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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: August, 2016
Aug 31, 2016

There are many methods for starting, supporting and amplifying change in organizations. We need however to make sure we have the right conditions for change to take hold. In this episode we review the 4 necessary conditions that Nirmal takes into account in his own work.

 

About Nirmaljeet Malhotra

Nirmal is a passionate agilist with over 16 years of experience in the software industry and 8+ years of experience in agile. He love to experience the challenges that come with different roles. Nirmal has been a Developer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Product Manager, Delivery Manager, Scrum Master and Agile Coach. In his current role, he works closely with the leaders of large corporations in helping them strategize and plan for their agile adoption and transformation initiatives. Additionally, he also works with development teams to help embrace the simple idea of continuous improvement. His most recent passion is in the area of Product Management where he leverages the idea of design thinking as a method for practical, creative resolution of problems and creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result.

You can connect with Nirmaljeet Malhotra on twitter and link with Nirmaljeet Malhotra on LinkedIn. You can also follow Nirmaljeet Malhotra’s blog.

Aug 30, 2016

There are many aspects that make Scrum the right framework for Software Development. However, perhaps the most important is that quality of Scrum that drives learning and continuous improvement. That quality is that it exposes us to the problems we have within the teams and organizations we work with. Scrum exposes us to the real dysfunction of the teams and organizations we are working with.

 

About Nirmaljeet Malhotra

Nirmal is a passionate agilist with over 16 years of experience in the software industry and 8+ years of experience in agile. He love to experience the challenges that come with different roles. Nirmal has been a Developer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Product Manager, Delivery Manager, Scrum Master and Agile Coach. In his current role, he works closely with the leaders of large corporations in helping them strategize and plan for their agile adoption and transformation initiatives. Additionally, he also works with development teams to help embrace the simple idea of continuous improvement. His most recent passion is in the area of Product Management where he leverages the idea of design thinking as a method for practical, creative resolution of problems and creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result.

You can connect with Nirmaljeet Malhotra on twitter and link with Nirmaljeet Malhotra on LinkedIn. You can also follow Nirmaljeet Malhotra’s blog.

Aug 29, 2016

Scrum has more than 15 years of history, and has been widely distributed in the world as a software development method for at least 10 years. However, still today there are many instances where the Scrum Master role is misunderstood. Nirmal explains the many misunderstandings he has faced in his work. We refer extensively to the Scrum Guide, a document that still today helps us get back to the most important concepts of Scrum, and evolves to incorporate the many learnings our community has acquired since the first days of Scrum.

 

About Nirmaljeet Malhotra

Nirmal is a passionate agilist with over 16 years of experience in the software industry and 8+ years of experience in agile. He love to experience the challenges that come with different roles. Nirmal has been a Developer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Product Manager, Delivery Manager, Scrum Master and Agile Coach. In his current role, he works closely with the leaders of large corporations in helping them strategize and plan for their agile adoption and transformation initiatives. Additionally, he also works with development teams to help embrace the simple idea of continuous improvement. His most recent passion is in the area of Product Management where he leverages the idea of design thinking as a method for practical, creative resolution of problems and creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result.

You can connect with Nirmaljeet Malhotra on twitter and link with Nirmaljeet Malhotra on LinkedIn. You can also follow Nirmaljeet Malhotra’s blog.

Aug 26, 2016

One way in which system conditions show up in our work is as organizational impediments. When we understand and list them we start to understand better the system around us that affects the performance of our teams. As a way to identify organizational impediments we can use retrospectives as our main tool, but we should also be aware that in retrospectives we have the opportunity to help teams grow and develop. Retrospectives can be team-building exercises as well.

 

About Jessica Long

Jessica Long is an Agile Coach, a writer, a speaker and a mother with a passion for driving meaningful stories across multiple iterations in all facets of life. Transforming Corporate America and living to tell about it is no small feat. She keeps some level of sanity by finding humor in otherwise absurd situations.

