The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Lead With Light & Love - Light The World 2023 This year for #LightTheWorld, focus on sharing kindness, just like Jesus did. Throughout December, look for ways to bring joy to someone new each day. By following Jesus, the true Light of the World, you can bring a little light to the lives of friends, family members, coworkers, and even strangers! From December 1 to Christmas Day, pay attention to the ways the people around you have shared their light with you and others. Each day, highlight their small acts of kindness on social media. Hopefully the examples you share can inspire many more to reach out with love like Jesus did. Make sure to use the following hashtag in your posts: #LightTheWorld https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/light-the-world/downloads How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Backlogs Aren't Meant to Hold It All - Mike Cohn Backlogs are like dessert: best in moderation. Having a backlog that’s too big is a sign of trouble like an extra-wide slice of pie with two scoops of ice cream.This goes for both product and sprint backlogs. Each should be kept to a manageable size.The Sprint BacklogA sprint backlog can become unwieldy when team members start to use it as a catchall for their personal to-do lists.For example, one of my colleagues was recently working on a submission to the Scrum Gathering in New Orleans that’s happening in May 2024.It's important for him, and it’s good for our company. So I support the work. But it wasn’t on the sprint backlog because nobody else had anything to do with it.It was just one person creating his presentation proposal and occasionally asking a few of us for feedback.Perfecting the proposal isn’t a shared goal; the rest of us would never say, "Oh, he’s out sick today. Let me jump in and work on his proposal."If others need to know about the work or can sub for you on the work, put it on the sprint backlog. Otherwise, consider leaving it off.The Product BacklogThe product backlog can become outsized when too many half-baked ideas are added to it.When working as a product owner, I don’t want to clutter the product backlog with every idea I have. So I maintain a second list: a backlog of sorts. I call it a holding tank. It holds ideas until I either move them to the product backlog or delete them.I’m not trying to hide anything from a team by using a holding tank. I just don’t want to bother anyone with some ideas until I’ve given them more thought.It’s kind of like the new recipe I found for key lime pie. I bookmarked it, but the items to make it haven’t made it to my shopping list yet. And when it does, one slice will be plenty!Keeping your sprint and product backlogs to a manageable size will help you succeed with agile. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

When the Agile Team Says, "We Don't Need xyz Meeting..." So, let’s translate the “we don’t need statement” to what you’re really saying: Sprint Planning: We do Sprint planning because we are committed to delivering incrementally. There are so many benefits of delivering incrementally. So, what you’re really saying is that you don’t need sprints benefits: We don’t need risk mitigation, early feedback, visibility, transparency, and adaptability. Daily Scrum: I hear very often that Daily meetings are not necessary. But what you’re really saying is: We don’t need our team to be synchronized. There is no value in identifying blockers early and embracing fast decision-making. Sprint Review: Although Sprint review is the main point when you collaborate with your stakeholders, some people find it unnecessary. In this case, what these people are really saying is: We don’t need to engage our stakeholders and gather feedback from them. It’s totally the same if we’re doing the right thing or not. Retrospective: For some reason, people tend to kill this meeting first. The problem is that then you’re killing the most important part of the agile — continuous improvements. So, what you’re really saying is the scariest one: We don’t need to improve. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Top 4 Tips to Lead Your Team as a ScrumMaster Be a servant leader. Your role is to serve the team, not to boss them around. Focus on helping the team achieve their goals and overcoming any challenges they may face. Be a good communicator. Communication is key to any successful team. Make sure to communicate regularly with your team members and stakeholders. Be clear and concise in your communication, and be open to feedback. Be organized and efficient. As a Scrum Master, you have a lot of responsibilities. It’s important to be organized and efficient so that you can stay on top of everything. Use tools and techniques to help you stay organized and manage your time effectively. Be flexible and adaptable. Things don’t always go according to plan in Scrum. Be flexible and adaptable so that you can adjust your approach as needed. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Enjoy The Silence... Silence can be awkward. A virtual meeting can be incredibly uncomfortable when everyone stares at each other. As a Scrum Master, in the past, I would continue utilizing filer words to break as much silence as possible. Whenever I asked the team a question, and no one would answer right away, I broke the “awkwardness” by attempting to elaborate on the question or provide my opinion first. So, how do you remove the awkward silence? You don’t. You embrace it. After countless books and research on how to be a better facilitator, silence is critical. It allows team members (or the person you are speaking to) to ponder what answers they can provide. As a facilitator, you are not only practicing the power of silence but also practicing the power of patience. It is amazing what happens when everyone has the opportunity to think. More opinions are shared, brainstorming sessions become valuable, and everyone has the chance to absorb information. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

How to Persuade Others You've Made the Right Decisions - Kim Scott Your team has managed to come to a decision, but there are still people who don’t agree with it — the same people who will be responsible for helping to implement it. If you’re working efficiently, not everybody on your team is involved in every step of the listen-clarify-debate-decide process for everything — just the relevant people. Now that a decision has been reached, it’s time to get more people on board. This isn’t easy, and it’s vital to get it right. Persuasion at this stage can feel unnecessary and make the decider resentful of people on the team who aren’t fully in agreement. The decider has painstakingly gone through the listen, clarify, and debate steps and made a decision. Why doesn’t everyone else get why it’s obvious we should do this — or at least be willing to fall in line? But expecting others to implement a decision without being persuaded that it’s the right thing to do is a recipe for terrible results. And don’t imagine that you can step in and simply tell everyone to get in line behind a decision, whether you have made it or somebody else has. To help you be more persuasive, and to teach the “deciders” on your team to be more persuasive, the rest of this section will cover, briefly, Aristotle’s elements of rhetoric — pathos, logos, and ethos, which I’ll translate loosely as emotion, logic, and credibility. Emotion: The listener’s emotions, not the speaker’s when trying to persuade Credibility: Demonstrate expertise and humility when persuading Logic: Show your work when persuading your team https://kimmalonescott.medium.com/how-to-persuade-others-youve-made-the-right-decisions-a7a38a4555db How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Being Thankful for Agile: A Deep Dive into Appreciation In the expansive universe of project management and software development, it's easy to get ensnared in the intricacies of metrics, deliverables, and the ever-looming shadow of deadlines. Yet today, I'd like to invite you on a different journey. One that traverses the realms of emotions, relationships, and profound gratitude, centered around our experience with Agile. Gratitude is a potent emotion. It goes beyond mere acknowledgment; it's an immersive experience that ties us to moments, individuals, and events that shape our lives. So, you might wonder, how does such a deeply personal sentiment intersect with the professional framework of Agile? Our embarkation with Agile wasn't just a strategic shift. It represented a transformative expedition that recalibrated our perspective on work, the art of collaboration, and personal and collective growth. Before Agile graced our processes, many of us navigated work landscapes that, at times, felt stifling, bound by rigid protocols that seldom left room for spontaneity. Agile was the fresh breeze that introduced an environment of adaptability, fostering unity, and engendering genuine connections among team members. As we wade deeper into this reflective pool, I want to delineate the multifaceted gifts of Agile: Flexibility: At its core, Agile offers more than just an adaptable work model. It's a philosophy that teaches us to embrace change – to view challenges not as roadblocks but as opportunities to pivot and grow. This adaptability isn't just about circumventing hurdles but about fluidly navigating our professional terrain with a vision and purpose. Collaboration: Beyond the rudimentary concept of teamwork, Agile has sown the seeds of profound collaboration in our midst. Through its tenets, we've built bridges of trust, fostered open channels of communication, and celebrated the mosaic