Illustrated AgileLen Lagestee is an organizational change coach and blogger at www.illustratedagile.com. As a coach, Len is interacting with large organizations to connect people, revolutionize leadership, deliver results, and humanize the workforce.
Key Takeaways Your decision to become a Scrum Master triggers the start of a journey to become the catalyst your organization needs. Becoming a first-time Scrum Master requires more than just attending training or receiving a certification. Agile education comes in many shapes and sizes so your training selections should align with your own learning […]
As Agile continues to expand its reach, more and more people are deciding to become a Scrum Master or they are being asked (told) to shift into to the role of a Scrum Master. If you are finding yourself in this situation, should you make the move? Perhaps you’ve been a project manager for much […]
It is a bit crazy to think we are already in 2016 but before we get too far into the new year here is a quick review of what has been happening at Illustrated Agile in 2015. Thanks to all of the new email subscribers to the blog. It’s been a record year for the […]
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. […]
As a leader in an organization one of your many expectations would be to determine when one of your direct reports are ready to be promoted into a leadership position or deciding who should be hired from the outside into an open leadership position reporting to you. When promoting internally, this often means deciding when […]
I have been asked over the past couple of months by a variety of folks to share a template to use when creating a job posting for hiring a Team Agile Coach (or Scrum Master). I’ve had a few versions over the years but here is the latest compilation of my thoughts. Share any suggestions […]
I’m writing this in near total darkness during a planned power outage (called load shedding) in a time zone 7 hours ahead of my home in Chicago. Hang on battery…hang on! It’s been almost 8 weeks since I landed abroad to start an Agile coaching assignment. Admittedly, I was nervous. Would I be able to […]
After many conversations and observations over the past couple of years, it would seem a substantial number of organizations aren’t experiencing a meaningful improvement after a move to Agile. Sure, stories are being written, work is being done within sprints, and planning sessions are being facilitated. Perhaps a scaled framework has been introduced, full of […]
As a part of the Scrum Master Performance Review series of posts, an emphasis was placed on obtaining feedback for the Scrum Masters reporting to you. Step 5 focused on receiving feedback from the product owner while step 6 focused on gathering feedback from members of the team. In the past, I have used a […]
The impediment. As a Scrum Master, you know you are supposed to remove it but how do we even know your team has one? The standard practice is for the Scrum Master to spring into action after a team member has raised an impediment at a daily stand up. A list of impediments is usually […]
If you were to ask a Scrum Master what they do a common response is “we protect the team.” From the context of protecting the team from themselves or an aggressive product owner as Mike Cohn describes, I would agree. Protecting the team from complacency or overwork is a worthy endeavor. For many Scrum Masters, protecting […]
An agile team was recently asked by a manager to prepare and distribute a weekly status report. What is your reaction when you read this? For some, this may seem quite normal. For others, you may need more context behind the request before reacting. If your reaction is anything like mine, you’re probably thinking something […]