Fifty is the new Thirty! Or should all episodes strive to be as great as Fifty? Either way, it's a CELEBRATION!

Vic (@AgileCoffee) is joined by Brett Palmer (@brett_palmer), Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) and first-time guest L. Mark Higgins (@LMHiggins1).

Today our heroes discuss the following topics:

Who sets the agenda for the retrospective?

Middle Managers and the Agile Transformation

check out Em Campbell-Pretty's "Thawing the Frozen Middle"

The Agile project manager

Scrum patterns and community at scrumplop.org

Brett breaks down some distinctions between SAFe and LESS

Craig Larmen is coming back to SoCal: Sept. 12-14 in Tustin, CA

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

clockwise from Vic's mug: Mark, Brett & Larry (flying his Agile Open SoCal tee) - water by Rocket9

Come join Esther Derby and Don Gray for a two-day "Coaching Beyond the Team" workshop in Costa Mesa, CA. September 13 & 14. Registration info at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/coaching-beyond-the-team-influencing-the-organization-tickets-25695621295

Like this podcast? Let us know! Go to iTunes or Stitcher to give us a review. It takes so little time and would sure help us a lot. Thanks!

Come back for episode 51, a conversation between Vic and returning guest Kimberly Brainard (@AgileBrain1). Kim and Vic were recently named co-chairs of the Global SCRUM GATHERING® San Diego 2017. Reach out to Victor (@AgileCoffee), and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to join the conversation.

Say, have you gone to iTunes or Stitcher to give us a review? It takes so little time and would sure help us a lot. Thanks!

A 100% Skype-based episode! Vic is joined by Brett Palmer (@brett_palmer), Zach Bonaker (@ZachBonaker) and first-time guest Alan Dayley (@DayleyAgile).

Today our heroes discuss the following topics:

Is "Quality Assurance" an inhibitor to developing with agility?

Scenario: You are an experienced ScrumMaster just joining a new and dysfunctional team. What is your first goal?

"Falling off the cliff" scenarios

Common problem: The team does not update their progress on tasks and user stories in the electronic tool. So?

The Director says "Plan for more points in your next Sprints or we won't get all this work done."

Explaining coaching to a mentoring organization

Support you local Agile / Scrum events:

Alan recently spoke at Agile Arizona. Here's a link to his presentation "How You Lead Is What You Get"

Zach and a whole host of other great people recently spoke at Scrum Day San Diego.

Alan belongs to a Scrum User Group in Phoenix: phxsug.org.

Come join Esther Derby and Don Gray for a two-day "Coaching Beyond the Team" workshop in Costa Mesa, CA. September 13 & 14. Registration info at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/coaching-beyond-the-team-influencing-the-organization-tickets-25695621295

Reach out to Victor (@AgileCoffee), and use the hashtag #tellAgileCoffee to join the conversation.

In memory of Jean Tabaka.

Recorded at the Scrum Alliance's Global Scrum Gathering in Orlando, FL, this episode features nine voices. Vic (@AgileCoffee) was joined by eight fellow participants (all working with Agile/Scrum teams) to discuss some highlights of the gathering.

Guests list:

Stuart Young (@Stuartliveart)

Laura Powers (@poweredbyteams)

Kim Brainard (@agilebrain1)

Stuart Fish (@fishstua)

Jamie Crews (@jamie_crews)

Anderson Hummel (@anderson_hummel)

Scott Dunn (@sdunnrocket9)

David Gardner

Karaoke pics: coming soon

Vic rocks the karaoke stage?

Recorded at the Scrum Alliance's Global Scrum Gathering in Orlando, FL, this episode features nine voices. Vic (@AgileCoffee) was joined by fellow participants (all working with Agile/Scrum teams) to discuss some highlights of the gathering (and CSP Fast Pass).

Guests list:

Brett Palmer (@brett_palmer)

Aaron Kopel (@aakopel)

Jason Tanner (@JasonBTanner)

Leon Sabarsky (@LeonSabarsky)

Anderson Hummel (@anderson_hummel)

Things we'd mentioned:

Peter Green's Lean and Agile Adoption with the Laloux Culture Model

Scrum Gathering Rio June 23-25, by Scrum Alliance

CSP FAST PASS: the fast track to becoming a Certified Scrum Professional® (on twitter at @CSPFastPass)

Recorded at Sharon Bowman's two-day Training from the Back of the Room (TBR) workshop in Orlando, FL, this episode features nine voices. Vic (@AgileCoffee) was joined by fellow participants (all working with Agile/Scrum teams) to discuss how TBR aligns with the training and coaching we do in our workplaces, communities and families.