of skills and perspectives each member contributes. It's a dance of synergy, where every individual's rhythm adds to the collective melody. Continuous Improvement: Agile's magic isn't limited to enhancing our deliverables; it's about the holistic elevation of our teams. It propels us into a cycle of introspection, relentless learning, and shared growth. Every retrospective, every feedback loop, becomes a step towards collective excellence. Yet, gratitude isn't a mere sentiment to be voiced; it pulsates in our daily actions. Each nod of acknowledgment, every moment of patience, every feedback session, and our unwavering commitment to bettering ourselves – these are our tributes to Agile. In this tapestry of gratitude, AgileDad wishes to weave its thread of thanks. Our gratitude isn't sought but extended. To everyone who has entrusted us with their training and coaching aspirations, know that your faith is both our motivation and our guiding star. It galvanizes us to not just impart training but curate transformative experiences that resonate with the spirit of Agile. To encapsulate, our journey with Agile isn't a linear path towards set destinations. It's a rich odyssey filled with lessons, pivots, challenges, triumphs, and deep-seated connections. As we continue to traverse this path, may our compass be calibrated by gratitude, ensuring our professional endeavors are as enriching and profound as our personal evolutions. Thank you for sharing this moment of reflection. I eagerly anticipate your thoughts, narratives, and the myriad ways Agile has sculpted your professional journey. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Being a Scrum Master Requires Coffee: 5 Ways Coffee Makes Scrum Taste Better From keeping the team on track to navigating difficult conversations with stakeholders, there’s always something brewing in the Agile world. That’s why, my dear fellow Scrum Masters, I’m here to tell you that being a Scrum Master requires coffee. And not just any coffee, but a rich, aromatic brew that can fuel your brain and your passion for Agile. So grab your mug, and let’s dive into five ways coffee makes Scrum taste better. Coffee can give you an energy boost to tackle the daily scrum meetingCoffee is like a shot of adrenaline for your brain. When you’re up early for the daily scrum meeting and need to get in the zone, a cup of bold and robust coffee can give you the energy boost you need to start the day on the right foot. Keep a bag of Colombian beans nearby! Coffee can help you stay focused during sprint planningSprint planning is the time when your team sets the stage for the upcoming sprint. With a lot on your mind, it’s easy to get distracted. But a cup of smooth, sweet mocha coffee can help you stay focused and centered. The chocolatey notes will bring a little bit of sweetness to a tough planning session. Mocha is a crowd pleaser for sprint planning meetings! Coffee can help you navigate difficult conversations with stakeholdersAs a Scrum Master, you’re responsible for keeping everyone aligned and on the same page. Sometimes, that means having tough conversations with stakeholders. But when the going gets tough, the tough drink espresso. The intense flavor and caffeine jolt can help you stay sharp and focused in even the most challenging situations. Coffee can help you power through sprint reviews and retrospectivesSprint reviews and retrospectives are essential for reflecting on the last sprint and preparing for the next one. But they can also be draining. That’s when you need a macchiato boost to keep you going. The smooth milk and espresso combination is the perfect fuel for your brain and your taste buds. Coffee can help you celebrate sprint successesFinally, when you and your team have completed a successful sprint, it’s time to celebrate. And what better way to do that than with a cup of flavored coffee? Whether it’s a Frappuccino or Pumpkin Spice Latte, a special treat can be the perfect way to cap off a job well done! https://medium.com/the-agile-analyst/why-being-a-scrum-master-requires-coffee-5-ways-coffee-makes-scrum-taste-better-7d5c6daea3f5 How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Are Items in the Sprint Backlog ALWAYS Smaller Than Items in the Product Backlog? Maybe... Maybe not... This question from the PSM 1 Exam facilitated by Scrum.Org certainly generated some interesting discussion in one of my Advanced Workshops! We concluded that it is all a matter of applying best techniques to how we prioritize! How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Strategies To Maximize Team Efficiency 1) Understand the North Star 2) Clear & Effective Communication and Collaboration 3) Knowledge of Agile Roles & Accountabilities 4) Becoming the ULTIMATE Communicator 5) Not Repeating the Same Mistakes How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/