Tag: Richard Kasperowski

BONUS: Richard Kasperowski on on high-performance teams and The Core Protocols

In this episode, we explore The Core Protocols, a set of ideas developed by Jim and Michele McCarthy as they investigated the causes of performance improvement in teams.

During that research, Jim and Michele discovered that high-performance teams did a lot of things in a similar way, and we explore some of those patterns that successful teams take on.

The Core Protocols not only describe the patterns of successful teams, but also act as a “map” of the things we need to consider when helping our teams.

Read on for the detailed break down of the episode…

Continue reading BONUS: Richard Kasperowski on on high-performance teams and The Core Protocols

Richard Kasperowski on how to diagnose systemic problems by listening to the team

When looking at the systemic causes for problems we see in the team, we need to take into account many aspects: trust, metrics, conversations, relationships. Where to start? Richard suggests that we look at the Comparative Agile diagnostic and the Agile Fluency model and diagnostic. But of course, those are just starting points. A lot of the work needed to identify systemic problems is to listen to the conversations happening in the team, and with stakeholders. In this episode, Richard describes the process he uses to observe and analyze the conversations happening in the team, so that he can pinpoint systemic problems.

About Richard Kasperowski


Richard is a speaker, trainer, coach, and author focused on high-performance teams. Richard is the author of The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness. He leads clients in building great teams that get great results using the Core Protocols, Agile, and Open Space Technology. Richard created and teaches the class Agile Software Development at Harvard University. Learn more and subscribe to Richard’s newsletter at www.kasperowski.com.

You can link with Richard Kasperowski on LinkedIn and connect with Richard Kasperowski on Twitter.

Richard Kasperowski on how to “turn up the good” to help teams succeed

Richard’s perspective is that our Scrum Master success is directly linked to the success of our teams. That much we can all agree. But how do we get there? We discuss the perspective that we need, as Scrum Masters, to help our teams achieve a successful outcome.

In this episde we discuss the “Turn up the good”, an Agile Maxim by Woody Zuill (Check out this interview with Woody Zuill for the details) as the directive for constant change, and improvement in our work with teams.

One possible tool to use when helping teams focus on the good things, and how to improve them further, is the practice of distributing Kudo Cards from Management 3.0.

Retrospective format of the week: The Perfection Game

The Perfection Game is also one of the Core Protocols that help teams focus on improvements, rather than what is not working in their teams. The process is:

  1. Rate your team from 1 to 10, where 10 is best
  2. Say what you like about the team at the moment
  3. Describe what would be needed to get you to rate it as a 10

About Richard Kasperowski


Richard is a speaker, trainer, coach, and author focused on high-performance teams. Richard is the author of The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness. He leads clients in building great teams that get great results using the Core Protocols, Agile, and Open Space Technology. Richard created and teaches the class Agile Software Development at Harvard University. Learn more and subscribe to Richard’s newsletter at www.kasperowski.com.

You can link with Richard Kasperowski on LinkedIn and connect with Richard Kasperowski on Twitter.

Richard Kasperowski on how to introduce Scrum without using buzzwords

In many organizations there is a history with Agile. Some might have already tried a few waves of Agile and are affected by the past results. So how do we help teams that “don’t like” Agile? Or Scrum? In this episode we explore what it might look like to introduce Scrum without mentioning the technical terms we often associate with Scrum.

In this episode we refer to the Scrum Master Toolbox BONUS episode with Johanna Rothman.

About Richard Kasperowski


Richard is a speaker, trainer, coach, and author focused on high-performance teams. Richard is the author of The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness. He leads clients in building great teams that get great results using the Core Protocols, Agile, and Open Space Technology. Richard created and teaches the class Agile Software Development at Harvard University. Learn more and subscribe to Richard’s newsletter at www.kasperowski.com.

You can link with Richard Kasperowski on LinkedIn and connect with Richard Kasperowski on Twitter.

Richard Kasperowski on the anti-pattern of the 1-on-1 with the boss

The 1-on-1 meetings are a staple of management practice today. But are they really a great idea when we develop software as teams? In this episode we discuss a case that illustrates why the 1-on-1 meetings are not really a good idea when you want to solve intra-team conflict.

In this episode we talk about the Check-in Protocol, one of the Core Protocols to which we refer regularly in this series of interviews with Richard.

Featured book of the week

This week we explore Software for your Head, by Michele and Jim McCarthy, where they explore the aspects that contribute to successful software development teams. This is also the book that introduced the Core Protocols, which we refer to extensively in this series of interviews with Richard.

About Richard Kasperowski


Richard is a speaker, trainer, coach, and author focused on high-performance teams. Richard is the author of The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness. He leads clients in building great teams that get great results using the Core Protocols, Agile, and Open Space Technology. Richard created and teaches the class Agile Software Development at Harvard University. Learn more and subscribe to Richard’s newsletter at www.kasperowski.com.

You can link with Richard Kasperowski on LinkedIn and connect with Richard Kasperowski on Twitter.

Richard Kasperowski on why hiding information creates conflict

As team members, Scrum Masters, employers, managers we tend to keep a lot of information confidential. But can we really function well as  teams when the default behavior is to hide information? In this episode we explore the consequences of hiding information from the team or your colleagues.

In this episode we refer to the original eXtreme Programming Explained book, by Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres.

About Richard Kasperowski


Richard is a speaker, trainer, coach, and author focused on high-performance teams. Richard is the author of The Core Protocols: A Guide to Greatness. He leads clients in building great teams that get great results using the Core Protocols, Agile, and Open Space Technology. Richard created and teaches the class Agile Software Development at Harvard University. Learn more and subscribe to Richard’s newsletter at www.kasperowski.com.

You can link with Richard Kasperowski on LinkedIn and connect with Richard Kasperowski on Twitter.