Scrum.org

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

This article explores the art of Agile leadership, delving into the challenges of finding the right equilibrium between allowing teams to self-organize and providing enough guidance and structure for seamless Agile execution. Conclusion Finding the right balance between flexibility and structure is at the core of Agile leadership.

Leadership 206

Leadership Agile Sustainability SCRUM 206

Scrum.org

APRIL 30, 2024

In my experience, understanding how we measure success as a Scrum Master can be challenging. And of course, it’s something Scrum Masters have a strong desire to understand. This is also what the trends show us from the thousands of people in over 100 countries who are using the free Scrum Master Improvement Self-Assessment.

SCRUM 217

SCRUM Sustainability Agile Controlling 217

Scrum.org

JULY 26, 2021

TL; DR: Abandoning Scrum. Can a Scrum team simply decide to abandon Scrum? After all, the Scrum team is self-managing, according to the Scrum manual, also known as the Scrum Guide. Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes ! ?? Source : Scrum Guide 2020.

SCRUM 225

SCRUM 2020 Agile Sustainability 225

Scrum.org

JANUARY 18, 2022

. The portrayal of a Scrum Master on a Scrum Team is barely the same as the role of the traditional Project Manager. Scrum Masters have their own ways of not being an overlord in the traditional sense and are more focused on being the facilitator at the same level as others on their team. Difficulty in sustaining the Time-Box.

SCRUM 252

SCRUM Sustainability Agile Energy 252

Scrum.org

MAY 10, 2020

In a post some time ago, I elaborated on the qualities of the Emotional Scrum Master. During a 20/20 vision on my writings, I discovered clusters of knowledge that are essential to Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches: Genuine coaching techniques, knowledge of psychological principles and above all, understanding and developing “Self” awareness.

Leadership 205

Leadership SCRUM Sustainability Agile 205

Scrum.org

JANUARY 4, 2022

Many well-meaning Scrum practitioners have misconceptions about Scrum, which sometimes leads to creating “rules” that do not exist in the framework. Scrum is deliberately incomplete because the framework is used in complex environments where simple best practices won’t fit all situations.

SCRUM 228

SCRUM 2020 Cadence Technical Review 228

Scrum.org

AUGUST 11, 2021

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! What is the Scrum Master protecting the Developers from? Who are the persecutors the Scrum Master protecting the Developers from? SCRUM VALUES.

Underperforming Technical Team 227

Underperforming Technical Team SCRUM Leadership Energy 227

Scrum.org

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

What is a Scrum Master? What are the differences between a Scrum Master and Project Manager? Isn’t a Scrum Master some kind of an Agile Project Manager? There is almost no overlap between the role of Scrum Master and the position of Project Manager. What is a Scrum Master? What a Scrum Master does.

SCRUM 232

SCRUM Prince2 Risk Management Agile 232

Scrum.org

AUGUST 6, 2020

Some may confuse the word “Foundation” in the name of the Professional Scrum Foundation course to mean simple or basic. But in truth this means it is a course for everybody to build a solid base of knowledge, understanding and practical application of Professional Scrum. Are you doing Scrum in name only and nothing has changed?

SCRUM 217

SCRUM Certification Sustainability Agile 217

Scrum.org

DECEMBER 16, 2024

TL; DR: Pure Scrum? Can you rely on pure Scrum to transform your organization and deliver value? While Scrum excels in simplicity and flexibility, applying it out of the box often falls short in corporate contexts due to limitations in product discovery, scaling, and portfolio management. Not always.

SCRUM 183

SCRUM Technical Review Software Review Innovation 183

Scrum.org

JANUARY 4, 2021

They are derived from my fourteen years of practical experience with XP and Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master and interviewing dozens of Product Owner candidates on behalf of my clients. Join us on February 3, 2021: Hands-on Agile #29: Scrum Guide 2020 — Reloaded. Set 3: Internal Stakeholder Management.

SCRUM 253

SCRUM Technical Review Software Review Agile 253

NimbleWork

OCTOBER 21, 2024

What distinguishes these influencers in the landscape of project management thought leadership? Additionally, Christina is an instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University and OCAD University, where she shares her knowledge of Scrum, Kanban, SAFe® methodologies, and product management.

Influencer 111

Influencer 2025 Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team 111

Scrum.org

DECEMBER 10, 2023

TL; DR: How To Spot Successful Scrum Masters In this article, I unravel the secrets of what makes a Scrum Master not just good but amazingly outstanding. From regularly achieving Sprint Goals, delivering value to customers, and building stakeholder rapport easily, discover the traits that set apart successful Scrum Masters.

