Read Part 1 here. Strong product owners can deliver incredible results. However, far too often, organizations don’t leverage the role of product owner to its fullest potential. This is a continuation of <part 1: eradicating these bad habits from the role of product owner.> We explored five a...
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As team leaders, we should always assume positive intent; however, I’ve recently encountered some terrible examples of product ownership run wild. And it started me thinking about the following: How fundamentally important the role of product owner is not only in Scrum, but also in agile teams. I...
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“The team just doesn’t have a sense of urgency.” Have you ever uttered those words? Or felt the frustration from this preconceived notion? Have you ever wondered why your teams aren’t performing to your expectations? You question whether they just lack passion or simply don...
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Giving feedback is one of the aspects I like most about agile methods. There’s this thing about it though — it’s not that easy to give effective feedback. Lately, I’ve heard agile team members start their feedback with the following statements: I don’t want to rain on your parade, but I do...
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In Jeff Sutherland’s bestselling book, Scrum – The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, he describes the beauty, simplicity, and discipline of Scrum. I often reference his book to prospective clients and customers when engaging with them. It’s a great read and describes “ho...
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A recruiting colleague of mine recently asked me the following question: Hey Bob, QQ–there seems to have been a huge downturn in the last year when it comes to dedicated Scrum Master positions in the area. In your opinion, do companies think that this role can be a shared responsibility now? I...
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I delivered a lightning keynote at the StarEast conference in May 2019. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s formatted as a 5-minute pitch on any topic you choose. I intentionally went into it without a predetermined talk of our team’s slides. I wanted to see what might inspire me before or duri...
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Perhaps it’s just me, but I’ve been indoctrinated into the Tuckman Model as THE view or model when it comes to team maturation and overall health. You all remember Tuckman, don’t you? He presented the following stages: Forming Storming Norming and Performing sometimes Adjourning that teams go ...
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We ran an experiment with the Vaco Agile, Raleigh team around delivering a webinar. We wanted to see if there would be interest. But we also wanted to learning how to do it and shake out our tools and processes. So, we planned on August 29th and October 2nd for the 2-part presentation. It turned [&h...
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When asked how feature work is prioritized, have you ever heard the response of: “You expect me to prioritize? Sure! Everything is number 1!!”. The participants in the room all laugh nervously, but it’s quite clear to all – every single feature is urgent and the very last thing they want to ...
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