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Scrum Master

Scrum Master Resolutions (2016 Edition)

It is hard to believe 2015 is almost over and it’s even harder for me to believe that this blog has been around long enough to have a Scrum Master resolution post for the 5th year in a row. In case you’ve missed any of them here are the four earlier New Year resolution posts. […]

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Scrum Master

The Heart Rate Monitor

My desk where I’m currently coaching is surrounded by three Agile teams. Periodically, I’ll just watch and listen to each of them and before long, the heartbeat of each team begins to reveal itself. Under “normal” conditions the teams will have a nice steady pulse. They have planned their work effectively, they are having fun, […]

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Leadership Most Shared

A Managers Guide to Attending Agile Team Events

I have always been a proponent of keeping most Agile events and rituals open and transparent. If anyone in the organization would like to stop by a daily stand-up session or experience a sprint review, the more the merrier… …with one exception. If you are a manager with direct reports on an Agile team (you […]

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Scrum Master

4 Nonverbal Signals a Scrum Master Should Be Noticing

The Center for Nonverbal Studies has a fascinating webpage called The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, and Body Language Cues. While coaching teams, I recently began to intentionally look for many of these gestures and it is interesting to see how often these gestures and cues reveal what people would really want to say or […]

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Leadership

The Importance of Importance

A friend of mine shared a negative experience he recently had with their boss. I won’t get into details of this specific incident but it sounded like this was one in a string of behaviors in which he was left feeling, in his words, “totally unimportant.” The dictionary says we know something is important when […]

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Leadership

For Leaders, The Little Things Matter

As leaders, we are often caught up in the whirlwind of responsibility as our focus and attention will naturally shift to strategic endeavors or the issue of the day. While leading a team, department, or organization can consume your day, taking the time to perform small, low energy gestures can make a meaningful difference with […]