Scrum Discovery Cheat Sheet – From a Superficial to Scientific Understanding of Scrum
10+ years of helping thousands of practitioners with implementation of Professional Scrum has taught me one thing - most practitioners have a very superficial understanding of Scrum. To most, Scrum is nothing more than "Daily Standup" and "Sprint Demo". 8+ years of...
Lessons From Michelangelo – How To Crack Tough Nuts & Get Buy-In For Scrum Training
Around 14 years ago, my Coach - Peggy Reed changed my life by sending me to Scrum Training. I fell in love with Scrum and chose to become a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer with the support of Ken Schwaber. Since then, I have trained thousands of students in...
The Scrum Master Is An FFFCDO For Developers!
Of late, I've been noticing an interpretation of the Scrum Master role - the Scrum Master as An FFFCDO for Developers - a Fierce, Ferocious, Fearsome Chief Defense Officer!. Anytime, anyone provides any feedback that might cause Developers any kind of discomfort, the...
Why You Should NOT Waste Time & Money on Evidence Based Management!
Are you too busy doing real work to bother about this new fad called "Evidence Based Management"? Are you tired of beating yourself up because you just don't have the time, money or energy to get on this bandwagon with the other cool kids? Well, fear not. I have a...
The Five Most Important Scrum Master Interview Questions
I WANT TO CONVINCE YOU THAT... I interviewed a Scrum Master candidate last week. This blog is inspired by him. I began the interview with my first question - "What questions do you have for me?". He was prepared with his top five questions. Those first five questions,...
Don’t Use Scrum! (Too Many Darned Meetings) Try This Instead…
When we introduce Scrum to some companies, sometimes the question arises - "Why are there so many meetings in Scrum? When do you do 'real work'?" I've been answering this question verbally for so many years, I thought it was time to write a blog. So here's my answer -...
How Do You Justify A Scrum Master’s Salary…?
When we introduce Scrum to an organization, many people are skeptical of the monetary benefits and ROI of the Scrum Master position. The question I am often asked is - "How do you justify the salary of the Scrum Master?" I've been thinking about this for some time,...
13 Reasons Why The ROI Of Your Agile Training Died! (And How You Can Save It The Next Time)
I got an audio cassette from the other side. It was about how I had killed the ROI of my Agile Training. There were many reasons... 1. I did not clarify up front to my prospects how important their ROI is to me 2. After closing the deal, I did not educate my clients...
How A Scrum Master Can “BE” A Co-Active Scrum Coach
This blog proposes a model that Scrum Masters can use to apply Co-Active Coaching to serve the Product Owner, Developers and Stakeholders in the Organization.
The Roots Of Agile Suffering
AGILE SUFFERING After more than a decade of helping organizations travel on the path of Agility, it feels more like traveling on the path of Agile Suffering. Agile Coaches like me often suffer as we complain that management doesn't get it, teams don't get it, my...