Exploring the Human edge in Agile
Resilience is in the smallest of things. I live next to a busy road. There’s a small crack in the concrete. It’s barely wide enough to notice, and yet a dandelion has pushed through it. No one planted it. No one watered it. The conditions are, by any reasonable measure, hostile. And still, life found … Read more
Death marks the final boundary between life and whatever comes next. While some find comfort in the idea of an afterlife, I personally take solace in the notion that it is absolute nothingness. In that nothingness, all life and all our thoughts are united in total oblivion: the inescapable fate that awaits everything. I once … Read more
Ever since I muttered “no friction, no sex” about a team conflict, it’s become a favourite catchphrase. It kind of stuck, as I love to provoke gasps and giggles. But the point lands: one cannot get to the exhilarating highs of teamwork without putting in the hard work of dealing with tension. Het mag knetteren, … Read more
This has been quite some time in the making. After reattempting the assessment in December 2025, I can finally, finally say it: I’m a certified Professional Scrum Master III (PSM III)! And I’m not exaggerating when I say this was one of the hardest exams I’ve ever taken. PSM III is a stress test of … Read more
Last year, I turned forty, and with that, I finally stopped flinching when someone called me “daddy.” In fact, I started encouraging it. It felt, strangely, like an arrival. I tell myself that this is a respectable age to claim the title. My partner agrees. He affectionately counts the grey hairs in my beard while … Read more
Speaking about nostalgia, my reel feeds of both YouTube and Instagram are tightly attuned to my preferences. It was no surprise I got a reel with a fragment of the 1999 Newsnight interview with David Bowie by Jeremy Paxman, about the rise of the internet and its impact on society. It urged me to look … Read more
More often now, my mind goes back to memories from decades ago. As I get older, I find myself daydreaming about the 80s and 90s when I was a kid. A time of CDs, video games, Saturday morning cartoons, and youth-defining songs. When I hear a familiar melody from 1999 (oh, what a year that … Read more
Scrum Masters often find themselves caught between two imperatives: upholding the Scrum framework to the letter and ensuring their team delivers value under real-world conditions. The Scrum Guide presents Scrum as an immutable framework – any omission or alteration means “the result is not Scrum”. In practice, however, strict adherence can sometimes clash with on-the-ground needs. Read more
This year has been, yet again, a wealth of lessons and discoveries. Every step forward seemed to reveal a new set of opportunities. Every turn offered something new—an endless stream of ideas, insights, and perspectives that kept my learning journey seem limitless. The year began with an investigation into integrating Scrum and Kanban—a combination of … Read more
In Scrum Teams, the Scrum Master often becomes the team’s cornerstone. While they do ensure the implementation and adherence to Agile frameworks, their true impact comes from the subtle, human skills they contribute. It’s these vital soft skills—often unseen yet deeply felt—that inspire collaboration and build resilience in self-organising teams. This blog post explores the … Read more
Transparency is one of the bedrocks of Scrum. It builds trust, sparks collaboration, and fuels continuous improvement by keeping everyone aligned. But like any potent tool, transparency must be handled wisely. Too much openness can backfire, leading to micromanagement, misinterpretation, and a shaky sense of psychological safety within teams. This blogpost digs into the advantages … Read more
What feelings do you experience when hearing the phrase “I don’t know”? Today, the world seems to demand instant answers from everyone. Especially those in positions of authority, like politicians, who are expected to look confident and decisive no matter what. But this expectation can feel suffocating. It builds an illusion of certainty in an … Read more
Every day, I work with teams to sharpen how they collaborate, create real value, and adapt to whatever comes next. And I do it with confidence and conviction. Yet, at times, the mind behind the confident smile wavers. Factually, I should feel confident—I have the years of experience, the certifications, and the feedback from peers … Read more
Looks like I’m a bit behind the curve, finding this book a good six years after it first came out. But hey, better late than never! In my quest to discover more on hostmanship, I have decided to read a wide range of literature related to this topic. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker … Read more
At the heart of Agile, and especially Scrum, lies the dynamic duo of self-organization and self-management, each painting a different shade of team autonomy. You have probably heard of them. I have used the terminology, often interchangably. A quick reminder: Self-organization is about teams owning the ‘how’ of the work: figuring out the best ways … Read more