Agile Coaches' Corner

In this episode, Dan Neumann is joined by a frequent guest of his and AgileThought colleague, Quincy Jordan! Quincy is a Principal Transformation Consultant and has been with AgileThought for almost three years.

Together, they will be exploring when things are going so well that you just don’t notice that there are problems bubbling beneath the surface. They address what kind of problems show up when teams become complacent due to things going so well, how to spot these problems (and address them) before they start, and how to differentiate between when things are going “so well that you don’t notice” and actually being on the right path.

Key Takeaways

The problems that arise when things are going so well that you don’t notice that they’re not:

When a Scrum Master is doing super well in their role, those outside the team or the leaders in the organization begin to question if they really need the role

However, if you remove that Scrum Master when the team is doing great and maturing well, things will continue in a downwards trajectory (the same way a car does when a tire goes flat)

It’s the classic scenario of “you’ve done your job too well” and others don’t realize how valuable and important that is

Sometimes the role of Scrum Master role is switched up or rotated in a way that doesn’t fully fill it and the wheels eventually fall off

When things are going well those who suffer from a hero complex lose the opportunity to be the hero anymore —  this can lead to situations such as:

When developers have an abnormal tolerance for tech debt (i.e. they are not paying as much attention to the quality of code or adhering to standards that are good for the team, which creates an abnormal amount of bugs that the team has to fix. Then, said developer jumps in as the hero)

I.e. Firefighters lighting fires to put them out

When things are going well there can be a tendency to start to question roles and processes (such as the Scrum Master role and the processes and organizational support that are in place to support the team/s)

When things are questioned, it can affect not only the team/s, but it also affects the organization as a whole

Both the team/s and the organization can become complacent if things are working so well

How to avoid getting trapped in this way of thinking:

Leadership should be constantly assessing whether or not they’re providing the right types of problems to solve

The team should be asking themselves if they’re looking at the right problems to solve

Is the team properly considering Horizons Two and Three if they are beginning to go down the path of the Three Horizons model?

Shift from “How much faster can the teams go?” and “How much more stuff can they deliver?” to “Are we delivering the right capabilities?”, “Are we delivering things customers want?”, and “Are we continuing to experiment and innovate?”

The wrong question is: “Can we get even more out of this team?” The right question is: “Can we make sure that we’re providing them with the right problems to solve?”; “Where can we, from a leadership standpoint, give more guidance to increase business value?”

How to differentiate between a mature and a complacent team:

Though they can sometimes look the same on the surface, a very complacent team will have far more carry-over stories than a mature team

Ask: ‘How well has this team challenged themselves in terms of their own velocity?’ and ‘Are they taking it upon themselves?’ A more mature team would exhibit these types of these behaviors as opposed to a complacent team

A more mature team makes time for continuous improvement and retrospectives whereas complacent teams make them cut them out or make them shorter

Mature teams dig deep and find opportunities to improve

Mature teams look below the surface and think more critically

Mentioned in this Episode:

Quincy Jordan

AgileThought Careers

Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 101: “Are Scrum Masters Expendable?”

Three Horizons by McKinsey & Company

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs, by John Doerr

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 you’re in for a treat (or trick)! It’s the Agile Coaches’ Corner special Halloween edition episode! Joining Dan for this spooktacular episode is frequent guest host, Sam Falco. Together, they will be exploring the Scrum treehouse of horrors!

Throughout their careers, both Dan and Sam have both experienced their fair share of horrific Scrum experiences. So, what better way to spend Halloween than to share some bone-chilling Scrum horror stories? From failing your sprint goal to poor planning and beyond, come join Dan and Sam by the campfire to hear some Scrum horror stories that will leave you shaking!

Key Takeaways

Bone-chilling Scrum horror stories:

A team that is not allowed to plan correctly

A team that doesn’t understand the concept of the sprint goal being different from the sprint scope

Failing your sprint goal!

