Product Backlog Management is challenging. Imagine you’re a Product Owner with a backlog of 300+ items. Stakeholders keep adding requests, developers feel lost in prioritisation, and every refinement session is a painful, drawn-out discussion. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. If you have ever thought, ‘There must be a better way!’ - in this article I will present Upstream Kanban as one of them.

In diesem Artikel schilder PST Simon Flossmann seine 3 Aha-Moment nach 10 Jahren mit Sprint-Zielen.

How AI-driven approaches enable agile product teams to gain deeper customer insights and deliver more innovative solutions.

This blog post describes a 1-hour Retrospective format to help teams reflect on the empirical pillars of Scrum.

In der Welt von Scrum und agilem Arbeiten basiert der Erfolg auf empirischem Arbeiten – dem kontinuierlichen Lernen und Anpassen in kurzen Zyklen. Doch dieses Konzept hat eine essenzielle Grundlage: Qualität.

The Sprint Review isn’t about showing what the Scrum Team built—it’s about discovering how stakeholders experience the product. Learn how to turn inspection into real adaptation and ensure your Sprint Review drives product evolution.

Discover why "fail fast" falls short and learn a more effective framework—fail smarter, sooner, and forward—to transform failure into strategic innovation.

A product operating model defines how an organization structures, funds, and manages product teams to drive business success. In this article, we break down six essential concepts that help product leaders create a scalable, outcome-driven model. From aligning strategy with execution to fostering cross-functional collaboration and streamlining governance, these key principles will empower your team to deliver value efficiently.

Empathy in leadership may seem intangible, but its return on investment (ROI) is measurable through its profound impact on individuals, teams, and organizational performance. By fostering trust, improving communication, and creating a psychologically safe environment, empathetic leadership drives tangible benefits.

In diesem Artikel beschreibt PST Simon Flossmann seine Weg als Trainer von Frontalunterricht zu „Training from the Back of the Room"

Every now and then some one talks about or highlights a practice which has nothing to do with Scrum. Yet, due to widespread usage of the practice, people think that the specific practice is part of Scrum and should be followed to do Scrum in the right way. Sometimes, the Scrum Masters for the lack of knowledge enforce such practices and then feel the resistance.  I am not saying that every Scrum Team should know each and every right or wrong practice. That’s not how empiricism works. When I started as a Scrum Master back in 2010, I had my set of practices and I evolved. I expect Scrum Masters and Scrum Teams to have that journey. What I am unable to comprehend is the same practices of 2010 becoming anti-patterns for Scrum Teams in 2025.

At Argus, the maintenance team in Edmonton faced a challenge: ensuring consistent, high-quality repairs while dealing with an unpredictable workload.

Passer la Certification PSPO-III peut sembler insurmontable, dans cet article Vivien C. vous donne les clés pour réussir.

In this blog, I explore the critical distinction between leadership and management, sparking a debate that often arises in Scrum workshops: "Is a Scrum Master a leader or a manager?" By examining the roles of both managers and leaders, I clarify how leadership goes beyond managing tasks and involves inspiring people. I highlight that while managers control resources and processes, leaders empower, motivate, and connect with their teams. The blog challenges Scrum Masters to reflect on their role—not just managing work, but encouraging an environment where teams are inspired to thrive and innovate.

How can you focus on continuous improvement if you think everything is already perfect? Scrum Masters who become too emotionally attached to their teams can lose the ability to assess improvement opportunities objectively.

In diesem Artikel erklärt PST Simon Flossmann, warum Scrum Master von Velocity besessen sein sollten.

A glue role connects different parts of an organization, ensuring smooth team communication, collaboration, and integration. These roles are essential for implementing change and solving systemic issues that impact multiple departments. It’s easy to see the connection to the purpose of a Scrum Master, right?

Rigid, long-term forecasts stifle agility and increase risk, but figuring out how to do shift to agile forecasting is challenging. We'll explore for core practices that enable agility through adaptable investment decisions: re-forecasting, decreasing precision, bracketing, and aligning forecasts with time horizons.

Find ways of understanding and increasing value by imagining you are about to pitch your product to a demanding investor

Scrum isn’t about blindly following a plan—it’s about inspecting, learning, and adjusting. But not all changes are improvements. Discover how small, goal-oriented, data-driven tweaks can make the difference between continuous improvement and chaotic change.

Change is inevitable in any organization, from shifting markets to evolving customer expectations. Agile frameworks can help navigate these challenges, but they must evolve alongside the organization. While generative frameworks adapt and grow, rigid ones impose fixed solutions that may become obsolete over time. The key is ensuring your framework supports, rather than hinders, your organization's progress.

