In today’s blog, I’m taking a hard stance on something that is more common than it should be, which is carry over from one iteration to the next.  Sprint carry over occurs when work is not finished in the iteration where it was planned. Some may not see carry over as a reason for concern, thinking that it will get done at some point so the when doesn’t really matter. But in reality, carry over can have some real negative consequences and be a sign of some hidden problems. So, let’s look into why sprint carry over is a problem, what it is signaling for us, and also how to fix it so it do ..read more

Looking for a job as an agile coach or a scrum master this year?   I know it might feel like it became harder than ever to get this kind of job. And you’d be right, it did become harder!  But, you’ve come to the right place, friend. Not only am I a professional agile coach, but I also run a private coaching practice, and half of my 1:1 beautiful, successful clients happen to be leaders in the agile space. And I have a ton of insights to share with you to help you learn how to get a get a job as a scrum master or agile coach. Including a mini-guide on getting the most out of yo ..read more

What are the roles and responsibilities of a Scrum Master? Let’s look at your dreams and wishes vs what companies are really asking for. You may be in for a surprise! In today’s blog, we will look at a few job postings to discover what companies are really looking for when they say they want a scrum master. Then we will uncover the patterns across those postings, as well as a few lessons to take away. If you’d rather watch a video than read, you can check out my Youtube video on this topic:  Scrum Master Job Postings Let’s take a look at some postings. You can find them on all major j ..read more

  Are we witnessing the end of Scrum? Between blogs and social media posts, this seems to be a common question. But not that long ago, I saw a similar trend with Agile. I don’t buy it, but it’s worth a conversation to examine where these thoughts come from and where they can lead us. So, let’s explore why Scrum seems to be falling out of favor and what the future of Scrum might look like.  If you’d rather watch a video than read, check out my Youtube video on this topic: First, a brief history of Scrum Scrum isn’t new. It started in the 1990s, so it’s been around a while. I per ..read more

Agile teams do not need hardening sprints and in fact, they should be discouraged to use this approach. Many agile teams, specifically in software development, will use hardening sprints as the moment where technical debt is dealt with, where work to prepare a release is finally done, and integration of code inter-teams get addressed and tested and fixed. That was also common in the SAFe adoption, so it belonged to a framework that many companies followed. Hardening sprints, however, are not only unnecessary, they can be harmful as this can become the dumping ground of tidying up what should ..read more

This is not a bleak post nor a cautionary tale. Most Scrum Master jobs are a lie. Many times unintentionally. But still. This is about you being happy and part of happiness is awareness. Most aspiring or beginner Scrum Masters may think the most difficult part is getting the job. But the reality is that you will fail if you consider the Scrum dream versus the Scrum reality of most organizations. There are very few actual Scrum Master jobs out there. In this post I’m going to explore with you some of those less-than-ideal scenarios where the dream of being hired as a Scrum Master turns a bit so ..read more

I have seen a number of interesting confusions going on with these terms recently as far as agile and scrum go: people asking if something is “Agile” or “Scrum”. Job positions asking for “agile scrum masters”, which show that some people think you can do scrum without being agile. Then it occurred to me: how about explaining what’s the difference between Scrum and Agile. So in this blog post I want to quickly cover the important differences as far as Scrum and Agile for you to never be confused again. I will address many questions I got from beginners in the community. If you are in a hurry, j ..read more

As you might have gotten already from this post I believe every Scrum Master should learn agile coaching skills. When I say that I’m never met with bland reactions. It’s always enthusiasm or outrage. Enthusiasm because people see a light in the end of the tunnel of the tight box of scrum mastering. Outrage because many believe this is obvious and in fact they get bothered by my saying that it needs spelling out. And let me tell you: it needs spelling out. Every scrum master should learn agile coaching skills if they want to be effective at helping teams and organizations succeed with Agile ..read more

If you are considering becoming an Agile Coach or maybe a Scrum Master, you might be thinking about taking a certification. But are agile certifications friend or foe? Should you take any agile certification? Do you really have to? In this post I’m going to take you on a candid ride on the reasons why or why not take agile certifications and then I will walk you through some of the ones that are common for now. Disclaimer: this will be a long post. I’m weighing in opinions and pros and cons. But I do get it, you might be in a hurry. So here’s the structure if you want to jump to a specific se ..read more

“What’s the difference between Agile Coach and Scrum Master?” I get asked this question quite often and that’s when I realized how not obvious the distinction is. Having been a Scrum Master myself and eventually transitioned to Agile Coaching, I guess I see crystal clear the delineation mostly because of my experience in the flesh, which is not something everybody will necessarily experience. I’ll do my best to illustrate what’s the difference between Agile Coach and Scrum Master roles. I myself discovered Agile coaching in 2013, when I was an average Scrum Master, dissatisfied with my abili ..read more