In this blog post, Derek Davidson shares advice on launching a career in Scrum.

On a recent episode of Your Daily Scrum, Professional Scrum Trainers Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley address a frequent question in Scrum circles: Why Do Organizations Fail at Scrum? 

I have had the opportunity to work with some truly amazing teams that have achieved pretty amazing outcomes. One thing that every team has had in common is that, at one time, they were new to Scrum. When I engage with teams to discuss implementing the Scrum framework, they often raise potential imp...

The past 18 months have been a whirlwind. Coronavirus, elections, inequality and conflict – a quagmire of micro and macro complexities that impact the feelings and behaviours of Scrum Teams. In my opinion, it would be fair to say that teams who consistently attempt to mitigate environmental and soci...

If I were to summarize the purpose of a Sprint, I would say that it’s to deliver a Done, usable increment that meets the Sprint Goal.

In this episode of Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer, John Coleman answers the audience's burning questions about Scrum and the challenges their teams are facing. He answers questions about Product Goals, Sprint Goals, Refinement, Team Dynamics, Performance metrics, Scrum with Kanban and more!

If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 54 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate.

One frequent question that I often get from candidates that I train is - Venkatesh, what is the career path of a Scrum Master? I am a Scrum Master now. How can I build my career to the next level? Even though I don’t believe in calling out how the Scrum Mastery is done, I tried to give recommendatio...

Do We Need Agile Coaches when Practicing Scrum? I do believe that this construct is flawed: When practicing Scrum correctly, Scrum Masters are all you ever need.

It is a common question that do we still need a Scrum Master for a mature Scrum Team. I would like to use the metaphor of a Soccer Referee to explain.

It's hard to be a good Scrum Master. It's even harder to be a great Scrum Master! So, what sort of things should you be doing to be great? Here are some Scrum Master tips to help you get started on day one in a new job.

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone.

According to the 15th annual State of Agile report, there has been a tremendous increase in the adoption of agile frameworks over the last year. Within software teams, agile adoption grew from 37% in 2020 to 86% in 2021.

This workshop was delivered on 19th August 2021 and focused on introducing the core concepts of Scrum & Empiricism. I used a combination of Liberating Structures, Microsoft Teams, and Mural to deliver an interactive session.

What is an Agile Coach? Are Scrum Masters agile coaches? How do they coach teams, the Product Owner and the enterprise?

On a recent episode of Your Daily Scrum, Professional Scrum Trainers Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley address a prevalent question in Scrum circles: What is the Best Scrum Master Certification Path?

In a recent blog post, I addressed whether a Can Scrum Master and a Product Owner be the same person? You can remember the answer from the blog; Even though it is not outright in the Scrum Guide but not a recommended option.

Of late, I've been noticing an interpretation of the Scrum Master role - the Scrum Master as An FFFCDO for Developers - a Fierce, Ferocious, Fearsome Chief Defense Officer!

In this Scrum Tapas video, Professional Scrum Trainer Chuck Suscheck uses a simple exercise to explore how silence can be valuable to those doing work and why it is important for a Scrum Master for example to sometimes remain quiet rather than over explaining. (4:35 Minutes)

In this Scrum Tapas video, Professional Scrum Trainer Ryan Brook describes the Daily Scrum, ways to facilitate it, examples of discussion and outcomes, and why it is such an important event in Scrum. (3:42 Minutes)

When using the Scrum framework, the Retrospective is the final event in a Sprint. In this article, we will discuss ideas to use when planning your next Sprint Retrospective.

How effectively a Nexus works depends on its ability to eliminate dependencies. Eliminating dependencies simplifies integration. Scrum Masters who efficiently perform cross-team refinements save time. Saving time saves money. 

In March 2021, I was conversing with a CTO of a Product based company. He asked me a question that if it was worth employing a Scrum Master. We discussed the topic by exchanging opinions, and I explained my viewpoint.

I interviewed a Scrum Master candidate last week. This blog is inspired by him.

