The 4 L’s Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Toby Rao: Success Metrics for Scrum Masters Which You Can Observe In The Daily Meeting

In this episode, we discuss how to achieve true self-organization within the team. Toby’s perspective is that success is measured by several key factors, including active participation and engagement in daily standup meetings. Toby suggests we assess our success by observing if team members are paying attention, interacting with one another, and openly sharing solutions during these meetings.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The 4 L’s and generating learning opportunities

Toby’s favorite retrospective format is the “4 L’s retrospective,” which stands for Liked, Learned, Lacked, and Longed for. In this segment, he highlights its effectiveness in generating ideas, with a particular emphasis on the “learned” component. Toby stressed the importance of continuous learning for both himself and his team, making it a central theme in his retrospectives. The format encourages sharing valuable learning moments and contributes to the team’s growth and improvement.

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About Toby Rao

Toby is an ICF-credentialed Coach and accredited IC Agile trainer, and practices as a certified Executive coach. With a dynamic Agile journey beginning in 2007, he’s an active contributor to the global Agile community. He is based in Washington DC Metro, and speaks at Agile events worldwide and co-founded the A20 Agile conference. Toby also co-founded two thriving Agile meetups in the Washington DC area, with a combined 1300 members.

You can link with Toby Rao on LinkedIn and connect with Toby Rao on Twitter.

Sónia Won: From Guide to Coach, How to Nurture Team Autonomy as a Scrum Master

In this episode, Sónia discusses success as a Scrum Master, emphasizing the goal of becoming unnecessary for the team. Similar to parenting, the Scrum Master’s role evolves over the team’s life cycle. Initially, the Scrum Master guides the team, but over time, the stance changes to that of a mentor and coach. Sónia looks for signs of team autonomy, such as not depending on the Scrum Master for daily activities or resolving impediments. Adapting to the team’s growth is crucial for the Scrum Master’s effectiveness. The ultimate measure of success is when the team can function independently and no longer relies heavily on the Scrum Master’s interventions.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The 4 L’s retrospective

Sónia’s favorite retrospective format is the 4 L’s: Learned, Lacked, Liked, and Longed for. This format helps teams consider four important aspects often overlooked in retrospectives, especially the “learned” part. It encourages a more nuanced understanding of positive outcomes and avoids binary thinking. By reflecting on what they learned, lacked, liked, and longed for, the team gains valuable insights and can set mid-term development goals for continuous improvement.

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About Sónia Won

Sónia is an experienced professional with 17 years in Software Engineering. She has held roles as a Software Engineer, Scrum Master, and Agile Coach for a decade. Currently, as a Product Owner, she values teamwork and recognizes the significance of prioritizing people in any endeavor.

The big lesson she’s learned so far: no matter how complex a subject can be, the most important thing is to take care of people. Because teams, companies, and communities are made of those!

You can link with Sónia Won on LinkedIn and connect with Sónia Won on Twitter.

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.

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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.

Mher Nalbandyan: Reflecting on Scrum Master success with the team, and the Product Owner

Mher likes to focus on his presence in the team when evaluating and reflecting on his own success. As tools for that reflection, he uses the 1-on-1 meetings with the team members, and regularly collects feedback, and includes discussions with the PO in that process.

In this episode, we refer to Curling, a winter olympics discipline.

Featured Retrospectives Format for the Week: The 4L’s retrospective

Mher suggests the 4L’s format as a way to enable discussion on a big spectrum of topics, and focusing on open ended questions. In this episode, we also refer to the Mad/Sad/Glad, Start/Stop/Continue and other related formats. In this episode, we refer to the website teleretro.com, a remote retrospective tool.

About Mher Nalbandyan

Mher works at Mbition in Berlin, where they develop the next generation of information systems for Mercedes-Benz.

You can link with Mher Nalbandyan on LinkedIn and connect with Mher Nalbandyan on Twitter.

Rafał Witaszek: Is your team “chatty”? And other questions we can ask to assess Scrum Master success

Is your team “chatty”? That’s the first question that Rafał suggests we ask from ourselves as we assess our progress, and success as a Scrum Master. We also talk about different metrics we can use to help us guide, and support the team.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The 4L’s and Starfish retrospectives as possible options for different goals

In this segment, we hear from Rafał how the 4L’s retrospective and the Starfish retrospectives can be used for different purposes. He describes for us, what each of these formats is best for, and how he organizes his facilitation to help the teams focus on those different outcomes.

About Rafał Witaszek

Rafał believes the best things are done together. As a Scrum Master, his focus is on enabling communication within an organization. As he is also a passionate sailor, he’s learned that we need to adjust our sails to make the best use of the wind. Focus on what we can affect, and leave other things out.

You can link with Rafał Witaszek on LinkedIn.