Agile Mentors Podcast from Mountain Goat Software

Brian and Kert talk about the final component of the Scrum Framework - Artifacts. Overview The term “artifact” seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? Why would the authors of Scrum include this as a component of the framework? What are the main artifacts that Scrum prescribes? And what are some of the other artifacts that are not required but many teams see as helpful to the running of a Scrum team? In this episode, Brian and Kert will discuss this final component of the Scrum framework in the Scrum Framework series and give you pointers on how to make the most out of the Scrum artifacts. Listen now to discover: 3:45 - hear Kert and Brian talk about the roots of this term 6:15 - Kert talks about his experience with documentation working at NASA 9:15 - Kert talks about the two backlogs in Scrum 12:30 - Brian and Kert talk about what level of detail is needed in backlog items 16:12 - Who is the therapist on a Scrum team? 19:00 Is tasking out everything required for Sprint Planning? 23:41 - Kert talks about how Ken Schwaber called Scrum, “The Art of the Possible” 31:27 Brian and Kert talk about the Definition of Done 33:24 Brian talks about a tool to facilitate the creation of a Definition of Done Listen next time when we’ll be discussing… Mike Cohn returns to discuss User Stories with Brian. Mike has literally written the book on User Stories (User Stories Applied) and shares his wealth of experience and knowledge on the subject. References and resources mentioned in the show Married at First Site - Lifetime TV Network Larry Maccherone talks about Kanban Metrics David A. Koontz’s exercise for creating a Definition of Done Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. ● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. ● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Kert began his professional career as a Software Engineer in NASA's Space Shuttle program, affording him practical insights into the daily challenges faced by engineers, designers, and testers. Driven by the belief that learning unlocks potential, Kert has pioneered educational programs for Dell, Rockwell Collins, Amazon.com, and Capital One Financial. Kert is one of the few trainers world-wide to be actively credentialed as both a Scrum and Kanban trainer by Scrum Alliance and Kanban University, respectively.

Join Brian Milner and guest co-host Scott Dunn as they discuss why the retrospective is an important part of agile and how to use this meeting to help teams to improve continuously. Overview In this episode, Brian Milner is joined by guest co-host Scott Dunn, Certified Enterprise Coach and Scrum Trainer, to get insights into delivering retrospective sessions that energize and inform the whole team — while ensuring they are effective at meeting goals. A sprint retrospective is a great way for teams to reflect on the previous sprint but this meeting can become stale if you sleepwalk your way through the same agenda every time. Brian and Scott discuss the Scrum Master’s responsibility to take ownership of the retrospective and the importance of developing a toolkit of techniques that you can use and adapt to engage and motivate your teams. There are many great retrospective ideas in the Agile community, including variations and additions on the basic questions and creative facilitation techniques. Sharing their experiences and offering advice to Scrum Masters on how to empower their teams, drive participation and unlock creativity, Brian and Scott discuss the importance of innovation and how to establish a culture of trust and accomplishment to maximize the value of this meeting. Listen now to discover: · 00:03:00 - Why Scrum Masters need to establish safety for retrospectives to work · 00:07:00 - How to structure a retrospective to motivate teams · 00:09:00 - Why it is not the Scrum Master’s responsibility to resolve all impediments · 00:11:00 - How to empower your team to have more agency over the work and make a difference as team members · 00:13:30 - Why Scrum Masters need to take ownership of the retrospective · 00:19:00 - Why you need to change up your retrospective to engage your team · 00:19:30 - How to conduct fun and engaging retrospectives · 00:23:58 - How to influence and shape your team’s culture · 00:26:10 - How to get value from a retrospective with an introverted team References and resources mentioned in the show · Strengths-based Leadership - Gallup · Training from the Back of the Room – Sharon Bowman · Marcus Buckingham · Agile Retrospectives - Making Good Teams Great - Esther Derby and Diana Larson Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. · Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. · Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer with more than 20 years of experience in management, project management (PMP), engagement management, and software development (MCSD). He is passionate about strengths-based teams and a solutions-based approach to people and organizational issues.

Julie Chickering, an experienced Project Management Professional, and Brian Milner discuss the importance of the Sprint Review in Agile practices, emphasizing collaboration and feedback. They highlight the misconceptions around the event being just a demo and provide tips on making the review more effective. Topics include stakeholder involvement, structuring effective meetings, and managing expectations.

