Scrum doesn’t fix an organization’s problems. It makes problems glaringly obvious so that they have a chance to fix them. Except that “glaringly obvious” is relative and sometimes you still need someone to point to the steaming pile o’ shit of a problem and say it out loud. Sometimes to someone that has the authority …
Continue reading “Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches need an Emergency Fund”
Content moved to https://retromat.org/blog/enjoy-the-silence/
Have you ever had to broach a difficult topic? You prepare, you make notes and you head for a 1:1. You start by talking about various smaller topics. You avoid the big fat whopper of a topic that you’ve been worrying about. Time is ticking by. You’re stalling. Then at the end of the – …
Recently this statement raised my inner alarms: “We’ve got lots of problems! For example, nobody is pair programming.” Why would this rub me the wrong way? That nobody is pair programming? After all, I am indeed a huge fan of pairing up. I witness this practice’s many benefits every single day at work. But no, …
Moved to: https://retromat.org/blog/assuming-positive-intent/
When you let the writing on whiteboards stay on for long enough – say, a couple of month – dry-erase markers stop being “dry-erase” and start being “leave unwipeable shadowy traces behind”. You’re left with an unsightly board, no matter how often you wipe. Water doesn’t help, at least not against dried up German Edding …
Continue reading “How to get a very dirty whiteboard sparkly clean”
One of the topics in Darci Dutcher’s session “Running Killer Workshops Without Killing Yourself” at Agile on the Beach was promisingly called ‘Sticky note party tricks’. “Don’t really use them at a party. Other people do not get excited about sticky notes.” – Darci Dutcher Well, I’m the kind of person who does get excited …
Do you know this inner debate when you’re facilitating and somebody keeps monologuing: “Is this still relevant? Should I stop him? Do the others look bored? I should cut him off …” That makes me judge and jury about whether something is still relevant to the whole group. I don’t like to make that call. …
Continue reading “Self-Regulating Discussions with Jeff Patton’s Cups”
[English summary: We wrote a book at work (in German) and it turned out amazing!!! It’s a cross between coffee table and business book. Watch out for “24 Work Hacks“! If you’d be interested in an English version, tell me so that I can make a case for translating it 🙂 ] Endlich, endlich, darf …
Whenever someone mentions “Servant Leadership” it triggers an almost Pavlovian reflex in me to say: “Have you heard of ‘Host Leadership’? IMHO it’s the much better metaphor for Scrum Master work.” Part of SM work is enforcing rules. How can you do that as a servant? The metaphor breaks. As a host it makes perfect …
