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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: December, 2022
Dec 30, 2022

In this episode, Vasco explores the Product Owner role and how it can become a key obstacle for the team's success. Vasco covers the 3 key constituencies that Product Owner needs to serve, as well as one key responsibility that is often left behind by many Product Owners.

In this episode, we talk about the upcoming Product Owner Summit. If you are interested in being part of the volunteer team for the PO summit, you can email us at podcast@oikosofy.com

What do you think of this perspective on the Product Owner role? Leave us a comment below, or send us your thoughts at podcast@oikosofy.com

 

About Vasco Duarte

Author of http://NoEstimatesBook.com, and daily podcast host at https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/. I try to give back to the community every single day in an effort to improve the IT and product industry all over the world.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I've taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I've worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.

Dec 29, 2022

In this episode, Vasco explores one of the hardest lessons he's had to learn as a Scrum Master and Agile Coach. He shares what led him to that lesson, and how he's been able to overcome some of the critical, but also natural blockers to learn this important lesson.

In this segment, Vasco talks about how important it is to grow as a person, and get coaching support. If you are interested in receiving coaching support from Oikosofy and from Vasco, you can contact us at: coaching@oikosofy.com.

As Vasco puts it: "you should not be a coach for others, until you've started your own coaching journey with a coach!"

The biggest Agile trends for 2023

In the final segment of this episode, Vasco shares what he thinks will be the biggest trends for the Agile community in 2023. He talks about Invitational Change and Agile Product Management. If you want to learn more about those trends, listen to this show to the end!

Leave us your thoughts on 2023 Agile trend predictions below, or send us an email at: podcast@oikosofy.com

About Vasco Duarte
Author of http://NoEstimatesBook.com, and daily podcast host at https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/. I try to give back to the community every single day in an effort to improve the IT and product industry all over the world.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I've taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I've worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.
Dec 28, 2022

In this very special Christmas BONUS episode, Vasco explores the impact communities can have in our professional lives, and how we can support those communities.

In this episode, Vasco also announces the Product Owner Summit, a new project by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, to help you learn as you expand your community. If you are interested in participating, email Vasco at Vasco@Oikosofy.com, he's calling on volunteers to help organize that summit in 2023!

Speaking of communities, you can join our Slack, where Scrum Masters and past guests of the podcast share their lessons learned and answer your questions. Join us and ask your questions!

The reflection question

As you finish this episode, reflect on what is the hardest problem, or struggle you face right now. Turn that struggle into an opportunity by asking questions from your community. Ask that question in a local community, or on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Slack channel. This is the challenge, and reflection that Vasco leaves us at the end of the episode.

Resources for this episode

  • Meetup.com a platform that helps you find local communities and meetups that you can take part of
About Vasco Duarte
Author of http://NoEstimatesBook.com, and daily podcast host at https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/. I try to give back to the community every single day in an effort to improve the IT and product industry all over the world.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I've taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I've worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.
Dec 27, 2022
In this special Christmas BONUS episode, we cover some of the key lessons that Vasco collected throughout 2022. You get an insight into his lessons learned, but also the thinking process that led to them. 
Listen in to learn about 
  • The results of a change management poll for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches, and what that says about our community 
  • Product Ownership in 2022, and why the PO role needs a new approach in the Agile community
  • Why the concept of Antifragile can, and should be applied to the work we do as Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters
  • A BONUS reflection question for you to reflect on at the end of this year. 
You can send your questions to podcast@oikosofy.com! 
 
If you are interested in being part of a volunteer team that will be working on helping Product Owners during the year 2023, contact Vasco at Vasco@Oikosofy.com, and share why you’d be interested to be part of this work to help Product Owners! 
 
About Vasco Duarte
Author of http://NoEstimatesBook.com, and daily podcast host at https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/. I try to give back to the community every single day in an effort to improve the IT and product industry all over the world.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I've taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I've worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.
Dec 26, 2022

In this BONUS episode, Vasco reflects on what is the gift the Agile community needs the most and why.

The gift Vasco refers to is something that many would think is an obvious part of any Agile adoption process. Some might even say it is a core aspect of any Agile adoption. Yet, it is often missing as Vasco shares in this episode.

