The Liberators Network: Recent Episodes
The Liberators
If you're excited about unleashing organisational superpowers, then this is the podcast for you. We talk about Scrum, Liberating Structures and creating better workplaces. This podcast is created by Christiaan Verwijs and Barry Overeem. Both are Professional Scrum Trainers for Scrum.org and stewards for the Professional Scrum Master II class they created. Aside from their extensive background and experience with Scrum, they are very excited about Liberating Structures and are active members of this worldwide community. We aim to release a new episode every Friday.
We are fans of pair programming. There is something very satisfying about passing the keyboard back and forth and sharing the mind space for a problem with someone else. But other developers hate it for various reasons. Some find it wasteful. Others wonder if the quality isn't just the same, or even worse, than solo developers.
We believe we should ground our opinions in evidence as much as possible. So what does scientific research have to say about pair programming? In this episode, we explore the insights from over 25 academic studies that investigated pair programming. The insights may support your beliefs or challenge them - let's find out!
Read the post:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-the-costs-and-benefits-of-pair-programming-b4b54b27c6ff
Support the show
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
Scrum is great. We love it. And it's also just a recipe. It needs a lot more to result in a flavorful, delicious, and nutritious meal.
Understanding Scrum as merely a recipe has worked well for us to understand both its strengths and limitations. Its a useful metaphor to help others understand what to expect from Scrum and what other ingredients are needed to make it all work.
Read the post:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/scrum-is-just-a-recipe-739665ae70db
Support the show
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
How does working from home influence teamwork? This question came to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most companies switched from fully co-located work to fully remote work for most of the pandemic. But since then, many of those policies have been reverted under the assumption that working from home negatively impacts performance, productivity, and teamwork.
In this episode, we bring a scientific perspective to this question. We review the current scientific evidence around how working from home affects employees and teams and offer practical recommendations. This episode is relevant to both Agile teams and other kinds of teams.
Read the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-how-does-working-from-home-influence-teamwork-6a14b4c804a
Support the Show.
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
Have you ever noticed the many parallels between organized religion and Scrum? Or with Agile methodologies more broadly? It's been a recurring joke between us as we attend conferences, interact with critics and advocates of Scrum, and follow the comings and goings in our profession. Some of these parallels are merely funny to point out, whereas others are a bit more concerning.
So for this episode, I invite you to imagine that you’re future archeologists who uncover the traces of our Agile community many thousands of years into the future. How would they understand it? What would it look like to them? And please allow me some exaggeration, as there is a purpose to it that you will discover at the end of the episode.
Read the post here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/the-church-of-scrum-16e14244b6bc
Support the Show.
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
"Agile is dead" is a contrarian opinion that gets thrown around a lot on social media. While it's a nice way to get attention, what does the evidence say? Agile can only be dead if it doesn't work, if it doesn't result in more effective teams and more satisfied customers.
In this episode, we take an evidence-based perspective. We explore the business case for Agile from three perspectives: stakeholder satisfaction, team morale and overall business outcomes. We report results from our own analyses as well as several scientific studies. We'll let the evidence speak for itself.
Read the post here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-the-evidence-based-business-case-for-agile-60f38de3a6d2
Support the Show.
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
“How do I prevent my high-performing team from burning out?” is a question that recently came up in a community meetup. It's an intriguing question because it starts from a positive situation. If you’ve ever been part of a high-performing team, you know how exhilarating it can be. But paradoxically, it's also a place where people for people to lose themselves in their work together and collapse under the strain — as I did.
In this episode, we apply an evidence-based perspective to this question. What do we know from scientific research about high-performing teams and how they can burn people out? What can do to prevent that, or at least diminish the chance of it happening?
Read the post here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-how-to-prevent-high-performing-teams-from-burning-out-409aa9896caa
Support the Show.
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
We're back!
How diverse is your team? Do you have members from different age groups, different genders, different roles, and different cultural backgrounds? Is that diversity beneficial to team performance, or is it challenging, or both?
This was the research question of an academic study we performed with Prof. Daniel Russo. This study has been peer-reviewed and published in the journal "Transactions on Software Engineering". This episode provides a non-technical overview of our investigation, core findings, and practical implications.
Read the post:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-the-double-edged-sword-of-diversity-in-teams-765ff72a55da
Read the peer-reviewed scientific publication:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TSE.2023.3339881
Support the show
Support the show, our research, and community offerings via Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com
Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com
The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.
The first thing people tend to see when they look at the Scrum framework are the roles, the artifacts, and the events. But that is only structure. There is much more going on in Scrum teams that we can understand better from other perspectives.
One such perspective is motivation. Scrum is deeply rooted in insights from academic research into what motivates people and teams to become high-performing. And while those roots are strong, they are also mostly invisible and unknown to practitioners.
In this podcast, we take a scientific perspective on how Scrum can create motivating environments for teams and individuals. We also translate these insights into practical tips that you can use to make the work for your team more motivating.
Read the full post behind this episode, including all the links, here
https://bit.ly/3HKZRuE
Support our show at:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Diagnose how well things are going with your Scrum Team with the Scrum Team Survey:
https://scrumteamsurvey.org
Support the show
“We consistently observe that teams struggle with continuous improvement. Instead of keeping it small, simple, and practical, teams go for ambitious — but vague and unclear — improvements.”
The improvement actions that come out of Sprint Retrospectives and other reflective practices are weak when there is no sense of scope, no sense of timeline, and no sense of who is involved. Interestingly, this creates a clear connection with something else that good Agile teams spend a lot of time on: refinement.
In this episode, we explore how to refine your improvement actions to make them more actionable and thus easier to accomplish. We also offer a lot of practical tips for how to create better improvement actions.
Read the transcript here:
https://bit.ly/3KqtfGA
You can try the Scrum Team Survey with your team at:
https://scrumteamsurvey.org
Or get our "Unleash Scrum In Your Organization"-kit which contains - among many other cool things - a deck with 100 Improvement Actions categorized into different areas. These are a good source of inspiration for your own improvements. Or you can use them verbatim:
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/frontpage/products/scrum-teams-superpower-kit-also-for-virtual-teams
Support the show
What makes a good Product Owner? How much time should they spend with their team or with stakeholders? Or writing items for the Product Backlog? Do Product Owners require a full mandate in order to be effective? What strategies make them more - or less - effective?
In this episode, we explore scientific research that investigated Product Owners. We also share some of our own research.
Read the transcript here:
https://bit.ly/2XXBaZ7
Try the Scrum Team Survey for free with your team at:
https://scrumteamsurvey.org
Or download do-it-yourself workshops to encourage shared product ownership:
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/do-it-yourself-workshops-meetups-and-strings/build-what-stakeholders-need
Support the show
"SAFe destroys autonomy", "estimation is a waste of time" and "Scrum Masters can't also be Product Owners" are just a few of the strong claims that are often made in our professional community.
But where is the evidence to support these bold claims? We sampled 50 posts with similar bold claims and found that only 3 offered any kind of evidence. Two of those were purely personal experiences. We also explored some actual research into these questions and found more nuanced results.
We wonder: why doesn't our community - that is all about empiricism - apply empiricism to itself and its claims? Why don't we gather actual objective evidence? Why do we allow each other to make bold claims that either lack evidence or aren't proportional to that evidence? Are we not harming our profession with this low bar?
In this episode, we discuss a professional crisis in our field. We also offer five things we can do to improve our profession. Ultimately, if we rely more on objective evidence we make a much stronger case for what we believe to be true. Or we may discover that our beliefs aren't actually true - which is a good thing too.
Read the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/why-doesnt-the-agile-community-practice-empiricism-12082e48ffba
Support the show
"It slowly started to dawn on me that something else was happening during these gatherings. Something I hadn’t seen before so clearly in my previous work with groups. I saw so many happy faces around me. I saw so many people intently listening to each other as each shared a personal story. And I saw so many people touched by the awareness that others were really listening to them as they shared those stories."
