail (stefano.porro81@gmail.com) or skype (stefano.bowen).


You can follow Stefano’s blog to know more about his work and his ideas.

Apr 17, 2015

Look at the system, understand what can be changed by simplifying the workflow. Jon explains how he is helping management act on the system by finding, and then resolving impediments that the teams face regularly.

About Jon Eversett

 

Former Business Analyst, Product Owner wannabe, currently a Scrum Master. Jon works with teams with different maturity levels and some relatively new Product Owners. You can find Jon Eversett on LinkedIn, or interact with Jon Eversett on Twitter. You can read Jon Eversett’s blog to find out more about his ideas on the role of the scrum master and all things agile.

 

Apr 16, 2015

“Step back and ask more questions” is a recommendation we hear often. I this episode Jon shares with us how he came to that realization, and how that aspect defines success for his work as a Scrum Master.

About Jon Eversett

Former Business Analyst, Product Owner wannabe, currently a Scrum Master. Jon works with teams with different maturity levels and some relatively new Product Owners. You can find Jon Eversett on LinkedIn, or interact with Jon Eversett on Twitter. You can read Jon Eversett’s blog to find out more about his ideas on the role of the scrum master and all things agile.

Apr 15, 2015

Team culture is affected by the organizational culture, as well as individual culture. It is therefore important for us, as Scrum Masters to realize that the way we allow work to be defined will directly affect the culture of the team. Jon explains how the deep gap between skills makes agile adoption harder, and affects how the team tackles the work they need to deliver.

About Jon Eversett

 

Former Business Analyst, Product Owner wannabe, currently a Scrum Master. Jon works with teams with different maturity levels and some relatively new Product Owners. You can find Jon Eversett on LinkedIn, or interact with Jon Eversett on Twitter. You can read Jon Eversett’s blog to find out more about his ideas on the role of the scrum master and all things agile.

Apr 14, 2015

A Waterfall to Agile transition is never easy, but there are many problems that appear simple at first, until we see their impact on the organization. One such problem is the existence of skill silos in the Waterfall (matrix organization) world. These silos are often re-inforced by organizational structures that are hard or impossible to break, even after adopting agile. Their impact on the teams is something that Scrum Masters need to be aware of.

About Jon Eversett

Former Business Analyst, Product Owner wannabe, currently a Scrum Master. Jon works with teams with different maturity levels and some relatively new Product Owners. You can find Jon Eversett on LinkedIn, or interact with Jon Eversett on Twitter. You can read Jon Eversett’s blog to find out more about his ideas on the role of the scrum master and all things agile.

Apr 13, 2015

Definition of Ready is a term that has emerged recently in the Scrum / Agile community. In this episode we discuss why that concept is important, and how it can help teams improve their performance. We also discuss why planning a little bit in the Sprint is better than trying to plan the whole sprint up front.

About Jon Eversett

 

Former Business Analyst, Product Owner wannabe, currently a Scrum Master. Jon works with teams with different maturity levels and some relatively new Product Owners. You can find Jon Eversett on LinkedIn, or interact with Jon Eversett on Twitter. You can read Jon Eversett’s blog to find out more about his ideas on the role of the scrum master and all things agile.

Apr 10, 2015

Understand and change the system is perhaps one of the major challenges for Scrum Masters all over the world. In this episode Antti shares his favourite tools for that exact task:

  • Measure Lead Time, and how each action affects that metric. Use that metric to detect problems in how the system works at all times.

  • Create causal loop diagrams that help you understand what are the many effects, and causes in play within the organization.

Both of the tools mentioned are part of an arsenal of tools that you can find when studying Systems Thinking. To get you started, Antti recommends the book The V Discipline by Peter Senge.

Antti is an agile practitioner, who got started with agile in my own very first Agile project way back in 2004. He's been through all kinds of roles, from team member, to management, to customer-facing roles.

You can connect with Antti Tevanlinna on twitter, and check Antti Tevanlinna’s blog.

