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.
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 their experience working with IBM at a Brazilian bank. The teams were facing serious problems with delivery, despite having agreed on a strategy. Rayyan discovered that the root of the problem was organizational design. Although the program consisted of 300 people, the teams were organized functionally, which was hindering their success. Rayyan emphasizes the importance of considering the team's design, the backlog design, and clear measurements of success when implementing Agile. They also stress the importance of addressing beliefs and providing an alternative identity for those who may not be sold on the ideas of agility.
In this segment, Rayyan recommends the resource "System of Profound Knowledge" about Deming’s work to help in understanding the true intent and start of agility. The article explores adaptive systems and helps readers understand the change that is happening in the workplace, as well as what a system is and how leaders think. The article also explains the concept of "tamper."
[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 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 shares his experience of working with a team at a consulting firm who were using a project management approach with a command and control style. Despite being able to deliver in just 10 days, there was a "delivery manager" who was hindering the team by trying to dictate their actions and decisions. Rayyan shares how he had to focus on "man-marking" the delivery manager and helping them understand the change of identity required in an Agile environment. Rayyan emphasizes the importance of training and not being afraid of disagreement when implementing Agile.
[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 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 segment, Manuele talks about the anti-pattern of a Product Owner (PO) with a product manager background. PO’s with this background tend to focus on managing the work and the team, assigning tasks themselves, and writing solution-centric stories. They provide little focus on the "why" and the vision, which deviates from the idea of working as a team and breaks team dynamics. Manuele suggests nurturing the relationship if the PO is open to learning and working with you, but redefining the coaching contract with the sponsors if the PO is a senior person who is used to telling others what to do. If you can't coach the PO, Manuele advises considering getting out of there.
For ideas, tips, and models to use when coaching your Product Owner, check out our Coach Your PO e-course, now on its second version.
In this episode, Manuele talks about the impact a great Product Owner (PO) can have on a Scrum team. He explains that great POs start from the "why" and develop a compelling vision for the product. They find out who the customers and personas are and help team members get in touch directly with customers and stakeholders. This helps raise the product IQ of the team, making them more product savvy. Great POs allow team members to talk to customers and stakeholders to understand their needs better. Manuele suggests that POs should frame the problems clearly and not worry about how the team divides the work. When working with a great PO, it feels easy.
[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 Manuele Piastra
Manuele Piastra moved to London in 2014, which was a life-changing experience for him. He gained access to more sources of learning, worked in fast-paced companies with complex technology stacks and ambitious goals, and developed open-mindedness, patience, and autonomy.
You can link with Manuele Piastra on LinkedIn and connect with Manuele Piastra 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, Manuele shares his perspective on making oneself redundant as an Agile coach or Scrum Master. He disagrees with the idea of completely making oneself redundant, just like a winning coach in football is not fired. Instead, he suggests creating a maturity assessment for the team and involving them in defining success criteria. He emphasizes the importance of not having creating a dependency on the Scrum Master and encourages the team to ask for help in areas they need it. Additionally, he recommends experimenting with different ways to measure success and finding other Scrum Masters to share learning and get feedback.
In this episode, Manuele states that the favorite format depends on various factors, such as the team's mood and recent events. He expresses a dislike for the overly simplistic "what is good? What was bad?" retrospectives, which can feel like a checkbox exercise. Instead, Manuele prefers to vary the format and sometimes run an appreciation retrospective, where only positives are discussed. Manuele believes it's important to regularly remind the team of their strengths and focus on improvement while also acknowledging their successes.
[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 Manuele Piastra
Manuele Piastra moved to London in 2014, which was a life-changing experience for him. He gained access to more sources of learning, worked in fast-paced companies with complex technology stacks and ambitious goals, and developed open-mindedness, patience, and autonomy.
You can link with Manuele Piastra on LinkedIn and connect with Manuele Piastra 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, Manuele talks about his experience as an external change agent in an organization. He shares some tips on how to start off an engagement the right way. First, he suggests having a conversation with the sponsor to evaluate the assignment. Next, he advises defining what is expected from the team, sponsors, and yourself. He emphasizes the importance of having the sponsor introduce you to the team and doing a boot camp with them. During the boot camp, he tells the team that he's not there to do their job. He recommends measuring progress by using a tool to track the team's movement towards agility, such as the Agile Reloaded Maturity Tracker. This helps identify pain points and what needs to change with the help of the coach. Finally, he advises having success criteria and looping and repeating the process.
