Building on the success of the first day, the second day of the Online Scrum Master Summit 2024 featured thought-provoking sessions and insights. Attending the day’s eight (!) sessions immersed me in topics ranging from mental health and team dynamics to the use of AI in Agile practices. So join me again as I recount the highlights and key lessons from a day that promised – and delivered – on Agile growth and inspiration.
Gitte Klitgaard – Mental Health in Times of Crisis (09:00)
Gitte Klitgaard’s keynote, “Mental Health in Times of Crisis,” emphasized the importance of proactively addressing mental health issues, particularly in the workplace. She emphasized how the pandemic, environmental crises, and political instability have increased stress and anxiety, exacerbating mental health issues around the world.
Klitgaard emphasized the importance of psychological safety, urging organizations to create environments in which employees can express themselves without fear. She advocated for simple ways to maintain mental health, such as healthy eating, regular breaks, physical activity, good sleep habits, and limiting news consumption.
Klitgaard concluded by emphasizing the importance of being kind to oneself and others, as well as fostering open conversations about mental health in order to create supportive and thriving workplace environments.
Joanna Płaskonka – How Action Learning Unveils the Hidden Wisdom of Teams (10:30)
Joanna Płaskonka’s session on action learning highlighted its ability to uncover a team’s hidden wisdom by combining action and deep learning. Action learning promotes critical thinking, engagement, and continuous improvement, making it an effective tool for collaboration and adaptation in changing environments.
This method involves small groups of people working on urgent problems using strategic questioning and active listening, with an action learning coach guiding them. The process improves problem-solving and leadership skills while also aligning with agile frameworks such as Scrum. Teams can make better decisions if they focus on thorough problem understanding before jumping to solutions.
Reham Nasr & Franziska Schütze – Maximizing Scrum & Agile Mastery: Unleashing Team Potential with the SCARF Model (12:00)
Reham Nasr and Franziska Schütze’s presentation “Maximising Scrum & Agile Mastery: Unleashing Team Potential with the SCARF Model” discussed how to use the Focus and SCARF models to improve team performance in Scrum and Agile environments. The Focus model distinguishes threat states, which impair decision-making and creativity, from reward states, which promote optimal brain function and collaboration. The SCARF model identifies five social domains—status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness—that influence team dynamics.
Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches can create environments that shift teams from threat to reward states, fostering better collaboration, creativity, and performance. Clear communication, inclusive practices, and continuous reflection on team dynamics are practical strategies for maintaining a supportive and productive (Agile) environment.
Nils Hyoma & Mathias Minsel – Co-Creation in Organizational Development with Liberating Structures (13:30)
In their session on “Co-creation in Organizational Development with Liberating Structures,” Nils Hyoma and Mathias Minsel demonstrated how to use Liberating Structures to improve organizational development. The interactive workshop divided participants into breakout rooms and used structures such as 1-2-4-All, Impromptu Networking, and 15% Solutions to brainstorm ways to prevent positive organizational development, identify negative patterns, and develop actionable improvement steps.
The session emphasized active participation and psychological safety, demonstrating how small, immediate actions can lead to significant improvements.
Rodrigo Sperb – Improving flow with focus: practical tactics to create focus and improve flow in product development (15:00)
In his session “Improving Flow with Focus: Practical Tactics to Create Focus and Improve Flow in Product Development,” Rodrigo Sperb argued that customers are more concerned with outcomes than processes such as Scrum. He advocated for achieving focus by prioritizing fewer tasks and employing flow techniques to reduce work in progress and maximize throughput.
Sperb outlined practical strategies such as setting work in progress limits, using heuristics for task prioritization, and leveraging signals for continuous feedback. He used real-world examples and simulation games to demonstrate significant improvements in delivery efficiency and lead times. Sperb concluded that people who take the initiative and continuously adapt their strategies in response to feedback can achieve significant improvements.
Diane Gombart – Moving Beyond Cassandra’s Curse and the People Pleaser Syndrome with Leaders (16:30)
Diane Gombart’s session focused on overcoming ‘Cassandra’s curse’ and the ‘people pleaser syndrome’ among Agile leaders. ‘Cassandra’s Curse’ refers to the frustration of anticipating problems without gaining buy-in, whereas the ‘people pleaser syndrome’ involves overcommitting to helping others, resulting in burnout. Gombart shared personal anecdotes and strategies for overcoming these obstacles, emphasizing the importance of trust, setting boundaries, and using data to drive change.
She encouraged leaders to balance their responsibilities by being curious, prioritizing tasks, learning to say no, and encouraging self-care, ultimately advocating for a mindful, effective approach to leadership and change management.
Sara Davidsson – So you think you are a Scrum Master? (18:00)
Sara Davidsson’s session, “So You Think You Are a Scrum Master?”, examined the evolution of a Scrum Master through her personal experience. Initially, she made mistakes by micromanaging and taking on excessive administrative responsibilities, limiting team autonomy. Over time, she moved on to more effective roles such as facilitator, coach, and mentor, emphasizing servant leadership.
She addressed issues such as developers questioning Scrum events, timebox violations, and resistance to coaching by promoting understanding and flexibility. Key takeaways included using proper terminology, treating team members as individuals, recognizing Agile as a mindset, and encouraging team self-management rather than protecting it. Sara’s session emphasized the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in order to better serve and support the team.
Dave Westgarth – AI Powered Agile (19:30)
In “AI Powered Agile,” Dave Westgarth discussed the use of AI tools in Agile practices to improve team productivity, quality, and performance. He focused on key metrics like velocity, cycle time, and release frequency for tracking progress and agility. He introduced useful AI-powered applications such as AWS PartyRock for creating agile tools, a metric selector for tracking team performance, and a dysfunction mapper for identifying and resolving team issues. Agile teams can use these tools to better manage technical debt, stay focused on sprint goals, and improve overall effectiveness by leveraging AI for continuous improvement and change management.
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The second day of the Online Scrum Master Summit was also jam-packed with educational and inspiring workshops that offered practical insights and novel approaches to Agile. As we keep exploring the latest Agile trends and strategies, insights gained from this summit could prove invaluable in fostering innovation and collaboration in our teams.
Stay tuned for my final blog post, in which I will discuss the highlights of the summit’s final day and share additional key takeaways.