Meta-Cast

Bob and Josh tackle a listener request centered around how far/hard should a Scrum Master push the team when they aren't fully bought in to the agile process.  We share our experience in situations like this and offer a few suggestions to try out.

We also introduce Dude Solutions' Tech day in this episode.  This one day conference offers attendees an opportunity to see many of the podcast's episode topics put into action.  Seats are limited so sign up early! 

It is bowl season here in the US, so we decided to explore how closely related the game of football and all of its preparation are related to traditional agile/scrum ceremonies.  We think you'll be surprised to hear how closely they align...

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• What other parallels do you see?  
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• Are there other sports that more closely align to agile and its ceremonies?  
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One of the more common questions we get centers around ways to integrate a UX team/process/approach into Agile.  Bob and Josh share their experiences and approaches that worked/didn't work in hopes of helping you continually improve the integration of your UX team.

What tricks have you used?  Share them in the comments or on twitter!

We identify a few rules of engagement for members of your organization that are not a part of the scrum team.  We discuss where the term "chicken" originated from and provide tips and tricks for anyone making the transition as a leader in an organization evolving/transforming to agile.  This is a key challenge for any organization transitioning to agile and, if mis-handled, often leads to a failed agile implementation.

An agile team's struggles can often be attributed to one of the primary scrum roles (scrum master, product owner, & team) running amok.  Bob and Josh dig into common reasons causing each role to begin to lose its way.  We then provide you with a few tools that can help correct each behavior.  In doing so, you should be able to reduce the level of "amokedness" (Bob's new word) inside your agile team.

Have you ever seen any of these patterns, or maybe even a few we didn't discuss?  Please share with us and your fellow listeners!

Where do great scrum masters come from and how can you groom them in your organization?  Bob and Josh dig into various ways to make that happen.  We also cover some of the most common anti-patterns we've seen over the years.  Hopefully those anti-patterns don't sound too familiar! :)

How did you become a scrum master?  Was the transition silky smooth or were there a few bumps in the road?  Please share any tips in our comments or on twitter.

Sticking with our recent theme of threes (see the previous episode), Bob intoduces us to The Three Amigos concept and how it can facilitate communication across all roles in your team.  

Consistent, quality communication drives success in agile, and this approach is another tool for your coaching toolbelt.  What other coaching tricks do you use?  Let us know! 

Too big?  Too small?  Just right?  Where does your team fit in that paradigm?

We share our experiences in building agile teams and describe what "just right" looks like.  How do you know when to stop growing or when to break up a team.  We answer these questions for you.

What are your thoughts and experiences?

As a reminder, any listener question/topic that we discuss on air gets one of our fancy new stickers!  Post questions in the comments, on twitter, or whatever your preferred channel is.  We look forward to tackling your questions and comments!

We revisit our often debated topic of release planning.  Josh slipped up in episode 75 and mentioned a new appreciation for the process.  Given Josh's past comments about his disdain for release planning, Bob jumped all over him and demanded that our next episode centered on this topic.  Find out what caused Josh to evolved his viewpoints and hear Bob grill him on this new revelation!

What are your views on release planning?  When is it appropriate?  If it is appropriate, how often should you do it?  Who should be involved?  We'd love to hear your thoughts.

As a reminder, any listener question/topic that we discuss on air gets one of our fancy new stickers!  Post questions in the comments, on twitter, or whatever your preferred channel is.  We look forward to tackling your questions and comments!

In this episode, Bob and Josh respond to a listener request around our views/implementations of Spotify's agile approach.  Vic (@AgileCoffee) asked specifically about our view on Chapters, so we dig into what they are, how we use them, and how they fit into the whole approach.

What's your view on Spotify's spin on agile?  Do you use any of their techniques?

Bonus Content:

Here is the article Josh mentions that he just wrote about this topic and how Spotify's methods are applied in his company: Why We Spotify'd Our Names