Yearly Archives: 2018

Necessary Conditions

Note: Partly revised 4/7/2022. People often try Scrum without getting the following conditions.  I do NOT know for a fact, from lots of experiments, that the following conditions are “required”.  But I do think I have enough experience to recommend that you try to achieve these conditions as soon as you can.  And that you […]

If no Team, then Scrum events are crappy

If the Team does not see themselves as a Team, does not feel that “we win together or we lose together”, then the Scrum events (Sprint Planning Meeting, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Retrospective) are likely to be pretty lame if not useless. I think lots of people do not naturally think of themselves as […]

The Product Owner and the Ready-Ready Criteria

Here is another lightning Webinar on this topic. A few of the key ideas: * A small suggestion, easily implemented (at least the basics are easy) * This is right in the area of the PO’s true responsibilities. * It yields, we find, huge benefits. Almost always.  (I suppose your team could be doing something […]

The Fuller Picture of Scrum

Very happy to post another short video showing my fuller picture of Scrum. A number of basics with a picture. The key thing, that I think many do not mention — and it’s important — is putting the “chickens” into the picture. Enjoy!

The Impediments List and how to use it

I just put together a video on “The Impediment List and how to use it.” You might enjoy. You can see it here:   Here’s the KeyNote in PDF. Impediments V3 Enjoy!

Agile Halifax – Talk: Agile Estimating and Planning

Good group and fun to talk with. Thanks to Katie and everyone for having me! Put a fair amount into the deck and the drawings.  But surely not self-explanatory for all. But maybe a good start or a good refresher for many. The drawings and the deck. Enjoy! Paper.Agile Halifax Oct 2018.2018.10.23 Agile Estimation Agile […]

Necessary Conditions for a Team

At the Lean Agile Open (an Open Space event) last Friday, October 19th, I was having lunch with Gwen Kestin (a great coach at Vanguard) and others. Gwen was talking about the necessary conditions for a Team before you start coaching them.  She mentioned someone who had come up with a list of about 6 […]

Servant Leadership – one quote

There are two main things to say about a ScrumMaster. The SM is a servant leader. The SM is the impediment-remover-in-chief. With this latter one, we are saying that the SM is not the only one who can remove impediments (the rest of the Team, Managers, people outside the company could all help do that).  […]

Dark Scrum – Some comments

We have been talking about this issue for years. Well, we do not entirely agree on what the issue is. Ron Jeffries calls it Dark Scrum. To quote (almost): “too often “Scrum” is used to oppress people”…and he explains that it was his aim that agile would make the world safe for programmers and testers. […]

Scrum and Power

Many organizations are built around power.  It is an old old idea.  Power and hierarchy — I think I was told — goes back to the days of Babylonia.  Roughly 5,000 years ago.  And the birth of the city and of city-civilization.  They needed some organizing principles, so they adopted those. If one has a […]