What is that gift? Listen in to know more!

In this episode, Vasco refer to his #NoEstimates blog posts, as well as to the Podcast slack. If you are interested in joining our Slack, just drop us an email at: podcast@oiksofy.com!

What did you think about this episode? Leave as a comment below, or send us your thoughts at podcast@oikosofy.com!

 

About Vasco Duarte
Author of http://NoEstimatesBook.com, and daily podcast host at https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/. I try to give back to the community every single day in an effort to improve the IT and product industry all over the world.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I've taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I've worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.
Dec 23, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

The Great Product Owner: Putting people first, a Product Owner lesson that Scrum Masters can amplify!

Great Product Owners put people first in their decision making. Whether it is the team, or the customers, or the stakeholders, they focus on the interaction and the improvements they can deliver to those people. Great PO’s consider the input from everyone in the process, and help the Scrum Master make work fun, because teams that have fun, are more creative and more productive!

The Bad Product Owner: Why PO’s want to act as dictators, and how we can help Agile teams change the dynamic

Sometimes Product Owners behave like dictators. They want to tell the team exactly what to do, and sometimes even how to do it! This pattern can be promoted by a PO with technical background, but it hides a seriously negative dynamic! Listen in to learn why PO’s sometimes want to act like dictators, and what to do about it.

Are you having trouble helping the team work well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.

About Stacey Taurah

A seasoned agile coach with a squiggly line into tech and delivery. From forensics to frameworks and all that’s in between.

You can link with Stacey Taurah on LinkedIn.

Dec 22, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

“Can I make one person’s day a little bit easier?” This powerful question helps Stacey focus on her role as the Scrum Master for Agile teams, but it also helps her be pragmatic about the choices that inevitably come. In this episode, we also talk about the importance of collecting feedback often, and one question that helps us focus on the team at all times!

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Focusing the team on “the most important thing”

Stacey shares with us a format she designed to help the team focus on “The Most Important Thing”. This format focuses each team member on the thing they most care about, and uses familiar facilitation techniques to avoid taking too many actions out of the retrospective.

Retrospectives, planning sessions, vision workshops, we are continuously helping teams learn about how to collaborate in practice! In this Actionable Agile Tools book, Jeff Campbell shares some of the tools he’s learned over a decade of coaching Agile Teams. The pragmatic coaching book you need, right now! Buy Actionable Agile Tools on Amazon, or directly from the author, and supercharge your facilitation toolbox!

 

About Stacey Taurah

A seasoned agile coach with a squiggly line into tech and delivery. From forensics to frameworks and all that’s in between.

You can link with Stacey Taurah on LinkedIn.

Dec 21, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Stacey shares with us a different way to look at team performance and team health. The story starts with the need to help teams learn about how they are performing as a team (not only software development professionals). At first, Stacey tries to help teams understand how important it is to look at the team's health, but that’s not an easy process. Listen in to learn about how Stacey went from skeptic teams, to enthusiastic teams in this change process!

In this episode, we refer to the Kübler-Ross change model (aka Kübler-Ross change curve or the five stages of grief).

 

As Scrum Master we work with change continuously! Do you have your own change framework that provides the guidance, and queues you need when working with change? The Lean Change Management framework is a fully defined, lean-startup inspired change framework that can be used as the backbone of any change process! You can buy Lean Change Management the book at Amazon. Also available in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese.

 

About Stacey Taurah

A seasoned agile coach with a squiggly line into tech and delivery. From forensics to frameworks and all that’s in between.

You can link with Stacey Taurah on LinkedIn.

Dec 20, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

This team had people with an excellent technical background, and they were all driven and focused on delivering. It was therefore a surprise to see how the team started to act disengaged, and to see how the team was unable to deliver. When looking into it, Stacey found out that the team - even if it was filled with great people - was not working as a team. Listen in to learn about what drove this team apart!

In this segment, we refer to the Impostor Syndrome, a phenomenon that Scrum Masters often need to deal with.

Featured Book of the Week: The Goal by Godratt

In The Goal by Godratt (already mentioned in previous episodes), Stacey found important tips and lessons on how to have conversations about planning and resourcing with the whole business, and to understand that sometimes, what seems like a blocker can be solved by using the Five Focusing Steps of Theory Of Constraints.

Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches - Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!

 

About Stacey Taurah

A seasoned agile coach with a squiggly line into tech and delivery. From forensics to frameworks and all that’s in between.

You can link with Stacey Taurah on LinkedIn.

Dec 19, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Stacey started as a very enthusiastic Scrum Master. She felt the role suited her, and she wanted the teams to “get” Agile and Scrum! In that role, she felt she knew all about Scrum because she knew it “by the book”. However, in practice Stacey found - in retrospective - that she was pushing the process to the team. Since then, she’s learned that we must help the teams adapt, and change, not push the process to the team. In this episode, we talk about what that means in practice, and how the Scrum Master can help teams adopt Agile and Scrum at their own pace.

In this episode, we refer to the Shift Left movement.

Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because of us, but also because the teams, and stakeholders we work with will also face these moments! We need inspiring stories to help them, and ourselves! The Bungsu Story, is an inspiring story by Marcus Hammarberg which shows how a Coach can help organizations recover even from the most disastrous situations! Learn how Marcus helped The Bungsu, a hospital in Indonesia, recover from near-bankruptcy, twice! Using Lean and Agile methods to rebuild an organization and a team! An inspiring story you need to know about! Buy the book on Amazon: The Bungsu Story - How Lean and Kanban Saved a Small Hospital in Indonesia. Twice. and Can Help You Reshape Work in Your Company.

About Stacey Taurah

A seasoned agile coach with a squiggly line into tech and delivery. From forensics to frameworks and all that’s in between.

You can link with Stacey Taurah on LinkedIn.

Dec 16, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

The Great Product Owner: Repetition as a communication strategy for Product Owners

This Product Owner was very clear in their communication with the team and stakeholders. The PO was able to regularly and consistently share their Vision for the product, the long term plan and their ambition. The PO understood that repetition was part of the communication strategy! 

In this segment, we also talk about the Scrum Master - PO relationship, and how important it is to continuously work on that. To support you with the Scrum Master - PO relationship, we’ve developed a course you can take at your own pace. This course focuses on concrete aspects of coaching with PO’s that Scrum Masters must be aware of. You can find out more about that e-course at bit.ly/coachyourpo.

The Bad Product Owner: The conditions that create bad Product Owners

As Scrum Masters, we must be aware that Product Owners are not “bad” on purpose. Paula suggests that, if we find a bad PO, we look beyond the PO and understand what are the circumstances, or the missing knowledge that may be causing that outcome. Paula suggests we ask: “what are the Product Owner being asked to do?”, “are priorities clear for the Product Owner themselves?”. In this segment, we also discuss metrics, and how the metrics we have in our organization may help (or not) the PO’s.

Are you having trouble helping the team work well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.

About Paula Dunne

Paula is an Agile Coach with experience in large organization Agile adoption as well as in coaching product owners.

You can link with Paula Dunne on LinkedIn.

Dec 15, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Paula suggests that our retrospectives, how they run, how effective they are, can be a great indicator of our success as Scrum Masters. We discuss what to look for, and how to reflect on the retrospectives to take lessons for our work as Scrum Masters.

Featured Retrospective for the Week: Helping team members integrate their thinking with a drawing icebreaker

When teams come to the Retrospective, they have the burden of the Sprint that just ended still fresh in their mind. It’s our job, as facilitators, to help the team get out of that “pressure” and “performance” mode, into the reflection and learning mode they need in the Retrospectives. Paula suggests that starting with a drawing icebreaker is a great way to help teams focus on the topic at hand, and get ready to learn deeply about their work!

 

Retrospectives, planning sessions, vision workshops, we are continuously helping teams learn about how to collaborate in practice! In this Actionable Agile Tools book, Jeff Campbell shares some of the tools he’s learned over a decade of coaching Agile Teams. The pragmatic coaching book you need, right now! Buy Actionable Agile Tools on Amazon, or directly from the author, and supercharge your facilitation toolbox! 

About Paula Dunne

Paula is an Agile Coach with experience in large organization Agile adoption as well as in coaching product owners.

