thursday Archives - Page 2 of 42 - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Harri Tunturivuori: Success is Fostering a Culture of Continuous Improvement as a Scrum Master

In the episode with Harri we learn that success is all about helping the team to deliver a high-quality product and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. To achieve this, he believes that investing in psychological safety and leading by example are critical. Additionally, ensuring that team members feel heard, investing in soft skills, and promoting a sense of belonging are all key factors. Harri recommends using journey lines and other techniques to help team members know more about each other, particularly when the team is distributed, which can make it harder to achieve these goals.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Lean Coffee

In this segment, Harri shared their favorite retrospective format, which is Lean Coffee. Harri highlights the importance of having multiple retrospective formats to adapt to different team situations and keep things fresh. The guest personally enjoyed Lean Coffee for its conversational focus, allowing for in-depth discussions on topics compared to other formats.

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About Harri Tunturivuori

Harri is an experienced leader, Scrum Master, and Agile Coach who was introduced to the world of agile software development in 2010. Since then, Harri has had the pleasure of leading great agile teams in various forms.

Harri enjoys working in a fun environment where there is room for innovation, and Harri is driven by the challenge of growing a group of good people into a great team.

You can link with Harri Tunturivuori on LinkedIn.

Daniel Westermayr: Connecting data with emotions, the key to triggering change

In this episode, Daniel emphasizes the importance of understanding the success of a system and how it is constrained by the way it has been set up. He explains that the ultimate goal of Scrum is the success of the product or organization, and that the key to successful Scrum is to look at the success of the system. We also discuss how the process and system of software development, broadly, has not yet been fully understood by the very software industry and community.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Connecting data with emotions, the key to triggering change

In this segment, Daniel focuses on the importance of connecting data with emotions in retrospectives. Daniel shares his preference for retrospectives that collect data with the emotions of people. He emphasizes that not everyone sees the same thing in the same data or events and that different perspectives can help understand positive things. Emotions are a driving force for change among the people we work with, and understanding them can help drive change management efforts. Daniel mentions the Timeline retrospective and the importance of using emotional intelligence to improve teamwork and product development.

How can I, as a Scrum Masters, supercharge my facilitation?

About Daniel Westermayr

Daniel is a Kanban Trainer with a knack for all things Lean and Theory of Constraints. He wants to help teams achieve and measure their continuous improvements.

You can link with Daniel Westermayr on LinkedIn.

Oguz Ozyurt: Checklists, and an accountability partner, the Scrum Masters’ best friends

In this episode, Oz emphasizes the importance of having a list of topics to review regularly in a self-assessment moment. He includes assessing whether the team is delivering what they committed to, taking advantage of Agile practices, and working on continuous improvement items. He notes that his list of topics consists of four dimensions, including the Value dimension which focuses on the value of the Scrum Master, and the Happiness dimension which assesses whether people around him are happy. In this segment, we also discuss the importance of having an accountability partner as a helpful tool for achieving success as a Scrum Master.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Conversation Café, helping everyone to be heard

In this segment, Oz shares his favorite Agile retrospective toolbox: liberating structures. He explains that he likes to focus on the process and facilitation, leaving the content for the team to decide. Oz mentions a specific format called Conversation Cafe, which he likes to use. The Conversation Cafe format helps to promote active listening and allows everyone to be heard.

Oz emphasizes the importance of focusing on the process of the retrospective, rather than the content. By creating a safe and structured environment, everyone can share their thoughts and opinions without fear of judgment or retribution. Using the Conversation Cafe format, the team can have a productive and meaningful conversation about the sprint, identifying areas for improvement and celebrating successes. Oz believes that by focusing on the process and creating a safe space, the team can achieve better outcomes and improve continuously.

How can I, as a Scrum Masters, supercharge my facilitation?

About Oguz Ozyurt

Oz came from a technical background, and has worked across multiple industries, applying agile practices toward the technical and non-technical areas. He is passionate about agile, he has leveraged his passion for delivery value and agile practices by coaching, teaching, mentoring many teams to transform from traditional software development life cycle to Agile principles and practices.

You can link with Oguz Ozyurt on LinkedIn.

Meena Venkataraman: Knowing When to Step Back, a Scrum Master superpower

In this segment, Meena shares how, as a scrum master, she strives to step back once the team is self-sufficient.

Meena mentions that it is important to make sure that there is no unhealthy dependency between the team and the scrum master. To do this, the scrum master needs to ensure that they are not the only one who can resolve conflicts and that the team is communicating effectively with stakeholders.

The success of a scrum master is also measured by whether the team is delivering a quality product. Meena provides several tips for scrum masters, including making sure that it’s not about them, and observing the behaviors of the team to determine if they can self-manage.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Simple and effective conversation focused formats

In this segment, Meena shares that when it comes to retrospectives, she prefers to focus on simplicity and creating conversations with the team. She emphasizes the importance of creating insights and actions with the team, rather than just generating data. Meena shares a tip to ask questions that crystallize insights and anchor them in the agile principles.

She also shares a story about observing a retro led by someone else where there was a lot of data but no actionable insights. Meena emphasizes that retros are great places for scrum masters to coach and that it’s not about the format, but rather about anchoring questions in the agile principles.

In this segment, we refer to a shared whiteboard tool named MURAL.

Meena is an Agile & Lean coach who helps organizations and teams transition to Agile ways of working. She is passionate about the neuroscience behind team dynamics and is interested in organizational design and the application of Agile principles across different business domains. Meena enjoys speaking at conferences and is an avid learner.

You can link with Meena Venkataraman on LinkedIn.

Mike Salogub: Learning to measure success as a Scrum Master, focusing on team behaviors

In this segment, we discuss how to measure the success of a scrum master. Mike mentions several questions that can help determine the effectiveness of a scrum master, including whether the team will continue to meet for sprint planning in their absence, or whether team members are actively participating and solving problems together. The goal is to assess whether the team is thriving and hitting their own ambitions even when the scrum master is not present.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Sailboat retrospective, as a conversation catalyst for Agile teams

In this segment, Mike shares his favorite retrospective format, which is the “Sailboat” format. He explains that this format involves visualizing a sailboat and discussing its different aspects, such as the wind, anchor, and rocks. This visualization helps the team reflect on their work and start conversations that they may not have had otherwise. The sailboat format also helps introverted team members share more and encourages those who tend to dominate discussions to listen more. Mike offers tips for facilitating this retrospective format, including knowing your team and finding ways to encourage everyone to participate.

About Mike Salogub

Mike’s an accomplished, committed and creative Scrum Master with over 10+ years of expanding horizons in the healthcare technology industry. Focused on continuous improvement using data to inform business decisions, and driving innovation to meet the needs of patients.

You can link with Mike Salogub on LinkedIn and connect with Mike Salogub on Twitter.