Agile for Humans with Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller Agile for Humans, LLC

Todd Miller, Will Seele, and Ryan Ripley discuss Agile's internal (organizational) focus and the gap left by not addressing the Value component of Product Management and delivery.

In this Episode:

Internal Focus of Agile: The discussion, led by Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley, challenges the common perception of Agile as customer-centric and value-oriented, proposing instead that Agile is predominantly focused on internal processes and organizational matters rather than directly benefiting customers.

Agile Manifesto Analysis: The Agile Manifesto and its principles, when examined, emphasize team interactions, working software, and adapting to change but lack explicit directives that prioritize customer value or tangible benefits for the customer.

Evolution and Additions to Agile: Over time, various frameworks like Scrum, XP, Kanban, and others have evolved under the umbrella of Agile, incorporating aspects like customer centricity and iterative development. However, these are seen as additions to the core Agile philosophy, which remains internally focused.

Evidence-Based Management Connection: The conversation transitions to evidence-based management and its potential integration with Agile. This approach aims to complement Agile by introducing a more outward, value-driven focus, assessing Agile’s impact on customers and market performance.

Insufficiency of Agile Alone: The presenters conclude that while Agile methodologies are crucial, they are insufficient to ensure organizational success. They stress the need to balance Agile's internal process focus and external value delivery, advocating for a continuous evaluation of Agile's effectiveness and alignment with strategic goals.

🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc
Explore more:
📖 "Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/4690qJy
📖 "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/46dAQTC
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🔍 The Evidence-Based Company - https://theevidencebasedcompany.com/


📧 Email - ryan@agileforhumans.com


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Andrii Glushchenko shares his unconventional journey into Scrum mastery. Glushchenko became a Scrum Master at 20 while working in an outsourcing company during the 2014-2015 Ukraine war. Initially a recruiter, his interest in Scrum was piqued by parallels he drew between the Scrum Master role and his basketball point guard experience.

Challenges of Starting Without Knowledge: Glushchenko candidly admits that starting as a Scrum Master without proper knowledge was not ideal, as it led to wasting company resources while he learned on the job. He emphasizes that this approach is not recommended and underscores the importance of having a technical background and understanding of Scrum principles.

Evolution of Understanding and Practice: Over time, Glushchenko's perception and execution of the Scrum Master role evolved significantly. He initially thought the role was limited to ensuring Scrum works at the team level. Still, he later realized it encompasses helping the entire company achieve its goals through Scrum implementation, involving change and operational management.

Continuous Learning and Impact-Driven Approach: He highlights the necessity of constant learning, celebrating small victories, and being impact-driven. Glushchenko shares how he approaches problems by assessing the cost of fixing them against the potential gain, focusing on impactful changes.

Advice for Aspiring Scrum Masters and Further Insights: Glushchenko advises aspiring Scrum Masters to understand the accountability and dedication required for the role. He recommends being diligent and constantly improving oneself. He also stresses the importance of supporting Ukraine in its current crisis, linking his personal background to broader global issues.
🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc
Explore more:
📖 "Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/4690qJy
📖 "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/46dAQTC
✅ Subscribe to this channel for Agile, Scrum, and Kanban insights: https://www.youtube.com/agileforhumans?sub_confirmation=1

🌐 Connect with Agile for Humans:

📘 Website - https://agileforhumans.com/


🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/agileforhumans


🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-for-humans-llc


🔍 The Evidence-Based Company - https://theevidencebasedcompany.com/


📧 Email - ryan@agileforhumans.com





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🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc
Becky Savill's journey to becoming a Scrum Master began nearly 10 years ago when, after six months of programming, her boss suggested she might be better suited to the role, despite her lack of prior knowledge about Scrum.

Her boss recognized her passion lay not in coding but in solving team problems and working effectively together, leading her to dive deep into Scrum Mastering.

A pivotal moment in Savill's career was during a Sprint retrospective, where a team member questioned the purpose of the meeting. The team's response, highlighting the positive changes and improvements made through Scrum, solidified her belief in Scrum's effectiveness.

Over the years, Savill's understanding of being a Scrum Master evolved from focusing on the mechanics of Scrum to understanding its deeper purpose and ensuring it becomes a sustainable practice within teams.

Savill emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and practical application in the Scrum Master role, advising aspiring Scrum Masters to engage actively in their professional development beyond just consuming knowledge.

🔔 Stay tuned for more episodes filled with expert knowledge and intriguing discussions. We encourage you to share your thoughts and questions in the comments below. Your input is valuable to our community, and we often feature your inquiries in our future videos!

👍 Found this episode enlightening? Please LIKE and SHARE it with your network to spread the knowledge!

Explore more:
📖 "Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/4690qJy
📖 "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/46dAQTC
✅ Subscribe to this channel for Agile, Scrum, and Kanban insights: https://www.youtube.com/agileforhumans?sub_confirmation=1

🌐 Connect with Agile for Humans:

📘 Website - https://agileforhumans.com/


🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/agileforhumans


🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-for-humans-llc


🔍 The Evidence-Based Company - https://theevidencebasedcompany.com/


📧 Email - ryan@agileforhumans.com


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Ryan and Todd look back at a 2006 post by Ken Schwaber, which covers 15 ways Scrum is both hard and disruptive.

The twelfth statement from Ken:

"Managing a release or project to deliver only the highest value functionality and not deliver the rest optimizes value [and] is the job of product management and customers."

The 12th episode of "Scrum is Hard and Disruptive" discusses the importance of delivering only high-value functionality in project management, emphasizing the role of product management and customer input.

