Agile Coaches' Corner

Dan Neumann, your host, has been reviewing the history of the Agile Coaches Corner Podcast and encountered the most popular show among these 184 episodes, it is titled “What is Agile?” and was hosted by himself and Sam Falco.

In this episode, you will get the chance to listen again to the most listened episode so far, which explores the foundations of Agility and the history of the Agile Manifesto,

Key Takeaways

• Why was it important for the Agile Manifesto to be declared? What is the history behind it?
• • It was created in reaction to what was happening in the software industry in 2001 (predominantly waterfall and other predictive methods with bad track records for delivering on time).
  • In response to “scope creep” (AKA changes or uncontrolled growth in a project’s scope at any point after a project begins).
  • Because it is very difficult to predict what you need to do when you’re trying to solve a new problem every time.
  • Out of necessity (as any work that requires creativity and a high degree of uncertainty about the outcome you’re trying to achieve [such as software development] is difficult without a set of principles and values).
  • Because every problem is unique with software development.
• In the Harvard Business Review in 1986, an article was published titled, “The New New Development Game” which outlined the need for a new way of working where teams could be given objectives instead of tasks and they work together as a unit to accomplish their work.
• • The “relay race” method was clearly not working and agility offered a better model, better compared to playing rugby.
• What is the Agile Manifesto?
• • It’s the thing we point to when someone says, “What is agile?”
  • Those that came up with the Agile Manifesto didn’t put it together to justify their existence; they put it together because they recognized the success they were having through its methodology and wanted to figure out the commonalities.
  • If you’re asking if something is agile, you can reference the manifesto’s values and principles.
• What is Agile?
• • It’s creating a competitive advantage and being a disruptive force.
  • Delivering working software as your primary measure of success.
  • A collection of values and principles as laid out in the Agile Manifesto.
  • It is the ability to deliberately respond to change and demand; not just react.
  • Controlling risk.
  • Building stuff that people actually want and will use.
  • Solve the problem that the customer has called for and not gold plating everything.
  • Agile practices are simply that; practices — they’re good in some circumstances and not good in others.
• Are you changing just to change or are you harnessing change for competitive advantage? Is change happening to you or are you creating the change?
• • Change is not just about keeping up with your competition but making your competition keep up with you.

Mentioned in this Episode:

“The New New Product Development Game,” by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka | Harvard Business Review (January 1986)

Agile Software Development Ecosystems: Problems, Practices, and Principles, by James A. Highsmith

The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation, by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless

LiberatingStructures.com

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This week, Dan Neumann is joined by Hal Hogue to talk about the Daily Scrum event. Dan and Hal are assessing this topic again after two years, a particular couple of years since much has changed due to the strike of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in regards to the workplace, making most of the work to be remote.

In today’s episode, Hal and Dan are talking about the ways in which the Daily Scrum can be more effective by fostering transparency and flow to promote simplicity and focus. They also dive deep into the struggles brought by remote working and the many alternatives to tackle this issue.

Key Takeaways

● What makes the Daily Scrum effective?

○ Understand the purpose of the Daily Scrum: What are we trying to accomplish with it?

○ The Daily Scrum is a perfect place for reflecting on how the plans are going; it is a reliable time and place to focus on refining the plan and thinking about what the next steps will be.

○ The Daily Scrum can be used to avoid misunderstandings.

● How to best avoid misunderstandings about information going back and forth among the Scrum Team members:

○ The Daily Scrum is an opportunity to inspect and adapt our plans and goals.

○ Establish transparency: Make sure things are visible, well understood, and agreed upon by all the Scrum Team members.

○ The purpose of the Daily Scrum is the opportunity for the Developers collaborate to achieve the Sprint Goal.

○ Be aware of “meeting fatigue”; people tend to have a lot of meetings and that can affect the predisposition to misunderstandings.

● Different ways in which a Scrum Master can foster transparency:

○ Give the Developers a chance to evaluate how confident they are about achieving the Sprint Goal by the end of the Sprint.

○ Developers can be encouraged to reflect on the current progress.

○ Transparency and flow need to go along with simplicity and focus.

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This week, Dan Neumann is joined by three of his Agile colleagues, Erik Lindgren, Hal Hogue, and Adam Ulery.

