Stefan Wolpers

In Kürze: Wie Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen Scrum hat sich immer wieder als das beliebteste Framework für die Software-Entwicklung erwiesen. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass „software is eating the world“, ist ein erfahrener Scrum Master (m/w/d) heutzutage sehr gefragt. Diese Nachfrage führt dazu, dass Fachleute aus anderen Bereichen des Projektmanagements auf den Arbeitsmarkt für Scrum Master drängen, ggf. unter der Annahme, dass das Lesen von ein oder zwei Scrum-Büchern als Vorbereitung auf die Aufgabe ausreicht. Das macht jedes Vorstellungsgespräch mit einem Scrum-Master-Kandidaten zu einer schwierigen Aufgabe. Ein guter Ausgangspunkt ist jedoch, einen Kandidaten zu bitten, in die Rolle eines imaginären Gegenspielers zu schlüpfen, der versucht, mit innerhalb der Organisation kulturell akzeptierten Mitteln den Scrum Master zum Scheitern zu bringen. Wenn Sie eine Position für einen Scrum Master (oder agilen Coach) in Ihrer Organisation besetzen wollen, können Ihnen die folgenden Scrum Master Interviewfragen helfen, den richtigen Kandidaten zu identifizieren. Sie stammen aus meiner sechzehnjährigen praktischen Erfahrung sowohl mit Scrum als auch XP, in der ich sowohl als Product Owner als auch als Scrum Master tätig war und im Auftrag meiner Kunden Dutzende von Scrum Master-Kandidaten interviewt habe. Bislang wurde der zugehörige Leitfaden für Scrum Master-Interviews mehr als 22.000 Mal heruntergeladen. 🗞 Soll ich Sie über Artikel wie diesen informieren? Großartig! Sie können sich hier für den Newsletter „Food for Agile Thought“ anmelden und sich über 33.000 Abonnenten anschließen. 🎓 Nehmen Sie an einer von Stefans kommenden Professional Scrum-Schulungen teil! Scrum Master Interviewfragen: Wie wir Fragen und Antworten organisiert haben Das E-Book enthält sowohl Fragen als auch Hinweise auf die Bandbreite geeigneter Antworten. Diese sollten es einem Interviewer ermöglichen, das Verständnis eines Bewerbers für Scrum und seine agile Denkweise zu ergründen. Bitte beachten Sie jedoch: Die Antworten spiegeln die persönlichen Erfahrungen der Autoren wider und sind möglicherweise nicht für jede Organisation gültig: Was für Organisation A funktioniert, funktioniert möglicherweise nicht in Organisation B. Es gibt keine geeigneten Multiple-Choice-Fragen, um das agile Mindsets eines Bewerbers zu ermitteln, da die Anwendung von „Agile“ in jeder Organisation per se komplex ist. Die Autoren vertreten eine ganzheitliche Sichtweise der agilen Praktiken: Agilität ist gleichbedeutend mit Produktentdeckung (was zu entwickeln ist) und Produktlieferung (wie es zu entwickeln ist). Sie können das E-Book mit den 60 Scrum Master Interviewfragen (EN) über das folgende Formular herunterladen: Hintergrundthesen zu den „Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen“-Fragen Scrum Master werden erfolgreicher sein, wenn sie verstehen, dass nicht jeder in der Organisation davon begeistert ist, „agil“ zu werden. Widerstand in der einen oder anderen Form ist daher unvermeidlich: Einfühlungsvermögen ist eine wesentliche Eigenschaft einer erfolgreichen dienenden Führungskraft. Die Fähigkeit, sich als Scrum Master in die Lage der Stakeholder hineinzuversetzen, ist eine große Hilfe bei allen Bemühungen in Sachen Veränderung, Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit. Viele Menschen in der Organisation, insbesondere auf der mittleren Managementebene, haben ein Interesse daran, den Status quo beizubehalten. Eine Umstellung auf „Agilität“, z. B. durch die Einführung von Scrum, könnte ihre in langen Jahren angesammelten Karrierechancen zunichtemachen. Rechnen Sie mit dem Widerstand dieser Interessengruppen, wenn Sie beabsichtigen, Scrum in Ihrem Unternehmen einzuführen. Widerstand äußert sich in vielen verschiedenen Formen, von direkter, offener Opposition bis hin zu Absprachen in Hinterzimmern und verdeckten Aktionen. Die Frage, die sich zu Beginn jedes Scrum-Abenteuers stellt, ist nicht, ob es Widerstand gegen die Bemühungen geben wird, sondern nur, wann. Scrum Master Interviewfragen Set 10: Wie Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen Hier ist das Briefing für den Kandidaten, das auf alle der folgenden sechs Fragen zutrifft: Sie sind ein mittlerer Manager in der IT-Organisation und glauben, dass Scrum eine Modeerscheinung ist und wieder verschwinden wird – mit ein wenig Hilfe von Ihrer Seite. „Überlegen Sie sich, wie Sie den neuen Scrum Master des ersten Scrum Teams in Ihrer Organisation am besten sabotieren können. Sie dürfen keine illegalen Aktivitäten durchführen. Es kommt also nicht infrage, die Aufgabe an einen Haufen Gesetzloser zu delegieren. Stattdessen dürfen Sie nur Praktiken anwenden, die in Ihrer Organisation kulturell akzeptabel sind.