Stefan Wolpers

Scrum Master Interview Questions (4): From Agile Metrics to Scrum Kick-off to Scrum Anti-Patterns

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-03-22 Agile and Scrum

TL; DR: Scrum Master Interview Questions (4)

Some time ago, someone on Reddit asked whether there would be any other profession that requires attending a 2-day training class and would then pay as well as a Scrum Master job. This attitude is precisely why the 47 Scrum Master Interview Guide exists: Prevent imposters from slipping through the hiring process and causing damage.

If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 47 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my fourteen years of practical experience with XP as well as Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master as well as interviewing dozens of Scrum Master candidates on behalf of my clients.

So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 19,000 times.

Scrum Master Interview Questions (4): From Agile Metrics to Scrum Kick-off to Scrum Anti-Patterns — Age-of-Product.com

🏆 The Agile Camp Berlin Best Session Award

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-03-20 Agile and ScrumNews

The Virtual Agile Camp Berlin Best Session Award

Host the best session on the virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 and win a seat in a Professional Scrum Class and other prizes w/ the ACB21 Best Session Award.

🏆 Introducing the ACB21 Best Session Award — Agile Camp Berlin, May 27-29, 2021

Food for Agile Thought #284: Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Estimating Complexity, Dangers of Groupthink, Healthy Goals

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-03-19 News

TL; DR: Estimating Complexity, Healthy Goals—Food for Agile Thought #284

Welcome to the 284th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,648 peers. This week, we learn how to excel in the dark art of ‘estimating’ in general and estimating complexity in particular. We enjoy a conversation on imposter syndrome, deciding under uncertainty, psychological safety, and the Dunning-Kruger effect, and we point at the disadvantages of group work, how to spot if those are taking hold of your group, and how to counter resulting anti-patterns.

We then suggest steps to improve stakeholder engagement with Sprint Reviews and overcome typical anti-patterns, and we dive into AirBnB’s product culture, ranging from storytelling and the Disney influence to experimentation guardrails to what makes a product manager thrive there. Moreover, we explore a product design process leading from ‘I have no clue what to do’ to ‘we should do this,’ using the Circles method to make final recommendations.

Lastly, we embrace the idea that no amount of RACI, SMART, INVEST, OKRs, OGSM, or any other framework designed to create meaningful goals could outweigh proper team support by the leadership. Speaking of OKRs, we also ask: Can OKRs and JTBD co-exist?

Food for Agile Thought #284: Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Estimating Complexity, Dangers of Groupthink, Healthy Goals — Age-of-Product.com

Product Backlog Anti-Patterns Q&A

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-03-15 Agile and Scrum

TL; DR: Product Backlog Anti-Patterns Q&A

A few weeks, Scrum.org hosted a webinar on Product Backlog anti-patterns with me, which left several questions unanswered as we ran out of time. Hence please find following my answers to the additional 18 questions I could not answer during the webinar Product Backlog anti-patterns Q&A session.

Making Your Scrum Work: Product Backlog Anti-Patterns Q&A — Age-of-Product.com

📅 🖥 Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — May 27-29, 2021

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-03-14 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: The vACB21’s Schedule, Session Proposals, Technology, and Workshops

The Agile Camp Berlin 2021 will be a virtual event from May 27-29, 2021.

We will spend three energizing days from 1 pm to 7 pm CEST at a live virtual Barcamp using open space technology principles and practices. The general conference language is English; sessions in other languages are welcome!

📅 🖥 Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — May 27-29, 2021 — vACB21 — Hosted by Berlin Product People GmbH

Read on and learn about the organization of the virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021, its preliminary schedule, from your session proposals to session planning to the essential technology to enjoy the best possible experience.

Food for Agile Thought #283: Is Agile a Trojan Horse, Culture & Methods Trends 2021, Product Strategy Stack, Metrics of Transformations

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-03-12 News

TL; DR: Is Agile a Trojan Horse, Product Strategy Stack—Food for Agile Thought #283

Welcome to the 283rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,593 peers. This week, we ask: Is Agile a Trojan Horse for change? We also enjoy the March 2021 edition of the Culture & Methods Trends Report, learning that COVID-19 was the biggest driver of culture change and that there are dramatic differences between good and bad remote work cultures. Moreover, we introduce a framework on strategic interventions when coaching agile teams.

We then introduce a product strategy stack, including product leadership experiences from Tinder, Facebook, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb. We summarize suggestions on setting practical Product Goals, and we discover an approach to Design Sprints that reduces its original time requirement from five days by 50 percent without sacrificing the outcome’s quality.

Lastly, we address wheel-spinning during transformations and how to overcome transformation theater and start delivering more value faster.