team dynamics Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Ruta Hardikar: Key Agile team behaviors that show how successful you are as a Scrum Master

Ruta shares some of the behaviors she wants to see in a team, to assess her own success as a Scrum Master. Behind the behaviors listed, we find the need to observe ownership and commitment on the part of the team. Listen in, to hear the list of behaviors, and how you can evaluate those for your team.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The 4L’s with some customizations to help the team have fun in the retrospective!

Ruta’s suggestion for the week is the 4 L’s retrospective, with some customizations that help the team get into the mood of the Agile Retrospective, and add some fun to the retrospective.

In this segment, we refer to the interview with Robbie Ross and the concept of Relentless Improvement.

Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches – Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!

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: 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

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world’s largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

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.

Pedro Silva: Learning to grow trust within an Agile team

When Pedro joined this team, he noticed that the team members did not try to include a new team member in their conversation. Although sometimes this pattern is subtle, in this team it was an obvious lack of inclusivity in the team’s approach to communication: they did not use a language that the new team member would understand! Listen in to hear the critical lessons Pedro learned about inclusivity in Agile teams!

Featured Book of the Week: The Speed Of Trust by Stephen Covey

In The Speed Of Trust by Stephen Covey, Pedro found a clear manual on how to focus on building trust within an Agile team, and with stakeholders. He shares one of the key lessons, that trust has many different aspects that we don’t often consider. Listen in to learn how trust can change depending on the relationship and the context.

About Pedro Silva

Pedro considers himself a Scrum Master supporting software development teams while keeping his focus on their growth towards the efficient delivery of value, while having a blast.

You can link with Pedro Silva on LinkedIn.

Shaun Bradshaw: The technique that quickly moves a Scrum team from mini-waterfall, to true Scrum

Shaun was working with a team that was consistently failing to meet their Sprint commitments. At first glance, the team was doing everything right, the Product Owner was present and supportive. After a few failed attempts, Shaun decided to “visualize” how the team worked, by asking them to plan out a Sprint on the board. Through this technique, Shaun finally realized that the team was working as if they used Waterfall, even if they were just planning the Sprint. That insight changed the team, and changed Shaun’s approach to coaching that team! Listen in to learn how!

Featured Book of the Week: Predictably irrational by Dan Ariely

In Predictably irrational by Dan Ariely, Shaun found an explanation for some of the confusing observations he had made as a Scrum Master. It helped him understand that, even if some behaviors appear irrational, they can be predictable once we have the right models in mind.

About Shaun Bradshaw

Shaun is a founder and principal of Zenergy Technologies, a modern software delivery solutions firm that specializes in Agile, DevOps, Quality, and Automation. Shaun’s background in QA, testing, and metrics has played an important role in his work as an Agile consultant since he joined the community in 2008.

You can link with Shaun Bradshaw on LinkedIn and connect with Shaun Bradshaw on Twitter. You can also follow Shaun Bradshaw’s blog at the Zenergy Technologies site.

Robbie Ross: Agile collaboration gone wrong, even with good intentions by the Scrum Master

Robbie was new to the Scrum Master role at this time. As many of us do, he was focusing on the stakeholders, and what they were asking from him, and the team. When an urgent situation came up, he accepted it immediately and canceled all the Sprint ceremonies, to let the team focus on the urgent request that had come up. Quickly, the team went in their own different ways, and Robbie noticed that some team members were working on similar topics, without knowing of each other’s work. But there was more to come! Listen in, to learn what anti-patterns are likely to emerge when the team stops with the Scrum ceremonies, and focuses on their own individual work.

About Robbie Ross

Robbie is an Agile Practice Manager at Jumar Technology with a passion for working with and empowering teams to foster an Agile environment at scale. He’s also a Certified Scrum Master, Kanban practitioner and Agile community member helping teams release their genuine potential to deliver value. Quite a career shift since completing a Sports Science degree at University.

You can link with Robbie Ross on LinkedIn and connect with Robbie Ross on Twitter.