Angelia White

When was the last time you asked what your client really needs? 🎯 Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches, it's easy to get caught up in our methodologies and sprint cycles, but are we aligning closely with our clients' current needs, or are we just assuming? Regularly asking "What do you need today?" can transform the way we deliver value. 🔄 Let’s shift our focus from assumption-based planning to client-centered actions. This not only enhances our agility but also strengthens client relationships. 🤝 Agile leaders, how often are we checking in with our clients to ensure we are truly meeting their needs? #AgileCoaching #ClientFocus #ScrumMasters

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Story points work…sometimes.   I've seen posts talking about how horrible story points are for agile teams…I’m confused by the whole discussion. Agile practices are tools to help drive business value and every organization, product, and team are different.   I've used story points and it helped. I've also removed story points and it helped. The decision to use story points should be based on improving team performance inside their unique context. Form100Consulting

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A Scrum Master Does What? I’m intentionally not sharing the full post here and I’m not at all faulting the company or my contact who’s seeking a person to fill this role - they’re just filling requirements from a client. I try my best not to be the agile guy shouting “That’s not Agile” and I’m not going to do so here. Look: if you want a scrum master to prioritize the backlog, I suppose that’s fine and your choice. However, I think this practice misses the point. Why would a scrum master prioritize a backlog? I think it’s a team responsibility, but if you’re using Scrum and you’re choosing a single Scrum role to do the prioritization, ISTM that role is the Product Owner. That said, a PO who prioritizes in a vacuum without engaging the team might lack some competence in the role.

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So, I recently ran a poll on mindfulness in agile teams, and guess what? It got a whopping TWO votes. Yep, you read that right. Two. Is mindfulness the new "pineapple on pizza" debate? Without mindfulness, are we just running around like headless chickens in an agile coop? So, here’s my challenge to you: Let’s bring mindfulness back into our agile practices. It’s not just about throughput and cycle times; it's about being present, reducing stress, and maybe even enjoying the process. Drop a comment or give this post a like if you agree (or disagree—hey, I’m all for a good debate!). #agile #Mindfulness #TeamBuilding #PineappleOnPizzaDebate

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Are you looking for a skill that can take your career to the next level? Look no further than facilitation! It's not just about running meetings; it's a way to help people achieve their goals and remove obstacles. Read more to find out how facilitation know-how can impact your role!

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Ever struggled to answer the question, "What do Scrum Masters do outside of Scrum events?" Try this simple 4 step approach to focus on clear goals and measurable improvements. It makes explaining your value as a Scrum Master a breeze! 1️⃣ Identify Challenges: What's holding your team back? Look at impediments, team issues, and stakeholder feedback. 2️⃣ Prioritize Ruthlessly: Not all problems are equal. Identify the 2-3 that will most significantly improve value, product delivery, or team effectiveness. 3️⃣ Experiment and Learn: Design a small experiment to address your top priority. What will you try & how will you observe whether or not it helped? 4️⃣ Repeat and Refine: This is ongoing! Regularly revisit your list, adjust priorities, and learn from your experiments. This approach showcases servant leadership at its finest. You're leading by example, using iterative learning – the same approach you want your team to embrace for product development.

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Two courses down, one to go. Hopefully, I can get the final one done this week. I am confident in applying SAFe while using my ScrumMaster and Product Owner knowledge and certifications in this setting. #scrummaster #productowner #scrum #agile #scaledagile #lean #less #kanban #it #software #digital

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To all the Next-Gen PMs out there, I cannot say enough about the value of investing in the NPPQ program offered by the Institute for Neuro & Behavioral Project Management. While the world is alight with the fast high-tech changes going on around us, we as PMs are trusted to remain the champions of the humanity behind projects and the value they bring to an evolving world. Explore the science behind being a human in a busy, technical world - and wow your teams! ⭐️Shout out to the NPPQ course team: Dr. Josh Ramirez, NPPQ, PMP, Shari De Baets, and Jodi Bull Wilson 🏆 #nextgenPM #successmatters