In this episode, they discuss a common question with respect to Teams: Should we choose long-running Teams or dynamically formed ones? These four Agile colleagues share today valuable examples on how to form Teams and practical ways to help Teams succeed at delivering high-value products.

Key Takeaways

• Advantages of long-lived cross-functional Teams:

  • Teams get to know each other better and build relationships.

  • Teams have working agreements that make them more effective.

  • Stability!

  • Much less coordination is needed.

• Cons of long-lived Teams:

  • There is not much flexibility.

  • There is the risk of losing alignment with the rest of the organization.

• What to do when someone’s professional goals push them in a different direction?

  • A Team could be kept together as long as possible but eventually, changes will happen.

  • We always need to look for ways for people to grow professionally.

• What to consider when Teams are changing.

  • Keep the Team involved with the decisions that are being made.

  • When Teams change, the Team might be needing a skill that isn’t available.

  • Change is inevitable, be prepared for them.

• What are the Team creation methods that work best?

  • A formal Team-forming workshop sets up Teams nicely for success, developing shared values.

  • Having a clear understanding of the type of work that the Team will be going after and based on that, finding the matched skills and competencies to that type of work.

  • Allow self-organization to happen.

  • Establish what is going to be created first in order to set up a Team; those Teams tend to grow organically.

  • Choosing a Team’s name can help people feel they belong and gives them the ability to become part of something bigger than themselves.

• Why not both long-run and dynamically formed Teams?

  • Decide with your colleagues what can work better, encouraging self-organized Teams, since it is always positive to decide how the Team wants to be organized for the task in question.

  • The core of Agility is focusing on individuals and interactions.

• When to form a new Team?

  • If you have some special project or initiative that may require deep specialties in an area.

  • Some Teams can come together to innovate in a particular area.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Listen to “Podcast Ep. 5: Exploring an Experimental Mindset with Adam Ulery”

Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell

Netflix Documentary, The Last Dance

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This week, Dan Neumann is joined by two colleagues, Alba Uribe and Hal Hogue. In this episode, they are discussing what a Scrum Master does outside of the Scrum Team bubble. They dive deep into the roles of a Scrum Master as a teacher, coach, facilitator, and also as an impediment remover. Listen to this thoughtful conversation and find meaningful examples and valuable and applicable suggestions to live the Agile principles and promote their right implementation throughout your organization.

Key Takeaways

• What does a Scrum Master do outside of the Scrum Team bubble?

  • A Scrum Master is an impediment remover. Hal shares an example of a Team that was just exhausted from the number of meetings they meant to attend.

  • The Scrum Master can help with external Teams that are dependent on services or any kind of other development. Teams can cooperate with each other. If there is dependency among Teams, what can be done to remove them? When dependencies are removed or minimized, Teams can be in control of their own destinies.

• A Scrum Master teaches, coaches, and facilitates.

  • A Scrum Master must look for opportunities to teach and coach while having conversations with the people in the organization to find those teachable moments.

  • A Scrum Master must teach the Agile concepts at all levels as well as coach and mentor constantly. A Scrum Master has to show people the benefits of following Agile Principles and tell them how they can experience those benefits.

  • A Scrum Master must help employees and stakeholders understand and enact an empirical approach to complex work.

  • A Scrum Master can also support innovation and creativity.

  • Scrum Masters can work with other Scrum Masters in the organization and other coaches to make sure there is an alignment among them and also be aware of what each other is doing.

• What can you do as a Scrum Master to find other people who are participating in the Scrum Journey with you? How can they be engaged?

  • Get out there, communicate and bounce ideas with others. Build that culture and get those allies together.

  • A Scrum Master can enable conversations with other departments.

  • A Scrum Master should be the management ally.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek

The Zombie Scrum Survival Guide, by Christiaan Verwijs, Johannes Schartau, and Barry Overeem

Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition, by Lyssa Adkins

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This week, Dan Neumann is joined by two of his Agile Thought colleagues, Hal Hogue and Mike Guiler to discuss a very particular question: What does a Scrum Master actually do all day?

In this episode, Dan, Hal, and Mike start by exploring what a Scrum Master does not do, then they discuss the many hats a Scrum Master wears, and how these several duties impact a Team’s performance. A Scrum Master provides tools and autonomy and makes sure that each Team member knows their accountabilities and the reasons behind the work they do.