You can follow Jessica Long on twitter or link with Jessica Long on LinkedIn. You can also check Jessica Long’s blog.

Aug 25, 2016

Teams also have a health that we should be aware of. We must be vigilant and aware that if we don’t measure our team’s health we might be missing some important aspects of their development that ultimately affect our success as Scrum Masters.

In this episode we also reflect on the importance of retrospectives in assessing a team’s health and we mention the book Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives by Luis Goncalves and Ben Linders.

 

About Jessica Long

Jessica Long is an Agile Coach, a writer, a speaker and a mother with a passion for driving meaningful stories across multiple iterations in all facets of life. Transforming Corporate America and living to tell about it is no small feat. She keeps some level of sanity by finding humor in otherwise absurd situations.

You can follow Jessica Long on twitter or link with Jessica Long on LinkedIn. You can also check Jessica Long’s blog.

Aug 24, 2016

There are many tools we can use in a change process. Creating a backlog of changes that are possible and/or necessary is one very important, and familiar tool to help lead change. However, how we use the backlog is as important as the backlog itself. We discuss what are some good ways to introduce and use the backlog for leading change.

 

About Jessica Long

Jessica Long is an Agile Coach, a writer, a speaker and a mother with a passion for driving meaningful stories across multiple iterations in all facets of life. Transforming Corporate America and living to tell about it is no small feat. She keeps some level of sanity by finding humor in otherwise absurd situations.

You can follow Jessica Long on twitter or link with Jessica Long on LinkedIn. You can also check Jessica Long’s blog.

Aug 23, 2016

There are productive uses of metrics. We discuss what metrics are good and not good for and we also talk about metrics we have used in our own practices over the years. But in the end we must be careful. Metrics do affect behavior of teams and team members.

 

About Jessica Long

Jessica Long is an Agile Coach, a writer, a speaker and a mother with a passion for driving meaningful stories across multiple iterations in all facets of life. Transforming Corporate America and living to tell about it is no small feat. She keeps some level of sanity by finding humor in otherwise absurd situations.

You can follow Jessica Long on twitter or link with Jessica Long on LinkedIn. You can also check Jessica Long’s blog.

Aug 22, 2016

There are many rules in our organizations that would be best ignored. However, how we ignore rules is as important as how we follow rules. In this episode we discuss the importance of having clear communication with stakeholders about expectations and rules, so that we avoid serious problems later on.

 

About Jessica Long

Jessica Long is an Agile Coach, a writer, a speaker and a mother with a passion for driving meaningful stories across multiple iterations in all facets of life. Transforming Corporate America and living to tell about it is no small feat. She keeps some level of sanity by finding humor in otherwise absurd situations.

You can follow Jessica Long on twitter or link with Jessica Long on LinkedIn. You can also check Jessica Long’s blog.

Aug 19, 2016

In this episode we look into Mike’s approach to review, map and understand the system conditions that affect the team’s performance. We also talk about what mike calls The Most Important Tool for any Scrum Master. Don’t miss this insight!

 

About Mike Collins

Mike really enjoys working with organisations, teams and individuals to enable the delivery of great products and services. He is a believer in the agile (and Lean) mindset, that challenges people to improve, respect everyone and collaborate to achieve goals - "valuing individuals and interactions over processes and tools". Mike calls Agile and Lean a game changer!!!

You can link with Mike Collins on LinkedIn. Or get in touch with Mike Collins via Oikosofy.

Aug 18, 2016

Mike shares his 3 rules to measure success as a Scrum Master. We also discuss how we must learn to include stakeholders, teams and other elements of the organizations in our definition of success.

 

About Mike Collins

Mike really enjoys working with organisations, teams and individuals to enable the delivery of great products and services. He is a believer in the agile (and Lean) mindset, that challenges people to improve, respect everyone and collaborate to achieve goals - "valuing individuals and interactions over processes and tools". Mike calls Agile and Lean a game changer!!!

