Agile Coaches' Corner

In this episode, Dan Neumann is joined by not one — but two! — AgileThought Colleagues; Quincy Jordan and Christy Erbeck!

 

In their conversation today, Dan, Quincy, and Christy discuss the key qualities to look for when bringing a new Scrum Master into your organization. They discuss the important characteristics you should be on the lookout for, the key skillsets, important soft skills, and some of the qualifiers (and disqualifiers!). They also share what to pay attention to when hiring, red flags to watch out for, and insightful questions you can ask during the interview process to make sure they’re a good fit.

 

Key Takeaways

What to consider when beginning to look for a Scrum Master:

Key characteristics

Skillsets

Soft skills

Qualifiers and disqualifiers

Good qualities:

Humbleness — they focus on the betterment of the team rather than shining the limelight on themselves

They are a servant leader

A capacity to focus on the strengths of others

A good balance of leadership and humility

Open to feedback

They have a growth mindset

They are a learner; not a knower

They come from a place of curiosity vs. judgment

What to pay attention to when hiring:

They understand the five Scrum values

Mastery of the Scrum guide

They are staying up-to-date on the Scrum framework

They purposefully model the behaviors and values of Scrum

Listen to how they use their words; i.e. are they phrasing from a competitive standpoint or a collaborative standpoint? Are they phrasing from a comparative standpoint or an inclusion standpoint?

They should have stories and anecdotes of how they have applied the Scrum guide in real life

They should take on the role of a Maestro rather than a ‘Master’

In the interview process, identify how they apply values, think through problems, and how they recover and ‘rise strong’ from a failure

If they don’t have any certifications, inquire why that is and how they have self-taught

If they do have certifications, ask when they received them and what they have done with them since

Ask how they are participating in the agile community in their area

Disqualifiers:

Humility to the point where they are not actually leading anything

Having too much knowledge and have a hard time pulling their weight from their own experience/knowledge and not allow the team to determine the ‘how’ for themselves

They are not open to self-evaluation or evaluation from others

They have a fixed mindset

They are a knower; not a learner

Misconceptions:

Do not assume that you can take all of your project managers and turn them into Scrum Masters

“We need a very technical person to be a Scrum Master” — untrue; in many cases, a less technical person makes a better Scrum Master

 

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!

Today on the podcast, Dan Neumann and Christy Erbeck are discussing how to lead in times of crisis and come out of it stronger than ever.

 

As a leader, it is critically important to take care of yourself during crises to be able to lead others through them, as well. In this episode, Christy shares her tips for leading through crisis, key strategies leaders can begin to implement, and how to cultivate a healthy work environment for everyone involved.

 

Key Takeaways

Christy’s tips for leaders, leading in a time of crisis:

Use it as a time to reflect on where you are now and where you want to be on the other side of it all

Take time to process your emotions and lead from a place of truth

Lead by example; take care of yourself and work at a sustainable pace while encouraging the rest of the team

Transparency is key — be transparent about where you are, as a team, as an organization, and in relation to the difficult decisions you’ve had to make to survive the crisis (transparency offers the opportunity for growth and building trust within the organization)

Understand your audience in your approach with being transparent; it is important to care for the person receiving the information

Going hand-in-hand with transparency, it is also critical to communicate (and the need for communication exponentially rises, the greater the crisis)

Meaningful, intentional communication and on-going dialogue between the employee and the leader (or the team and the team members) is critically important for minimizing the stories they may be telling themselves when there is a gap in communication or lack of communication

Connect in a meaningful way with your employees vs. walking away or being silent

Authenticity is critically important in leading through a crisis — it’s not about what you know; it’s about what you’re willing to learn

Do not defer taking action until the last possible moment

How to come out of a crisis stronger than ever with your team:

Delegate decision-making and allow other people to make decisions within a framework

Take pragmatic action

Ensure you are still meeting and talking about your longer-term strategy beyond COVID-19

Examine how to position your organization so that when you come out on the other side of COVID-19 you are attractive to the marketplace and your customers

Leverage OKRs

Apply an experimental mindset and conduct experiments (one way you could do this is to utilize Kanban boards)

Implement empirical process control

Cultivate a culture steeped in trust and forgiveness

Continual planning

Reach out to others as a leader so that you’re not making decisions in a vacuum and are leveraging other people’s expertise

Imagine what the leader that you most respect would do; how would they handle this situation? And how can you tap into this person’s expertise?

