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.

In this highly engaging speaker session from the Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Jutta Eckstein and Maryse Meinen point out the advantages of creating diverse, cross-functional teams to benefit your customers and your organization.

Scrum is an agile project management framework that enables teams to deliver value in 30 days or less. The two most notable roles in Scrum are the Scrum Master and Product Owners. But for those new to Scrum, question we sometimes get asked is, can the Product Owner and Scrum Master be the same perso...

I'm slightly uniquely placed in that I am a Scrum Master, Professional Scrum Trainer and Scrum Coach, as well as being a Rugby Coach, and as such I've always been intrigued by the name Scrum...

Scrum Star (parody of All Star by Smash Mouth)

Smells Like Scrum Spirit (parody of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana)

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. While it is common to first look outside our team for impediments, such as dysfunctional processes or other systemic issues,

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

As a Scrum Master myself, I am excited to see the accountability of the Scrum Master clearly defined so that the company who hires me has a clear expectation about what I will do at their company.

Arguably the most famous role in Scrum is the Scrum Master. But for those new to Scrum, it’s a bit of a mystery what a Scrum Master does day to day – here are five things that Scrum Masters do.

This blog post discusses how the Circles of Improvement from the book by Stephen R. Covey: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, work in Scrum.

Organizations need to move fast and receive ongoing feedback from customers to drive sustainable innovation through continuous discovery and value delivery. But there is a problem — dependencies.

When people form a Scrum Team they have to figure out how to become a real team, rather than a collection of individuals. The Scrum Team Charter Canvas is a helpful tool to facilitate Scrum Team formation.

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. One failure symptom of a botched agile transformation is the frustrated Scrum Master.

In my live training, I often ask students why we estimate. The answer I usually hear is some version of...“So we know how big something is and how long it will take.”  

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

In an agile context, we use metrics to set performance goals, measure current conditions, define small improvement experiments and measure the effectiveness of the experiments in order to inspect and adapt goals and determine the next steps.

On today’s episode of YOUR DAILY SCRUM: Planned vs Actual is a TERRIBLE Metric for Scrum Teams!

On today’s episode of YOUR DAILY SCRUM: What is the Real Cost of Context Switching for a Scrum Team? Today's question explores the real cost of context switching for a Scrum Team.

Fake Scrum is around us everywhere we go. It's unavoidable. Just look on the internet lookup fake Scrum right now and you're going to find all kinds of interesting articles that describe Scrum in very weird ways. There are at least five ways you can tell if you've got fake Scrum going on.

One of my customers is hiring for the Scrum Master Role and asked if I had a handy-dandy Scrum Master Job Spec that they could use....