Steve Crossland

we have planned an PI Objective which is an exploration enabler during PI Planning and team identified the approach and completed. when we do 'System demo' will we demo this as as part of it? I think yes we need to demo. Need experts view here. #scaledagileframework

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Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of delivering the Scrum.org Professional Scrum with Kanban course in collaboration with TheScrumMaster.co.uk. This course covers - how Kanban can complement Scrum - How we can bring life to Scrum events - How we can make data-guided decision The course provides actionable insights, and our learners agree! A big thanks to Nick Sullivan for sharing this fantastic review. The highlight of the review for me is "the improvement i can bring into my teams." This encapsulates what the training is all about—focusing on actionable learning and real-world application, not just certificates.

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Why did I take the Certified ScrumMaster course? The answer will surprise you… Can my opening sentence get any more clickbait than that? Welcome to Agile Career Monday. We’re currently on a multi-part journey to look at how I became the Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile champion I am today. In a previous post (https://lnkd.in/gbNED6QV), I talked about when my Agile journey began, with the famous words, “You’ll pry waterfall from my cold dead hands.” Last week, I talked about how I implemented Agile and Scrum in my first post-CSM job. How did I end up with that CSM, though? When I was so passionately anti-Agile? It started on the last day of September 2009. At 9:00 AM, I entered an all-hands meeting for my organization. Forty-five minutes later, I stood around with 150 co-workers, waiting for HR to hand me my official severance paperwork. For the second time in my career, I was caught completely flat-footed and unprepared. I was an outstanding project manager. I was one of the best. And it didn’t matter because my leadership had poorly communicated our value to the organization. For those who recall, 2009 was not the best time to be unemployed. The “Great Recession” was going on, and being a project manager in Silicon Valley was like being a single sprinkle on a Krispy Kreme donut. So, when Chris Sims (you’ll remember him from the “cold, dead hands story”) contacted me and offered me an unemployment discount for his Certified ScrumMaster class, I took him up on the opportunity. (Thanks again, Chris!) I had two and only two reasons for doing so: 1—To get the letters CSM on my resume. All the jobs I was looking at listed it as a “must have” or “nice to have.”  2— To prove all this Scrum and Agile stuff was a load of…. “Bovine by-product” Well… I got the letters CSM on my resume. Did I become a Scrum expert in those two days? Nope, certainly not. Did I learn everything I needed to take an entry-level Scrum job? Close, I still needed to do some follow-up reading to fill in the gaps. What I really got from the course was connections.  Connections with fellow students Connections with a lifelong mentor and friend in Chris Connections with my old customer service mindset and delivering value to the customers Connections with the vocabulary and accurate flow of Scrum My Agile journey may have started when I said, “You’ll pry waterfall from my cold, dead hands. It accelerated immeasurably when I took that two-day CSM course. I wouldn’t be where I am today if Chris hadn’t seen an opportunity and opened the door for me. Have you had a moment when a door was opened, and you thought about not going through it? Be open, be Agile. This has been a 🦍 Gorilla Coach 🦍 career moment. Have a nice day. #Agile #Scrum #Sustainability #ContinuousImprovement #AgileCareers

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Want to finish 2024 with a new qualification? Join me on 16th and 17th December for my final Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master course of the year. Whether you’re new to Agile or looking to deepen your understanding, this course will help you develop the skills you need to lead high-performing teams and deliver better results. We’ll use Mural to collaborate on real-world scenarios, and you’ll have the chance to work in breakout rooms with others, discussing and debating Agile challenges. Expect case studies, interactive exercises, and plenty of opportunities to ask questions and share your experiences. What sets this course apart? It’s fun, it’s practical, and it’s packed with real insights from my work in telecoms, defence, finance, and more. Plus, by the end of the course, you’ll be ready to take the Certified Scrum Master exam. Course Details: Dates: Monday 16th & Tuesday 17th December Time: 9am - 5pm (UK/GMT) Location: Zoom & Mural Early Bird Price: £495 per ticket (+ VAT) Standard Price: £595 per ticket (+ VAT) I also offer an “out of work discount” for those currently between jobs. Seats are limited, so message me directly to learn more! Ready to end the year as a Certified Scrum Master? Message me today or find the link in the comments to secure your spot!

