Which Agile transformation framework to pick and what is the right metrics to use?

In times of disruption, times of change, like the one we are going through now, there is a lot of questions: what does it mean to each of us? what does it mean to the world? how do we cope? navigate? leave it better that we went into it? What is the new state and what did we learn?

As we go through the multiple questions, there is a lesson that my consulting experience taught me. There is one answer that is never wrong: it depends.

As you collect customers’ stories, you are going to hear about countless needs, pain points, and desires.

Our customers’ stories are rife with gaps between what they expect and how the world works. Each gap represents an opportunity to serve your customer.

However, it’s easy to get overwhelmed knowing where to start. Even if you worked tirelessly addressing opportunity after opportunity for the rest of your career, you would never fully satisfy your customers’ desires.

This is why digital products are never complete.

ScrumXP, SAFe’s delivery process inspired by Scrum and Extreme Programming, is not the same as Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. ScrumXP isn’t the typical blend of Scrum and XP.

Most notably, ScrumXP doesn’t mention the Scrum Values and Empiricism, both pivotal for Scrum.

SAFe is the framework and ScrumXP is a process, part of this framework. As a result, ScrumXP has a different expectation from an Agile team, Product Owner and Scrum Master. All in all, ScrumXP and Scrum are totally different. This should be no surprise as they serve different purposes.

As multiple clients start shopping by and projects start to take shape, organisations get this temptation of increasing their footprint on the market. It is, perhaps, the ecstasy of gold that rushes through the veins of many organizations passing through a very particular phase of their existence: that sweet spot where roping in more people starts looking as the natural next step, a sweet spot that tends to hit organizations most when they reach a headcount of between 100 to 150 people.

Maybe because many organisations passing through this phase are essentially similar to teenagers who give the world a linear interpretation (after all, that is, roughly, what they have experienced up until that point), the complexities of scaling are often missed out.

One of the key stances of the Scrum Master is being a Coach. Often coaching is perceived as the art of asking powerful questions. How many times while taking a coaching stance do you ever feel like you’re chasing the coachee? Have you ever felt that the coaching sessions are going around in circles, and your coachee keeps resisting the main issue?

As a part of my journey of Accelerating Coach Excellence, I came across Marcia Reynolds. She is an amazing Coach and has written many books. After reading her books I got so inspired that I committed myself to share my learnings with the larger community.

In this blog, you will explore 3 common myths of coaching and how you can switch gears as a Scrum Master to get on track with your coaching conversations.

Shu-Ha-Ri has been a frequent topic within Agile communities for years to capture the essence, the progress of the agile journey we embark on as we grow and learn better ways of working. Many Agile leaders have written about Shu-Ha-Ri, from Martin Fowler to Alistair Cockburn both creators of the Agile Manifesto. But what is it, and why does it matter?