Make the time to reflect and gain perspective

Be courageous as a leader by being vulnerable

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Dave Ramsey Show

Brené Brown

“A Guide to OKRs,” KOAN

Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 5: “Exploring an Experimental Mindset with Adam Ulery”

“What is a Kanban Board?”

Small Business Administration (SBA)

SCORE — Service Corps of Retired Executives

Gartner

The Conference Board

Harvard Business Review

“Microsoft Analyzed Data on its Newly Remote Workforce,” Harvard Business Review

“Managing When the Future is Unclear,” Harvard Business Review

“Leadership in Times of Crisis,” American Psychological Association

“How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward,” Harvard Business Review

“The Downside of Flex Time,” Harvard Business Review

“The Reopening Challenge: 5 Tips for Getting Back to Business,” Inc.

“COVID-19 is Reshaping Business: 6 Tips for Coming Back Even Stronger,” Forbes

 

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!

Today on the podcast, Dan Neumann and Christy Erbeck are discussing how to lead in times of crisis and come out of it stronger than ever.

 

As a leader, it is critically important to take care of yourself during crises to be able to lead others through them, as well. In this episode, Christy shares her tips for leading through crisis, key strategies leaders can begin to implement, and how to cultivate a healthy work environment for everyone involved.

 

Key Takeaways

Christy’s tips for leaders, leading in a time of crisis:

Use it as a time to reflect on where you are now and where you want to be on the other side of it all

Take time to process your emotions and lead from a place of truth

Lead by example; take care of yourself and work at a sustainable pace while encouraging the rest of the team

Transparency is key — be transparent about where you are, as a team, as an organization, and in relation to the difficult decisions you’ve had to make to survive the crisis (transparency offers the opportunity for growth and building trust within the organization)

Understand your audience in your approach with being transparent; it is important to care for the person receiving the information

Going hand-in-hand with transparency, it is also critical to communicate (and the need for communication exponentially rises, the greater the crisis)

Meaningful, intentional communication and on-going dialogue between the employee and the leader (or the team and the team members) is critically important for minimizing the stories they may be telling themselves when there is a gap in communication or lack of communication

Connect in a meaningful way with your employees vs. walking away or being silent

Authenticity is critically important in leading through a crisis — it’s not about what you know; it’s about what you’re willing to learn

Do not defer taking action until the last possible moment

How to come out of a crisis stronger than ever with your team:

Delegate decision-making and allow other people to make decisions within a framework

Take pragmatic action

Ensure you are still meeting and talking about your longer-term strategy beyond COVID-19

Examine how to position your organization so that when you come out on the other side of COVID-19 you are attractive to the marketplace and your customers

Leverage OKRs

Apply an experimental mindset and conduct experiments (one way you could do this is to utilize Kanban boards)

Implement empirical process control

Cultivate a culture steeped in trust and forgiveness

Continual planning

Reach out to others as a leader so that you’re not making decisions in a vacuum and are leveraging other people’s expertise

Imagine what the leader that you most respect would do; how would they handle this situation? And how can you tap into this person’s expertise?

Make the time to reflect and gain perspective

Be courageous as a leader by being vulnerable

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Dave Ramsey Show

Brené Brown

“A Guide to OKRs,” KOAN

Agile Coaches’ Corner Ep. 5: “Exploring an Experimental Mindset with Adam Ulery”

“What is a Kanban Board?”

Small Business Administration (SBA)

SCORE — Service Corps of Retired Executives

Gartner

The Conference Board

Harvard Business Review

“Microsoft Analyzed Data on its Newly Remote Workforce,” Harvard Business Review

“Managing When the Future is Unclear,” Harvard Business Review

“Leadership in Times of Crisis,” American Psychological Association

“How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward,” Harvard Business Review

“The Downside of Flex Time,” Harvard Business Review

“The Reopening Challenge: 5 Tips for Getting Back to Business,” Inc.

“COVID-19 is Reshaping Business: 6 Tips for Coming Back Even Stronger,” Forbes

 

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!

In this episode, Professional Scrum Trainer Eric Landes addresses the questions: "Will the Professional Scrum Master Certification help me get a job as a Scrum Master?"

The Professional Scrum Master certification Bolsters your Credentials

Of course there is no guarantee of a job with a certification, but I believe it helps you have the intelligent conversations around scrum when you have the background from passing a certification in the Scrum framework. If you are already working in IT, one way to do bolster your chances for a job would be to take the class and go for the certification.  Then in your current job, use Scrum with your team, at any opportunity you have. 

