Category Archives: coaching

Velocity: Is More Really Better?

Red CorvetteA product owner recently asked if it was okay to want more velocity from their team. Their team usually completed product backlog items (stories) that totaled about 180 points every sprint. The product owner thought: if my team could increase velocity to 200 points every sprint, that would be better.

I think it’s very much a part of the human condition to always want more. However, I’m not sure velocity is what you want more of.
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GROW Your Retrospectives

Question:

I have been assigned as the PO to a non-development scrum team for product marketing. After one week of work, we have delivered only 2 banner ads from a team of 10 people. The problem seems to be the process of approvals, reviews, kickoffs, briefs, tickets etc that need to happen in order to deliver the work. How would you coach me to help everyone see that our current process could be improved?

Answer:

Chris Sims with a plant.My first recommendation is to address this in the team’s retrospective. As product owner, it’s appropriate for you to say you would like to see the team get more ads, or other product backlog items, done in a sprint. Be a bit careful though; it’s very easy for the team to hear that as you blaming them or thinking that they’re not working hard. From the tone of your question, I don’t think that’s where you are coming from, but still be aware they may interpret things that way.

In the retrospective, you might consider using the GROW model that I’ve been writing about recently. GROW is designed for coaching, but it’s also great for structuring a retrospective. It stands for: Goal, Reality, Options (and Obstacles), and Way Forward. It’s an arc that you, or the scrum master, might guide the team through.
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Coaching Questions With GROW

Chris Sims with a plant.My previous article covered the GROW coaching model. This article builds on that by adding coaching questions. Questions are a powerful tool a coach uses to help the client find their own way forward. While the coach can provide information and guidance, a key element of coaching is supporting the client in solving their own problem.

Some questions help the client see things in a new way, or consider things they hadn’t before. Much of coaching is deep listening. Questions are the invitations we give to our clients, asking them to share with us. They also allow the coach to gently guide the client’s examination of the situation, and ultimately move them into problem solving and action planning.
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GROW Coaching Model

Agile coaches often encounter clients that are stuck. They know what they are doing isn’t working, yet they can’t find their way out of the dysfunctional cycle. At least, not alone. The coach’s job is to help their client:

  • gain deeper understanding of their situation
  • create a vision for a better future
  • identify obstacles & options
  • create an action plan

 
Chris Sims with a plant. GROW is a framework that a coach uses to guide their client through this process. The client might be an individual, team, or even a whole organization. GROW is an acronym for the stages of the coaching process: goal, reality, obstacles (and options), and the way forward (will do). Let’s walk through the stages of the model, in the context of Scrum.

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Online Office Hours With Chris, And More!

Chris Sims Office HoursThe COVID-19 situation has brought many changes and challenges. Every change creates new possibilities for something good. For Agile Learning Labs, it gives us the opportunity to connect with our community in new ways.

Online Meetups

We are moving our MeetUp group online. The Scrum Professionals MeetUp group is going to resume our regular schedule starting this month. Tune in every third Wednesday of the month for a talk or workshop, as well as facilitated open discussion. We will continue having time for job seekers and companies to connect.

Online Office Hours

Every Monday afternoon, you are invited to join me for my open office hour: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PDT. This is your chance to ask me anything, and get free advice and coaching. I’m planning to use a Lean Coffee approach to structure each office hour, so the most important and popular topics get the most attention. Each office hour will be listed as a free event in the Scrum Professionals MeetUp group.
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From Component Teams To Feature Teams

Components I recently facilitated a software development group’s transition from component scrum teams to feature scrum teams. The new structure reduces cross-team dependencies, which had been causing significant delays in shipping new features. Over the course of a day, we dissolved the existing component teams, refined a shared product backlog, created a shared definition of done, self-organized into new teams, and held LeSS-style sprint planning meetings. The excellent work everyone did left me in awe, and I felt honored to have the opportunity to facilitate the day. The participants left energized and excited for their new adventure.

What follows is a description of how we structured a one-day event to transition the participants from being members of component teams to being members of feature teams.
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My Clients Aren’t Dying To Adopt Scrum

atul-beingmortal-cover3d1-319x479I recently read the book Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande about empowering people to make end of life decisions. Now you might be wondering, what does that have to do with scrum? Well it turns out the same questions we might ask a dying person to help facilitate their end of life in an empowering way are the same ones we might ask a client to empower their scrum practice or agile transformation.
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A Scrum Master Is A Teacher, Mentor, Coach, And Facilitator

A scrum master wears many hats including teacher, mentor, coach, and facilitator. Each is a different stance the scrum master might take when interacting with the scrum team, or others in the organization. Part of the art of being an excellent scrum master is being able to select an appropriate stance for a given situation. We also need to be able to flow between them, inspecting and adapting based on the situation and the needs of the people involved.

Teacher

This is the act of showing or explaining something to someone so that they acquire new knowledge. The scrum master is an expert in scrum and related agile practices. The scrum master spreads this knowledge throughout the organization, enabling people to engage in their work more effectively.
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