Scrum is an idea. The word ‘Scrum’ comes from the game of Rugby: a whole team working together; their singular mission is to move the ball down the field. The idea grows out of a few important truths about team development and product quality.

The final episode of "Scrum is Hard and Disruptive" emphasizes the essential shift in leadership from command-and-control to coaching and supporting teams. Effective Scrum leaders focus on setting meaningful goals, creating environments for success, and using evidence-based management to guide decisions. This mindset shift enables self-managing teams to thrive, delivering real value rather than just busywork.

Many think “developer” in Scrum means software developer, but it’s way broader than that. Find out why expanding the definition of “developer” could be the key to unlocking your team’s full potential.

Learn how to effectively craft experiments in product development to validate ideas, optimize features, and drive innovation. Discover key steps and techniques, such as A/B testing, paper prototyping, and usability tests, to gather actionable insights, reduce risks, and deliver data-driven solutions that maximize product value.

What if you treated your company like a product? Some of the most successful founders have unlocked this powerful mindset, applying the same principles used to build great products—iterative improvement, stakeholder focus, and strategic investment—to shape their organizations. By viewing internal experiences as products in a portfolio, leaders can drive meaningful change and build better companies.

Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley explore the role of conflict in Scrum teams, emphasizing that healthy conflict under pressure can drive focus and innovation. They discuss the importance of recognizing when disagreements shift from problem-solving to personal fights and stress the need for team members to maintain a commitment to constructive conflict.

In the competitive world of product development, success is never guaranteed. This article explores five glaring examples of failed products, from Amazon Fire Phone to Quibi, analyzing what went wrong and how proper validation could have prevented these costly mistakes. Learn how the Professional Product Discovery and Validation course can give you the tools you need to avoid such failures and guide your product to success

In diesem Artikel beschreibt PST Simon Flossmann warum die Enteckung und Validierung von Features im Refeinement unverzichtbar ist.

Todd and Ryan discuss the power of self-managing teams, emphasizing that teams thrive when they have autonomy and direct access to customers, leading to higher productivity and better solutions. They caution that self-management is a skill that requires nurturing through coaching and support, rather than simply expecting teams to excel without guidance.

Often we are required to make predictions about the future, specially the cost and effort that would be required to complete a project/ set of features for a product. Now in a complex environment this is not easy as many variables are at play. But is there an approach or tool to guide us? The Cone of Uncertainty might help.

Als Scrum Master haben wir oftmals mit Events zu tun, die schwer zu moderieren sind. Mal ufern sie aus, mal sind sie gähnend langweilig. Mal gibt es Menschen, die einen Termin für sich und ihre Meinung kapern, mal wiederum findet nahezu keinerlei Interaktion statt. Doch wie ist es, wenn viele Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) aufeinandertreffen? Man mag denken, es läuft alles wie geschmiert, immerhin treffen doch sehr erfahrene Trainer aufeinander. Doch ist das tatsächlich so? Aus meinem letzten Treffen mit anderen PSTs habe ich zwei Dinge gelernt, die ich gern teilen möchte.

In Episode 12 of "Scrum is Hard and Disruptive," Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley discuss the importance of maximizing value by delivering only the highest value functionality, emphasizing the need to say "no" to unnecessary features.

In my previous post on Product Definition, which you can read here, I introduced the basics of how products—both internal and external—are defined in an agile organization. Today, I’m excited to share a deeper dive into this concept through a new video, where I walk you through how we apply Systems Thinking in the Creating Agile Organizations (CAO) approach.

Dans le monde compétitif du développement de produits, le succès n'est jamais garanti. Cet article explore cinq exemples flagrants d'échecs de produits, du Fire Phone d'Amazon à Quibi, en analysant ce qui n'a pas fonctionné et comment une validation adéquate aurait pu éviter ces erreurs coûteuses. Découvrez comment le cours Professional Product Discovery & Validation (PPDV) peut vous donner les outils dont vous avez besoin pour éviter de tels échecs et guider votre produit vers le succès.

The goal of a SM is to grow the teams to thrive, innovate, and deliver exceptional products. Understanding and embracing the various dimensions of the role can enhance the effectiveness of your team.