“ Die folgenden Fragen aus dem Kapitel „Wie Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen“ dienen dazu, geeignete Kandidaten für die Rolle des Scrum Masters oder agilen Coaches zu identifizieren: Frage 55: Wie man das Scrum-Framework im Allgemeinen manipuliert. „Wie kann man das Scrum-Framework selbst manipulieren?“ Bei der ersten Kategorie, wie man einen Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen kann, geht es im Allgemeinen darum, Scrum selbst als hilfreiches Rahmenwerk zu disqualifizieren oder Änderungen einzuführen, die mit den Prinzipien von Scrum in Konflikt stehen. Wirksame Beispiele sind: Schieben Sie die Schuld auf Scrum, wann immer Sie können, auch wenn es technisch nicht damit zusammenhängt. Wenn Scrum ein Hindernis in der Organisation aufdeckt, machen Sie Scrum dafür verantwortlich. Finden Sie Beispiele, wo Scrum in anderen Unternehmen gescheitert ist, um sie zu kolportieren. Reden Sie in den Kaffeepausen respektlos mit Entwicklern und den anderen mittleren Managern über Scrum und die Rolle des Scrum Masters. Stellen Sie alles infrage, was der Scrum Master zu sagen oder zu tun versucht. Ignorieren Sie das Angebot des Scrum Masters, etwas über Scrum zu lernen. Schaffen Sie ein ich-bezogenes Anreizsystem für Teammitglieder. Installieren Sie mehrere Product Owner in einem Scrum Team. Setzen Sie einen stellvertretenden Product Owner im Scrum Team ein und ignorieren Sie in Folge Teamentscheidungen. Frage 56: Verwendung ungeeigneter Metriken und Berichte „Wie können Sie übermäßige Berichterstattungsanforderungen oder ungeeignete Kennzahlen nutzen, um Ihre Interessen durchzusetzen?“ Die nächste Gruppe nützlicher Sabotagepraktiken sind Metriken, OKRs, KPIs oder sonstige Kennzahlen. Verwandeln Sie Ihren Scrum Master einfach in einen glorifizierten Datensammler mit einer herausfordernden Berichtspflicht. Erfolgreiche Ansätze sind: Fordern Sie den Scrum Master auf, seinen bzw. ihren Wert mit Metriken zu belegen. Erstellen Sie Leistungskennzahlen für jedes Teammitglied. Lassen Sie den Scrum Master alle Arbeitsstunden der Teammitglieder aufzeichnen. Fragen Sie nach individuellen Leistungskennzahlen für jeden Sprint. Verknüpfen Sie die Leistungsbewertungen der Entwickler mit deren durchschnittlichen Anzahl von Story Points pro Sprint. Berechnen Sie ein Scrum-Team-Budget und bestehen Sie darauf, dass die Auslastung der Teammitglieder kontinuierlich verbessert werden muss. Verlangen Sie Schätzungen vom Team zu Kosten und Lieferzeiten und behandeln Sie diese dann als verbindliche Zusagen. Frage 57: Das Scrum Teambildung als Vorgesetzter durcheinanderbringen – Wie Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen „Wie können Sie sich in die Teambildung einmischen, indem Sie Ihre Vorrechte als Vorgesetzter ausnutzen?“ Wenn anspruchsvolle Berichtspflichten nicht helfen, so bringen Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern, indem Sie seine Scrum-Teambuilding-Aktivitäten aktiv untergraben. Beispiele hierfür sind: Senden Sie nur Mitglieder in das Scrum-Team, die Scrum-Werte nicht leben bzw. ablehnen. Schlagen Sie den stursten Entwickler als Leiter des Entwicklungsteams vor. Schicken Sie ständig Entwickler von einem Projekt zum anderen und behaupten Sie, dass Notfälle dieses schnelle Handeln erfordern. Lassen Sie Scrum-Teammitglieder regelmäßig in mehreren verschiedenen Scrum-Teams arbeiten. Stellen Sie neue Teammitglieder ohne vorherige Absprache in das Scrum-Team ein. Oder verzögern Sie die Einstellungsprozesse. Ernennen Sie ein Mitglied des Scrum-Teams zum stellvertretenden Teammanager; ein Scrum-Team braucht eine Hierarchie. Frage 58: Mischen Sie sich in die Arbeitsorganisation ein „Wie kann das Selbstmanagement und die Arbeitsorganisation des Scrum-Teams beeinträchtigt werden?