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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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Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches
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Now displaying: December, 2015
Dec 31, 2015

The role of the Scrum Master is not the same as the team’s role. The team is there to grow the product, and the Scrum Master is there to grow the team. These may be complementary roles, but they are not the same. Angel explains why this distinction is important and how that matters to define success. We also discuss one of Angel’s favorite books: Lyssa Adkins' Coaching Agile Teams.

 

About Angel Diaz-Maroto

Angel is a seasoned and very energetic Agile coach and a frequent speaker at international conferences and Agile events in Europe and America. He is Certified Scrum Coach. Currently he is member of Agilar, one of the leading Agile coaching firms in Europe and Latin-America.

He is now at Agilar, but before he was the leader at one of the biggest Agile transformations in europe, including business and IT at the Spanish branch of a multinational bank (ING). He lead the transformation from the trenches and starting from scratch. He as more than 15 years of experience in many different roles and is a professor at ESNE (University School of design, innovation & technology).

You can link up with Angel Diaz-Maroto on LinkedIn and connect with Angel Diaz-Maroto on Twitter.

Dec 30, 2015

How to effectively help an organisation change? That’s the topic we cover on this episode, and Angel shares his approach from a project in a large organization that went through a massive change. He mentions some of the critical tools he used in his role as a change agent in that organization.

 

About Angel Diaz-Maroto

Angel is a seasoned and very energetic Agile coach and a frequent speaker at international conferences and Agile events in Europe and America. He is Certified Scrum Coach. Currently he is member of Agilar, one of the leading Agile coaching firms in Europe and Latin-America.

He is now at Agilar, but before he was the leader at one of the biggest Agile transformations in europe, including business and IT at the Spanish branch of a multinational bank (ING). He lead the transformation from the trenches and starting from scratch. He as more than 15 years of experience in many different roles and is a professor at ESNE (University School of design, innovation & technology).

You can link up with Angel Diaz-Maroto on LinkedIn and connect with Angel Diaz-Maroto on Twitter.

Dec 29, 2015

Scrum has a foundational story that many of us know. The Pig and the Chicken story. Through that story we learn that in Scrum there are “insiders” (the Pigs, who are committed), and outsiders (the Chickens, who are merely involved). The role of the Product Owner is often looked at as a “chicken”, however Angel relates a different perspective. He talks about the critical role of the Product Owner in a Scrum team as well as the approach he used to bring the Product Owner role back into the team.

 

About Angel Diaz-Maroto

Angel is a seasoned and very energetic Agile coach and a frequent speaker at international conferences and Agile events in Europe and America. He is Certified Scrum Coach. Currently he is member of Agilar, one of the leading Agile coaching firms in Europe and Latin-America.

He is now at Agilar, but before he was the leader at one of the biggest Agile transformations in europe, including business and IT at the Spanish branch of a multinational bank (ING). He lead the transformation from the trenches and starting from scratch. He as more than 15 years of experience in many different roles and is a professor at ESNE (University School of design, innovation & technology).

Dec 28, 2015

The journey we are in as Scrum Masters has many different forms. Angel tells us the story of his transition from Developer to Leader, and what were the critical lessons he learned in the process. We also mention a critical book for us in the software world: Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck.

About Angel Diaz-Maroto

Angel is a seasoned and very energetic Agile coach and a frequent speaker at international conferences and Agile events in Europe and America. He is Certified Scrum Coach. Currently he is member of Agilar, one of the leading Agile coaching firms in Europe and Latin-America.

He is now at Agilar, but before he was the leader at one of the biggest Agile transformations in europe, including business and IT at the Spanish branch of a multinational bank (ING). He lead the transformation from the trenches and starting from scratch. He as more than 15 years of experience in many different roles and is a professor at ESNE (University School of design, innovation & technology).

You can link up with Angel Diaz-Maroto on LinkedIn and connect with Angel Diaz-Maroto on Twitter.

