A few weeks ago while I was teaching a CSM class, I got a Slack message from Ron Quartel pointing me to a tweet by Ryan Ripley. The tweet said “If you are sitting in a Scrum Training class and the trainer starts teaching Story Points, you should 1. Get up. 2. Demand Your Money Back, and 3. Walk out. You're wasting your time.

Here is a link to the tweet: https://bit.ly/3XsfPAP

I should mention I was just about to cover Story Points and I used Ryan's tweet in class as part of our conversation.

As soon as I saw Ryan's tweet, I DM'd him asking if we could do a podcast about it. I did this because A) I have a lot of respect for Ryan and value his opinion, B) earlier in my career I spent about 4 years fighting against Story Points, C) I do teach them in class because I believe that (used properly) they can be incredibly valuable to a Scrum Team, and D) I love getting into debates on topics I feel strongly about with really smart people who might be able to change my mind

So this podcast is Ryan and I talking through his reason for throwing shade on Story Points, my reasons for standing up for them, and the reasons I feel comfortable saying that we are aligned about why Story Points are good AND evil.

This podcast was originally recorded in video. If you'd prefer that version you can find it here: https://youtu.be/-ja1oFv5Et0

Contacting Ryan:

Web: https://AgileforHumans.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AgileforHumans

Fixing Your Scrum by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller: https://amzn.to/3Qyjs5S

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanripley/

Derek Huether is back for this episode and we’re focusing on Value Stream Management. Value Stream Mapping is about understanding all the steps from the inception of an idea to putting something valuable in a customer's hands, and using that information to optimize the flow of value through the system. But, within a business, you will have many value streams and we need to understand how best to coordinate those streams to optimize the overall value generated by the company across multiple value streams. If your brain is wired for traditional project management, you could think of this as creating a system that optimizes a portfolio management level view of all the value streams in the org.

During the interview, Derek and I explore why Value Stream Management is so important, how it works, the connection to Value Stream Mapping, and how you can get started with it.

This podcast was originally recorded as a video. You can find that version here:

https://youtu.be/nxGvpnWgoIM

Contacting Derek


Web: www.derekhuether.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/derekhuether/
Twitter: twitter.com/derekhuether
Email: [email protected]

Derek’s Amazon Page: https://bit.ly/3GPEQQQ

Gil Broza has been a guest on this podcast a number of times in the past. He’s the author of several books that focus on Agile, including The Human Side of Agile and Agile for Non-Software Teams. Gil is a teacher, lecturer, and the founder of 3PVantage. He also helps organizations transform to Agile, and he’s developed a new tool called Square that can be used to assess your value delivery so that you can make an intentional, well-informed choice about which improvements are the right ones to pursue. The tool is simple to use and you can perform an assessment in just a few minutes. During this interview, Gil explains why he created the tool, how it works, and how it can help you take a holistic look at how you handle Product Development so that you can make strategic choices about how and when to improve your ability to deliver value.

If you’d like to learn more about Square:

https://3pvantage.com/improve-your-value-delivery/

Contacting Gil

Web: https://3pvantage.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gilbroza

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/gilbroza

So you’ve made the decision that you want to get a job as a Scrum Master. Maybe you’re working on an agile team and want to switch roles, or maybe you’re moving from a field where agile has no presence. If you don’t already have experience working in an environment that has adopted Scrum, then the big question is… how do you land the gig.

In this episode, I am joined by my good friend Richard Cheng to talk about how to get started working as a Scrum Master. We both run across a lot of people in our classes that are trying to find a way to transition into the Scrum Master role. We also meet a lot of people who have decided they want to make a career change and feel like being the Scrum Master for a Scrum Team might be a good fit. During the interview Richard and discuss what the role actually entails, some common misconceptions about it, key differences between being a Project Manager and being a Scrum Master, the pros and cons of the job, and ways you can how you get started on the path towards getting your first official job as Scrum Master.

There have been a lot of dramatic changes in the technology space lately, and a lot of people have been making a decision to leave their company job and become an independent consultant working in Agile. Richard is a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile Coach and he recently made this choice and has gone out on his own. Towards the end of the interview, he also shares what led him to make this choice to become an independent consultant and the steps he's taking to establish himself. If you are considering a similar move, his experience working through this transition could provide some valuable insights for you.

Contacting Richard

Web: https://www.agilityprimesolutions.com

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcheng/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardkcheng

Ok, so you’re a newly minted Certified Scrum Master (or Certified Scrum Product Owner), now what? How do you get started applying what you learned in class? What if the organization you work in is still primarily waterfall? What if you were the one person sent to take a 2-day class so you can transform the rest of the company and teach them to “do agile”? What if you went for the certification as your first step in trying to find your way out of the waterfall and into a healthier way of working?

In this episode of the podcast, Jeff Howey joins me to talk about what happens when you get your CSM or CSPO certification, what it means for the newly certified, and what it says to the rest of the world of work. We talk about how to get started using what you learned in class including what to do if your day job doesn’t offer you opportunities to begin experimenting with the things you learned about in Scrum training.

If you are having trouble figuring out how to get started, this discussion should give you plenty of ideas and hope as you take the initial steps of putting into practice what you learned in class.

If you’d like to contact Jeff Howey.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhowey/

Despite the fact that Agile practices have been applied to just about every type of work you can imagine, there is still a pervasive assumption that it is just for software. In the CSM and CSPO classes I teach, people often ask for “real life examples” of how people not working directly on software teams are able to use agile and to what end.

This week, Lee Lis, Chief of Staff at OnPay, joins me to talk about exactly that. During the conversation, we discuss ways she has applied agile practices in her role at OnPay to create an environment that fosters an agile mindset and self-managing teams that are empowered to take ownership of their work. We also explore different ways in which Lee has been able to take an empirical approach as a parent of small humans who may not fully grok the idea of self-managing yet.

If you are someone who has been struggling to find ways to begin using agile and you don’t have a software project to work on, you should get some great ideas by listening to this episode.

Contacting Lee

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lee-lis-2181942b

In Carol Dwek’s book Mindset, she explains the difference between a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset. Earlier this year, a colleague of mine, Mary Kaufman and I began recording a series of podcasts on the five stages of growth outlined in the book. Unfortunately, Mary moved on to a new gig before we got the fifth stage posted. So, we re-recorded the conversation and it’s going up live here at drunkenpm to help complete the stages.

In this conversation, we cover “Success of Others” and explore those with a Fixed mindset tend to view the success of others as a threat and those with a Growth mindset find inspiration from others' success. During the podcast, we both share examples of times when we’ve each reacted to the success of others from the different viewpoints, how we are able to catch ourselves when we end up in a Fixed mindset and what steps we take to move beyond that.

Other Episodes in our Growth Mindset Series

• Episode 1: Embracing Challenges https://on.soundcloud.com/YrhgJ

• Episode 2: Obstacles https://on.soundcloud.com/mz4L6

• Episode 3: Effort https://on.soundcloud.com/iGTDe

• Episode 4: Criticism https://on.soundcloud.com/kTL3P

Links

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - by Carol Dweck https://amzn.to/3yYpyn3

• Fixed vs Growth Mindset graphic referenced in the interview (created by Nigel Holmes) https://bit.ly/3vWO1Hh

• The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman https://amzn.to/3sv5qY6

• Tim Kight - Focus 3 (E+R=O) https://focus3.com/the-r-factor/

Contacting Mary

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-kaufmann-305b844/

• Email: [email protected]

During this interview Zach Stone shares stories about what it has been like to be a remote Scrum Master working with a team based in Ukraine while it was being invaded by Russia. How do you engage with and support a team that is trying to build software in the middle of a war zone? What do you say to management when they want to know if you’ll make the release and you are just trying to figure out if your team members are alive?

We also explore other ways that the job of being a Scrum Master has changed as a result of the pandemic. Zach has had to find completely new ways to show up for his teams and he shares some of them during our conversation. This interview is rich with ideas about what it means to be a Scrum Master in a very volatile world. I’m deeply honored that Zach was willing to let me interview him about this topic.

Please Listen.

Contacting Zach

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stonezach/

Email: [email protected]

So much has been changing in how we work over the past few years that it can be tough to keep track of everything. There has been an increased focus on product management as companies move from a project-based approach to a product-based approach. Some organizations are still trying to get their feet with agile, while others have decided that their teams no longer need a Scrum Master (very bad idea - IMHO). And more recently, there has been an increased focus on the role of Technical Program Manager.

When you check out the job postings for these gigs, you’ll see a bit of variety, but some things they often have in common are that this person should have experience managing projects, programs, and portfolios in a traditional approach; experience working, leading, and coaching Agile teams; experience working as a software developer; and sometimes also experience working in product management. If project managers were superheroes, this would be all of the Avengers in one person. It’s a big ask.

In this episode of the podcast, my friend Jeff Howey joins me to talk about what he’s been seeing in market as companies are listing jobs for a Technical Program Manager. We dig into why this has become a thing, whether it is even possible to find all this in one person, how it might impact organizations, and how you can get started filling whatever gaps you may have so that you can maintain the ability to be competitive in the job market.

If you’d like to contact Jeff Howey.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhowey/

NOTE: This podcast was originally recorded in video. You can find the video version here: https://youtu.be/h6hvltUPGHs

Dan Eberle is a film maker AND and Agile Coach. He's been a guest of this podcast a few times in the past, but we've always centered the conversation around his work as an Agile Coach at the New York Times.

This time, we're switching things up and Dan has joined me to discuss how agile and lean practices have influenced his practice of filmmaking. Specifically, we focus on the Obeya that Dan and his team utilize as they create films.

If the term "Obeya" seems unfamiliar...

"Conceptually akin to traditional “war rooms,” an Obeya will contain visually engaging charts and graphs depicting such information as program timing, milestones and progress-to-date and countermeasures to existing technical or scheduling issues." (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeya)

Whether you are making films, building software, or just trying to help your team get better organized, you'll get a lot of great ideas from this conversation on how to work with your team to design an obeya that will foster greater transparency and collaboration in the work you do.

Production Obeya Slideshow - Dan created a slideshow with screen grabs of his Production Obeya and examples of how he and his team visualize their production work. You can access it here: https://bit.ly/InsurgentObeya

Contacting Dan

LinkedIn: bit.ly/3wGScbC

Twitter: bit.ly/3F6dkec