Jan Šrámek

Will I save money if I release Scrum Masters?

Will I save money if I release Scrum Masters? 

 During difficult times, many companies begin to look for potential savings. And where to save is always different. When a developer leaves, I won’t have a finished application, but what happens if the Scrum Master leaves? The work of the Scrum Master Team is usually reflected in the results of the work of the entire team. 

Senior Agile Coach

What good is a senior agile coach to me? 

In connection with the transition to an agile way of functioning in companies, new roles have appeared, to which we are gradually getting used to. Roles such as Scrum Master or Product Owner are already quite established. It’s no secret that we can find their description in the Scrum Guide. But what good is a

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Agile transformation budget

How much does agile transformation cost

Have you ever wondered how much agile transformation costs? Let’s take a look at what might appear on your receipt when you get started. The goal of today’s article is not to discourage you, nor to provide a detailed price budget. Rather, we want to give you information on what you may need to focus

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kanban board

How to set up a Kanban board for a team?

If you’ve ever wondered how to set up a Kanban board for your team, you might find this article useful with a little bit of our experience. Before we start explaining the Kanban board, it is good to realize that Kanban should not be limited to a dashboard in your team. The real valuable thing

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When go with mentoring?

When to go with mentoring?

Mentoring It is said that the best way to start something is to throw a person into the water and start swimming. But how to help not to drown, not to have bad habits and learn to swim effectively? Sometimes you just need a handbook, sometimes the experience of a more senior colleague is needed.

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Are your agile teams product or project teams?

Are your agile teams product or project teams?

One of the expectations associated with the adoption of agility may be that all members of an agile team consider their team’s business goals to be their own. And because team members own these goals, they also proactively participate in achieving them. You might think, “Nice idea, but this is hardly going to work for

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Loss of humility easily and quickly

Loss of humility easily and quickly

When I finished my private pilot course a few years ago, I started flying a small plane to visit the surrounding airports. And it didn’t take long for me to start bringing my friends and colleagues with me. My confidence grew and after about a year I had the feeling, like many other novice pilots,

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Many companies use the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework to set the goals of agile teams, and the popularity of this approach is constantly growing. The benefits are indisputable, but what about the readiness of agile teams to start using OKR? Take a look at the 3 most common issues that agile teams can help you identify with OKR workshops: 1. Indifference to results and team focus At the workshop for defining the OKR team, only the product owner with the scrum master tries and the rest of the team more or less passively watches. One possible reason is that your team is still used to passively taking on tasks and does not perceive its responsibility for the team's results. That is why they do not yet own the team goals and do not yet see their role in defining them. The solution here is rather long-term. One option is to lead the team to teamwork and prioritize team goals over individual ones. And that's exactly the job for your scrum master/agile coach. Also, be sure to see if your reward system is based on individual goals instead of team goals. Try to involve OKR in agile team ceremonies so that they become a regular part of their lives and the team gets used to them. 2. We want to cover everything we do today in OKR Some teams initially try to make as many OKRs as possible to see that the team is doing a lot of work. A possible reason is that your team is still focused on maximizing the work done instead of maximizing value for the customer. Many teams are therefore accustomed to initially starting a large number of activities at once and have a fragmented focus. Many open activities lead to their late delivery and often to non-transparent communication about the status of these activities. The solution is again longer-term and consists in guiding product owners and teams to prioritize their work. Finish things rather than open new ones all the time. And the same applies to OKR. OKR defines only one or 2 for the team so that the OKR team remembers them and does not become just a task book, which you will always meet at the end of the quarter. And this then leads agile teams to the need to prioritize the focus on a few things. 3. Mistakes in team design OKR will also show you the flaws in the design of your agile teams. If teams have to deliver frequently and validate results with customers, it places much greater demands on teams being end-to-end. Suddenly, it will be more transparent, where the team lacks developers, or even other vital roles for a successful delivery. And so your team complains to OKR that they don't make sense as defined. Try the technique 5 times why at such a moment. You may find that this is a team design issue and not an error in the definition of OKR. If the problem is in the design of the team, think about whether you will hire the missing specialists, allocate them from elsewhere in the company, or whether someone can learn the missing skill in the team. Finally That's why we liked OKR not only because of their business benefits, but also because of how transparently they show the state of agile teams. As elsewhere in an agile environment, OKRs don't solve these problems on their own, but they can give you input on how to continue working with your team. And what is your experience with the informative value of OKRs about the state of agile teams?

How can OKR help you diagnose the state of your agile team?

Many companies use the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework to set the goals of agile teams, and the popularity of this approach is constantly growing. The benefits are indisputable, but what about the readiness of agile teams to start using OKR? Take a look at the 3 most common issues that agile teams can

Continue reading »