There is a mountain of agile books out there, all waiting to be read. On the one hand that’s exciting and something to look forward to. On the other hand that can be overwhelming and discouraging. The following is a demonstration of utmost self-restraint on my part: The 5 or less books that I recommend… Continue reading Scrum Master Reading List – My Top 5

Today my twitter stream contained a most interesting article: Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? The article is long, but worth the read! Just in case you’re short on time or too exhausted, here’s a summary: Decisions are exhausting, even small ones Especially trade-offs, which are an advanced form of decisions Unfortunately decision fatigue doesn’t… Continue reading Decision Fatigue

Two weeks ago some colleagues and me took part in a seminar on “Removing Impediments / Change Management”. The main point we took away is that change is all about emotions: Each change invokes emotions – positive and negative ones. The positive are accepted, while the negative are unwanted and dismissed as resistance. But you… Continue reading 7 Stages of Emotional Dynamics during Change

When we introduced scrum we followed the conventional wisdom of having cross-functional teams with 7+/-2 members. While I’m still sold on “cross-functional”, I wouldn’t follow the 7+/-2 advice anymore. I’ve observed 5 +/- 1 as the sweet spot (dev team only; SM and PO are additional members). The big advantage is that communication and coordination… Continue reading Ideal (scrum) team size

Test-driven development has a lot to recommend itself: Testable code is usually well structured Specifying tests deepens the understanding of what the code is meant to achieve It makes sure tests are actually written, not omitted in the end (due to time constraints or “Why test? It works!”) Unfortunately it’s not as easy as it… Continue reading Useful links to start TDD / BDD

The title is not as contradictory as it may seem: Agile and scrum stress the need to be flexible, to change and adapt. But let’s not forget that there’s also merit in the steady, the regular, the predictable. Humans are creatures of habit and I’ve found that the chances of successfully changing behavior increase if… Continue reading Change through regularity

Two weeks ago I resigned as scrum master and will soon go back to just doing UX. Ironically I’m not resigning because I don’t care about agile anymore but rather that I care too much. .oO(Does that make sense to anyone but me?) Anyway, I’d like to share with you my vision of “scrum master-dom”,… Continue reading Scrum Master Creed

Big visible charts are a great way to convey information. The more visible something is, the less likely you are to forget or disregard it. This week we tried a new location, when we needed additional maintainers for a handful of systems: Right next to the rest rooms (the door slightly ajar is the Gents).… Continue reading Places for information radiators

[This is a follow-up of my post about three crucial books.] The title really says it all: If you want change, you have to take some sort of action, to make it happen. It won’t happen by itself, with you just sitting around hoping for it. Today that seems blatantly obvious to me, but it… Continue reading Want Change? Start with yourself!

[This is a follow-up to my post about three crucial books.] “I talked to him, about his lapse. But he had a valid reason. Just like last time.” Sounds familiar? Do you keep talking to someone about the same rule violations? Or worse, did you stop, because nothing ever changed? “Crucial Confrontations” suggests that you… Continue reading Talk About What Matters: Content, Pattern, Relationship