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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: May, 2016
May 31, 2016

There are many ways in which teams fail. We must be aware of the anti-patterns so we can detect them before it is too late. In this episode we talk about the us-vs-them anti-pattern that sometimes develops even inside the teams we work with and how we can tackle that as Scrum Masters.

 

About Heidi Helfand

Heidi's been in the software industry for 17 years and has a masters in teaching English. She has been a part of two successful startups. She was on the initial team that invented gotomeeting and gotowebinar at the first startup. She is currently Principal Agile Coach at AppFolio, Inc. where they create software for property management companies and law firms. She started there in 2007 hired as a Scrum Master - trained by Ken Schwaber and with Pivotal Labs for more than a year. She became a co-active coach along the way and is certified by the International Coach Federation and the Coaches Training Institute. She is currently writing and speaking about Reteaming - that is, how its valid and desirable to have changing teams as opposed to long running, unchanging teams.

You can link with Heidi Helfand on Linkedin, or connect with Heidi Helfand on Twitter.

You can also follow Heidi’s blog at: http://www.heidihelfand.com/writing/.

May 30, 2016

With the drive and motivation to adopt better ways of working we can, sometimes, forget that the adoption process takes time. In this episode we discuss the problems that come with pushing too hard, and what to do about that.

 

About Heidi Helfand

Heidi's been in the software industry for 17 years and has a masters in teaching English. She has been a part of two successful startups. She was on the initial team that invented gotomeeting and gotowebinar at the first startup. She is currently Principal Agile Coach at AppFolio, Inc. where they create software for property management companies and law firms. She started there in 2007 hired as a Scrum Master - trained by Ken Schwaber and with Pivotal Labs for more than a year. She became a co-active coach along the way and is certified by the International Coach Federation and the Coaches Training Institute. She is currently writing and speaking about Reteaming - that is, how its valid and desirable to have changing teams as opposed to long running, unchanging teams.

You can link with Heidi Helfand on Linkedin, or connect with Heidi Helfand on Twitter.

You can also follow Heidi’s blog at: http://www.heidihelfand.com/writing/.

May 27, 2016

What builds great organizations? Anaïs explores this topic and describes the spiral model and exponential organizations. We mention the book Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux as an inspiring model of how organizations evolve.

 

About Anaïs Victor

Anaïs Victor is an agile coach in Vietnam. She started her agile journey as a Product Owner but eventually found her role as a Scrum Master. She is originally from France and has a lot of experience with Outsourced Product Development. She is also an Improv Theatre actress and plays collective sports like Touch Rugby.

You can link with Anaïs Victor on Linkedin and connect with Anaïs Victor on twitter. You can also find Anaïs Victor’s articles in French here.

May 26, 2016

When we think about success, we often think about criteria and things we must do to help teams succeed. Anaïs explains how sometimes it is about giving the team some space and encouragement for them to find their own WHY? at their own pace.

 

About Anaïs Victor

Anaïs Victor is an agile coach in Vietnam. She started her agile journey as a Product Owner but eventually found her role as a Scrum Master. She is originally from France and has a lot of experience with Outsourced Product Development. She is also an Improv Theatre actress and plays collective sports like Touch Rugby.

You can link with Anaïs Victor on Linkedin and connect with Anaïs Victor on twitter. You can also find Anaïs Victor’s articles in French here.

May 25, 2016

Leading change is not only about the big changes. In this episode we talk about how a small change in meetings led to transforming the collaboration between two distributed teams.

 

About Anaïs Victor

Anaïs Victor is an agile coach in Vietnam. She started her agile journey as a Product Owner but eventually found her role as a Scrum Master. She is originally from France and has a lot of experience with Outsourced Product Development. She is also an Improv Theatre actress and plays collective sports like Touch Rugby.

You can link with Anaïs Victor on Linkedin and connect with Anaïs Victor on twitter. You can also find Anaïs Victor’s articles in French here.

May 24, 2016

There are many possible patterns that lead to a team’s demise. However, when we focus on the key practices that make teams great, we help them re-focus and even get better. In this episode we talk about how refocusing on retrospectives can help a team regain their mojo back!

 

About Anaïs Victor

Anaïs Victor is an agile coach in Vietnam. She started her agile journey as a Product Owner but eventually found her role as a Scrum Master. She is originally from France and has a lot of experience with Outsourced Product Development. She is also an Improv Theatre actress and plays collective sports like Touch Rugby.

You can link with Anaïs Victor on Linkedin and connect with Anaïs Victor on twitter. You can also find Anaïs Victor’s articles in French here.

