What managers need to know about safe discussions Discussions at work can run into a problem called “the invisible gun effect”. I read about it early on when learning about Scrum (*). People of power are often not aware of the effect that their sheer power has on conversations. When…

Small and safe experiments on a joke — Product Owner: Thanks for all being on time. Before we start, let’s agree on a common goal. Manager: Well, I don’t know about you but I am ready to get completely wasted. Scrum Master: Waste? That’s not good in the overall process! We try to minimize it. Manager: (raises an…

And what to do instead to fix the real issue behind it — If you have not heard about “Mob Programming”, have a look at Willem-Jan Ageling’s article “Mob Programming and Scrum” to get an idea. I originally wrote this as a comment to it until it grew into an article on its own. What’s wrong with “Mob Programming”? “Mob Programming” is a very bad term, even worse…

“Just a small” article as a reminder — Don’t fool yourself with words — and do not fool others or get fooled by them. …

My own story and learning material — Bragging about certifications is pointless — use your experience to help others. That said, now first comes the learning material that I used to learn and can recommend from my own experience, followed by my own story. Professional Scrum Master I learning material The Scrum Guide — the #1 document to know, available in >40 languages …

The only competence level that you can scale up indefinitely is zero competence. Scaling may succeed up to a certain point — but without thought or limits, it can only lead to total incompetence of the majority of the people involved.

“If you want people to work together on a common goal, defining personal objectives that are conflicting each other may not be the best choice.” — Captain Obvious (a great addition to “How to demotivate me in three simple steps”)

In the claim to be different we are all the same. Nothing is more common than the assumption to be special. (translated from “La bunta blogo”, originally by me in Esperanto)

For some things, there is never a good time, only bad times or very bad times. Therefore, pick a bad time, or you will have to do them at a very bad time.