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.
In this episode, the focus was on a Scrum Master who went above and beyond the traditional role. This Scrum Master had extensive experience with the product side and demonstrated a highly personable nature with a coaching attitude. The phrase "it's humans all the way down" encapsulated their approach, emphasizing the importance of understanding and dealing with people from a human perspective. The episode highlighted the multifaceted skills and perspectives that this Scrum Master brought to the role, emphasizing the value of combining product knowledge, interpersonal skills, and a coaching mindset to create a positive and effective team dynamic.
In this episode, Mirela discussed a Scrum Master anti-pattern where certain individuals disrupted the entire team under cover of implementing Scrum. Mirela suggests that one way to avoid this anti-pattern is to have a mentor to support the Product Owner. In the mentoring sessions, Mirela questioned the PO about whether the work of the Scrum Master was causing disruption and noise, and whether they were escalating numerous issues. She advised self-reflection to identify any triggers for such behavior. Building positive relationships within the team was recommended. Mirela emphasizes that excessive escalation is detrimental to everyone involved.
[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 Mirela Mus
Mirela is the founder of Product People, a Product Management Consultancy on a mission to help companies discover and deliver great products faster. They have 41 full-time Product Managers who help companies focus on product-led growth and/or profitability.
You can link with Mirela Mus on LinkedIn and connect with Mirela Mus on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, the focus was on what it means to be a successful product owner. The discussion began by considering the size and nature of the organization, whether it operates in a B2B or B2C environment, and the specific challenges the product owner (PO) needs to navigate. A tip was shared to create a list of requirements for success based on the product and organization context. Some PO hiring teams tips shared included looking for similarities between one's own business and successful businesses to hire from those industries. The importance of cognitive flexibility as a key skill for POs was also highlighted. The episode also included references to Product People live stream events.
In this episode, Mirela shared her views on Agile retrospectives and provided practical tips. She recommended that all Product Owners (POs) ask Scrum Masters to host retrospectives. She discussed the benefits of asynchronous retrospectives and encouraged participants to write stories about improvements. Mirela suggested hosting a pre-mortem if a project or situation carries a high risk. She emphasized the importance of reflecting on what could have been done better with the available knowledge at the time. She mentioned the book Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke, and highlighted the need to tune the frequency of retrospectives to address recurring issues effectively.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Mirela Mus
Mirela is the founder of Product People, a Product Management Consultancy on a mission to help companies discover and deliver great products faster. They have 41 full-time Product Managers who help companies focus on product-led growth and/or profitability.
You can link with Mirela Mus on LinkedIn and connect with Mirela Mus on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, Mirela discussed the challenges of change management and shared valuable tips. She emphasized that change can fail for various reasons and highlighted the importance of impactful leadership to drive successful change. Mirela recommended having a supportive group of people ready to assist in the change process and showcasing examples of successful changes to the team. Collaboration with Product Owners (POs) was emphasized, as they can greatly influence team performance. The ability of a PO to say "no" to higher-ups was discussed. Anti-patterns such as a lack of priorities or structure in prioritization were identified as potential problems at the team level. Mirela provided tips on mapping stakeholders, managing relationships, and helping the PO learn to influence people. In this episode, we refer to the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Managing oneself, leveraging asynchronous work, monitoring the PM's meeting time, and deprioritizing as a cost-cutting measure were additional tips shared in the episode.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Mirela Mus
Mirela is the founder of Product People, a Product Management Consultancy on a mission to help companies discover and deliver great products faster. They have 41 full-time Product Managers who help companies focus on product-led growth and/or profitability.
You can link with Mirela Mus on LinkedIn and connect with Mirela Mus on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, Mirela discussed a team that self-destructed, highlighting various anti-patterns and providing helpful tips. She emphasized the negative impact of being overly focused on competition rather than individual work. Toxic personalities within the team and the acceptance of individuals who didn't align with the team culture were identified as destructive factors. Mirela suggested ignoring disruptive behaviors selectively and being mindful of personal anxiety when starting work. Working "around" difficult team members was discouraged, while assuming good intentions and engaging in one-on-one discussions were recommended. The Nonviolent Communication (NVC) approach was mentioned, and open discussions in team channels were advised to address problematic behaviors transparently.
