Stefan Wolpers

Many people dislike estimating work items as estimates supposedly open the path to the misuse of velocity by the managers, reintroducing Taylorism, micro-management, and excessive reporting through the backdoor.

Learn from Johanna Rothman how to adapt your leadership style for agile success as a manager in an agile organization in this 54-minute long video from the Agile Camp Berlin 2021.

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.

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.

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.

TL; DR: Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? 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. A classic discussion is whether it is appropriate that (line) managers attend the Retrospectives of the Scrum team. Probably, making their attendance a regular habit—or even a requirement—is not a good idea. However, what about managers that occasionally attend a Retrospective? Moreover, what if the (line) manager is also a team member? Join me and delve into the how and when of managers attending Retrospectives in less than two minutes. 🗳 Update: Join the poll and its lively discussion on whether managers should attend Retrospectives. 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 32,000-plus subscribers. 🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes! 📅 Join us on September 7, 2021: Hands-on Agile #34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety with Richard Kasperowski. Sprint Retrospectives According to the Scrum Guide There are plenty of references to Retrospectives, the role of the (line) management, and self-management in the Scrum Guide 2020.: Page 6: The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. Page 6: [Scrum Masters] do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework. Page 10: The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness. Page 10: The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went with regards to individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done. Page 10: [During the Sprint Retrospective,] assumptions that led [inspected elements] astray are identified and their origins explored. Page 10: The Scrum Team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness.. Page 10: The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint. The Scrum Guide 2020 on general management practices in organizations utilizing Scrum: Page 3: Scrum makes visible the relative efficacy of current management, environment, and work techniques, so that improvements can be made. Page 4: Adaptation becomes more difficult when the people involved are not empowered or self-managing. Page 4: The decisions that are made, the steps taken, and the way Scrum is used should reinforce these values, not diminish or undermine them. The Scrum Guide 2020 on the self-management of Scrum teams: Page 5: Within a Scrum Team, there are no sub-teams or hierarchies. Page 5: They are also self-managing, meaning they internally decide who does what, when, and how. Page 5: They are structured and empowered by the organization to manage their own work. Page 6: The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality. Page 8: [Sprint Planning: How will the chosen work get done?] How this is done is at the sole discretion of the Developers. No one else tells them how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments of value. Page 9: The Developers can select whatever structure and techniques they want, as long as their Daily Scrum focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work. This creates focus and improves self-management. The Scrum Guide 2020 on Scrum Values: Page 4: Successful use of Scrum depends on people becoming more proficient in living five values: Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage. Page 4: The Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about the work and the challenges. Page 4: When these values are embodied by the Scrum Team and the people they work with, the empirical Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life building trust. Source: Scrum Guide 2020. (The aggregation is taken from the Scrum Guide 2020 Reordered.) Summary: The Scrum Guide 2020 emphasizes self-management and Scrum Values as critical components of successfully applying Scrum in any organization. Also, it points to the importance of the Sprint Retrospective as a means to continuously improve as a Scrum team. Consequences of Managers Attending Team Retrospectives In my experience, three typical Scrum anti-patterns arise regarding the participation of managers in Retrospectives: Line managers insist on participation to do their job: Typically, the argument is that otherwise, they won’t be able to support and guide the Scrum team. While there is some nugget of truth to it, insisting on participation reflects baldly on the leadership capabilities of a manager. Probably, the behavior results from fear of losing control or becoming obsolete once a Scrum team learns how to self-management. (Manager fears of obsolescence are widely unfunded. Despite being self-managing, a manager regularly is still responsible for the professional development of individual team members, for example. Gathering information for those tasks can also be achieved by attending other Scrum events, or having 1-on-1 meetings with the respective team member.) Line managers demand access to minutes of Retrospectives: While the manager accepts the possible negative results from their participation in the Sprint Retrospective, they want to study the minutes of the Retrospective. (In my experience, this is similarly damaging as participating directly: openness will suffer, the Scrum team may start “talking off the record” during Retrospectives, thus messing with its documentation. By the way, the most important outcome from the Retrospective is public anyway: the planned improvements of the Scrum team.) Line managers serve on the Scrum team members: A team member of the Scrum team is also the superior of another team member and participates in the Retrospectives. (This is a tricky situation; unfortunately, it is not uncommon, particularly in large organizations at the beginning of an agile transformation when the people managers are not yet familiar with the details of supporting agile teams. In my experience, there is no solution to this problem other than looking for a new Scrum team for either of the two. Otherwise, the level of openness in Retrospectives inevitably will suffer, thus impeding the Scrum team’s ability to improve.) There are plenty of opportunities to satisfy the information needs of (line) managers: Run separate Retrospectives with the managers in regular intervals, invite them to other Scrum events, namely the Sprint Review, have 1-on-1s. Additionally, there is plenty of room for conversations at water coolers, over coffee, or during lunchtime—provided we make it back to a shared workspace in the future. To gather information as a line manager, attending the Scrum team’s Retrospective is not necessary. {"preview_thumbnail":"/s3/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/5Wy0IPXndZA.jpg?itok=AijcA2wo","video_url":"https://youtu.be/5Wy0IPXndZA","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]} Managers Attending Retrospectives — Conclusion The Scrum Guide 2020 emphasizes self-management and Scrum Values as critical components of successfully applying Scrum in any organization. Also, it points to the importance of the Sprint Retrospective as a means to continuously improve as a Scrum team. However, it does not rule out that managers participate in Retrospectives from time to time, join other Scrum events, or have 1-on-1s. Hence, take this challenge to the Scrum team! Have you met a Scrum team that invites managers to its Retrospectives? How is that working out? Please share your learnings with us in the comments. ✋ Do Not Miss Out: Join the 10,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Team I invite you to join the “Hands-on Agile” Slack team and enjoy the benefits of a fast-growing, vibrant community of agile practitioners from around the world. If you like to join now all you have to do now is provide your credentials via this Google form, and I will sign you up. By the way, it’s free. 📖 Should Managers Attend Retrospectives — Related Posts Skipping Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #17 The Meta-Retrospective — How To Get Customers and Stakeholders Onboard The Blame Game Retrospective — Making Your Scrum Work #6 Three Essential Agile Failure Patterns in 7:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #12 21 Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns Impeding Scrum Teams Data-Informed Retrospectives Download the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide for free.