This episode is about the psychological power of Liberating Structures. They are like a language for how people interact. Once you learn to speak and recognize its symbols and its grammar, you see its potential everywhere people interact. I know how weird that sounds — especially when you’ve never experienced them before. This potential affirms my belief that we should use Liberating Structures everywhere people interact.
Unfortunately, even experienced practitioners tended to limit their use to the more obvious settings, like workshops, classes, and training, but not to other settings, like recurring meetings, social settings, and other informal settings. And that includes us too. And that's a waste, as we explore in this post.
Read the transcript for this episode here (along with pictures)
https://bit.ly/2Z8uk3M
Join an upcoming Immersion Workshop via:
https://liberatingstructures.nl
Or https://liberatingstructures.com
Support the show
Are Scrum Masters perhaps too focused on the process, and too little on whether or not that process actually delivers valuable outcomes? How is that for you, as a Scrum Master?
This is a hunch based on countless conversations we've had with Scrum Masters, including our own practice as a Scrum Master. But what do the facts say? So we read relevant scientific studies and collected data through a large poll (500+ participants) and data from almost 2.000 Scrum teams. We were also fortunate to use data from a research study by McKinsey and Scrum.org.
The data suggest that Scrum Masters are more effective when they balance a process-based perspective with a value-based perspective. This means that Scrum Masters lead in designing effective Sprint Reviews, drawing in stakeholders, and emphasizing the need for this. I expect that Scrum Masters that stake a strong stance here are more likely to see effective Scrum teams over time. I offer tips on how to do this.
Read the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/are-scrum-masters-sufficiently-focused-on-valuable-outcomes-7b51c4403869
Diagnose your team with the Scrum Team Survey:
https://scrumteamsurvey.org
Support the show
We are creating the Scrum Team Survey to help Scrum teams and Agile teams to diagnose their process. We also give tons of evidence-based feedback. One of the cool things about developing a product ourselves, and with our own money, is that we get to learn (or reaffirm) a lot of valuable lessons about Agile software development.
In this episode, we share our 10 biggest lessons. Be prepared for some technical stuff though, as several of these lessons involve architecture, design, and code quality.
Read the blog post for this episode here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/how-work-on-the-scrum-team-survey-taught-us-10-lessons-about-agile-95314ee2fdc1
Try the Scrum Team Survey here (it's free for individual teams)
https://scrumteamsurvey.org
Try the Team Dashboard here:
https://scrumteamsurvey.org/demoteamdashboard
Support the show
Do your Daily Scrums feel like a pointless ritual where everyone just lists what they’ve done yesterday, and what they do will do today? Does Sprint Planning feel like a waste of time because everyone only wants to know what they have to do? And does your Sprint Review consist of team members listing their individual accomplishments? If so, you are probably dealing with a complete lack of coherence and cohesion.
This episode is an exploration of scientific insights that help us understand what coherence and cohesion are, and why they are so important. We also explore how these insights create a strong foundation for the Scrum framework. We also translate scientific insights into practical applications, ready for use with your team.
Read the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-how-coherence-and-cohesion-are-critical-to-scrum-f5ae1f3a1aef
Find many do-it-yourself workshops to help your team:
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/do-it-yourself-workshops-meetups-and-strings/Scrum
Support the show:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show
Do you start a new Scrum team by explaining the roles, artifacts, and events? Do you rarely consider how to build coalitions and persuade people in power to support your work with Scrum? Are you thinking about the psychological needs of people and how to motivate them to work with Scrum? You may be engaging in a bit too much blueprint thinking.
In this episode, we explore how blue-print thinking is too dominant in our profession. There are exceptions. But much of the professional discourse is focused on frameworks, processes, and structure — independent of the messy sociological, political, and psychological realities of organizations. We explore how this bias leads to blind spots. It also explains why so many framework implementations fail. This episode is based on the “Color Theory of Change”, and we think its quite eye-opening if you've never reflected on this before.
Find the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/is-blue-print-thinking-limiting-the-potential-of-the-agile-community-a2ee716b6888
Support our show at Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show
Recently, the concept of “fluid teams”, “dynamic reteaming” or “ad-hoc teaming” has gained traction in the Agile community. Although the concept has many different definitions, a characteristic they share is that members move in and out of a team during its lifetime.
However, decades of academic research into teams and workgroups have underscored the importance of team stability as a requirement for high performance. Although these studies did not compare stable teams versus fluid teams specifically, the most reliable theories we currently have to understand team development also seem to favor stability over fluidity.
In this episode, I explore the research in this area. Considering just how popular the notion of fluid teams has become, I think it is important to weigh the evidence that supports it or contradicts it.
Read the transcript of the episode here (including all references):
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-stable-or-fluid-teams-what-does-the-science-say-95833b0b91a2
Read an in-depth post about team cognition:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/why-great-scrum-teams-have-a-mind-of-their-own-2ba4d9d17918
Read an in-depth post about social cohesion:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-how-coherence-and-cohesion-are-critical-to-scrum-f5ae1f3a1aef
Support the show at:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show
Do high-performing teams communicate more than low-performing teams? 🤔
If you think "Yes!", you may want to reconsider. Scientific studies often find the reverse. When researchers compare high-performing teams with low-performing teams, they consistently find that high-performing teams communicate less. This has been observed with flight crews, nuclear plant control crews, and work teams.
These teams have not developed telepathy, but they've learned so well what is expected of each other that they don’t need to communicate explicitly for day-to-day coordination. This effectively keeps a lot of their bandwidth open for problem-solving, critical communication, and maintaining focus - and that makes them more effective.
There is so much to unpack here. It tells us much about cross-functionality, team cognition, and what it takes to grow high-performing teams. In a very practical sense, I think it shows us how important it is to develop work agreements and mental team models about how to:
- Coordinate work
- Coordinate the use and application of skills
- Coordinate the navigation of conflict
- Coordinate psychologically safety (the proper kind)
- Coordinate dealing with work pressure and stress
Read the transcript of the episode here (including all references):
https://medium.com/the-liberators/in-depth-how-to-create-better-work-agreements-for-your-team-7738e474ad13
Support the show at:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show
Why is code quality so often an issue? Why do software teams — despite their best initial intentions — often end up fighting a codebase that is hard to test, resistant to change, and prone to strange bugs?
We have many intuitions about this. But we’ve learned the hard way that my intuitions are often wrong. So in this episode, we explore insights from scientific studies that have investigated technical and code smells. We also share evidence-based recommendations on how to write better code. This episode is interesting both for developers and non-developers.
And yes, it turns out that several of our intuitions are indeed wrong :D
- Read the transcript of this episode (it includes the reference)
- Try the Scrum Team Survey with your team
- Support the show on Patreon.com/liberators
Support the show
There is a growing trend in our industry to distinguish between “Agility” and “Business Agility”. The idea here is that Agile is limited only to teams and to software and that more is needed. Many consultancy firms are now jumping into that gap with additional frameworks and models.
This makes no sense to me. I think that this distinction reveals a glaring misunderstanding of the purpose of Agile. More importantly, I think that the distinction between Agility and Business Agility only muddies the waters and distracts leaders away from what it is they should be doing.
We take a history tour to visit some of the precursors of Agile and learn what made them different from what came before, and why. With this historical understanding, we then revisit the distinction between business agility and agility to see if it makes sense. We also explore the notion that "Agile is only for teams" and "Agile is only for software".
This episode is an opinion piece. You may agree or you may not. Either way, we hope you learn something from it.
A transcript is available here (an account for Medium is necessary)
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
Great Scrum Teams know that refinement is one of the best ways to optimize the flow of work and deliver more value to stakeholders. Refinement is the act of breaking down and clarifying work for this and upcoming Sprints. We also know this from our research with 1.200 Scrum Teams; teams that actively refine also release more frequently. And they have more satisfied stakeholders and higher morale.
Sounds good! But how? It is often surprisingly hard for teams to break down large chunks of work in such a way that the smaller pieces still deliver value on their own. Often, work is broken down across technical layers (horizontal) instead of functional layers (vertical).
In this podcast, we share the 10 strategies that have worked well for us, and the Scrum Teams we've been part of. Each strategy breaks work across functional layers. We give examples for each strategy and explain how they support your team and the Product Owner. We still actively use them for our work on the Scrum Team Survey too!