“ Wenn Sie schon den Teambildungsprozess des Scrum-Teams durcheinanderbringen, warum legen Sie dem Scrum-Team nicht gleich noch ein paar Steine in den Weg? Bringen Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern, indem Sie unerreichbare Ziele festlegen und sich in die Grundlagen von Scrum einmischen: Definieren Sie unerreichbare Ziele für das Scrum-Team. Überlasten Sie das Scrum-Team mit Anfragen und beschweren Sie sich dann bei anderen, dass Sie die Ergebnisse nicht rechtzeitig erhalten. Übergeben Sie dem Scrum Team nur Projekte mit Festpreis, definierter Lieferzeit und fixem Umfang. Ändern Sie Anforderungen während des Sprints. Bestehen Sie auf der Einhaltung fester Lieferterminen. Verlangen Sie vom Scrum Master eine Produkt-Roadmap mit festen Terminen. Machen Sie den Scrum Master für die Einhaltung der Fristen verantwortlich. Lagern Sie einen Teil der Erstellung der Produkt-Roadmap an ein externes Team in einer völlig anderen Zeitzone aus. Beauftragen Sie die Entwickler direkt mit Arbeiten, die von der Erreichung des Sprint-Ziels ablenken würden. Erlauben Sie den Scrum-Teammitgliedern nicht, mit dem Kunden zu sprechen; agieren Sie als einzige Anlaufstelle für die Kommunikation mit Kunden. Schaffen Sie unnötige organisatorische Engpässe außerhalb von Scrum, z. B. Freigabeanforderungen etc. Stellen Sie dem Scrum-Team nur unzureichende Ausrüstung und Werkzeuge zur Verfügung. Frage 59: Die Manipulation des Informationsflusses „Wie können Sie den Informationsfluss zum Scrum-Team manipulieren?“ Hat Ihr Scrum Master einen unstillbaren Appetit auf Daten, Informationen und Wissen? Dann sollten Sie ihn oder sie von diesen Dingen fernhalten. Es gibt keinen einfacheren Weg, Scrum zu sabotieren: Behaupten Sie, dass jeder bereits weiß, was zu tun ist. Es besteht daher kein weiterer Bedarf an Abstimmung oder einem Scrum Master. Sie halten sich damit zurück, wesentliche oder wertvolle Informationen mit dem Scrum-Team zu teilen. Sie fördern das Silo-Denken in der Organisation, indem sie für den Austausch von Informationen und Wissen eine strikte „Need-to-Know“-Basis vorschreiben. Frage 60: Andere Meetings nutzen, um Scrum-Events zu stören „Wie können Sie andere Veranstaltungen und Meetings nutzen, um die Planung und Kommunikation für das Scrum-Team zu erschweren?“ Sorgen Sie schließlich dafür, dass alle Mitglieder des Scrum-Teams verstehen, dass Ihre Veranstaltungen wichtiger sind als jene des Scrum-Teams: Behaupten Sie als Manager, dass es zu viele Scrum-Events gibt, die zu viel Zeit in Anspruch nehmen. Schlagen Sie stattdessen vor, einige von ihnen auszulassen. Verlangen Sie, bei jeder Scrum-Veranstaltung anwesend zu sein. Schließen Sie den Scrum Master von wichtigen Meetings außerhalb der Veranstaltungen des Scrum Teams aus. Ziehen Sie die Mitglieder des Scrum-Teams ständig in lange, unnötige Meetings während ihrer Scrum-Team-Veranstaltungen. Seien Sie verständnisvoll gegenüber den Bedürfnissen des Scrum Teams; zum Beispiel, dass Stakeholder am Sprint Review teilnehmen sollen. Nehmen Sie jedoch niemals selbst an einer Scrum-Veranstaltung teil. Dafür gibt es ja Reporting. Wie Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen – Wie Sie die Scrum Master Interviewfragen am besten nutzen Scrum war schon immer eine praktische Angelegenheit, und um hier erfolgreich zu sein, muss ein Kandidat eine Leidenschaft dafür haben, sich die Hände schmutzig zu machen. Während die Grundregeln trivial sind, ist es eine komplexe Aufgabe, eine Gruppe von Personen mit unterschiedlichem Hintergrund, unterschiedlichem Engagement und unterschiedlichen persönlichen Zielen dazu zu bringen, ein Team zu bilden und als solches aufzutreten. (Wie immer, wenn es um Menschen und Kommunikation geht.) Und je größer die Organisation ist, je mehr Führungsebenen es gibt, desto wahrscheinlicher ist es, dass das Scheitern hinter der nächsten Ecke lauert. Die Scrum Master Interviewfragen sind nicht unbedingt dazu geeignet, einen unerfahrenen Interviewer in einen Experten für agiles Arbeiten zu verwandeln. Aber in den Händen eines erfahrenen Praktikers helfen sie dabei, herauszufinden, welcher Kandidat in der Vergangenheit in agilen Projekten mitgewirkt hat. 📖 Weitere Artikel: Wie Sie Ihren Scrum Master zum Scheitern bringen 76 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters Agile Lippenbekenntnisse — ist es Zeit für einen neuen Job?s Den Mächtigen die Wahrheit sagen — als agiler Praktiker Stellung beziehen 70 Scrum Master Theses. 60 Scrum Master Interview Questions to Identify Suitable Candidates. The Scrum Guide Reordered — understand the Scrum Guide’s patterns and concepts.

Scrum has proven time and again to be the most popular framework for software development. Given that software is eating the world, a seasoned Scrum Master is nowadays in high demand. And that demand causes the market entry of new professionals from other project management branches, probably believing that reading one or two Scrum books will be sufficient. Which makes any Scrum Master interview a challenging task. A good starting point, though, is to ask a candidate to walk in the shoes of an imaginary opponent trying to make the Scrum Master fail by culturally accepted means.

