6 thinking hats retrospective Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Mike Bowler: Six Thinking Hats, An Agile Retrospective for Balanced Discussions

Mike defines a successful Scrum Master as a catalyst who drives the team towards continuous improvement and effective goal achievement. He discusses how to gauge success by examining data available from the team’s processes and questioning whether true improvement is happening. Effective Scrum Masters facilitate discussions that challenge the status quo and encourage the team to reflect on their progress using data and insights.

Self-reflection Question: What indicators do you use to measure your team’s effectiveness?

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Six Thinking Hats

Mike shares the Six Thinking Hats retrospective as an effective format to dissect complex team issues. This method allows the team to view problems from different perspectives—logical, emotional, critical, etc.—encouraging balanced discussions and deep insights without conflict. He emphasizes how this approach can defuse latent conflicts and foster logical, collaborative problem-solving.

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About Mike Bowler

Mike is a seasoned Agile coach and trainer with over 25 years of experience. He focuses on technical practices, workflow optimization, leadership coaching, and human behavior, including neuroscience and psychology. His expertise extends from technical implementation to fostering psychological safety.

You can link with Mike Bowler on LinkedIn.

Publish on: 14th November, 2024, 10:05 CET

Dave Smith: The Nanny McPhee Approach in Fostering Scrum Team Independence

In this episode, we discuss the Nanny McPhee approach to Scrum Mastery, where the ultimate goal is for teams to become independent and capable. Dave challenges the notion of necessity versus want in the context of a Scrum Master’s presence. And we explore how to foster independence in Scrum teams.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: 6 Thinking Hats

Dave shares his preference for the 6 Thinking Hats format to structure discussions during retrospectives, emphasizing the shift from problems to solutions. In this discussion we explore bringing in different perspectives to enhance the process improvement journey.

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About Dave Smith

Dave, has over 20 years in training and consulting, having taught Scrum he continues to be active in the agile community, mentoring and helping others who are joining the agile community.

You can link with Dave Smith on LinkedIn.

Omar Perez: Learning to be a coach for Scrum teams, and Agile organizations

As Scrum Masters, we operate at different levels. From the individual, to the team, to the organizational level and others! That means, Scrum Masters must be able to switch between the different levels, and keep different goals and methods in mind. In this episode, we discuss how we can acknowledge, and prepare for the different demands put on us. We discuss coaching, non-directive coaching, journaling as a technique to sharpen our senses, and the need to have a sparring partner, or even a coach to help us be more aware and deliberate in our work.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The 6 Thinking Hats retrospective

The 6 thinking hats by De Bono, is a book that explains that we have different ways to look at work, and problems we face. The 6 thinking hats retrospective helps us take advantage of the different types of thinking that we have in the team, and focus the team on what they can influence, rather than trying to solve all kinds of problems, many of which are outside the influence of the team.

About Omar Perez

Omar is an Agile Coach from Barcelona who currently supports distributed teams that build data products to enable their company to be genuinely data-driven. He has had many previous lives as a design thinker, market analyst, communication consultant, project manager and startup founder. He aspires to become a “peopleware” expert.

You can link with Omar Perez on LinkedIn.