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Posts Tagged ‘scrummaster’

Changes for the Certified ScrumMaster Examination Process from the Scrum Alliance

News | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Jan 23 2012

Scrum Alliance CSM Examination is changing

In the past, the Certified ScrumMaster examination process has been relatively simple. If you answer all the questions, you are awarded the certification. You could answer every question incorrectly and still pass. That is about to change in April, 2012.

The Scrum Alliance is building credibility into the certification designation by modifying the standard of passing the exam. From April 2012 forward, the CSM’s will have to demonstrate a minimum level of knowledge and proficiency of Scrum/Agile methodologies.

I think this is good news for our industry. It takes our integrity up a level. We can’t imagine all doctors passing their exams simply because they answered questions. That would be crazy. While we are not doctors, we should expect high performance standards from our peers and colleagues who regulate our trade.

All of you who have taken the CSM exam previously, I am sure you answered all the questions brilliantly and contribute highly to your Scrum teams. To all of you who will take the exam after April 1, you know you will have earned your certification. All of us need to continue to move Scrum to the forefront of great development teams and beyond.

Any questions related to these changes should be directed to the Scrum Alliance.

 

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Break the Habit

Agile Pathways, Musing, Well Formed Teams | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Oct 31 2011

Want to ditch your Retrospective?  

Are Product Demos painful and shallow on the feedback?

This is what we hear from our Scrum teams over and over.  The Scrum framework is simple and elegant, but implementation can be complex.

Communication and learning are highly intertwined and as Scrum believers, we are compelled to do both at a high level.  We need to shape questions to drive the learning and to forge a path for the product development.  How can we ever gain robust, vital feedback without engagement of our audience?
  • Don’t abandon the Scrum ceremonies, re-frame them with robust and relevant questions that drive the learning.
  • Build better products by building better teams with awareness of communication patterns.
  • Navigate the pitfalls of stuck perspective by shifting team thinking.
  • Tell stories to illustrate a point or perspective.
Asking questions is risky business.  We have no control over the answer and we may not like the answer.  But as ScrumMasters, Product Owners, and developers, we must be fearless in our quest to drive greatness for our end users.   Here are some question examples to bring life to your next Scrum ceremony.  
Daily Scrum
  • What is frustrating you?
  • What new information has surfaced?
  • What skills do we need to finish the story?
  • What’s your gut reaction to _______?
Product Demo
  • What are your biggest dreams for this product?
  • What are the pros and cons to this product release?
  • We have run into a challenge and are seeking your input to solve it.
  • If we could take one risk with this product it would be_____.  What do you think?
These are solutions that will propel Scrum meeting into a higher level of engagement. Break the habit of the same old, same old Scrum meetings.  Learn to ask significant questions.  See where the questions will take you.

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One Scrum Team. Four Languages.

Musing, Well Formed Teams | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Aug 24 2011

Does it ever appear that your Scrum team members can express the same thought in  four different ways?

  • “Let’s knock this product out of the park!”
  • “If we can reach consensus, we can move to the next level.”
  • “The SOP will tell us what to do next.”
  • “To be efficient, we must eliminate the fluff and complete only what is absolutely necessary.”
Some of these languages are pleasant and palatable to us.  Others repel us like vinegar. Our challenge as Product Owners,  ScrumMasters and teammates is to peel the words and find value in the thought.  Let’s revisit the statements and reveal what the intent truly is.
“Let’s knock it out of the park.”  This person is a risk-taker and consistently pushes us to move from good to great.  They share information though experiences and action.  They learn by jumping in and doing.  If the doing is wrong, well, then they learned something!
“If we can reach consensus, we can move to the next level.”  Team community is the cornerstone value of this team member.  They truly embrace the well-formed team approach.  They are reflective, yet thrive in environments that are experiential.  Feelings about teams and the product are not to be discounted.  There is deep realization that teams produce better products when they work in harmony.
“The SOP will tell us what to do next.”  Structure and rule following drive this team member to do their best.  This person thinks in black and white, right or wrong.  They will strive to keep the team on the correct path.  As reflective, analytical thinkers, they speak with great precision and deliberation.
“To be efficient, we must eliminate the fluff and complete only what is absolutely necessary.”  This team member is built with pure efficiency in mind and they expect the team to follow suit.  They are active and analytical and it is a powerful combination. They get down to business and get it done. Executing the thing right trumps doing the right thing every time.
As ScrumMasters and team members, we must navigate the terrain of foreign languages everyday.  They may pop with our customers, our vendors, or with each other.  The sooner we understand the source of the language, the sooner we can find value in it.

Join us at 3Back to learn more team navigation skills with 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

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Scrum Meetings: Painful or Successful?

Agile Pathways, Musing, Well Formed Teams | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Aug 15 2011

 

 

 

 

You have a meeting at 3:00.  Are you looking forward with dread or anticipation?

Scrum meetings are a frequent and essential occurrence as we move through the Scrum framework.  As a team member, a Product Owner, or a ScrumMaster, we have an obligation to facilitate meetings that are engaging.  How to accomplish that??  It requires awareness and practice.

An engaging meeting. That sounds like a tall order.  Webster’s Dictionary defines engaging:  : to attract and hold by influence or power : to interlock with : to hold the attention of : to induce to participate.

I have been to many a product demo that is lack luster.  I have seen daily standups where team members leave asking, “what are we doing next?”,  and retrospectives that are dominated by one or two people. Meetings are a forum for learning.  Learning about the product, the requirements, or learning about the people involved in development.  To craft a successful meeting, we must shift our perspective.  We must view meetings as a opportunity and challenge to expand our ability to engage.

How are we going to accomplish this engagement?  By running a meeting that appeals to all learning styles and team members.  If we use the Learning Type Measure from 4MAT, we know the learning language that everyone speaks. Whether the ScrumMaster or Product Owner is directing the meeting, if a framework is followed, engagement will be embedded.

The first step is to answer the question Why?  Why are these features important, why do the stakeholders value something, why was this process selected?  Then we move to What?  What features have been built, what does the market research say, what are the advantages of the new development process?  How is the next question in the meeting format.  How will the features work in the real world, how can this be built with the resources available to us, how will we test the product in the market?  Finally, we need to know What if?  What if we shift our budget to finance the newest trend in the market place, what if we eliminate feature X for feature Y, what if we re-organize our priorities to meet the deadline?

A meeting framework grounded in good learning strategies will propel your team to a higher degree of effectiveness and achievement.  Want to learn more?  Join 3Back for our new course targeted at teams and meeting dynamics, 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

 

 

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I don’t like my teammates…

Musing, Well Formed Teams | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Aug 12 2011

You don’t have to like your team mates.  You don’t have to go to happy hour together or the office birthday parties with them. BUT this is what you do need.   You need an awareness of their differences and how those differences contribute greatly to a highly creative and productive learning machine:  a team.

Lori was on my team of four.  Lori drove me crazy…always pointing what details I missed, how she could have done better, and how our processes weren’t followed.  Hearing her voice on the phone caused me to roll my eyes and tighten my voice.  My answers were curt.  I kept Lori at arm’s length whenever possible.  And I sure didn’t sit by her at meetings.

As a ScrumMaster, my task was to nurture this team. I had us all take the Learning Type Measure from 4MAT.  Of our team of four, each of us had a strength in different quadrants.  We were a perfectly balanced team.  Kyle’s strengths were involving people in the decision making process and kept the team true to our values.  Jeremy was the best in organization, sticking to the rules and regs, keeping structure at the forefront.  Lori was operation and results orientated.  She preferred to work alone and was highly productive.  My strength was cheering the team on to new heights and evaluating what happened to make it bigger and better next time.

Armed with diagnosed learning styles of my team mates, I began to see Lori through a different lens.  No longer did I view her as an enemy or a thorn in my side.  I realized that I NEEDED her to shift my thinking, to ask different questions of the problems, and to complement my own strengths.  All those comments, that I thought were so nasty, were a manifestation of her learning style, not her opinion of me or my performance.

I never did become good friends with Lori.  But I did come to respect her opinions because they were different from my own.  Different is good.

To discover how to put your team’s learning preferences to work, join us in Minneapolis, MN for the launch of our newest course at 3Back, 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

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3Back Launches New Training: 4MAT® for Scrum Teams

News | Posted by The 3Back Team
Aug 09 2011

 PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

3Back Launches New Training:  4MAT® for Scrum Teams

ScrumMasters and their teams now can detect and maximize learning strengths to improve collaboration and build better client solutions.

Racine, WI August 10, 2011-

Today 3Back, a highly regarded Scrum consulting company, announced the newly developed training course, 4MAT® for Scrum Teams.  This course is the result of numerous requests across North America by ScrumMasters to build more effective teams in the workplace.

This is the first Scrum course designed to tap into the learning intelligence of the team engine.  The course will cover Scrum meeting effectiveness, maximizing creative tension, and how to manage team dynamics.  For a limited time, 3Back is offering a team special discount when your team of 3 or more registers for the course.  This is also an ideal workshop to bring on-site for your entire Scrum team.  The full course description can be viewed at: http://3back.com/scrum/4mat-learning-for-scrum-teams/

3Back has collaborated with 4MAT4Business to develop a team course specifically designed for Scrum environments.  4MAT4Business has worked with companies such as Merck Pharmaceuticals, Boeing, and 3M using the Learning Type Measure® assessment tool to build effective training and communication patterns in diverse and co-located environments.

 

About 3Back                                                                                                                                

3Back-logoFounded in 2004, 3Back is a Scrum management consulting and training company that assists organizations in North America to recognize the power of their teams.  Utilizing all aspects of agile product development, 3Back applies expertise through training, coaching, and consulting to develop pathways for improved proficiencies needed in today’s demanding business marketplace.   The diverse background of the 3Back team brings expertise in the pathways of Scrum, Agile, Lean, and PMBOK to all our engagements.

3Back Links:

Learn More About 3Back

Connect with 3Back on Facebook

Scrum Training Events

 

About 4MAT4Business                                                                                           

4MAT for Business Logo4MAT4Business is a consultancy group that delivers learning and performance solutions to businesses across the nation.  4MAT®, one of the most widely used training design formats in the world, has assisted Fortune 500 companies in improving meeting efficiency, enhancing communication, and building a sense of team.  By creating a common language through a learning assessment tool, 4MAT® is a model for effective communication across the organization resulting in improved team engagement with each other and with clients.  The ability of leaders to coach and nurture teams is sharpened through awareness of learning style preferences and diversity on the team using the 4MAT® model.

4MAT4Business Links:

Learn more about 4MAT4Business

4MAT Facebook

4MAT Event Calendar

###

Additional Information Contact

Brian Glatzel – VP of Marketing, 3Back
brian.glatzel@3back.com

704-621-6446

 

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When Your Strength is Your Weakness

Musing, Well Formed Teams | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Jul 07 2011

What is your strength?

Is is creating ideas?

Is it researching the latest and greatest data for a project?

Perhaps your strength is figuring out how the system is going to work in the real world.

Maybe your strength is bringing ‘good to great’ thinking to the latest product.

Whatever your strength may be, if it is a deep and strong attribute, it has potential to become your shadow or weakness. Think about a tree. The larger and stronger it becomes, the darker and deeper its shadow.  The same with people.  So, we need awareness when this is happening and strategies to minimize the negative.

Let’s talk about what that may look like in the real world.  If I am a strong, analytical thinker who reflects deeply on all decisions, what are the symptoms of my assets crossing the line into a weakness?  I may find myself commenting on every little detail of situations, projects or even the BBQ sauce on my friend’s sandwich!  Becoming paralyzed by analysis—never believing you have enough data and facts to make decisions—and to make the decisions correctly.

Or you may struggle getting things accomplished, producing results and implementation.  If the strength is fostering corporate culture and team relationships,  then processes, systems and planning may not be on my radar.  I may even be challenged with staying focused and choosing a plan to implement.  When the team asks for direction, you may reply with a dream or a vision for the future instead of a concrete game-plan that can be executed.

So, what to do about it? Awareness is the first step.  Listen to your team and your friends when they point out your habits and share their frustrations with your pattern of thought and conversation.  Ask for what they need from you and make a conscious effort to deliver what they ask for.  Seek out the viewpoint of teammates with the opposite strength.  Look for how their comments contrast and balance your own thought patterns.  Strive to blend the two to create a vibrant, relevant solution and pathway to success.

For more strategies to maximize team strengths, come learn with us at 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

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Teams: Meet Jake.

Development | Posted by liz.weatherhead
Jan 28 2011

Meet Jake.  At our small team daily stand-ups, Jake has more ideas than anyone else and he feels the need to share them all at every meeting. Although,  I must admit, Jake is the only team member who is concerned that everyone gets a chance to contribute.  Yet, at the large group meetings, he is reflective and quiet and is very intent on listening.   When he is asked a question, Jake takes a long time to respond.  Jake tries to be friends with everybody and sweet talks the boss, in my opinion.   Thriving on consensus, Jake needs to know all the opinions before we make any decision at all.  He takes everything personally!  The core ethical values of the organization are the rationale Jakes relies on  for drawing conclusions.  We must be in alignment with them!  He communicates well, but it’s feeling based, not grounded in best practices or expert thinking.  And team building is his absolute favorite.

Sound like a teammate of yours?  What I described is Jake’s learning style, how Jake prefers to take in and process new information.  Learning styles are often mis-labeled as personalities.  That is how learning can breed team conflict.  We see things as personal, not a function of brain-wired learning.

Let’s get back to Jake.  Jake is a reflective, feeling learner.  He functions more comfortably in small groups, and shows his deep need to be watchful and take it all in.  ”Sweet talking” the boss has no hidden agenda.  It’s Jake’s way of connecting and creating harmony, similar to Jake’s desire to reach consensus with team decisions. Team building is essential to build trust on a team, and Jake brings that voice to the table.  Trust is not a :touchy-feely” attribute, it is a mathmatically proven equation to produce better results in the business world.

As for Jake’s need to ground all things in feelings rather than fact…well, that is simply an example of effectiveness striving to balance efficiency.

Next blog, we will meet team members who are also reflective in communicating and learning.  However, they are trenched in the facts instead of the feelings.

If you are seeking skills to improve team interactions, join 3Back for our newest course, 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

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How do you keep your ScrumMaster certification active?

Scrum Questions | Posted by The 3Back Team
May 06 2010

Hi Joe ScrumMaster,

To keep your profile active you need to review the guidelines here.

http://www.scrumalliance.org/CSM

The Scrum Alliance has recently ascrummaster scrum master roledded/modified its existing program for CSP Certified Scrum Professional and you could look at applying for that if you have been using Scrum.

- Scrum Coach

On 04/30/10 10:05 PM, Joe ScrumMaster wrote:
——————–
Hello Scrum Coach,

I took your ScrumMaster course last May. What, if anything, do I need to do to keep my ScrumMaster certification active?

Thanks,
Joe Scrum Master

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Should Retrospective Notes be Publically Posted

Scrum Questions | Posted by The 3Back Team
May 05 2010

scrum questionsBelow is a conversation between Joe ScrumMaster and Scrum Coach.

——————————————————————–
On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 7:21 AM, Joe ScrumMaster wrote:
Hi Scrum Coach,
I have question for you regarding the Sprint Retrospective. Should the notes a ScrumMaster take during this meeting be publically posted for interested folks to read?
Thanks,
Joe Scrum Master

——————————————————————–

Hi Joe Scrum Master,
Good to hear from you.
I would be careful with this kind of information. Focus instead on what scrum goals came out of the team meeting. Sensitive conversations need to be handled gingerly. Some of them can blow up into an HR issue. If it were me I would like an opportunity to get better without being public-ally embarrassed. As long as you (ScrumMaster) see a movement to improve then let people improve with grace.
Focus on team goals and key learnings. It is not a data thing. We are dealing with a system of people and the message matters.
All of the observations a ScrumMaster might take should not be made public.
Hope that helps.
- Scrum Coach
Do you agree?

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