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Why output-oriented metrics are mostly a waste of time in software- and product development.

The terms "iterative" and "incremental" are used so frequently and naturally in the context of agile that their meaning is no longer challenged.

People often think that persistence or not giving up will bring them to success. However, looking back to your past, how many times you tried, but did not get a good result?

Technical debt seems like a topic that resides completely in the domain of a Development Team. They are responsible for delivering a potentially releasable Increment after all. But might there be more to it for a Product Owner?

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the World War II leader and U.S. President, wrote: “[...] plans are of no particular value, but [...] planning is indispensable”.

In my daily life as a Scrum Master, I witness many crazy situations. I want to share my discoveries via this comic series featuring Koos Coach, the silly Scrum Master struggling to understand and master Scrum.

This article is about how we improved on the Spotify inspired model in one tribe inside a Large Dutch Bank.

Hello awesome people. I hope you had a great week. After my vlog on Project Manager versus Scrum Master, one of the viewers asked me to do a comparison between Project Manager and Product Owner also.

In this post I want to explore whether the Increment, a core concept to Scrum, needs to be changed for Scrum in a non-IT context. In future posts, I will do the same for the Definition of Done, or other concepts that may provide a better understanding of Scrum when applied to non-IT context.

A topic at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos this year was the question "How do we upskill a billion people by 2030?"

One of the things leaders often say they want most is predictability. Predictability is defined as the consistent repetition of a state, course of action, behavior, or the like, making it possible to know in advance what to expect.

On November 22nd, 2019, I gave the closing keynote at Scrum Deutschland, a talk called ‘The Four Things You Do To Prevent Value Delivery.’ In this keynote, I discussed the trends I found during my research at multiple organizations. 

Choosing how you will walk through your day, having fun with your colleagues and clients, actively listen and participating in collaborations, and ensuring others also have a great day. I have written a short story a while ago about the basics of the Fish! Philosophy for being an outstanding team member.

If you are working as a Product Owner, there is—very likely—room for improvement. This list of some of the most common Product Owner anti-patterns might be a starting point.

Professional Scrum Trainer Sahin Guvenilir wrote "Why having a Definition of Done is not optional and how it helps you protect your customer, money, reputation and morale".

This post is an excerpt from the book that we’re writing, the ‘Zombie Scrum Survival Guide’. It’s our way of delivering small increments and involving our stakeholders: you, the reader. So we’d love to hear your feedback, encouragements and wild ideas.

A while ago, I received an interesting scientific article from Gunther Verheyen titled “Getting Things Done: The Science Behind Stress-Free Productivity” (Heylighen & Vidal, 2007). The article discusses possible scientific explanations for the success of a personal productivity approach called “Getting Things Done” (GTD; Allen, 2001).

Do you want to how to become a successful Scrum Master? Do you know what is the first thing a Scrum Master should be focused on doing? Is it managing requirements?

Product Backlog Refinement (PBR) is an ongoing process in Scrum. But in a scaled Scrum, complexity vastly increases, and Refinement becomes mandatory. In this article, I will explain how you can use Refinement to your advantage and enhance organizational agility.

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.  

In my previous 2 episodes of this series on Systems Thinking, I elaborated on what Systems Thinking is and on the Wicked Problems Systems Thinking is trying to solve. In this episode, I want to explore Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS).

As a servant leader, a Scrum Master focuses on the needs of others, before her/his needs...

Openness is one of the 5 Scrum Values and in this blog post we want to take a closer look at this particular Scrum Value and how it relates to Agile Transformations when it is elevated from a Scrum Team level to an organizational level.

How to use the Liberating Structure 'Mad Tea' with Scrum.

Tuesday morning. 5AM. Alarm clock goes off. Some clouds in the sky. Driving my son to the swimming pool so he can start his training at 5:45 sharp. Continuing the drive towards a client to facilitate a training. 6:45 Traffic jam. Drizzle. 7:45 arrived. 9:00 Training to be started. Not all participants arrived. Waiting for another 5 minutes. Kick-off...