We apologize for the length. You can easily listen to the episode in parts though.
Download the cheatsheet (it is free):
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/free-downloads/products/experiment-10-powerful-strategies-to-break-down-product-backlog-items
Get the Powerful Questions deck:
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/scrum-teams/products/powerful-questions
Read the original post this podcast is based on:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/10-powerful-strategies-for-breaking-down-user-stories-in-scrum-with-cheatsheet-2cd9aae7d0eb
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
"Professionals don't need psychological safety" is what someone recently told us. Perhaps you are on the fence about the need for psychological safety too. Or you get the point, but always struggle to make it practical.
In this podcast, we explore psychological safety from a scientific perspective. And we offer many practical recommendations for what psychological safety looks like in teams and how to develop it. You can also hear some great ideas and suggestions that were generated by our growing community of patrons.
Read the transcript here (includes references):
https://medium.com/the-liberators/why-psychological-safety-improves-the-effectiveness-of-your-team-7592d76f3c9b
Find many free do-it-yourself workshops to improve psychological safety (among other things):
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/scrum-teams/improve-continuous
Support our work too at:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
Does refinement in your team feel like a slog? Do developers go there with lead in their shoes? Many Scrum Teams struggle with refinement, and understandably so. Yet, in many ways, this is where some of the most important work happens. And some of the hardest work.
In this episode, we offer a reflection on the purpose of refinement. And we offer recommendations to make the process more enjoyable and effective — many of which originate from a discussion we had with experienced Scrum Masters on the Discord server that is accessible to our patrons.
Check out the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/refinement-the-mise-en-place-of-great-scrum-teams-78d7556a7952
The paper we wrote with Daniel Russo is available here:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.12439
Download the free cheatsheet with 10 breakdown strategies here:
https://shop.theliberators.com/products/canvas-10-powerful-strategies-to-break-down-product-backlog-items
Or try this fully prepared do-it-yourself workshop for refinement:
https://shop.theliberators.com/products/workshop-refine-tough-or-unclear-product-backlog-items-with-stakeholders
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
The biggest challenge in Product Development is to distinguish between what the product can become one day, and what it should incrementally become first to validate critical assumptions that clear the way towards that future.
This presents a major struggle for Product Owners, customers, users, and developers as they are all inclined to spend most of their time thinking about the “Largest Potential Product” instead of the “Smallest Valuable Product”.
In this podcast, Christiaan talks about product discovery, minimum valuable (or viable) products and offers many ideas on how to engage in product discovery.
Diagnose (free) how well your Scrum team is discovering their product:
https://scrumteamsurvey.org
Find a transcript here (requires a Medium-account):
https://medium.com/the-liberators/from-largest-potential-product-to-smallest-valuable-products-daa729080819
Support our work:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
How does "team cognition" make some Scrum teams more effective than others? In this podcast, we explore scientific research into team cognition and mental models. And we translate it into actionable improvements you can make to make your Scrum teams more effective.
By the end of the episode, you will have learned:
- How team cognition is essentially the "mind of a team", with its own memory and perception of the world.
- What team cognition is and how substantial its influence is on the effectiveness of teams according to large-scale research efforts
- How team cognition helps us understand what cross-functionality should look like for Scrum teams.
- What team cognition looks like for Scrum teams, and what signs tell you whether it's there or not. And if it isn't, what you can do about that.
- What research in this area tells us about how you can design, support, and encourage teams to develop team cognition and become high-performing.
- Why frequent changes to team composition are not a good idea if you want to maintain effectiveness, no matter how they are initiated.
More resources
* Support this podcast by becoming a patron
* Read the transcript here (a medium account is, unfortunately, necessary until it is published)
* Try the Scrum Team Survey
* Barry Overeem and I created three do-it-yourself workshops (#1, #2, and #3) to help your team create shared goals.
References
Butler, A. C., Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M., & Beck, A. T. (2006). The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: a review of meta-analyses. Clinical psychology review, 26(1), 17–31.
Cannon‐Bowers, J. A., & Salas, E. (2001). Reflections on shared cognition. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 22(2), 195–202.
DeChurch, L. A., & Mesmer-Magnus, J. R. (2010). The cognitive underpinnings of effective teamwork: a meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 95(1), 32.
Kearney, E., Gebert, D., & Voelpel, S. C. (2009). When and how diversity benefits teams: The importance of team members’ need for cognition. Academy of Management journal, 52(3), 581–598.
Kozlowski, S. W., & Ilgen, D. R. (2006). Enhancing the effectiveness of work groups and teams. Psychological science in the public interest, 7(3), 77–124.
Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T. S., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2000). The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance. Journal of applied psychology, 85(2), 273.
Stout, R. J., Cannon-Bowers, J. A., & Salas, E. (2017). The role of shared mental models in developing team situational awareness: Implications for training. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems DiSupport the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
When we started as #ScrumMaster, the thing that scared us the most was how to translate those lofty ideals into actual down-to-earth behavior. While it sounded great that #Scrum is about #empiricism”, we had no idea what that should look like with our teams, how we should behave to support that and how flexible we could be with the framework of Scrum.
In this episode of our #podcast, we collected five practical insights that we think every starting Scrum Master should know, and that are inspired by mistakes I made over the years. If anything, we wish we would’ve realized these when we started. For this episode, we also asked our growing community of experienced Scrum practitioners on Discord for help.
- A transcript for this episode is available here (Medium account required, unfortunately):
- Here are some helpful exercise materials for starting Scrum Teams
- We designed a bunch of do-it-yourself workshops to start Scrum Master communities in your own area or organization
Enjoy!
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
Even when we don't want to admit it, the Covid-19 pandemic changed how we work. Even after the pandemic ends, it is likely that many Scrum Teams will continue to work from home. Or at least, more often than before the pandemic hit.
What is the impact of working from home on productivity and personal well-being? How can organizations support it well? And what can Scrum Masters do?
We invited Daniel Russo, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science from the University of Aalborg to talk about his research that was funded by the Carlsberg foundation. During the pandemic, he and three colleagues had a unique opportunity to follow a group of developers during the early months of the pandemic. Their research gives us compelling insights into how working from home impacts productivity and well-being - often in surprising ways. It also gives us a handle on what we can do to support developers that work from home during pandemics, and hopefully also outside of pandemics.
Read the entire study online here:
https://www.danielrusso.org/files/2021EMSE_RemoteWork.pdf
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
This episode is all about what is impossible when you work with Scrum. Deliver a new and working version of the product every Sprint? Impossible! Give a Product Owner mandate over how to spend the product budget? Impossible! Have only one Product Owner for several Scrum Teams? Impossible!But is it really impossible?
In this episode we look at how self-limiting beliefs can impede potential improvements. And how those beliefs tend to spread in organizations. At the same time, we offer you an alternative approach to investigate with your team where these beliefs came from. Or which decisions were made somewhere in the past that makes it seem impossible today.
Enjoy!
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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This episode is all about that dreaded question: "When is it done and what will it cost?". Its also one of the most natural questions for customers and managers to ask. After all, they're either investing their own money or they will be held accountable when the product fails to return on its investment.
So what can you do? In this episode, we draw from personal experience and what - after many experiments - worked for us. Will you play along in "risk management theater"? Or will you offer your customers and other stakeholders an approach that has unique benefits that they don't otherwise have?
The blogpost this episode is based on can be found here (a Medium account is required):
https://medium.com/the-liberators/so-when-will-it-be-done-and-how-much-will-it-cost-a49d14c61250
An older - and admittedly rougher - version of the post is also available here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/the-agile-response-to-how-much-will-it-cost-and-when-will-it-be-done-86d907573871
You can also support at patreon.com/liberators.
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
We often talk about how "Zombie Scrum" lacks frequently releases. Teams are not shipping fast. And while people often easily recognize this in their own team, what does it actually look like on the other side?