Guests list:

Abid Quereshi (@abidquereshi)

Lonnie Weaver-Johnson (@Lonniewj)

Tomas Rodriguez (@sINNplify)

Mario Mendez (@sINNplify)

Fred Madrigal (@sINNplify)

Stuart Fish (@fishstua)

David Gardner

Anderson Hummel (@anderson_hummel)

We discussed the following topics:

TBR and Scrum workshops

Brain-based learning in 1:1 coaching context

Agile Manifesto and TBR

Are training and coaching coming together?

TBR related to self-organization

TBR applied to parenting

Does a trainer need to do the thing they teach?

Sharon's upcoming classes are listed on her website: bowperson.com. Her two books mentioned are:

Training From the Back of the Room!: 65 Ways to Step Aside and Let Them Learn

Using Brain Science To Make Training Stick

Abid mentioned The 5 Love Languages of Children by Chapman and Campbell.

See also my post on takeaways from the training.

Agile Manifesto for Accelerated Learning, by Sharon Bowman

It's an onsite company visit! Vic sits down with four employees representing Dev, QA & PMO at the Data Protection Unit of EMC Corp in Irvine, CA, to discuss how the transformation to Agile has changed things up. Also on hand is Scott Dunn (@sdunnRocket9), facilitating the transformation activities and coaching at many levels within the business unit.

Scott mentioned the Certified LeSS Practitioner: Principles to Practices class led by Craig Larman - May 9 in Tustin, CA

Recorded at the Scrum Coaching Retreat in San Diego, Vic (@AgileCoffee) sits down with Daniel Gullo (@danielgullo) of Scrum Alliance's global steering committee for retreats, Stuart Young (@Stuartliveart) of Radtac, and participants Leon Sabarsky (@LeonSabarsky), Michael Bode (@ContactBode), Andrew Webster (@AndrewMWebster), Dr. Sam Swapn (@swapnassinha), and Bella Musial (@bellabianca).

Here's a video of Stuart at work.

Have you been to a Scrum Coaching Retreat? Let us know on Twitter by using the hashtag #TellAgileCoffee

Resources and Links:

Scrum Alliance's Coaching Retreats page

Future Search: Getting the Whole System in the Room for Vision, Commitment, and Action by Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff

Scrum Coaching Retreats: Deeper Learning Using Scrum by Mark Summers (on scrumalliance.org)

my pre-conceptions of scrum coaching retreats (Jan. 2016)

Photos:

queuing up to announce topics for the retreat

Stuart Young, graphic facilitator in action

Stuart with 3 days worth of documentation

 

 

Russ walking through an internal team demo

Bernie Maloney as Product Owner

Andrew talks over the backlog with his team

Jason & Ewan photobombing my selfie?

Vic with Bernie Maloney and Kim Brainard

Recorded at the Scrum Coaching Retreat in San Diego with Vic (@AgileCoffee) and guests Bernie Maloney (@berniemaloney) and Kim Brainard (@agilebrain1). Dr.Dave joins near the end.

Bernie and Kim talk about their experiences with their team (Transformers!). For two+ days at the retreat, Bernie acted as the team's Product Owner, while Kim served as Scrum Master. They share their perspective on how their topic evolved and how the team formed, stormed, normed and ultimately performed.

 

Have you been to a Coaching Retreat? Let us know on Twitter by using the hashtag #TellAgileCoffee

btw - Bernie broadcasted/recorded the interview on Periscope. It's archived on katch.

|REPLAY| Scrum coaching retreat experience report #scrum #scrumalliance... #katch #Periscope https://t.co/POn0ju9caD pic.twitter.com/QrLJHVyw5z

— Bernie Maloney (@berniemaloney) March 15, 2016

Vic (@AgileCoffee) is joined by Colleen Kirtland (@CSKirtland), Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) and Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) outside a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Irvine.

In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss:

What is the Meaning of Life?

Agile Community

Yoga & Leadership

"Sensitivity is not weakness or vulnerability. It is clarity of perception and allows judicious, precise action." - B. K. S. Iyengar

Colleen's posts on LinkedIn

Funding Agile Teams

we talked about the Slow Money movement

Discovering the Pace of Change

Bi-Modal Networking (Gartner)

"To add speed, add lightness" - Colin Powell

The introduction of episode 42 contained a clip from episode 4 of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 1979 BBC radio series, written by Douglas Adams.

"... and the Oscar for best podcast goes to..."

Vic is joined by Zach Bonaker (@ZachBonaker) and Larry Lawhead (@LarryLawhead) at the Cape Rey in Carlsbad for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee.

In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss:

Fallacy of Training

Shortcuts: no shu-ha-ri

Irony of Agile and Technology

Why Scrum?