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🚀 SCRUM MASTER JOBS ALERT!  Feel Free to connect for Any help or Guidance. Follow Me for more updates! #scrum #scrummaster #scrummasters #scrumteam #scrumalliance #scrumcoach #scrumcertification #agile #agilecoach #agilecoaching #agileleadership #agilelearning #agilemethodology #agiledevelopment #agilescrum #agiletraining #agileprojectmanagement #scrumtraining #scrummentorship #csm #psm #psm1 #safe #scaledagileframework #careertips #careeradvice #careers #networkingtips #careergoals #interviews #jobseeker #jobsearch #careergrowth #resume

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Rapid share... longer one coming. (probably a newsletter) I will leave the Agile Alliance/Agile Business Consortium Conference in Manchester today. And it was one of the best conferences I have attended. Was it perfect? Of course not. We are in the middle of an economic recession, and the price-linked elements of Agile have collapsed. So, amid this, I was not expecting much, and there was a bit of doom and gloom. What I found was a vibrant and healthy community. The ideas and introspection on what we are doing, the quest to reimagine our work, and the side quests into exploring the Agile Business Consortium's new Agile Project Management and Sustainability framework are amazing. Peter Coesmans and Arie van Bennekum cut through the Agile bullcrap. Katie Taylor was amazing at holding it all together. My friend and inspiration, Dave Snowden , is going from strength to strength. It was so good to see Giles Lindsay (FIAP FBCS FCMI) and I'm looking forward to collaborations with him. It was great spending time with Jutta Eckstein and Seb Rose. Highlights for me included meeting Beven and doing a beer side quest. and of course Joanna Masraff 🌱 , Cass Van Gelder , and Suzanne Lagerweij were fantastic Kareoke company. Over the pond, Marjolein Pilon, Stuart Young , Heidi Musser , Ellen Grove , Alistair Cockburn, 🔑 Sanjiv Augustine 🎯 , Jon Kern , and Jim Highsmith being linked in. So... I am excited, eager, and feeling huge potential. If this is what Dead Agile feels like, I wish it had happened years ago! There is a humility and soul-searching that really suits the community now. And it feels stronger than ever and focused on its value to the world. It feels less about high-paid contracts and more about using Agile to change the world."

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I thought I'd share some thoughts I've been having on the importance of effective Test Management and the key role it plays in software delivery. Software Test Management: The Bridge Between Delivery and Stakeholders   When an IT platform publicly doesn’t work quite as expected often we hear the catch cry “Was it even tested before it went into production?” and in delivery and testing approaches where we see the likely increase in the use of AI, I feel that the role of the Test Manager is even more critical than it may have been seen before. The Test Manager is there to provide qualitative information regards the quality of the delivery, through the appropriate testing as well as ensuring that the appropriate stakeholder engagement occurs. With the likelihood of more aspects of testing software deliveries being “black box” using automation, LLM and GenAI, having a capable and experienced Test Manager ensuring the right criteria are being tested, within appropriate boundaries and interpreting the results in a way that gives meaning to the stakeholders about the quality of and risks to delivery will be critical. The Test Manager can be the representative of the stakeholders and the delivery of the project in discussions with vendors, environment and change managers. The Test Manger as well as the testers will be critical in reviewing any test material that is generated and output by automated LLM and GenAI testing to ensure it’s fit for purpose, has the appropriate coverage, and actually does what it says it’s doing. The Test Manager being able to tell the “story” of testing to the appropriate stakeholders, what’s going well, where the issues are and what defects, issues and risks are present and any likely impact to the business are key aspects of the Test Manager role that are essential to successful software delivery. It’s also upon the Test Manager to get the input and feedback from the stakeholders on what are the business priorities and risk tolerances, this enables a risk-based approach to testing and can introduce efficiencies into the testing process. Setting up regular sessions between testing and the stakeholders for the sharing of the input and feedback will help build that trusting relationship and give those stakeholders confidence in the approach to testing being taken.  The Test Manager can be across the technical detail of the delivery and key functionality that development are working on, as well as understanding business priorities, risks and requirements, facilitating comms between the two, being the bridge between the delivery and stakeholders.

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What’s the number 1 skill needed for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches in 2024? I've been speaking with a lot of colleagues and clients lately about the value of a scrum master or agile coach, maybe it's a sign of the times, the perceived state of agile or just a poor economy, but pretty much everyone agreed on the same skill needed to stand out and add true value. So, what is it? A total grasp of AI? Able to expertly engineer your own prompts? Nope. A deep and thorough understanding of agile techniques and practices, balancing theory with real world experience? Nope. It's simply to be self-measuring, proving how you add value, being able to demonstrate it ‘and’ being able to do this before being hired at interview. So how can you show this? Well, first don't focus on intangible things that can't easily be quantified. So drop all the usual agile lingo, don't talk about mindsets, culture, self-management and all the rest. Focus on where you've tangibly delivered value, that you can quantify, such as through your coaching on data driven metrics you helped the team reduce their cycle time by 20% resulting in a faster time to market. But you’ll need evidence of this, anyone can say this, it's another thing to prove it. One way is to get LinkedIn recommendations from your previous boss or stakeholder. So, maintain great relationships in your current role! Now the most important thing is to focus on is value and how you deliver it. Although you're a Scrum Master, Scrum itself is not your mission. In fact Scrum is not always going to be the best framework, sometimes it might be Kanban or some other agile way of working, sometimes it will actually be waterfall and there's no harm in stating this, it shows you have objectivity. But what you want to make crystal clear is that no matter what your primary driver your objective is customer value, team value, product value and of course business value, these will always be a constant. And how do you prove value? Through metrics or KPIs. Now don't be afraid of this virtually every role I can think of is measured in some way. Management like measurement and so will the interviewer. Read my full blog on this to find out what 4 KPIs you need measure yourself against when taking on a new role in order to determine if you’re being effective or not and gain credibility with the employer https://lnkd.in/ebsHwr_f #scrummaster #Scrum

