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CSM / CSPO Resource List from Bernie

Story Slicing:
For story slicing, I referenced a set of 7 techniques taught by Ellen Gottesdiener. P15 of this deck gives you an overview of all 7
https://www.slideshare.net/ellengott/intro-toagilerequirementsagile2015ebg-gottesdieneraugust2015

and reading through the deck will give you some additional tools for story slicing.

https://agilityhealthradar.com/radars/
https://www.comparativeagility.com/
http://www.eliassen.com/
https://blog.crisp.se/2013/09/11/ellen-gottesdiener/guest-post-by-ellen-gottesdiener-strenghten-your-discovery-muscle
https://lorabv.github.io/awesome-agile/Story-Splitting.html
https://www.techwell.com/techwell-insights/2013/03/right-way-split-user-stories
https://agileforall.com/mmfs-what-they-are-and-why-they-matter/
https://agileforall.com/why-most-people-split-workflows-wrong/
https://agileforall.com/vertical-slices-and-scale/
https://agileforall.com/cynefin-and-story-splitting/
https://agileforall.com/patterns-for-splitting-user-stories/
https://agileforall.com/getting-good-at-story-splitting/
https://agileforall.com/resources/how-to-split-a-user-story/


Roadmapping Webinar
I mentioned a webinar from March of 2018 where one of my Mentors, Jason Tanner, presented on advanced roadmapping via Scrum Alliance.
If you’d like deeper techniques than we covered in class, this webinar is worth the hour you’ll invest in watching it.

Slides: https://www.scrumalliance.org/ScrumRedesignDEVSite/media/ScrumAllianceMedia/Files%20and%20PDFs/Community/Webinars/Collaboration%20at%20Scale/CAS_03142018.pdf

Webinar Recording:
https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/community-webinars/webinar-replays/collaboration-at-scale-webinar-series/advanced-roadmapping-(1)

Online: Story Cards / Kanban boards – Trello.com Trello (Trello.com) is a free tool (now owned by Atlassian, who produces Jira). Trello is a very good online simulation of the look and feel you get with plain cards on a wall. Their mobile interface is also quite usable.

Stable Teams, Situational Leadership, Mindset One of the talks I've given at conferences covers the impact of stable teams (which was illustrated with the concepts of the Satir Curve, or possibly more familiarly, with Tuckman's Terms of "forming, storming, norming and performing") and outlines Situational Leadership.
https://www.slideshare.net/berniemaloney/wipeout-make-new-mistakes

And, I also mentioned one of my own talks "Make *New* Mistakes". I covered a model about 'offensive' and 'defensive' positions in a business. That diagram is on p42 of this deck:
https://www.slideshare.net/berniemaloney/wipeout-make-new-mistakes

Online Scrum Training
Michael James, another CST, has long offered this free online animated training series on Scrum. It's a useful resource for your teams and
organizations:
http://scrumtrainingseries.com/

Scrum Alliance also has some foundational training online, courtesy of Peter Green, another CST:
https://www.scrumalliance.org/learn-about-scrum/scrum-elearning-series



Yahoo: Developers push directly to production Yahoo case study CI-CD in less than 60d, reinventing a business (coders push direct to production)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjwcqixasazpomq/Pulling%20and%20elephant%20out%20of%20a%20tar%20pit%20-%20Sep%2010.pdf?dl=0

the slide deck itself is low on text. Here’s my guidance for reviewing it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gxPC2cmoVZAjhJbs6NtlDLWWJDVkg0Pw6rBmRJebdMk/edit?usp=sharing

and here’s a link to the article about the project in Fast Company Magazine:
https://www.fastcompany.com/3044650/project-moneyball-an-oral-history-of-how-yahoo-built-a-native-ad-platform-in-4

DevOps - Simulation Game
A simulation exercise to expose a wider audience to implications of DevOps
https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DevOps-Chocolate-LEGO-Scrum/dp/1484225643

Agile - far outside of Software
I mentioned a case study of the application of Scrum in the Petroleum Industry. You can find Simon Orrell's (a Certified Enterprise Coach) write up here:
http://snowdolphin.com/s/EPCScrum.pdf

Wikispeed - developing a car with Scrum
This is another example that complex products (a car) can be developed rapidly, using Scrum, and with distributed teams. It's another example well outside the typical realm of software. You can google for far, far more on wikispeed.
https://youtu.be/x8jdx-lf2Dw



Hacking for Defense
And, I mentioned Steve Blank, for illustrations of how Agile (in particular, Lean Startup practices of fast feedback) are producing results in Government environments. You’ll want to keep tabs at http://steveblank.com in general, and the topic of Hacking For Defense. Here’s a reasonable post from 2017 to start you down that
exploration:
https://steveblank.com/2017/07/19/national-security-innovation-just-got-a-major-boost-in-washington/


For an example of Agile in action, teams iterating directly with clients The Nordstrom App development video https://youtu.be/szr0ezLyQHY

Henrik Kniberg's descriptions of what Spotify was doing a few years back:
https://labs.spotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/

IDEO Video
I also talked about an 8 minute video about Design Thinking from ABC News, that I use when calibrating executives and clients. I first learned of this from this e-book from Michael Sahota (you can register and download it for free):
https://www.infoq.com/minibooks/agile-adoption-transformation

On p48-49, Michael references the video, where he encountered it and how he saw it getting used. You'll find a link to the video there and in his reference list. The whole e-book is worth reading.