[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 Manuele Piastra
Manuele Piastra moved to London in 2014, which was a life-changing experience for him. He gained access to more sources of learning, worked in fast-paced companies with complex technology stacks and ambitious goals, and developed open-mindedness, patience, and autonomy.
You can link with Manuele Piastra on LinkedIn and connect with Manuele Piastra 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, Manuele discusses the role of the Scrum Master and the importance of being a leader rather than just a servant. He identifies several anti-patterns that can arise when a Scrum Master is seen as a personal assistant or secretary, such as being asked to write stories, move stories on the board, or run meetings for the team. Manuele emphasizes that the Scrum Master is a part of the team and their behavior can have a significant impact on the team's performance. He also discusses the importance of challenging the team and avoiding the temptation to please team members instead of helping them. Manuele recommends reflecting on whether your actions align with your role as a change agent and asks "What would be the reason for you not to do what you are asking me to do?" as a way to encourage the team to think critically about their approach. Finally, Manuele provides tips for how Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches can work together to drive improvement and disrupt the status quo.
In this segment, Manuele recommends the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink, which he found himself referring to in many situations. He mentions using the book's three key motivator factors when designing a workshop or considering what a team might be lacking. Manuele points out that OKRs follow two aspects of the Drive model, Purpose and Autonomy, and suggests that the Drive model is also useful for coaching Product Owners. Although Manuele read the book many years ago, he still finds it relevant and valuable.
[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 Manuele Piastra
Manuele Piastra moved to London in 2014, which was a life-changing experience for him. He gained access to more sources of learning, worked in fast-paced companies with complex technology stacks and ambitious goals, and developed open-mindedness, patience, and autonomy.
You can link with Manuele Piastra on LinkedIn and connect with Manuele Piastra 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, Manuele discusses his experience working with a mobile team in a scrum environment. He points out that while scrum is a great methodology because it provides structure, teams may sometimes just go through the motions. As time goes by, teams may begin to drop aspects of scrum, leading to the loss of the entire process. Manuele identifies two ANTI-PATTERNS in which the leadership hires a scrum master without explaining the importance of Agile or Scrum to the team, and in which scrum or agile are superimposed on something else without that thing going away. Manuele failed to recognize the context of the team and was given specific goals to put the team on the path of scrum, leading to a fight between him and the team. He offers some tips for addressing this situation, including stopping the show and having an honest conversation with the team and stakeholders. Finally, he suggests doing personal reflection to determine if you are the right fit for the team.
[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 Manuele Piastra
Manuele Piastra moved to London in 2014, which was a life-changing experience for him. He gained access to more sources of learning, worked in fast-paced companies with complex technology stacks and ambitious goals, and developed open-mindedness, patience, and autonomy.
You can link with Manuele Piastra on LinkedIn and connect with Manuele Piastra 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, Cynthia talks about an example of a great PO who was an expert in life sciences with over 20 years of experience. The PO was open-minded and willing to be challenged, listened well to the team, and collaborated effectively with the Scrum Master. They had a clear vision for their product/service and made disciplined decisions that aligned with that vision. The PO was proactive about sharing information and communicating risks to the clients/customers. Cynthia suggests that a great PO should share information beyond the team and keep them inspired.
In this episode, we learn about a PO that lacked the necessary skills and was not assertive, which affected their ability to lead and communicate effectively with clients. We also learn about the Scrum Master’s role in that PO’s poor performance, as the Scrum Master took up too much space, leaving the PO without the necessary influence. Cynthia suggest that when a new person is assigned to the PO role, they should be trained and given a clear understanding of their responsibilities. She also recommends having the new PO shadowing another PO to learn. Scrum Masters should also offer help and support (See our Coaching Your PO e-course for tips and models you can use when helping your PO). Finally, Cynthia advises paying attention to what POs expect from the Scrum master and making sure that these expectations align with the PO's task list.
[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 Cynthia Kracmer
Cynthia Kracmer is a Business Transformation & Human Capital Managing Consultant passionate about creating innovative, stimulating and ‘healthy’ organizations for people. She is Agile agnostic, and has worked as a Scrum master, agile coach and agile transformation lead in the Life Sciences area. She loves singing, traveling (she's been to 63 countries), cycling and running.
