Category Archives: Teams

How to fix this Team? Diagnosis-2

This is continuing from a prior post. Here are some things we can look at.  If these were not done well at the beginning, they could be a cause of our problems now. Mission We must have a challenging mission. We must understand what it is, it must be a common mission that we all […]

In medias res (“Into the midst of things”)

Here’s a famous quote of a man at the beginning of a journey. Or at least the story: In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, […]

How to fix this Team? Diagnosis-1

Lots of people are doing Scrum ok, but not getting the results they should be getting. So, we want to start this series of blog posts to help with that. First, it helps to define success, and how much success you want. Definition of Success Here’s a definition of success that we like.  Note that […]

Agile Carolinas: Dec 17: The Holiday Episode

Hi all, On Thursday, Dec 17, we’ll have a self-organized party.  From 5:30 to 7:30. We need YOU to volunteer. We need you to suggest things you want to do in this period.  For 10, 15, or 30 minutes. You can do any sort of short program. In break-out rooms or in the main room. […]

How to start a Great Team

Do we want to have a great Team? I think we definitely want that.  To be fair, though, do we ask ourselves that question? I think not.  So, ask yourself that question, and resolve that you WANT to create a great team. OK, yes, you have to define what a great team is, to some […]

AC: Starting a Great Team

This Agile Carolinas session we will discuss some sub-topics. As before, we will use open space-like rules. Main topic: How to start a great team? Some possible sub-topics (you will get to decide that day): What are the prerequisites? How to gather a great team. What would make a great first project How can the […]

Scrum is a Game!

I hope you have heard of the new book, called A Scrum Book.  It is by Jeff Sutherland, James Coplien, et al.  Wonderfully good.  You must get it. The subtitle is “The Spirit of the Game.” We also know that Scrum is named for the scrum formation in the game of rugby.  So, in that […]

Question: A technical challenge arises inside the Sprint

Hanna wrote again from Finland. [Shortened and lightly edited.] Hi Joseph, First, thanks for your [last reply]. I hope you will accept my next request, to answer this next question. Thanks! Hanna I replied. Hi Hanna, See my comments below, in-line. Hope that helps. Regards! Joe PS. Was that a PO question?  Or a SM […]

What do I do with a Distributed Team?

Question: How can I help a distributed Team be more productive? Answer: First, one of the most important things about a small team of knowledge workers is communication. Why is communication so important?   There are many ways to answer this question.  In creating knowledge together, the team is always learning. As they get to know […]

Using a “Definition of Agile” in a Large Corporation

Fairly often a large corporation will mandate Agile. One thing to consider is Open Space Agility — more on that before and later. For now, I want to suggest a “Definition of Agile.” This is vaguely similar to the Definition of Done concept. The idea here is that often teams will… make up what Agile […]