Natalie Cervantes Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Natalie Cervantes on how to work with an absent Product Owner

The role of the Product Owner is critical for the success of a Scrum team. However, that’s also one of the roles that is the most affected by company policies and culture. Product Owners are not usually shielded from management, and in fact sometimes they are management. In this episode we talk about a Product Owner that was also the CEO of the company. What can we do when the Product Owner is so hard to reach? Listen to what Natalie has learned about engaging absent Product Owners.

About Natalie Cervantes

Natalie is a Certified Scrum Master and Agile Coach with over 12 years experience working with both veteran and new agile teams. Her experience spans everything from mobile and embedded systems to enterprise scale website projects with a client base that includes Microsoft, Amazon, Coca-Cola and many others.

You can link with Natalie Cervantes on LinkedIn.

Natalie Cervantes on working with distributed teams

Looking at the outcomes from previous retrospectives, and what has been achieved so far based on those retrospectives, is a good way to assess our impact on the way the team works. This is only one of the methods Natalie uses to assess her success as a Scrum Masters. In this episode we also review some tools Natalie has learned to use in a distributed team environment.

Featured Retrospective format of the week: GOOD / IMPROVE / LOOK BACK

This week we look at a retrospective format that helps us re-evaluate what we achieved from previous retrospectives. Natalie asks us to focus on the positive (what works), what we want to do better (what to improve) and also to look at previous retrospectives to review the achievements to far.

About Natalie Cervantes

You can link with Natalie Cervantes on LinkedIn.

Natalie Cervantes on changing from a Project Management culture to an Agile culture

In many organizations Project Management is the defining paradigm for developing and delivering products to the market. How do we bring Agile to such organizations? Natalie shares with us a story of such a transition. We discuss concrete ways to bring Agile practices to that organization without overwhelming everybody, and explore ways to make that changes sustainable over time.

About Natalie Cervantes

You can link with Natalie Cervantes on LinkedIn.

Natalie Cervantes on the perils of the silo culture

Silos are very useful if you want to store cereals for a long time. However, in knowledge work organizations, silos do more harm than good. In this episode we explore how the silo culture can infect a team and lead to serious problems. Including lack of collaboration, having some people overloaded, while others are kept waiting, etc. We also discuss the impact silos have on team performance. How many different silos do you have on your team? Listen in to learn about the many silos that can develop in a single team!

Featured book of the week: NoEstimates, How to measure project progress without estimates

This week we feature the book: NoEstimates, How to measure project progress without estimates. A book that describes how you can help forecast completion dates for Agile projects even if the team has not estimated the size of all the stories in the backlog.

About Natalie Cervantes

You can link with Natalie Cervantes on LinkedIn.

Natalie Cervantes on the impossible task of predicting how long things will take

In a high stakes project, like the one Natalie describes, it is tempting to start focusing on the schedule from the start and spend time trying to predict how long things will take. But is that the best us of our time and talents as Scrum Masters? Listen in to learn what Natalie learned about making projects a success that require very little focus on duration or effort estimation.
In this episode we discuss the book NoEstimates, How to measure project progress without estimates.

About Natalie Cervantes

You can link with Natalie Cervantes on LinkedIn.