Get Experience in the Scrum Master Role

If you can volunteer for other teams within your organization.  This will help you get experience with the concepts.  Then you are positioned to be a Scrum Master in your current organization should the opportunity present itself.  Having the certification helps, and get as much experience as you can as you attempt to become a full time scrum master.

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

Register for our upcoming web meetings by visiting agilethought.com/events

See available training courses at agilethought.com/training.

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

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

In this episode, Professional Scrum Trainer Eric Landes addresses the questions: "Will the Professional Scrum Master Certification help me get a job as a Scrum Master?"

The Professional Scrum Master certification Bolsters your Credentials

Of course there is no guarantee of a job with a certification, but I believe it helps you have the intelligent conversations around scrum when you have the background from passing a certification in the Scrum framework. If you are already working in IT, one way to do bolster your chances for a job would be to take the class and go for the certification.  Then in your current job, use Scrum with your team, at any opportunity you have. 

Get Experience in the Scrum Master Role

If you can volunteer for other teams within your organization.  This will help you get experience with the concepts.  Then you are positioned to be a Scrum Master in your current organization should the opportunity present itself.  Having the certification helps, and get as much experience as you can as you attempt to become a full time scrum master.

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

Register for our upcoming web meetings by visiting agilethought.com/events

See available training courses at agilethought.com/training.

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

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

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by his AgileThought Colleague, Quincy Jordan!

 

In their conversation today, Dan and Quincy are diving into the world of online videogames — specifically Fortnite; the popular battle royale, sandbox game — and drawing comparisons between it and agility.

 

Having watched his son play Fortnite over the summer, Quincy saw how he remotely communicated with his friends online to come together as a team, seek out an objective, collaborate, and go after that goal. In this episode, Quincy not only highlights many of the similarities between online gaming and having an agile mindset, but he also shares some of what we (and our kids) can learn from playing these sorts of games and further improve our agility.

 

Key Takeaways

The overlap between an agile mindset and Fortnite/other online games:

In the game, you play in teams and the players coordinate and collaborate remotely through headsets

In both agile teams and Fortnite, you need to come together as a team, seek out an objective, collaborate, and go after that goal

In the game, you gather raw materials and architect right on the spot to create structures such as barriers or ramps (similar to the agile concept of solving problems with the resources you have at your disposal)

They do team working agreements (i.e. before they start, they set out their goals and agree on what they’re trying to achieve)

When their objective is at risk of reaching its goal (similar to a sprint goal), they reevaluate quickly, make adjustments, stay adaptable, and continue without losing sight of the goal

What Fortnite/other online games can teach us about having an agile mindset:

The team collaboration in Fortnite emphasizes teamwork and shows how having ‘hero complex’ does not get you to your goal (you have to work together, one person cannot do everything)

In Fortnite, your character can lose energy and need time to recuperate. In this scenario, a teammate will ask another for help to spot them as they recover, which is very similar to how high-performing agile teams should behave (i.e. being transparent with one another if you need help)

There’s a collective recognition that you win and lose as a team

The teams in Fortnite are self-organized and not afraid to take risks and fail fast — this is key to growth

They always stay focused on the overall objective, which is a crucial mindset piece for agile teams to have

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Fortnite

Halo

Discord

The Decision: Overcoming Today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success, by Kevin Hart

 

Quincy Jordan’s Book Pick:

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, Dan Neumann is joined by his AgileThought Colleague, Quincy Jordan!

 

In their conversation today, Dan and Quincy are diving into the world of online videogames — specifically Fortnite; the popular battle royale, sandbox game — and drawing comparisons between it and agility.

 

Having watched his son play Fortnite over the summer, Quincy saw how he remotely communicated with his friends online to come together as a team, seek out an objective, collaborate, and go after that goal. In this episode, Quincy not only highlights many of the similarities between online gaming and having an agile mindset, but he also shares some of what we (and our kids) can learn from playing these sorts of games and further improve our agility.

