Transformation.ist

Scrum Alliance is the largest and most established professional membership and certification organization in the agile community - and they recently created the position of Chief Scrum Master - the perfect role for today's guest, Melissa Boggs.

In this episode we talk about the role of Chief Scrum Master, how Scrum Alliance has started using Scrum internally to become more agile, and more!

Melissa Boggs - Chief Scrum Master of Scrum Alliance

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/11 

What does Optimus Prime have to do with hiring? Well - Optimus is a good guy and a great leader... just like our guest, Behfar Jahanshahi.

In this episode we discuss hiring, servant leadership, consulting, and growth. Behfar also shares one of his secrets to success. Spoiler alert; it's simple, but most companies are totally missing the mark.

Behfar Jahanshahi - Founder and CEO of Interworks

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/10

Forbes 2019 'Small Giant' award winner, Community Impact delivers hyperlocal news and information to millions of local residents. 

In this episode we talk reader feedback, the importance of quality content, and innovation through insourcing.

John Garret - CEO and Founder of Community Impact Newspaper

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/9

Taylor Stitch is a perfect example of agile product management evolved. They design new products every week and the customer feedback determines what actually goes into production. It's lean, realtime a/b testing for physical products. Oh, and it's also awesome for the environment.

"We get to see what works and the earth gets less waste. If our products reach their funding goal we'll make them using our responsible supply chain which is up to +90% organic or recycled materials!" - Mike Maher

In this episode, we dive deeper into how Taylor Stitch grew from a custom shirt startup into the successful lifestyle brand that it is today.

Mike Maher - Co-Founder/CEO of Taylor Stitch

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/8

Beliefs play a critical role in our decision making - and the quality of our decisions really drives the impact of our work. 

The core thesis of Henry's book is that we focus too much on process when we should be focusing on ourselves and others as decision makers. 

In this episode, we dive deeper into Decision Making and review:

• What it takes to be mindful and robust
• The importance of leading by example
• How to shift the focus of your team back to the foundations of mindfulness, openness to change, and psychological safety.

Henry Latham - Agile Coach, Head of Product at Scribe, and Author of "Why Your Startup is Failing", available June 2019

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/7

Prioritizing the most impactful action items requires a refined ability to make important decisions. And beliefs/mindset serve as the foundation for solid decision making. 

In this episode, Henry details what he calls the 3 Pillars of Decision Making:

• Be Mindful
• Be Robust
• Focus on the Essentials

Henry Latham - Agile Coach, Head of Product at Scribe, and Author of "Why Your Startup is Failing", available June 2019

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/6

One of the most common agile anti-patterns is focusing on efficiency rather than impact. Optimizing around story point completion without effectively prioritizing your backlog just means you'll get a lot of the wrong work done. 

Henry Latham - Agile Coach, Head of Product at Scribe, and Author of "Why Your Startup is Failing"

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/5

Agile theory often translates poorly when put into practice. In part one of our interview, Henry shares his experiences with trying to adopt agile and lean startup principles in his first startup, BackTracker.

Henry Latham - Agile Coach, Head of Product at Scribe, and Author of "Why Your Startup is Failing", available June 2019

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/4

The importance of Trust, coaching to your strengths, and getting buy-in from Teams.

Allison Pollard - agile coach, consultant, and agile blogger

Key Takeaways:

1. Trust changes everything.

2. There are a plethora of skills strengths that enable agile coaches and Scrum Masters to make a positive impact. Knowing your strengths and leaning into those - rather than trying to emulate someone else's - is a key component of being successful in these roles. 

3. Make sure to get INPUT BEFORE (and not just FEEDBACK AFTER) implementing new practices and agile capabilities.

Detailed show notes available at signal.cafe/agile-coaching-with-allison-pollard/

What to focus on - and what to watch out for - with scaled agile implementations.

Bob Galen - agile coach, author, and speaker - talks about the three most common scaled agile anti-patterns and how to avoid them.

Key Takeaways:

1. Lead with the Teams. All successful scaled agile installations start with healthy Teams. The mentality for scaling should be 'Think like a Scrum Team'. 

2. Leaders must adopt an agile mindset and ensure that your goals and message are consistent. What are you measuring? And do your behaviors support your message?

3. Don't over-commit. It's better to bite off only what you can chew and deliver on that predictably. Quality and Health need to be the focus - speed of delivery is the natural result of those two focus areas.

Detailed Show Notes at http://signal.cafe/2