Key Takeaways

• What doesn’t a Scrum Master do all day?
• • A Scrum Master is not a calendar manager type person.
  • A Scrum Master does not keep visualization tools updated.
  • A Scrum Master is not the one updating the Sprint backlog.
  • A Scrum master does not take notes in meetings nor collect the status of people.
• The many roles of a Scrum Master:
• • A Scrum Master needs to guide the Team for them to be in control of their own destiny.
  • Helping everyone inside and outside of the Scrum Team understand who is accountable for what.
  • A Scrum master does not need to schedule all the events, but he needs to focus on how every member of the Team gets the maximum possible amount of value from each of the events, and that takes time and preparation. Mike, Dan, and Hal dive deep into the example of Retrospective Meetings.
  • A Scrum Master needs to be a teacher and help the Scrum Team understand why they are doing what they are doing.
• A Scrum Master is a facilitator and teacher and also a coach.
• • Helping unlock the potential in others, assisting the Team members by learning from their own experiences.
  • A Scrum Master needs to help the Team to become self-managed and understand how the company functions.
• A Scrum Master should foster transparency.
• • A safe environment needs to be nurtured in the first place in order for transparency to be welcomed.
  • The Team has to know why being transparent is actually helpful.
  • Scrum has artifacts to increase transparency.

Mentioned in this Episode:

• The Zombie Scrum Surviving Guide, by Christiaan Verwijs, Johannes Schartau, and Barry Overeem
• Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale, by Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky, and Barry O’Reilly
• Listen to “Episode 178: Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) with Sarah Skillman and Mary Demain”

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

• Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com!
• Email your thoughts or suggestions to [email protected] or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by two of his colleagues, Rosemary Atanga and Quincy Jordan. In this episode, they explore the answer to a very common question: How many teams can or should a Scrum Master Support? Dan, Rosemary, and Quincy talk about the role of a Scrum Master and how it is affected by supporting one, two, or even more Teams. They dive deep into many examples of when different ratios could work keeping effectiveness and a healthy environment as priorities.

Key Takeaways

• How many teams can or should a Scrum Master support?
• • Sometimes supporting too many teams is a matter of budget and financing.
  • Effectiveness is different than being busy, someone can be busy doing nothing. Having one Scrum Master working with multiple Teams can really affect the effectiveness of his work.
  • There must be a process for a Scrum Master to take the lead of a second Team, making sure first this Team is stable and understands all the Agile principles.
  • Are you setting the Team up for success or failure? Are you wearing out your Scrum Master? Even if it works, it is not sustainable.
• The role of a scrum master:
• • The Scrum Master needs to be an Agile Champion and to become the coach for his Team; it is crucial that every member knows about the accountabilities in order to grow into maturity.
  • The Scrum Master is there to coach and mentor the Team on best practices to really see the best benefits of Agile.
  • A Scrum Master has to foster a healthy Scrum environment.
• One Scrum Master for one Team:
• • This is a healthy ratio, it is a very good starting point for a Team that is at the beginning of its Agile Journey.
  • If the Scrum Master is supporting a very mature Team, they will be less dependent, and then it is more suitable for the Scrum Master to think to take a second Team.
• One Scrum Master for two Teams:
• • A one-to-two ratio is really ideal; in general, it works better this way.
  • The ratio usually depends on the projects, especially if a Team is taking more than one project at a time.
• One Scrum Master for three or more Teams:
• • If the Scrum Master has two Teams that are pretty mature, and one that needs more help, it might be possible to be the support for the three Teams.
  • If it is only very temporary a Scrum Master could take more than three Teams; it will be very wearing on the Scrum Master, it is not a healthy situation but is something that could be done if there are strategic reasons to do so.
  • It is not a recommended scenario.
• What can go wrong if the Scrum Master is overloaded?
• • Lack of focus. Every Team has different needs, so it will be hard to balance and give the same attention to all Teams.
  • The Scrum Master’s morale can be affected.
  • The health of the Team can be affected since they are not getting the support they need.

Mentioned in this Episode:

“The Scrum Master Checklist,” by Michael James.

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This week, Dan Neumann is joined by two external guests today: Sarah Skillman and Mary Demain, both SEAM experts and Agile practitioners.