May 23, 2016

When Anaïs moved from France to Vietnam she knew that culture would play a big part in her job, but it became a much bigger part than she expected. In this episode we discuss the impact of culture in agile adoption.

 

About Anaïs Victor

Anaïs Victor is an agile coach in Vietnam. She started her agile journey as a Product Owner but eventually found her role as a Scrum Master. She is originally from France and has a lot of experience with Outsourced Product Development. She is also an Improv Theatre actress and plays collective sports like Touch Rugby.

You can link with Anaïs Victor on Linkedin and connect with Anaïs Victor on twitter. You can also find Anaïs Victor’s articles in French here.

May 20, 2016

When we try to identify the system conditions we need to look at the trends, the changes over time in the organizations and teams we work with. For that the Scrum Checklist by Michael James can be a helpful tool, but Allison shares some more techniques to help us identify trends.

 

About Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is an Agile Coach with Improving in Dallas who helps people discover and develop their agile instincts. Allison is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, an organizer of the Dallas-Fort Worth Scrum user group, a foodie, and a trebuchet builder.

You can connect with Allison Pollard on Twitter, and link with Allison Pollard on LinkedIn.

May 19, 2016

We are so focused on the “next challenge” that sometimes we forget to celebrate the small improvements and look at the long run. In this episode we talk retrospectives and how language can be a clear indicator of our success as Scrum Masters.

 

About Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is an Agile Coach with Improving in Dallas who helps people discover and develop their agile instincts. Allison is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, an organizer of the Dallas-Fort Worth Scrum user group, a foodie, and a trebuchet builder.

You can connect with Allison Pollard on Twitter, and link with Allison Pollard on LinkedIn.

May 18, 2016

There are many organizations that still believe in the old roles. Project Manager role being one of them. In this episode we discuss how those roles detract from the team’s performance and how to help people see the need for change.

 

About Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is an Agile Coach with Improving in Dallas who helps people discover and develop their agile instincts. Allison is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, an organizer of the Dallas-Fort Worth Scrum user group, a foodie, and a trebuchet builder.

You can connect with Allison Pollard on Twitter, and link with Allison Pollard on LinkedIn.

May 17, 2016

Fake harmony (which Lencioni calls “fear of conflict”) can lead a team to under perform. Allison tells us one such story and how she was able to get the team to open up and go to the next level in performance.

About Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is an Agile Coach with Improving in Dallas who helps people discover and develop their agile instincts. Allison is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, an organizer of the Dallas-Fort Worth Scrum user group, a foodie, and a trebuchet builder.

You can connect with Allison Pollard on Twitter, and link with Allison Pollard on LinkedIn.

May 16, 2016

As Scrum Masters we are committed to the work we do and want to help teams succeed. Sometimes however we are too committed and that has an impact on our relationships with managers. Allison tells us how she learned to be authentic and committed, but still keep a positive relationship with the managers of the teams she works with.

May 12, 2016

Leadership is the topic of this week and we discovered some of the key aspects of that responsibility for Scrum Masters. In this last episode on the topic we look at different Leadership models and suggest how you can develop your own model to apply it on the day-to-day work.

About Sean Dunn

Sean is an Enterprise Agile Coach with IHS Global. He has been involved with agile development for 8 years as a developer, product owner, and agile coach.  Prior to his exposure to agile development Sean spent 13 years in the Canadian Army.  In fact, Sean is known to point out that the Army is far more agile than most people think.

That background in the Canadian Army influenced his view of Leadership and the role of Leadership in creating and developing great teams.

You can connect with Sean Dunn on LinkedIn, check out Sean Dunn on the Scrum Alliance or email him at sean.dunn@ihs.com.

Check out Sean Dunn’s blog on leadership.

May 11, 2016

Conflict is a productive part of the evolution of a team. No conflict in a team means the team is not evolving. In this episode we talk about how to manage conflict and enable product conflict that helps teams solve problems and evolve!

About Sean Dunn

Sean is an Enterprise Agile Coach with IHS Global. He has been involved with agile development for 8 years as a developer, product owner, and agile coach.  Prior to his exposure to agile development Sean spent 13 years in the Canadian Army.  In fact, Sean is known to point out that the Army is far more agile than most people think.

That background in the Canadian Army influenced his view of Leadership and the role of Leadership in creating and developing great teams.

You can connect with Sean Dunn on LinkedIn, check out Sean Dunn on the Scrum Alliance or email him at sean.dunn@ihs.com.

Check out Sean Dunn’s blog on leadership.