I've learned and experienced that most symptoms can be traced back to not adhering to the Scrum Roles. Let's start with the Product Owner role.

Scrum uses the concept of a Sprint to mitigate the risks of complex product development and help deliver value faster to stakeholders.

Sprint Planning is a core event, defining how your customers’ lives will improve with the next Product Increment. Learn more on how to improve its effectiveness by avoiding 20 common Sprint Planning anti-patterns.

The Bytesize Agile Series is inspired by discussion tangents that arise during training. 3 Amigos the topic of today comes up during discussion regarding refinement of backlog items into a ready state.

This is quite a long read which you can download as the whitepaper "Systems Thinking in Organizational Coaching".

Hey awesome people. Over the past few years I have seen many misunderstandings about the Product Owner role and how many organisations mapped the Product Owner role using their cognitive bias.

Before and during the Sprint, effort needs to be put into coordination to ensure the Scrum Teams deliver a working integrated product. This situation can be improved with Multi-team Product Backlog Refinement sessions.

In my daily life as a Scrum Master, I witness many crazy situations. I want to share my experiences via this comic series featuring Koos Coach, the silly Scrum Master struggling to understand and master Scrum.

Part I of this Evidence-Based Management (EBM) blog post series covered a general introduction to show how evidence-based management can be a powerful instrument when being used in agile transformations.

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

Scrum, in its more general definition, is a simple framework to help us address complex challenges. Product development is the subset of complex problem domains where Scrum took root first...

I call myself a Scrum Caretaker. I aspire inspiring people using Scrum. I prefer sharing positive experiences and cases that demonstrate how amazing working with Scrum can be, what problems can be tackled and how, the level of excellence we can build into our products, how Scrum can engage people.

When it comes to Product Ownership, there are a couple of things that are essential to get the job done right.

Students and clients ask us “Can Kanban and Scrum work together?” “Of course!” However, what do you mean by “Kanban”?

How do you change a system that is as complex as an organization? This is the quintessential question facing Scrum Masters, Product Owners and other drivers of change. In this post, we explore how the Liberating Structure ‘Panarchy’ offers a powerful perspective and allows you to put systems thinking into practice. And even though it is perhaps the most complicated of them all, Panarchy brings together all the promises of Liberating Structures: engage everyone and unleash change on every level. Its a great way to drive organizational change together in an organic way.

Often we work harder in Scrum teams, but not necessarily smarter. Therefore the way we work has to change. Five tips for more effective agile work.

How to make Scrum work? Read on to learn more about my top three objectives for Scrum Masters striving to achieve Scrum Mastery.

Often, when I facilitate a Professional Scrum Training, I'm asked about how a Scrum Team can work without someone telling them what to do.

I recently read the book The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. And I noticed strong correlations with what it takes to be an effective Scrum Master.

How many times a day are you walking into the conversation where people jump into discussing solutions that lead nowhere, lack a clear purpose for the people involved in the conversation, don’t make sense altogether without the additional “why” discussion? I know I am having those conversations day in and day out.

In this article, I want to clarify the need for agility in modern businesses and what agility in organisational design actually is.

Should the PO really balance the level of technical debt? I just had this conversation yesterday at Sweden's "big" agile conference, Agila Sverige.

The topic of my blog today is another one that is common on client’s sites. The use of the terms Showcase, Show & Tell or Sprint Review. In this situation, there is likely to be a broad mix of people fulfilling the Scrum Master roles.

A Sprint Goal is not often something people think about when using Scrum. Turns out it’s really important for teams to act as teams. Find out why in Robb Pieper's latest video blog from Responsive Advisors.

Hi awesome people. Courage is one of the Scrum values and as part of my New Year's resolution this year I would like to have more courage to point out elephant in the room at the risk people may dislike me for doing it.