One of my favorite sayings is “Inspection without adaptation is waste”. For continuous improvement it is important not only to identify things that did not go so well but to also change something in the way you are working. If you change nothing, the inspection did not have an impact at all and is a...

Does the role of the Scrum Master go away with time? For addressing the doubt, first, understand the role of a Scrum Master clearly. 

Every company has customer focus in its vision or mission statement, but is it really? As an employee of a development team, how do I know if this is the case?

When we introduce Scrum to an organization, many people are skeptical of the monetary benefits and ROI of the Scrum Master position. The question I am often asked is - "How do you justify the salary of the Scrum Master?"

Can a Scrum Team simply decide to abandon Scrum? After all, the Scrum team is self-managing, according to the Scrum manual, also known as the Scrum Guide. So, let’s explore this question at the very heart of team autonomy.

A Scrum team consists of three clear accountabilities: one Scrum Master, one Product Owner, and Developers.  Often, when working with a Scrum team struggling with excessive conflict or a lack of trust, I find the culprit is a lack of clarity around each of these accountabilities.  Even with the best...

In this blog post, I share 10 success factors that emerged from a community meetup. These factors helped Scrum practitioners prevent or fix Zombie Scrum in their team and organization.

In 2020 and 2021, more than 1,153 participants from over 20 countries and organizations from less than 50 to more than 10,000 employees participated in a hands-on survey on agile metrics launched by Berlin-Product-People. The goal of this survey was to learn about who is using what agile metrics in ...

Sprint Planning is an important event that has a significant impact on the team’s effectiveness and productivity during the Sprint. The most critical aspects of successful sprint planning are the level of the team’s commitment to the goal of the sprint and handling the Sprint Backlog. To encourage...

This episode of the Xagility podcast with John Coleman brings you 5 years worth of research by the extremely knowledgeable Christiaan Verwijs and Dr Daniel Russo. Throughout the last half decade, these two have embarked on a journey to shed more light on what it is exactly that makes Scrum Teams eff...

Although Scrum has been around for more than 25 years, it is still new to many. In this session, we provide an overview of the Scrum framework, discuss how Scrum enables agility and ways that empiricism can empower the teams that use it. Like with any form of process, there are myths that arise, dur...

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are a powerful tool for setting and measuring goals, but like all power tools, they can come with great responsibility. Matt Hodgson, CEO and Executive Agile Coach of Zen Ex Machina and Patricia Kong, Product Owner of Enterprise Agility at Scrum.org will discuss how...

Scrum Master Interview: Demand Creates Supply and the Job Market for Agile Practitioners is No Exception

Reflections and findings triggered by the experience interview with Jimmy Janlén.

Follow these six coaching tips and notice the change you can bring to your organisation.

In this episode of Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer, Professional Scrum Trainer Punit Doshi answers audience questions about New Scrum Masters, metrics, Sprint Retrospectives, Sprint Planning and more!

What has served me well over the years is a combination of observation and asking questions. Congratulations on your new Scrum Master position! Now what?

If you’ve ever wondered whether Scrum can work for hard deadlines, the answer is – yes!  Not only can Scrum work in these situations, but in my experience, using this agile framework increases the probability of meeting challenging  deadlines.

Ever since Scrum Guide was updated last year in November 2020, throughout early 2021 I have been inspecting and adapting with several Scrum Teams on the most effective Product Goal.

A real-life example of how we facilitated an online Sprint Review.

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

In this webinar, Eric Naiburg, COO, Scrum.org, discusses the potential move to an agile way of working, the role of the Scrum Master, and what that means for people currently in the role of Project Manager.

Let me introduce you to an example sketch based on the Tuckman model of group dynamics I use in my Professional Scrum Master training classes to make the effort and cost of creating a Scrum Team easier understandable.

I was blessed with a partner who, on top of his skills as Agile coach, is a gifted graphic facilitator...

What scientific research on team cognition tells us about high-performing teams

Download this datasheet to learn more about the Applying Professional Scrum class.