Select Page
CHOW #306 – Is my team improving?

CHOW #306 – Is my team improving?

Shashikanth is the manager of the scrum teams you are coaching for the last few months. He has been very helpful and enthusiastic about the Agile Transformation initiative. He has heard that scrum teams tend to show an increasing trend in their velocity, once they are...
Increasing trend in the team velocity – a myth?

Increasing trend in the team velocity – a myth?

In my experience increasing trend in the team velocity is rarely achieved and/or is difficult to know. This blog was an outcome of my reading the following statement which related with my experience. “While teams will tend to increase their velocity over time—and...
CHOW #289 – Backlog Refinement or bones of contention?

CHOW #289 – Backlog Refinement or bones of contention?

Shivani is the Scrum Master of for the Palomar team. She approaches you, the Agile coach, with a situation she is facing with the Backlog Refinement. Palomar team has scheduled regular Backlog Refinement meetings for couple hours on their Fridays. These are not...
Story points and making sense of the velocity

Story points and making sense of the velocity

Here is an interesting discussion between a Scrum Master, who is new in the role and the Agile Coach, sharing it as a blog to reach a wider audience and elicit different perspectives. The options shared are contextual and subjective and I know for sure there will be...
An apt approach for the Scrum Master

An apt approach for the Scrum Master

The Scrum Master (SM) has to ensure that the Team meets the delivery commitments on a sustained basis. For that the SM has to enable the team members to focus and perform. SM has to do this as a facilitative leader and not as a traditional directive leader. This is a...
CHOW #263 – Should we add a buffer to estimates? When?

CHOW #263 – Should we add a buffer to estimates? When?

Pratik is a new member in a Scrum team; he has come from another organization which had adopted Agile much before the current one. As a new member he is having a 1:1 catch up with all the other team members, this is to get familiar with the team, in these WFH times....
A story to help with sustaining focus

A story to help with sustaining focus

One of the challenges typically faced by the teams adopting scrum is not being able to focus on their work without interrupts. I was reminded of this by the recent blog from my colleague JV, where he mentions “Too many / too much time with Agile meetings”. Interrupts...
CHOW #245- Swarming in teams

CHOW #245- Swarming in teams

Ashok is the Scrum Master for the Black Hawks team. The team has completed the 5th Sprint with him as the Scrum Master and also the Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective. The team was not able to close a high priority story due to a technical impediment. The team is...
Insights from the traditional ways… Agile

Insights from the traditional ways… Agile

Today, in this blog, I share a story on a few steps that improved transparency in the team. Which in turn enhanced the ownership and collaboration. In my last blog tweaks in traditional approach… I shared how individual reflection is key to staying on the course...