conversation Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Armin Mandara: Thriving Teams and Joyful Work, Armin’s Vision of Scrum Master Success

Armin reflects on the essence of success for Scrum Masters, emphasizing the delivery of high-performing teams and consistent, valuable software. He emphasizes the importance of joy and camaraderie within the team, highlighting laughter and open communication as key indicators. Armin stresses the value of fun in facilitating difficult conversations. Success, in his view, also hinges on the team’s ability to openly discuss problems.

In this episode, wer refer to the episode about a team that got into trouble: “When Harmony Hinders Progress, Learning to Trigger Difficult Conversations”. [LINK]

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Fostering Open Conversations with Simple Retrospective Techniques and Exercises

Armin likes to use the framework by Derby and Larsen (introduced in the Agile Retrospectives book). He begins with a warm-up exercise to set the stage and assess the mood of the team. For data gathering on what’s going well and what needs improvement he might run the “glad/sad/mad” exercise. Armin values open conversation for generating insights and emphasizes clear instructions for each phase. To conclude, he incorporates a lively check-out exercise, ensuring a fun and engaging close to the retrospective session. This approach enhances team reflection and facilitates meaningful discussions for continuous improvement.

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About Armin Mandara

Armin is the Head of Scrum Masters at IBM iX, a leading digital agency. With a career spanning seven years as a Scrum Master, Armin has partnered with numerous teams to successfully deliver top-notch digital products. His passion lies in enabling agile teams to achieve their goals and unleash their true potential.

You can link with Armin Mandara on LinkedIn.

Armin Mandara: When Harmony Hinders Progress, Learning to Trigger Difficult Conversations

Armin shares his experience with one of his initial teams, responsible for QA and user acceptance. The team lacked cross-functionality and faced uneven work distribution. Communication about improvements was scarce, leading to stagnant progress. Some stakeholders provided no feedback, and the team maintained a facade of contentment. Armin observed a reluctance to engage in conflict and recognized the team’s collective unawareness of necessary improvements. Even if in one-on-one meetings, individuals were more candid, they did not raise the topics in a wider group. Armin advises addressing issues individually to gauge openness for discussion. The team’s absence of external pressure hindered growth, reflecting the challenge of balancing harmony with performance.

Featured Book of the Week: “Radical Honesty” by Brad Blanton

In this episode, Armin delves into his favorite book, “Radical Honesty” by Brad Blanton. He highlights how the book goes beyond conventional honesty, emphasizing the importance of genuine self-connection. Armin asserts that this radical honesty is a crucial skill for Scrum Masters, enabling them to tap into their emotions effectively. The book prompts a re-evaluation of authenticity, urging individuals to be true to themselves on a deeper level.

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches – Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!

About Armin Mandara

You can link with Armin Mandara on LinkedIn.

Michael Schmidt: When Comfort Stagnates Progress For An Agile Team, The Problem Avoidance Anti-pattern

In this episode, Michael recounts his experience in a company where he went against his instincts due to comfort. The software development environment prioritized being busy over progress. Goal setting and sprint planning were undervalued, and negative behaviors like gossiping prevailed. Michael’s attempts to offer help were met with resistance, as the team downplayed any possible issues. This anti-pattern of avoiding talking about problems hindered growth. Through perseverance, Michael learned the importance of trusting his intuition and initiating small, positive changes to build trust and overcome the fear, or dislike to discuss obstacles and problems.

Featured Book Of The Week: Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great, by Diana Larsen and Esther Derby

In this episode, Michael shares his favorite Agile book, Esther Derby’s and Diana Larsen’s “Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great”. He emphasizes that every practice should have a purpose, instilling a profound sense of understanding. Michael highlights the true objective of retrospectives – not just for change, but for personal reflection. Establishing a routine for reflection minimizes change risks, providing a safe space for experimentation and learning from new approaches. The book’s insights resonate with Michael, underlining the importance of intentionality in Agile practices.

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

About Michael Schmidt

Michael a Berlin-based Agile Coach for teams, roles and organisations around software based product development. Michael invented “the taskboard” on his own, which ignited his working agile by conviction some 13 years ago.

You can link with Michael Schmidt on LinkedIn and connect with Michael Schmidt on Twitter.

Zach Stone: Strategies for Healing a Disrupted Team-Product Owner Connection

The Great Product Owner: The Ideal Product Owner, Balancing Strategy, Collaboration, and Care

In this episode, Zach highlights an exceptional Product Owner (PO) who showcased a unique blend of tactical and strategic prowess. This PO’s deep care for the team was evident in their collaborative and engaging approach. They fostered open dialogue, valuing team input and seeing engineers as partners in solving problems. The PO’s commitment to understanding stakeholder requests in-depth allowed them to effectively shield the team. Their transformative and protective actions were a testament to their collaborative leadership style, making them a beloved and effective bridge between stakeholders and the engineering team.

The Bad Product Owner: Restoring Harmony, Strategies for Healing a Disrupted Team-PO Connection

In this episode, Zach reflects on a challenging experience with a struggling Product Owner (PO). The PO’s performance was hindered by environmental factors and burnout, leading to breakdowns in team collaboration and psychological safety. A lack of connection with the team and berating behavior adversely affected team morale and relationships. The adversarial atmosphere hindered healthy conflict resolution and led to self-sabotage. Zach shares valuable tips for improving such situations, emphasizing the importance of gauging safety for conversations, individual validation, and creating a secure space for difficult discussions. He underscores the potential for growth through acknowledging mistakes, highlighting that the PO eventually transformed into a sought-after collaborator through positive change.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

Are you having trouble helping the team work well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.

About Zach Stone

Zach has worked as a process facilitator for over 17 years, as a specialist in behavioral science. He co-founded a firm that uses techniques to rebuild war zones for organizational dynamics. He has been an agilist for the past 7 years and was recently a speaker at the Global Scrum Conference. He lives in Santa Fe with his Wife and spends his time exploring canyons and trails.

You can link with Zach Stone on LinkedIn.

Zach Stone: Agile Beyond Tech, Facilitating Change Amid Strong Emotional Turmoil

In this episode, Zach discusses his experience initiating change within a 10,000-employee mass transit organization plagued by violence towards its staff. Initially met with skepticism, the consulting team employed active listening and dialogue facilitation, prioritizing fair conversation. The process involved uncovering needs, contextual understanding, and addressing assaults on employees. Frustration was initially high, but they introduced motivational interviewing, emphasizing that change is difficult and often involves conflict. They posed the question, “Does the pain of staying the same outweigh the pain of changing?” Acknowledging normal feelings like fear and anger, the team encouraged acknowledging resistance, highlighting the importance of being heard and seen throughout the challenging change journey.

Want to Improve Your Change Management Results? Discover the Lean Change Management Approach Today!

As Scrum Master we work with change continuously! Do you have your own change framework that provides the guidance, and queues you need when working with change? The Lean Change Management framework is a fully defined, lean-startup inspired change framework that can be used as the backbone of any change process! You can buy Lean Change Management the book at Amazon. Also available in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese.

About Zach Stone

You can link with Zach Stone on LinkedIn.