Agile and Scrum - Frequently Asked Questions

Scrum Master Certification Sample Questions And Answers

Acing problem solving - A3 thinking and Popcorn Flow -@agilesensei

(@agilesensei) What if people discovered how to develop insanely good habits of thinking, learned how to prevent and eradicate problems, and managed to systematically bring to the surface not only what they accomplished, but also what they learned as they did it?  Well, here's how they can do it. An approach to coaching where mentors challenge a problem solver’s line of thought using quick coaching cycles.

Changing people perception and unlock innovation - The Power of Reframing

Reframing is about deciding to look at our thoughts from a different perspective. It’s about understanding something in another way. It’s only the way we say things, its also the way we see, think or  imagine things. Being able to think about things in a variety of ways builds a spectrum of understanding and lead to verity of solutions and options. Mastering the ability to reframe problems is an important tool for increasing your imagination because it unlocks a vast array of solutions.  It opens us (and others) up.

Are they selling you “Agile” tools or individuals and interaction?

How many "agile" companies want to only sell you a tool? How many consultants want to sell you a process? There's nothing wrong with tools and processes as long as you understand that Processes and tools fits only with Individuals and interactions otherwise you are in the path of destruction. The trouble is that process and tools gets all the press because they are more tangible and easier to describe. 

In this new agile world, producing software requires us to be social. And that’s not something that’s going away even if we have the best tools and the best process intact.

It's Mine! Helping Team Members Own Thier Tasks

What to do if some people in the team just don't want to take a task? Or when the entire team don’t feel accountable for the hole delivery package?   "  People duck responsibility for reasons ranging from simple laziness or a fear of failure, through to a sense of feeling overwhelmed by the scale of a problem or a situation.

Whatever the reason, if people fail to take responsibility, they'll fail in their jobs, they'll fail their teams, and they'll fail to grow as individuals. All of this makes it important to address the issue." How do we do this in agile teams?

Hello. Goodbye. Epidemic. – How to dela with the shocking high rates of new hires fail

Hiring someone who cannot deliver your expected results or outcomes – is a failure. The rates of fail hires are shocking and yet, year after year we keep on doing the same mistakes achieving the same results and even worth. You will NOT accept this failure rate in any other area of your business – why do you accept it when it comes to hiring?

What are those rates and what can we do about it? 

Why Kanban and DevOps are such a good fit?

The Kanban software development methodology is getting a lot of attention as of late, particularly for its ability to enable DevOps. This Kanban board concept is not just for the engineers, it is for everyone to see where work is performed and its status. It holds a powerful ability to analyze processes, find waste and make small enhancements to eliminate or reduce that waste. By slowly and gradually ameliorating elements of the process we are able to achieve significant improvements in the quality, costs and timing of our work.

What are the soft skills of a good scrum master?

There certainly are many more soft skills that a ScrumMaster can benefit from. A scrum master is not a title of someone that knows the Scrum rules and practices back to front. This title should be granted only to those who genuinely hold the soft skills needed.

Using Argument Mapping

An argument map is a visual representation of the structure of an argument. Its a great way to outline and develop your  critical thinkingand looking at both sides objectively. It is something we all need a little help with sometimes.

Can our online relationships hold a real socialization benefits?

Some say that online interaction misses the essential quality of “real” human relationships. As far as those people who actually understand the Internet are concerned, this is not true. It’s not true for gaming, personal relations , coaching  and even therapy.  But, its real for the good and for the bad in it.

“We really need to stop questioning whether or not these online connections are real and, instead, start realizing how we can more effectively integrate our physical needs with our cognitive and emotional desires.”

Top signs that you are going to kill your startup. (And how to avoid them)

You think you know it all? Just because you had a good idea and someone decided it worth their money does not mean you are going to make it.  You can kill your startup at any moment now. Here are those things that might kill your startup.

Scrum master 101 - Top tips for scrum masters

"I've taken a CSM class, now what? And later on what?" Here are the top tips for scrum masters as presented by the top experts.

“On many long journeys have I gone. And waited, too, for others to return from journeys of their own. Some return; some are broken; some come back so different only their names remain.”

–YODA, Dark Rendezvous

Why Start With Why?

Simon O. Sinek is an author best known for popularizing the concept of "the golden circle" and to "Start With Why", described by TED as "a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership". Inspiring talks collection here.

Have you ever wonder why do we always want more?

Have you ever wonders why we always want more? More money, employees,  more enjoyment , more friendships, more work , more talent …  More … and more…as human beings we’re pretty much always caught up with wanting stuff. Are people ever satisfied that what they have is enough? Are they ever at peace with where they are in their journey in life? What is going on here?

Finally- Being able to Successfully deal with a rapidly changing environment.

Change (and adapting to it) needs to become an ingrained habit and this is a simple way to do so with any coaching technique.

Coaching is becoming widely acknowledged and people realize just how effective it can be.

Coaches use various types of tools and methods for life coaching, personal coaching, career coaching and many more…after all, Coaching is about getting the very best out of someone and enabling them to make decisions that will improve their life.

Our new Agile Coaching Book the ‘The Agile/Lean Coaching Booster’ 

This book is a tool, a booster to use with all of these different coaching methods. It's  a booster for coaching results, to allow every coach in every  field and level of coaching, to take the coaching to a new level, suitable for dealing with a rapidly changing environment.

Agile Coaching Booster

The world around us is changing, and fast. It is becoming more and more complicated and the pace of technological change is one of the highest in recorded history. Naturally, this new reality creates new challenges. The goals that we want to achieve, for example, can be ever-changing – and therefore seem unachievable. 

To face these challenges, we need strategies that will help us regain a feeling of control over our goals, and help us reach them. We need ideas that will enable us grow and flourish, while at the same time help us face the uncertainties of change. 

The need to develop new strategies and ideas, and adapt to changes, is at the heart of many coaching processes. Why? Because as coaches, we recognize our coachees' universal need to deal with change. They need to understand what needs to be changed, and they need to learn how to both preserve their newfound behavior so that it doesn't dissipate within a week or two, and how to easily change again when needed. 

Based on Lean and Agile methods, our Agile\Lean Coaching Booster teaches people how to see change as a habit, and embrace change as a way of life. This book will help people leave their comfort zone, turn dealing with new changes into a habit, and help them change our their habits effectively and quickly, all while demonstrating how it can be repeated in the future.

Lean and Agile methods boost productivity, promote innovation and have been tested (and proven) in real-life situations. They have achieved better results than any other method so far. The Booster also introduces a framework that helps you coach easier, working together with your coachees towards the goals they have developed themselves. 

The Booster is written to be simple and intuitive, showing you how to simplify the complex environment of change in which we live. This makes it easier for us to set goals and establish a vision, as well as cope with changes. 

It's not that the questions we ask, as coaches, are not suitable anymore; it's not that the goals and value we help the customer realize have lost their relevance; it’s the way we manage the flow that leads to achieving these goals that has become unsuitable for rapidly changing environments.

Anyone can use it, anyone can take the framework suggested, follow a few simple principles and apply it to any kind of coaching method.

This book was written out of our experience as Agile coaches, dealing with rapidly changing environments. All we did is merely collect these amazing tools and present them here for your use.

Enjoy :)

An x-ray into the inner workings of an organization - The ONA

Appropriate connectivity in networks within organizations can have a substantial impact on performance, learning, and innovation, and benefits also accrue from well-connected networks between organizations.  The formal organization structure, does not really matter, it's the network that does the work. Seemingly invisible webs have become central to performance and strategy execution.  ONA provides leaders with an understanding of the “as is” network structure of their organization. They reveal how work is actually getting done across teams and teaming levels. Here's how we can use them:

Employee and Organization Loyalty – who's loyal to who these days (If at all)?

The nature of the relationship between employers and employees has undergone a fundamental shift: Your best workers are likely to show more loyalty to their careers than the company. On the other hand employees realized that their company was not as loyal to them as they had been to the company. “There is less a sense that your organization is going to look after you in the way that it used to — which would lead you to expect a reduction in loyalty as well.”

Why is that?  and why anew balance needs to be created? What will be this new balance?