When to use Facilitation, Coaching, Mentoring or Teaching We often use the words “coaching,” “mentoring,” “teaching,” and “facilitating” informally. We may say that we're being coached on how to become a better golfer, or that the person managing the agenda in a meeting is the meeting's facilitat...

"At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjust its behavior accordingly." What does this mean and why is it important?

Scrum events create regularity and transparency and minimize the need for meetings not defined in Scrum. The events are the Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, and the Sprint. Often, Scrum events don’t go as planned. Good, lightweight facilitation can help the Scrum Te...

A dogmatic approach to Scrum tends to close down discussion and inhibit collaboration. If it’s in the Scrum framework described in the Scrum Guide, it’s there for a reason. But if it is not outlined in the framework, Scrum teams can innovate how to apply Scrum in their unique environment.

3 Practices to Break out of Cruise Control and Drive Change

There is a lot of information out there about how to prepare for a Scrum Master interview. But, how do you land that interview? What are the qualities, mindset and personality traits needed to be a Scrum Master? Learn more in this episode of the Scrum.org Community podcast. (34:36 Minutes)

In Scrum, empiricism refers to the idea that solving complex problems, or doing complex work, can only be done using an exploratory process rather than relying on predetermined plans. Learn about empiricism and complex work. Explore why trust is important for empiricism to thrive.

If you are just getting started, think of Scrum as a way to get work done as a team in small pieces at a time, with experimentation and feedback loops along the way. This learning series explores the pieces that make up the Scrum Framework.

The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization while serving the Scrum Team as well as the larger organization. 

How do the Product Owner and the Scrum Team navigate unexpected customer requests? What happens when a high priority customer issue is discovered mid-Sprint? Should the Scrum Team ignore the emergency or interrupt the Sprint? Like so many things in Scrum, the answer is that it depends.

In this video, PST'S Gregory Crown, Jason Malmstadt and Robert Pieper are going to show you how an Agile Manager Helps Grow a Team. We'll get specific with a few ways you can help your team become better at self-management, improve team dynamics, and grow their product development skills.

In this vlog, PST Joshua Partogi explains why Scrum is not an iterative mini-waterfall project management method.

What transparency can the Scrum Master bring to the Scrum Team and the stakeholders of your product? Transparency, being one of the core underlying concepts of the Scrum framework, we can expect the Scrum Master to actively work on this.

A do-it-yourself workshop to have Scrum teams clearly express what they need from management, stakeholders, and the supporting organization with “What I Need From You”

Circle of Influence and Control ActivityHighly effective teams focus and are proactive on spending energy on the things that they can make a timely impact. By doing so, they not only enable themselves to change things for the better, they also create positive energy and widen their influence over th...

Sentiment surveys at the Sprint Retrospective can be an early warning indicator that something is wrong.

In this vlog, Professional Scrum Trainers, Andreanna Marshall, and Scott Adams discuss five common Scrum mistakes that will ruin your team's progress.

There is no one direct path to become a great Scrum Master. However, we've assembled a few insights and ideas on topics such as driving toward goals, living the Scrum Values, enabling collaboration, removing obstacles, instilling self-management, promoting psychological safety, and encouraging a continuous improvement mindset.

Do you have to go to the Daily Scrum every day? Do you need to stand up? Should the Scrum Master and/or Product Owner attend every one? Watch this video to find out!

In this episode of the Scrum.org Community Podcast, Dave West continues his discussion with Willem van den Corput, VP Engineering at Lightyear and Michelle Siau, Agile Coach about how Scrum is used at Lightyear to develop Solar electric vehicles, managing complexity and adapting to growth in their o...

Psychological Safety is an important asset of effective Scrum Teams. In this short video, we introduce psychological safety, share a familiar scenario and provide 3 tips to foster psychological safety on your Scrum Team. (4:10 Minutes)

In this episode of the Scrum.org Community Podcast, host Dave West chats with Willem van den Corput, VP Engineering at Lightyear and Michelle Siau, Agile Coach about how Lightyear came about, how they use Scrum to build Solar electric vehicles, coaching and more! (33:11 Minutes)

If you’re a newcomer to all of this, you might be asking yourself: What is Agile even all about? How can organizations such as your own profit from becoming more agile?

In order for Scrum Masters to fulfill their accountability they must enable the team to continuously improve its practices within the Scrum Framework. Learn about how a Scrum Master can instill continuous improvement mindset through an exploration of some frequently asked questions that we’ve encountered from Scrum Teams.

Scrum could be used in all sorts of domains, but I would not be so arrogant to tell you it can be used in any domain. It has been used and you can try it in pretty much any domain, but there would be one constraint holding back Scrum or holding back your ability to do Scrum: if you cannot deliver a...

