scrummaster – Page 2

My Approach to Getting Refining Sessions Unstuck

What do you do when half the people think it’s 3 points, and the other half think it’s 5?

(Ooh, don’t share any more context – leave it there and just keep going!)

That’s going to happen. If I’m facilitating this Refining Session, I’ll ask one person who scored it a 3 to explain why, and then I’ll ask the same from somebody who gave it a 5.

(Aww, you explained the scenario… you could’ve let ’em writhe! You’re no fun…)

I’ll restart a vote, and hopefully this discussion has swayed folks to vote more similarly. But let’s say it hasn’t. Let’s say y’still have a roughly 50/50 split between the same two adjacent Fibonacci numbers. Fine. I then ask about the Fibonacci numbers on either side of those scores.

I ask everybody, “Could this be a 2?” then pause for their responses. I then ask, “Could this be an 8?” also pausing for their responses. What I’m looking for is not just what is said, but more importantly how it’s communicated. This what/how split neatly echoes a content/style split for you HTML/CSS folks, and a product/process split for weird Agilists like me. I lean on the greater emotional response to resolve this difference of opinion in the group.

So, if folks say half-heartedly, “Yeah, I guess,” when asked it’s a 2, but when asked about an 8, they say with some energy, “Naw, it ain’t THAT big… it’s not like the other 8s!” then I hear more emotion away from 8, thus between 3 & 5, I recommend a 3.

Similarly, if folks are energetically ‘meh’ about a 2, but all, “well, yeah, it could be a lot of work, it could blow up,” while nodding their heads a bit more about the prospect of it being an 8, then I hear more emotion towards an 8, thus between 3 & 5, I recommend a 5.

I then explain:

My Approach to the Daily Scrum

It’s simple… We walk the board, address 4 questions, then refine 1 ticket, all in 15 mins.

I mean… I could end this post right here.

But I won’t… As I chat up more Agilists, I realize that after 6 years of being a Scrum Master or Agile Coach full-time, and after almost 10 years of engaging in my own ScrumOfOne adventure, I’ve developed a few practices that are well received upon me sharing ’em verbally. So I figure I’ll share ’em here, bloggally.

Ya’ani… This reflects an internal shift I’m trying (ooh, a forelog), where I see a lack of clear & solid support for newer Scrum Masters, so I’m quietly working on a product & service to address this (yep, a backlog), through experimenting with newer approaches on myself (aha, a frontlog) (BINGO!). Thus, I see this blog shifting from present-day journaling to documenting ideas & practices from my recent past, plus playing with ideas & practices for a future I’d like to create: lowering the barrier to becoming a Daily Agilist. You don’t need a damn certificate (caveat: I have 3) to start playing this Agile game: this isn’t secret knowledge, nor should it be. And yes, certification was borne out of a desire to standardize after the organic spread of Scrum, to improve marketing (“hold up, this is Scrum”) and to reduce anti-patterns (“hold up, this is good Scrum”), but embarking on your own Agility, and then benefiting from it, shouldn’t require a big bang. There’s got to be a better way. Anyway, this paragraph is way too long, and you’re here for my “at-least-ha” take on the stand-up.

Maybe… I should’ve ended this post back there.

Agilist-In-Chief

That’s right, versus “Commander-In-Chief”. Imagine how a head of state / company / group would act if that person was an Agilist in spirit and definition, versus a “command & control”-styled officer.

Imagine.

Agility In Times of Need

Are you a Scrum Master having to do more remote facilitation because the Coronavirus has everybody working from home?

If you want 15 tactics, check out my guest blog post:
https://www.scrumontraining.com/post/remote-facilitation-tactics-because-coronavirus-has-you-wfh

If you want more, like a community of Agilists in these times of need, to share your situation, ask your questions, or just be there for your fellow Agilists, join my Slack group:
https://join.slack.com/t/stayagilemyfriends/shared_invite/zt-cq5rmy5y-fEpJ4L~OxJdMTNIavEoOhg

NOTE: link is LIVE FOR 7 DAYS – afterwards, email me to send you an invitation.

These are times of fast-paced global uncertainty, almost like the movies, except it’s real life. People are dying. People are afraid. People are taking precautions. People are working from home.

I’ve done a lot of remote facilitation: Daily Scrums & Retrospectives to Cross-Site Demos & Product Launches. I’m in a position to give. This is how I can give: set up a Slack group, invite folks, chat with you through the Agile side of your adventure.

I can give, so now is the time to give.

(That reads like disgusting virtue signaling, but I’m seriously trying to help.)

If you’re in need, then now is the time to take.

Join my ‘StayAgileMyFriends’ group on Slack. Y’got a week via that link. Wherever you are in the world, I’ll be pretty responsive, maybe even set up a quick Zoom call for higher-bandwidth communication.

Scrum Masters, this is primarily for you, but Agilists of all stripes are welcome. You may be working from home, but you don’t have to be alone.

In what ways can you give?

Stay Agile, my friends.

Save Your Money, Don’t Start With a Coach

Put your wallet down.

Look, I hear ya – you want to be better, but I bet you want to be sustainably better. I know your organization may want change, but I bet it wants lasting change. You hear good things about Agile or Scrum or Kanban or ~~Kanscrum~~ Scrumban, and you’re tempted to bring in an Agile Coach.

Here is where I try to convince you, counter-intuitively, to not hire me and my kind.

At least, not at first.

Continue reading Save Your Money, Don’t Start With a Coach