Do It Yourself, Dammit: impediments and self-management

Do It Yourself, Dammit: impediments and self-management

The Scrum Master has two important roles: to remove impediments that are blocking the team’s progress, and to coach the team in becoming self-managing. While these roles may seem contradictory, they are actually complementary and interconnected. As a Scrum Master, you’re kind of like a parent to your Scrum Team. Your primary job is to … Read more

When a Scrum Master evolves into an agile leader

When a Scrum Master evolves to an agile leader

My employer announced my promotion to the company’s middle management at the beginning of this year. So, as a member of middle management, does a Scrum Master ‘manage’ others? Gunther Verheyen explains in this 2014 article that the Scrum Master role is not a management role, but rather a facilitation role. The Scrum Master is … Read more

“Coaching Agile Teams” by Lyssa Adkins: a review

"Coaching Agile Teams" by Lyssa Adkins: a review

This article is a review of “Coaching Agile Teams” by Lyssa Adkins. I have based this review on a Dutch translation of the book.  “Coaching Agile Teams” by Lyssa Adkins is a well-regarded book on the subject of coaching agile teams and is recommended reading for those interested in the topic. The book provides practical … Read more

Addressing emergent architecture and technical debt

Emergent architecture in Scrum: a Developer's point of view

Embracing emergent architecture and resolving technical debt are two major challenges that Developers working with Scrum often face. These challenges can have a significant impact on a product’s overall success and necessitate collaboration and communication between the Scrum Team and management. Architecture without a predetermined plan Emergent architecture is a software development approach in which … Read more

Facilitating an awesome Daily Scrum

Facilitating awesome Daily Scrums

The Daily Scrum is an important Scrum event. It is a daily meeting in which the Developers discuss their progress, identify any roadblocks and plan for the next 24 hours. The Scrum Master is critical in facilitating this meeting and ensuring that it runs smoothly and efficiently. Creating an environment conducive to open and honest … Read more

Challenges in working with remote Scrum Teams across different timezones

Multiple Scrum Teams (in different timezones)

In November 2022, I started working for an international software company with offices and remote Scrum Teams across different timezones. We’re talking about two different timezones in Europe and one on the other side of the world – in Australia. Crikey! There was even a short situation that members within one of the Scrum Teams … Read more

The Power of Timeboxing

The Power of Timeboxing

Timeboxing is an important aspect of Scrum, and it entails allocating a specific amount of time for each Scrum event, such as Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. The Scrum Team is able to stay focused and on track by setting a time limit, ensuring that each event is efficient and productive. … Read more

Gamification in Scrum: setting up guidelines

Gamification in Scrum: providing a toolbox

In an earlier post, I discussed the possibility of incorporating gamification elements into Scrum. Gamification in Scrum has the potential to increase engagement, motivation, and collaboration. Incorporating game mechanics and elements can help to foster a culture of continuous improvement and experimentation. By utilizing game design elements such as point systems, leaderboards, challenges, competitions, clear … Read more

Are Scrum Masters redundant in organizations with high agile maturity?

Are Scrum Masters redundant in organizations with high agile maturity?

Since I was introduced to the Agile Maturity Model in the Professional Agile Leadership course, I have given this model a lot of thought. In Geoff Watts’ ‘Scrum Mastery’, I found a very amusing quote comparing the role of the Scrum Master to that of Nanny McPhee from the 2005 movie of the same name. … Read more