What is Scrum? When and where can you use it? What does Good look like?

In 2020 the Scrum Guide introduced the classification of three commitments -

As part of a coaching certification programme that I am on we were discussing the difference between Ethics, Values and Morals.

I have recently started down the path of certification with Co-Active Coaching as I wanted to improve my coaching skills; to know more about what great coaching looks like, to immerse myself in a community that will help me improve my abilities and to have credibility in my own mind about my own skills.

Watching Euro2020, my daughter asked if a football coach could manage two teams at once.

“I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who.” - Rudyard Kipling

In the Peoples And Teams section of the Professional Scrum Master course, we discuss the impact of Task Switching. We discuss that task switching destroys efficiency and quality. 

A few years ago, I bumped into an ex-colleague of mine who was working with someone who I had also previously worked with - both of us were, or had been, a Scrum Master for this ex-colleague.

"How do you get an inexperienced Product Owner to concentrate on the why's and the value delivered by a feature/requirement, rather than a list of what's e.g we must gather a,b,c... x,y,z info from our users"

I was recently asked What should each role be doing during the Sprint? So, I took a copy of the latest Scrum Guide (November 2017), read it (again) and broke it down for them and now for you! 

An attendee of a course I delivered recently reached out to me post course to ask a question. [This is something that I always encourage, with new knowledge often comes new questions]

In May 2019, I spoke at the Agile Manchester conference, where I presented my talk "The Product Owner's Toolbox".

Part of the role of being a Scrum Master is to be a coach; to the team, the organisation and the individual.

I was once told that we have one mouth and two ears and that we should use them in those proportions. Now, those who know me will know that I struggle with that....

The Sprint Goal is mentioned numerous times in the Scrum Guide, however it can be over looked by many teams or seen as an "oh yeah" moment when teams are finishing Sprint Planning.

One of the teams I worked with suggested dropping the Sprint Retrospective and the Sprint Review from the Sprint and only do them every other Sprint.  

Whilst in a meeting I heard a colleague explaining to another colleague...

I'd like to share another story with you... Thank you Paul and Charlie for sharing your story. It moved me and left me with huge smile on my face. 

Warning - this post is not about Scrum. It is about Technical Debt in my home!!! Please do not judge me!!

In this post I'd like to discuss "Empathy - why it is important in teams and what you can do if you struggle with it". First, we all know what the role of the Scrum Master is, right?

In January 2019 I was at Prowareness in Delft, Holland, and attended the 2 day Professional Product Owner course delivered by Ralph Jocham, co-author of The Professional Product Owner book. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the course with you.

As a trainer, I often get asked for real world examples of Scrum implementations. You can't get any more real world than how Francis and Sally live their lives through Scrum, as they look for a way to help with ADHD.

I first met Sally,and then later Francis her husband, at a local user group - Agile in Leeds, where Sally delivered a fantastic 10 minute talk on how she implemented Scrum to help Francis with ADHD. 

This is a great exercise to learn more about your team; to find out more about each other’s concerns and dreams and, importantly, what you can do to support them. 

I recently attend the Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II) course and I'd like to share my thoughts with you about it. 

I was presenting at a local user group and wanted to explain the concept of what it is to be a Servant Leader. I find that by providing an example of something people can easily relate to the concept.

People who attend the PSM course or the Professional Scrum Foundations (PSF) course are given two attempts at passing the Professional Scrum Master I assessment.

Over a wet weekend in the UK, my 12 year old daughter was looking for something to do and decided to draw a poster to while away some time. My daughter decided that she would help me by making a poster about Scrum ( honestly!, I am not making this up. I didn't realise how much I talk about a scrum at home.)

Working as a Scrum Master I asked myself... "How do I know if my team are demonstrating the Scrum Values? What can I use to show their current state?"

In everything we do there should be some value - some importance in what we do. If not, then why do it?

I have recently been helping a new Scrum team get started with the framework and helping them to set themselves up with the best chance of being successful with Scrum.