In this episode, we take a close look at shipping fast. Why is it important? And how can it be turned into the competitive advantage - or asset - that it really is? We also offer some of the strategies that healthy Scrum Teams use to make releases as effortless as possible, and reduce the stress and pressure that often accompanies "big bang releases".
This episode draws from material in the Zombie Scrum Survival Guide. Get your copy here:
https://zombiescrum.org
You can also find a whole bunch of do-it-yourself workshops (some free, some for a small price) to improve your Scrum here:
https://shop.theliberators.com/collections/do-it-yourself-workshops-meetups-and-strings/Scrum
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The Scrum framework exists to deliver value to stakeholders sooner. Sounds good, right? But when is something “valuable”? For something that seems so central to Scrum, it is remarkably hard for many Scrum Teams to determine what the value of the work on their Product Backlog actually us.
In this episode, we offer a more fine-grained approach to understand what “value” means to your product and the items on your Product Backlog, and to start a conversation around that with your team and its stakeholders.
You can read a transcript for this episode here.
Or download a (free) poster of the five types here (PDF).
Or get a fully-prepared string of Liberating Structures to start a conversation around value, and the five types of value, with your team and stakeholders.
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
How do you know that you're actually delivering value to your stakeholders? That you're responsive to their needs? And that the quality of your work is what they expect?
This episode is all about value and stakeholders. We introduce a new feature for the Scrum Team Survey that allows team invite their stakeholders for their perspective. And we share a great way to involve your stakeholders in the creation of product strategies.
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
In today's episode, we make the connection between the Scrum Framework and continuous improvement. Few Scrum Teams start from a position where everything works smoothly. Often, you initially don't know very well who your stakeholders are, you don't have access to them or you can't release as frequently as you'd want to. So there's a lot to improve and to learn. And if that doesn't happen, you're bound to get stuck in deep Zombie Scrum.
At the same time we see many organizations engage in "Agile Transitions" that promise to change from one state (e.g. waterfall-based development) to another (e.g. Agile) in a short amount of time. But an exploration of organizations that have undergone such transitions shows that stakeholders are still not involved, releases still happen very infrequently and little value is delivered to stakeholders.
So we draw from two helpful perspectives - organizational learning by Chris Argyris and the force field model by Kurt Lewin - to understand how continuous improvement is vitally important to effective Scrum - and change in general - and unlikely to be rushed on by "Agile Transitions" and "mindset changes".
We apologize for the sound quality here and there. The gain of our microphone was a bit too high, which means that there are a few cracks here and there. The good news is that we've learned to reduce the gain now for the next recording :)
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Paul Klipp and Justyna Pindel recently reviewed our new book "The Zombie Scrum Survival Guide". They also graciously invited us to talk about our book with them. The ensuing conversation was so nice, that we asked them if we could also publish it as part of our podcast.
So here it is :) In it, we talk about how we've seen Zombie Scrum happen around us, how we wrote the book to help Scrum Teams and how our industry sometimes contributes to Zombie Scrum because it is so strongly focused on certificates.
Follow the Agile Book Club here:
https://www.agilebook.club/
Get your copy of the book here:
https://zombiescrum.org
Or diagnose your team for free here:
https://survey.zombiescrum.org
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We often talk about "resistance", and how to overcome it in others. But ironically, we often create resistance ourselves.
In this episode of our podcast, Christiaan shares one of his biggest lessons about change and resistance. With this in mind, we also explore how group dynamics helps us explain how we can easily create and amplify resistance through our own behavior.
If you like this podcast, and our content, please consider supporting us:
https://patreon.com/liberators
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In today's episode, we talk about self-management and self-organization. How are those concepts related. And why are incredibly both valuable and important, even now that the Scrum Guide changed its language to emphasize "self-managing Scrum Teams" instead of "self-organizing Scrum Teams"?
Coincidentally, we dedicated a chapter in our book - the Zombie Scrum Survival Guide - to self-organization and self-management. In it, we make the case that the Scrum Guide always meant "self-managing" in the first place, and how those self-managing Scrum Teams enable self-organization on a larger level (the department, the organization).
In this episode, we give examples of what self-management and self-organization looks like. And more importantly, how self-managing Scrum Teams act as a crowbar to increase agility and responsiveness by driving self-organization on the level of the organization.
This episode features a part of one of the chapters from our book. You can get it at your favorite bookstore, or directly from us.
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
"Without good developers, Scrum is lipstick on a pig". Yet, a quick look on blogs, LinkedIn and popular podcasts makes it obvious that more attention goes to Scrum Masters, Product Owners and coaches than to developers. Why is that?
In this episode, we share a personal story about a what contributes to a "Developer Culture". This is a culture where software craftmanship is celebrated, and developers work hard to increase quality and their skills. Without this, it will be very hard to work empirically and overcome tough technical challenges that you're likely to face.
We explore eight factors that seem to contribute to a successful developer culture, at least based on our experience. If anything, it may inspire you with ideas for things to try or ways to create a similar culture in your organization.
This episode is based on this blogpost (which also contains the pictures):
https://medium.com/the-liberators/what-makes-a-developer-culture-e10232d0b40c
You can support the show on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
Are you excited about the new Scrum Guide? We certainly are, if only because every version makes it more clear what Scrum is really about — which is also our mission.
In this episode, we take a look at the four most significant changes and why they were made. While it is tempting to talk about all the nitty-gritty linguistic changes, we believe it is more helpful to understand the underlying patterns and how they reinforce what Scrum has always been about.
You can find a transcript of this episode here:
https://bit.ly/32Nxfhl
The new Scrum Guide is available (as always) at:
https://scrumguides.org
You can download our updated Scrum Framework poster here:
https://bit.ly/33hE5uK
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
It is easy to start new initiatives. And much harder to make them endure. Whether or it is a new team, a new community, or a new product, how do you create a foundation to build on?
Thankfully, the Liberating Structure "Purpose to Practice" is of great help here as it gives groups five essential elements to focus on: purpose, principles, participants, structure, and practices.
We've frequently used Purpose to Practice (P2P) to start new teams, communities of Scrum Masters, change initiatives, and even entire organizations. In this episode, we share how we've used P2P in our work, specifically for our growing community of patrons, and how you can use it in your own work.
Read a blog post we wrote about Purpose to Practice here:
http://bit.ly/2RSh65O
Or try this prepared string for a Purpose-to-Practice with your team.
Or download a free PDF canvas for Purpose to Practice.
And we happily invite you to join our growing community of patrons and work with us to refine our Purpose to Practice together: https://patreon.com/liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
At its core, Scrum is a framework for learning. But learning is hard when what you learn remains superficial and never challenges existing rules and beliefs.
In this episode, we talk about the foundational work by theorist Chris Argyris on organizational learning. He developed a model for organizational learning that distinguishes between single- and double-loop learning. Where single-loop learning concerns itself with correcting mistakes in the actions that you take, double-loop learning takes it several steps deeper and challenges why you're even taking those actions.
In our own work, we recognize that Scrum doesn't work when there is only single-loop learning. For example, many Scrum Teams struggle to find the best way to estimate their work and experiment with story points, t-shirt sizing, or functional points. But the deeper question is; why are we estimating work that we know is inherently unpredictable? What existing beliefs are making us estimate our work, that we should revisit and change?
The Liberating Structure "Myth Turning" is all about double-loop learning:
http://bit.ly/2JOmr9P
We developed a deck of Powerful Questions to help you challenge existing beliefs:
https://bit.ly/3o6HaaS
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"How is it a good idea to mirror this complexity in the product with complexity in the group of people that develop this product?"
Scaling Scrum is seriously hard, right? How do you work with many teams on one product? How many Product Owners should you have for one large product? How can many teams deliver a "Done" Increment every Sprint? How do you manage the increasing number of dependencies between teams?
Honestly, we believe that - in most cases - scaling Scrum is tantamount to solving the wrong problem. And we say that irrespective of the framework you use, Nexus, LeSS, or SAFe: Scaling Scrum is a contradiction.
In this episode of our podcast, we explain why. And we offer you five strategies to avoid scaling.