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, Cynthia discusses the need to assess whether a Scrum Master is still necessary for a team that has become self-sufficient. She discusses several contributing factors to determine if a team is ready to work without a Scrum Master, such as clarity of purpose and roles, the ability to articulate value delivered to clients, readiness to address risks, and the team's commitment to reflection and learning. The importance of observing team behavior and identifying patterns of self-sufficiency is emphasized. The episode also provides tips to identify if the team is ready, such as observing how team members act during meetings and if everyone is part of the conversation.
In this segment, Cynthia emphasizes the importance of starting by recognizing people and their contributions to the team. Ice breakers can be especially useful for new teams. The retrospective should include a gratefulness theme, a discussion on what is working well, what is not working, and what actions the team will take moving forward. Cynthia suggests making the retrospective a ritual and helping team members disconnect from other priorities and their busy schedules.
As a scrum master, it's important to show there is a process with several questions planned for the session, while also keeping track of time to ensure the retro finishes on time. It's crucial to create a psychologically safe space and be mindful of what topics are appropriate to discuss with the team.
[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 Cynthia Kracmer
Cynthia Kracmer is a Business Transformation & Human Capital Managing Consultant passionate about creating innovative, stimulating and ‘healthy’ organizations for people. She is Agile agnostic, and has worked as a Scrum master, agile coach and agile transformation lead in the Life Sciences area. She loves singing, traveling (she's been to 63 countries), cycling and running.
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, Cynthia emphasizes that her work is about change and coaching teams. When trying to change people, she warns that it is important to be careful and to tell a relevant story that answers the question of "what's in it for me?" She shares a story that highlights the need to consider different approaches for different contexts, and she advises paying attention to early adopters and change champions while avoiding the anti-pattern of not invented here syndrome (NIH). Instead, one should make the change “native” by finding someone who is already convinced on Agile adoption to help with the change by explaining why they think Agile is important for them.
Cynthia also reminds us that change takes time, and there is a cost to change in terms of time. Therefore, department leads need to be aware of that cost. She advises listening to those who ask a lot of questions since they might become the best change supporters. She recommends the Dragon Dreaming methodology as a resource. Finally, she suggests learning from the people who resist change by listening to what they say and ask about.
[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 Cynthia Kracmer
Cynthia Kracmer is a Business Transformation & Human Capital Managing Consultant passionate about creating innovative, stimulating and ‘healthy’ organizations for people. She is Agile agnostic, and has worked as a Scrum master, agile coach and agile transformation lead in the Life Sciences area. She loves singing, traveling (she's been to 63 countries), cycling and running.
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, Cynthia shares her experience as part of an agile center of excellence. The team was responsible for deploying agile coaches to help different functions achieve their objectives. However, the Agile Coaching team faced challenges in aligning and organizing themselves as everyone was convinced their way was the better way. The team had a young Scrum Master, but had high expectations and did not support that junior Scrum Master. Unfortunately, the Scrum Master failed and left the company, and the team missed an opportunity to help that Scrum Master improve, and improve themselves as a team.
Cynthia reflects on the importance of humility as a value of Agile and emphasizes the need to be open-minded and accept different ways of working. She also discusses the importance of leading by example when inspiring people through Agile principles. Additionally, they note that not all tools resonate with all team members, and it's okay to have different preferences. Cynthia emphasizes the importance of accepting ideas from others and being receptive to help, even from juniors. This episode highlights the need for a collaborative and open-minded approach to Agile and the importance of valuing and supporting all team members, regardless of seniority or experience.
In this segment, Cynthia recommended the book "Design Sprint: A Practical Guidebook for Building Great Digital Products" by Banfield et al. which helped her see that the creative process can be structured to increase creativity and help teams make decisions. Cynthia initially believed that creative work had no structure, but the book helped her understand the connection between creativity and structure. She highlighted the importance of using structure to help teams generate ideas, make decisions, and ultimately be more creative. Overall, the book provided valuable insights into how to approach creative work in a more structured way to achieve better results.
[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 Cynthia Kracmer
Cynthia Kracmer is a Business Transformation & Human Capital Managing Consultant passionate about creating innovative, stimulating and ‘healthy’ organizations for people. She is Agile agnostic, and has worked as a Scrum master, agile coach and agile transformation lead in the Life Sciences area. She loves singing, traveling (she's been to 63 countries), cycling and running.