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.

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 area where Scrum’s nature of being intentionally incomplete causes issues regularly is whether Scrum teams shall stick to the event schedule even if the team’s life is uneventful? For example, is skipping Retrospectives okay? Join me and delve into the consequences of skipping Retrospectives in less than 90 seconds. 🗳 Join the poll on skipping Retrospectives on LinkedIn — there is a lively discussion going on with hundreds of votes and comments. 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 32,000-plus subscribers. 🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes! 📅 Join us on August 10, 2021: Hands-on Agile #33: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success—Johanna Rothman. Scrum Events and Skipping Retrospectives According to the Scrum Guide There are many references to events in general and Retrospectives in particular in the Scrum Guide 2020: Page 7: Each event in Scrum is a formal opportunity to inspect and adapt Scrum artifacts. Page 7: [Scrum] events are specifically designed to enable the transparency required. Page 7: Failure to operate any events as prescribed results in lost opportunities to inspect and adapt. Page 7: Events are used in Scrum to create regularity and to minimize the need for meetings not defined in Scrum. Page 7: Optimally, all events are held at the same time and place to reduce complexity. Page 10: The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness. Page 10: The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went with regards to individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done. Page 10: [During the Sprint Retrospective,] assumptions that led [inspected elements] astray are identified and their origins explored. Page 10: The Scrum Team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what problems it encountered, and how those problems were (or were not) solved. Page 10: The Scrum Team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness. Page 10: The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint. Page 10: The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint. Page 10: [The Sprint Retrospective] is timeboxed to a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter. Source: Scrum Guide 2020. (The aggregation is taken from the Scrum Guide 2020 Reordered.) Every Scrum event is an opportunity for inspection and adaptation, two of the three pillars upon which empiricism rests. Every Scrum event is hence essential, and skipping Retrospectives — or any other event — is, therefore, not an option. Why Teams May Consider Not Having Retrospectives In my experience, Scrum teams consider not having Retrospectives for two reasons: #NoRetro at all: There is no Retrospective as the Scrum team believes there is nothing to improve. (My two cents: There is no such thing as an agile Nirwana where everything is just perfect. As people say: becoming agile is a journey, not a destination, and there is always something to improve. Probably, your Scrum team is not trying hard enough to identify areas of improvement. Presumably, they have become complacent, shying away from having difficult discussions within the Scrum team and beyond. Remember: Professionals hold each other accountable; skipping Retrospectives won’t get you to that proficiency level.) Using the Retrospective as a dispensable Sprint buffer: The Scrum team cancels Retrospectives if more time is needed to accomplish the Sprint Goal. (Utilizing the Retrospective as a Sprint emergency reserve is a common sign of cargo cult agile. I believe it is even a worse anti-pattern than not having a Retrospective because there is presumably nothing to improve.  However, randomly canceling the Retrospective to meet a possibly unachievable Sprint Goal signifies that the team does not understand basic agile principles, such as continuous improvement. Moreover, an additional 60 minutes are unlikely to move the needle in any meaningful manner. Therefore, if the Scrum team repeatedly does not meet a Sprint Goal, it should inspect what is happening here. Guess which Scrum event is designed for that purpose?) {"preview_thumbnail":"/s3/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/20orhwN_bHc.jpg?itok=udbPiVte","video_url":"https://youtu.be/20orhwN_bHc","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]} Skipping Retrospectives — Conclusion Every Scrum event is an opportunity for inspection and adaptation; next to transparency, the two pillars upon which empiricism rests. Every Scrum event is hence essential, and skipping it is not an option. When everything seems to be perfect, you are not trying hard enough to have difficult conversations. And not investing an hour or so as a team to continuously improve just demonstrates that you are at a very early stage of your journey. Professionals hold each other accountable; you’re an amateur at best in comparison. Have you met a Scrum team skipping Retrospectives? Please share your learnings with us in the comments. ✋ Do Not Miss Out: Join the 10,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Team I invite you to join the “Hands-on Agile” Slack team and enjoy the benefits of a fast-growing, vibrant community of agile practitioners from around the world. If you like to join now all you have to do now is provide your credentials via this Google form, and I will sign you up. By the way, it’s free. 📖 Related Posts Scrum First Principles — How to Elon Musk the Scrum Guide The Blame Game Retrospective — Making Your Scrum Work #6 Three Essential Agile Failure Patterns in 7:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #12 21 Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns Impeding Scrum Teams Data-Informed Retrospectives Download the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide for free.

