What Capacity Check? — Making Your Scrum Work #23

TL; DR: Ignoring the Capacity Check during Sprint Planning

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, the Developers are ignoring a capacity check during the Sprint Planning, and as a result, the Scrum team creates a Sprint Goal that most likely cannot be accomplished.

Join me and delve into the effects of this trust-shattering practice in less than 80 seconds.

What Capacity Check? — Making Your Scrum Work #23 — Age-of-Product.com
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Maximizing Utilization, Ignoring Slack Time — Making Your Scrum Work #22

TL; DR: Maximizing Utilization as a Relic from the Industrial Management Past

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, what if the focus of the organization is on the maximizing utilization of the “workers” of the Scrum teams? What if the organization is still stuck deeply in industrial paradigm thinking, ignoring the benefits of slack time for the creation of value in the field of knowledge work?

Join me and delve into the effects of this outdated management principle in 60 seconds.

Maximizing Utilization, Ignoring Slack Time — Making Your Scrum Work #22 — Age-of-Product.com
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Overruling the Product Owner? — Making Your Scrum Work #21

TL; DR: Overruling the Product Owner

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, what if the stakeholders—who bring the budget that is funding your Scrum team—insist on calling the shots by overruling the Product Owner’s prerogative to define the composition and the ordering the Product Backlog? What if your stakeholders suffer from the “my budget, my feature” syndrome?

Join me and delve into the effects of overruling the Product Owner in less than 140 seconds.

Overruling the Product Owner? — Making Your Scrum Work #21 — Age-of-Product.com
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Scrum Questions: Seven Simple Issues and Complex Answers from LinkedIn Polls

TL; DR: Scrum Questions: Seven Simple Issues and Complex Answers

How hard can Scrum be; the manual has 13 pages? You may have heard something along this line from skeptics in the past, dismissing the complex nature of an intentionally incomplete framework. The point is that exciting discussions happen when you start digging a bit deeper. Supposedly simple Scrum questions often return a broad spectrum of answers, ideas, and opinions.

Therefore, for some months now, I have run polls on LinkedIn. The polls address topics like the implications of self-management, how the management or corporate hierarchy fits into the picture, and the relationship between Scrum and agile coaching.

Let me share some of the controversial findings and discussions with you. As always, there are no simple answers in complex environments.

Scrum Questions: Seven Simple Issues and Complex Answers from LinkedIn Polls — Age-of-Product.com
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Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19

TL; DR: Should Managers Attend Retrospectives?

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. A classic discussion is whether it is appropriate that (line) managers attend the Retrospectives of the Scrum team. Probably, making their attendance a regular habit—or even a requirement—is not a good idea. However, what about managers that occasionally attend a Retrospective? Moreover, what if the (line) manager is also a team member?

Join me and delve into the how and when of managers attending Retrospectives in less than two minutes.

Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19 — Age-of-Product.com
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Skipping Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #17

TL; DR: Skipping Retrospectives?

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. One area where Scrum’s nature of being intentionally incomplete causes issues regularly is whether Scrum teams shall stick to the event schedule even if the team’s life is uneventful? For example, is skipping Retrospectives okay?

Join me and delve into the consequences of skipping Retrospectives in less than 90 seconds.

Skipping Retrospectives — Making Your Scrum Work #17 – Age-of-Product.com
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