In this episode, Mirela shared her recommended books. The first recommendation was "Competing Against Luck" by Clayton Christensen, which helps cut through the noise and understand the underlying factors in successful innovation. The next recommendation was "Thinking in Systems" by Donella Meadows, a book that aids in navigating organizations and comprehending incentives by emphasizing the impact of systems. Mirela humorously mentioned the phrase, "it's because of the system, man!" Lastly, Mirela refers to the concept of "OODA Loop," which is the cycle observe–orient–decide–act, developed by military strategist and United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. These books provide valuable insights for understanding innovation, organizational dynamics, and the PO role.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Mirela Mus
Mirela is the founder of Product People, a Product Management Consultancy on a mission to help companies discover and deliver great products faster. They have 41 full-time Product Managers who help companies focus on product-led growth and/or profitability.
You can link with Mirela Mus on LinkedIn and connect with Mirela Mus on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, Mirela discusses a Scrum Master failure in a classical scrum setup. The Scrum Master lacked understanding of the business and failed to protect the team. The client was struggling with a difficult subscription service and wanted to replace their old system, but the Scrum Master focused more on team-building activities. This caused panic and highlighted the importance of finding a shared goal and fostering team cohesion. Several anti-patterns were identified, including the Scrum Master feeling useless and prioritizing "showing value" without understanding the project's objectives. We discuss some Scrum Master tips for addressing these issues, such as open communication, maintaining a clear focus on critical product aspects, and avoiding the application of frameworks solely for the sake of it.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Mirela Mus
Mirela is the founder of Product People, a Product Management Consultancy on a mission to help companies discover and deliver great products faster. They have 41 full-time Product Managers who help companies focus on product-led growth and/or profitability.
You can link with Mirela Mus on LinkedIn and connect with Mirela Mus on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, the focus is on a remarkable product owner who actively engaged in the Gemba walk. The Gemba walk involves visiting the places where the team, staff, and customers interact to observe how the product is being consumed. The episode highlights that it is uncommon for product owners to actively participate in this practice. The exceptional product owner was known for his authenticity and commitment to his words. He demonstrated his dedication by being the first one present when the store opened and even disguised himself as a regular customer to gather valuable information. This genuine approach built trust as he shared insights that were not made up. The episode concludes by emphasizing the importance of checking one's ego at the door in order to truly understand and serve customers.
In this episode, the focus is on a common anti-pattern of a product owner (PO) who struggles to say "no." The role of a PO is compared to that of a CEO, as they face immense pressure to deliver. The episode emphasizes the importance of having a strong backbone to effectively fulfill the responsibilities of a PO. The struggle to say "no" often leads to deviations from the planned direction and goals, causing challenges in achieving outcomes within quarterly cycles. Takunda shares some tips on how to help PO’s stuck in this anti-pattern. We cover, for example, assessing whether the PO is taking on too many tasks, and considering the opportunity cost of not prioritizing the original goals. We also discuss the need to stick to the planned path and make changes in future sprints rather than pivoting impulsively.
[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 Takunda Noha
Takunda is a seasoned change agent. He specializes in turning dysfunctional teams into high performing teams.
You can link with Takunda Noha on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Takunda explores various perspectives on success as a scrum master. He emphasizes that when he leaves the team, they should not regress but continue to thrive. To achieve this, he believes in constantly reinventing himself within the team and transferring his skills and approaches to team members. Takunda shares a tip on strategically pulling back by occasionally allowing someone else to take over certain responsibilities, such as facilitating sessions. We also discuss using "do you mind..." questions as a way to empower team members and encourage their active participation. This approach fosters collaboration and growth within the team while ensuring continuity in the scrum master's role.
In this segment, Takunda discusses his favorite retrospective format called "Reverse Brainstorming." He highlights that as humans, we tend to focus more on negative aspects than the positive ones. In this retrospective format, the team reflects on how they could do things poorly or become the worst performing team. By deliberately considering the negative scenarios and imagining how things could go wrong, the team can uncover potential pitfalls and identify areas for improvement. This format encourages the team to think creatively and critically about their processes and helps them explore different perspectives to enhance their performance.
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 Takunda Noha
Takunda is a seasoned change agent. He specializes in turning dysfunctional teams into high performing teams.
You can link with Takunda Noha on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, the focus is on the challenges faced in a delivery factory where multiple teams are required to collaborate in order to deliver a feature. However, these teams were siloed and lacked collaboration, leading to missed deadlines and integration problems. The first step was to gather facts and data to identify the causes of delays. The next challenge was to create a vision for a cross-functional team, but faced resistance from other teams. Persistence was key in convincing the organization to adopt a cross-functional approach. Although the team faced initial failures, the advice is to have a thick skin, learn from failures, and try again. To help understand and navigate this type of challenges, Takunda recommends the book is Team Topologies by Skelton and Pais, who have been previous guests on the podcast.
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 Takunda Noha
Takunda is a seasoned change agent. He specializes in turning dysfunctional teams into high performing teams.
You can link with Takunda Noha on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Takunda shares his experience as the scrum master for a team that supported the HR department and developed an HR platform. While the team seemed successful on paper, they struggled with discipline and frequently missed their sprint goals. Takunda attributes these challenges to a lack of accountability for not delivering on promises. He recommends the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, which helped him understand and address these issues, emphasizing the team's avoidance of conflict and lack of focus on results. He highlights the importance of ensuring that the team feels alive and engaged.
In this segment, Takunda discusses his transition from being a project management professional (PMP) to a scrum master, which he describes as a significant change. He recommends the book The Servant Leader by James Autry, highlighting its impact on his understanding of the scrum master role. The book emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in building connections and unlocking influence. Takunda shares that this book helped him develop a deeper understanding of how to effectively serve his team. In this segment, we also mention another recommended book, How to Win Friends, And Influence People by Dale Carnegie, which provides insights into building relationships and fostering positive interactions with the Scrum Master’s critical stakeholders.
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 Takunda Noha
Takunda is a seasoned change agent. He specializes in turning dysfunctional teams into high performing teams.
You can link with Takunda Noha on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Takunda shares his journey from being a project assistant to becoming an assistant project manager in an Agile transformation process. He discusses how a coach introduced scrum to his organization, challenging the traditional ways of working. Takunda emphasizes the importance of managing ego and addressing failure openly. He recounts joining a new team just before the COVID-19 pandemic and discovering that team members were scattered throughout the building. He tried to bring them together physically but faced resistance. The team seemed uncomfortable during stand-up meetings and quickly returned to their previous locations. Takunda advises talking to line managers to explain the situation and meeting the team where they are. He also shares the challenges of justifying his decisions and negotiating with managers. It is essential to understand what aspects might upset others to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
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 Takunda Noha
Takunda is a seasoned change agent. He specializes in turning dysfunctional teams into high performing teams.
You can link with Takunda Noha on LinkedIn.
We start this episode, reflecting on Tim’s journey of realizing the importance of working collaboratively and embracing agile methodologies. Tim noticed early on that he drifted to teaching and providing assistance to others rather than actively developing software. After a while, he moved to consulting in Agile, and in that role, he noticed recurring patterns and struggled with unclogging processes that seemed to be missing something crucial. Over time, frustration set in. He felt like he was fighting an uphill battle and highlighted the disruptive nature of Agile, which aimed to uncover and solve problems but often revealed bigger and deeper underlying issues.
With time and experience, Tim realized that leadership was a crucial factor in the team's success. He observed a recurring pattern where leadership was either blocking progress or not fulfilling their role effectively. This realization led him to recognize the significance of leadership's involvement and the impact it had on the overall performance of the team.
Tim shares his journey at WeMaintain and discusses the challenges of scaling while maintaining agility. Before joining, and during the interview process, Tim already sought to identify the problems he could help solve but couldn't pinpoint a specific issue. His boss expressed concerns about managing fast growth while staying agile. Initially, WeMaintain had two teams working efficiently from a backlog, releasing frequently, and measuring their progress. But, they wanted to grow the company without resorting to a traditional approach of multiple teams working on the same problem, which often led to communication issues. Instead, they advocated for compartmentalized teams with strong ownership and defined success metrics for each team based on specific business streams. Each team had the necessary skills and accountability to achieve their success metrics, ensuring a shared responsibility for success.
Tim reflects on the differences between his current approach and what he observed in the past, when he was the coach trying to help teams and organizations. He emphasizes the importance of taking personal responsibility as a leader when facing problems within a team. Previously, their clients would assume that the leaders were right and focused only on changing the teams, and he wanted to avoid that anti-pattern at all costs. Tim shares the tip of starting with leadership and establishing a clear vision, emphasizing the impact of lacking a clear vision and passionate individuals on the organization. When it comes to reflecting on our performance, Tim recommends evaluating oneself against the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto and highlights the necessity of enabling developers to communicate directly with customers to foster agility.
Tim’s current focus is on stream-aligned teams and metrics. Tim recommends the book "Team Topologies", whose authors have been guests on the podcast. Tim also shares the tip of asking teams to create a portfolio of metrics that demonstrate they are working on the right things. Various teams have found interesting metrics to track their progress. The PDCA cycle and DORA (DevOps Readiness Assessment) metrics are mentioned. The guest highlights a positive sign of organizational health, with a rate of 1.5 deployments per day across the entire product group. They suggest having frequent discussions with people throughout the organization and implementing practices like showcasing Monday morning deliveries and sharing post-release messages on Slack as early documentation for stakeholders. The book "Accelerate" is also recommended for further insights into metrics.