Dec 25, 2015

How can we identify, and hopefully change the systems conditions that affect our teams? Jovan shares with us, on this Xmas day of 2015, 9 gifts you can use when you go back to work. Enjoy Christmas, and get ready for a new year with these techniques. 

About Jovan Vidic

Jovan Vidić is an Agile Practitioner who repeatedly finds passion and inspiration in his job. He calls himself a people person, and when he had an opportunity to lead a team at the age of 24, that experience transformed him into an advocate of the self-organization, which does not impose limits on the thinking, working and creative processes of the team members, but on the contrary, it drives them to jointly contribute and prosper. This is actually the goal of the group Agile Coaching Serbia he founded in Novi Sad Serbia in 2014.

You can connect with Jovan Vidic on LinkedIn and connect with Jovan Vidic on Twitter.

Dec 24, 2015

Experiments are a tool we can use to create a safe environment, and allow the team to try out a new idea without being immediately judged by others if that idea does not work as well as expected. As Scrum Masters we should create that space for the teams to experiment, and Jovan shares his ideas on how we can do that.

About Jovan Vidic

Jovan Vidić is an Agile Practitioner who repeatedly finds passion and inspiration in his job. He calls himself a people person, and when he had an opportunity to lead a team at the age of 24, that experience transformed him into an advocate of the self-organization, which does not impose limits on the thinking, working and creative processes of the team members, but on the contrary, it drives them to jointly contribute and prosper. This is actually the goal of the group Agile Coaching Serbia he founded in Novi Sad Serbia in 2014.

You can connect with Jovan Vidic on LinkedIn and connect with Jovan Vidic on Twitter.

Dec 23, 2015

Retrospectives are one of the practices that gets the most attention on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast. They get attention because they are important engines of improvement for the teams we work with. Jovan explains some of the practices he uses to facilitate retrospectives in a way that supports the change that is needed.

In this episode we talk about Gamestorming by Dave Gray, a book that helps us create new exercises to help facilitate retrospectives. 

About Jovan Vidic

Jovan Vidić is an Agile Practitioner who repeatedly finds passion and inspiration in his job. He calls himself a people person, and when he had an opportunity to lead a team at the age of 24, that experience transformed him into an advocate of the self-organization, which does not impose limits on the thinking, working and creative processes of the team members, but on the contrary, it drives them to jointly contribute and prosper. This is actually the goal of the group Agile Coaching Serbia he founded in Novi Sad Serbia in 2014.

You can connect with Jovan Vidic on LinkedIn and connect with Jovan Vidic on Twitter.

Dec 22, 2015

Scrum Masters can have a great impact in a team, sometimes in the wrong way. Jovan tells us a story of a Scrum Master that was too eager, and did not let the team take initiative. That’s unsustainable for the Scrum Master and does not help the team which will go back to the familiar practices when the Scrum Master is away. We must, as Scrum Masters, learn to help teams grow on their own and that’s the story that Jovan shares with us.

About Jovan Vidic

Jovan Vidić is an Agile Practitioner who repeatedly finds passion and inspiration in his job. He calls himself a people person, and when he had an opportunity to lead a team at the age of 24, that experience transformed him into an advocate of the self-organization, which does not impose limits on the thinking, working and creative processes of the team members, but on the contrary, it drives them to jointly contribute and prosper. This is actually the goal of the group Agile Coaching Serbia he founded in Novi Sad Serbia in 2014.

You can connect with Jovan Vidic on LinkedIn and connect with Jovan Vidic on Twitter.

Dec 21, 2015

We want to improve the world, change the way we work, fix all the problems we see. And often all of the above at the same time. That’s laudable, a great mission, but it has a dark side: burnout! Jovan shares with us a story of one such moment so that we may avoid that in our own career. Stay safe dear friends!

Keep an eye on those burnout signs with these 10 signs you may be on the verge of a burnout.