SCRUM 203

SCRUM Underperforming Technical Team Innovation Agile 203

Scrum.org

OCTOBER 9, 2023

TL; DR: Can We Or Should We Change Scrum? Can we or should we change Scrum, or is it a sacrilege to tweak the ‘immutable’ framework to accommodate our teams’ and organizations’ needs? Not so fast; don’t just dismiss augmenting Scrum as leaving the path, contributing to the numerous Scrumbut mutations, giving Scrum a bad name.

SCRUM 192

SCRUM Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team Software Review 192

Scrum.org

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Too many OKRs are set without any respect/consideration of the ability to deliver them sustainably while dealing with other work in the organization. OKR Theater has the potential to become a member of a big family – Scrum Theater, Agile Theater, SAFe Theater, Lean Theater, Six Sigma Theater; you get the picture.

SCRUM 208

SCRUM Agile Sustainability Lean 208

Scrum.org

MARCH 16, 2023

As an Agile Coach, he’s responsible for about 50 Scrum Masters. For about one hour we talked about how to be a servant leader for such a group of Scrum Masters. Regardless if you’re an Agile Coach or Scrum Master, servant leadership is the desired mindset, behavior, and attitude. Eventually, it’s actually quite simple.

SCRUM 209

SCRUM Leadership Consulting Defining 209

Scrum.org

JANUARY 15, 2024

TL; DR: Sunsetting Scrum Masters In this article, I uncover indicators that a Scrum Master’s or Agile Coach’s journey is coming to a close; they are sunsetting Scrum Masters. Preorder the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide book now for delivery in January 2024! ? Shall I notify you about articles like this one?

SCRUM 185

SCRUM Influencer Sustainability Agile 185

Scrum.org

MAY 5, 2020

Being an effective and successful Scrum Master requires a wide variety of skills, knowledge, and experience. This variety is captured in the stances of a Scrum Master. The Scrum Master is expected to act as a teacher, impediment remover, facilitator, coach, mentor, and change agent. Create a virtual Scrum Quiz.

SCRUM 220

SCRUM Development Team Review Technical Review Consulting 220

Scrum.org

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

TL; DR: Lost in Communication and Collaboration Lost in Communication and Collaboration addresses two categories from the Scrum anti-patterns taxonomy that are closely aligned: ineffective collaboration at the stakeholder level, often resulting in an unsuited reporting system based on misaligned metrics. Lack of research tasks.

SCRUM 202

SCRUM Performance Measurement Estimate Sustainability 202

Scrum.org

APRIL 26, 2024

Effective leadership and management lies in the ability to adapt and evolve. For heads of delivery, engineering or product aiming to enhance their teams' performance and efficiency through Scrum or other agile frameworks, integrating behavioural insights into the adoption process can be transformative. What is MINDSPACE?

SCRUM 187

SCRUM Influencer Government Governance 187

Scrum.org

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Being a Scrum Master is more than framework compliance. Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps teams and organisations to deliver value while managing complexity. A Scrum Master's accountability, therefore, goes well beyond just managing processes. The Scrum Master works with the team to focus on delivering value.

SCRUM 194

SCRUM Process 2024 Influencer 194

Scrum.org

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Get notified when the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide book is available ! ? Join 300-plus peers and help create the next edition of the Scrum Master Salary Report ! Let’s shift from a culture of velocity to a culture of value because agility is about delivering value sustainably, not just going faster.

Sustainability 251

Sustainability Technical Review Innovation SCRUM 251

Scrum.org

MARCH 10, 2023

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash The Ultimate Litmus Test: Go on Vacation If the outcome of an effective Scrum Master is to create a high-performing, self-managing team, the litmus test may be — what happens when you are not there? Read on for three Power-Ups to drive change, achieve results, and promote sustainable Agile practices.

SCRUM 172

SCRUM Technical Review Sustainability Software Review 172

Scrum.org

MARCH 22, 2023

One of the most exciting outcomes of Scrum being adopted by a team is innovation. The following interview is with Marjolein Pilon , a Scrum Master from the Netherlands. But I know you have some practical ideas for how Scrum and Teams can help. What if all Scrum Teams would do that? Broadly that is described as innovation.

SCRUM 150

SCRUM Sustainability Infrastructure Technical Review 150

Scrum.org

JUNE 29, 2019

A number of people inside and outside Scrum.org collaborated with me in 2018 and early 2019, to talk about 21st-century executive leadership. 21st-century executive leadership, what to stop doing . Discussions were mostly bilateral, most were online, some were face to face. And we have so many models, so what should we stop doing? .

