Pascal Clarkson Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Pascal Clarkson: Helping Product Owners master 2 important aspects of the role

The relationship the PO has with stakeholders is key in their ability to say “no” and stay true to the Vision of the product. In this episode, we also discuss how sometimes, standing back and letting the team lead is the wrong thing to do for a PO!

The Great Product Owner: Helping Product Owners master 2 important aspects of the role

This PO was on top of their game when it came to know the product and their customers. The PO was able to say “no” to stakeholders and was clear on the Vision for the product. And most importantly, the PO was very deliberate at checking if they had made the right decision. In this segment, we talk about the “Create a Compelling Product Vision” FREE e-course that helps Scrum Masters work with PO’s and stakeholders to define a clear Vision for the product.

The Bad Product Owner: When stepping back as a PO is the wrong thing to do

Product Owners do well when they stand back and let the team step up and own the execution of the User Stories. However, sometimes the PO may judge the team to be more autonomous than they really are. In this segment, we talk about how we can assess if the team is ready to work with less PO guidance (which is needed, for example, when scaling up the PO role).

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 Pascal Clarkson

Pascal has a bachelor degree in computer science. After years of working as a software engineer and having 8+ years of practical experience with the Scrum Framework, he has shifted his attention towards group facilitation. He uses Systemic Modelling and other methods to support groups in their discovery of how they can be the best version of themselves.

You can link with Pascal Clarkson on LinkedIn and connect with Pascal Clarkson on Twitter.

You can also follow Pascal’s writings on Artocraft.nl.

Pascal Clarkson: Helping teams own, and measure their own success

In Pascal’s perspective, Scrum Masters can be successful if they help the teams be comfortable with change, and feel accountable for their delivery. In order to get there, we must help teams know what success means (they need to be part of defining it) and measure it (help them do it!) In this segment, we also refer to the “what could go wrong” retrospective exercise.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Questions that generate conversations

In this segment, we talk about a simple concept: “helping teams have a conversation”. Pascal shares some of the tips and questions he uses when helping teams get started with the improvement conversation we hope to trigger in every retrospective.

Pascal also shares a critical tip on how to handle the situation when the team does not go along with your plan in the retrospective. Don’t miss it!

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 Pascal Clarkson

You can link with Pascal Clarkson on LinkedIn and connect with Pascal Clarkson on Twitter.

You can also follow Pascal’s writings on Artocraft.nl.

Pascal Clarkson: Helping teams self-select in a “team market” for Agile organizations

This company had been using Agile for a while, but now they wanted to introduce the concept of squads, chapters and guilds. This required that the teams be reorganized as this model requires teams to be cross-functional. Pascal helped the organization set up a “team market”. When Pascal started participating in this team market he started realizing that everyone had a different reaction to that event. In this episode, we talk about how change is really a personal process, and that we need to take into account individual experiences and expectations. We also refer to the self-selection workshop process.

About Pascal Clarkson

You can link with Pascal Clarkson on LinkedIn and connect with Pascal Clarkson on Twitter.

You can also follow Pascal’s writings on Artocraft.nl.

Pascal Clarkson: Helping build diversity of thought in a Scrum team

Pascal was working with a team that had a team member that was particularly good at pointing out problems. She had worked at that company for a long time and had developed a reputation for “being difficult”, which led to the other team members judging this one team member’s actions, and they ended up dismissing her actions. In this episode, we hear about how Pascal approached this situation and modeled curiosity to help other team members understand why she was pointing out problems.

Featured Book of the Week: From Contempt to Curiosity: Creating the Conditions for Groups to Collaborate Using Clean Language and Systemic Modelling by Caitlin Walker

In Contempt to Curiosity by Caitlin Walker, Pascal learned about Systemic Modeling and Clean Language, which gave him a set of models to do group facilitation. It all starts with getting people to be curious about each other.

How can Angela (the Agile Coach) quickly build healthy relationships with the teams she’s supposed to help? What were the steps she followed to help the Breeze App team fight off the competition? Find out how Angela helped Naomi and the team go from “behind” to being ahead of Intuition Bank, by focusing on the people! Download the first 4 chapters of the BOOK for FREE while it is in Beta!

About Pascal Clarkson

You can link with Pascal Clarkson on LinkedIn and connect with Pascal Clarkson on Twitter.

You can also follow Pascal’s writings on Artocraft.nl.

Pascal Clarkson: What happens when we don’t set a “contract” with the teams we work with?

Pascal was working with a group of teams and Scrum Masters. In his attempt to help, he gave feedback to the Scrum Masters he was working with, but then a surprise hit. He was asked: “what are you doing here?” Pascal had made a common mistake, he had assumed everyone knew why he was brought in! In this episode, we discuss why it is important to set the stage when we start working with teams. We also refer to the idea of Systemic Modeling.

About Pascal Clarkson

You can link with Pascal Clarkson on LinkedIn and connect with Pascal Clarkson on Twitter.

You can also follow Pascal’s writings on Artocraft.nl.