The Scrum Master as a Coach – Kamlesh Ravlani

April 17th, 2019 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Agile Coaching , Scrum Master

Coaching is one of the essential skills required for a Scrum Master to be effective. Coaching along with Facilitation and Teaching skills enable the Scrum Master to be successful at their role. The Scrum Master coaches the Development Team, the Product Owner, and the Organization. Coaching empowers and brings out the best in them. A coach helps in unleashing a person’s or a team’s latent potential. This helps to maximize performance with the same amount of effort. It's about empowering the people to learn to solve their own problems rather than teaching them or solving problems for them. The Scrum Master as a coach helps the Scrum Team as well as the organization, adopt...

7 ways the Scrum Master can improve Scrum Team Communication

April 17th, 2019 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Scrum Master

If your Scrum Team's performance matters, it NEEDS to have excellent communication. In this article, First, I will show you why strong communication within the teams is more important than ever. Then, I will help you with strategies to improve your Scrum Team's communication. Before we get into the importance of strong communication, let me share a quick story of John. John, a Sr. VP of a financial services organization was leading a 400 strong group. The lack of positive work environment was his biggest concern. John wanted to address it as soon as he could. John formed a team to address this issue. They collectively resolved to create a healthy and positive...

The Scrum Master as a Servant-Leader

April 7th, 2019 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Scrum Master

Scrum Masters - Servant Leadership is one aspect that can set an effective Scrum Master apart from the pack. Are you looking to be an effective Scrum Master? In this in-depth guide, I explore the Scrum Master as a Servant -Leader, Servant-Leadership with the context of the Scrum Master role, the characteristics of a Servant-Leader and how you can apply these characteristics to become an effective Scrum Master. A Servant-Leader desires to serve. A Servant-Leader serves first. This behavior is opposite to a traditional manager’s style which is to Manage/Lead first. A Scrum Master is a Servant-Leader. Scrum Master serves the Team’s agenda, helps them grow and succeed. Jump...

How to grow your leadership impact?

April 4th, 2019 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Agile Leader

Improving your leadership impact is a holistic journey. There is neither a definitive step by step approach to it nor a single checklist of 7 ways you can improve your Agile Leadership Impact. While every leader's journey is unique, below I offer two actionable ways you can massively up your leadership impact. Reflect and Adapt your Leadership impact: One of the essential elements of being an Agile leader is that you constantly reflect and adapt your leadership impact on the people you lead. Pick up the mirror often and check your behavior, actions, and assumptions. Evaluate regularly if people you lead are impacted positively and are benefiting from your leadership....

Top 21 Scrum Master skills | Essential ScrumMaster Skills

March 27th, 2019 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Scrum Master

The use of artificial intelligence in product development and corporations is growing significantly. Repetitive tasks will no longer be done manually. With the help of AI we'll be able to automate even the cognitive tasks to a certain extent. If every enterprise small and large can automate most of their tasks, then what could be the factors of a competitive advantage? In this rapidly evolving market, having a high performing, adaptive and innovative teams will be a competitive advantage for any organization. Scrum Framework specifically identifies Scrum Master as a role that is responsible to create high performing, Agile teams. A Scrum Master who is able to help build...

6 Benefits of Good User Stories

September 16th, 2017 by Kamlesh Ravlani in User Stories

Crafting good User Stories is rewarding. Understand the fundamental benefits of crafting good User Stories. Turn these user story benefits into your team’s competitive advantage. Take the assessment at the end of this article. Here are 6 User Story Benefits:
1- Highest Value Delivery
2- Fosters Collaboration
3- Brings User Closer
4- Building Blocks of the Product
5- Boost Transparency
6- Share Understanding

Essential Building Blocks of an Agile Organization

September 7th, 2017 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Enterprise Agility , Product Development

Creating cross-functional and self-organizing Teams is one of the essential elements of building an Agile Organization. Both aspects require significant effort & focus. These also don't happen naturally, particularly in organizations led with Industrial Age style of organizational structure and management. Scrum identifies these as essential aspects and recognizes a specific role - Scrum Master. Scrum Master is responsible for helping the team and the organization achieve Self Organization and improve cross-functionality within the team. In fact, Scrum Guide specifies it as the first aspect of the Scrum Master's service towards the Development Team. The existence of...

How to Write Good User Stories? User Story Examples

September 4th, 2017 by Kamlesh Ravlani in User Stories

Why care to write good User Stories? Similar to what the developers say - the best code is no code, the best User Stories are not written, they are told. Mastering the art of writing good user stories isn't easy. Writing User Stories with just enough information that entices further communication and promotes collaboration is difficult. Most people tend to write more, considering useful User Stories to be mini versions of requirements documents. Written well (read - written minimally), good User Stories become easy to understand and implement for the Scrum Team. Writing user stories that are small, and crafting user stories that are valuable, could in most cases solve...

Agile Assessment – Check How Agile is your Team? Fast!!

August 29th, 2017 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Agile Team

At one point during agile transformation, you may look at your practices, your team, and the organization and may want to assess the Agility of your team and the Organization. Taking the Agile Assessment may help you explore – > How Agile are we? > Are we really Agile? > Are we doing it right? etc. Well, the benefits you reap from Agile Transformation should actually give you the indication of how Agile you are. What are the typical benefits you should see if your teams have improved their agility? What are the typical benefits you should see if your teams have become Agile and improved their agility? Improved ability to respond to changing customer needs...

Becoming User centric with User Stories

July 27th, 2017 by Kamlesh Ravlani in Product Development , User Stories

Traditional product development creates functional barriers that separate the product developers from the users of the product. The reason user stories were used in the Extreme Programming was to connect the product developers with the real-world stories of the customers and users. Stories help the developers understand the pain areas of the users and the opportunities of delighting the users and making them feel awesome. Today, for most of the teams, User Stories have just become a form in an electronic tool which someone should fill in so that it can enter the Sprint planning, get developed and shipped. Instead of learning the art of storytelling, Product Owners and...