What Happened to my Team?
COVID-19’s Impact on Team Health

Remote-Scrum-Teams-Man-at-home-working-extra-hours-at-night

COVID-19: A silver lining? In the pandemic’s early days, a Team Leader told me, with an obvious sense of relief, that his people were doing really well despite the turmoil. Productivity had actually increased after the Team’s shift to working from home. They were working hard–it seemed like the transition had definitely improved the Team’s…

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6 Signals of Collective Conflict Avoidance

Conflict Avoidance in Scrum

The primary goal of Scrum Mastering[1] is to enable a Well-Formed Team™ (WFT). Ideally, a Well-Formed Team[2] would take on most of its own facilitation and coaching. However, some Teams get stuck in earlier stages of maturity that we describe as Collective Conflict Avoidance. Collective Avoidance is a norm that needs to be thoughtfully and…

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Sleepwalking Through Scrum

Sleepwalking Scrum Team

How do we recognize when the way we’re “doing Scrum” is impeding our Agility? Two alternative scenarios are possible: The Team has fully internalized Agile practice in the past but now seems to be sleepwalking through the Ceremonies: the Team’s Agile practice has gotten stale, we’re sleepwalking through Scrum. The Team hasn’t experienced Agile practice…

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To Empower Your Scrum Teams, Provide Mission Protection

backchanneling

Scrum coaching and training usually focuses on strengthening your Dev Teams’ collaboration, empowering Scrum Mastering and Product Ownership. These ingredients are all required for Scrum Teams to achieve high-quality results. But a key ingredient is missing in creating the conditions for success: what 3Back calls Mission Protection.

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What Football Teaches Us About Scrum Teams

Even if you think that a “Fair Catch” has something to do with a summer carnival fishing tournament and a “Flea Flicker” can be eradicated with a dog collar, there are two things that all football and non-football fans know: The crazy intensity of the championship football season is among us. And, the only football teams that prove themselves worthy of achieving this level of greatness are the ones that are the epitome of a Well-Formed Team.™

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Is it a Group or a Team?

This question often occurs to me when I’m on training or coaching assignments. The provocation is usually a statement similar to the following: “We have a Development Team of 250 highly skilled engineers….”

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8 Reasons Why You Should Stand For Your Daily StandUp

Why stand during the Daily StandUp? (Or Daily Scrum, as it is also commonly known.) I’ve been asked this question surprisingly often in recent training classes and coaching engagements. The easy answer is that standing with your Teammates for a few minutes every day is a part of Scrum.

“You’ll have to do better than that….”

Okay, let’s do better then.

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Signs That Your Team Needs The Well-Formed Team™

Our Scrum experts have been busy putting the finishing touches on our latest white paper, The Well-Formed Team. While they dot their I’s and cross their T’s, here’s a short quiz to determine if your Team might benefit from reading our new white paper. Circle True or False: My Team always has the right people…

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The First Step to a Well-Formed Team™

If you’ve ever been a part of an agile Team that is high-performing, effective and empowered, you know what we mean. It’s an experience unlike anything else. In fact, you’re probably smiling (or perhaps gloating a bit) right now, thinking about that Team’s awesomeness. But, for many, that kind of Team experience is rare.

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