Scrum ist ein einfaches, aber hinreichendes Framework für die Entwicklung neuer Produkte, vorausgesetzt, man identifiziert im Voraus, was es sich lohnt zu bauen. Aber auch nach einer erfolgreichen Discovery-Phase kann es einem Scrum Team schwer fallen, das Richtige zu erreichen, wenn das Product Backlog nicht den Anforderungen entspricht: “Garbage in, Garbage out” — wie man so schön sagt. Der folgende Artikel zeigt 28 Product Backlog Anti-Patterns — einschließlich des Product Backlog Verfeinerungsprozesses — auf, die den Erfolg Ihres Scrum Teams limitieren.

TL; DR: Scrum 2022 — Getting You Started as Scrum Master or Product Owner Probably, you are considering how to further your Scrum Master career or Product Owner career in 2022. Maybe, I can support you in that regard with a set of articles, documents, and LinkedIn polls I authored that proved to be the most popular in 2021. They range from Product Owner and Scrum Master interview questions to a variety of Scrum anti-patterns to the most engaging polls on seemingly simple questions on “agile” in general and Scrum in particular. All articles feature free ebooks that delve into the problems and provide hands-on advice on how to solve them. Good luck with Scrum 2022—just stick to first principles! 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 33,000-plus subscribers. 🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes! Most Popular LinkedIn Polls of 2021 for Scrum Masters and Product Owners Last year, I ran more than 20 polls on LinkedIn on topics that allow everyone in the agile community to participate in the ensuing discussions. In total, the polls gathered more than half a million views, resulting in more than 1,600 comments which offer a wide range of perspectives, including the occasional trolling. The polls prove that even seemingly undisputed topics are not evident at all. Maybe, they can provide new insight to you, too. Here some of the most popular polls from 2021: Can a Scrum team decide to skip the Retrospective? Would you recommend SAFe? Should managers attend team Retrospectives? Congratulations on your new Scrum Master position! Now what? How do you start learning? Do we need agile coaches when practicing Scrum? The strange management obsession of a team’s commitment meeting its velocity. Most Popular Posts of 2021 for Scrum Masters and Product Owners 76 Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Imposters If you are looking to fill a position for a Product Owner in your organization, you may find the following 76 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my sixteen years of practical experience with XP and Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master and interviewing dozens of Product Owner candidates on behalf of my clients. So far, this free Product Owner interview guide has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Learn more: 76 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters. 54 Scrum Master Interview Questions to Identify Suitable Candidates Scrum has proven time and again to be the most popular framework for software development. Given that software is eating the world, a seasoned Scrum Master is nowadays in high demand. And that demand causes the market-entry of new professionals from other project management branches, probably believing that reading one or two Scrum books will be sufficient. Which makes any Scrum Master interview a challenging task. 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. They are derived from my sixteen years of practical experience with XP as well as Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master as well as interviewing dozens of Scrum Master candidates on behalf of my clients. So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 22,000 times. Learn more: 54 Scrum Master Interview Questions to Identify Suitable Candidates. 