You can link with Paula Dunne on LinkedIn

Dec 14, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Paula was responsible for helping a division design and develop an agile framework that would fit their needs. In that process, she learned about the need to have people in the team that have big ideas and are positive, but also people who can challenge the thinking of the team, and consider all possible difficult questions. 

In this episode, we talk about The 6 Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono

As Scrum Master we work with change continuously! Do you have your own change framework that provides the guidance, and queues you need when working with change? The Lean Change Management framework is a fully defined, lean-startup inspired change framework that can be used as the backbone of any change process! You can buy Lean Change Management the book at Amazon. Also available in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese.

 

About Paula Dunne

Paula is an Agile Coach with experience in large organization Agile adoption as well as in coaching product owners.

You can link with Paula Dunne on LinkedIn

Dec 13, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

When Paula joined this team, she noticed the team was not sharing the good (or bad) things that were happening. We discuss how teams in the new “remote world” become passive and do not follow-up on their agreements, and let things drop because the other person is not there, present by their side. In this segment, we talk about how important it is to work on the relationships between team members as well as between team members and stakeholders, especially in this remote work world!

Featured Book of the Week: The Art of Being Brilliant by Cope and Whittaker

In The Art of Being Brilliant: Transform Your Life by Doing What Works For You by Cope and Whittaker, is a book that helped Paula orient her career and learn about positive psychology which helped her feel and help others feel more confident in themselves. In this segment, we refer to Woody Zuill, a previous guest on the podcast and his mantra “turn up the good”.

Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches - Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!  

About Paula Dunne

Paula is an Agile Coach with experience in large organization Agile adoption as well as in coaching product owners.

You can link with Paula Dunne on LinkedIn

Dec 12, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Paula was working with a team that needed to learn about estimation and limiting their capacity. However, that’s a tough role to take on as a Scrum Master. As Scrum Masters, we want the teams to believe they can do well, and do more. Paula had to learn to be the source of bad news for the team, and become the person who insisted they prioritize their work together with the Product Owner.

Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because of us, but also because the teams, and stakeholders we work with will also face these moments! We need inspiring stories to help them, and ourselves! The Bungsu Story, is an inspiring story by Marcus Hammarberg which shows how a Coach can help organizations recover even from the most disastrous situations! Learn how Marcus helped The Bungsu, a hospital in Indonesia, recover from near-bankruptcy, twice! Using Lean and Agile methods to rebuild an organization and a team! An inspiring story you need to know about! Buy the book on Amazon: The Bungsu Story - How Lean and Kanban Saved a Small Hospital in Indonesia. Twice. and Can Help You Reshape Work in Your Company.

Dec 9, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

 

The Great Product Owner: Willing to learn, and ready to experiment, the secret to great newbie PO’s!

This PO had never heard about Scrum before they started their work as PO for a Scrum team. They were also new to Agile in general. However, the PO decided and took action on learning quickly what was expected, and sought out a strong collaboration with the team, participating in their retros, and by being willing to try new things that might have seemed confusing or even scary at first. 

The Bad Product Owner: Unable to make decisions, and with low confidence, the PO perfect storm! And how to solve it!

This Product Owner was not empowered by their stakeholders, and therefore not confident. To add to the problems, the PO was also not available, and took a long time to be able to make decisions. This led to the team sometimes having very undefined and unclear requirements. When the team asked questions, the PO was often not able to answer their questions, nor did they take those questions forward to someone who could answer them. The scene was set for a disaster, but thankfully something happened that changed the dynamics. Listen in to learn how Jill and the teams were able to change things, and ultimately got to a point where they got what they needed from the PO.

 

[IMAGE HERE] Are you having trouble helping the team work well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.

 

About Jill Stott

Jill Stott is here to make friends! She's worked in IT for too many years to count. She is passionate about assisting ScrumMasters to be successful and happy in their roles. Jill knows that there is no such thing as a perfect chocolate chip cookie and she isn't afraid to use puppets.

You can link with Jill Stott on LinkedIn

Dec 8, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

When it comes to reviewing, and assessing our own success as Scrum Masters, Jill chooses to focus on a few metrics that she follows and discusses with the team. In this episode, we share and discuss what those metrics are, and how you can introduce the idea to the team.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Introducing Retrospectives on Demand, an Agile approach to Agile retrospectives!

