If you hang out in the “Agile” bubble on LinkedIn, the dice have already been cast: Scrum is out (and the Scrum Master), and the new kid on the block is [insert your preferred successor framework choice here.] I’m not entirely certain about that, but several data points on my side suggest a decline in the role of the Scrum Master.
Read on and learn more about whether the Scrum Master is a role at risk.
Why might leaders turn to the Product Operating Model (POM) after a previous Agile transformation, for example, based on SAFe, failed?
This article uncovers the psychological, organizational, and strategic reasons behind this seeming contradiction, exploring what motivates leaders to believe that a new approach will succeed where others have not.
The purpose of this anonymous Scrum Master salary report is to create a clear, data-backed benchmark that allows everyone in the Agile community to understand whether their compensation is adequate. The report will cover Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches, both employed and freelancing.
The goal is to have at least 1,000 replies by the end of December 2024 to create the report in time for February 2025. The report will be available for free.
📈 Join the Anonymous Poll for the Upcoming Free Scrum Master Salary Report 2025.
We’re thrilled to announce that the virtual Hands-on Agile 2025 is officially on the horizon and will be free to attend from February 4-6, 2025. This time, we will focus on how Agile needs to evolve from concept-based agility to context-based agility.
But before we discuss what that means, let’s take a step back and consider why Hands-on Agile 2025 is going to be a can’t-miss event for everyone in the agile community.
For those unfamiliar, Hands-on Agile isn’t just another conference. It’s an event built around the Barcamp model, meaning it’s a self-organized, community-driven gathering with one goal: Sharing knowledge and experiences.
From February 4 to 6, 2025, we will spend three energizing days engaging in sessions, practicing agile games, sharing war stories, and learning directly from each other. Hands-on Agile is all about creating a space for practitioners, coaches, leaders, and newcomers to connect in a truly hands-on way.
Are you facing challenges in aligning vision, stakeholders, and your team and delivering real value? Then, prepare to transform your career with my comprehensive, self-paced online class: The Advanced Product Backlog Management Course.
Dive deep into professional Product Backlog management techniques supported by videos, exercises, and an engaging online community of like-minded peers supporting each other:
👉 Transform Your Skills, Transform Your Career — all for an Introductory Price of $99!
Please note:
Are you considering a new Scrum Master or Agile Coach job? However, you are not sure that it is the right organization? Don’t worry; there are four steps of proactive research to identify suitable employers or clients for getting hired as a Scrum Master and avoid disappointment later.
I have used those four steps for years to identify organizations I would like to work with, and they never failed me. Read on and learn how to employ search engines, LinkedIn’s people search, reach out to peers in the agile community, and analyze the event markets in the quest for your next Scrum Master job.
ChatGPT can be an excellent tool for those who know how to create prompts. The simplest form of prompting ChatGPT is to feed it the task and ask for results. However, this approach is unlikely to trigger the best response from the model.
Instead, invest more time in prompt engineering, and provide ChatGPT with a better context of the situation, desired outcomes, data, constraints, etc. The following article offers a primer to creating ChatGPT prompts for Scrum practitioners to get you started running. You will learn:
In this comprehensive Scrum Master Interview guide, we delve into 83 critical questions that can help distinguish genuine Scrum Masters from pretenders during interviews. We designed this selection to evaluate the candidates’ theoretical knowledge, practical experience, and ability to apply general Scrum and “Agile “principles effectively in real-world scenarios—as outlined in the Scrum Guide or the Agile Manifesto. Ideal for hiring managers, HR professionals, and future Scrum teammates, this guide provides a toolkit to ensure that your next Scrum Master hire is truly qualified, enhancing your team’s agility and productivity.
If you are a Scrum Master currently looking for a new position, please check out the “Preparing for Your Scrum Master Interview as a Candidate” section below.
So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 25,000 times.
If you are looking to fill a position for a Product Owner in your organization, you may find the following 82 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my sixteen years of practical experience with XP and Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master and interviewing dozens of Product Owner candidates on behalf of my clients.
So far, this Product Owner interview guide has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.
Age-of-Product.com’s parent company — Berlin Product People GmbH — offers Scrum training classes authorized by Scrum.org, Liberating Structures workshops, and hybrid training of Professional Scrum and Liberating Structures. The training classes are offered both in English and German.
Check out the upcoming timetable of training classes, workshops, meetups, and other events below and join your peers.
