ShuHaRi Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Johannes Lindman: Introducing Mob Programming, and how to overcome resistance to new ways of working in Agile teams

In this episode, Johannes talks about how he introduced mob programming to his teams as a new way of working and sharing competencies. One of the teams team tried it for a few minutes and gave up. Surprisingly, another team started at 9am and continued throughout the day, and eventually noted it was too draining. Johannes suggests limiting the time for mob programming and being adaptable in trying different tools. He also warns against falling in love with one tool and introduces the concepts of Shu-Ha-Ri and NoEstimates. Johannes emphasizes the importance of measuring progress and visualizing metrics to ensure that teams are driving towards their goals. Ultimately, Johannes achieved his goals with this new way of working, even with some resistant individuals who initially said “no” to the idea.

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About Johannes Lindman

Despite many years of experience Johannes still learns new things every day in order to stay relevant. This aligns with his curiosity on life and people.

You can link with Johannes Lindman on LinkedIn.

Helen Garcia: Helping Scrum teams improve, but not too fast!

Teams go through their own learning journey. During that process, they experience different learning perspectives, from following the rules to going beyond the rules of Scrum (the Shu-Ha-Ri model). However, we must help them reflect on when they are ready to go beyond the “rules of the game”. We discuss how we can best help our teams go through the learning journey at their own pace, without jumping over important steps!

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Strengths and Weaknesses for Remote teams

The format that Helen shares with us is tailored for remote teams and focuses on helping all team members share their perspectives on the team and its progress. Helen also shares a cool tip on how to keep the engagement throughout the retrospective.

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About Helen Garcia

Helen’s been in projects for over 10 years, everything from construction to pharma to more recently gaming. Not only does she want to bring an Agile mindset to organizations that are ready for change but she also strongly believes that Agile can be just as effective at home. Bringing value sooner, safer and happier thanks to Jon Smart it’s a quote Helen take most places!

You can link with Helen Garcia on LinkedIn and connect with Helen Garcia on Twitter.

You can also visit Helen Garcia’s website to learn more about her work.

Charles Rodriguez: Creating a learning model for Scrum Master success

Charles provides a clear vision for what success is for a Scrum Master, and we discuss what are some of the growth models that help us improve our performance.

In this episode, we refer to the book Turn The Ship Around! by David Marquet, to the learning model based on Shu-Ha-Ri, and a movie, The Karate Kid, which illustrates a learning journey from the very early moments to a moment of mastery.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Sailboat Retrospective

Metaphor retrospectives help teams enter a mood of reflection by creating a scene where the team projects their feelings and thoughts. In the sailboat retrospective, the metaphor helps the team talk about what is going on at that time, but also to plan for the future and draw a map to achieve their goals. Watch this video for a hands-on example of the sailboat retrospective.

About Charles Rodriguez

Charles has been working in software development for 16+ years with roles ranging from a database developer to manager to agile coach all in an effort to ‘try to make things better’ for future generations joining the IT industry.

You can link with Charles Rodriguez on LinkedIn and connect with Charles Rodriguez on Twitter.

Mark Cruth: 2 aspects to assess Scrum Master success

During our journey as Scrum Masters we often struggle with the meaning of success. Mark’s approach hinges on two aspects: eliminating the need for the role, and connecting with the “why”. In this episode we discuss how those two aspects shape Mark’s own self-evaluation and the role he takes on when working with teams.

In this episode we talk about the Energize your Retrospectives deck that Mark prepared for Agile Midwest, and we discuss the Shu-Ha-Ri model of learning.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Bubble-up format

Just like in football or basketball tournaments we have the “brackets”, we can use the same metaphor to bubble-up the main issues the teams want to solve during the retrospectives. Mark describes how he uses this format, and why it may be important for your team.

About Mark Cruth

Mark has been playing in the Agile space since 2009, helping multiple organizations move towards a more Agile perspective on work across several industries, including manufacturing, eCommerce, and FinTech. Today Mark works as an Agile Coach for Quicken Loans, as well as operates his own Consulting company called Teal Mavericks.

You can link with Mark Cruth on LinkedIn and connect with Mark Cruth on Twitter.

Denis Salnikov on how to evaluate team progress in their Agile journey

As Scrum Masters, our attention is very much focused on the evolution of the team, and how we can support their development. Using a framework like Shu-Ha-Ri can help us verbalize that evolution and track the progress of the team over time. As we progress in the mastery journey with the team, there are practices and approaches we can take to evaluate the team’s progress and we discuss some of those in this episode.

In this episode we refer to the book #NoEstimates: How to measure project progress without estimation by Vasco Duarte.

Featured Retrospective Format of the Week: The Starfish Retrospective

In the Starfish Retrospective we discuss not only what is good, bad or needs to change, but we talk also about other categories. In his approach to the Starfish Retrospective, Denis also asks: what do we want to see more of (continue and do more), or what we want to see less of (continue, but do less of it).

Denis also discusses the “Weather Report” check-in exercise to energize the team and get them in the flow of the retrospective.

About Denis Salnikov

Agile Coach and Scrum Master passionate about creating and fostering happy workplaces and safe environments. Denis calls himself an Agile Mythbuster.

You can link with Denis Salnikov on LinkedIn and connect with Denis Salnikov on Twitter or follow his blog on Medium.