people-centric Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Anna Mbengam: Prioritizing People And Empowering Teams in the Scrum Master’s Absence

In this episode, Anna emphasizes the critical role of a Scrum Master in ensuring team happiness. She prioritizes facilitating self-organization and meaningful interactions among team members. Anna’s success criteria extend beyond metrics to encompass factors like continuous improvement, agile mindset adoption, and positive team culture. She advocates for open dialogue and hosts regular one-on-one meetings to gauge individual team members’ progress and well-being. Anna also empowers the team to take ownership of the Scrum Master role in her absence, assessing the impact upon her return.

Featured Retrospective Format For The Week: Start/Stop/Continue, To Help Scrum Masters Listen Better

Anna likes the ‘Start/Stop/Continue’ retrospective format, as it fosters understanding and alignment within the team. Initially driven to implement sweeping changes, Anna learned the value of stepping back to enable teams to drive their own transformations. This format allows her to actively listen and discern the team’s focal points, resulting in more effective and meaningful retrospectives.

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About Anna Mbengam

Anna, an accomplished Scrum Master and SAFe Coach since 2018, thrives in diverse industries like Personal Investments, Healthcare, Food & beverage, and Banking. She’s authored 5 self-published guides aiding aspiring Scrum Masters, and her mentoring has transformed 200+ professionals into highly effective individuals for any organization.

You can link with Anna Mbengam on LinkedIn and read Anna’s books.

Danielle Braun: The Art of Active Listening, A Scrum Master’s Success Strategy

In this episode, Danielle emphasizes her approach as a Scrum Master to keenly listen and observe. Key points include assessing team autonomy, understanding and embodiment of Agile principles, delivery of results, customer satisfaction, and collaboration. Challenges arise when new team members struggle with Agile adaptation, prompting her to focus on aiding their transition. By prioritizing individual integration into Agile methodologies, Danielle fosters a cohesive and effective team dynamic. Her dedication to attentive listening and targeted support underscores the role of a Scrum Master in facilitating successful Agile implementation.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Amazon Retrospective

In this episode, Danielle describes the “Amazon Retrospective“, where the team approaches their last sprint like reviewing an Amazon product. They give titles, rate it with stars, and write replies from the seller’s perspective. This unique perspective enhances reflection and understanding of the sprint’s outcomes. However, Danielle cautions against using this approach during conflicts. Another technique, the “Marie Kondo Retrospective,” involves evaluating team processes by asking if they “spark joy.” Inspired by the decluttering philosophy, it aims to streamline and optimize processes. These inventive retrospective methods offer fresh ways to assess and improve team performance.

How can I, as a Scrum Master, supercharge my facilitation?

About Danielle Braun

Danielle is a Scrum Master and systemic coach. She strongly believes in the power of teams and that we carry the solution to all challenges within us.

You can link with Danielle Braun on LinkedIn

Emilia Breton-Lake on how to hire Scrum Masters with a Project Management background

A very common pattern in the software industry is to give the role of Scrum Master to Project Managers. This has many possible dangers, and Emilia knows that. That’s why she has developed a specific approach to hiring Scrum Masters, a people-centric approach.

About Emilia Breton-Lake

Emilia is a natural-born Agile thinker who managed to swim out of the PMI waterfall almost a decade ago. As the head of the PMO at a major non profit she is constantly looking for new ways to build better software and make the world a better place.
She has also been working on 2 major innovations, On going retrospectives, and #NoNumbers where they have eliminated sizing of stories. They still groom and plan, but don’t assign sizes to stories.
Emilia has worked hard to introduce Scrum and Agile to a non-profit that is very resistant to change.
You can link up with Emilia Breton-Lake on LinkedIn. Or follow Emilia Breton-Lake’s articles at the Scrum Alliance website.