Planning a sprint to 100% capacity and then getting a new request by a customer last minute (which leads to a spiral of frustration, bad morale, inability to deliver, and eventually, a huge quality problem)

When a team can’t cut scope and can’t cut time so they cut corners

Disrupted work which causes bugs to begin to be let through

When Scrum becomes a mechanism for developer abuse instead of a tool for the team/s to manage their work and deliver a higher return on investment

Hearing: “I thought Scrum was just a way of churning through requirements in two-week sprints.”

A bad culture built off ego and pressure

A manager that berates the team and tries to control them through power and fear

A manager that disrupts the team and creates a toxic environment with poor morale

A system based on fear with an emphasis on simply wanting to “look good” and not in supporting a culture of safety

Waterfalling through an 18-sprint project (with this, there is no room for improvement, adaptation, and iteration; the team/s can’t experiment their way to a valuable outcome because they’re simply being given a list of tasks to accomplish rather than being able to use their imagination and creativity to solve cool problems)

Not to fear about these Scrum horror stories — there’s still hope!

In most cases, a project is never unrecoverable; You can start building trust with stakeholders with just a little bit of openness (and by making sure to not point fingers or cast blame)

Honesty breeds more honesty — be as honest and transparent as possible!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Dark Scrum — Ron Jeffries

Live AgileThought Community Event: “Agile Heard Around the World” with Special Guests — Oct. 29th

Challenger: The Final Flight (2020 Series, Netflix)Theranos

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 you’re in for a treat (or trick)! It’s the Agile Coaches’ Corner special Halloween edition episode! Joining Dan for this spooktacular episode is frequent guest host, Sam Falco. Together, they will be exploring the Scrum treehouse of horrors!

Throughout their careers, both Dan and Sam have both experienced their fair share of horrific Scrum experiences. So, what better way to spend Halloween than to share some bone-chilling Scrum horror stories? From failing your sprint goal to poor planning and beyond, come join Dan and Sam by the campfire to hear some Scrum horror stories that will leave you shaking!

Key Takeaways

Bone-chilling Scrum horror stories:

A team that is not allowed to plan correctly

A team that doesn’t understand the concept of the sprint goal being different from the sprint scope

Failing your sprint goal!

Planning a sprint to 100% capacity and then getting a new request by a customer last minute (which leads to a spiral of frustration, bad morale, inability to deliver, and eventually, a huge quality problem)

When a team can’t cut scope and can’t cut time so they cut corners

Disrupted work which causes bugs to begin to be let through

When Scrum becomes a mechanism for developer abuse instead of a tool for the team/s to manage their work and deliver a higher return on investment

Hearing: “I thought Scrum was just a way of churning through requirements in two-week sprints.”

A bad culture built off ego and pressure

A manager that berates the team and tries to control them through power and fear

A manager that disrupts the team and creates a toxic environment with poor morale

A system based on fear with an emphasis on simply wanting to “look good” and not in supporting a culture of safety

Waterfalling through an 18-sprint project (with this, there is no room for improvement, adaptation, and iteration; the team/s can’t experiment their way to a valuable outcome because they’re simply being given a list of tasks to accomplish rather than being able to use their imagination and creativity to solve cool problems)

Not to fear about these Scrum horror stories — there’s still hope!

In most cases, a project is never unrecoverable; You can start building trust with stakeholders with just a little bit of openness (and by making sure to not point fingers or cast blame)

Honesty breeds more honesty — be as honest and transparent as possible!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Dark Scrum — Ron Jeffries

Live AgileThought Community Event: “Agile Heard Around the World” with Special Guests — Oct. 29th

Challenger: The Final Flight (2020 Series, Netflix)
Theranos

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!

Joining Dan today is his colleague and collaborator, Sam Falco, to discuss whether or not Scrum Masters are expendable. Is it possible for things to be running so smoothly that you’re working yourself out of a job as a Scrum Master? Is there anything left for a Scrum Master to do once best practices become team culture, the team is self-sufficient, and the organization reaches a high level of performance? Why or why not should an organization keep a Scrum Master around? How does the role evolve over time? Tune in as Sam and Dan answer all of these questions and more on this week’s episode!

Key Takeaways

• Can or should a Scrum Master be trying to “work themselves out of a job”?
• • The idea that they can work themselves out of a job is an inherently flawed concept as it arises from the common misconception that they’re only a team coach
  • A Scrum Master can always serve an organization (as there is no such thing as 100% perfection; the goal post is constantly moving/evolving)
  • Sports analogy: If a team is doing really well, you don’t fire the coach! The same goes for Scrum (you still need the Scrum Master to keep the team and organization at a high-level and help finetune their performance)
• Why is a Scrum Master necessary?
• • To help the team and organization continually improve (there is no ultimate level of performance)
  • What is perfect now, may change — there is no pinnacle; there is always room for improvement
  • If you reach a plateau, more experiments need to be conducted and other areas need to be examined
  • Even if everything seems perfect, it is important to stay on top of things and continue retrospectives, etc.

• Qualities of a high-performing Scrum Master that delivers continuous improvement and value to the team and organization:
• • Help the entire organization embrace empiricism in what it’s doing; not just team development
  • Make decisions based on sound data (through transparency, inspection, and adaptation)
  • Teach about empiricism with the Product Owner, finding better ways to refine the product backlog, experiments to run, etc.

• • Help the whole organization improve; not just the team
  • Value outcomes rather than output
  • Make sure that the whole organization is living the Agile values and Scrum principles
  • Help the team and organization resolve problems themselves and remove impediments
  • Don’t trade efficiencies for throughput (a bit of slack in efficiency is actually beneficial for higher throughput)
  • Know that in any complex endeavor, there are many variables and you will never get everything correct; situations always change, so be sure to not be overly optimized and be willing to adjust and adapt
• How does a Scrum Master’s role evolve over time?
• • Through innovation, experimentation, and creating new best practices
  • Always have something to do, reevaluate, and ask yourself, “How can I be of service? How can I help? What can I do that’s useful?”
  • Look at the overall system and figure out hidden/less obvious impediments
  • Always find opportunities to further optimize within an organization
  • Always find new ways to deliver value

Mentioned in this Episode:

Live AgileThought Community Event: “Agile Heard Around the World” with Special Guests — Oct. 29th

Peerfit

Cynefin Framework

The Age of Agile: How Smart Companies Are Transforming the Way Work Gets Done, by Stephen Denning

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt  and Jeff Cox

Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees 

Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling, by Edgar Schein

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!

Joining Dan today is his colleague and collaborator, Sam Falco, to discuss whether or not Scrum Masters are expendable. Is it possible for things to be running so smoothly that you’re working yourself out of a job as a Scrum Master? Is there anything left for a Scrum Master to do once best practices become team culture, the team is self-sufficient, and the organization reaches a high level of performance? Why or why not should an organization keep a Scrum Master around? How does the role evolve over time? Tune in as Sam and Dan answer all of these questions and more on this week’s episode!

Key Takeaways

• Can or should a Scrum Master be trying to “work themselves out of a job”?
• • The idea that they can work themselves out of a job is an inherently flawed concept as it arises from the common misconception that they’re only a team coach
  • A Scrum Master can always serve an organization (as there is no such thing as 100% perfection; the goal post is constantly moving/evolving)
  • Sports analogy: If a team is doing really well, you don’t fire the coach! The same goes for Scrum (you still need the Scrum Master to keep the team and organization at a high-level and help finetune their performance)
• Why is a Scrum Master necessary?
• • To help the team and organization continually improve (there is no ultimate level of performance)
  • What is perfect now, may change — there is no pinnacle; there is always room for improvement
  • If you reach a plateau, more experiments need to be conducted and other areas need to be examined
  • Even if everything seems perfect, it is important to stay on top of things and continue retrospectives, etc.