Many of us find it difficult to ask for help at work, which is a problem if you are part of a Scrum Team. Interdependence and collaboration are central to Scrum, but these practices don’t always come naturally to those new to the framework. In this post, we explore the incorrect assumptions tied up ...

The best way to support a team working on complex problems is to give them the space to determine how to do their work, rather than directing them. Learn about self-managing teams and their characteristics. Explore some myths and misunderstandings about self-management.

In this episode of Ask a Professional Scrum Trainer, Sander Dur, PST at Xebia, joins to answer questions around Scrum Mastery, Self-Management, Product Ownership, estimation, metrics and more! (57:36 Minutes)

Facilitation can be used to lead people toward agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership and creativity by all involved. Learn about the principles of facilitation, skills and traits of a facilitator, how to facilitate diverse perspectives and explore some facilitation techniques for the Scrum Events.

What is a Scrum Master? Is a Scrum Master like a project manager? Are they your boss? Do they conduct all the Scrum Events or run all the meetings? Learn all about the role of a Scrum Master as it is defined in the 2020 Scrum Guide in this video.

The Scrum Master Salary Report 2023 is based on the answers of 1,143 participants globally. Find out how you compare!

Scrum is a popular Agile project management framework that has been adopted by organizations worldwide. A Scrum Master is a critical member of a Scrum Team, responsible for facilitating the process and ensuring the team follows Scrum practices. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you...

A very interesting (and sad) piece of news made headlines in Spain recently that provides some lessons about agile product development and incremental delivery. 

How does the Increment support Transparency? Transparency being one of the core underlying concepts of the Scrum framework. How can you use the Increment to raise transparency?

Scrum is a tool that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions to complex problems. If Scrum is a source of frustration (because, for example, "the Scrum Master keeps on distracting us"), it's a sign that it is not Professional Scrum but the team is just going t...

Sprint is the heartbeat of Scrum. But, how do you select the right Sprint Length?

How can savvy Scrum Masters and Scrum Teams use the Retrospective Prime Directive to avoid Retrospective Witch Hunts but instead create a culture of continuous collaboration and learning?

Self-managing doesn’t mean that the Scrum Team — or the Scrum Master — is all-powerful.  (Sorry, not sorry!)  It means that the organization gives the Scrum Team the mandate to deliver value according to the product vision and goal within a set of guardrails.  

In this webinar, Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma shares a play from his Scrum Adoption Playbook – the Scrum Team Quick-Launch or Reboot. He shares the 10 common barriers to the emergence of self-managing Scrum Teams and the 10 practices we use to help Scrum Teams break-through these barriers. ...

You're an amazing Scrum Master, right? How would you know if you weren't? Wouldn't you want to know? Here are 5 common bad habits Scrum Masters might develop that one should remove ASAP.

Scrum is a really popular way for agile teams to deliver. But what are some of the underlying ideas that make Scrum work? What's the theory behind it all?

A Scrum Master is effective when their team is effective. As the Scrum Guide says, Scrum Masters are accountable for the effectiveness of the Scrum Team.  Let’s explore what this entails.

Organizations sometimes misconstrue the role of a project manager with the accountability of the Scrum Master. While a project manager and a Scrum Master are similar in that they both work and interact with teams, there are distinct differences between their roles. 

In this vlog, PST Joshua Partogi shares some more insights how does the Scrum Master as a true leader who serves uses the 8 Scrum Master hats through illustration.

Let’s harden a popular Scrum Master interview guide in the age of ChatGPT!

How does the Sprint itself supports Transparency? Transparency being one of the core underlying concepts of the Scrum framework. What happens during your Sprint that could raise transparency?

If you look at Scrum Teams all around the world, you recognize a spectrum of productivity from completely passive to fully proactive teams. Productivity is a word that is used to represent the state of our way of working as a team. But beneath it, there is a more fundamental concept called vibration...

The idea of self-managing teams who have flexible scope and timelines can be perceived as daunting to some executives and senior leaders. In this session, Professional Scrum Trainer, Mary Iqbal talks about some of the common misconceptions about Scrum and Agile in general from a leader’s perspective...

In a recent webcast (1) I mentioned that Scrum by its nature, assumes psychological safety exists in order for Scrum as a practice to function. Furthermore I would assert that for Scrum to be truly successful Scrum absolutely requires psychological safety to be established both inside and outside of...

Professional Scrum Trainers Ryan Ripley and Yuval Yeret discuss the role of the Scrum Master in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and how it differs from the role of a Professional Scrum Master.