The document provides 5 tips for improving agility when using scrum:
1. Retrospectives are essential for improving processes by allowing teams to be transparent, inspect issues, and adapt to solve problems and tackle root causes rather than just symptoms.
2. Teams must trust each other by giving new members responsibilities and learning from experienced colleagues.
3. An effective scrum master builds a self-organizing, independent team by coaching rather than being needed.
4. Devices should be avoided in meetings to encourage participation, understanding different viewpoints, and focus on discussions.
5. Daily stand-ups should be brief updates rather than explanations, on time, standing up, and include a follow-up "par
4. Scrum – theory and practice
• Easy to understand difficult to master and
implement
• Simpler hierarchy, team managing itself,
constant change, estimation points…
• Practice and theory often misalign
6. “…Important thing to note at Sprint
Retrospectives is not to deal with the
symptoms of the problems you are
having, but rather root causes, and to
make sure your team has the action
plan to tackle the issues identified
during the Retrospectives…”
7. Sprint Retrospective – you DO NOT want to skip
it.
Retrospectives
are essential to
improving your
overall processes.
Retrospectives also help
build bond between team
members.
Be transparent, inspect the issue, adapt
and solve it. Draw value out of
retrospectives.
Tackle root causes, not
symptoms. Make a plan to
solve the issues.
”I LIKE”/ ”I WISH” approach. Use positivism
even when pointing out to a negative trend.
9. Build trust within your team
A team that trusts is a
team that triumphs.
If you build trust well, you build
software well.
• In scrum, teams are self-organizing and cross-
functional. Build them as such.
• Encourage new team members to
review pull requests, let them do
presentations on Sprint reviews.
• Use seniority in your team as an opportunity for a
junior member to learn from their experienced
colleague.
11. “A team not
regularly in need of
a Scrum master is a
team that has a great
Scrum master.”
12. THE BEST SCRUM MASTER IS THE ONE “NOT NEEDED”
Be a coach.
If a scrum master does
her/his job well, she/he
will build a team that’s
independent of her/him.
Build self-organizing and
cross-functional teams
With scrum everything is
interconnected. If your team is self-
organized and cross-functional, your
job is exponentially easier.
15. Laptops and phones are enemies of
scrum!
Or at least tiny obstacles.
• Scrum meetings should be as device
free as possible.
• Participate. Share opinions. Sync up.
Give feedback.
• Listen to your teammates.
Understand their point of view.
• Focus your attention toward the
discussion being held even if it
doesn’t concern you. The more you
know the better you understand.
17. Use daily stand-
ups to report, not
to explain.
• Be on time. Do not break the time
limit.
• Stand up! It helps you focus. Good
for health, too.
• Sync up with your team, not the
product owner or the scrum master.
• Introduce a ”Parking lot” meeting
after stand-up. Use it to sort out
details or misunderstandings that
pop-up during stand-up.