You can link with Mike Collins on LinkedIn. Or get in touch with Mike Collins via Oikosofy.

Aug 17, 2016

Many things need to change when an organization adopts Agile. But none of the changes is harder than our own way of thinking about work. This change of mindset is both the hardest and the most important for Agile adoption. Mike describes how he has led this type of change in organizations he’s worked at.

 

About Mike Collins

Mike really enjoys working with organisations, teams and individuals to enable the delivery of great products and services. He is a believer in the agile (and Lean) mindset, that challenges people to improve, respect everyone and collaborate to achieve goals - "valuing individuals and interactions over processes and tools". Mike calls Agile and Lean a game changer!!!

You can link with Mike Collins on LinkedIn. Or get in touch with Mike Collins via Oikosofy.

Aug 16, 2016

Teams are not teams when the individuals are put together. Creating a team is something that takes time and intentional work. How do we bring individuals together to form a real team? How do we help a team emerge from a diverse group of individuals? That’s the topic we tackle in this episode.

 

About Mike Collins

Mike really enjoys working with organisations, teams and individuals to enable the delivery of great products and services. He is a believer in the agile (and Lean) mindset, that challenges people to improve, respect everyone and collaborate to achieve goals - "valuing individuals and interactions over processes and tools". Mike calls Agile and Lean a game changer!!!

You can link with Mike Collins on LinkedIn. Or get in touch with Mike Collins via Oikosofy.

Aug 15, 2016

Teams cannot work on the highest value work unless someone helps them focus on that work. The role Scrum assigns that responsibility is the Product Owner. Without a good, engaged and available Product Owner the teams are lost. Mike tells us such a story and what he has learned about helping Product Owners understand their role.

 

About Mike Collins

Mike really enjoys working with organisations, teams and individuals to enable the delivery of great products and services. He is a believer in the agile (and Lean) mindset, that challenges people to improve, respect everyone and collaborate to achieve goals - "valuing individuals and interactions over processes and tools". Mike calls Agile and Lean a game changer!!!

You can link with Mike Collins on LinkedIn. Or get in touch with Mike Collins via Oikosofy.

Aug 12, 2016

Tereza explores the systems where she works in a very specific way. She shares with us the 3 key questions she asks of herself and the system (e.g. stakeholders) to understand the system conditions affecting the team.

 

About Tereza Šimůnková

Tereza is a passionate traveller, first she started as a Scrum lady and now leading a team of 11 Scrum ladies and Scrum masters for 2 years. Recently amazed by improvisation (Improv) as a personal development tool.

You can link with Tereza Šimůnková on LinkedIn and follow Tereza Simunkova’s blog at ScrumLady.cz

Aug 11, 2016

Tereza focuses her definition of Scrum Master success on the direct interaction with the team and each team member. Safety and trust become key ingredients in what Tereza considers the interactions for success.

 

About Tereza Šimůnková

Tereza is a passionate traveller, first she started as a Scrum lady and now leading a team of 11 Scrum ladies and Scrum masters for 2 years. Recently amazed by improvisation (Improv) as a personal development tool.

You can link with Tereza Šimůnková on LinkedIn and follow Tereza Simunkova’s blog at ScrumLady.cz

Aug 10, 2016

Change is a process we are all involved with, but often we face the challenge of getting that change started. In this episode Tereza shares with us her recipe to get change started. We refer to the book Lean Change Management by Jason Little.

 

About Tereza Šimůnková

Tereza is a passionate traveller, first she started as a Scrum lady and now leading a team of 11 Scrum ladies and Scrum masters for 2 years. Recently amazed by improvisation (Improv) as a personal development tool.

You can link with Tereza Šimůnková on LinkedIn and follow Tereza Simunkova’s blog at ScrumLady.cz

Aug 9, 2016

Each team is unique, and even one team can go through different phases and moods. We have mentioned that here on the podcast a few times by now. But sometimes, when a team follows another team’s footsteps, it can be caught in a game of imitation. That’s the anti-pattern we explore on this episode.

We also mention a previous episode on the podcast where we explore re-teaming a concept developed by Heidi Helfand (WARNING: PDF link).

 

About Tereza Šimůnková

Tereza is a passionate traveller, first she started as a Scrum lady and now leading a team of 11 Scrum ladies and Scrum masters for 2 years. Recently amazed by improvisation (Improv) as a personal development tool.

You can link with Tereza Šimůnková on LinkedIn and follow Tereza Simunkova’s blog at ScrumLady.cz

Aug 8, 2016

We strive to help teams, but need to know what moves and de-motivates the individuals that we work with. Tereza explains how that process is important in helping teams. Tereza also shares a very simple tool that helps us zone in on the toughest problems the teams face but might not even be aware of.

 

About Tereza Šimůnková

Tereza is a passionate traveller, first she started as a Scrum lady and now leading a team of 11 Scrum ladies and Scrum masters for 2 years. Recently amazed by improvisation (Improv) as a personal development tool.

You can link with Tereza Šimůnková on LinkedIn and follow Tereza Simunkova’s blog at ScrumLady.cz

Aug 5, 2016

Dmitry’s approach to Systems Thinking is inspired by Donella Meadows’ book Thinking in Systems, a primer to systems thinking, he also shares with us some concrete tools he uses to review and assess the system conditions that influence the team and its stakeholders.

 

About Dmitry Lebedev

Dmitry is Software Engineer with pragmatic approach to creation of a working software, who now, as a Scrum Master, is  trying to apply the same principles to creation of a working team, nurturing productively working relationships within and outside of the team.

You can link with Dmitry Lebedev on LinkedIn and connect with Dmitry Lebedev on Twitter.

Aug 4, 2016

Dmitry shares with us 3 of his own indicators for the success of the Scrum Master’s work. We also discuss some of the tools we can use as Scrum Masters to assess our performance in those 3 indicators.

 

About Dmitry Lebedev

Dmitry is Software Engineer with pragmatic approach to creation of a working software, who now, as a Scrum Master, is  trying to apply the same principles to creation of a working team, nurturing productively working relationships within and outside of the team.

You can link with Dmitry Lebedev on LinkedIn and connect with Dmitry Lebedev on Twitter.

Aug 3, 2016

Once you know what must be changed (and it’s not that simple to know it!) you must develop your approach to enact or lead that change. Dmitry discusses his approach and how to know if you have the right kind of change in mind.

 

About Dmitry Lebedev

Dmitry is Software Engineer with pragmatic approach to creation of a working software, who now, as a Scrum Master, is  trying to apply the same principles to creation of a working team, nurturing productively working relationships within and outside of the team.

You can link with Dmitry Lebedev on LinkedIn and connect with Dmitry Lebedev on Twitter.

Aug 2, 2016

In this episode we talk about the Wall of Silence anti-pattern. When something must not be discussed. And what to do about it, including some useful tools for us to apply in this situation.

 

About Dmitry Lebedev

Dmitry is Software Engineer with pragmatic approach to creation of a working software, who now, as a Scrum Master, is  trying to apply the same principles to creation of a working team, nurturing productively working relationships within and outside of the team.

You can link with Dmitry Lebedev on LinkedIn and connect with Dmitry Lebedev on Twitter.

Aug 1, 2016

We all make this mistake, we think we know the answer. That drives us to reach for a solution instead of reaching for the creative thinking of the team. How can we avoid this common anti-pattern? Dmitry tells us his approach.

 

About Dmitry Lebedev

Dmitry is Software Engineer with pragmatic approach to creation of a working software, who now, as a Scrum Master, is  trying to apply the same principles to creation of a working team, nurturing productively working relationships within and outside of the team.

You can link with Dmitry Lebedev on LinkedIn and connect with Dmitry Lebedev on Twitter.

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