27 Sprint Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams Welcome to the Sprint anti-patterns article from our series on Scrum anti-patterns, covering not just the three Scrum roles, but also the stakeholders as well as the IT management. So far, the free corresponding Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide has been downloaded more than 11,000 times. Learn more: 27 Sprint Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams. 20 Questions New Scrum Masters Should Ask Their Teams to Get up to Speed Twenty questions for you — the new Scrum Master — that fit into a 60 minutes time-box. Start learning how your new Scrum Team is currently delivering the product and get up to speed: from Product Backlog forensics to metrics to team challenges and technical debt. Download a printable template for your convenience. Learn more: 20 Questions New Scrum Masters Should Ask Their Teams to Get up to Speed. Scrum Guide 2020 — The Development Team Is Dead; Long Live the Scrum Team! The Scrum Guide 2020 is available now: Change is coming to make Scrum more accessible and inclusive beyond software development. Learn more about the changes, download the brand new and free Scrum Guide 2020 Reordered to spot patterns quickly, and join the Scrum community discussion. So far, the Scrum Guide Reordered has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Learn more: The Scrum Guide Reordered — understand the Scrum Guide’s patterns and concepts. Product Owner Anti-Patterns — 31+2 Ways to Improve as a PO 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. Hence, if you recognize some anti-patterns in your daily work, why don’t you ask the rest of the Scrum Team for support? The Product Owner anti-patterns list is a good starting point for a retrospective. Learn more: Product Owner Anti-Patterns — 31+2 Ways to Improve as a PO. 20 Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns 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. Learn more: 20 Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns. Three Wide-Spread Scrum Master Failures in 5:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #1 There are plenty of Scrum Masters failures. Given that Scrum is a framework with a precise and concise yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. Explore with me three widespread examples of how Scrum Masters fail their team in three short video clips, totaling 5 minutes and 31 seconds. Learn more: Three Wide-Spread Scrum Master Failures in 5:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #1. 👉 🎓 Check out the whole making your Scrum work article series—23 posts and counting. Scrum Master Anti-Patterns — 20 Signs Your Scrum Master Needs Help The reasons why Scrum Masters violate the spirit of the Scrum Guide are multi-faceted. They run from ill-suited personal traits and the pursuit of individual agendas to frustration with the team itself. Read on and learn in this post on Scrum anti-patterns how you can identify if your Scrum Master needs support from the team. Learn more: Scrum Master Anti-Patterns — 20 Signs Your Scrum Master Needs Help. Agile Metrics — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Suitable agile metrics reflect either a team’s progress in becoming agile or your organization’s progress in becoming a learning organization. At the team level, qualitative agile metrics often work better than quantitative metrics. At the organizational level, this is reversed: quantitative agile metrics provide better insights than qualitative ones. Learn more: Agile Metrics — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Conclusion: Scrum 2022 — Getting You Started as Scrum Master or Product Owner Scrum will be Scrum in 2022, too. I find this continuity helpful as it allows us to reflect on challenges and problems more thoroughly. Scrum 2022 is not about reinventing the wheel or chasing the next shiny “Agile” object. 2022 is about showing up, embrace what is ahead of us, and get your hands dirty while making your Scrum work, one anti-pattern at a time. How are you planning to get started in 2022? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments. ✋ Do Not Miss Out: Join the 11,000-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, 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. 📖 Scrum 2022 — Related Posts 76 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters Product Owner Anti-Patterns — 31 Ways to Improve as a PO. 70 Scrum Master Theses. 54 Scrum Master Interview Questions to Identify Suitable Candidates. The Scrum Guide Reordered — understand the Scrum Guide’s patterns and concepts.

SAFe® has always been a controversial topic within the agile community. Therefore, back in 2017, I ran a survey on the Net Promoter Score® of the Scaled Agile Framework SAFe®. The result back then was -52. Four and a half years later, I believe it is time to rerun the poll: SAFe® has been through several iterations, and many more agile practitioners have experienced working with it. Moreover, the question still is: Would you recommend SAFe ®?

