The scrum of scrum meeting is an important technique in scaling Scrum to large project teams. These meetings allow clusters of teams to discuss their work, focusing especially on areas of overlap and integration. Imagine a perfectly balanced project comprising seven teams each with seven team members. Each of the…

Scrum isn’t new, but the questions teams are asking about it are evolving. In this episode, Brian and Cort Sharp compare notes on what they're hearing in class, in the community, and behind the scenes. Overview In this episode of the Agile Mentors Podcast, Brian Milner welcomes Mountain Goat Software…

Many of the challenges in agile and Scrum stem from the idea of the self-organizing team. Of course, many (perhaps most) of the benefits are also the result of self-organizing teams. One of the questions I get from many leaders is whether it's OK to mandate the team do something…

Ideally, every Scrum team has one Scrum Master, one product owner, and a small set of people the Scrum Guide calls developers. Developers (team members) are those who are doing the day-to-day work of creating the product. On a Scrum team, everyone works together to deliver the set of work…

…scaling Agile, highlighting the challenges of aligning leadership priorities, fostering transparency, and applying system-level thinking for successful organizational transformations. Overview In this insightful episode, Dr. Tess Thompson tackles the pressing challenges organizations face when scaling Agile, with a focus on the critical role of leadership alignment. Drawing from her extensive…

…are part of the Scrum team and vital to the work itself. At the same time, they serve as communication conduits between teams and stakeholders. Product owner responsibilities are spread throughout the project lifecycle to support a healthy pace and offer the flexibility to tweak the plan to better meet…

…manner. For example, a Scrum team that allows the design of the system to emerge will have a difficult time clearing an early checkpoint that considers the appropriateness and correctness of the system’s architecture. Reconciling Agile and Governance The first step in reconciling the need for project governance and teams…

The Scrum Master is the Scrum role responsible for the process of creating a product using Scrum. What Is a Scrum Master? The Scrum Master is accountable for ensuring a Scrum team lives by the values, principles, and practices of Scrum. Scrum has five values that are essential for success:…

…thinking about becoming a Scrum Master and wondering if you have what it takes to do the job? Are you already a Scrum Master and asking yourself, What are the characteristics of an effective Scrum Master? Or are you perhaps looking to hire someone and want to know what Scrum…

…improve the finished product. Scrum strives to do this through close collaboration and the short inspect-and-adapt cycles of the timeboxed sprints. Project governance strives to do it by what we might call inspect-and-approve (or reject) checkpoints in which the product or project is compared to a set of desirable attributes.…

…selection of a new Scrum team’s ScrumMaster can impact the success or failure of the team's Scrum adoption. Choose the wrong person and the team could face the uphill struggle of trying to become self–organizing while under the thumb of a command–and–control style manager. Choose the right person–matching the skills…