Welcome to the 474th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,8883 peers. This week, John Cutler examines the tension between adhocracies and bureaucracies in tech, while Miljan Bajić uses Kuhn’s paradigm shift theory to frame the transition from Waterfall to true agility. Christoph Roser warns against “Dark Lean,” where cost-centric misuse of lean practices undermines safety and respect. Maarten Dalmijn highlights the importance of simplicity and emergence in navigating uncertainty, and John Rauser champions probabilistic thinking and adaptive systems for large-scale software delivery success. Also, we consider whether “pure Scrum” is actually applicable.
Next, Richard Mironov emphasizes the need for product managers to tailor communication to diverse audiences, aligning with stakeholder needs. Pavel Samsonov highlights the pitfalls of focusing on product problems over customer needs, advocating outcome-driven planning. Aakash Gupta shares strategies for proactive product quality, including pre-mortems, lifecycle planning, user testing, and robust monitoring to build trust and avoid reactive issues.
Lastly, Gergely Orosz and Sean Goedecke discuss navigating Big Tech projects, blending technical expertise with management savvy, and Jason Yip challenges traditional productivity metrics, focusing on value and impact. Tejas Kumar introduces the TJS Collaboration Model to foster meaningful professional relationships, while Madeleine Wyatt explores navigating office politics with integrity to build authentic and effective connections.
Can you rely on pure Scrum to transform your organization and deliver value? Not always. While Scrum excels in simplicity and flexibility, applying it “out of the box” often falls short in corporate contexts due to limitations in product discovery, scaling, and portfolio management.
This article explores the conditions under which pure Scrum thrives, the organizational DNA required to support it, and practical scenarios where it works best—along with a candid look at where it struggles. Discover whether pure Scrum is a realistic approach for your team and how thoughtful adaptation can unlock its true potential.
Welcome to the 473rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,878 peers. This week, Santiago Comella-Dorda and co-authors share data-driven strategies for effective product teams, while Jurgen Appelo critiques Agile’s commodification, advocating fresh paradigms. Simon Powers reflects on Agile’s relevance amidst leadership fatigue and AI’s rise, and Donna Spencer and Murray Robinson discuss organizational politics with John Cutler. Also, Martin Lohmann and Jorgen Krabbe’s case study on Alm Brand highlights lessons from descaling 25 Scrum teams, emphasizing role clarity, iterative change, and balancing simplicity with structure.
Next, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Seth Godin on crafting remarkable products, building trust through branding, and leveraging viral strategies. Aakash Gupta hosts Melissa Perri to explore strategic leadership, continuous discovery, and balancing user and business goals, and Eira Hayward analyzes 2024 product manager salaries, highlighting regional and industry trends amidst a challenging market. Moreover, Alexander Hipp underscores the value of aligning work with company goals to turn busywork into impactful progress.
Lastly, Dennis Hambeukers critiques the Double Diamond design model, emphasizing the need for adaptability in managing resistance. Teresa Torres provides strategies for tackling inherited backlogs, balancing historical value with forward-looking priorities, while Nilam Ganenthiran reflects on solving startup challenges through “code-yellow” crises, promoting focus and urgency over perfection. Finally, Gaurav Vohra introduces the Unfair Advantages Framework, helping startups craft marketing strategies by leveraging unique strengths and customer insights for unbeatable momentum.
Join Fabrice Bernhard on how the “Lean Tech Manifesto” solves the challenge of scaling Agile for large organizations and enhances innovation and team autonomy. (The recording is in English.)
📺 Watch the video now: The Lean Tech Manifesto with Fabrice Bernhard — Hands-on Agile #65.
Welcome to the 472nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,871 peers. This week, Andy Cleff shares a team dynamics guide for fostering team harmony and growth, while Jeff Sutherland predicts an AI-driven Agile future where adaptability is essential. Maarten Dalmijn challenges Scrum evangelism to promote pragmatic expertise, Pim de Morree spotlights Bayer’s shift to self-management, and we dissect leadership anti-patterns that undermine product team empowerment.
Next, James Hawkins highlights PostHog’s engineer-product manager collaboration model, while Aakash Gupta interviews Thibault Louis-Lucas on breaking product norms for SaaS success. Jonny Longden advocates dynamic resourcing to drive innovation, and Christina Wodtke emphasizes continuous reflection across product lifecycles to balance growth, adaptability, and sustainable success.
Lastly, Jeffrey Fredrick and Douglas Squirrel explore extreme constraints as a driver of innovation, while Will Larson delves into Wardley Mapping for engineering strategy. Ben Popper and Eran Yahav examine AI coding tools’ benefits and risks, Iccha Sethi links engineering metrics to business outcomes, and Benedict Evans presents 2025’s tech trend: “AI Eats the World.”