 

Key Takeaways

The overlap between an agile mindset and Fortnite/other online games:

In the game, you play in teams and the players coordinate and collaborate remotely through headsets

In both agile teams and Fortnite, you need to come together as a team, seek out an objective, collaborate, and go after that goal

In the game, you gather raw materials and architect right on the spot to create structures such as barriers or ramps (similar to the agile concept of solving problems with the resources you have at your disposal)

They do team working agreements (i.e. before they start, they set out their goals and agree on what they’re trying to achieve)

When their objective is at risk of reaching its goal (similar to a sprint goal), they reevaluate quickly, make adjustments, stay adaptable, and continue without losing sight of the goal

What Fortnite/other online games can teach us about having an agile mindset:

The team collaboration in Fortnite emphasizes teamwork and shows how having ‘hero complex’ does not get you to your goal (you have to work together, one person cannot do everything)

In Fortnite, your character can lose energy and need time to recuperate. In this scenario, a teammate will ask another for help to spot them as they recover, which is very similar to how high-performing agile teams should behave (i.e. being transparent with one another if you need help)

There’s a collective recognition that you win and lose as a team

The teams in Fortnite are self-organized and not afraid to take risks and fail fast — this is key to growth

They always stay focused on the overall objective, which is a crucial mindset piece for agile teams to have

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

Fortnite

Halo

Discord

The Decision: Overcoming Today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success, by Kevin Hart

 

Quincy Jordan’s Book Pick:

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!

In this episode, Professional Scrum Trainer Sam Falco answers the question: "Why do you say that Sprint Zero is an anti-pattern?"

Why do you say that Sprint Zero is an anti-pattern?

“Sprint Zero” is a label applied to the indeterminate period of time used to gather product requirements and analyze them before a Scrum Team can start developing the product. Although “Sprint Zero” appropriates a Scrum term, it isn’t part of Scrum, nor is it a Complementary Practice that enhances Scrum. Sprint Zero undermines Scrum and agility.

Sprint Zero isn’t a Sprint

The Scrum Guide tells us that “The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a "Done", useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created.”

That’s enough on its own to dispel the idea that Sprint Zero is a good Scrum practice. Sprint Zero rarely has a timebox— I have seen organizations where Sprint Zero lasted for months—and no potentially releasable product is produced by it.

Sprint Zero inverts agile values

The purpose of Sprint Zero is to generate comprehensive documentation. The practice rests on the false belief that we can and should understand and predict all of a product’s requirements before we start building. We often use the phrase “gather requirements,” as if they are some harvestable commodity. For complex efforts like software development, nothing could be farther from the truth. Requirements emerge as we build and are often obvious only in hindsight. Spending time trying to predict them is wasteful.

Not only does Sprint Zero value comprehensive documentation over working software, it values contract negotiation over customer collaboration. The implicit promise of Sprint Zero is that once we have defined and analyzed our requirements, we can arrive at an agreement about scope and no further interaction with customers will be necessary until the product is completed. By attempting to define scope up front, we miss out on the value of working with the customer over the course of the development effort to ensure that the customers true needs are met.

Sprint Zero undermines agile principles

It delays the beginning of product development—so forget about satisfying the customer through early delivery of valuable software. It violates the principle of welcoming changing requirements. It prevents emergence of requirements, designs, and architectures.

Articulate a vision and start building

Sprint Zero is nothing more than the earliest stages of waterfall disguised by an agile-sounding term. But it’s not necessary—or possible—to know everything up front. All those features and requirements that seem so important during a requirements-gathering phase often turn out to not be needed at all.

The best way to handle the uncertainty of product development is not extensive up-front analysis, but to articulate a clear product vision and start building toward it.

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

Register for our upcoming web meetings by visiting agilethought.com/events

See available training courses at agilethought.com/training.

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

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

In this episode, Professional Scrum Trainer Sam Falco answers the question: "Why do you say that Sprint Zero is an anti-pattern?"

Why do you say that Sprint Zero is an anti-pattern?

“Sprint Zero” is a label applied to the indeterminate period of time used to gather product requirements and analyze them before a Scrum Team can start developing the product. Although “Sprint Zero” appropriates a Scrum term, it isn’t part of Scrum, nor is it a Complementary Practice that enhances Scrum. Sprint Zero undermines Scrum and agility.

Sprint Zero isn’t a Sprint

The Scrum Guide tells us that “The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a "Done", useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created.”

That’s enough on its own to dispel the idea that Sprint Zero is a good Scrum practice. Sprint Zero rarely has a timebox— I have seen organizations where Sprint Zero lasted for months—and no potentially releasable product is produced by it.

Sprint Zero inverts agile values

The purpose of Sprint Zero is to generate comprehensive documentation. The practice rests on the false belief that we can and should understand and predict all of a product’s requirements before we start building. We often use the phrase “gather requirements,” as if they are some harvestable commodity. For complex efforts like software development, nothing could be farther from the truth. Requirements emerge as we build and are often obvious only in hindsight. Spending time trying to predict them is wasteful.

