Bonus Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

BONUS: Mastering the Product Backlog, lessons for Product Owners with Jeff Bubolz and Chad Beier

Jeff and Chad start the podcast by describing the key differences between a frantic and stressful backlog vs a strategic and focused one. In this segment, Jeff and Chad describe their observations of product backlogs in many of the clients they work with, noting that the backlogs tend to be task-based and the Product Owners try to please everyone.

They emphasize that saying “yes” to something in the backlog means saying “no” to something else, and they suggest that focusing on outcomes and impacts and thinking about options can help prioritize backlog items.

They caution against task-based backlogs leading to a project management pattern for the Product Owner and suggest that helping the team get clarity while focusing on setting goals can be more effective.

They introduce the idea of “strategic distance”, i.e. how far from strategy is a certain backlog item. They determine that distance by asking the “why” question for any item on the backlog, and they give an example of how it might take many “why” questions to get to the essence of a backlog item.

They suggest zooming out and capturing more of the what and the why for backlog items and caution against using the backlog as a “catch-all” in an anti-pattern.

Creating Strategic and Focused Backlogs with Impact/Outcome Statements

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BONUS: The Collaboration Equation, Fostering Effective Collaboration in Agile Software Development with Jim Benson

In this episode, we explore Jim Benson’s latest book: The Collaboration Equation. Scrum Masters should read this book because it offers a systematic approach to building the right environment for Agile software development. Having been involved in Agile since 1997, Jim has seen many projects start with excitement, only to fall apart over time. His book offers an approach to avoid the Agile adoption decay, and a way to make changes stick by helping professionals learn to act with agency in an environment that supports their efforts. Jim has applied this approach in many different organizations, and shares some aspects of those stories in this episode.

According to Jim, every Scrum master and product owner is a change agent, responsible for bringing opportunities for change to humans. However, these change agents can become frustrated when others don’t see the clarity that Agile methodologies are supposed to bring. This is where his book comes in, helping change agents to identify the right environment for their organization by considering factors such as how work flows and what culture they want to create. By providing this systematic approach to Agile software development, Jim’s book offers a valuable resource to anyone involved in the process of change within an organization.

Discovering Agile: A Story of Continuous Improvement and Paying Attention to End-Users

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BONUS: Navigating the Path to SRE, A Guide to Adopting Site Reliability Engineering in Your Enterprise, with Vlad Ukis and Philipp Gündisch

Siemens Healthineers engaged Philipp and Vlad due to growing challenges with their platform. As more users started using the platform, the availability requirements increased, and they wanted to reduce downtime. However, their current operations capabilities did not allow them to achieve the uptime and availability needed, and there was also a problem with the time it took to recover from failures. To address these challenges, Siemens Healthineers decided to adopt SRE as a solution to improve their operations and increase reliability. The adoption of SRE was added to the list of big initiatives, and Vlad and Philipp worked through the organization to get buy-in and support for the change.

Overcoming Challenges in Adopting Agile, Scrum, SRE: A Journey in Change Management and Leadership

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BONUS: Embracing Self-Awareness and Empathy in the Agile Change Process, Insights from Dustin Thostenson

In this episode, we explore Dustin’s personal experience with change during his career and share his lessons learned, and experiences with change in teams. Dustin notes that while he has found certain practices to be successful, sometimes things do not work out and this can lead to consequences like being fired. Dustin asks us to consider if our behavior could be perceived as telling others they are doing things wrong instead of being considered helpful by the team.

The Importance of Self-Awareness and Empathy in Agile Software Development

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BONUS: Product Owner, the critical role we don’t pay enough attention to

In this episode, Vasco explores the Product Owner role and how it can become a key obstacle for the team’s success. Vasco covers the 3 key constituencies that Product Owner needs to serve, as well as one key responsibility that is often left behind by many Product Owners.

In this episode, we talk about the upcoming Product Owner Summit. If you are interested in being part of the volunteer team for the PO summit, you can email us at podcast@oikosofy.com

What do you think of this perspective on the Product Owner role? Leave us a comment below, or send us your thoughts at podcast@oikosofy.com

About Vasco Duarte

Author of http://NoEstimatesBook.com, and daily podcast host at https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/. I try to give back to the community every single day in an effort to improve the IT and product industry all over the world.
Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I’ve taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I’ve worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations.