10 Mistakes that (some) Managers Make
1. Putting Most of their Energy Into Avoiding Getting Blamed The main objective for some managers is to avoid getting blamed for a problem. The result is that they reduce transparency and that decision makers are not able to make rational decisions because the information that they get is misleading. This is a deep cultural […]
Using the Cartoon Story Board Technique in Retrospectives
Cartoon Story Board (also called Comic Story Board) is one of my favourite creativity techniques and it can be used to good effect in retrospectives. I have used it in the “setting the stage” phase of retrospectives to help a team to frame the key question to be tackled during the retrospective, and for helping […]
The Anatomy of a Release Retrospective
As Scrum practitioners, we are used to short and sharp retrospectives at the end of each Sprint. Sprint retrospectives, taking 1-2 hours, can yield valuable results, enabling the Scrum team to improve its process. Typically these retrospectives yield lots of ideas, which are then prioritised and only the top 2-3 are actually actioned. I If […]
Agile Central Europe in Krakow – Sustainable Scrum Transitions
The slides for my talk at AgileCE on sustainable Scrum transitions – “Making Scrum Stick” are available here. Many thanks to the organisers for a fantastic conference and to many people for the great discussions in person and via twitter.
Effective Chartering for Scrum Teams
The presentation from my talk with Jens Korte on team chartering at the March 2010 Scrum Gathering in Orlando is now available online at http://prezi.com/gc0m9zvmjb0q/. We enjoyed preparing and giving this talk very much. Thanks very much to the people who attended and for the interesting questions and discussion, all of which contributed to the […]
Leuchtfeuer entzünden: Einführung von Scrum bei der Allianz Deutschland AG
An article, co-written by ScrumCenter founders Christoph Mathis and Simon Roberts, describing the Scrum transition at Allianz Deutschland AG, is now available for free download thanks to an agreement with SIGS-DATACOM GmbH. The article, co-written by Gerhard Hastreiter (Allianz Deutschland AG), Chistoph Mathis (ScrumCenter GmbH) and Simon Roberts (ScrumCenter GmbH), first appeared in the January […]
Brain-writing Retrospectives
There are many techniques that can be applied during Scrum retrospectives. The excellent book “Agile Retrospectives” by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen has several suggestions. As a Scrum coach I try to keep retrospectives fresh and interesting by using different techniques and I regularly dip into this book for inspiration. One of the simplest retrospective […]