The hosts, Todd and Ryan, stress the need for product owners to say "no" to unnecessary features, highlighting the importance of avoiding waste and focusing on what's truly needed.

They discuss using Evidence-Based Management (EBM) to validate the usefulness of features in production and advocate for objective decision-making in product development.

The episode touches on the customer's responsibility in the development process, encouraging their involvement and accountability in deciding the essential features.

The conversation also covers the importance of being ruthless in backlog management, akin to Steve Jobs with the iPhone, and the value of saying "not yet" to lower-priority items to maximize return on investment.

👉 Follow our journey through all 15 insights in Ken Schwaber's white paper, revealing the enduring relevance of Scrum principles.

💬 Share your perspectives in the comments and remember to like and subscribe for more in-depth Scrum discussions. 🔔

🔗 Here is the original white paper: https://www.verheulconsultants.nl/ScrumIsHardandDisruptive.pdf

🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc
Explore more:
📖 "Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/4690qJy
📖 "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/46dAQTC
✅ Subscribe to this channel for Agile, Scrum, and Kanban insights: https://www.youtube.com/agileforhumans?sub_confirmation=1

🌐 Connect with Agile for Humans:

📘 Website - https://agileforhumans.com/


🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/agileforhumans


🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-for-humans-llc


🔍 The Evidence-Based Company - https://theevidencebasedcompany.com/


📧 Email - ryan@agileforhumans.com


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🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org training courses: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc

Jenny Tarwater shares her journey into Scrum during an episode of "Becoming a Scrum Master" hosted by Ryan Ripley. She recalls her initial struggles at a large telecommunication company, where her early approach nearly led to her dismissal. Discovering a book on Scrum and Agile, she began applying these methodologies, transforming chaos into order with seven teams and exceeding stakeholder expectations within three sprints.

Tarwater emphasizes the importance of collaboration and listening. She recounts a pivotal moment in a coaching class when she learned the value of not just being an expert but also understanding the perspectives of those within the organization. This experience shaped her approach to Scrum, highlighting the necessity of teamwork and context.

Her perspective on the Scrum Master role evolved over time, and she stressed that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Different organizations have varying needs, such as predictability, innovation, or quality, which require tailored approaches. She notes the challenge of adapting to other organizational structures and understanding each organization's problems.

Tarwater advises aspiring Scrum Masters to prioritize continual learning and listening. She emphasizes the ever-evolving nature of knowledge in the field, suggesting that one should never stop learning and adapting.

She recommends two books: "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" for its insights into team dynamics and another unnamed but highly recommended book for Scrum Masters.

🔔 Stay tuned for more episodes filled with expert knowledge and intriguing discussions. We encourage you to share your thoughts and questions in the comments below. Your input is valuable to our community, and we often feature your inquiries in our future videos!

👍 Found this episode enlightening? Please LIKE and SHARE it with your network to spread the knowledge!

🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc
Explore more:
📖 "Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/4690qJy
📖 "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/46dAQTC
✅ Subscribe to this channel for Agile, Scrum, and Kanban insights: https://www.youtube.com/agileforhumans?sub_confirmation=1

🌐 Connect with Agile for Humans:

📘 Website - https://agileforhumans.com/


🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/agileforhumans


🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-for-humans-llc


🔍 The Evidence-Based Company - https://theevidencebasedcompany.com/


📧 Email - ryan@agileforhumans.com


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Ryan and Todd look back at a 2006 post by Ken Schwaber, which covers 15 ways Scrum is both hard and disruptive.

The eleventh statement from Ken:

"Iterative, incremental development is much harder than waterfall development; everything that was hard in waterfall engineering practices now has to be done every iteration, which is incredibly hard. It is not impossible, but has to be worked toward over time."

Iterative and incremental development in Scrum is more challenging than traditional waterfall development, requiring constant attention to engineering practices and frequent iterations.

Extensive upfront design and architecture planning in waterfall development is believed to reduce future risks. However, software development often leads to outdated designs as customer needs and market conditions change over time.

Scrum emphasizes quick decision-making on basic architecture, like frameworks and databases, while building the product incrementally. It demands disciplined, professional attention to ongoing architectural and design decisions in response to evolving customer demands.

The Scrum approach challenges traditional development models like waterfall, where work often expands to fill the allotted time, leading to over-engineered solutions. Scrum requires a shift in mindset, focusing more on doing and building features rather than extensive planning and discussion.

Adopting Scrum effectively requires gradual, sustained effort to improve engineering practices and architecture. Teams and organizations need to develop this skill set over time, including a solid understanding of their definition of "done" to reflect the maturity of their Scrum implementation.

👉 Follow our journey through all 15 insights in Ken Schwaber's white paper, revealing the enduring relevance of Scrum principles.

💬 Share your perspectives in the comments and remember to like and subscribe for more in-depth Scrum discussions. 🔔

🔗 Here is the original white paper: https://www.verheulconsultants.nl/ScrumIsHardandDisruptive.pdf

🔗 Join Ryan & Todd's Scrum.org course: https://buytickets.at/agileforhumansllc
Explore more:
📖 "Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/4690qJy
📖 "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" on Amazon -- https://amzn.to/46dAQTC
✅ Subscribe to this channel for Agile, Scrum, and Kanban insights: https://www.youtube.com/agileforhumans?sub_confirmation=1

🌐 Connect with Agile for Humans:

📘 Website - https://agileforhumans.com/


🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/agileforhumans


🔗 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/agile-for-humans-llc


🔍 The Evidence-Based Company - https://theevidencebasedcompany.com/


📧 Email - ryan@agileforhumans.com


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