In this final segment, we also refer to Extreme Programming.
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.
In this episode, Frederik introduces a product owner who is absent and unresponsive, leading to challenges for the team. The lack of interaction and participation in Scrum events becomes demotivating, and the team starts seeking excessive upfront details, leading to slow and cumbersome planning. This absence may be due to the PO's busyness or other roles they hold. The episode provided tips such as talking to the PO to understand the situation and sharing the vision for the PO role. It emphasized the importance of explaining to the PO why their presence is critical for successful collaboration and achieving shared goals.
In this segment, John - the PO - is portrayed as an exceptional product owner who prioritizes purpose and outcomes. He possesses a clear vision of the product's purpose and utilizes it to guide decision-making for the backlog. John effectively aligns stakeholders and the development team by communicating the product goal and emphasizing the "why" behind their work. He excels in identifying the target customer and ensuring the product meets market needs. John collaborates with the team, facilitates stakeholder involvement, and holds them accountable for decisions. The episode highlights the use of impact mapping as a valuable tool for goal-oriented decision-making. John embodies the qualities of a great product owner, driving the success of the product through purpose-driven leadership.
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 Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse
Frederik is a Certified Team and Enterprise Coach at the Scrum Alliance. He works and lives in Belgium. He is part of the company iLean. Frederik has worked as Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Agile Coach. He works with teams and leadership to improve collaboration, flow, and learning. Frederik co-organizes the XP Days Benelux conference - this year, in 2023, the conference has existed for 20 years. He is also a regular speaker at local and international conferences.
You can link with Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse on LinkedIn.
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.
Frederik focuses on the team's ability to adopt Scrum as a habitual way of working. For Frederik, success is defined by the team's ownership of Scrum events and their ability to handle obstacles independently. The team displays a strong drive to achieve collective goals, working autonomously and taking initiative in solving problems and driving improvements. The importance of creating alignment with a shared objective is emphasized, while highlighting the team's self-sufficiency and proactive nature. Ultimately, the episode underscores that a successful Scrum Master empowers the team to work effectively and continuously strive for improvement.
In this segment, Frederik discussed his favorite retrospective format, "What/So What/Now What?" He highlighted that this format not only aids in retrospective conversations but also serves as a reflective model for teams to evaluate past events and identify areas for improvement. It encourages critical thinking by focusing on facts during the "What?" phase, inviting participants to make sense of the information in the "So What?" phase, and ultimately identifying actionable steps in the "Now What?" phase. Frederik mentioned that this retrospective format is also part of Liberating Structures, a collection of facilitation techniques, and is based on the ladder of inference. Overall, the "What/So What/Now What?" retrospective format offers a structured and effective approach to foster team learning and continuous improvement.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse
Frederik is a Certified Team and Enterprise Coach at the Scrum Alliance. He works and lives in Belgium. He is part of the company iLean. Frederik has worked as Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Agile Coach. He works with teams and leadership to improve collaboration, flow, and learning. Frederik co-organizes the XP Days Benelux conference - this year, in 2023, the conference has existed for 20 years. He is also a regular speaker at local and international conferences.
You can link with Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Frederik shares a story of organizational change and the challenges faced by Scrum teams. Despite working well at the team level, organizational-level issues hindered their progress. The lack of understanding and support from management regarding the benefits of agile methods was a key obstacle. Frederik provided tips such as identifying organizational pain points, creating conditions for team success, aligning objectives with strategic goals, and managing the project portfolio effectively. He emphasized the importance of serving the organization beyond the team level and understanding the structural dynamics at play. This episode shed light on the significance of addressing organizational challenges to foster successful agile transformations.
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 Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse
Frederik is a Certified Team and Enterprise Coach at the Scrum Alliance. He works and lives in Belgium. He is part of the company iLean. Frederik has worked as Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Agile Coach. He works with teams and leadership to improve collaboration, flow, and learning. Frederik co-organizes the XP Days Benelux conference - this year, in 2023, the conference has existed for 20 years. He is also a regular speaker at local and international conferences.