• Qualities of a high-performing Scrum Master that delivers continuous improvement and value to the team and organization:
• • Help the entire organization embrace empiricism in what it’s doing; not just team development
  • Make decisions based on sound data (through transparency, inspection, and adaptation)
  • Teach about empiricism with the Product Owner, finding better ways to refine the product backlog, experiments to run, etc.

• • Help the whole organization improve; not just the team
  • Value outcomes rather than output
  • Make sure that the whole organization is living the Agile values and Scrum principles
  • Help the team and organization resolve problems themselves and remove impediments
  • Don’t trade efficiencies for throughput (a bit of slack in efficiency is actually beneficial for higher throughput)
  • Know that in any complex endeavor, there are many variables and you will never get everything correct; situations always change, so be sure to not be overly optimized and be willing to adjust and adapt
• How does a Scrum Master’s role evolve over time?
• • Through innovation, experimentation, and creating new best practices
  • Always have something to do, reevaluate, and ask yourself, “How can I be of service? How can I help? What can I do that’s useful?”
  • Look at the overall system and figure out hidden/less obvious impediments
  • Always find opportunities to further optimize within an organization
  • Always find new ways to deliver value

Mentioned in this Episode:

Live AgileThought Community Event: “Agile Heard Around the World” with Special Guests — Oct. 29th

Peerfit

Cynefin Framework

The Age of Agile: How Smart Companies Are Transforming the Way Work Gets Done, by Stephen Denning

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt  and Jeff Cox

Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds, by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees 

Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling, by Edgar Schein

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!

Ed Buckley is the CEO of Peerfit, a company that creates a streamlined way for people to connect their health dollars with fitness experiences people actually want to use. When COVID-19 hit, the company underwent a large restructuring process. Because of the unknown nature of the virus, the company needed something that could provide structure but allowed for flexibility later down the road. This is why Ed decided to work with AgileThought and consultant Christy Erbeck.

In this episode, both Ed and Christy share their 90-day reflections on how agile has worked for Peerfit and what it looks like when decisions are made within teams and not from a sole leader. Ed himself shares how this restructuring has freed him up to think about the future of the company and how the 90-plus employees within the organization are managing the agile framework.

Key Takeaways

How AgileThought and Agile are applied in a business setting.

What gets you here doesn’t get you there. This year you were forced to take a different approach.

Christy, as an outsider, had to come in and really take a top-down approach to see where there was a duplication of efforts and how to streamline Peerfit more effectively.

Ed had to reduce his staff by a significant amount due to COVID-19, he was going to lose some key players and needed to adopt a more “fluid” approach in discussion making.

When you empower your people, you move faster.

Reflections on how Agile has helped Ed’s business

Ed feels free and can choose what actions to be involved with vs. letting his team handle it.

Ed now has the opportunity to look forward instead of being stuck in his business and being the central point for making all the company’s decisions.

Before, the company had very cleared departments or silos. AKA, the sales team, the account management team, etc. Now, they have three North-star teams and each team is attached to one north-star goal.

How Peerfit restructured their team

It was a messy process trying to figure out who should be on what team.

Some team members were afraid that if they weren’t put on the ‘right’ team, they didn’t feel part of the organization.

It is definitely a work in progress. However, Ed set up slack channels to help address concerns and keep people within the organization informed on upcoming changes.

Clear communication has been key to helping everyone feel at ease and understanding who is on what team.

In the beginning, the AgileThought team gave Peerfit a couple of options that they could implement and the pros and cons of each one.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Peerfit.com

Ed Buckley (LinkedIn)

Christy Erbeck (LinkedIn)

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!

Ed Buckley is the CEO of Peerfit, a company that creates a streamlined way for people to connect their health dollars with fitness experiences people actually want to use. When COVID-19 hit, the company underwent a large restructuring process. Because of the unknown nature of the virus, the company needed something that could provide structure but allowed for flexibility later down the road. This is why Ed decided to work with AgileThought and consultant Christy Erbeck.