About Jovan Vidic

Jovan Vidić is an Agile Practitioner who repeatedly finds passion and inspiration in his job. He calls himself a people person, and when he had an opportunity to lead a team at the age of 24, that experience transformed him into an advocate of the self-organization, which does not impose limits on the thinking, working and creative processes of the team members, but on the contrary, it drives them to jointly contribute and prosper. This is actually the goal of the group Agile Coaching Serbia he founded in Novi Sad Serbia in 2014.

You can connect with Jovan Vidic on LinkedIn and connect with Jovan Vidic on Twitter.

Dec 18, 2015

When we start working with a team, we don’t actually work with that team. That team is part of a larger system, and we must understand the system before we can help the team. Amitai uses ideas from Theory of Constraints, and mentions The Goal, by Goldratt as a foundational book in his own journey as a Scrum Master. He also shares with us Schmoz’s theory, a critical insight when we work with and within human systems.

Today we play one more Agile in 3 Minutes episode which describes how we can reach freedom in our work. Today’s Agile in 3 minutes episode is episode #12, titled “Free”.

 

About Amitai Schlair

Amitai is a Software development coach, and legacy code wrestler, non-award-winning musician, award-winning bad poet, and creator of Agile in 3 Minutes, which is a great podcast about what Agile really is about. A must listen for anyone interested in Agile Software Development.

You can link with Amitai Schlair on LinkedIn and connect with Amitai Schlair on Twitter.

Dec 17, 2015

What makes us successful as Scrum Masters? This question has many possible answers. Amitai’s answer is about people and what we can do to help those people be happier at work (or elsewhere). Amitai’s personal approach to success is a little counter-intuitive, but focuses on the sustainability of organizational well-being.

We also mention the book Getting to Yes by Fischer, where they introduce techniques that have helped negotiate some of the most difficult agreements in our recent history.

Today we play one more Agile in 3 Minutes episode that focuses on why we do the work we do as Scrum Masters. Today’s Agile in 3 minutes episode is episode #8, titled “Care”.

 

About Amitai Schlair

Amitai is a Software development coach, and legacy code wrestler, non-award-winning musician, award-winning bad poet, and creator of Agile in 3 Minutes, which is a great podcast about what Agile really is about. A must listen for anyone interested in Agile Software Development.

You can link with Amitai Schlair on LinkedIn and connect with Amitai Schlair on Twitter.

Dec 16, 2015

Today’s episode is the first where we tackle a new question: how to lead change in our role as a Scrum Master. Change management or change leadership is one of the core skills for us as Scrum Masters, and Amitai shares with us some of the tools he uses to help teams and organizations go through the change process. He also shares with us one approach he uses to develop trust between him and the teams he works with.

Today we play one more Agile in 3 Minutes episode that talks about what it means to be wrong and why that matters. Today’s Agile in 3 minutes episode is episode #5, titled “Wrong”.

 

About Amitai Schlair

Amitai is a Software development coach, and legacy code wrestler, non-award-winning musician, award-winning bad poet, and creator of Agile in 3 Minutes, which is a great podcast about what Agile really is about. A must listen for anyone interested in Agile Software Development.

You can link with Amitai Schlair on LinkedIn and connect with Amitai Schlair on Twitter.

Dec 15, 2015

Amitai tells us the story of a team that was too large, and had an “inner team” that prevented anyone from influencing the larger team. We discuss the meaning, and impact of power structures inside teams that tend to perpetuate self-destructive behaviors.

Today we play one more Agile in 3 Minutes episode that talks about certain topics that are in line with the story Amitai shared with us. Today’s Agile in 3 minutes episode is episode #15, titled “Influence”.

 

About Amitai Schlair

Amitai is a Software development coach, and legacy code wrestler, non-award-winning musician, award-winning bad poet, and creator of Agile in 3 Minutes, which is a great podcast about what Agile really is about. A must listen for anyone interested in Agile Software Development.

