Focus on how fast you can deliver something of value — I believe it is human to base our decisions on incorrect assumptions. Too often, we blindly copy concepts that have been successful for others hoping it will bring the same success to us. For example, many have tried to mimic Toyota’s success by copying their factory machines or “ceremonies” without…

Inspect and adapting are useless without reflection — My experience is that Scrum Teams spend most of their time in “delivery mode.” In the best case, we focus on meeting the Sprint Goal; in the worst case, we struggle to deliver the User Stories we “promised” by the end of the Sprint. Then at the end of the…

We might overestimate the use of estimates. — Is predicting capacity better than using estimates? For me, the purpose of an estimate is to plan when we can deliver output in the future. The further into the future and the greater the effort, the harder it is to get the estimate correct. We know the least in the…

Performing teams benefit more from having accountabilities than role descriptions. — Several persons approached me, saying, "We need to define our roles in Scrum. We are confused!" As a manager of a brand new unit, I had already onboarded a few excellent people and had the luxury of hiring more. …

I firmly believe that slack is essential to being productive, innovative, and focused. You are probably asking how lack of work or activity or a reduction in intensity, quantity, or speed can lead to more productivity? I agree; the statement sounds counter-intuitive, and had I not experienced the opposite in…

The other day I had lunch with a new acquaintance. She had attended one of my presentations at IHM Business School. She told me a story about first-year students at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. The students were given a canvas plus paint and asked to paint something…

Since beginning with Scrum in 2008, I have noticed that organizations make the same mistakes selecting Product Owners. Maybe we all have to make these mistakes before we get better. Like a teenager growing up refusing to listen to their parents, having to make their own mistakes. Without further ado…