Apr 9, 2015

What defines a successful Scrum Master is how much they can help the organization increase the speed of feedback. As Antti says: “we often don’t really know what the customer wants!” So, measure your success by measuring the speed of feedback. Is it increasing?

Antti is an agile practitioner, who got started with agile in my own very first Agile project way back in 2004. He's been through all kinds of roles, from team member, to management, to customer-facing roles.

You can connect with Antti Tevanlinna on twitter, and check Antti Tevanlinna’s blog.

Apr 8, 2015

How you hire today affects how people perform, and think of their role in your organization. Antti explains how that phenomenon can influence an organization for the long term, and tells us how important it is to carefully craft your role descriptions to avoid the same problem.

Antti is an agile practitioner, who got started with agile in my own very first Agile project way back in 2004. He's been through all kinds of roles, from team member, to management, to customer-facing roles.

You can connect with Antti Tevanlinna on twitter, and check Antti Tevanlinna’s blog.

Apr 7, 2015

“Nothing ever changes here” is a team anti-pattern that sometimes takes over and freezes team behavior. Teams experiencing that anti-pattern will often complain, be discouraged, but will not take action to change their situation. How to help teams like that? Antti tells us a story of a team that was in that situation and what he and his colleagues did to change the situation and save the project.

Antti is an agile practitioner, who got started with agile in my own very first Agile project way back in 2004. He's been through all kinds of roles, from team member, to management, to customer-facing roles.

You can connect with Antti Tevanlinna on twitter, and check Antti Tevanlinna’s blog.

Apr 6, 2015

How to scale agile software development? is a question we hear often these days. Antti describes his experiences, how long it took him and his colleagues to get it right, and what they learned in the process. Scaling agile software development isn’t easy, and it is important we learn about what has failed in the past.

Antti is an agile practitioner, who got started with agile in my own very first Agile project way back in 2004. He's been through all kinds of roles, from team member, to management, to customer-facing roles.

You can connect with Antti Tevanlinna on twitter, and check Antti Tevanlinna’s blog.

Apr 3, 2015

Informed by his knowledge on Theory Of Constraints, Neil looks at specific metrics to identify how the system affects team’s performance. He also explores what is necessary to create agility in an organization, and finally he explores the first value in the Agile Manifesto: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

In this episode Neil recommends a book that everyone should read to understand system metrics: The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt.

About Neil Killick

Neil has been a software professional for over 18 years, mostly as a developer, before moving to management. He spent the last 5 years being a passionate Agile, Lean and Scrum coach, trainer and practitioner. Neil cares deeply about creating enjoyable, authentic workplaces in which human potential can thrive.

 

You can connect with Neil Killick on twitter. Neil Killick’s blog.

Apr 2, 2015

Neil has published a post where he explains his view on the scrum master responsibilities. In this episode we explore those responsibilities and how it can help us, as scrum masters understand our role and define a successful outcome for our work.

About Neil Killick

Neil has been a software professional for over 18 years, mostly as a developer, before moving to management. He spent the last 5 years being a passionate Agile, Lean and Scrum coach, trainer and practitioner. Neil cares deeply about creating enjoyable, authentic workplaces in which human potential can thrive.

You can connect with Neil Killick on twitter. Neil Killick’s blog.

Apr 1, 2015

There’s often an unspoken pressure to recruit fast. But how to achieve it? Neil tells us about his very own checklist of topics to cover in the recruiting process. He also shares how his views on the recruiting process changed drastically over his years of experience, and why it is so important to find people that don’t fit your culture.

About Neil Killick

Neil has been a software professional for over 18 years, mostly as a developer, before moving to management. He spent the last 5 years being a passionate Agile, Lean and Scrum coach, trainer and practitioner. Neil cares deeply about creating enjoyable, authentic workplaces in which human potential can thrive.

You can connect with Neil Killick on twitter. Neil Killick’s blog.

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