Do We Actually Need A Scrum Master?

In a class recently, a student asked a question that caught me by surprise. He asked if Scrum Master was a necessary role. If the team was fully engaged in approaching the work with an Agile mindset, inspecting, and adapting from one Sprint to the next both with respect to the deliverable AND the way they work together, AND they were self-organizing, then why would they need a Scrum Master? And, if management was imposing a Scrum Master on a team that was functioning this way, wouldn’t that indicate a lack to trust in the team?

These are good questions, and while we discussed the topic during class, I found myself returning to it over and over. What I love about this question is that even though I have an answer to it in my head, the asking the question challenged that. 

In this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by the person who asked the question, Kyle Macey, who works as a Senior Backend Engineer at Chow Now. And, because I wanted to do my best to keep my bias in check during the conversation, I asked a friend, Bjorn Jensen, if he’d be willing to lead the discussion. Bjorn and I volunteer for the Scrum Alliance TAC together. He’s not only a CST with a background in development, Bjorn has a level of openness and calmness that I only wish I could achieve.

drunkenpmradio · Do We Really Need A Scrum Master?

Contacting Kyle Macey

• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/itskylemacey
• Web: https://kylemacey.com/

Contacting Bjorn Jensen

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mirouhh
• Web: https://jensen-und-komplizen.de/
• Email: mail@jensen.coach

Responsibility Immersion with Christoper Avery, Henning Wolf, and Patricia Sappenfield

The Responsibility Process is a system that provides you with tools that enable you to develop leadership skills by leading yourself first. Christopher Avery is now offering a 20-week Responsibility Immersion program where a small group of individuals will work together to learn, and deepen their understanding and practice of The Responsibility Process.

This interview features the creator of The Responsibility Process, Christopher Avery, Henning Wolf who is an Accredited Responsibility Mentor and a Certified Responsibility Workshop Leader who leads Responsibility Immersions in Germany, and Patricia Sappenfield, who has recently been through Responsibility Immersion. During the conversation, we discuss what the Responsibility Process is, how Immersion works and how you can learn more about it in advance of the workshop to make sure it is right for you. 

This interview is being posted in advance of the September 2021 Responsibility Immersion which begins on September 8. For more information please go to: https://responsibility.com/immersion

An audio-only version can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/drunkenpmradio/responsibility-immersion-august-2021

Contact Info:

• Christopher Avery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopheravery/
• Henning Wolf: https://www.selbstfuehren.de
• Patricia Sappenfield: patricia_sappenfield@baylor.edu
• Dave Prior: https://drunkenpm.blogspot.com/

Tips For Engaging Big Consulting to Help You Prepare For Transformation w/ George Schlitz

When preparing to introduce a massive organizational change like Agile, many organizations take the approach of bringing in an outside company to figure out "how" to do it, and then a separate company to introduce the actual change. 

George Schlitz has spent a lot of time leading those implementation efforts. In this interview, he shares some of the lessons he’s learned about what a company can do to set itself up for success when they engage with the third party figuring out the “how” and also what a company can do to set itself up for the opposite of success.

Click here for the podcast

ProKanban with Colleen Johnson

 

My interview with ProKanban CEO, Colleen Johnson on creating ProKanban.org, the ProKanban Guide, and why ProKanban Certification is something you need to seriously consider as you deepen your skills in working with Agile. 

You can find the interview here.

And if you want to check out the Kanban Guide, you can find that here.

Knowing How to Measure Progress in Agile Transformation w/ Ross Beurmann

Ross Beurmann and I explore how to make sure you measure the right things to gain insights into how to improve your Agile Transformation. (And the impact measuring the wrong things can have on your agility to create lasting organizational change and deliver value for the company and your customer.)

The interview can be found here.

New Disciplined Agile Certifications from PMI with Scott Ambler

My interview with Disciplined Agile co-founder, Scott Ambler, on the new Agile Certifications being offered by the Project Management Institute.  We also discussed how things with Agile have evolved at PMI since it acquired Disciplined Agile and Alan Shalloway's FLEX in 2019.

You can find the interview here.

Flipping Options to Change Behavior w Braden Cundiff

Changing behavior is difficult. It doesn't matter if you are talking about change at an organizational or a personal level. Getting people to do things differently is a tall order.

In this episode of the podcast, Braden Cundiff joins me to talk about his new whitepaper  Flip: Archetonics of Project to Products and his model for creating lasting behavioral change.

You can find the interview here: https://bit.ly/3xbeMrV

Driving Change When You Don't Have Agency w/ Sinakka Waugh

Sinakka Waugh, the Founder of Your Clear Next Step and host of the Even Better Podcast joins my colleague Jeff Howey and me to talk through different tactics you can employ when trying to create change in an organization when you may not be empowered to do so. 

You can find the interview here

Understanding the Product Goal with Don McGreal

In my continuing quest to get sorted on the Product Goal I reached out to Don McGreal. Don is the VP of Learning Solutions at Improving, the co-Author of The Professional Product Owner book, the co-founder of TastyCupcakes.org, and a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer. 

The was one of the most impactful conversations I have had about Product Goal and it left me with not only a much deeper understanding of why it exists and how it can help, but how it is going to reshape the way I think about, and work with, the Product Backlog.

You can find the interview here.

The Value Management Office with Sanjiv Augustine

Sanjiv Augustine took a break from putting the finishing touches on his new book From PMO to VMO: Managing for Value Delivery to join me for an interview about Value Management Offices. During the interview, Sanjiv explains what a VMO is, how it is formed, how it works,  and why any organization working towards business agility needs one. 

He also offers a message of hope for the project managers who tend to look at Agile like the thing bringing an early end to their career.

You can find the interview here: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/69143/The-Value-Management-Office-with-Sanjiv-Augustine