Read on and learn more on how to best sabotage a Scrum Master from the exercise results of more than ten PSM I and PSM II classes. (I slightly edited the suggestions for better readability.)

TL; DR: Designing Powerful Questions with Daniel Stillman Powerful Conversations are the environment that drives change. Learn from Daniel Stillman how designing powerful questions helps you coach, create, connect, and lead from the 35th Hands-on Agile meetup of October 5, 2021. 📺 Watch the video with Daniel Stillman now: Hands-on Agile #35: Designing Powerful Questions to help you Coach, Create, Connect and Lead. 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 33,000-plus other subscribers. 📈 Free: Download the Agile Metrics Survey 2021 Abstract: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety Peter Senge: You cannot force commitment, what you can do… You nudge a little here, inspire a little there, and provide a role model. Your primary influence is the environment you create Source. Our lives are lived one conversation at a time. Our teams and organizations are defined by the conversations that they can and can’t have. Powerful Conversations are the environment that drives change. Modern leadership is not leading through statements, fiats or dictates – it’s leading through questions, through inviting the conversations we want to cultivate, and creating the conditions for transformation. Powerful Questions start powerful conversations. In this interactive workshop, we co-created, clarified and amplified our most powerful questions to help us build teams, lead when we’re not in charge and transform organizations. {"preview_thumbnail":"/s3/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/jVN5YbOcquw.jpg?itok=1GVK2NlA","video_url":"https://youtu.be/jVN5YbOcquw","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]} Learn About Daniel Stillman Daniel designs conversations for a living, and insists that you do, too. He works with organizations like Google, Nike and Visa to help them frame and sustain productive dialog, deepen their facilitation skills, and coach them through the innovation process. He also hosts The Conversation Factory podcast where he interviews leaders, change makers and innovators on how they design the conversations in their work and lives. 📺 Join 3,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel: 🆕 Hands-on Agile #34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety with Richard Kasperowski. 🆕 Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success with Johanna Rothman. Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Linking Strategy to Everyday Work with John Cutler. Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Sustainable Agility at the Enterprise Level with Jorgen Hesselberg. Agile Camp Berlin 2021: How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams – A Case Study with Scott Weiner. Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Increasing the Velocity of Value with Dave West. Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Evidence-based Interventions with Viktor Cessan. Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Real Cross-functional Teams for Creating real and better Products with Jutta Eckstein and Maryse Meinen.

TL; DR: Ignoring the Capacity Check during Sprint Planning 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. For example, the Developers are ignoring a capacity check during the Sprint Planning, and as a result, the Scrum team creates a Sprint Goal that most likely cannot be accomplished. Join me and delve into the effects of this trust-shattering practice in less than 80 seconds. 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 33,000-plus subscribers. 🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes! 📈 Free: Download the Agile Metrics Survey 2021. The Scrum Guide on Capacity Planning Let’s refresh our memories regarding the Sprint Planning, the capacity check, and what amount of work might be accomplished: Topic Two: What can be Done this Sprint? Through discussion with the Product Owner, the Developers select items from the Product Backlog to include in the current Sprint. The Scrum Team may refine these items during this process, which increases understanding and confidence. Selecting how much can be completed within a Sprint may be challenging. However, the more the Developers know about their past performance, their upcoming capacity, and their Definition of Done, the more confident they will be in their Sprint forecasts. Source: The Scrum Guide on the Scrum team. Unsurprisingly, the Scrum Guide points at the benefits of Scrum teams knowing their capacity in the upcoming Sprint. However, as Scrum teams are self-managing and comprise capable individuals, the Scrum Guide does not require a capacity check to become a part of the Sprint Planning. The Effects of Ignoring the Capacity Check during Sprint Planning The Problem: Before the Sprint Planning, the Developers failed to identify their capacity for the upcoming Sprint, resulting in less-informed creation of the Sprint Goal. There are various reasons why the capacity of the Scrum team is not constant but highly volatile, for example: Public holidays fall into the Sprint period Team members are on sick-leave Team members take personal time off Experienced team members have left the Scrum team New team members need to be onboarded Life interferes in an unpredictable way, for example, in form of a food-poisoning causing Tiramisù. The Consequences: The consequences of failing to identify the available capacity may result in a too cautious approach in creating Sprint Goals—better safe than sorry, right? (Speaking of which, everyone will notice this approach, and it won’t work in the team’s favor.) Alternatively, the Scrum team may become too