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Few teams start from a position where the Scrum Framework works like a charm from the start. Scrum is radically different from the way that teams have built products and worked with stakeholders in the past. Scrum Teams usually need to improve in many different areas, and overcome many barriers, in order to reach their goals of higher customer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, we’ve found that many Scrum Teams struggle to improve at all. And that easily leads to Zombie Scrum: something that may look like Scrum from a distance but lacks the beating heart. In this episode, we address one common reason for this: a lack of tangible improvements.
Read a transcript of this episode here:
https://bit.ly/2Nl8UaF
More about 15% Solutions can be found here:
http://bit.ly/2NXpIX0
You can pre-order the Zombie Scrum Survival Guide here:
https://zombiescrum.org
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
How do you sell Agile to your customer?
"One of our biggest customers preferred the traditional way of doing projects. This boiled down to writing a massive requirement document, estimating the hours the work, and translating that to a fixed budget. We would then set a deadline and get to work."
And this is understandable. From the perspective of the customer, this gives them the guarantees on budget, date, and scope they need to sell the work internally and to their own management, who in turn demand similar guarantees.
The irony of course is that, despite these guarantees, the scope inevitably changed during the work anyways. After all, those new ideas emerged if we wanted to or not. And in many cases, we simply made incorrect assumptions in the requirement document that we based our estimates on. So we had to move deadlines, request additional budget, and frequently covered overly optimistic hour estimates on our part with our own money.
As a wise person once told me after a feverish attempt to sell Scrum to them: “don’t sell me the hammer, sell me its benefits”. This was an important learning moment for me as I realized that I was explaining how it benefitted us, but not necessarily the customer. So what benefits does Agile offer to the customer?
A transcript is available here:
https://bit.ly/36IKBOB
Become a patron to support and participate in our work:
https://www.patreon.com/liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
Last year, we brought together 30 Scrum Masters to talk about what made their success possible. We used a string of Liberating Structures to include everyone's voice. In this episode we share the 5 most important contributors that the group identified. How are you investing in those contributors yourself?
We offer many strings to explore similar questions with your team, your meetup or your community of Scrum Masters.
This episode is based on this blog-post:
http://bit.ly/tl-scrummastersuccess
Become a patron to support and participate in our work:
https://www.patreon.com/liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
What if Scrum doesn't fit? If you work as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach, you have probably run into teams where Scrum just doesn’t take off. The various Scrum Events feel like a chore, motivation is low and people complain about Scrum.
One of the downsides of the popularity of the Scrum Framework is that organizations, teams, consultants, and coaches sometimes try to force Scrum onto problems it isn’t designed for. And the resulting tension is often experienced by the teams, making their perceived “resistance” very understandable.
In this episode of our podcast, we explore indicators of "bad fit". We also explore how "coherence" is central to the Scrum Framework. Without it, Scrum can easily feel artificial and forced. Even when that coherence isn't there now, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be there. In fact, you may find that creating more coherence makes your team many times more effective. Or you may conclude that it isn't feasible, and Scrum isn't going to fit.
This episode is based on this blog-post:
https://bit.ly/whenscrumdoesntfit
Become a patron to support and participate in our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
Follow us on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-liberators
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This episode is about how unreliable, nonobjective, and biased your and my thinking is. As sociologists and psychologists have long pointed out, we should develop a more skeptical and nuanced view of our own opinions.
In this episode, we explore eight biases and explore how they influence our beliefs in the workplace. A bias called "regression to the mean" can easily lead management to conclude that punishment for mistakes is more effective at producing desired behavior than rewards for achievements. The "survival bias" can lead people to conclude that certain methodologies or best-practices are successful purely because they only see the successes, but never the failures. Or "illusory superiority" leads to frustration and resentment because people feel that they are contributing more than others - as we all tend to do.
This episode is part of our "In-Depth" series. This means that we don't offer easy answers, but instead invite you to build a deeper understanding of how things work. Furthermore, we made an effort to dig deep into on-going scientific research. With this episode in mind, I'm sure you understand why we like Liberating Structures and Scrum so much. Or why we distrust "best practices".
This extra-long episode is based on this blog-post (all references are there):
https://bit.ly/30Je2Ni
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
Follow us on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
This year has been challenging for all of us. It wasn't any different for our company, The Liberators. At the same time, seemingly insurmountable challenges are also drivers of innovation.
In this personal episode, we share how we are turning the ship around. Our purpose is to liberate teams from dehumanizing and ineffective ways of organizing work by putting them in control of shaping their future.
This change in direction also means saying goodbye to things that are dear to us, including the Professional Scrum Master II class, training in general, and our stewardship at Scrum.org. But we take our mission too seriously to work on it with anything less than 100% focus.
Yes, this is super scary for both of us, and cause for some sleepless nights. At the same time, we believe in our mission and our community to make this work. We may fail. We may succeed - the experience will be worth it.
This episode is based on this blog post:
https://bit.ly/3h4OoY3
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
Follow us on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-liberators
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"Teams make people more than people make teams."
It may be a bold statement, but there is a surprising amount of scientific evidence that shows the overwhelming effect of our social environment on our behavior and performance. By understanding why it is easier to understand what makes change so difficult.
In this episode of our podcast, we explore a different way to understand organizations. Rather than the dominant perspective today - to understand them as "machines" - we look at organizations as social systems. We draw from five domains of scientific research to show just how useful this perspective is, what it teaches us about change and how we can do better.
This episode is part of our "In-depth"-series; a series that doesn't offer easy answers but aims to create deeper understanding. Our hope is this makes it easier to come up with your own answers, rather than having to rely on experts and consultants to tell you.
This episode is based on this blog post (which includes all the references too):
https://bit.ly/3lfEx4T
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
Follow us on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
Liberating Structures are easy-to-learn, easy-to-facilitate techniques that build real engagement and involvement in groups of any size. We’ve been using them for a while now. One thing we’ve learned is that coming up with good ‘invitations’ is 90% of the work. In this episode we share some of the lessons we’ve learned and are still learning.
This episode is based on this blogpost. In the episode, we also mention this document with helpful starting stems for your invitations. We also have many examples available of strings (and invitations) we've used with the Dutch LS User Group.
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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There is a problem with traditional learning models where experts tell people what they need to know: it doesn't work. Scientific research tells us that people don't learn from being told what they need to learn.
In this episode, we explore an alternative approach called Visual Thinking Strategies. Although only one piece of the puzzle, it creates engaging learning environments by guiding groups in their own learning. And VTS is super simple; only 3 questions.
When you've listened to this episode, give it a try with your own team. We're eager to learn what happened!
This episode is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/2Quic6q
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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What creates Zombie Scrum? One clear theme we — and many others — have found is that people use the Scrum Framework for the wrong reasons. When you ask people in a Zombie Scrum organization what they are hoping to get out of Scrum, you’ll hear things like “more speed”, “more brains”, “more output” and “more efficiency”. That’s very different from the actual meaning of the word “agile”. It’s also very different from what the Scrum Framework is designed for. Where does this contradiction come from?
In this episode, which is an excerpt from our book "The Zombie Scrum Survival Guide", we explore how the "Efficiency Mindset" that is prevalent in so many organizations can easy mess-up your work with the Scrum Framework.
The blog-version is available here:
https://bit.ly/3g6vS2f
Sign up to be notified when the book becomes available:
http://bit.ly/2zrdywv
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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"That doesn't work in the real world", "Our product is too complex" and "That works only for hip startups" are some of the reasons that people offer when we ask them why they don't ship faster.
In environments with Zombie Scrum, people don't understand why it's important to ship fast. When you ask them, they respond with a shrug. Or with a dismissive smile, because "that can't possibly work for a product or organization as complex as ours". For them, shipping fast is only possible for small and inconsequential products or for huge tech companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Etsy. Even if they'd want to, the investment would simply be too large. It's more convenient to keep batching many updates into large, infrequent releases. Honestly, this is not very different from seeing the appeal in a healthy lifestyle but refusing to do the frequent workouts to get there.