You can link with Amitai Schlair on LinkedIn and connect with Amitai Schlair on Twitter.

Dec 14, 2015

We all make mistakes at some point. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. However, the learning only starts with the mistake. In order for the learning to happen, we must go through a process. Amity shares with us the process he went through in this case, and we discuss why that process is so important.

In this Episode we play one of Amitai’s Agile in 3 Minutes podcast episodes. Today’s episode of Agile in 3 Minutes episode #23, titled “Vary”.

About Amitai Schlair

Amitai is a Software development coach, and legacy code wrestler, non-award-winning musician, award-winning bad poet, and creator of Agile in 3 Minutes, which is a great podcast about what Agile really is about. A must listen for anyone interested in Agile Software Development.

You can link with Amitai Schlair on LinkedIn and connect with Amitai Schlair on Twitter.

Dec 11, 2015

Niko explains in this episode how to understand when there are problems that the team needs help resolving, and shares tips on how to keep the team’s tools improving over time. Finally he shares his story of Scrum adoption: From Chaos to Managed Chaos.

About Niko Kortelainen

Niko Kortelainen is a Scrum Master at Digia, which among other things commercializes the cross-platform Open Source framework Qt. In his journey he discovered that the most challenging problems in software industry are not technical problems and ever since then, he has been focusing on how to make everyday work more fun.

You can link up with Niko Kortelainen on LinkedIn and connect with Niko Kortelainen on Twitter.

You can read Niko Kortelainen blog, where he wrote about his experience with adopting Scrum.

Dec 10, 2015

Retrospectives are both important and hard to get right. There are many teams that stop having retrospectives and feel lost as to how to run them effectively. Niko shares with us his own view of how to run effective retrospectives, filled with tips and advice, this is a must listen episode about retrospectives.

About Niko Kortelainen

Niko Kortelainen is a Scrum Master at Digia, which among other things commercializes the cross-platform Open Source framework Qt. In his journey he discovered that the most challenging problems in software industry are not technical problems and ever since then, he has been focusing on how to make everyday work more fun.

You can link up with Niko Kortelainen on LinkedIn and connect with Niko Kortelainen on Twitter.

You can read Niko Kortelainen blog, where he wrote about his experience with adopting Scrum.

Dec 9, 2015

Hiring good Scrum Masters is never an easy task, Niko suggests that we look elsewhere. He suggests we consider the team as the source of the future Scrum Masters. Listen while Niko explains his experience in growing Scrum Masters from the team itself.

About Niko Kortelainen

Niko Kortelainen is a Scrum Master at Digia, which among other things commercializes the cross-platform Open Source framework Qt. In his journey he discovered that the most challenging problems in software industry are not technical problems and ever since then, he has been focusing on how to make everyday work more fun.

You can link up with Niko Kortelainen on LinkedIn and connect with Niko Kortelainen on Twitter.

You can read Niko Kortelainen blog, where he wrote about his experience with adopting Scrum.

Dec 8, 2015

Should we “fill” the sprint when planning? Or should we aim for helping the teams succeed first? Niko explains the importance of allowing the teams to succeed in their early phase before overwhelming them with work.

About Niko Kortelainen

Niko Kortelainen is a Scrum Master at Digia, which among other things commercializes the cross-platform Open Source framework Qt. In his journey he discovered that the most challenging problems in software industry are not technical problems and ever since then, he has been focusing on how to make everyday work more fun.

You can link up with Niko Kortelainen on LinkedIn and connect with Niko Kortelainen on Twitter.

You can read Niko Kortelainen blog, where he wrote about his experience with adopting Scrum.

Dec 7, 2015

There are many pressures on the development teams, especially when the business has clear needs, and short term deadlines. Niko explains how they were able to achieve sustainable pace despite all the pressures to deliver more.