ambitious in setting a Sprint Goal and will most likely disappoint stakeholders by not delivering accordingly. (Given the importance of trust and that delivering valuable Increments regularly is the best way to create trust among stakeholders, the consequence of the latter is far from being trivial.) The Solution: Take five minutes during the Sprint Planning and create a shared understanding of who will be available when. Risk-mitigation for Scrum teams has never been simpler. {"preview_thumbnail":"/s3/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/-wpVF5hW-8o.jpg?itok=OyF5IGaP","video_url":"https://youtu.be/-wpVF5hW-8o","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]} Ignoring the Capacity Check during Sprint Planning — Conclusion Permanently underdelivering, overcommitment, failure to accomplish the Sprint Goal, creating spillovers — all of this is sending a false signal to stakeholders. If these patterns happen to manifest themselves regularly, they will produce a massive trust issue very likely to impede your team’s collaboration with its stakeholders. Please remember: reliable delivery of valuable Increments is the #1 request from stakeholders. Do not put your Scrum team in harm’s way out of mere stupidity. Is your Scrum team also ignoring the capacity check during Sprint Planning? 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. 📖 Ignoring the Capacity Check during Sprint Planning — Related Posts Three Essential Agile Failure Patterns in 7:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #12 Scrum First Principles — How to Elon Musk the Scrum Guide When the Management Ignores Self-Management — Making Your Scrum Work #16 Download the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide for free.

Want fabulous teams that build great products? Great teams don’t happen by accident. And they don’t have to take a long time to build. Learn more from Richard Kasperowski on employing core protocols for psychological safety and emotional intelligence from this Hands-on Agile session.

TL; DR: The Agile Metrics Survey 2021 If you value agile practices, it is crucial to know if a job offering or a prospective business partner that claims to be “agile” really keeps its promises. Unfortunately, as agility usually cannot be observed directly, and certainly not from the outside of an organization, there is no way of knowing in advance if you will enter an agile environment that serves your own working needs or if a lot of frustration lies ahead of you. Therefore, we ran an extensive survey throughout 2020 and 2021 with more than 1,000 participants from all walks of agility: the Agile Metrics Survey 2021. With the Agile Metrics Survey 2021, we present the first results and conclude with some thoughts about possible application scenarios of our instrument as well as possible next steps in our research. 🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 33,000-plus subscribers. 🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes! 📈 Join 850-plus Peers and Participate the Anonymous Poll for the Upcoming Free Scrum Master Salary Report 2022. The Intention Behind the Agile Metric Survey 2021 There are already well-established tools to measure agility at the team level or agile procedures in DevOps. But up to now, a tool is missing that allows measuring overall organizational agility, just as any systematic investigation of agile practices in a broader set of organizations. Therefore, based on our previous research, comprising interviews and group discussions with practitioners from various disciplines, we decided to take the use of agile metrics as a proxy for overall organizational agility, and we aimed to: Develop a tool to measure the use of agile metrics in a broad set of organizations Investigate how organizations use specific agile metrics with different characteristics, such as size, industry sector, and agility level. To reach these goals, we employed a five-step procedure where we: Constructed a survey that contained both questions regarding the characteristics of an organization, such as size and sector, and a set of indicators for the use of different agile metrics Collected data and evaluated if the instrument worked as expected (in terms of validity and reliability) Refined the instrument Collected even more data with the refined instrument Identified patterns of metric use in organizations with different characteristics. In this report, we explain each of these subsequent steps in more detail. Additionally, we present the first results and conclude with some thoughts about possible application scenarios of our instrument as well as possible next steps in our research. Please note: The ZIP-file of the Agile Metrics Survey also contains two HTML-files with high-resolution graphics of the plots and the original survey data. Preliminary Metric Ensemble and Metric Indicators Usually, constructing a valid and reliable measurement tool takes a lot of effort and expertise in the respective field of research. Luckily, we had a lot of prior experience from previous interviews and group discussions with agile experts and practitioners. Based on their perspectives, we came up with a list of eight metrics that appeared to be relevant in the context of organizational agility, such as Performance Metrics, Quality Metrics, Engineering Metrics, DevOps Metrics, Team Metrics, Organizational Agility Metrics, Product and Business Metrics, and Flow Metrics. Due to both different organizational practices and different individual experiences of our prospective participants, we couldn’t be sure that these metrics mean the same for each of them. Therefore, we defined a set of indicators for each of these metrics. For example, Product & Business Metrics initially comprised indicators such as Realized business