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Over the last few years I’ve seen more and more use of service blueprints and more and more use of event storming. Often within the same organisation / service. I’m yet to see them used together as an integrated approach. What I normally see is a number of potentially complimentary mapping techniques used but have not been telling a cohesive story (e.g. service designers do blueprints, user researchers do journey maps, business analysts do business process models, product managers do opportunity solution trees, agile coaches do story maps). Can anyone point to examples of SB’s / ES used together? Or suggest reasons why you should or should not bother doing this? Cheers. P.s. I’ve already asked chatGPT ;-)

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When I was lucky enough to go through the Kanban University training with James Enock it was an absolute game changer for me personally. So much so, it inspired me to become an Accredited #Kanban Trainer. What David Anderson says is so true. You get so many great actionable and pragmatic ideas to take away that you can introduce right away that can have a huge impact on your teams and organisations. #agile #scrummaster #agilecoach #agilecoaching #leadership #agiledeliverylead #leadershipcoaching

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The Agile Testing Coaching Cards, a deck of 99 cards: Agile testing mindset, values, principles, and practices. buff.ly/3MGY9xJ Suggestion for using them is included, but agile teams, coaches, Scrum masters, and test consultants, can also use their own coaching technique

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Funny to think that I commented on the below post by Jem Jelly just a few weeks short of Kanban from the Inside’s tenth birthday. I think people seriously underestimate just how complementary Scrum and Kanban are – they really do quite different things. Their combination might not be by anyone’s book (mine included) but I’d be surprised if they don’t last in some form. But give it another ten years and perhaps we’ll pay more attention to things orthogonal to the flow perspective. When it comes to bigger-picture issues such as organisation and strategy, Agile (and I include the scaling frameworks in that) barely scratches the surface. That will change, because it must; whether or not it happens under an Agile umbrella is another question. My fifth book won’t, strictly speaking, be an Agile book – most of the theory comes from elsewhere. Whether that’s the pattern for the future, only time will tell…

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At #agile2024 in Manchester we got to meet and hear from the founders of DSDM and the Agile Manifesto. Two important elements of the story of Human Agility. Naturally we had various conversations about when Agile actually started. Here I trace human agility as far back as 1620 (yes, sixteen twenty). Next time I will take it back even further to pre-agricultural times. 😀 And then I will introduce Natural Agility or Natural Agile. I believe that we are born agile, and have it smothered as we reach our teens. Unplugging Agile from the Matrix is the work David Michel and I are doing on how to return to that state.

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Daily Scrum (or morning muster for military): Enhancing Productivity and Clarity I want to highlight the importance of the Daily Scrum in driving team productivity and ensuring everyone is aligned with the day's objectives. Here are key strategies to make the most of this critical meeting: 1. Clarify Today's Objectives: Ensure everyone understands the main tasks and priorities for the day. Clear objectives provide a focused direction and help the team stay on track. As the Product Owner, I want to avoid what I call the shotgun effect. The shotgun effect is where people leave their morning meeting without understanding of the team objectives and how they fit in. They end up in siloes not understanding the big picture. 2. Promote Open Communication: Encourage each team member to share their updates and actively listen to others. The team needs updates on the projects. While some think tracking progress is a “waste of time”, every team needs metrics. Additionally, each team member needs to work towards the goal and pull their weight. Many organizations are working with less people, therefore, leaders need to ensure that each person is accountable to their duties. 3. Identify and Address Blockers: Use this time to surface any obstacles that may hinder progress. By addressing blockers promptly, the team can work together to find solutions and maintain momentum. Additionally, leaders can build trust when the team needs it! If somebody on the team is struggling with a barrier and their leadership comes to their aid, instant creditability and trust. 4. Maintain Efficiency: Keep the meeting brief and to the point. This respects everyone's time and helps maintain a high energy level, enabling the team to quickly move on to productive work. Nobody likes a morning meeting that lasts two hours. 15 minutes is the ideal time for the morning meeting. Create a Parking Lot, or Anchorage as I like to call it, where off topic ideas can be posted to chat later. This is not a time to solve all the world problems! If more discussion is necessary, post it on the Anchorage and keep stakeholders back after the meeting letting others go so they can be productive. Implementing these practices will make your Daily Scrum more effective, helping your team stay productive and aligned with their goals each day. #Leadership #TeamProductivity #DailyScrum #AgileDevelopment #Agile

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Watching teams embrace Agile and seeing the difference it makes gives us an immense sense of pride! This case study highlights some of the benefits and the journey we had with this fantastic client. Read more here: https://loom.ly/Qnvlqug #AgileConsultancy #AgileTraining #ProjectManagement #Agile #AgileCaseStudy

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