You can link with Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Frederik shares a story about a software development team that self-destructed due to a lack of collaboration and issues with code quality. The team had differing opinions on code quality but failed to openly address the problem, leading to slow progress and frustration. Frederik provided tips such as visualizing the problem, having individual meetings with team members, and promoting feedback sharing. He facilitated a retrospective on communication using the "Stinky Fish Canvas" method and encouraged anonymous data collection to surface issues. The episode emphasized the importance of addressing code quality concerns, fostering collaboration, and creating a culture of open communication within teams.
In this segment, Frederik discussed his favorite book, "Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when the stakes are high" by Grenny et al. Frederik emphasizes its importance for collaboration with management and leadership. He highlighted that the book provides a model for conducting effective conversations and emphasized the need to continuously ensure a safe space within conversations. Frederik noted that the book offers valuable tools for structuring conversations and recommended using them to understand others' thoughts and perspectives. Additionally, we also refer to a related book, "Crucial Accountability" by the same authors, which provides further insights on handling accountability in crucial conversations.
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 Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse
Frederik is a Certified Team and Enterprise Coach at the Scrum Alliance. He works and lives in Belgium. He is part of the company iLean. Frederik has worked as Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Agile Coach. He works with teams and leadership to improve collaboration, flow, and learning. Frederik co-organizes the XP Days Benelux conference - this year, in 2023, the conference has existed for 20 years. He is also a regular speaker at local and international conferences.
You can link with Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Frederik discussed his experience with corporate politics in an agile software development project. Initially a Product Owner, he became a Scrum Master while a colleague took over as the single Product Owner. Facing a team of 20 people, Frederik encountered challenges with the client's perception of the team as a "feature factory" and their desire for a perfect end product delivered all at once.
He emphasized the importance of incremental thinking and work, offering tips such as being proactive, using User Story Mapping, prioritizing work through slicing, and collaborating with stakeholders. Frederik stressed the need for a strong relationship with management and higher-level stakeholders and highlighted the value of retrospectives in fostering understanding and promoting agile principles. Overall, the episode highlighted the challenges of corporate politics and provided practical strategies for successful agile software development projects.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse
Frederik is a Certified Team and Enterprise Coach at the Scrum Alliance. He works and lives in Belgium. He is part of the company iLean. Frederik has worked as Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Agile Coach. He works with teams and leadership to improve collaboration, flow, and learning. Frederik co-organizes the XP Days Benelux conference - this year, in 2023, the conference has existed for 20 years. He is also a regular speaker at local and international conferences.
You can link with Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Kaisa shares their experience with a PO who was an expert in lean product development. Kaisa explains that the PO was very generous with their time and knowledge, and ended up being a coach for Kaisa and the team. The PO was able to explain critical lean product development aspects, and showed the team how they worked. Kaisa notes that a great PO can be a mentor and a teacher, and this experience helped them grow and learn more about lean.
In this episode, Kaisa shares her experience of working with a new Product Owner (PO) who had previously worked as a waterfall project manager. The PO was only focused on planning, executing, and delivering, which went against the principles of agile methodology. The PO struggled with defining the vision and direction of the product, and had to go back to the manager for decisions. To help the PO transition and learn the role, Kaisa recommended having a conversation with the PO and their manager, having a mentor for the PO, and having the Scrum Master support and coach the PO. Kaisa emphasizes the importance of coaching the PO to become an effective member of the agile team.
In this episode, we refer to the Coach Your PO e-course, which tackles 18 key aspects when coaching your PO.
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 Kaisa Martiskainen
Kaisa is an Agile coach working for a large multinational software company. Originally from Finland, her thirst for learning new things and passion for languages led her to live in Sweden, and Scotland before settling in Montreal, Canada. She is an avid Redditor who spends her free time reading, knitting, investing and playing with her two daughters.
You can link with Kaisa Martiskainen on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Kaisa discusses her approach to measuring success in agile/scrum teams. While some people focus on metrics like sprint velocity, Kaisa prefers to survey the team to get a pulse on how they are doing. She also emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the bigger picture of the organization and using surveys to make decisions on how to improve as a scrum master. Kaisa recommends using different survey tools, such as the Scrum Culture Index (or the Squad Health Check), to assess the team's agility and identify areas for improvement. She also highlights the importance of understanding the system in which the team operates and identifying and removing any problematic structures that may be hindering progress. Finally, Kaisa mentions the concept of "system's intelligence," which emphasizes the idea that structures produce behavior, and coaches the audience to identify systems and work towards removing any obstacles to team success.
