Jochen (Joe) Krebs

Several months ago, when the pandemic caused weight gain due to inactivity and isolation, I decided to purchase like so many a peloton bike. Not only to burn off some calories but also to see other people and having a shared experience, even though only on a screen.

A common trend among Scrum practitioners that learn about the Kata the first time is to build bridges to something familiar, in this case Scrum. We often hear similar questions such as "Is a Kata a Sprint?", or "How long is Kata?". For that reason, I have a put together a quick follow-up video to discuss the differences between Scrum and Kata.

The latest EBM (Evidence-Based Management) guide makes a reference to the Improvement Kata as a way to practice scientific thinking for value-based metrics. That Kata consists of 4 basic routines and was popularized for many years by Mike Rother. But because this Kata can be used to improve potentially anything, I found it also highly effective steering agile transformations. If you like to learn what a Kata is, how it can be used for agile transformations, please take a look at this doodle style video. The Agile Transformation Kata is a scientific approach to practice agile transformations. {"preview_thumbnail":"/s3/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/I7Zdi4XL8JA.jpg?itok=DcqUoXKY","video_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Zdi4XL8JA","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}

Many years ago, when I began working with clients on full-scale agile transformations (beyond the team-level or product perspective), I realized that organizations would benefit from a practice that help them experiment toward more agility. As a result, I crossed paths with the world of Kata.

Breakout rooms in Zoom were a life-saver for many facilitators, trainers and Scrum Masters in recent months. As many of you probably already know, those breakout rooms aim to allow smaller groups to work independently. That increases engagement of each participant.

Scrum 2020 Poster and "Agile On" Sticker We are wrapping up a long Thanksgiving weekend in the United States with Cyber-Monday.

Scrum Guide 2020 Poster After yesterday's Scrum Guide 2020 launch event by Ken and Jeff, I am excited to announce the release of the new Scrum 2020 poster.

I had the pleasure to sit down with Dan Vacanti, who has helped develop the Kanban Method and is the course steward of Scrum.org's Professional Scrum with Kanban course, and record this Agile.FM episode. Dan and I talk about Scrum with Kanban and how agile processes can compliment each other. We talked about the communities, metrics and predictability which does not come as a surprise as Dan is also the author of two agile books: When Will It Be Done? Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability More information about Dan, the PSK training as well his insights on Kanban on the www.agile.fm showpage as well the episode itself. Coincidentally, the latest edition to the Agile Poster series is a complimentary Kanban Poster which is now ready to be pre-ordered.

How this popular and empowering liberating structure can be used for retrospectives and increasing organizational agility. But can you Open Space be used in a virtual set-up?

In my 100th episode of Agile.FM,  I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Benson, the co-creator of Lean Coffee.