Jill has used many different formats in her role as Scrum Master. But lately, she’s shifted to “retrospectives on demand”. She encourages teams to raise their hand whenever something is on their mind, and they want to discuss it. As a heuristic for these retrospectives on demand, she started a board with the team, and whenever there are a certain number of cards on that board, the team gets together and discusses those topics. 

 

About Jill Stott

Jill Stott is here to make friends! She's worked in IT for too many years to count. She is passionate about assisting ScrumMasters to be successful and happy in their roles. Jill knows that there is no such thing as a perfect chocolate chip cookie and she isn't afraid to use puppets.

You can link with Jill Stott on LinkedIn

Dec 7, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Jill was working with a UI toolkit team. This team served a lot of other teams as their direct users/customers. All seemed to be going fine, but as the number of client teams was growing, senior management came in and asked them to adopt the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) as a way to help coordinate the work of these multiple teams. This started a process of SAFe adoption that Jill describes in detail in this episode!

 

About Jill Stott

Jill Stott is here to make friends! She's worked in IT for too many years to count. She is passionate about assisting ScrumMasters to be successful and happy in their roles. Jill knows that there is no such thing as a perfect chocolate chip cookie and she isn't afraid to use puppets.

You can link with Jill Stott on LinkedIn

Dec 6, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Jill was working in a team where all the team members knew each other well, it was almost like a group of friends. However, this team was not perfect. They struggled to complete even a third of all the stories they took into the Sprint. When looking back, she can recognize the pattern of the dominant/opinionated developer who wanted to take a lot into every sprint. This left the Product Owner and Business Analyst for that team frustrated, because the unpredictability had already become a problem. Listen in to learn how that team was able to move away from the “take as much as you want” mentality into the sprint. 

Featured Book of the Week: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins

In Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins, Jill found an essential guide to her work as a Scrum Master. It was the book that helped her understand the different responsibilities of a Scrum Master, the difference between Agile Coaching and the Scrum Master role. It’s a book she still refers to even now. 

 

About Jill Stott

Jill Stott is here to make friends! She's worked in IT for too many years to count. She is passionate about assisting ScrumMasters to be successful and happy in their roles. Jill knows that there is no such thing as a perfect chocolate chip cookie and she isn't afraid to use puppets.

You can link with Jill Stott on LinkedIn

Dec 5, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Jill was helping a team under a lot of pressure. In her journey as a Scrum Master at the time, Jill wanted to help the team, and therefore took the role of the organizer for the team, setting up their meetings, and ensuring the team was following Scrum. However, the team did not want to do Scrum at the time. On top of that, Jill was also a tester on the team! The scene was set for a major problem. Listen in to learn what happened, and how Jill learned what it means to be a Scrum Master for a team under pressure! 

About Jill Stott

Jill Stott is here to make friends! She's worked in IT for too many years to count. She is passionate about assisting ScrumMasters to be successful and happy in their roles. Jill knows that there is no such thing as a perfect chocolate chip cookie and she isn't afraid to use puppets.

You can link with Jill Stott on LinkedIn

Dec 2, 2022

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

The Great Product Owner: How to win the trust of your team as a Product Owner

Great Product Owners think about the impact of their work on the team, not only the product. They plan the communication with the team and the stakeholders, and work with the Scrum Master to help facilitate workshops with the team and stakeholders. Over time, and thanks to their openness and honesty, great PO’s win over the trust from the team.

The Bad Product Owner: The project manager PO

Sometimes Product Owners fall into the project management temptation of splitting the work for the team. And in the worst case, they split the work even before the team is involved, or even defined. This approach creates waste, and makes the PO a single point of failure for the team’s success.

Are you having trouble helping the team work well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.

 

About Elly Griffith-Ward

Elly is an Agile Coach at a major e-commerce company. Previously in user research (and a royal food historian). She aims to 1) improve the experience of work through reducing mental load, improving communication and forming strong teams 2) shift the focus from managing the worker to managing the work by focusing on flow and waste.

You can link with Elly Griffith-Ward on LinkedIn and connect with Elly Griffith-Ward on Twitter

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