But ironically, the more complex the product or its environment is, the more important it is to use release small increments to reduce the risks that are inherent to that. The reasons that people often give why they can't ship faster are ironically exactly the reasons why they should.
In this episode, which is an excerpt from our book "The Zombie Scrum Survival Guide", we share one of the reasons why teams that suffer from Zombie Scrum often can't release as fast as they want.
The blog-version is available here:
https://bit.ly/2BBNV0x
Sign up to be notified when the book becomes available:
http://bit.ly/2zrdywv
Follow us on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
In this episode, we take a birds-eye view of what is happening in and around us. Technological innovations are emerging rapidly and our work is increasingly globalized, inter-connected and dependent on technology. And it seems to be accelerating: welcome to the technological Supernova!
In this episode we capture two complementary perspectives on this supernova and how to survive it. We also connect it to the Scrum Framework, and how it helps us survive - and even thrive on - all this growing complexity.
The transcript for this episode is available here as a blogpost:
http://bit.ly/35tTsQ4
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
Follow us on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-liberators
Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)
“Self-organization is the process by which spontaneous order arises from something that is initially disorganized.”
That sounds very deep, but what does it mean in practice? For such a popular topic as "self-organization", its often remarkably unclear what it means or how to make it happen. In this episode, we explore how Liberating Structures are effectively instruments for self-organization in teams and organizations. We also offer five tips that worked for us.
The transcript for this episode is available here as a blogpost:
https://bit.ly/3chbkAR
Our next 2-day Immersion Workshop takes place on November 18 & 19 (Amsterdam):
http://bit.ly/2UMk6xY
Donate to support our work:
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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“Stakeholders are less satisfied, less value is delivered and team morale is markedly lower when management hardly interacts with the teams”
This is one finding from the 2.000+ teams that have participated to date in our Zombie Scrum Survey. In this episode, we explore the improvements we made to the survey based on the data we collected to data. We also shared other preliminary findings.
This episode is based on this blogpost:
https://bit.ly/2YaNimi
Donate to support our work:
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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Does your Scrum Team use Sprint Goals? If not, why? Perhaps your team finds it hard to identify a goal for the Sprint out of the patchwork of items on the Sprint Backlog? Or perhaps your Product Owner doesn’t know how to balance the requests from many different groups of stakeholders?
In this episode, we bust one of the most persistent myths in Scrum; the notion that Sprint Goals are optional in Scrum. That they are nice-to-have, but hardly ever practically possible. We will show that the reverse is true. It is very hard, maybe even impossible, to do Scrum well when you don’t have Sprint Goals.
This episode is based on this blog-post (where you can find the other things we reference):
http://bit.ly/2kZhh0V
Donate to support our work
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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A simple way to understand Scrum would be to emphasize that its all about releasing faster and sooner. But what if everything that is released isn't valuable or useful? How beneficial is Scrum then?
In this episode, we explore the curious case of the missing customer in Scrum. It's a case we often see in the Scrum Teams we work with. Even the Scrum Guide itself makes no direct mention of 'users' and 'customers'. What might be going on here?
This episode is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/2Ft67bu
Donate to support our work
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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A good start for a new Scrum Team is really half the work. This is where you can start building the psychological safety and self-organizing skills that are so vital to the further success.
In this episode we share our approach to starting new Scrum Teams. And we offer 10 practical things you can do with a new team. Or even with teams that have been going on for a while, but can use a refresher.
This episode is based on this blog-post (where you can find the posters and examples):
http://bit.ly/2PBowJw
Donate to support our work
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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"By indulging in their own desire to 'try new structures' or dazzle the group with amazing riffs and mashups of Liberating Structures, facilitators may actually be preventing users from becoming skilled at them themselves.
This episode is a reflection on Liberating Structures, and in particular, an insight that we developed during the Liberating Structures Learning Gathering in 2019 in Hamburg.
Instead of facilitation methods, Liberating Structures are more like communication skills. And just like learning how to give feedback, ask questions and actively listen, it takes time for groups to become comfortable with Liberating Structures. So instead of falling into the trap of making it more about the facilitator, start simple, practice, and repeat.
This episode is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/36x1kSf
Donate to support our work
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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Almost everybody sees the value of Sprint Goals. But most teams struggle with them nonetheless. In this short episode, we offer 10 Powerful Questions that we've found to be very helpful. Where some of the questions focus on identifying the general direction for the Sprint Goal, others are more about selecting the work that is needed for that. Or narrowing down to the Sprint to what is possible.
This episode is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/2w6M3Km
Donate to support our work
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
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When you work in a team or with others, you'll recognize that conflict is a natural part of our work with others. Where some conflicts are visible, most remain below the surface and manifest only as tension and frustration. They happen, regardless of our intentions and experience.
There are different ways to deal with conflict. The Dual Concern Model for Conflict is a helpful way to look at this. It distinguishes five distinct styles that people (can) use to navigate conflict. But not all styles are equally effective.
In this episode we explore the five styles as well as what scientific research says about their effectiveness. And as the cherry on top, we share how Liberating Structures can help.
You can read the original blogpost here:
http://bit.ly/2TLmdmZ
Sign up for our upcoming 'Addressing the Elephant'-workshop here:
http://bit.ly/2JVSHcg
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https://medium.com/the-liberators
Donate to support our work
https://bit.ly/supportheliberators
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Conflicts are fascinating. They are a natural part of working with other people and can drain significant amounts of energy way from our work together.
Yet, for something that is so natural, we're often pretty bad at recognizing conflicts when they happen. For most us, 'conflicts' are those moments when people throw with doors, raise their voices or openly express their disagreement. But more often than not, conflict happens entirely below the surface. These are the "Elephants" that need to be addressed.
In this episode, we explore different types of "elephants" and our beliefs about conflict in general. We also share some of our own experiences, as well as what scientific research tells us.
Read the blogpost here:
http://bit.ly/2LSD99g
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What is the Scrum Framework? How does it work? What is its purpose? And how do all these roles, events and artifacts work together?This episode of our podcast is for everyone who wants to learn what Scrum is, or wants to refresh their understanding.
Recently, we noticed that we don't have an episode dedicated to explaining the Scrum Framework itself. We often touch on elements or bust 'myths' about it, but we never talk about the whole. In part, this is because there is an excellent official Scrum Guide at scrumguides.org. But there is often value in hearing it explained in other words and with different metaphors. Plus, we often do this as part of our work as stewards and Professional Scrum Trainers for Scrum.org.
We created this content as part of our upcoming book, the Zombie Scrum Survival Guide. In it, we use the tongue-in-cheek metaphor of Zombie Scrum to understand Scrum from the perspective of what it absolutely shouldn't be (but often is): Zombie Scrum. It contains over 40 helpful experiments to make Scrum work and explains both Scrum, and why it sometimes turns into Zombie Scrum.
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https://scrumguides.org
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Technical debt, or the accumulation of low-quality code, seems to be inevitable when you create software. It is one of the biggest frustrations and demotivators of Development Teams. They are often acutely aware of technical debt, but feel powerless and unable to explain why technical debt should be a priority. Instead, they feel that ‘business keeps adding more features over stabilizing the foundation’.
In this episode we offer four practical tips on how to make technical debt transparent and how to help ‘business’ make a better trade-off between code quality and new features.
This episode is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/2T1jqYD
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One of our patrons, Chris Davies, shares with us a challenge that he and his team are facing. What should you do when your team is unable to deliver done and working software within a Sprint? When is it okay to lengthen a Sprint? And what considerations come into play.
In this episode we use the Liberating Structure "Troika Consulting" to offer help. In true Troika-fashion, Chris first shares his challenge. We then explore the challenge with Chris with some open-ended questions. Then, we start exchanging ideas, suggestions and questions for 10 minutes while Chris listens. Afterwards, Chris shares some of his takeaways. Although our ideas are based on many assumptions, the idea of Troika is that simply listening to other people talk about your challenge can already generate ideas that you haven't considered before. Learn more about Troika Consulting here.
Have a challenge for us?