In this episode, Dan, Sarah, and Mary are talking about SEAM (Socio-Economic Approach to Management) and how leadership is the key to Agility. Sarah and Mary share their extensive knowledge and experience working with SEAM, helping organizations identify the dysfunctions that are causing problems in their systems, and guiding them towards more efficient ways of operating, considering the social and financial aspects involved as both crucial and interconnected.

Key Takeaways

• What is SEAM and how is it different from other approaches?
• • SEAM is a different way to lead and manage organizations.
  • Other approaches follow paradigms that are more than 100 years old.
  • “Socio-economic” means that these aspects are considered as a priority, neither of them exists without the other.
  • SEAM works starting from the management system and follows with the other sectors of the organization. The process begins by identifying the hidden causes and what needs to be improved.
• SEAM focuses on outcomes and cost savings.
• • Sarah shares an example of a company that was wasting a lot of time and effort without knowing they could negotiate the process and obtain more benefit for the company and its people.
  • Remember that people want to help and collaborate; they just need an opportunity.
  • SEAM pays attention to cultural norms.
• How does SEAM approach culture change and transformation?
• • SEAM aims to remove the dysfunctions that slow people down in a company.
  • SEAM is an approach, not a quick fix.
• What is the liminal space?
• • The liminal space is where people are when they are changing from one place to another. It is certainly an uncomfortable place to be, but also inevitable when intended to grow, since it is where human potential is realized.
  • People first experience the liminal space individually and then do it collectively.
• SEAM starts at the top since only leaders can model the behavior they want to see in others.
• Every person is part of a system. How does SEAM help people appreciate the complexity of the system?
• • Agility is a wholeness to change and SEAM is a whole system changed.
  • Every time you change the system, dysfunctions are created, and for every dysfunction, there is a cause.
  • Six tasks every company has to tackle:
  • • Working conditions.
    • Work organization.
    • Time management
    • Collaborate, communicate, and cooperate.
    • Integrative training.
    • Implementation of strategy. 
  • During the SEAM process, people are asked about what is not going well in each of these areas, and later the root causes are identified. After this first stage, the future is assessed while looking for possible solutions to those dysfunctions.
• Sarah and Mary address the “frozen middle.”
• • Everybody involved in the organizational change needs to know about the purpose of that change.
  • Interventions, training, and coaching are parts of the SEAM process.

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Reengineering Alternative, by William Schneider

The SEAM Institute

Socio-Economic Approach to Management: Steering Organizations into the Future, by Alla Heorhiadi and John Conbere

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This week, Dan Neumann is joined by Adam Ulery to explore the topic of scaled approaches independent of embracing an industry framework. In this episode, Dan and Adam are discussing scaling without adopting an Agile framework like SAFe. They share the reasons organizations use industry frameworks to scale, dive deep into the characteristics of SAFe and other frameworks, and describe the principles that need to be prioritized while scaling, such as Clarity of Vision, Goal Alignment, Frequent Delivery of Value, Planning and Coordination, and Transparency.

Key Takeaways

• SAFe is the most popular Agile framework for leading enterprises because it works; it's trusted, customizable, and sustainable.
• Why do people want to use an industry framework to start with?
• • People choose an industry framework to start with because they recognize and feel familiar with something that is out there in the market.
  • There is a script to follow, so people don’t have to think about the complicated parts; it is already done for them.
• When to look for another scaling framework that is not SAFe?
• • When the scaling framework doesn’t work for the client, based on where they are at the moment.
  • Dan and Adam share an example to describe the situation where certain frameworks would not be of use.
  • The model can’t be against the organizational structure.
• Principles around how an organization can scale:
• • Clarity of Vision: Make sure there is a good vision for the groups that are involved in the change, clearly expressing the purpose and goal behind the everyday work.
  • Goal Alignment: Capture the vision and create an alignment of goals that promotes it.
  • Aligning strategy to execution is an enormous tool.
  • Frequent Delivery of Value: Teams learn by delivering value and receiving feedback, which helps coordinating and planning the next step.
  • Transparency: Practicing transparency is key in a scaling process, especially when things get more complicated.
  • Technologies involved in scaling must be aligned; coherence is crucial.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Back Mechanic, by Dr. Stuart McGill

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind, Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

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This week, Dan Neumann is diving deep into the topic of psychological safety, inspired by a couple of articles that got his special attention (references below). Dan is sharing in today’s episode the definition of psychological safety, its link to diversity in Teams and innovation, as well as some specific ways to foster psychological safety as the number one prerequisite for a successful Team.