Komplexität im Code ist ein oft unterschätztes Problem, das die Leistungsfähigkeit eines Teams erheblich beeinträchtigen kann. Sie schleicht sich heimlich ein, führt zu unübersichtlichem und schwer wartbarem Code und hindert Teams daran, schnell und effektiv auf Veränderungen zu reagieren. Langfristig entsteht daraus ein „Big Ball of Mud“, der Innovationen bremst und Entwickler frustriert. Doch wie können Teams dieser schleichenden Gefahr begegnen? In meinem Blog-Post zeige ich, wie Teams ein Gespür für aufkommende Komplexität entwickeln können und welche Strategien helfen, die Codebasis kontinuierlich zu verbessern. Von der Vereinfachung von Strukturen über die Bedeutung klarer Namensgebung bis hin zur Anwendung der „Pfadfinder-Regel“ – erfahre, warum die Reduzierung von Komplexität eine zentrale Aufgabe für das gesamte Scrum-Team ist und wie sie langfristig den Business Value schützt.

The core strength of Scrum is its ability to take advantage of self-managing teams who are capable of making faster decisions, taking ownership and creating value by helping the customers to respond to ever changing needs of their domain, market. The challenge however is, how many self-managing teams have we encountered in the software world. At least, in the places where I have worked in the past, the sighting was rare to none. It is like going on a birding trip to find a specific bird species only to know that the species has already migrated to some other place. It was here yesterday but now it is gone. The question this situation raises is, if self-management is so important for Scrum or Agility to thrive then why do we have so few self managing teams. And can by simply declaring a team, a self-managing team will make it so magically?

In diesem Artikel erklärt PST Simon Flossmann die 3 Kernkompetenzen Agiler Produktentwicklung

Product Metrics That Speak Wall Street: Turn Misunderstood Products into Investor Gold

Dans ce post, Vivien C. vous parle de son expérience en F1. Faire partie d'une équipe "high performance" - 🏎️ une vraie 🏎️ - et son vécu de membre d'équipe Scrum dans sa version la plus fluide.

Accountability and responsibility are often confused, but the key difference is that responsibility can be delegated, while accountability cannot. This blog explores the distinction with real-life examples, including tax filing and Scrum leadership.

In some of my classes, people tell me they are using Scrum—but they can't call it Scrum. Why? Because someone in their organization had a bad experience with it.

In diesem Artikel teilt PST Simon Flossmann, 7 Tipps, wie du die Sprint-Retrospektiven moderierst. 

An Increment that isn’t inspectable creates blind spots—decisions are based on assumptions, not evidence. In this post, we explore what makes an Increment truly inspectable, common anti-patterns, and how to ensure your Scrum Team delivers transparency every Sprint.

Kontinuierliche Verbesserung klingt in der Theorie großartig: Teams optimieren ihre Prozesse, steigern die Qualität ihrer Arbeit und entwickeln sich stetig weiter. Aber die Praxis zeigt: Es ist oft eine echte Herausforderung, diese Verbesserungen dauerhaft im Arbeitsalltag zu verankern. Warum? 1️⃣ Veränderung kostet Überwindung: Viele scheuen den Schritt aus der Komfortzone, selbst wenn klar ist, dass Optimierungen langfristig Vorteile bringen. 2️⃣ Zeitdruck und Alltagsstress: Die Dringlichkeit, Deadlines einzuhalten, lässt oft keinen Raum für Reflexion und Prozessverbesserung. 3️⃣ Fehlender sichtbarer Erfolg: Verbesserungen entfalten ihre Wirkung oft erst über die Zeit, was kurzfristig die Motivation drücken kann.

If you are managing a product, you need to be clear about what drives value and what doesn’t. Not all bug fixes and refactors are worth it.

In diesem Artikel warnt PST Simon Flossmann dich vor 3 Fehler, die sich in Sprint-Plannings einschleichen

Psychologische Sicherheit ist keine nebensächliche „Nettigkeit“ – sie ist die Grundlage für agile Teams, die innovativ sind, sich an Veränderungen anpassen und Ergebnisse liefern.

The only reason for a Product Owner to exist is to maximize the value of the Product. One of the ways a Product Owner can accomplish this is by ensuring that most valuable items remain at the top of the Product Backlog and the Product Goal underscores their importance. So, how does the Product Owner order the Product Backlog; what techniques can be used? Is MoSCoW a valuable approach? Let’s explore.

Many Scrum Masters see their role as protecting the Scrum Team. But when protection becomes isolation, something is wrong. Shielding a team too much from stakeholders isn't helpful - it hinders collaboration, stifles feedback and erodes trust.

Psychological safety isn’t about fluffy “niceness”—it is the foundation of agile teams that innovate, adapt, and deliver.

