How do we help organizations to recognize the value that scrum teams can bring, and the obstacles they face in the process? Stephen Thomas shares his recipe and describes a few ideas of how the retrospectives can be an effective practice to help organizations evolve and get better.
Stephen’s recipe for organization improvement:
- Help the teams understand their progress with a physical (as opposed to digital) and visual burndown (colorful if possible).
- Write the principles on the wall and make sure people see them regularly. Point to them when needed.
- Have lots of wall space for teams to use and create their shared view of their work.
- Help start and facilitate organization-level retrospectives, because improving one team is not enough for lasting change.
- Make the team independent
Before implementing all of this, make sure that the organization has the necessary knowledge to work in an agile manner, helping organize training if needed, and working with stakeholders regularly.
About Stephen Thomas
Stephen has been managing digital projects since 2004. Initially specialising in e-learning, he now looks after multiple projects that range from rapidly produced native apps to large-scale social networks. Based in Oxford, he is also one of the founders of the DOPM meetup.
You can connect with Stephen Thomas in LinkedIn, and follow Stephen Thomas on Twitter.