This week, Brian Milner is joined by Julie Chickering to talk about the best practices and common pitfalls to avoid during the Daily Scrum event. Overview Brian Milner and Julie Chickering discuss the true purpose of the Daily Scrum and how to make this 15-minute meeting more efficient. According to the Scrum Guide, the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress towards the Sprint Goal, synchronize activities, and create a plan for the next 24 hours. Debunking the myth that “The Daily Scrum is a Status Meeting”, Julie and Brian share their first-hand experience of this misconception and show Scrum Masters how to transform the Daily Scrum into a purposeful and collaborative planning session led by the Developers, for the Developers. You’ll learn how to get your Daily Scrum under control and discover new approaches to encourage productivity, accountability and collective ownership as well as Daily Scrum formats that encourage teamwork. Finally, Brian and Julie dive deep into the struggles brought by remote working and the many alternatives to tackle this issue. Listen now to discover: - 02:00 - The purpose of the daily scrum and common misconceptions - 11:00 - How to use the sprint backlog to prioritize work - 00:12 - The importance of teamwork and striving for smaller stories that flow - 14:56 - How to encourage developers to take ownership of the Daily Scrum - 00:20 - Suggestions for Daily Scrum formats to encourage teamwork - 00:22 - When to update items on the Sprint Backlog to benefit the Daily Scrum meeting - 00:25 - How to encourage accountability and collective ownership of work - 00:27 - How to monitor and assess unplanned work and forecast velocity - 00:35 - Guidelines for problem identification and problem solving during the Daily Scrum - 00:38 - How to adapt the Daily Scrum for distributed teams in a remote world - 00:44 - The benefits of cross training - 00:45 - The 16th minute concept - 00:47 - Ken Schwaber’s clockwise scrum methodology Listen next time when we’ll be discussing... Julie joins Brian again to explain the true purpose of the Sprint Review and why it is a mistake to call this event a ‘demo’. References and resources mentioned in the show · Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber · The Scrum Guide Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. · Enjoyed what you heard today? It would be great if you left a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. · Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Julie Chickering is a certified Scrum Trainer as well as a CST, PMP, PMI-ACP CSM, CSPO, and Path to CSP Educator. She believes that Agile practices are packed with potential — to enable business agility, and breakthrough results. Julie loves to help people implement agile even when the environments are messy, people are complicated, and situations are challenging. She brings real-world experience working with people at all levels to adopt and roll out realistic Agile strategies organization-wide.

In this episode, Scott Dunn and Brian review the key aspects of leading an effective sprint planning meeting: its purpose, how it works, who attends, and ensuring yours are achieving the desired result. Overview Brian Milner and Scott Dunn discuss product ownership and leading a sprint planning meeting. 2020’s Scrum Guide introduced new guidance: sprint planning must go beyond the WHAT and the HOW of product backlog items to the WHY, specifically why is the sprint valuable? Scott shares his firsthand experience of how to run an effective sprint planning meeting, including focusing on the ‘Why?’ plus practical advice on increasing an agile team’s motivation and engagement. You’ll learn why the product owner-development team relationship is the linchpin of sprint-planning success and the primacy of preparation, forward vision, and a value-driven mindset. Final advice includes better communication of expectations with distributed team members and aligning with the evolving nature of the tech landscape through trying new approaches. Listen now to discover: · 04:00 – How asking ‘Why?’ adds value and motivates, empowers, and engages teams · 07:00 – Why the relationship between the product owner and development team is the linchpin of success · 10:00 – What level of detail Scrum teams should be striving for during a sprint planning meeting · 12:00 – The purpose of a sprint review and what needs to change in order to support inclusive collaboration · 14:00 – How to leave room for discovery with minimal documentation · 15:52 – How flexible requirements and ongoing conversation enable collaboration and employee engagement · 17:00 – How to remain focused on driving value when facilitating sprint planning meetings · 19:00 – The mindset shift required to define value through conversation and negotiation · 21:30 – Craig Larman methodology - culture follows structure · 22:00 – Why assigning work during sprint planning kills collaboration and team spirit · 26:00 – The purpose of the sprint planning meeting and how to maximize the time allocated · 27:30 – The restrictions of forward planning and how to find confidence in emergent architecture to align with the changing nature of tech organizations · 30:00 – How product owners in sprint planning can improve efficiency through preparation · 34:00 – Tips for distributed teams: adapting to remote working, improving communication, and more effective sprint planning · 40:30 – The ‘Inspect and Adapt’ concept: the importance of trying new approaches and implementing new methods. Listen next time when we’ll be discussing . . . Daily scrums with certified Scrum trainer, Julie Chickering. You’ll learn the true purpose of this 15-minute time-boxed event as well as common pitfalls and mistakes to avoid in this meeting. References and resources mentioned in the show: · Larman's Laws of Organizational Behavior · David Hawks Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. · Enjoyed what you heard today? Take a second to leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. · Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer with more than 20 years of experience in management, project management (PMP), engagement management, and software development (MCSD). He is passionate about strengths-based teams and a solutions-based approach to people and organizational issues. Show edited by Rhett Gill.