In this episode, both Ed and Christy share their 90-day reflections on how agile has worked for Peerfit and what it looks like when decisions are made within teams and not from a sole leader. Ed himself shares how this restructuring has freed him up to think about the future of the company and how the 90-plus employees within the organization are managing the agile framework.

Key Takeaways

How AgileThought and Agile are applied in a business setting.

What gets you here doesn’t get you there. This year you were forced to take a different approach.

Christy, as an outsider, had to come in and really take a top-down approach to see where there was a duplication of efforts and how to streamline Peerfit more effectively.

Ed had to reduce his staff by a significant amount due to COVID-19, he was going to lose some key players and needed to adopt a more “fluid” approach in discussion making.

When you empower your people, you move faster.

Reflections on how Agile has helped Ed’s business

Ed feels free and can choose what actions to be involved with vs. letting his team handle it.

Ed now has the opportunity to look forward instead of being stuck in his business and being the central point for making all the company’s decisions.

Before, the company had very cleared departments or silos. AKA, the sales team, the account management team, etc. Now, they have three North-star teams and each team is attached to one north-star goal.

How Peerfit restructured their team

It was a messy process trying to figure out who should be on what team.

Some team members were afraid that if they weren’t put on the ‘right’ team, they didn’t feel part of the organization.

It is definitely a work in progress. However, Ed set up slack channels to help address concerns and keep people within the organization informed on upcoming changes.

Clear communication has been key to helping everyone feel at ease and understanding who is on what team.

In the beginning, the AgileThought team gave Peerfit a couple of options that they could implement and the pros and cons of each one.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Peerfit.com

Ed Buckley (LinkedIn)

Christy Erbeck (LinkedIn)

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!

Dan is excited today to be joined by his guest, Simon Holzapfel. Simon is the founder and Executive Director of Copper Beech & Company, where they provide financial literacy for high net worth families. He is also an educator, agilist, and learning innovator. He has dedicated his entire adult life to equipping young adults with the knowledge and skills they require to work, think, and live well.

In this episode, they will be exploring the topic of the Teal movement, Agile organizations, and education during the pandemic. Simon thoroughly explains what the Teal movement is, why it is important, and what it looks like when applied to a variety of organizations. He also shares about a unique project he is a part of and what they’re doing to bring authentic agile to the world.

Key Takeaways

What is the Teal movement?

A reference narrative for how the world of work is, how it has evolved, and where it is going

It is a navigation tool to understand how you can achieve the next level

Laloux (the founder of the movement) proposes that there is a concentric circle to how organizations have developed over time

Red: Command authority, division of labor, power, fear, and chaos (examples: street gangs, mafia, tribal militias)

Yellow: Hierarchy, stability, control, formal roles, long-term perspective (examples: traditional churches, governments, public schools)

Orange: Competition, accountability, meritocracy, objectives, profit (examples: public universities, large corporations)

Green: Delight customers, shared values, engagement, stakeholder balance, culture over strategy, empower (examples: Ben & Jerry’s, Southwest Airlines) — This is where agility tends to live right now

Teal: The next iteration of agility into antifragile organizations, built around higher purpose, self-management, distributed decision-making, wholeness, and evolutionary purpose

Laloux is not saying other colors other than teal is bad; he is saying that all of the other colors are instrumental and getting to where we are now — but they’re cruft

Laloux recommends, as a society, we shed these other colors as best as we can

Recommended further reading: Reinventing Organizations, by Frédéric Laloux

Where this movement connects to different organizations:

Teal education: Students are encouraged to ‘pull’ information into their lives rather than be pushed into learning (Examples: eduScrum, Montessori education)

Teal manufacturing: self-organization, teams pulling in work (as opposed to work being pushed on to them), and bringing your whole self to work (Examples: Morning Star, Buurtzorg)

What Teal organizations look like/involve:

A healthy bottom line

They are incredibly efficient at generating value

Employees are far more productive because they are listened to, encouraged, and engaged