Not only does Sprint Zero value comprehensive documentation over working software, it values contract negotiation over customer collaboration. The implicit promise of Sprint Zero is that once we have defined and analyzed our requirements, we can arrive at an agreement about scope and no further interaction with customers will be necessary until the product is completed. By attempting to define scope up front, we miss out on the value of working with the customer over the course of the development effort to ensure that the customers true needs are met.

Sprint Zero undermines agile principles

It delays the beginning of product development—so forget about satisfying the customer through early delivery of valuable software. It violates the principle of welcoming changing requirements. It prevents emergence of requirements, designs, and architectures.

Articulate a vision and start building

Sprint Zero is nothing more than the earliest stages of waterfall disguised by an agile-sounding term. But it’s not necessary—or possible—to know everything up front. All those features and requirements that seem so important during a requirements-gathering phase often turn out to not be needed at all.

The best way to handle the uncertainty of product development is not extensive up-front analysis, but to articulate a clear product vision and start building toward it.

Want to Learn More or Get in Touch?

Register for our upcoming web meetings by visiting agilethought.com/events

See available training courses at agilethought.com/training.

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

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

In today’s episode, Dan Neumann is joined by return guest, Andrea Floyd! Andrea is an enterprise agile transformation consultant at AgileThought. Andrea has 25 years of experience in software development and management. She is an innovator who has led multiple organization-wide scaled agile implementations, and she has also architected innovative solution strategies and roadmaps across many frameworks (including Scrum, Kanban, and the Scaled Agile Framework).

 

Dan and Andrea will be discussing the premise of agility and the common misunderstanding that it is only an IT ‘thing’ and is software-centric. Andrea explains how agility addresses needs across the enterprise and that it is about collaboration with many different areas of the business beyond IT. She shares how a shift from software agility to business agility drives the enterprise; and talks collaboration, feedback loops, design-thinking techniques, the importance of being customer-centric, applying agility across the organization, and key considerations around bringing the technology side and business side together.

 

Key Takeaways

Considerations when shifting to a more business agility:

Be careful not to create “us vs. them” scenarios (‘us’ as in the technology side and the ‘them’ being the business side)

As leaders, it is important to open up about the way you think about Agility and the principles

It is important to create a united effort of working together to achieve the desired outcomes (moving from ‘doing’ to ‘understanding’)

Be aware of cognitive biases, for instance, the ingroup and outgroup bias (where people tend to ascribe positive behaviors/attributes to people they consider to be in their group vs. ascribing/amplifying negative behaviors/attributes to people they consider to be outside of their group)

It is important to expand your ingroup bubble to at least your whole company (which would lead to more interpretation of positive intent and better collaboration)

It’s not about the individual developer getting to done; it’s about the team getting to done

Being more inclusive and valuing what every individual is bringing to the table has an incredibly profound impact

Key pieces in shifting from a software (or IT-centric) view of agility to business agility:

Start to reimagine roles and how you operate together

The business side needs to welcome the technologists to their side/domain and vice versa

Everyone needs to understand that there is huge value in understanding their customers/users and understanding the ‘why’ behind delivering

Allow people to be free and feel safe enough to create and innovate

Invite everyone into the full conversation

Truly value being engaged

Work towards building empathy between the people building the software and the people who will be using it

Apply the Agile principles, practices, and mindset pieces across the organization

Understand the ‘why’ behind why you’re doing agile practices as well as the intention behind them

Key places to have dynamic conversations with technology and the business:

Through backlog refinement — the inclusiveness comes from the product owner being able to articulate

Come up with a more creative ‘how’ or an ‘incremental how’

The product owner can communicate “no” or “not yet” to their stakeholders

The software on its own is not the product; there are other key pieces that create the ‘shrink-wrapped’ product

“When we think about business agility, what we want to do is understand what it takes to really get that product into the hands of our customers”

How you coordinate across the teams so you get that “shrinkwrapped product increment” is important

Think beyond just getting the software to ‘done’

Key points around accelerating the value chain:

Look to make ‘idea to value’ as short of a line as possible

Reference The Age of Agile’s three laws of business agility: the law of the customer, the law of a small team, and the law of the network

Empower your team and allow for autonomy

Feedback loops with your users/customers are key

Design thinking techniques are a great way to learn more about your customers/users

Empathy is huge — it is the basis for innovation and creativity

 

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Agile Manifesto

Modern Agile — Joshua Kerievsky

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

The Decision: Overcoming Today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success, by Kevin Hart

 

Andrea Floyd’s Book Picks:

Shelter in Place, by Nora Roberts

 

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!