Top 10 Non-Agile Books For Coaches And Scrum Masters

top 10 Non-Agile books for Coaches and Scrum Masters

Several month ago I started to collect a list of the Top Agile Coaching Books from various social channels like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. I received so much input from so many people so I decided to divide the book list  into five different categories: Top agile books for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Agile Developers, Leaders & Agile Coaches.

Some of the book recommendations I received weren’t really related to Agile. However I thought that the following books can help Coaches and Scrum Masters to thrive and flourish in their daily work.

In this post I want to show you the Top 10 Non-Agile Books recommend by the Community. Continue Reading →

3 Incredibly Useful Coaching Tools You Wish You Knew Earlier

Easy Coaching Tools

Me @ Training From The Back Of The Room

Know what’s harder than running great Coaching Sessions?

Making them unforgettable! 

That’s exactly what’s needed if you’re serious about Quality Coaching and Teaching! In this blog post I want to answer a very simple question:

What quick and applicable Secrets can help you instantly of moving your next Training from average to unforgettable?

Therefore I asked some Scrum Masters and Coaches in my network to share the coolest and fastest ways to increase the quality of any kind of instruction. I’ve assembled a very small list of the best ideas that you can apply in different occassions like Retrospectives, Workshops or Plannings. Below you’ll find 3 refreshingly original ways that help you run an unforgettable Coaching Session. Let’s jump in! Continue Reading →

Why We Kicked Estimation Meetings (And Maybe You Should Too)

Ugh, it happened again.

It’s Monday morning, and I’m sitting down with my first cup of coffee. I send my first Tweet about #NoEstimates and I got challenged by some people who did not fully internalize the idea behind the #NoEstimates movement.

It seems to be a never-ending battle: Should we run Estimates or #NoEstimates in Agile?

Discussions tend to go extremely deep. All too often they go into the wrong direction and result in a “do-or-die” fight. Little space for a constructive chat, don’t you think?

It can be highly annoying, especially on Twitter when people start writing tons of messages separated in various Tweets. Twitter is just the wrong platform to have detailed debates.

In this article I want to point out my personal statement why we got rid of Estimation Meetings, and why you should consider it too!
Continue Reading →

6 Golden Rules For Engaging Team Members In Agile Retrospectives

Engage Team Members in Agile Retrospectives

Hands up if you’ve ever failed as a moderator in an Agile Retrospective! My guess is that you have!

Even if you do work your ass off on preparing a great Retrospective, the team remains bored, extremely unmotivated and there is only a low-level engagement what makes it impossible for you to make the Retrospective valuable.

BUT, What’s really going on here?

First … Don’t worry, that happens to almost all Coaches who moderate an Agile Retrospective! I experienced this as well.

So what if I told you that you can add a squad of tools to your toolbox that will eliminate a ton of time spent on terrible Retrospectives? In this Blog Post I want to share with you some Hard-Won Lessons about moderating a valuable Retrospective that will hit the mark! Continue Reading →

“Scrum Is Bad” – 5 Simple Facts That Kill Arguments Against Scrum

scrum is bad

Can I ask you a question? How often do you hear negative arguments or critics about Scrum? In my career as a Scrum Master I had at least two discussions a week. It felt like a big, never-ending ping-pong game with the developers, middle management or even the CEO of the company. There are always some colleagues who want to challenge you with the same arguments … over, and over, and over again.

This post will tell you 5 strong and simple facts that will kill the most upcoming arguments against Scrum! Ready? Great, then let’s start.

Continue Reading →

How To Create The ‘Tree Of Teams’ That Influenced The Culture Of An Entire Bank

agile branches

One of the most important challenges on agile transformations is influencing the current culture. Culture is more than making ceremonies, creating new roles and putting Kanban Boards full with Post-It’s. Although it’s absolutely true that visible artifacts show cultural expression, values and principles, however I believe that talking and showing values on a more active way is a much healthier way to initiate a change.

The following guest blog post by my friend Johnny will show you how a small group of Scrum Masters came up with an awesome idea to radiate values and principles on an artful way. The following tutorial will show how they implemented the Tree of Teams in a one of the biggest banks in South America. Read how you can do it too!

Continue Reading →

Top 5 Criteria To Consider While Choosing A Kanban App

image source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/trello-basics-getting-started/29044/

image source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/trello-basics-getting-started/29044/

If you are an IT organization that believes in working smartly and efficiently, the odds are high that you would have heard of Kanban, a framework that is being increasingly adopted by your peers in the IT industry. While considering implementing Kanban for your team, the most important decision that you would have to possibly make is to decide which tool to use. In this blog, we will look at why your organization should consider adopting a Kanban app and the key features to look for while shortlisting a Kanban app for your team.

Continue Reading →

Answered: Your Most Burning Questions About Leading 2 Teams as a Scrum Master

2-teams-for-scrum-masters

Hi everybody! This time I would like to share my new guest blog post about a very hot thread: How to lead 2 teams as a Scrum Master! In my career as a Scrum Master I worked in many different companies and in some of them I had to take over 2 teams. To be honest this experience can be very tough and challenging. In the following guest article I would like to answer the most burning questions about leading 2 teams as a Scrum Master. Continue Reading →

How To Improve Teamwork In One Easy Lesson

happy team members are important

Organizations have to take care on their teams because they can be crucial for the company´s success. Recently one of our distributed teams faced some ugly problems regarding collaboration and communication. I noticed that some team members were quite unhappy. I came up with the idea to bring all of them together to one physical location. I started to prepare a workshop and invited 20 persons. I want to share with you this applicable step by step guide that shows how we improved the teamwork in one easy lesson. Continue Reading →