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.

TL; DR: Linking Strategy to Everyday Work w/ John Cutler — ACB21 In this highly engaging speaker session from the Agile Camp Berlin 2021, John Cutler delves into the advantages of linking strategy to everyday work: Motivation, inspiration, seeing the big picture despite working on a small iteration. 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 32,000-plus other subscribers. 🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes! 📅 Join us on August 10, 2021: Hands-on Agile #33: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success—Johanna Rothman. Linking Strategy to Everyday Work (With value creation models, and time-based goals like OKRs) When teams can link their day-to-day work to a meaningful/concrete representation of “strategy”, they feel more inspired, and confidently work small while thinking big. Too often teams feel like they are iterating to nowhere, or locked into huge, prescriptive batches. Time-based goals like OKRs (alone) don’t help. In this talk, we will discuss the difference between point-in-time goals and persistent value-creation models. My goal: inspire teams to adopt some form of the persistent value-creation model and link their daily work to that framework. {"preview_thumbnail":"/s3/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/9qYwAuOpT5A.jpg?itok=Hl8m7OZ-","video_url":"https://youtu.be/9qYwAuOpT5A","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]} Learn more about John Cutler John Cutler is keenly focused on user experience and evidence-driven product development. He mixes and matches various methodologies to help teams deliver lasting outcomes for their customers. “Team tetris and the feature factory will only take you so far. Cross-functional teams desire so much more, and my passion is helping them get there. It’s a win/win for the front-line teams, the business, and the customer and user.” John currently works as the Head of Product Research & Education at Amplitude. As a former UX researcher at AppFolio, a product manager at Zendesk, Pendo.io, AdKeeper, and RichFX, a startup founder, and a product team coach, John has a perspective that spans individual roles, domains, and products. His viral enthusiasm has been heard through speaking/teaching engagements at QCon NYC, Agile-Lean Ireland, UXThailand, UXLondon, Front, Oredev, Mind The Product, Agile 2015, and various ProductCamps (Vancouver, Los Angeles, Raleigh NC) and MeetUps (Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, New York). John’s talk on Feature Factories was voted one of the Top 10 Product Talks of 2017. Mixing in some less-than-typical experiences — driving rickshaws in NYC, and touring the US with “five other weird creative people in a van playing music” — John blogs prolifically about collaboration, product development, diversity, UX research, lean startup, and user experience. Some notable posts include The Evolving Product Manager Role, Persona(s) Non Grata, 12 Signs You’re Working in a Feature Factory, and Stop Setting Up Product Roadmaps To Fail. Meet John Cutler LinkedIn. Twitter. Medium. Related Content Sustainable Agility at the Enterprise Level—Agile Camp Berlin 2021. How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams—Agile Camp Berlin 2021. Increasing the Velocity of Value—Agile Camp Berlin 2021. Real Cross-functional Teams for Creating Real and Better Products. Evidence-based Interventions—Agile Camp Berlin 2021. ✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Linking Strategy to Everyday Work: Join the 10,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Team I invite you to join the “Hands-on Agile” Slack team and enjoy the benefits of a fast-growing, vibrant community of agile practitioners from around the world. If you like to join now all you have to do now is provide your credentials via this Google form, and I will sign you up. By the way, it’s free.