Join Brian Milner and Sherman Gomberg for a discussion of the importance of a Scrum team’s developers and why self-organizing teams are at the heart of agile methodologies like Scrum. In this episode of the Agile Mentors podcast, Brian Milner and Sherman Gomberg discuss the evolution of one of the Scrum roles: developer. They also explain why self-organizing teams of developers have become critical to all organizations. On agile projects, developers are the people who “do the work” and while at first glance you may see agile developers as always engineers or other software development professionals, that’s not invariably the case. According to the Scrum Guide, the development team can be composed of all kinds of people including designers, writers, programmers, etc. Using over 25 years of Scrum, agile, and project management experience, Sherman and Brian compare notes on the topic of how to build and sustain agile, self-organizing teams. They share their insights and advice on why empowering individuals to work in cross-functional agile teams leads to greater efficiency, higher rewards, and lower risks. Listen now to discover: - 03:38 –How to tell whether your agile team is self-organizing - 05:25 – The advantages of having self-organized teams in agile environments - 07:10 – Bruce Tuckman’s four stages of team development: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing - 09:17 – Advice for Scrum Masters and product owners on how to promote self-organization among team members - 09:60 – The parallels between software teams and sports teams: self-organize and work together to shine - 13:34 – How and why to build a learning organization - 18:00 – The definition of “self-managing” as cited by the Scrum Guide - 22:00 – How to address bug-fixing and technical debt during a sprint - 28:00 – The three most valuable practices adopted by developers in a sprint - 37:50 – The importance of understanding the developer role and why all three roles on a Scrum team should take a Scrum developer course - 40:48 – The role of a tech lead in Scrum - 43:00 – Why it is essential to form a team of equals and how self-organization works to support this Listen next time when we’ll be discussing… Sprint planning with guest co-host Scott Dunn. You’ll learn about the sprint planning event as described in the Scrum Guide and the 3 essential “Why? What? How?” topics addressed in order to plan successful sprints. References and resources mentioned in the show ● Scrum Guide ● The Bruce Tuckman Model ● The Agile Manifesto Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. ● Enjoyed what you heard today? Don’t forget to rate and review: it really helps! ● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Sherman Gomberg is CEO at Scrum Adventures, Inc. He is a CTC and has a total of eleven certifications from the Scrum Alliance. He has over 25 years of experience with agile, Scrum, and project management across various industries. He enjoys working with teams during breakout sessions in online courses, where he helps to bring curiosity to valuable discussions and in doing so, moves the needle from training to knowledge obtained to knowledge applied.

Join Brian Milner and guest co-host Lance Dacy to look at the key capabilities of the product owner, mistakes to avoid, and getting maximum business value from the resources available. In this episode, Brian Milner and guest co-host Lance Dacy take a detailed look at the role of the product owner. They discuss a common source of confusion about what a product owner is, or does: people try to boil down the role to its tactical processes—such as writing user stories. The product owner may be accountable for these processes, but providing direction for what the team is trying to accomplish is their forte. Product owners need to be great communicators and collaborators, with passion for solving problems with their product. Brian and Lance share their experiences of what makes a great product owner, the importance of protecting a team’s capacity, and why saying no is often essential to protecting the vision. Listen now to discover: 04:10 - What’s the difference between a product owner and a product manager? 07:25 - Henrick Kniberg’s criteria for successful product owners 08:57 - Why Scrum Masters focus on the how and product owners focus on the why 09:05 - What does ‘being passionate’ mean to a product owner? 12:48 - The mistake of trying to be too productive as a product owner 19:46 - Can you combine other roles with that of the product owner? 25:55 - What should you find out about a company before accepting a job offer as a product owner? 34:49 - Why one of the most important things you can do is act as a steward of the team’s capacity Listen next time when we’ll be discussing… A special bonus episode with details about Brian’s talks at the upcoming Scrum Gathering on June 6-8 References and resources mentioned in the show Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell - Henrick Kniberg Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Lance is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®. Lance brings a great personality and servant heart to his workshops. He loves seeing people walk away with tangible and practical things they can do with their teams straight away. Show edited by Rhett Gill.