They foster more active engagement which, in turn, creates better results and outcomes

It’s not about no rules or no structures; it is simply a different set of principles (by and large, the agile mindset)

Involves intent-based leadership

Trust is incredibly important — without it, everything will fall apart

Everything is visible and transparent (visibility is the trust builder)

The leaders or teachers create a feedback-rich environment so that the employees/students can learn quickly

About the BU Agile Innovation Lab:

The goal: Bring authentic agile to the world (including college students by meeting them where they are with the interests that they have)

They want to complement schools and not compete with them

They are striving to create a more open ‘meta’ that creates more equity

Authentic agility + trying to introduce more Teal structures

Mentioned in this Episode:

Simon Holzapfel’s LinkedIn

Teal Model (Image)

Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, by Frédéric Laloux

Boston University Agile Innovation Lab: Agile in Education Conference (Oct. 23rd–24th)

Morning Star

Buurtzorg

Montessori Education

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by David Marquet

Willy Wijnands | eduScrum

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!

Dan is excited today to be joined by his guest, Simon Holzapfel. Simon is the founder and Executive Director of Copper Beech & Company, where they provide financial literacy for high net worth families. He is also an educator, agilist, and learning innovator. He has dedicated his entire adult life to equipping young adults with the knowledge and skills they require to work, think, and live well.

In this episode, they will be exploring the topic of the Teal movement, Agile organizations, and education during the pandemic. Simon thoroughly explains what the Teal movement is, why it is important, and what it looks like when applied to a variety of organizations. He also shares about a unique project he is a part of and what they’re doing to bring authentic agile to the world.

Key Takeaways

What is the Teal movement?

A reference narrative for how the world of work is, how it has evolved, and where it is going

It is a navigation tool to understand how you can achieve the next level

Laloux (the founder of the movement) proposes that there is a concentric circle to how organizations have developed over time

Red: Command authority, division of labor, power, fear, and chaos (examples: street gangs, mafia, tribal militias)

Yellow: Hierarchy, stability, control, formal roles, long-term perspective (examples: traditional churches, governments, public schools)

Orange: Competition, accountability, meritocracy, objectives, profit (examples: public universities, large corporations)

Green: Delight customers, shared values, engagement, stakeholder balance, culture over strategy, empower (examples: Ben & Jerry’s, Southwest Airlines) — This is where agility tends to live right now

Teal: The next iteration of agility into antifragile organizations, built around higher purpose, self-management, distributed decision-making, wholeness, and evolutionary purpose

Laloux is not saying other colors other than teal is bad; he is saying that all of the other colors are instrumental and getting to where we are now — but they’re cruft

Laloux recommends, as a society, we shed these other colors as best as we can

Recommended further reading: Reinventing Organizations, by Frédéric Laloux

Where this movement connects to different organizations:

Teal education: Students are encouraged to ‘pull’ information into their lives rather than be pushed into learning (Examples: eduScrum, Montessori education)

Teal manufacturing: self-organization, teams pulling in work (as opposed to work being pushed on to them), and bringing your whole self to work (Examples: Morning Star, Buurtzorg)

What Teal organizations look like/involve:

A healthy bottom line

They are incredibly efficient at generating value

Employees are far more productive because they are listened to, encouraged, and engaged

They foster more active engagement which, in turn, creates better results and outcomes

It’s not about no rules or no structures; it is simply a different set of principles (by and large, the agile mindset)

Involves intent-based leadership

Trust is incredibly important — without it, everything will fall apart

Everything is visible and transparent (visibility is the trust builder)

The leaders or teachers create a feedback-rich environment so that the employees/students can learn quickly

About the BU Agile Innovation Lab:

The goal: Bring authentic agile to the world (including college students by meeting them where they are with the interests that they have)

They want to complement schools and not compete with them

They are striving to create a more open ‘meta’ that creates more equity

Authentic agility + trying to introduce more Teal structures

Mentioned in this Episode:

Simon Holzapfel’s LinkedIn

Teal Model (Image)

Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, by Frédéric Laloux

Boston University Agile Innovation Lab: Agile in Education Conference (Oct. 23rd–24th)

Morning Star

Buurtzorg

Montessori Education

Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by David Marquet

Willy Wijnands | eduScrum

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 his co-host and collaborator, Sam Falco, to discuss the topic of professional Scrum.