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Recently, we had the huge pleasure of participating in an hour-long episode of The Agile Wire by Jeff Bubolz and Jeff Maleski. Its basically just one hour of us talking about what we care about the most, what we've learned through our work with Scrum Teams and what can is made possible when teams work empirically. We also share a lot of our mistakes (and had a good laugh). But we also share some of the success stories we've experienced.
A common theme throughout the episode is how our learning journeys - and that of our community as a whole - are about uncovering better ways to work together. Practices that seemed like a good idea in the past, may not do so in hindsight. And that's okay; it shows that we're learning - individually and as a community.
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The Scrum Framework urges teams to involve stakeholders. But many Scrum Teams struggle to do so. For some, involving one or two internal stakeholders seems plenty. For others, stakeholders can only be involved when the entire product is done.
In a previous episode, we described one of the symptoms that let you know that your stakeholders are not adequately involved. This article explores the main cause behind this zombified interaction.
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In this episode we make a bold argument: stop using separate environments for development, testing, acceptance, and production - commonly called DTAP. Why? Because DTAP-pipelines create queues and accumulate all sorts of waste. Not only does this cost you a lot in terms of money and effort, they also make it harder to respond quickly to changing needs and emerging issues.
In this episode, we explore what the problem with DTAP-pipelines is. We also offer a number of alternative strategies that allow you to deploy faster AND with higher quality and reliability.
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In the past, we often corrected how people spoke about work. Whenever someone mentioned “project”, we would correct it to “product”. With a pedantic tone, we would explain that “we’re building a product here, not doing a project” (with an implicit “you silly”). People who are passionate about Scrum usually don't love projects. They are believed to be the opposite to what we're trying to do with the Scrum Framework. But is that so?
A reality is that most organizations are used to working with projects. So should we start a crusade to banish the word "project" from the lexicon? In this episode, we explore the myth that you cannot do projects with Scrum. Instead, we offer a more constructive perspective that is all about meeting people where they are instead of where you want them to be.
Let us know what you think in the comments. Or send an email to info@theliberators.com.
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Our brains have not evolved for complex work. Our memory is limited. We make decisions based on heuristics instead of a full rational analysis of all the facts. And that is exactly why the Scrum Framework works so well: it helps us think by Sprinting.
In this longer-than-usual episode of our podcast, we explore how scientific insights from cybernetics, cognitive psychology and human factors help us understand why the Scrum Framework is better for navigating complex problems than plan-based approaches.
You can also read the accompanying blogpost here (all sources are in there as well):
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The Scrum Framework doesn't work when developers don't take (or are not given) ownership of their craft. Without a developer culture that encourages innovation, experiments and trying new things, Scrum tends to be lipstick on a pig.
In this episode, Barry and I have a conversation about developer cultures. Specifically, we share some of our own experiences in creating and being part of them. How did we notice it was there? How did we contribute to making it possible?
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In this episode we're using the Liberating Structure "Troika Consulting" to offer help to one of our listeners. Its an experiment, so let us know what you think.
One of our patrons, Sven de Koning, provided us with the following challenge: "My team is unable to deliver a done increment because they don't know how to slice items on their Product Backlog vertically. How can I help them?". In true Troika-fashion, we briefly explored the challenge in 2 minutes and then started generating ideas for what might be helpful. Although based on many assumptions, the idea here is that simply listening to other people talk about your challenge can generate ideas that you haven't considered before.
Want to know more?
- Learn more about Troika Consulting here;
- Or click here to discover our 10 strategies for breaking down large Product Backlog Items vertically (PDF included);
Have a challenge for us?
If you have a challenge you are facing, and you'd like to hear our perspectives through Troika Consulting, let us know. You can email us at info@theliberators.com or connect wit us through other means.
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What do pizzerias have in common with software development? Not much, right? But they do offer a useful perspective on what kind of metrics are really useful and which are likely to encourage the wrong things.
In this episode, we explore how tracking user stories, number of hours, number of hours spent is like measuring the number of pizzerias. It doesn't tell you anything about how valuable that was. Instead, focusing on these kinds of metrics encourages the accumulation of more waste (heaps of pizza to throw away).
Plus, we give you some examples out metrics that ARE useful to measure and actually encourage the removal of waste.
P.s. apologies for the chatty birds in the background. I couldn't get them to shut up :)
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http://bit.ly/37dT21D
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For more about Evidence-Based Management, check out Scrum.org's EBM Framework.
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You can use Liberating Structures without any prior training or experience. At the same time, practice makes perfect. One example is to always start your explanation by saying "When I'm done explaining". Its a simple tweak, but it prevents people from moving and pairing while you are explaining the steps.
In this episode, we share this and 13 other tips for facilitating Liberating Structures that we've found to be helpful. For many of these, we are indebted to our great mentors Henri Lipmanowicz, Keith McCandless, Fisher Qua, Anna Jackson and other experienced users of Liberating Structures. And hopefully you can also benefit from ours :)
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These days, a lot of the work inside and outside organisations is done in groups. Like task forces, Scrum Teams, management teams or your local church committee. Despite the benefits of working in groups, there are also several risks. Groupthink is a social bias that is clear example of this.
In this episode we explore what it is, what causes it and how to prevent it. Especially when it comes to developing strategy, we feel that Liberating Structure - and Strategy Knotworking in particular - can be a great help.
We're eager to hear your take after listening to the episode. How have you dealt with Groupthink? Let us know!
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In the Scrum.org Headquarters there is a picture of Ken Schwaber — one of the founders of Scrum — pointing at a sticky saying “Done”. This picture underscores the most essential rule in Scrum: create “Done” software every Sprint.
But what does that mean? And why does it matter? Isn't it enough if you just work as hard as you can during a Sprint and do the rest - like testing and deployment - in a future Sprint?
In this episode we explore how vitally important a Done increment is to the purpose of the Scrum Framework. And more importantly, to working empirically in the face of complex work.
This podcast is an audio recording of this post on Medium:
http://bit.ly/2LkKcFc
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A simple search on Google yields dozens of Maturity Models for Agile and Scrum. At first sight, they seem incredibly helpful. By flattening the complexity of growth and learning into a single model you can easily identify what needs to be improved.
But in this episode we share why we don't like maturity models one bit. They make several assumptions about growth and learning that just don't hold up. And they introduce a kind of language into the workplace that we should want to avoid if we want to create a safe environment. In the episode, we also more useful alternatives (hint: they're very simple too).
We're eager to hear your take after listening to the episode. What is your experience? What alternatives do you see?
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http://bit.ly/2UD2jsY
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This episode is an excerpt from the book that we’re writing, the ‘Zombie Scrum Survival Guide’. It’s our way of delivering small increments and involving our stakeholders. So we’d love to hear your feedback, encouragements and wild ideas. You can also listen to us reading this post here. Sign up here to stay informed and provide feedback on our writing.
What makes someone a "stakeholder"? It’s such a simple question that you can’t help but wonder why we’re even asking it. The Scrum Framework relies heavily on involving stakeholders. And for good reason. You need them to validate your assumptions and to determine what is valuable (and what isn’t).
We’ve visited Sprint Reviews where all the ‘stakeholders’ present were internal to the organization; people from marketing and sales, an internal product manager and an opinionated colleague. None of them were either using or paying for the product and its development. We’ve found that not included the right stakeholders is one of the primary causes of Zombie Scrum.
In this podcast we share what is necessary for someone to actually be a stakeholder. We also offer three questions to help you find them.
This podcast is an audio recording of this post on Medium:
http://bit.ly/2Pw6NkO
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On November 22, we had the huge pleasure of hosting a 1-day workshop on navigating tension and conflict in groups with Julie Huffaker, Karen Dawson, and Daniel Steinhöfer. Attended by 55 participants, we explored how instead of ‘resolving’ conflict — which often isn’t possible — we can navigate conflict and tension more productively instead. Rather than making this a very theoretical workshop, we opted for a hugely interactive and experiential experience.
In this episode, we capture the five biggest insights we took from the workshop.
This podcast is an audio recording of this post on Medium:
http://bit.ly/2rmhtKF
The string for the workshop can be found here:
http://bit.ly/2OCa2H5
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"Scrum has too many meetings!" is a common complaint against the Scrum Framework. And we totally get where that is common from.
