In this episode, Mike is joined by Lucas Smith, an agile trainer, coach, and scrum master for LitheWorks, LLC who has over 14 years experience in software development, delivery, management, product development, coaching, and training. Lucas is one of only 50 Professional Scrum Trainers in the United States and in addition to being a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org he also holds the distinguished Level III Professional Scrum Master (PSM III) and Level II Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO II) certifications, as well as the Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certifications through Scrum Alliance.

We use Scrum here at Asian Efficiency, so we're thrilled Lucas is able to join us today to dive deep on the topic. If you’re new to Scrum, don’t worry - Mike and Lucas will give an introduction to how it works and share several scenarios where it could be useful for you, even if you aren’t a developer or don’t work remotely. They talk about why scrum is for everyone, the productivity benefits that come from using scrum, and how to implement it for yourself and your team. They share common mistakes people make when implementing scrum for the first time, share additional resources, and Lucas gives some pro tips to help you take scrum to another level.

Cheat Sheet

How Lucas got introduced to Scrum as a software developer at Boeing 2:35

How Scrum evolved in order to tackle increasingly complex problems 4:23

The history and definition of Scrum 7:22

How a cross-functional team works and why it's important 11:26

How a to execute an effective sprint 14:14

Why using Fibonacci numbers to estimate how long a task will take is so effective 21:42

The different roles on a Scrum team 26:08

The value of implementing Scrum 30:43

The different events of Scrum: daily Scrums, sprint review, and sprint retrospective 36:23

Visualization and transparency techniques for scrum 44:55

How to move from doing to done, and the meaning of the terms "burn up" and "burn down" 48:58

Recommended tools you can use to execute the Scrum method 57:30

The "3 times" rule 1:05:03

Tips for taking Scrum to the next level 1:07:56

Further reading on Scrum 1:14:02

Situations that might really benefit from the use of Scrum 1:18:06

Links

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

Kolbe index

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

Nobody Gets Credit for Fixing Problems That Never Happened

The New New Product Development Game

Trello

Scrumy

PlanITpoker

JIRA

VSTS

Rally (CA Agile)

VersionOne

Asana

Scrum Guide

Scrum.org

Scrum uses:

For Church

For Personal/Family

Personal scrum: Using agile techniques to manage your life

Solo Scrum

The Agile Household: How Scrum Made Us a Better Family

For Education

Connect with Lucas Smith

LitheWorks.com 

LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!