A Scrum team needs one (and only one) Product Owner
Recently, I presented some of my conclusions after attending (again) the Professional Scrum Product Owner training. As I wrote, the Product Owner’s role remains the vaguest in the Scrum Guide, because it is very dependent on the company in which he evolves. It reads: “The Product Owner is responsible for …
How Self-Organization Happens … and why you can trust it
Values drive all organizational life If you pay attention throughout the day, you will see that your thoughts are constantly floating on waves of shifting values. While your thoughts govern your conscious actions, the underlying values directly influence your unconscious behaviours, like shifting in your seat, checking your email, getting …
Storming stories: stakeholders and feedback
Once upon a time, Sara, a #LetUsBe team stakeholder and Bob the members manager, went to participate to the #LetUsBe Agile-Scrum team’s sprint review ceremony. Shana, the #ScrumMaster of the #LetUsBe team, started the ceremony by providing participants with some guidance about the meeting: The sprint review is there to …
Is there really someone to blame?
One of the biggest issues faced by organizations in creating a culture of continuous improvement is the underlying need to always have someone to blame and the way that this need figures prominently in the day-to-day language of its teams. This often fuels adversarial relationships rather than the true collaboration …
At Pyxis, you are not going up; you are going forward!
29As coach and facilitator in organizational transformation and development of leaders, teams and individuals for over 25 years, I wanted to meet the Pyxis team with a colleague of mine. We had a question: “Is it possible to structure and run an organization in a more organic, more flexible, more …
How leaders take responsibility for their impact
In our lives we have a lot more impact on what happens around us as well as on the people surrounding us than we care to believe. As leaders, it is important for us to understand the impact we really have which in turn helps us manage it, acknowledge it …
The Story of Simple C.I.
Simple Continuous Improvement, or Simple C.I., is a technique which I developed and now teach as a simple, repeatable process for solving problems within an organization. Here is my story on how the concept was developed: While working as a Continuous Improvement and Process Specialist for a leading Telecommunications company, …
The Necessity of an Expert Agile Guide
If you are a tourist, a specialized escort or a guide, can be useful. Especially if, like any self-respecting agilist, you are going to the mountain. But that is not the type of person I want to talk about today. Recently, I presented HEART, the essence of Agility in only …
Storming Agile Teams: Building a Path of T.R.U.S.T
Three weeks ago, I have shared with you the first section of the Storming Agile Teams workbook called “Our Role & Multi-dimensional Storming Challenge”. In today’s article, you will read about the main techniques that I use to help groups wanting to become Agile teams to build a successful path …
Four Helping Stances For Coaches
“But I Was Only Trying To Help…!” In many organizations today, coaching is regarded as a crucial skill for leaders, managers, Scrum Masters and consultants who support teams developing the skills and practices of self-organization. In our course Coaching skills for Leaders, we teach the distinction between four different …