teams that self-destruct Archives - Page 59 of 61

Susan McIntosh on how the best people can destroy a team

Sometimes we don’t need a super-smart, get things done person. Sometimes we just need a person in the team that can help the team grow. But what happens when we don’t have that kind of person? How do we handle those super smart people that want to direct the whole team? Listen in to learn what happened in Susan’s story, and what she learned from those events.

Featured book: Jurgen Appelo’s How to Change the World

Jurgen Appelo’s How to Change the World is featured this week. It explains how we can talk about in change in practice. Hands-on. It also describes how you can track the change in practice.

About Susan McIntosh

Susan McIntosh is an agile coach and scrum master, especially interested in training and agile transformations – both fast and slow. She finds analogies to improving workplace culture in her experience in theater, teaching, cooking, and parenting. Susan is an active participant in the agile community in Denver, Colorado.

You can link with Susan McIntosh on LinkedIn and connect with Susan McIntosh on Twitter.

Sebastian Hitzler on rushing into problems

Being in a rush is a common anti-pattern in software development. When deadlines are tight, and there’s a lot to do people enter the “rush” mode. They start taking short-cuts, drop communication, and complain about meetings. In this episode we discuss the anti-patterns coming from being a hurry and what to do about them.

Featured Book

This week we talk about the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. In the book Kahneman explains why we are reliably over-optimistic, and gives some amazing concrete examples to prove that point.

About Sebastian Hitzler

Sebastian works as a dedicated Scrum Master for two delivery teams at Fidor Solutions in Munich. The team members are from 10 different countries and spread into 3 different locations in Germany, Spain and Ukraine. Fidor enables clients to become digital banks based on their ecosystem. Sebastian also works with the wider organisation to help them transform with lean and agile.

You can link with Sebastian Hitzler on LinkedIn and connect with Sebastian Hitzler on XING.

Barry Overeem from team captain to servant leader

Scrum Masters are typically people committed to the success of the teams they work with. That’s great, but it can lead to problems. It may lead, for example, to the teams not making decisions on their own! In this episode, we discuss anti-patterns that develop in teams where the Scrum Masters act more like a team captain than a servant leader. Most importantly, we discuss what we need to do to transition from captain to servant leader.

In this episode, we talk about Scrum, a Pocket Guide by Gunther Verheyen, a previous guest on the podcast. We also talk about Scrum Mastery: From Good To Great Servant-Leadership by Geoff Watts.

The books of the week

About Barry Overeem

Barry, the learning facilitator as he calls his blog, considers himself a 100% Scrum Master

. It’s such a comprehensive and interesting role that he gives it his full focus and keeps learning and discovering new aspects every day!

You can link with Barry Overeem on LinkedIn and connect with Barry Overeem on Twitter.

You can also check the many resources that Barry Overeem shares on his website!

Joe Anderson on how to identify limiting beliefs in the teams we support

The teams we work with are victims of their own limiting beliefs. They bump against the prejudices, and the lack of belief they have and need to break through before they can improve how they work. What do those “limiting beliefs” look like? Which limiting beliefs have you identified in your teams? Listen in and join the conversation on twitter! Mention @scrumpodcast and let’s keep identifying those limiting beliefs!

In this episode we refer to Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins as one of the books Scrum Masters should have in their book-shelf!

Book of the week

About Joe Anderson

Joe is a Scrum Master at a small travel technology company with a passion for bringing out the best in people and building deep relationships. He works hard to foster an environment of safety, fun and learning with a focus on relentless improvement.

You can link with Joe Anderson on LinkedIn and connect with Joe Anderson on Twitter.

Arif Bobat on the indigestion anti-pattern teams suffer from

In this story that Arif shares with us, he explains how you can focus the team because if you don’t the teams might succumb to indigestion: wanting to do too much. But how can you help the teams escape that anti-pattern? Listen in as Arif describes the steps he took to help the team getting out of that indigestion anti-pattern. As we discuss the anti-pattern we refer to the 3C’s for User Stories, a way to look at User Stories that drives collaboration.

In this week’s book of the week, we get a BONUS! Arif recommends Drive! By Dan Pink and Story Mapping by Jeff Patton. Check out why!

Books of the week

About Arif Bobat

Arif is an experienced Scrum Master with a passion for enabling teams to achieve their potential, Arif loves challenging situations. In the last 5 years, he has been made redundant twice and fired twice. He is not afraid of speaking up when he sees anti-patterns and/or a lack of willingness to change behaviors.

You can link with Arif Bobat on LinkedIn and connect with Arif Bobat on Twitter.