About Niko Kortelainen

Niko Kortelainen is a Scrum Master at Digia, which among other things commercializes the cross-platform Open Source framework Qt. In his journey he discovered that the most challenging problems in software industry are not technical problems and ever since then, he has been focusing on how to make everyday work more fun.

You can link up with Niko Kortelainen on LinkedIn and connect with Niko Kortelainen on Twitter.

You can read Niko Kortelainen blog, where he wrote about his experience with adopting Scrum.

Dec 4, 2015

Working with large groups is challenging enough, but Alex went further and started hosting retrospectives for a large group of people (several teams). In this episode Alex explains how he hosts and facilitates retrospectives with larger teams than the default 7-+2 people.

About Alex Fürstenau

When I was 12, my father bought the first computer, a C64. The moment I saw characters appearing on the television was the moment when I knew I would do something with computers. Several years and a computer science study later that "dream" became true.

I quickly realized that the customers were not happy with our product. The first approach was to fix more of the requirements but it made things worse (not surprising afterwards :-) ). During this time (around 2002) I thought "There has to be a better way" and I found several


You can link with Alex Fürstenau on Linkedin, or connect with Alex Fürstenau on Twitter. Alex also facilitates a regular meetup in Hamburg on the topic of Liberating Structure, for more on the meetup visit their meetup page.

Dec 3, 2015

How to measure success will depend on the person or people measuring. Alex prefers to focus on team happiness. His approach is to collect feedback through surveys he sends out regularly to team members and stakeholders.

We mention the book Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg.

About Alex Fürstenau

When I was 12, my father bought the first computer, a C64. The moment I saw characters appearing on the television was the moment when I knew I would do something with computers. Several years and a computer science study later that "dream" became true.

I quickly realized that the customers were not happy with our product. The first approach was to fix more of the requirements but it made things worse (not surprising afterwards :-) ). During this time (around 2002) I thought "There has to be a better way" and I found several


You can link with Alex Fürstenau on Linkedin, or connect with Alex Fürstenau on Twitter. Alex also facilitates a regular meetup in Hamburg on the topic of Liberating Structure, for more on the meetup visit their meetup page.

Dec 2, 2015

It is not easy to find the right candidates for Scrum Master positions, and it becomes even harder when no other Scrum Masters are involved in the recruiting. Alex explains how he and his colleagues have changed the recruiting process to once again be able to control the recruiting process.

About Alex Fürstenau

When I was 12, my father bought the first computer, a C64. The moment I saw characters appearing on the television was the moment when I knew I would do something with computers. Several years and a computer science study later that "dream" became true.

I quickly realized that the customers were not happy with our product. The first approach was to fix more of the requirements but it made things worse (not surprising afterwards :-) ). During this time (around 2002) I thought "There has to be a better way" and I found several


You can link with Alex Fürstenau on Linkedin, or connect with Alex Fürstenau on Twitter. Alex also facilitates a regular meetup in Hamburg on the topic of Liberating Structure, for more on the meetup visit their meetup page.

Dec 1, 2015

When a team faces a problem they have a choice between blaming someone else (“them”), or taking ownership and making it happen even if that improvement looks beyond their reach. We as Scrum Masters can help teams take ownership, even when they need to involve other people in the resolution of the problem. Alex explains the problem, and some of the possible techniques to get the team to understand that they own the results of their work.

About Alex Fürstenau

When I was 12, my father bought the first computer, a C64. The moment I saw characters appearing on the television was the moment when I knew I would do something with computers. Several years and a computer science study later that "dream" became true.

I quickly realized that the customers were not happy with our product. The first approach was to fix more of the requirements but it made things worse (not surprising afterwards :-) ). During this time (around 2002) I thought "There has to be a better way" and I found several

You can link with Alex Fürstenau on Linkedin, or connect with Alex Fürstenau on Twitter. Alex also facilitates a regular meetup in Hamburg on the topic of Liberating Structure, for more on the meetup visit their meetup page.

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