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#ACRSA2024 Scrum Alliance Part 2 One of the best parts about meeting other agile coaches is feeling like you're not alone in the battles you face and having elevated conversations regarding your craft and passion. My purpose for attending this year's retreat was to find new solutions to old problems...but instead I learned how to elevate the agile coaching toolkit and approaches through the topics that floated up to the top of our pitch list. Things for other agile practitioners to consider: The Art of Dot Voting Does dot voting really represent the consensus of a group? Are people gaming dot voting to avoid or guarantee preferences? Is there an emotional impact of voting when people's ideas consistently get docked for never or later...? Is there ranking, combine positive and negative voting, categorical voting or voting limitations and rules that can foster equality? Is there psychologically safety to vote honestly? The Aftermath of large Agile Transformations gone Wrong Change fatigue is real. Before we fix anything - how do we build trust? How can we make it comfortable for teams to unlearn something they just learned then learn it again but different? What baggage, bias and appreciation do we bring to conversations? How can we add value through different stances? How can we actively immerse ourselves in context? Do we focus enough on Being Agile not just Doing Agile? How can we ignite desire for change, learning and self-organisation? Value Stream Mapping ...is NOT a roadmap, a project plan or a re-organisational structure as the Value Pickles team will concur. Value Stream Mapping is what allows empirical validation of speed and efficiency. It's about systems thinking and flow. Agile but in it's simplest form Frank V had Alistair Cockburn's 'Heart of Agile' sticker on his laptop...a constant reminder that what we need to get right in any agile environment are the complex but simplest things. As Carol Dekkers puts it - "communication and humanity is the key to measurement, technology, project management and ... work." #agilecoach #agilethoughts #heartofagile #valuestreammapping #agiletransformation #dotvoting

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We still have quite a few seats open for our Dysfunction Mapping course on June 3-4. If you are seeking ways to make yourself more effective as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Team Leader (of any team), this class is for YOU! https://lnkd.in/gGFZFPGJ If you are looking for helpful classes that deliver SEU's and PDU's, this gives 8 of both! #Agile #Scrum #Dysfunction #DysfunctionMapping #Leadership #Training

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🚫 **Scrum Anti-Pattern Alert!** 🚫 🔄 When a ScrumMaster starts acting as a Project Manager, it undermines the principles of Scrum. Instead of fostering a self-organizing team, they end up micromanaging tasks and making decisions for the team. 🚫👩‍💼👨‍💼 🤝 The true role of a ScrumMaster is to serve the team, remove impediments, and facilitate collaboration. Let's empower our teams to self-manage and thrive! 🌟💪 📢 Remember: The strength of Scrum lies in its ability to create empowered, autonomous teams. Let’s stay true to the framework and avoid this common pitfall! 🚀 #ScrumMaster #Agile #Scrum #Leadership

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Join any of my upcoming #Scrum or #Kanban courses to learn Agile practices and techniques that help cross-functional teams evolve toward iterative & incremental delivery. Register here: https://lnkd.in/guePVSqg

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Can a "Big Bang" approach to Agile adoption work in practice? If you are a skeptic, you should listen to this episode (if not, then get some ideas from this story!) @laurensbonnema on the @scrumpodcast https://lnkd.in/grfPTxFf #agile #scrum #kanban #leadership @duarte_vasco

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Are you looking to drive continuous improvement within your team? Retrospective meetings might be the secret you’re missing! This week’s newsletter, "Secret Tip for Improvement: The Power of Retrospective Meetings!" dives into the value of retrospectives and how they can help your team reflect, grow, and improve after every project phase. Unlock your team’s potential with this simple yet powerful practice. Read on to learn how retrospectives can be the game-changer in your improvement journey! Click here to checkout our other newsletters-👇 https://bit.ly/KTNL1411 #secrettip #improvement #retrospective #retrospectivemeeting #tipforimprovement

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In this blog post from PST Matt Hodgson, learn why Scrum, often confined to the 'build' phase in traditional project frameworks, can be more effectively leveraged in a product-centric environment. https://ow.ly/kfvl50SScvM #SprintReview #Product #ProductMindset Matthew Hodgson

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