Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Dave Smith: The Power of Ownership, Transforming Mistakes into Growth Opportunities As An Agile Leader 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 this episode, Dave shares a compelling story that shines a light on the transformative power of ownership and learning from mistakes. He talks about a moment of oversight that led to a customer refund, highlighting the critical role of leadership in fostering a learning environment over assigning blame. This experience catalyzed a pivotal shift in his understanding of leadership and process improvement, underscoring the importance of scrum masters in creating a safe space for owning up to mistakes. Dive into Dave's journey to discover how embracing failure can be a stepping stone to success and innovation.   [IMAGE HERE] Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because o

BONUS: Guy Kawasaki shares how to lead a remarkable life, based on lessons from 200+ interviews! In this BONUS episode we explore the latest book by Guy Kawasaki: 'Think Remarkable.' In this conversation, we explore Guy's personal journey, share lessons from his interactions with over 200 extraordinary individuals he interviewed for his Remarkable People Podcast, and unpack the key messages from his latest work that challenges us all to elevate our lives and the world around us. The Genesis of a Remarkable Path "Looking back, it's clear how the dots connected to set me on this path, but it all started with a desire to redefine how companies should operate - the Macintosh way." Guy Kawasaki's career is as diverse as it is inspiring. From his early days at Apple to his influential role in various startups, Guy shares with us the pivotal moments and decisions that have shaped his remarkable journey. He delves into the motivations behind his first book, revealing how 'The Macintosh Way' was a manife

Stephanie Cully: How To Lead with Empathy, The Story of an Open-Minded Scrum Product Owner 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. The Great Product Owner: Leading with Empathy, The Story of an Open-Minded PO In this episode, Stephanie discusses her experience with an exceptional Product Owner (PO) who, despite having no prior experience in Agile and Scrum, demonstrated a remarkable willingness to learn and adapt. The PO's approach was characterized by asking questions, seeking help, and engaging in training sessions to better understand Agile practices. This openness extended to discussions about customer pain points and the user journey, contributing significantly to the team's ability to deliver effectively. The PO's caring attitude towards the team and flexibility in adapting to the developers' needs further exemplified the qualities of a great PO. The Bad Prod

Stephanie Cully: Ted Lasso Lessons That Help Define Success For Scrum Masters 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. Stephanie defines success for Scrum Masters as their ability to foster growth within their teams and ensure the delivery of value. She emphasizes that a great Scrum Master not only demonstrates how to deliver value but also engages the team in discussions about the meaning and importance of value, thereby helping the team understand and focus on value creation. Through continuous learning and development, a Scrum Master supports the team's growth, drawing inspiration from the ethos of Ted Lasso, which underscores the significance of positive influence and guidance. In this episode, we refer to the following quote by Ted Lasso: “For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on a

Stephanie Cully: Leading Teams Through Agile Adoption, and Mindset Transformation 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. Stephanie shares a story about helping a team to move from a waterfall to an agile framework. Despite initial resistance to abandoning familiar practices, she guided the team through the change by clarifying the goals of agile processes and introducing tools like the velocity chart in JIRA to help teams understand how some of the older concepts (tracking progress) could be achieved with the Agile approach.  Her approach focused on understanding the purpose behind practices, encouraging continuous conversation, and providing direct feedback. By repeatedly explaining the benefits and purposes of Scrum practices, Stephanie helped the team grasp the value of agile methods, leading to a more effective and adaptive development process.   [IMAGE HERE]

Stephanie Cully: How A Misunderstanding Created The Opportunity For Collaboration Between A Scrum Team And Their Product Owner 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. Stephanie recounts the challenges faced by a team transitioning to a new application project, marked by tension between developers and the product owner (PO), who micromanaged interface details without clearly conveying customer goals. Initially, separating the team from the PO led to communication issues and misunderstandings. A turning point occurred when a design misunderstanding prompted a shift in strategy: apologies were made, and collaborative design sessions were initiated. This improved communication and understanding, eventually leading the PO to facilitate direct developer-customer interactions, fostering a more integrated and effective team dynamic. Featured Book of the Week: How To Think Li

Stephanie Cully: From Conflict to Collaboration, How To Collaboration With Skeptic Scrum Product Owners 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 a new team, the Product Owner (PO) was initially against Stephanie’s role as a Scrum Master, fearing loss of control. Despite the challenges, she focused on understanding the PO's objectives, maintaining a positive mindset, and persisting in her efforts to foster collaboration. By actively listening and seeking support from colleagues, Stephanie gradually built a strong, supportive relationship with the PO and the team, emphasizing the importance of aligning with the company's and PO's goals.   [IMAGE HERE] Recovering from failure, or difficult moments is a critical skill for Scrum Masters. Not only because of us, but also because the teams, and stakeholders we work with will also face these moments! We need inspiring sto