In this episode, Kaisa shared some tips on how to switch up the retrospective format to make it more interesting. She suggested using "strings" from Liberating Structures and also talked about the "15% solutions" structure where the team comes up with small solutions that don't require extra resources. This encourages creativity and helps counteract the need to come up with a perfect solution. Kaisa emphasized the importance of being ready to progress in small steps.
In this episode Kaisa refers to a Liberating Structure String that includes the following elements:
Impromptu Networking
What, So What, Now What?
TRIZ with nested 15% Solutions
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 Kaisa Martiskainen
Kaisa is an Agile coach working for a large multinational software company. Originally from Finland, her thirst for learning new things and passion for languages led her to live in Sweden, and Scotland before settling in Montreal, Canada. She is an avid Redditor who spends her free time reading, knitting, investing and playing with her two daughters.
You can link with Kaisa Martiskainen on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Kaisa shares the experience of joining a big team that had developers and operations people working in scrum. The team was unhappy with the long meetings and the 2-week sprint cycle did not fit the repetitive operational tasks. Kaisa suggests using surveys to assess the situation, talking to the manager about the impact of scrum on operations, and seeking help from a mentor. She also emphasizes the importance of promoting a solution that is already coming out from the team instead of pushing for change. The episode highlights anti-patterns such as cramming different types of work into sprints and replacing Kanban with Scrum in an operations team without considering the impact on the team.
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 Kaisa Martiskainen
Kaisa is an Agile coach working for a large multinational software company. Originally from Finland, her thirst for learning new things and passion for languages led her to live in Sweden, and Scotland before settling in Montreal, Canada. She is an avid Redditor who spends her free time reading, knitting, investing and playing with her two daughters.
You can link with Kaisa Martiskainen on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode, Kaisa talks about a temporary team that was formed to solve a problem in their organization. The team was using monitoring tools that sent a lot of alerts, making it difficult for customer support to determine which alerts required action. Kaisa and her colleague wanted to try out Agile practices to address this issue.
However, one individual on the team almost destroyed it with their behavior. One person, who was an expert on the monitoring tool, sent a PowerPoint presentation with all the solutions without consulting with others. This person also declined meeting invitations and eventually left the company after becoming angry.
Kaisa highlights two anti-patterns: thinking we know the solution without involving the customer and pushing one’s own solutions without consulting with others. She also emphasizes the importance of changing the culture of action and including customer feedback. Ultimately, the team reached its goal after the problematic person left, and Kaisa learned the importance of involving everyone in the problem-solving process.
Kaisa recommends the book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Lencioni as a helpful resource for understanding common issues that can arise in a team environment.
She also discusses the concept of System's intelligence, introduced by Esa Saarinen (PDF Download), which emphasizes the importance of connecting engineering thinking with human sensitivity.
Kaisa also recommends "The Coaching Habit" by Michael Bungay as a book that has helped her avoid an anti-pattern where her knee-jerk reaction is to immediately help someone without allowing the person to help themselves. The book provides seven questions that every coach should ask, which help to increase precision and effectiveness and allow others to take more responsibility. By asking these questions, sometimes people realize they do not need Kaisa's help. This allows her to avoid being overly involved and helps people become more self-sufficient.
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 Kaisa Martiskainen
Kaisa is an Agile coach working for a large multinational software company. Originally from Finland, her thirst for learning new things and passion for languages led her to live in Sweden, and Scotland before settling in Montreal, Canada. She is an avid Redditor who spends her free time reading, knitting, investing and playing with her two daughters.
You can link with Kaisa Martiskainen on LinkedIn.
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.
In this episode of the podcast, Kaisa shares her experience as a rotating scrum master at the start of her journey. She was eager to be a good scrum master and saw every problem as an impediment she had to remove, which led her to act as a messenger between the Product Owner and the team. Also because the team was not comfortable with the Product Owner's communication style. Kaisa provides some tips for handling such situations, such as pausing and asking questions instead of immediately rescuing the team, and asking who is in the best position to solve the issue when the team asks for help. She emphasizes that in many cases, the scrum master is not the best person to solve the issues the team is facing.
Kaisa also suggests building a relationship between the team and the Product Owner, such as by organizing a happy hour. She highlights the anti-pattern of communicating only asynchronously and recommends the use of synchronous communication methods to build better relationships within the team.
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 Kaisa Martiskainen
Kaisa is an Agile coach working for a large multinational software company. Originally from Finland, her thirst for learning new things and passion for languages led her to live in Sweden, and Scotland before settling in Montreal, Canada. She is an avid Redditor who spends her free time reading, knitting, investing and playing with her two daughters.
You can link with Kaisa Martiskainen on LinkedIn.
