I’ve just spend a lovely weekend at FrOSCon, the “Free and Open Source Software Conference”, in Bonn. One of the talks I attended was “Projektstatus: Nachrichten vom anderen Stern” (“Project status: Messages from a different star”) about communication. I wish I could have listened to this, when I started out as a Scrum master. It …
Continue reading “Four-sides model & the relationship layer”
Following up on my ode to whiteboards, here’s some very practical advice for people researching what flipchart to buy: Don’t buy one of the 3-legged ones like shown in the image on the left. Maybe it’s just me, but I keep falling over the front legs. Especially when I’m writing while still trying to keep …
If you want to establish new ways to do things (i.e. processes), make sure that this new way is the easiest route for people to reach their goal. If the old way is easier, the new one won’t ever be adopted. Example: There is a new way to handle support, designed to let the developers …
Continue reading “Want Change? Make “your” way the easiest way”
Behold, the 1-page cheat sheet for “Tribal Leadership”: Download as PDF or buy as a poster from Zazzle.com Don’t need a fancy PDF, just text is enough? — Summary of leveling up a tribe — A TRIBE is a naturally ocurring group of 20-150 people, e.g. a small company or a department ina large company. …
Continue reading “Tribal Leadership – The 1-Page Cheat Sheet”
It might seem trivial, but one of the key learnings from my time as a scrum master is that people long to be heard. Being understood by someone else, validates the speaker. Listening says “I care. I take time and pay attention to you. You are important! Your take on things is valuable.”
Like there’s Scrum and ScrumBut, most “brainstorming” sessions I ever took part in were BrainstormingBut sessions, instead of true brainstorming. They didn’t adhere to the key rules of a true brainstorming, namely: Defer judgement Aim for quantity Up until I was well into my 20s, every “brainstorming” I had ever participated in, had violated at …
There’s a certain type of quiet movie that I like a lot. It usually starts with a stranger entering a closed group, e.g. a village and the dynamics that enfold because of it. “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert“, “Fried Green Tomatoes” or “Kitchen Stories” are excellent examples. Did you ever stop to …
The other day at work, I was asked to moderate an impromptu meeting and while I gathered markers and stickie notes to rush to the meeting, I thought how nice it would be to have a ready-packed kit. Something to just grab and you’re good to go for basic moderation. As white boards and flip …
[Something light for the weekend (the sun is finally shining, yay!)] When taking notes on white boards or flip charts all day you’ll eventually lose grip on an uncapped marker: The marker stains weren’t impressed by my washing machine. I guess that’s why they are called “dry-erase” markers and not “wet-washed”… Too bad, I liked …
There is a mountain of agile books out there, all waiting to be read. On the one hand that’s exciting and something to look forward to. On the other hand that can be overwhelming and discouraging. The following is a demonstration of utmost self-restraint on my part: The 5 or less books that I recommend …
