psychological safety Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Nousheen Manzoor: Reflecting on success for a Scrum Master, without getting stuck on velocity as a metric

Velocity can be a tempting metric for Scrum Masters to follow, but that’s no measure of success as Nousheen reminds us. In this segment, we talk about how important it is to create an environment where the team itself can work on improving their performance, and how to include 3rd party (e.g. a client) feedback in your own assessment as a Scrum Master.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The WADE Matrix, a great retrospective for the end of a tough project

In this segment, we talk about the WADE Matrix retrospective format, which can be used as an in depth reflection and a closure technique for a project that just ended. In this segment, we also talk about some techniques you can use to help a team create a lot of ideas in a retrospective, even if they are usually silent.

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About Nousheen Manzoor

Nousheen believes that the future of leadership is kindness and empathy, and the same goes for any role which involves individuals and teams, like the Scrum Master role!

You can link with Nousheen Manzoor on LinkedIn.

Ruta Hardikar: Building great Scrum teams, the how to!

As part of working with teams, we must learn to grow teams, to make them feel as a group that can perform and overcome the challenges they will inevitably face. In this segment, we talk about a team Ruta was working with, and how she helped them create a safe space to share and talk about “the hard stuff”, and how we can build in team building into the Scrum ceremonies with the goal of building a great team.

In this segment, we talk about the Tuckman model of group development, and the book The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Lencioni.

Featured Book of the Week: Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry

In Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry, Ruta found different aspects we need to develop as Scrum Masters. Scrum Masters work in a people-oriented job, therefore we need to actively study and learn more about people’s defining characteristics. The book helped Ruta learn to manage, and benefit from emotions, rather than be afraid of them.

In this segment, we also talk about Start with Why by Simon Sinek.

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 Ruta Hardikar

Ruta has over 8 years experience with Agile, and has taken the roles of Agile Coach, Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer (RTE in SAFe), working with GM Financial.

You can link with Ruta Hardikar on LinkedIn.

Ruta Hardikar: Learning to take into account people’s personalities when implementing Scrum in an Agile team

Ruta started working with a new team that had recently adopted Agile. Many of the practices and processes were new to the team, but also to Ruta as the Scrum Master. As Ruta started to push for some changes, she noticed that the Product Owner and Business Analyst on the team wanted to control the Sprint Reviews very carefully, including who was invited to see the team’s deliverables. When Ruta started to ask about why they wanted to control the Sprint Reviews so carefully, she discovered something that helped her understand the why, but also the need to consider people’s personalities when implementing Scrum.

In this episode, we refer to the book The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday.

About Ruta Hardikar

Ruta has over 8 years experience with Agile, and has taken the roles of Agile Coach, Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer (RTE in SAFe), working with GM Financial.

You can link with Ruta Hardikar on LinkedIn.

BONUS: Psychological safety for teams, an interview with Stephan Wiedner

Psychological Safety is a commonly discussed topic in Agile circles. We’re frequently reminded how important it is for team performance. But how do we, as Scrum Masters, help our teams achieve that state, where they are free to express their thoughts on the challenges they face as a team without the fear of being overruled, ridiculed, or chastised for having a non-standard opinion?

In this episode, we explore Psychological Safety with Stephan Wiedner, and discuss what we can do to help create an environment where each individual can excel and help the team perform.

A personal lesson learned about the critical importance of Psychological Safety

Continue reading BONUS: Psychological safety for teams, an interview with Stephan Wiedner

Julie Wyman: Involving the Scrum team in defining our success as Scrum Masters

Julie invites us to ask what success looks like for the teams we work with. Based on that, and a few other questions that Julie suggests, we can assess our impact, as well as invite the teams themselves into the reflection about success.

In this segment, we talk about Psychological Safety, a topic we have also covered in previous episodes.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Mixing up formats to focus on the right question for the team

Julie likes to mix up several formats as a way to try and tap into what’s critical for the teams at that time. We also talk about bringing up the team working agreements regularly, to ensure that the team sticks to the agreements they have made.

In this segment, we refer to the Agile Retrospectives book and a tool Julie calls The Working Agreement Report Card, where the team scores themselves on how well they follow the agreements they had defined for themselves.

About Julie Wyman

Julie Wyman has been working with Agile teams for over a decade and is continuously learning with and from them. She’s based just outside Washington, D.C., but has had the pleasure of supporting teams distributed across the globe and even experienced her own Agile takeaways all the way in Antarctica.

You can link with Julie Wyman on LinkedIn.