Das Sprint Review – eines der zentralsten und spannendsten Events in einem agilen Team, oder? Naja, theoretisch. In der Praxis empfinden viele es als langweilig, ineffektiv oder reine Pflichtveranstaltung. Viele Scrum-Teams stolpern über typische Fallen und verpassen die Chance, echtes Engagement zu schaffen. Das muss nicht sein! Ein gut durchgeführtes Sprint Review kann inspirieren, Energie freisetzen, richtig Spaß machen und eine Plattform für wichtiges, produktbezogenes Feedback bieten. Hier sind 6+ Ideen, wie du dein Sprint Review wieder zu einem echten Highlight machst, das alle begeistert.

In diesem Artikel erklärt PST Simon Flossmann seine 5 Lieblings-Retrospektiven.

Some teams struggle. They flounder in chaos, miss deadlines, and suffer from constant firefighting. Eventually, the pain becomes unbearable, and they take action—hiring an agile coach, changing their approach, or even replacing key team members. Other teams just get by. They hit their deadlines (some of the time). They hold their agile events. They deliver work that’s… fine. Not great. Not terrible. And because the discomfort never reaches breaking point, nothing changes. This is the Region Beta Paradox at play.

Scrum Masters as change agents, often face challenges in becoming effective in their accountability. The reasons behind this can vary, but changes are inherently difficult. People resist change, consciously or unconsciously, and change agents face these challenges on personal, team and organisational levels. On the other hand, the role of the Scrum Master as a change agent is crucial and can profoundly impact the Scrum Team and Organisation. This article describes six characteristics that can guide your growth as a change agent. It is a valuable resource for Agile leaders (Scrum Masters, Delivery Managers, Agile Coaches) who aim to embrace their role as agents of change.

Your organization works exactly as it was designed to work. The results you get—good or bad—are not by chance. They come from the way your teams are set up, the people you hire, the decisions you make, and the processes you follow. It might or might not be what you intended, but it is what your design produces.

In vielen Teams wird der Fokus daraufgelegt, dass jedes Mitglied „beschäftigt“ ist und seine Aufgaben möglichst unabhängig erledigt. Doch ist das wirklich der beste Weg zu großartigen Ergebnissen? Alternativen wie Swarming, Pair-Programming und Mob-Programming werden oft als ineffizient abgetan, doch diese Methoden haben es in sich! Warum? Bessere Lösungen durch kollektive Intelligenz: Gemeinsam erarbeitete Lösungen sind oft durchdachter und robuster. Kontinuierlicher Arbeitsfluss: Keine unnötigen Wartezeiten oder Kontextwechsel – Aufgaben werden schneller und qualitativ hochwertiger abgeschlossen. Stärkerer Team-Spirit: Gemeinsame Verantwortung, bessere Kommunikation und ein echtes Gemeinschaftsgefühl führen zu höherer Motivation und besseren Ergebnissen. Es lohnt sich, traditionelle Denkweisen zu hinterfragen und die Kraft echter Zusammenarbeit zu nutzen!

In diesem Artikel beschreibt PST Simon Flossmann, wie Scrum Master mit Facilitation gängige Problem lösen.

The only purpose of doing Scrum is to create a DONE Increment. To get to a DONE Increment, quality is key. In Scrum Teams Definition of Done enables transparency around quality and releasability of the Increment. However, more often than not the Definition of Done stops at meeting acceptance criteria and completing a few levels of testing. But is that enough to make the product increment releasable; of highest possible quality? Maybe or maybe not.

To stay competitive and relevant as an Agile Practitioner, continuous learning and upskilling in AI are no longer optional but essential for the new world of careers. Take a free AI quiz to see where you stand now.

Every great product starts with a simple idea: solving a problem in a way that matters to people and businesses alike. But what exactly defines a product—and what doesn’t?

Los Scrum Master líderes que sirven al desarrollo del equipo Scrum a la vez que protegen una cultura basada en los valores de Scrum para ayudar a maximizar la entrega de valor. Los Scrum Masters efectivos trabajan de muchas maneras para mejorar la adopción de Scrum buscando crear confianza y un crecimiento de la autogestión. A contunuación algunas recomendaciones para lograr Scrum Masters efectivos:

Scrum - when done well - actually promotes even greater accountability than waterfall, because the Scrum team is accountable for value delivery. And great Scrum teams measure - and reflect upon - customer outcomes so that they can adjust course and improve their ability to deliver value.

You can't force a team to improve; instead, create the conditions where they want to. Improvement must come from within, and your role as a Scrum Master, leader, or manager is to make that journey possible. In this article, I'll share questions to reflect on and offer tangible recommendations to get started.