But if you look at the numbers, Scrum doesn't have "many meetings" at all. Instead, other things seem to be happening that are making teams feel as if they're wasting their valuable time in meeting rooms. In this episode, we explore the myth that Scrum requires many meetings. We also give you several tips on how to start improving your situation.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
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Scrum Masters can't remove someone from the team, right? That would harm trust, it would violate their self-organizing nature. But what if the dynamic in the team is so harmful that it is affecting a team's ability to work. What if Scrum crumbles because of a prolonged and unresolved conflict?
In this episode we dive into one of the toughest myths of Scrum. And by doing so, we explore the essence of what it means for the Scrum Master to be both and servant and a leader.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
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Are you a Scrum Master and ready for the next step as Agile Coach? Do you need an Agile Coach to help facilitate organizational change while Scrum Masters focus on the Scrum Teams? Do you have experience as a Scrum Master and want to become Agile Coach with a 3-day course? Ever considered changing your job title to ‘Agile Coach’ because it nets you a higher salary?
These statements exemplify the myth that we intend to bust today; the idea that the Scrum Master is a Junior Agile Coach. Or maybe even that you need Agile Coaches ...
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Why do we estimate work in Scrum? Are Story Points the best way to do this? And what about #noestimates? In this episode we address the myth that Scrum requires all work to be estimated in Story Points. In the process, we already explore what the purpose of estimation is in Scrum, and how it is very different from plan-based approaches.
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Is the Product Owner the only person who interacts with stakeholders? You may also recognize a Product Owner who claims exclusive responsibility for talking with users. Or the Product Owner as the only member of a Scrum Team who identifies and clarifies work for the Product Backlog.
In this episode, we bust the myth that the Product Owner is the only person on a Scrum Team who interacts with stakeholders, like users and customers.
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Does Refinement feel like a chore for your team? Is refinement taking place during required meetings during the Sprint? In this episode, we address the myth that refinement is a required meeting in Scrum. We also explore what the purpose of refinement is in the first place, and how to make it more effective.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
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Do Development Teams commit to completing all the items on the Sprint Backlog? Or is it okay for the Sprint Backlog to change as new insights emerge. Find out in this episode.
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In many organizations and teams, Scrum is certainly not a lightweight process. All the items in JIRA must be in the form of User Stories. Every Sprint features at least one or two sessions where people pull out their planning poker cards to spend an hour estimating items. And there's a Definition of Ready that must be adhered to in order to pull something into a Sprint.
Over time, and with good intentions, many practitioners of Scrum have burdened it with practices, tools and techniques that may be helpful to some teams, but are not for others. And for most teams, these techniques do not help them work empirically. We've been guilty of this as much as the next Scrum Master or Agile Coaches.
In this episode, recorded after day 1 of a Professional Scrum Master II-class, we talk about how this happened. And what you can do to stop burdening Scrum, and return back to its simple and clear purpose: to work empirically in the face of complexity.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
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Should Scrum Teams revolt against creating "plans"? Are Scrum Teams supposed to not look further than their current Sprint? Is Scrum a "happy go lucky" way of building products, not planning ahead in any way, shape or form? In this episode we bust the myth that Scrum doesn't like planning and plans.
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"I'm more of a Scrum Janitor" - Carsten Grønbjerg Lützen
In this edition, Christiaan and Barry talk with Scrum Master Carsten Grønbjerg Lützen about his journey as a Scrum Master. Carsten works at the LEGO Group, and has been a passionate and driven Scrum Master for many years. Together, we dive deep into what makes Scrum work at the LEGO Group, and how it all starts with having a clear purpose to rally behind. Carsten also shares some of the things that helped him on his journey as a Scrum Master.
Check out Carsten's videos here.
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Zombie Scrum is something that looks like Scrum, but isn't Scrum at all when you take a closer look. Usually, Zombie Scrum is marked by a complete lack of working software, no involvement of the actual users and no drive to do anything about this.
This is nothing new. But instead of stating the obvious, we wanted to do something to help. So we built a Zombie Scrum Symptoms Checker - together with Johannes Schartau - to help create transparency around how teams are working with Scrum. Not only is this a helpful tool to start a conversation within your team, it also helps us gather more data around how Scrum is used around the world. Our hope is to improve our ability to help organizations and teams work with Scrum more effectively.
In this episode, Barry interviews Christiaan about this tool, how it was developed, what its purpose is and what our goals are with it.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
Give the Zombie Scrum Symptoms Checker here:
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In this episode, it is all about how problems are resolved that are hindering a Development Team in their work. From a broken wifi router to a steady stream of meeting-requests from outside the team. And from clarifying unclear work to resolving a conflict between members. What problems should a Scrum Master resolve? What is the difference between impediments, blockers, problems and issues?
This audioblog is based on this blogpost:
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Are stakeholders present at your Sprint Review? Is this event called a 'Demo' in agenda's? Are stakeholders actively invited to offer feedback? In this episode, we address the myth that the Sprint Review is primarily an opportunity to ‘demo’ the increment to stakeholders. And we give you plenty of tips to make your Sprint Review more effective.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
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Sprint Goals are one of the more elusive parts of the Scrum Framework. Although most teams understand why they matter, there is usually this idea of "that won't work here" or "we'll do that when the rest of Scrum is working".
In this podcast, Barry and Christiaan talk about their experience with Sprint Goals. They also explore how Scrum Master can actually use the lack of Sprint Goals, and the underlying reasons, to start improving the empirical process. Rather than considering them as optional practices, Barry and Christiaan explain how they are a critical and essential part that ties all the elements of Scrum together. They also offer a number of tips.
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Have you ever come across User Stories like "As a designer, I want to set up a style guide so that all developers can do basic design themselves"? Or "As a developer I want to have an API so that I can access the back-end"? In this edition, we talk about the myth that Product Backlog have to consist entirely out of User Stories. We also clarify the purpose of User Stories and offer some tips on other techniques that might be better suited for your needs.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
This audioblog is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/2ZWZLtx
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In this podcast, Barry and Christiaan explore what their journeys as Scrum Masters looked like. What helped? Where did they find support? They also talk about their upcoming workshop on September 17 where over 50 Scrum Masters will identify next steps on their personal journeys.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
Want to join the Learning Journey on September 17? Sign up here:
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Is DevOps better than Scrum because it allows teams to release whenever they want? Can Development Teams only release a bugfix or a completed feature at the end of a Sprint?
In this episode, we tackle a persistent myth in Scrum that says that releases can only be done at the end, or even after, the Sprint. We also offer tips on how to improve.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
This podcast is an audio recording of this post on Medium:
http://bit.ly/2yG0L9t
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Are you always joining the Daily Scrum as a Scrum Master? Does the Development Team require the presence of the Scrum Master?
In this episode, we tackle the myth that Scrum Masters must be present at the Daily Scrum. We explain why this is not the case. We also offer some tips to make your Daily Scrum more effective.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
This podcast is an audio recording of this post on Medium:
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Is your Product Owner the only person who can make changes to the Product Backlog? Is your Development Team asking your Product Owner to write and order items on the Product Backlog? Is the Product Owner the only person with write-access to a Product Backlog in a digital tool like Jira?
In this episode, we tackle the myth in Scrum that the Product Backlog is maintained exclusively by the Product Owner.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
This podcast is an audio recording of this blogpost on Medium:
http://bit.ly/2I9zaol
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What are the questions you ask yourself before writing code? Or do you just start? Asking yourself the right questions before you start can prevent mistakes, unused code or solving the wrong problem. In our first audioblog, Christiaan shares the five questions that he likes to ask before writing any code.
We love to share our materials. Please help us by supporting our work. You can do so by giving us a thumbs-up on the platform you're listening on. Or follow us on Twitter, Medium or LinkedIn (Barry & Christiaan).
This audioblog is based on this blogpost:
http://bit.ly/2XS4mMt
Sign up for the Developer Culture Workshop (October 21, 2020) here:
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