May 10, 2016

How do we build trust? The first step in Lencioni’s model talks about building and creating trust. But how do we help the teams create trust? In this episode we talk about the signs of lack of trust and the consequences of lack of trust. One such consequence is “politics”, we discuss how to be aware and handle situations where “politics” rule the day.

About Sean Dunn

Sean is an Enterprise Agile Coach with IHS Global. He has been involved with agile development for 8 years as a developer, product owner, and agile coach.  Prior to his exposure to agile development Sean spent 13 years in the Canadian Army.  In fact, Sean is known to point out that the Army is far more agile than most people think.

That background in the Canadian Army influenced his view of Leadership and the role of Leadership in creating and developing great teams.

You can connect with Sean Dunn on LinkedIn, check out Sean Dunn on the Scrum Alliance or email him at sean.dunn@ihs.com.

Check out Sean Dunn’s blog on leadership.

May 9, 2016

In this episode we review the model that Patrick Lencioni describes in his book: The 5 Dysfunctions of a team. All models are wrong, but some are useful, and this model by Lencioni is the basis for our action as Scrum Masters. The model creates a common language that helps us coordinate work with other Scrum Masters and with the teams we work with.

About Sean Dunn

Sean is an Enterprise Agile Coach with IHS Global. He has been involved with agile development for 8 years as a developer, product owner, and agile coach.  Prior to his exposure to agile development Sean spent 13 years in the Canadian Army.  In fact, Sean is known to point out that the Army is far more agile than most people think.

That background in the Canadian Army influenced his view of Leadership and the role of Leadership in creating and developing great teams.

You can connect with Sean Dunn on LinkedIn, check out Sean Dunn on the Scrum Alliance or email him at sean.dunn@ihs.com.

Check out Sean Dunn’s blog on leadership.

May 6, 2016

There are many system conditions that affect our organizations,in this episode we talk about several of them and focus on Purpose.Book resource: The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The LearningOrganization; Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing AgileLeaders; Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

 

About Paul Marshall

Paul loves Agility because he believes its the introduction ofresponsible human beings to software-engineering.

Paul used to work as software engineer and agile manager in anoutsourcing environment for 13 years. In the last two years he'sbeen working as full - time ScrumMaster

Paul has been involved in the NVC community for several yearsand is trained as a coach & conflict mediator & generalfacilitator based on NVC-methods

You can connect with PaulMarshall on Twitter.

May 5, 2016

In this episode we discuss some of the possible metrics ofsuccess. Blog resource: How we ended up with Microservices by Phil Calçado.

 

About Paul Marshall

Paul loves Agility because he believes its the introduction ofresponsible human beings to software-engineering.

Paul used to work as software engineer and agile manager in anoutsourcing environment for 13 years. In the last two years he'sbeen working as full - time ScrumMaster

Paul has been involved in the NVC community for several yearsand is trained as a coach & conflict mediator & generalfacilitator based on NVC-methods

You can connect with PaulMarshall on Twitter.

May 4, 2016

The change process is very different when we are trying tochange ourselves vs changing the organization. In this episode wediscuss the difference between those two processes.

 

About Paul Marshall

Paul loves Agility because he believes its the introduction ofresponsible human beings to software-engineering.

Paul used to work as software engineer and agile manager in anoutsourcing environment for 13 years. In the last two years he'sbeen working as full - time ScrumMaster

Paul has been involved in the NVC community for several yearsand is trained as a coach & conflict mediator & generalfacilitator based on NVC-methods

You can connect with PaulMarshall on Twitter.

May 3, 2016

There are many self-destructive behaviors and in this episode wedescribe some of the most common. Book resource: CollaborationExplained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders

 

About Paul Marshall

Paul loves Agility because he believes its the introduction ofresponsible human beings to software-engineering.

Paul used to work as software engineer and agile manager in anoutsourcing environment for 13 years. In the last two years he'sbeen working as full - time ScrumMaster

Paul has been involved in the NVC community for several yearsand is trained as a coach & conflict mediator & generalfacilitator based on NVC-methods

You can connect with PaulMarshall on Twitter.

May 2, 2016

We often face the blame pattern. This pattern is an indication of conflict, and how we deal with that can help or destroy the team. Book resource: Teamwork Is an Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility

About Paul Marshall

Paul loves Agility because he believes its the introduction of responsible human beings to software-engineering.

Paul used to work as software engineer and agile manager in an outsourcing environment for 13 years. In the last two years he's been working as full - time ScrumMaster

Paul has been involved in the NVC community for several years and is trained as a coach & conflict mediator & general facilitator based on NVC-methods

You can connect with Paul Marshall on Twitter.

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