BONUS: The AI Paradigm Shift, Interview With João Moura, creator of CrewAI In this episode, we explore the impact that AI may have in our work, and discuss with João Moura, a key actor in the AI space about the future trends and what they mean for product development. The Journey into AI and the Genesis of CrewAI João Moura's interest in AI began during his childhood coding endeavors, a journey marked by curiosity and challenge. Despite finding AI more complex than traditional programming, his persistent engagement led to the creation of CrewAI.  CrewAI, João’s library to take advantage of the multi-agent paradigm, is an example of what can happen when we bring different disciplines together in the form of a software development team. João refers to the transformation that happened in the field of AI when finally the software developers were working together with the AI researchers. Transformative Changes in Technology through AI Integration The AI landscape saw a pivotal shift with the collabor

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 this episode, we explore the story of a team that started to question the way they did estimates. The PO would use the estimations provided by the team to make a certain number of assumptions and reports that just did not correspond to reality. In the quest to solve that problem, the team started to experiment with different approaches, and naturally evolved to a #NoEstimates approach. Carsten explains the steps the team went through as well as the insights at each step. A self-organized change story on adopting #NoEstimates! In this episode, we refer to the #NoEstimates book.  About Carsten Lützen Carsten is an Agile Coach at the LEGO Group. Before that a Scrum Master for different teams. He has a deep love of graphical facilitation and professional coaching. Besides his full-time job, he shares weekly tips on YouTube and LinkedIn on Agi

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. We explore a real-life project that Marcus was part of, and how the #NoEstimates methods he used helped him make predictions, even if did not estimate the work to be done. About Dan Vacanti and Marcus Hammarberg Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of the last years focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work. He also co-founded ActionableAgile which provides industry leading predictive analytics tools and services to any Lean-Agile process. Dan co-founded ProKanban.org a community focused initiative to help people learn about Kanban. You can link with Dan Vacanti on LinkedIn and connect with Dan Vacanti on Twitter.  Marcus Hammarberg is the author of Salvation: The Bungsu Story (available on Amazon), an inspiring and actionable story about how

Maryse Meinen: Value Over Velocity, A Product Owner’s Journey to Value-Driven Development, NoEstimates Unplugged Week This is one of a series of episodes where Product Owners explain how they used, and benefited from #NoEstimates in their work with teams.  To know more about #NoEstimates, sign-up to get the first 3 chapters of the book here. Introduction to #NoEstimates Maryse Meinen shares her journey into agile and lean methodologies, highlighting a pivotal moment at her first international conference where she attended a workshop on #NoEstimates led by Seb Rose. The workshop's quiz on estimating the distance from Earth to the moon led her to an epiphany about the common tendency to provide estimates even when uncertain, driven by peer pressure—an insight that spurred her to experiment with the #NoEstimates approach.   A Real-World Example of Success Maryse describes her experience with a new team tasked with developing an infrastructure solution without relying on traditional estimate

Luis Garcia: Forecast Over Estimation, How To Transform Your Approach To Project Management, NoEstimates Unplugged Week This is one of a series of episodes where Product Owners explain how they used, and benefited from #NoEstimates in their work with teams.  To know more about #NoEstimates, sign-up to get the first 3 chapters of the book here. Introduction to #NoEstimates Luis Garcia, transitioning from estimation discomfort to a #NoEstimates approach as a product owner, discovered its benefits after attending a workshop by Woody Zuill. Faced with the challenges of hard commitments in government projects, he sought to shift focus from when to what and why in project discussions. A Transformative Project Example  Implementing #NoEstimates in a kanban team, Luis emphasized work breakdown and comfortable task sizing. This method facilitated stakeholder communication, improved expectation management, and enabled precise progress measurement through metrics like cycle time and using techniques

Lee Beckett: Using NoEstimates to Help Agile Teams Focus On Value, And Create Transparency - NoEstimates Unplugged Week   This is one of a series of episodes where Product Owners explain how they used, and benefited from #NoEstimates in their work with teams.  To know more about #NoEstimates, sign-up to get the first 3 chapters of the book here.   Exploring #NoEstimates Lee Beckett shares his journey from coder to Product Owner (PO), and how his diverse experience led him to question the effectiveness of traditional estimation techniques in agile environments. He discusses the adoption of a #NoEstimates approach, highlighting its benefits in simplifying processes and focusing on delivering value. Lee illustrates how abandoning estimates, except for significant items, streamlined project workflows and improved team dynamics. This approach fostered a culture of trust and transparency, crucial for managing stakeholder expectations and focusing on product delivery. Challenges and Solutions Im