In this episode of the take5IRL podcast, PST Jeff Lee and his colleague Patrick Campbell take you behind the scenes of a transformative case study. They dive into the challenges faced by a struggling product group in the medical device industry. Faced with the urgent need for change, they turned to Agile, but how do you implement Agile in a regulated environment? Tune in to hear how our team at agilityIRL brought fast-paced, hands-on Agile training to this team, guiding them through a steep learning curve to achieve remarkable results.

In part 2 of this powerful medical device case study, our hosts, PST Jeff Lee and Patrick Campbell, continue the journey from where we left off in episode 62. After hands-on Agile training, we moved into coaching the team as they executed their first sprints. Tune in to hear about the cultural shift that took place—a big change for the company that allowed them to see improvement in real-time and track progress like never before. Curious about the results? Listen in to see the tangible improvements and what they were able to accomplish as they embraced Agile in a regulated environment.

How can we avoid people punting on Professional Scrum because it is "nice-to-have"? How can Product Market Fit thinking help us? How can we focus on demand via an internal case studies perspective?

In their latest episode, Todd and Ryan explain why Scrum is often harder than waterfall development, emphasizing that iterative processes require constant adjustments to engineering practices and architectural decisions. They highlight that Scrum forces teams to move away from over-planning and focus more on building and testing, which demands a disciplined and adaptive approach.

Las empresas que buscan adoptar Scrum podrían mejorar su uso y la obtención de beneficios si evalúan primero las diferencias entre el enfoque de producto en el cual se basa Scrum junto al enfoque ágil y el enfoque de proyectos, o modelo tradicional de gestión de proyectos para aprovechar mejor los beneficios. En el siguiente post explicamos algunas diferencias que nos permita adoptar de manera apropiada el enfoque de producto con Scrum.

Nel mondo competitivo dello sviluppo dei prodotti, il successo non è mai garantito. Questo articolo esplora cinque clamorosi esempi di prodotti falliti, da Amazon Fire Phone a Quibi, analizzando cosa è andato storto e come una corretta validazione avrebbe potuto prevenire questi costosi errori. Scopri come il corso Professional Product Discovery & Validation (PPDV) può fornirti gli strumenti necessari per evitare simili fallimenti e guidare il tuo prodotto verso il successo

In diesem Artikel stellt PST Simon Flossmann drei Arten von Scrum-Meeting vor, die jeder Scrum Master sicher moderieren können sollte.

Incremental delivery is the superpower behind the Scrum framework. Scrum is based on Empiricism, which requires Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation. But none of that works without delivering value in increments.

When designing your own Agile framework, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. The key is to find the right balance based on how work flows through your system, particularly focusing on the type and frequency of dependencies. Your framework design should prioritize eliminating the most common dependencies first.

The video emphasizes that Scrum is a simple, adaptable framework that doesn’t need enhancement, unlike complex methodologies. Instead of altering Scrum, teams should focus on adding context-specific practices and addressing organizational impediments that hinder progress. The key message is to improve the environment in which Scrum operates, not the framework itself.

In this article, PST Alex Ballarin explains how UX Design activities (e.g. discovery) can be effectively included in the Scrum events and artifacts using the dual-track agile approach, simultaneously with the software delivery work.

As a Scrum Master, solving problems for the team is acceptable for the right reasons. Don’t do it out of routine. Before solving a problem, consider if you’re helping the team grow in their ability to resolve similar problems independently.

A well-crafted Business Problem Statement is key to guiding your team toward the right solutions, rather than jumping to conclusions. This article explores how to create impactful problem statements by focusing on the "Why," "What," and "Who" behind business challenges. With real-life examples from e-commerce, healthcare, and publishing, learn how to foster creativity, empathy, and ownership in your team, while keeping your goals clear and aligned.

Is your team changing or skipping Scrum elements to cover up deeper problems? Learn how to identify what’s missing, uncover the real issues, and find better ways to leverage the Scrum framework for more effective results.

In the latest episode of "Scrum is Hard and Disruptive," Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley discuss how Scrum is not just a process to be implemented but a powerful tool to drive change within organizations. They emphasize that many companies misuse Scrum by treating it as another procedural rollout, failing to embrace its disruptive nature meant to challenge old business habits.

