Resources

People always as ask me if agile is just for software. Saying agile is just about software is like saying software is just about science. Initially, computer science was about replacing manual processes. Now, it’s about creating human experiences.

In 2012, the airline’s senior leadership and business unit heads issued a mandate to start being agile in order to make the organization more adaptive and able to react faster to changes. To accomplish this, one team of IT developers focused on mobile applications adopted Scrum, a framework for developing and sustaining complex products. Shortly thereafter, more Scrum teams formed in various business units for web and mobile applications.

The Scrum Team consists of 3 distinct Scrum roles that promote self-organization: the Scrum Master, the Product Owner, and the Development Team. The accountability of each role complements the accountability of the other roles.

When Scrum is introduced in a company, most of the time, the development team embraces it with lots of enthusiasm.

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question: Why must all healthy families and strong, successful scrum teams steadily sip soda? Especially when taking toddlers to ballet class? Watch this episode to learn about the importance of Soda in your family and work life.

Professional Scrum Trainer, Krystian Kaczor looks at the five steps to implement Scrum: manage the Product Backlog, plan Sprints, keep it visual and transparent, time-box work and monitor progress, and get a coach.

THE (MIXED) BLESSING OF NEXTGEN REWRITES  About 10 years ago, I experienced the mixed blessing of being part of yet another nextgen rewrite project.

One of the recurring Scrum Myth discussions I have with colleagues, teams new to Scrum and those attending training when comparing Scrum & DevOps relate to a misinterpretation of the following paragraph from the Scrum Guide.

One common consequence of teams that do not deeply understand Scrum and the nature of its events is that they believe it is possible to run sprints which do not produce a Done and releasable increment of the product.

Schwaber Honored at the Publication’s Innovation All-Stars Awards Gala

Ken Schwaber was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation from the Boston Business Journal for his work and mission of Improving the Profession of Software Delivery by co-creating Scrum and being a major driver to the Agile Movement.

Clients and training attendees ask me "Can you use Scrum for something else than software?”. What they usually mean is building some other products or organizing team’s work. Let’s explore a more exotic idea.

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question: How do you prepare a meal for a special event with lots of guests? What do you have to watch out for and is it ethical to change every part of a recipe and still keep the name? Join us as we explore these profound  questions in this episode of Agilato.

The Scrum framework thrives on empirical process control. The inspection of observable results gives us insights in what might be most valuable next, always acknowledging that the future is unwritten.

Scrum.org PST Krystian Kaczor's article in DZone talks asks you to remember that Scrum is not a way to deliver a fixed scope faster, but a way to deliver more value, more often, in the most optimal way.

Scrum.org CEO is quoted throughout this CIO Magazine article on the need for a code of ethics.  

One of the arguments used against Scrum and a common misconception at the same time is the idea that quality is traded for speed in Scrum. As a PST with years of experience in Quality Assurance I decided to challenge this myth.

Professional Scrum Trainer Stephanie Ockerman discusses how a good Sprint goal helps a team focus. A good Sprint goal helps a team understand the purpose and impact of the work they are doing.

Professional Scrum Trainer Alex Ballarin discusses a worrying interpretation of Scrum that derives from confusing velocity and value could be that the more software is released, the more value is created.

This year Professional Scrum Trainer Barry Overeem was in the lucky circumstance to be part of some awesome (Scrum) teams. It certainly wasn’t all “Scrum by the book” but he learned a tremendous amount of lessons and generated lots of values insights. As always, some things turned out to be a success, other things failed miserably.

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question: Have you ever dealt with a demanding customer who relentlessly challenges you to deliver more with less money, less people and in less time? Watch this episode for a real world example that might give you some ideas for responding differently.

At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol we're using an Agile approach to realize a large digital program. This program includes 5 value streams with multiple teams. Due to the increasing scale of the program, some challenges arise. For example:

IMAGINE Imagine you have just been asked to build an Agility Enablement Organization for your company. Sounds like fun, but there are some constraints you need to work within or around…

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question: Have you experienced the blessing to buy your dream home and enjoyed the journey of making it the perfect place for your family? Join us in this episode to learn how this blessing quickly became a challenge and led to have a painful, heart-breaking conversation.

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question: What mindset might help when confronted with the common challenge of so much to do and so little time & money? Join us to discover how we used cupcakes to meet our move-in date and see if you get an epiphany to help respond to the constraints you might be facing in your life and work.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a Done Increment, I identified impediments as one of those challenges.  More specifically, NOT removing t

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma looks at the situation where there is so much to do and not enough time or money? Join us in this episode to learn how this challenge confounded us in our preparation to move to our new home.

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a done Increment, I identified too much change during the Sprint as one of those challenges.  Th

This year I was in the lucky circumstance to be part of some awesome (Scrum) teams. It certainly wasn't all "Scrum by the book" but I've learned a tremendous amount of lessons and generated lots of values insights.

I would like to kick off a series of posts in this blog trying to debunk some common myths about Scrum. Many of them arise sometimes from a poor understanding of the Scrum Guide, and even more often, from not having read it at all.

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a done Increment, I identified a lack of clear Sprint Goals as one of those challenges. According to the Scrum Guide, the

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a Done Increment, I identified a lack of team collaboration as one of those challenges.

In a previous post describing challenges to creating a Done Increment, I identified a lack of team ownership as one of those challenges.

The first rule of Agile is to value individuals and interactions over processes and tools. So, why do I, an Agile Coach who takes his profession seriously, support using Jira?

Recently I got asked what I consider the most common challenges with Agile projects. These are projects that have such a high rate of uncertainty and complexity on how and what to build, an Agile approach is necessary.

As a Product Owner and the CEO of Scrum.org, Dave West was invited to speak at ProductTank NYC earlier this year about the conflict between the roles Product Owner and Product Manager.

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In this video, Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma answers the question as to how the kitchen island impacted the course of our life and how we can apply what we learned in the world of complex software delivery.

Because there's no easy way in telling you this, I'll just share it straight away... Next week I'll be setting up a Jira environment for the product teams I'm coaching...

In this article, Ken discusses the history of Scrum, how they worked to get things started and a look ahead.

This article in Management Issues points back to some of Ken Schwaber's work in moving Agile and Scrum forward.

In this video, Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma answers the question: Do your teams sometimes struggle with having conversations that are necessary but so difficult that you keep sweeping them under the carpet? Does this stop you from improving and get in the way of winning the game of complex software delivery? Watch this episode to learn a simple technique we have used to help many teams successfully navigate hard conversations in a courageous and compassionate way.

This discussion features Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma as a host with a featured panel of expert PSTs Rich Visotcky, Simon Reindl, Mikkel Toudal Kristiansen, and Gary Pedretti.

Development Team was removed from the Scrum Guide in the 2020 release. However, the ideas expressed in this blog still provide value when understanding the dynamics of the Scrum Team.

Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma kicks off his series of video blogs with an introduction to the series.  In this first video, he asks: Do you sometimes struggle with understanding or explaining the what, why and how of Agile Software Delivery? Would you like to explore the power of story telling to illustrate where Agile Principles & Practices might make sense and why? Join us as we navigate marriage, home-ownership, fatherhood and the NBA and reveal actionable insights you can apply immediately to your Agile Teams!

What Is Self-Organization? “Knowledge workers have to manage themselves. They have to have autonomy,” says Peter Drucker.

In this episode of AgileNEXT, Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org, joins hosts Daniel Gullo and Stephen Forte and talks us about Agile and the Agile ecosystem.

In this CIO Magazine article on Lean IT, Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org talks about how adaptability is the common thread driving change today.