In this special episode, Brian describes the upcoming Scrum Gathering in Denver, including the subject of his talks on the daily scrum and leadership styles. The Scrum Gathering is happening in Denver on June 6-8, so in this podcast episode Brian discusses the conference and shares a preview of his two talks: one on the daily scrum and one on leadership styles. In “Daily Scrums Suck: How I Killed the Daily Scrum and Replaced it with Something Even Better,” Brian shares his advice for making the most out of those 15-minute meetings. For his second talk, “The Opposite of Leadership: The George Costanza School of Agile Leadership,” Brian designed an interactive workshop to encourage you to turn your idea of leadership on its head to perhaps reveal a much better way to lead. Listen now to discover: 02:33 - Daily Scrums Suck - a teaser about Brian’s first session 03:45 - The George Costanza School of Agile Leadership - details about Brian’s 75-minute workshop 08:33 - Why go to conferences? The value is often in the connections as much as the content 14:19 - If you have a Scrum Alliance certification, one conference can help you earn SEUs you need to renew 15:03 - How conferences can help you chart your next career steps 18:29 - The Coaching Clinics available at the event 19:25 - The Open Space - anyone attending can pitch a topic to talk about and Brian shares his tips for getting the best from this opportunity 21:38 - Introverted? So is Brian, but here’s how he survives a conference environment 24:55 - Planning to attend and want to meet Brian? Don’t hold back! Listen next time when we’ll be discussing… Join Brian Milner and Sherman Gomberg as they discuss the importance of the developer role within a Scrum team and why self-organizing teams are at the heart of agile methodology. References and resources mentioned in the show Global Scrum Gathering 2022 Brian’s Talk Descriptions George Costanza turns his life around by doing the opposite Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenter is: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.

Join Mike Cohn and Brian Milner as they discuss the Scrum Master role: its distinctions from project management, Scrum Master responsibilities for team success, and advice for new Scrum Masters. In this episode, Brian Milner talks with Mike Cohn about the Scrum Master role from the inception of its title to the role it plays in agile today. Mike Cohn has trained more than 30,000 Scrum Masters and shares his experience of the challenges he faced early on helping project managers to transition to effective Scrum Masters. Brian and Mike discuss the distinction and overlap between traditional project management styles and the servant-leadership role of the Scrum Master. They also talk about how responsible a Scrum Master should be for the success of the project and the success of a team. Finally, Brian and Mike share the advice they would give to Scrum Masters who want to be valuable to any team and organization—including those looking to get their first job in this role. Listen now to discover: 02:14 - Why the Scrum Master title was created to help people succeed in this position 04:54 - Job role, title, or accountabilities? Is one more important for defining someone’s position in a Scrum team? 07:41 - The key differences between a project manager and Scrum Master 08:43 - How responsible should a Scrum Master be for the success of a project? 13:21 - Facilitator or leader? How not to fade into the background 17:46 - How to deal with people in power who make bad agile decisions 22:06 - Continuous improvement doesn’t mean you should play it safe 26:34 - How do you know when you’re ready to break the rules to be a successful Scrum Master? 27:06 - No experience and looking for your first job? What to do (and not do) to improve your resume Listen next time when we’ll be discussing… The product owner role with guest co-host Lance Dacy. You’ll learn what it takes to be a great product owner as well as common misunderstandings people have about the role. References and resources mentioned in the show Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch Kaizen approach for continuous improvement Lyssa Adkins Coaching Stances Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. Enjoyed what you heard today? Take a second to leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Mike Cohn is co-founder of the Scrum Alliance, and founder of Mountain Goat Software. He’s a veteran of applying Scrum and agile principles and practices to help organizations build better products, and ship them on time. Show edited by Rhett Gill.

Agile expert Mike Cohn discusses succeeding with agile, choosing a framework, and breaking the rules. Topics include misconceptions about Scrum, importance of team decision-making, dangers of strictly following rules, and the evolving nature of Scrum. They also touch on the importance of culture in agile implementations, keys to success in transitioning to agile, and the significance of continual improvement.