Leadership 150

Leadership 2019 2011 2018 150

Scrum.org

JUNE 20, 2023

TL; DR: Employing Agile Coaches next to Scrum Masters? Often, when organizations employ agile coaches and Scrum Masters, we can observe that agile coaches work at an organizational level. However, if you take Scrum seriously, this approach has no upside. However, if you take Scrum seriously, this approach has no upside.

SCRUM 184

SCRUM Agile ChatGPT Sustainability 184

Scrum.org

AUGUST 6, 2020

Some may confuse the word “Foundation” in the name of the Professional Scrum Foundation course to mean simple or basic. But in truth this means it is a course for everybody to build a solid base of knowledge, understanding and practical application of Professional Scrum. Are you doing Scrum in name only and nothing has changed?

SCRUM 183

SCRUM Certification Sustainability Agile 183

Scrum.org

JANUARY 26, 2023

What I can share is that for years now, I’ve been coaching companies and leaders to see the Scrum Master and similar roles like the SAFe RTE as accountabilities relevant leaders take on (it can be formal managers/leaders or natural leaders from within teams that are passionate about agility and gravitate to this). Probably not.

Agile 218

Agile Sustainability 2023 SCRUM 218

Scrum.org

MARCH 22, 2020

This may seem obvious, but I have lost count of the number of Agile Coaches that don’t know how many events there are in Scrum (as an example) or who don’t know the difference between Kanban and Scrum, and don’t get me started on what makes a useful Scrum Master…. You need to know what Scrum is good for and where it breaks down.

Agile 232

Agile SCRUM Certification Sustainability 232

Scrum.org

MAY 8, 2023

TL; DR: Life Is a Negotiation; Why Would Scrum Be Different? Life is a negotiation; why would Scrum be different, particularly given its egalitarian nature? As you may recall, no one on a Scrum team can tell anyone else what to do, how to do it, or when to do it. Rant: Scrum Masters are no Project Managers ! ? ? ??

SCRUM 207

SCRUM Agile Technical Review Software Review 207

Scrum.org

JUNE 10, 2024

Managers may even unintentionally undermine Agile approaches by overriding the Product Owner's decisions or micro-managing Scrum team members. These cultural barriers can impede innovation, stifle creativity, and erode trust within the organization, making it difficult to sustain Agile practices over the long term.

Agile 194

Agile Leadership SCRUM Sustainability 194

Scrum.org

AUGUST 3, 2023

The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as described in the Scrum Guide. The Scrum Master is a teacher, coach, impediment remover, change agent, mentor, and facilitator. They lead by example and they serve the Scrum team, the organization and the Product Owner.

SCRUM 171

SCRUM Software Review Technical Review Innovation 171

Scrum.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

Question: During an Enterprise Agility Transformation, there is often a tendency to strive for quick, short term financial gains, or other performance improvements; can you provide examples on how to find that balance to achieve longer-term sustainable growth? Even if that means we change the name Scrum Team to Squad :-) .

Agile 254

Agile Technical Review Development Team Review SCRUM 254

Scrum.org

MARCH 4, 2019

21st-century executive leadership . Growing sustainable agility can take years. Given that agility is only a means to an end, we need 21st-century executive leadership. Note the emphasis on (organizational) agility and the de-emphasis on Agile; this is because neither Scrum nor Agile is the only answer. sustainability.

Executing 147

Executing Leadership Sustainability Lean 147

Scrum.org

MAY 17, 2021

One of my customers is hiring for the Scrum Master Role and asked if I had a handy-dandy Scrum Master Job Spec that they could use. Here is my best effort to use the existing job postings, and combine them with the latest version of the Scrum Guide. Professional Scrum Master. . Hiring a Professional Scrum Master.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review SCRUM Development Team Review Certification 140

Scrum.org

AUGUST 3, 2020

There could be many reasons why - perhaps your organization has adopted an Agile framework, but you're not yet structured to support sustainable teams. What the Scrum Guide says: “Cross-functional teams have all competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others not part of the team. Sutherland, Scrum Guide, 2013.

Underperforming Technical Team 253

Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review Software Review Development Team Review 253

ProjectManager.com

JULY 31, 2019

Related: How to Manage with Servant Leadership. Agile processes promote sustainable development. Those who would brand proponents of XP or Scrum or any of the other agile methodologies as “hackers” are ignorant of both the methodologies and the original definition of the term hacker.”

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Agile 2001 Software Developers Software Development 378