value, Return on Investment, Stakeholder Net Promoter Score, Customer Net Promoter Score, Number of experiments, Cost per release, Cost of Delay, Cost per story point, Program predictability, and Forecast accuracy. We constructed a survey where the participants were to rate on a Likert-type scale (Never, Rarely, Sometimes, most of the time, always) whether these indicators are relevant in their day-to-day organizational practices. Additionally, we asked them to provide detailed information about several characteristics of their organization, such as size, sector, team structure, and perceived organizational agility level. Data Collection We collected the data in two subsequent phases. In the 1st phase, from 2019-11-17 to 2020-02-13, we collected 534 data sets. In the second phase, from 2020-07-22 to 21-01-30, we collected another 629 data sets. Overall, 1.153 people participated in our survey.<7p> The data was collected with an online questionnaire administered via Google Forms. The main acquisition channel was the Food for Agile Thought newsletter. Additionally, we distributed the survey link via blog posts and various social media postings. At the beginning of the survey, there was a standardized instruction where we provided further information on data usage and anonymity. If the participants proceeded with the survey, they agreed to include their data in the analysis. There were no incentives for participating in our survey. First Results After refining our measurement tool, we took a first look into the dataset to explore the metric use of our participants` organizations. As a result, we found several exciting data patterns we would like to share and discuss in the following. First of all, we found differences in the organizations` overall metric use. Figure 5 (“Overall metric use”) illustrates these differences on a scale from 1 (the metric is never used) to 5 (the metric is always used). In our sample performance metrics, Defect metrics and Flow metrics were most commonly used by the organizations, followed by Prediction metrics, Time metrics, and Team metrics. A third group, containing relatively less relevant metrics, consists of Engineering, DevOps, Organizational Agility Metrics, NPS, and Cost metrics. Figure 1: Overall Metric Use When contrasting agile and non-agile organizations, significant differences in metric use become transparent. (See Fig. 6 “Metric use by Agility.”) Figure 2: Metric Use by Agility Level We consider these differences an indicator that further investigation and a more detailed exploration of size and sector-specific metric profiles may be of interest. As you can see in Figure 7 (“Metric Use by Size”), some metrics become more relevant with the increasing size of an organization, such as Defect Metrics, Engineering Metrics, and Performance Metrics. Figure 3: Metric Use by Organizational Size Additionally, there seem to be sector specific-metric profiles, as Figure 8 (“Metric Use in different Sectors”) illustrates. Figure 4: Metric Use by Industry Sector Taking the sector-specific metric profiles and the differences between agile and non-agile organizations in the overall sample into account, we decided to take a closer look at the largest subsample, software, and internet companies (n = 188) and to investigate if our approach allows for a more fine-grained analysis of agile transitions. Figure 9 (“Metric Use by Agility”) illustrates the metric use of software and internet companies in our sample, depending on the reported agility level. Figure 5: Metric Use by Agility Level (Software and IT Sector) As you can see, there is a clear difference between organizations that were rated as rather non-agile (light blue) and those that were rated relatively agile (black) by the participants. In addition, at least for some metrics, separate “stages” or “phases” of the organizations` agile transition con be identified (grey). Conclusion With this investigation, we aimed to develop a valid and reliable instrument to measure agile metrics in different organizations. Based on the data from more than 1,100 participants, we refined our initial instrument and were able to reveal several exciting patterns in agile metric use. Of course, the results presented above only allow for limited insights and detailed analyses, focusing on sector-specific metric profiles need to follow, as the question “what IS an agile organization” apparently needs a sector and maybe even size specific answer. Further investigations may lead to sector-specific agile benchmarks that can guide organizations` agile transitions. In addition, as we can measure metric use validly and reliably, relationships between metric use and relevant business outcomes can be explored. One major limitation of our approach is linked to the data collection procedure. As we wanted to measure the use of agile metrics in a broad set of organizations, we, in almost all cases, only surveyed one participant per organization. To allow for sector-specific and more detailed analyses, it would be fascinating to work together with organizations and assess whether all employees share a common perspective or significant differences in perceived agility and metric use. Do you recognize your organization in the results of the Agile Metrics Survey 2021? If so, please share your learnings with us in the comments. ✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about the Agile Metrics Survey 2021: 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. Agile Metrics Survey 2021 — Related Posts Agile Metrics — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books Spark a cargo cult discussion with the ‘State Of Agile’ checklist for your organization. The Scrum Guide Reordered — understand the Scrum Guide’ patterns and concepts quickly to avoid hiring imposters.