people management

ScrumMaster facilitating communication between an agile team and stakeholders Understanding the ScrumMaster's Role in Team Communication

Some agile teams believe the ScrumMaster is the sole point of communication between them and the product owner, so the team can abdicate any responsibility to communicate with stakeholders. That couldn't be more wrong. It's actually the ScrumMaster's job to enable communication and coach or guide the team to solutions.

Alan Crouch's picture
Alan Crouch
People practicing in a dojo Agile Dojo: Speed Up Delivery Using Focus

An Agile Dojo is an immersive learning experience where teams bring their work into a collocated space and work together to complete a project, using “hyper-iterations” of two-day sprints, over six weeks. Even distributed teams are able to collaborate, focus, and deliver projects on time and within budget. Here's how.

Christina Ambers's picture
Christina Ambers
Four quadrants of citrus fruit Effectively Measuring Agile Leadership

Culture drives performance, and agile leaders set a team's culture, so leaders should be measured at how effectively they’re doing just that. The challenge is, what might that look like? Here’s an idea for a four-quadrant measurement approach for leaders' organizational and personal effectiveness in agile contexts.

Bob Galen's picture
Bob Galen
Evolution of light bulbs Making DevOps Evolution Happen

It takes effort to evolve an organization’s culture, processes, and technology to optimize performance for a DevOps environment, and it all comes down to the people. Large-scale mobilization requires a focus on people at all levels, empowering them to discover and make the changes that will help them most. Here's how.

Helen Beal's picture
Helen Beal
Agile team bumping fists Transforming a Team of Agile Skeptics into Agilists

Coaching an agile-skeptical team demands a personalized approach. Agile introduces a different way of working and thinking, and leaders must find a way to overcome resistance and foster a collaborative culture. Take these three steps to move toward achieving an agile mindset and realizing the benefits of agile.

Scott Weiner's picture
Scott Weiner
Two agile developers learning together Maximizing Agile by Understanding Learning Styles

To be most agile with your communication, understand several models of learning styles, where you fit into them, and where your team fits into them. By tweaking the ways you communicate to fit the information and the situation, you are helping your team remain agile by valuing people and interactions over processes.

Robin Foster's picture
Robin Foster
A good leader asking her team questions Providing Value as a Leader: More Than Just Being the Boss

As a leader, your job is not to be the boss and check on every task, but to provide value to your team, helping them grow, learn to fix things, and make decisions without you. One of the best ways to provide value is by asking questions. Questions clarify expectations, confirm understanding, and build relationships.

Jeff Abshoff's picture
Jeff Abshoff
Agile team made of different people all bumping fists How Embracing Differences Makes More Robust Agile Teams

On any team, there are bound to be some differences. But even though work styles may differ from what you expect, they may not be problematic simply because they are different. Before making assumptions about what a teammate is doing or why, just ask to find out. Their differences may bring a helpful new perspective.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk