What enables or hinders performance for a team is a much debated topic. There’s a great book about individual motivation by Daniel Pink: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. In this episode we tell a story of a team that motivated themselves (with a little help from their friends) to deliver something totally new, unexpected and valuable for the company. We discuss what might have enabled this kind of performance for that team.
About Tim Bourguignon and Vasco Duarte
Tim is a full time geek, agile developer and BS-hunter. International speaker and avid writer, he is curious- and creative-minded, eager to search, teach and talk... and has been doing this for as long as he remembers. French born European child, he lives in Germany where he works as a developer, Scrum Master and Agile coach. When he is not at a computer, you'll find him behind a camera, in his running shoes or with his wife and son... but never in that order! In his spare time, Tim has been working on a project called Developer's Journey (link: www.devjourney.info) lately, where regularly sharpens his podcasting skills talking to whoever is willing to about what it takes to become a better developer. And as you can see, he's up for (almost) every challenge, even trying to make Vasco sweat on his own podcast.
Vasco Duarte is a managing partner at Oikosofy where he wants to change the world, one company at a time. He’s also the regular host for the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, but after Tim’s performance he is considering if someone else should be hosting the podcast :)
This episode is an experiment. We have a guest, as usual, but the guest interviews Vasco Duarte, the regular podcast host.
In this Episode they address a very special kind of failure that set a company back several years after a long Agile adoption process. Goes to show that the Agile adoption process is never over.
About Tim Bourguignon and Vasco Duarte
Tim is a full time geek, agile developer and BS-hunter. International speaker and avid writer, he is curious- and creative-minded, eager to search, teach and talk... and has been doing this for as long as he remembers. French born European child, he lives in Germany where he works as a developer, Scrum Master and Agile coach. When he is not at a computer, you'll find him behind a camera, in his running shoes or with his wife and son... but never in that order! In his spare time, Tim has been working on a project called Developer's Journey (link: www.devjourney.info) lately, where regularly sharpens his podcasting skills talking to whoever is willing to about what it takes to become a better developer. And as you can see, he's up for (almost) every challenge, even trying to make Vasco sweat on his own podcast.
Vasco Duarte is a managing partner at Oikosofy where he wants to change the world, one company at a time. He’s also the regular host for the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, but after Tim’s performance he is considering if someone else should be hosting the podcast :)
Heidi Helfand on managing relationships as a way to manage the environment
What is “the system” is a question that we debate every Friday. Heidi’s view is based on her views of systems. We talk about relationships and how we should care and help develop the relationships in the team and the organization as a way to develop “the system”.
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/.
Teams are growing and evolving all the time. Sticking to them too long may make them dependent on the role of the Scrum Master, so Heidi describes how she defines success around helping teams grow and become independent.
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/.
We’ve often heard that teams should be long lived and stable. But what if the advantages or reteaming would be much larger than the disadvantages of changing team composition? In this episode we explore the topic of Reteaming and what Heidi has been developing and discovering that helps teams thrive when they change.
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/.
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/.
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/.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.