Reflections on my early experiences as a product manager One of my first experiences as a product manager was to help the developers work with a stakeholder they found difficult because the stakeholder would constantly shift priorities and demand “more” to be...
In our team coaching efforts we have used the Team Self-Managing Canvas to grow teaminess. Teaminess is not a dictionary word, yet. Teaminess refers to a feeling of being one in effort, behavior, and communication toward achieving shared purposes. For teams that are...
Three essential Agile Leadership Skills Agile leaders maintain an environment of trust and support that is necessary for healthy team dynamics. Especially with all of us working remotely it is more important than ever to step up and lead differently. These are the top...
Reflections on 3 Years as a “Scrum” Master and Scrum Master.
Hi! I'm Natraj Kaushik. I recently attended learning program on leadership & decision making facilitated by Evolve Agility. I have been working on scrum teams for about fourteen years. Over the years I have been a development team member, Scrum Master, Product Owner...
The post explains a systems thinking approach for team learning, emphasizing mental models, curiosity over knowledge accumulation, and the importance of actionability. It introduces a technique involving a series of steps to foster collective understanding and address the blind spots inherent in any team environment. These steps guide a team to identify factors affecting their performance, analyze cause and effect relationships, identify dominant causes and effects, and ultimately make informed decisions to improve productivity and tackle challenging work. The method values facilitation, engagement, and the realization that learning is a continuous, shared process within a team’s system.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, businesses are adapting by finding creative ways to work without physical contact. Effective remote collaboration is essential, with practices like deep listening, participation encouragement, and holding space for different viewpoints critical for maintaining effective communication and leadership. Embracing uncertainty, fostering teamwork, and developing strong communication habits are key for teams to thrive, especially for those already familiar with agile methodologies like daily Scrums. Leaders are encouraged to step up with humanity and humility during these rapid changes.
If the recent coronavirus pandemic upended the strategic growth plans of your organization — plans you created in the optimistic environment of an 11-year stock market bull run — you’re not alone. And you’re not without resources. How well your team or organization...
Effective team decisions depend on how they’re made and should foster unity post-choice. Not pre-setting decision procedures can cause confusion and frustration. Methods like consensus, majority vote, or leader decides, each suit different contexts, but clarity on the approach is crucial. Agile coaching can help establish these decision-making norms to prevent misunderstandings and improve long-term effectiveness.
Here are Scrum Master stances. Although default stance for a scrum master is to be in service to their scrum team. Where in she is identifying and removing impediments to serve their team. By improving organizational systems so that impediments do not recur they serve...