Marginalia
How to use short learning sprints to build breadth Working with Scrum teams, one of the common practices that get talked about is that we want T-shaped people on our teams (deep expertise + wide across disciplines). I believe that is needed in all types of teams, not just in software
Marginalia
Explaining your thinking rather than just saying what to do Transformations are not easy. In the best examples, teams and individuals go through a J curve - initial drop in performance to be able to climb higher in the future. In other words, we have to slow down to go
Marginalia
People care deeply about how they get their work done In many of my roles throughout my career, I have been involved with changes to processes, procedures, and cultural habits. The goal of each of these has been basically the same - to help teams and companies find ways of
Marginalia
Moving from collecting ideas to creating my own When you realize you have gotten yourself into a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging. I fell into the trap that so many do with Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). I became an information hoarder. It is so easy
Reading
I just passed a surprising milestone. For 1000 days in a row, I’ve reviewed 5 random highlights from the books I’ve read. When I started, I was only trying to have better access to my highlights, but I discovered that the random review brought more value than I
Journaling
Journaling prompts to organize your daily thoughts and experiences Five years ago, I started keeping a daily journal. I was looking to build a new habit, so I started small. That initial practice was writing one sentence every day. Over the years, I have tried many different apps and approaches
Meditation
Improving your focus to better help your teams When I mention to others that I practice meditation as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach, the reaction is usually excitement from people wanting to learn how to do it themselves. But unfortunately, many others also say they would be unable to
Estimation
Avoiding the traps that lead to individual estimates Many practices we see in organizations are so common people often think that they are as much a part of Scrum as the Sprint Retrospective or the Scrum Master role. One of these standard practices is the use of Story Points. Estimates
Personal Development
Using Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation to become a high performing individual As Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters, a large part of our job is teaching teams about Scrum Events and the value of each one. Each of these events helps to support the Scrum Pillars of Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation.
Agile Coach and Personal Productivity Nerd. Writing about Agile, Productivity Tools, Mindfulness, and Journaling.
How a single sentence can help you reflect on your life The daily habit that has changed my life the most has been journaling. It is a habit like meditation; many people talk about how they want to do it but don’t know where to start. Four years ago,
Getting the team to tell you where they need you most Becoming the Scrum Master for an existing Scrum Team can be tough. You are an outsider but need the team to trust you to be successful. Many books and articles describe ways to help a new Scrum Team get