A roadmap is a visualization of the Product Owner’s plan to deliver the Product Goal and fulfill the product vision. But in the real world, especially in complex environments, plans change—and that’s okay.

„Es gibt nichts mehr zu verbessern.“ In diesem Artikel beschreibt PST Simon Flossmann 3 erprobte Formate, mit denen du als Scrum Master diese kritische Sprint-Retrospektive moderierst

Wie Mikromanagement, mangelnde strategische Transparenz, Geringschätzung von Teams und leichtfertiges Eingehen von Risiken die Gesundheit von Organisationen untergraben, Innovationen ersticken und im Widerspruch zu agilen Prinzipien stehen können.

Scrum est-il agile ? Découvrez comment ces concepts se croisent et ce qu'il faut vraiment comprendre pour éviter la confusion. Visionnez notre vidéo pour démêler les fils !

Todd and Ryan discuss the ongoing struggle of Scrum teams against ingrained Waterfall habits and predictive thinking that undermine Agile principles. Despite shifts in workforce generations and management styles, many teams still sacrifice quality to meet deadlines and rigid plans.

“OKRs S&%k, but we don’t know anything better” This was a direct quote from a cybersecurity scaleup’s Chief of Staff, but I hear the sentiment way too often from founders, chiefs of staff, COOs, and others in the scaleup ecosystem. I started encountering OKRs when working with scaleups a couple of years ago, helping leaders fix their ways of working to reap the promised benefits of “Agile.”

"We are a team providing services, why should we care about this new Product Operating Model?"

Scrum adoption requires top-down leadership but thrives with a “middle-out” approach that engages middle management to drive organizational change. Sustained effort and healthy conflict resolution are crucial, as the journey is ongoing and filled with challenges. To succeed, organizations must embed Scrum principles deeply enough that change continues effectively beyond the influence of any single individual.

Understanding the Scrum Master role is challenging for many people. One of the roles in other fields close to the Scrum Master role is Orchestra Conductor. Watch this video to perceive the Scrum Master role from a new angle.

A great Product Owner leads with vision, validates the value delivered and encourages experimentation and risk-taking, helping the team unlock new possibilities to focus on delivering value.

Is the role of Scrum Master really relevant when Scrum has become the norm while the Scrum Masters themselves have not really upskilled or reskilled to support the Scrum Teams.

In this episode of the take5IRL podcast, Jeff Lee and Kelly Weyrauch break down what the FDA expects from your systems and reveal how adopting an Agile approach can give your company a competitive edge. Don't miss out on these game-changing insights!

This blog post explores how Scrum's intentional pressure on both engineering and product management teams drives continuous improvement and excellence. It emphasizes the importance of the "Definition of Done" and the need to close the "Effectiveness Gap" between current and target practices. Ultimately, the stress Scrum creates is a positive force that helps teams achieve better outcomes with each sprint.

In 2022, Andrew Sales (Chief Methodologist and SAFe Fellow at Scaled Agile, Inc.) was talking at the Tecnifor SAFe Day. You can find the talk here. His subject was “accelerating flow of customer value”. I want to reflect on this talk and share how we can help improve flow of customer value in SAFe systemically. This post invites you to improve SAFe beyond the solutions proposed in this talk.   

This article delves into the darker aspects of Founder Mode, popularized by Paul Graham and others, offering a critical perspective for agile practitioners, product leaders, startup founders, and managers.

3 Tipps, wie ein agiles Mindset wissenschaftlich fundiert förderst.

The Scrum Master is primarily responsible for the Scrum framework and the empirical process underlying it. Sometimes, this may require making tough decisions. To what extent does this include removing people from the team? We share our thoughts in this article.

Looking to hire the perfect Product Owner? In this video with PSTs Robert Pieper, Jason Malmstadt, and Greg Crown, learn about the essential skills needed and discover how to avoid common hiring pitfalls.

Partial implementations of Scrum often obscure critical dysfunctions in product development, preventing teams from fully benefiting from the framework's potential. Scrum Masters are vital in identifying and addressing these issues, requiring experience and leadership to drive real change.

Is data always the key to successful product development? In this article, we explore when data collection helps and drives innovation, and when it can lead to misguided decisions or wasted efforts.