Johannes Andersen: Ceremony Over Substance, The Scrum Master Trap, And How It Affects Teams And The Product Owner 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. The Great Scrum Master: Beyond the Backlog, How a Great Scrum Master Helps Product Owners From a Product Owner's perspective, Johannes shares what an ideal Scrum Master looks like. This Scrum Master not only introduced him to Scrum but also focused on the underlying purpose beyond mere processes. His patience, clarity, and pragmatic approach in defining priorities and solving conflicts greatly facilitated the PO's understanding of product development challenges. This Scrum Master’s ability to foster meaningful conversations significantly helped Johannes in the PO role, highlighting the importance of a Scrum Master's soft skills in guiding and supporting the product vision. The Bad Scrum Master: Ceremony Over Subst

Johannes Andersen: Autonomy as an Achievement, Empowering Self-Sufficient Scrum Teams 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. When it comes to being a successful Agile Coach and Scrum Master, Johannes emphasises the goal of becoming unnecessary as the team matures. For Johannes, success is evident when the team autonomously conducts check-ins, engages in constructive debates, and effectively self-organizes while maintaining good relationships. The ability to request help and independently run retrospectives are signs of a well-functioning team that continuously challenges its own processes. Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Timeline Retrospective With a Twist Johannes shares a favorite retrospective format, focusing on flexibility and open dialogue. Starting with a timeline to objectively list events, the process encourages a shared understanding of r

Johannes Andersen: The Critical Role of the Leap of Faith in Organizational Change Programs 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 this episode, Johannes discusses leading a small business unit through a change process to improve project flow and efficiency. Initially working in silos, the team aimed to reorganize around customer-focused products. Despite considering an outside-in model, they chose an inside-out approach for practicality. An off-site session helped visualize the workflow under the new structure, but progress in the change was slow due to overplanning. Johannes learned that successful change requires adaptability and a leap of faith, emphasizing the importance of navigating between complicated and complex models as reality shifts. In this episode, we talk about the importance of being able to differentiate between complex and complicated types of

Johannes Andersen: Disjoint Silos, The Illusion of Teamwork and How it Affects Agile Coaches’ Work 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 this segment, Johannes reflects on his transition from a business unit to an HR position, which initially seemed promising due to the team-based approach they embraced in HR. However, he soon discovered that the HR team lacked unity, with various small roles not functioning cohesively as a team. Tasked by his manager to enhance the HR team's effectiveness, Johannes found himself dedicating much of his time to internal issues rather than organizational improvement. The core issue was the absence of a shared goal, leading to misalignment and lack of collaboration within the team, effectively making them "disjoint silos" rather than a unified force. We discuss Vasco’s mnemonic of “One Team, One Goal” andthe importance of aligning

Johannes Andersen: Collaboration Over Isolated Performance, Lessons Learned as a Scrum Product Owner 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 this episode, Johannes shares a personal story of his struggles as a Product Owner (PO). In his early career, Johannes believed he needed to have all the answers and provide detailed requirements alone; but he quickly found that it was not so easy to define all the features by himself. This experience taught him the importance of involving the entire team in writing user stories, highlighting that collaboration, not individual effort, leads to success. Johannes emphasizes focusing on outcomes, encouraging POs to ask goal-oriented questions and to view technical solutions through the lens of their importance. He recommends resources like Mike Burrows' list of questions to foster effective communication and collaboration.   [I

BONUS: Beyond Profit, How Happy Office Is Redefining Success in the Workplace, with Maartje Jansen and Fennande van der Meulen 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. Maartje and Fennande's journey into the realm of happiness at work began with a blend of personal insight and professional evolution.  A conversation with a neighbor about the  innovative step of hiring the Netherlands' first Chief Happiness Officer, led them to the realization that prioritizing worker happiness is not just beneficial but essential for business success.  This revelation was the cornerstone for founding Happy Office, the consultancy they work for. Both had always valued engagement and purpose in their work, but now they were seeing the business world through a new lens: one that focuses on harnessing the full potential of employees, beyond just profit generation.  Their early skept

Freddie Brown Jr: Inspiring Excellence, How the Commitment and Clarity Transforms the Performance of the Scrum Product Owner 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. The Great Product Owner: Inspiring Excellence, How the Commitment and Clarity Transforms the Performance of the Scrum PO In this segment, Freddie highlights the exceptional qualities of a great Product Owner (PO), Sara. She exhibited visionary leadership, with a clear and effectively communicated product vision. Her ability to inspire the team and her commitment to the product's success were some of the most important qualities highlighted by Freddie. Sara's enthusiasm for the work, skill in defining and explaining requirements, and prompt feedback to the development team set her apart as an exemplary PO. The Bad Product Owner: Collaboration Over Dictation, Tackling the Micro-Manager Scrum PO Challenge