Agile Mentors Podcast

In this special episode, Brian describes the upcoming Scrum Gathering in Denver, including the subject of his talks on the daily scrum and leadership styles.  The Scrum Gathering is happening in Denver on June 6-8, so in this podcast episode Brian discusses the conference and shares a preview of his two talks: one on the daily scrum and one on leadership styles.  In “Daily Scrums Suck: How I Killed the Daily Scrum and Replaced it with Something Even Better,” Brian shares his advice for making the most out of those 15-minute meetings. For his second talk, “The Opposite of Leadership: The George Costanza School of Agile Leadership,” Brian designed an interactive workshop to encourage you to turn your idea of leadership on its head to perhaps reveal a much better way to lead.  Listen now to discover:  02:33 - Daily Scrums Suck - a teaser about Brian’s first session 03:45 - The George Costanza School of Agile Leadership - details about Brian’s 75-minute workshop 08:33 - Why go to conferences? The value is often in the connections as much as the content 14:19 - If you have a Scrum Alliance certification, one conference can help you earn SEUs you need to renew 15:03 - How conferences can help you chart your next career steps 18:29 - The Coaching Clinics available at the event 19:25 - The Open Space - anyone attending can pitch a topic to talk about and Brian shares his tips for getting the best from this opportunity 21:38 - Introverted? So is Brian, but here’s how he survives a conference environment 24:55 - Planning to attend and want to meet Brian? Don’t hold back!  Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…  Join Brian Milner and Sherman Gomberg as they discuss the importance of the developer role within a Scrum team and why self-organizing teams are at the heart of agile methodology. References and resources mentioned in the show Global Scrum Gathering 2022 Brian’s Talk Descriptions George Costanza turns his life around by doing the opposite Want to get involved?  This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.  Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.  Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com  This episode’s presenter is:  Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.

Join Mike Cohn and Brian Milner as they discuss the Scrum Master role: its distinctions from project management, Scrum Master responsibilities for team success, and advice for new Scrum Masters. In this episode, Brian Milner talks with Mike Cohn about the Scrum Master role from the inception of its title to the role it plays in agile today.  Mike Cohn has trained more than 30,000 Scrum Masters and shares his experience of the challenges he faced early on helping project managers to transition to effective Scrum Masters.  Brian and Mike discuss the distinction and overlap between traditional project management styles and the servant-leadership role of the Scrum Master. They also talk about how responsible a Scrum Master should be for the success of the project and the success of a team.  Finally, Brian and Mike share the advice they would give to Scrum Masters who want to be valuable to any team and organization—including those looking to get their first job in this role.  Listen now to discover:  02:14 - Why the Scrum Master title was created to help people succeed in this position  04:54 - Job role, title, or accountabilities? Is one more important for defining someone’s position in a Scrum team?  07:41 - The key differences between a project manager and Scrum Master 08:43 - How responsible should a Scrum Master be for the success of a project?  13:21 - Facilitator or leader? How not to fade into the background 17:46 - How to deal with people in power who make bad agile decisions  22:06 - Continuous improvement doesn’t mean you should play it safe 26:34 - How do you know when you’re ready to break the rules to be a successful Scrum Master? 27:06 - No experience and looking for your first job? What to do (and not do) to improve your resume Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…  The product owner role with guest co-host Lance Dacy. You’ll learn what it takes to be a great product owner as well as common misunderstandings people have about the role.  References and resources mentioned in the show Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch Kaizen approach for continuous improvement Lyssa Adkins Coaching Stances Want to get involved?  This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.  Enjoyed what you heard today? Take a second to leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.  Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com  This episode’s presenters are:  Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.  Mike Cohn is co-founder of the Scrum Alliance, and founder of Mountain Goat Software. He’s a veteran of applying Scrum and agile principles and practices to help organizations build better products, and ship them on time. Show edited by Rhett Gill.

Agile expert Mike Cohn discusses succeeding with agile, choosing a framework, and breaking the rules. Topics include misconceptions about Scrum, importance of team decision-making, dangers of strictly following rules, and the evolving nature of Scrum. They also touch on the importance of culture in agile implementations, keys to success in transitioning to agile, and the significance of continual improvement.