Raj Solanki Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Raj Solanki: The PO that took responsibility for the success of the product

Taking responsibility for the success of the product is one of the success characteristics we discuss in this episode, where we also explore what happens the PO thinks they can still code through the User Stories they write!

The Great Product Owner: The PO that took responsibility for the success of the product

Raj introduces a PO that wanted to understand the product and do the research. The PO worked to thoroughly understand the stories, and customer needs before putting the stories in front of the team. Another great PO characteristic was the PO’s ability to be patient, and explain the same ideas as many times as necessary.

The Bad Product Owner: The pseudo-coder PO

This Product Owner missed important meetings, even if they were invited and told they were required. To top it off, this was a PO that wrote the User Stories as if they were pseudo-code. All of this led to the team knowing very little about “why” certain stories were being implemented.

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About Raj Solanki

Raj is a Manager, Technical program manager as well as Scrum master. He focuses on helping the teams learn about Agile, overcoming obstacles, foster a collaborative community, and more.

He constantly reads about agile and seeks out coaches when he feels stuck. He seeks constant feedback and helps teams be transparent and build trust.

You can link with Raj Solanki on LinkedIn and connect with Raj Solanki on Twitter.

Raj Solanki: What is Scrum team success, and how it relates to the Scrum Master’s success

Raj’s definition of success starts with the team. He defines what success looks like for the team, and how he focuses on helping teams reach that success. In this episode, we also discuss how team-velocity is a factor of many variables, not only the work that team does.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The standard “what went well” format with a twist

Raj starts by describing the “What went well/not so well” format and adds a twist, a set of practices to help the team get started with the discussion and ends with an appreciation exercise. Listen in, to learn how Raj improves on the standard retrospective format.

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About Raj Solanki

Raj is a Manager, Technical program manager as well as Scrum master. He focuses on helping the teams learn about Agile, overcoming obstacles, foster a collaborative community, and more.

He constantly reads about agile and seeks out coaches when he feels stuck. He seeks constant feedback and helps teams be transparent and build trust.

You can link with Raj Solanki on LinkedIn and connect with Raj Solanki on Twitter.

Raj Solanki: Helping a team lose the training wheels, and ride the Scrum bike like a pro!

As Raj started working with a team that had previously used a waterfall process, he realized that the team was not aware that Agile changes some fundamental aspects of how work gets done. An Agile team does not need to depend on “someone else” to understand, and define the product for them (Analysis and Requirements), the team itself (together with the PO) will do that work. This presented some challenges for Agile adoption, and Raj shares how he helped this team transition from waterfall to Scrum!

About Raj Solanki

Raj is a Manager, Technical program manager as well as Scrum master. He focuses on helping the teams learn about Agile, overcoming obstacles, foster a collaborative community, and more.

He constantly reads about agile and seeks out coaches when he feels stuck. He seeks constant feedback and helps teams be transparent and build trust.

You can link with Raj Solanki on LinkedIn and connect with Raj Solanki on Twitter.

Raj Solanki: Helping a skeptic team adopt Scrum

Raj was working with a team, where some people were just not ready to accept and adopt Agile. Some of the team members did not attend the ceremonies on a regular basis, and presented all kinds of “excuses”. He heard: “it slows down my productivity”, “I have other meetings” and many more. When some team members don’t buy in to the Scrum framework, that starts spreading and creating questions and doubts in those that were previously on board. In this episode, we discuss how to tackle this kind of resistance to Scrum adoption, and Raj shares how he was able to turn this story around, and help the team succeed in their adoption of Scrum.

Featured Book of the Week: Essential Scrum by Kenneth S. Rubin

In Essential Scrum by Kenneth S. Rubin, Raj found a simple and welcoming description of Scrum for newcomers. The book goes through what is scrum and is easy to understand even if you don’t have a long background in Agile.

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 Raj Solanki

Raj is a Manager, Technical program manager as well as Scrum master. He focuses on helping the teams learn about Agile, overcoming obstacles, foster a collaborative community, and more.

He constantly reads about agile and seeks out coaches when he feels stuck. He seeks constant feedback and helps teams be transparent and build trust.

You can link with Raj Solanki on LinkedIn and connect with Raj Solanki on Twitter.

Raj Solanki: Helping teams adopt Agile, the mindset transformation journey

Raj started his tech career as a test engineer, a role where – as he describes – you work with many different people. This turned out to be a good learning for his future role as a Scrum Master. As he puts it, “Scrum Master is a leadership role”, which is something we’ve also shared and discussed here on the podcast website. In this episode, we talk about how Scrum Masters must focus on the team’s mindset, and ability to understand and adopt Agile and Scrum. Raj shares his tips, and lessons learned about the transformation journey that every team goes through.

About Raj Solanki

Raj is a Manager, Technical program manager as well as Scrum master. He focuses on helping the teams learn about Agile, overcoming obstacles, foster a collaborative community, and more.

He constantly reads about agile and seeks out coaches when he feels stuck. He seeks constant feedback and helps teams be transparent and build trust.

You can link with Raj Solanki on LinkedIn and connect with Raj Solanki on Twitter.