Facilitating Professional Scrum Teams: Improve Team Alignment, Effectiveness, and Productivity, 1st edition

Foreword by Sam KanerxixForeword by Dave WestxxviiPrefacexxxi Introduction1 Purpose of This Book 2 Facilitation as a Complementary Practice to Scrum 2 Who Should Read This Book 3 How This Book Is Organized 4 How to Read This Book 5 Chapter 1: Facilitating Alignment7 The Scrum Team Figuring Out How They Want to Work Together 8 The Scrum Team That Aligns with Its Stakeholders to Deliver Value 16 The Scrum Team Aligning on a Vision 25 Keys to Facilitating Alignment 34 Conclusion 36 Chapter 2: Facilitating Sprint Planning37 The Scrum Team Struggling to Agree to a Single Sprint Goal 38 The Team Member Who Pushes the Team to Overcommit 46 The Team Members Who Don’t Know Where to Start 52 Keys to Facilitating an Effective Sprint Planning 54 Conclusion 58 Chapter 3: Facilitating the Daily Scrum61 The Daily Scrum Where Everyone Provides a Status Update 62 The Daily Scrum Where Developers Dive into Problem-Solving Mode 67 The Scrum Team Acting as a Group of Individuals 70 Absentees or Late Comers to the Daily Scrum 73 Keys to Facilitating an Effective Daily Scrum 77 Conclusion 81 Chapter 4: Facilitating Team Dynamics83 The Scrum Team Members Stuck on Their Own Ideas 84 The Scrum Team with Growing Conflict Between Two Team Members 94 The Scrum Team with Weak Decision-Making 107 Keys to Facilitating Team Dynamics 116 Conclusion 118 Chapter 5: Facilitating Product Backlog Refinement119 The Scrum Team Experimenting with Daily Product Backlog Refinement 120 The Stakeholders Who Want It All 125 When the User Experience Is Forgotten 132 The Scrum Team That Is Obsessed with Estimating 138 Keys to Facilitating Effective Product Backlog Refinement 142 Conclusion 145 Chapter 6: Facilitating the Sprint Review147 The Sprint Review with Little Stakeholder Participation 148 The Sprint Review Where Nothing Is Done 159 Keys to Facilitating an Effective Sprint Review 164 Conclusion 168 Chapter 7: Facilitating the Sprint Retrospective171 The Scrum Team Playing the Blame Game 172 The Team Members Who Believe Nothing Will Change 178 The Scrum Team That Thinks There’s Nothing Left for Them to Improve 185 The Scrum Team Dealing with a Major Change 192 The Scrum Master Focusing the Retrospective on Fun 201 Keys to Facilitating an Effective Sprint Retrospective 205 Conclusion 209 Chapter 8: Facilitating Beyond a Single Scrum Team211 The Scrum Teams Whose Members Could Be Sharing Knowledge 212 The Scrum Teams Without a Say on Their Team Membership 215 The Chaotic Customer Review 221 Keys to Facilitating beyond a Single Scrum Team 228 Conclusion 232 Conclusion: Moving Forward233 Getting Started 234 Watching for Common Facilitation Mistakes 235 Navigating Group Dynamics 237 Improving as a Facilitator 238 Appendix A: Facilitation Principles239 Participative 239 Purposeful 240 Process 240 Transparency 241 Healthy 242 Appendix B: Adapting for Virtual243 Communication and Collaboration Tools 244 Consider Having a Cohost 245 Virtual Meeting Etiquette 245 Be Inclusive and Respectful of Individuals’ Needs 246 Minimizing Virtual Meeting Fatigue Caused by Cameras Being On 246 Keep Sessions Short 248 Break Down Content and Activities 249 Take Regular Breaks 249 Respect People’s Time 249 Create Space for Connection 250 Sharing with the Whole Group 250 Making Decisions Virtually 250 The Power of Silence 251 Take It to the Team! 252 Hybrid Facilitation 252 Appendix C: Facilitation Checklist253 Preparation 253 Follow-Up 258 Index259