Key Takeaways

• What is psychological safety?
• • Psychological safety is a shared belief that the members of a team won’t be rejected or embarrassed for speaking up with their ideas, questions, or concerns.
• Bresman and Edmondson present research that supports that diversity on a team is linked to a better outcome.
• • This research explores the bond between diversity and psychological safety, implying that more diverse teams are going to have better ideas and outcomes than teams that are less diverse.
  • From the research, they found that diverse teams tend to be a little lower on performance than more homogeneous teams.
  • They also differentiated from highly diverse teams that had high psychological safety and those that did not have it. This first group outperformed by a meaningful degree both the diverse teams that didn’t have psychological safety and also low diversity to homogeneous teams.
  • Meeting with the purpose of finding root causes can feel a lot like blame, and blame is one of the behaviors that destroy psychological safety. Transform meetings into opportunities to share information.
  • Seek information! Don’t assume you know. Choose open versus closed-ended questions.
• In his article, Timothy Clark uses the term dialogic process to explore how Teams harness intellectual friction and navigate their interdepending work.
• • If there is a lack of psychological safety, individuals are going to censor each other or result in self-censoring behavior which prevents a highly collaborative atmosphere in a Team.
  • High psychological safety promotes innovation as a goal while a lack of it produces fear as a response and survival as the goal.
  • Clark frames Agile as a culture implementation, bringing the Agile values into practice.
  • Small and seemingly insignificant acts of disrespect, indifference, and rudeness can push a Team back into withdrawal and personal risk management.
  • Clark also shares four steps to work in a Scrum Team to continue to foster psychological safety.
• Ways to promote psychological safety at work:
• • Google has identified five dynamics in successful Teams and the number one prerequisite is psychological safety. The second is dependability, in third place are structure and clarity, fourth is the meaning of the work, and lastly, the members of the Team have to fundamentally believe that the work they do matters.

Mentioned in this Episode:

“Exploring Psychological Safety and Danger with Ola Tunde”

“Agile Doesn’t Work Without Psychological Safety,” by Timothy R. Clark

“Research: To Excel, Diverse Teams Need Psychological Safety,” Henrik Bresman and Amy C. Edmondson

“The five keys to a successful Google team,” by Julia Rozovsky

“8 ways to create psychological safety in the workplace,” by Greg Barnett, Ph.D.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip Heath

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, by Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, and Kerry Patterson

Multiple Explanation: A Consider-an-Alternative Strategy for Debiasing Judgments, Edward R. Hirt and Keith D. Markman

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

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This week, Dan Neumann, your host, is sharing what he has learned from his continuous learning journey that brought him to acting classes several months ago and that now involves him getting a part as an actor in a play. Dan learned from his acting classes a lot of wisdom that can also be applied to Agility and in the delivery of value to the organization and he is sharing it in today’s episode.

Key Takeaways

 ● Role clarity is crucial.

○ Expectations are related to the role you are playing.

○ Not every decision has to be made by consensus. Not everyone on the Team must agree.

○ There’s a time and a place for people to share ideas.

○ Ask permission to share feedback, and make sure you are invited in.

● Embrace the fact that estimations and plans will change.

○ Your estimate is always going to be wrong.

● What can you do to make sure you are prepared to bring your whole self to the work?

○ How does your individual performance affect the whole team?

● Personal accountability:

○ Who is responsible for what?

○ Know your part but also don’t ignore the others’ accountabilities

• Ask questions if you need clarification.

○ Advocate for your own needs: What do you need to be successful?

● Transitions:

○ Reflect and think through the transitions to improve them.

○ What are the triggers for change?

● Risk assessing:

○ How can you forecast risks? You can’t eliminate risk. Things will go wrong, and you will need to adjust in time.

● Take care of people.

○ People are not resources; we are complicated and our emotional and physical needs have to be contemplated.

○ Let people know what is coming; uncertainty is uncomfortable.

○ Be clear about starting with an ending in mind.

○ Reach out to your people, be supportive, check how they are doing.

• • Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

• • Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com!

• • Email your thoughts or suggestions to [email protected] or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!