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.
Lisette's journey into remote work began approximately 20 years ago when she started working for an online project management tool. What made this tool unique was its objective of bringing scientists together to find solutions to the aging problem. This experience got Lisette thinking about the possibilities of removing distance as a barrier.
Due to the nature of her work for the tool vendor, Lisette had the opportunity to work remotely while being a tour manager for a music band. At some point, someone suggested that she start a podcast on remote work, which sparked her interest in exploring and sharing her knowledge in this area.
To get her main remote work tips in one neat, freely available kit, download Lisette’s remote work super kit here.
In this podcast, Lisette discusses the most common challenges in remote work, which can be summarized as follows:
Missing osmotic conversations: Remote workers often feel the absence of spontaneous, informal conversations that used to happen naturally in office settings.
Information dissemination issues: There is a difficulty in effectively sharing and disseminating information as compared to traditional workplace setups.
Meeting and communication overload: Remote work can lead to excessive meetings and communication, which can be overwhelming and hinder productivity.
Blurred boundaries between work and personal life: Remote workers often struggle with maintaining a healthy work-life balance, as they tend to work at all times and from any location.
Difficulties in bonding and closeness: Remote work can create a sense of detachment and lack of closeness among colleagues, leading to challenges in building strong relationships.
Challenges with organizing work for introverts and extroverts: Remote work requires finding a balance between the needs of introverts and extroverts in terms of communication and collaboration styles.
Need for inclusive work practices: There is a genuine need to develop work strategies that cater to the needs of both extroverts and introverts, fostering a productive and inclusive remote work environment.
Lisette shares her thoughts on the "go back to the office" versus "remote first" debate, offering insights and practical tips based on her experiences. She highlights virtual co-working as a potential solution to address the challenges faced in remote work. Lisette mentions Superkit as a handy resource for virtual co-working.
She expresses confusion regarding the ongoing debate, pointing out that the past three years have demonstrated the viability and success of remote work. However, she acknowledges that certain company cultures and teams may thrive in an in-person environment, emphasizing that some individuals simply enjoy working together physically.
Lisette discusses the importance of team building, noting that many companies are struggling in this aspect. She suggests creating agreements within teams and shares an example of a team member who organizes collaborative work sessions every Monday. Lisette emphasizes the need to consider the purpose of the office and recommends virtual co-working as a solution.
She explains that virtual co-working involves opening a Zoom call and working together while discussing tasks, simulating the experience of sitting next to someone in an office. This approach has helped create a sense of teamwork and camaraderie. Lisette offers tips to make virtual co-working successful, such as trying different approaches based on individual preferences, being mindful of video fatigue, and establishing team-specific etiquette.
Overall, Lisette's insights shed light on the complexities of the office versus remote work debate, advocating for a nuanced approach that considers company culture, team dynamics, and the potential benefits of virtual co-working.
Lisette offers crucial advice to Scrum Masters, guiding them through the challenges of remote work. She highlights the usefulness of her SuperKit, a remote working kit available at collaborationsuperpowers.com/superkit. This kit equips Scrum Masters with essential tools like team agreements, user manuals, and meeting agreements to enhance collaboration in remote settings.
Recognizing the importance of human connection, Lisette emphasizes that productivity cannot be solely measured by output. Scrum Masters should prioritize fostering a supportive and connected environment for their teams. They should encourage open communication and create opportunities for team members to express their needs and preferences to ensure a sustainable and productive work environment.
Lisette encourages Scrum Masters to seize the opportunity to redesign work processes in the remote context. They should explore innovative ways to visualize and share work progress, as relying solely on text-based communication might not be sufficient. Creativity in visualizing work together can enhance clarity and collaboration.
Lastly, Lisette reminds Scrum Masters of their influential role as leaders. They should model the behavior and practices they expect from their teams. By embracing and demonstrating effective remote work practices themselves, Scrum Masters can inspire their teams to follow suit and achieve success in the remote work landscape.
In this segment, Lisette addresses the topic of conflict in remote work environments, sharing personal struggles and offering advice. She acknowledges that she also faces challenges with conflict, expressing her inclination to avoid it. However, she emphasizes that sometimes it is necessary to confront conflicts rather than running away from them. It is crucial to create a safe space where conflicts can be addressed openly.
In remote work, bringing up conflicts may seem more significant than intended due to the lack of face-to-face interaction. Lisette advises teams to establish a protocol for handling conflicts as part of their team agreement. One important tip she shares is to avoid engaging in conflicts over text-based communication.