What does professional Scrum refer to? What is professionalism? What does a professional Scrum Master look like? What does it look like to practice Scrum professionally through principles and values laid out in The Scrum Guide? What does professionalism look like on a Scrum team? Sam and Dan answer all of these questions and more in this episode!

Key Takeaways

What does professional Scrum refer to?

Ken Schwaber’s definition: “A professional is someone who works for money and follows the rules established for the profession. Professionals act and work according to standards where they exist. They also embrace and embody a set of ethical principles established by their profession.”

Adhering to the rules set forth in The Scrum Guide

The Scrum values fulfill the role of the “ethical principles” in the software development industry

A mindset of professionalism and a commitment to a certain set of standards

An emphasis on communication and empathy between business and development (so that you can ensure that you are delivering what the customer actually wants and can use)

Professionalism includes really understanding why you’re doing the things that you are doing

Examples of professionalism:

If you are shooting to release a product to end customers by a certain date, how do you use the Scrum events, the sprint planning, the daily Scrum, and the sprint review within the sprint timebox to make sure that you’re on track?

In the sprint review, identify which adjustments and decisions are needed, and iterate

Important notes about doing Scrum professionally through The Scrum Guide:

It’s not just about having the roles, artifacts, and events in place; you also need to be cognizant of the rules that bind these three things together

Commit each sprint (as a team) to a goal, not a scope

When a sprint goal is a laundry list of things to do it can become overwhelming — it is much better to commit to a goal and negotiate your scope as you go throughout the sprint

Focus on delivering on the goal; delivering on the value

It is important that the organization gives the Scrum team(s) space to be professional

“Professionalism is not just for the Scrum team, just as the Scrum values are not just for the Scrum team; they’re for the organization to live and make space for.”

The responsibilities of a professional Scrum Master:

They are responsible for coaching the Product Owner, the team, and the organization on how to use Scrum in an effective way

The Scrum Master should not be a glorified administrator

The Scrum Master should be working with the entire organization to help it achieve business agility and valuable outcomes rather than just lots and lots of output

Look for ways in which the organization is inhibiting your team’s further growth and success

Look for the areas and opportunities in the organization for further agility

Aspects of professionalism on a Scrum team:

Strong collaboration (i.e. the Product Owner and the team need to collaborate, and the Scrum Master needs to collaborate with the team, the Product Owner, and the organization)

“What does it mean to be a professional Scrum developer?” It’s more than “I’ve got my work done”

The team should not be working siloed

At the daily Scrum, the team should be collaborating on the most effective thing to do that day to get closer to the sprint goal, figure out who needs help, and understand who’s doing what

Toward the end of the sprint when development work is winding down, it is important that developers are helping the test activities happen

“The development team is not just the people that are writing the code; it’s all of the people on the Scrum team that are needed to deliver that increment, aside from the Product Owner and the Scrum Master.”

It is important to find the balance between being a “busybody” and being a “T-shaped person”

A healthy team spirit is vital

Reduncies in skill sets of team members are incredibly valuable

Being open to learning new things beyond your expertise and having the intellectual curiosity to step outside of your role makes for a healthy, well-rounded team

Mentioned in this Episode:

The lawsuit between Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc.

Scrum Alliance

Scrum Inc.

Ken Schwaber

Mastering Professional Scrum: A Practitioner’s Guide to Overcoming Challenges and Maximizing the Benefits of Agility, by Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl

The Scrum Guide

Arcade Perfect: How Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, and Other Coin-Op Classics Invaded the Living Room, by David L. Craddock and Milan Jaram

Eric Landes

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