To navigate conflicts effectively, Lisette recommends seeking training, specifically mentioning Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as a valuable resource. She provides links to resources related to NVC and difficult conversation.
Lisette encourages Scrum Masters to consider the needs of their team members and how they handle conflicts. Understanding individual communication styles, especially in written communication, can contribute to better conflict resolution within the team.
Lisette shares some resources to help you succeed in a remote work environment.
The book Work Together Anywhere is one of the most important books on the topic of remote work
The Remote Work Superkit, is a collection of tools that help remote team facilitation and team building
The book A World Without Email by Cal Newport is an inspiring book on communication for the remote work environment.
About Lisette Sutherland
Lisette is the author of the book on remote work titled: Work together anywhere. She is also a Keynote speaker, workshop facilitator and remote-working champion for individuals, teams & managers.
You can link with Lisette Sutherland on LinkedIn.
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.
In this segment, Rayyan talks about how Product Owners (POs) need to learn how to form Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and how he trained other POs in his team to create as-is and to-be customer journeys. By using product goals, empathy maps, and customer journeys, they were able to identify dysfunctions in their teams. Rayyan also mentions the Double Diamond method and how it helped them succeed. He also references the Team of Teams McChrystal as a resource for further learning.
In this segment, Rayyan talks about a common problem where a business analyst is suddenly made a Product Owner (PO) without any training or change in position. This leads to a lack of understanding of the backlog, customers, and detailed work required. Rayyan suggests that the system is responsible for such problems and offers tips to tackle them. He advises to drop everything and work with the new PO only, and suggests avoiding anti-patterns such as vague backlog items, bullet points, and lack of measurement of item value. He also recommends being ready for such situations and providing support at the right time. In this segment we refer to the Coach Your PO e-Course module that covers how to onboard a new 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 Rayyan Karim
Rayyan is and Agile Coach & Trainer and the founder of Design Your Future with presence in the UK and the UAE. Rayyan is known for supporting leading executives of FTSE100 and NASDAQ corporations to create transformational results quickly.
You can link with Rayyan Karim on LinkedIn and connect with Rayyan Karim on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, Rayyan discusses two main categories for measuring performance in organizations: hard and fast business results and effectiveness. The first indicator for effectiveness is happy people who can be themselves, which Rayyan refers to as "Shiny Happy People." Rayyan suggests that instead of focusing on story points, teams should focus on cycle and lead time and examine the variation in the system to determine how to remove it. He recommends conducting team surveys or squad health checks over time and paying attention to how people talk at retrospectives. Additionally, Rayyan suggests setting up one-on-one meetings with team members to get a better understanding of how they are showing up for retrospectives.
In this episode, Rayyan discusses his favorite agile retrospective format, which is the Squad Health Check. He mentions that while the Sailboat retro is the most commonly used, he prefers the Squad Health Check as it quickly gets everyone on the same page and can be used in larger teams and teams of teams. Rayyan notes that the Health Check is short, focused, and highly adaptable, and it gives a good understanding of where the teams are. He also gives tips to adapt it to the program or team you are working with and to remove the "neutral" option.
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 Rayyan Karim
Rayyan is and Agile Coach & Trainer and the founder of Design Your Future with presence in the UK and the UAE. Rayyan is known for supporting leading executives of FTSE100 and NASDAQ corporations to create transformational results quickly.
You can link with Rayyan Karim on LinkedIn and connect with Rayyan Karim on Twitter.
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.
In this episode, Rayyan discusses his experience with implementing change in large-scale organizations. He shares the steps he learned from previous experiments in other parts of the organization. These steps include hands-on immersive sessions focused on real work, just-in-time training, and defining success with OKRs. The first step in the process is evaluating the flow of demand through the organization with a systems thinking mindset. Rayyan recommends training people in byte-sized bits at the time they need it, using design thinking, and taking an MVP first approach. To disseminate this knowledge throughout the organization, they put together a roadshow with 15-minute interactive byte-sized trainings for each of the topics. Rayyan emphasizes the importance of practicing explaining things until it comes out naturally and concisely, relating the learning to the environment, and focusing on interaction to enable people to learn on their own as a group.
[IMAGE HERE] 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 Rayyan Karim
Rayyan is and Agile Coach & Trainer and the founder of Design Your Future with presence in the UK and the UAE. Rayyan is known for supporting leading executives of FTSE100 and NASDAQ corporations to create transformational results quickly.
You can link with Rayyan Karim on LinkedIn and connect with Rayyan Karim on Twitter.