Teams Evaluating Themselves
On the reference to Juergen Appelo's Merit Money technique, you'll get a good feel from these links:

Team – level performance feedback: I mentioned Juergen Appelo's Merit Money technique. This is a means for teams to recognize their peers.
It can also lead to people becoming aware that they’re not engaging with their peers as much as those peers would expect. You'll get a good feel from these links:
https://www.happymelly.com/merit-money-a-reward-scheme-that-works/
https://management30.com/practice/merit-money/

Purpose: Simon Sinek's Start with Why
THis is one of the top 10 TED talks, ever. I watch it annualy. It's a great reminder on how important it is for Product Owners to establish a clear Purpose / Vision for their teams.
http://bit.ly/12q7YFv

Virual Teams
Mark Kilby is a coach based in the Southeast of the US. He's published several conference papers on working with remote / distributed teams. Here's a starter:
https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/9-coaching-distributed-agile-teams-mark-kilby/

Also, google around for some of his presentations on slideshare.net and in the conference proceedings of AgileAlliance and Scrum Alliance

I'd have to dig around more for links for tips and articles on virtual teams. My first thought is Mark Kilby, who's presented on this at several conferences. He publishes some of his talks on Slideshare - and this one seems to be a good start:
https://www.slideshare.net/markkilby/agile-distributed-teams-oxymoron-or-option
(you'll also find his contact info at the end of the deck)

Estimation
Here's a write up of the estimation technique you learned:
http://www.agilelearninglabs.com/2012/05/how-to-play-the-team-estimation-game/

Online: Games for Learning / Teaching – TastyCupcakes.org This is a free site with loads of exercises to teach (or have fun) with many Agile concepts. You’ll find versions of the Ball Game, Airplane Factory and many more.



TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGEMENT CHANGE

Ball Game

Just like in class, you can run a version of the Ball Game and give people a hands on experience with high performance. Here’s a photo of the ‘rules’ I use and the results from our class:

Satir Change Curve / Diagram

This is the ‘breakdown / breakthrough’ curve we covered. You can use Bruce Tuckman’s language (forming – storming – norming – performing) which I find is more familiar than the diagram. Then talk through: a) every change will mean things go through breakdown before the breakthrough occurs; b) often, people get discouraged in the breakdown and regress, never getting the results; c) coaching (like when you get a personal trainer at the gym) helps to accelerate progress through the curve. A big of google searching will get you even more. Here’s a copy of the flip chart created in class:

IDEO Video

I also talked about an 8 minute video about Design Thinking from ABC News, that I use when calibrating executives and clients. I first learned of this from this e-book from Michael Sahota (you can register and download it for free):

https://www.infoq.com/minibooks/agile-adoption-transformation

On p48-49, Michael references the video, where he encountered it and how he saw it getting used. You'll find a link to the video there and in his reference list. The whole e-book is worth reading.

What did they *Really* Want – the Bottom Line impacts of Customer Collaboration

This is a talk I’ve given at conferences and meetups. It gives participants hands-on experience with the impact of a waterfall production vs. an Agile or piece based (remember? Iterative AND
Incremental) production of a simple “greeting card.”

https://www.slideshare.net/berniemaloney/what-did-they-really-want-bottom-line-impacts-of-customer-collaboration

Slides 34-36 show the pattern of results (to help make the point).
Slides 37-38 show the consistency of the pattern across multiple “runs” of the exercise with different audiences. You can use just these graphs to make the points about the impact possible when adhering to Agile principles and coaching.

MORE MATERIAL FOR TEAMS AND PRODUCT OWNERS

Business Model Canvas – Osterwalder

Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur created the Business Model Canvas – a simple 9 box diagram that can be used to cover a product or an entire business. For a quick intro:

BMC Explained, Youtube http://bit.ly/Wk0mRn

For even more background and examples:

Burn Your Business Plan http://slidesha.re/14u8BMI

Automownow (robotic weeder) http://slidesha.re/XTRvlf

BMC at SxSW http://slidesha.re/VxNPIj

BMC explained to my Grandmother http://slidesha.re/U4SPXJ

BMC Poster http://bit.ly/Vyt1nm

Creating Startup Success http://slidesha.re/14BiHfB

Value Proposition Canvas http://bit.ly/Y6n38h





Online Tool – weave.conteneo.co

I mentioned that anything you experienced with flip charts and stickies can be achieved online with a tool. For example:. our “Plus – Delta” day 1 retro; Day 2’s “Speedboat”; the Empathy Map; “On the Cover” for communicating / test running a vision; “Prune the Product Tree” for sequencing; and more. Many of these come out of a set commonly known as “Innovation Games.” The folks behind that work created an online tool (Weave) where you can work with these same techniques online and with remote participants. You can try Weave out for free for a month (weave.conteneo.co). Contact me if you’re interested in additional training in this area, or in benefiting from a discount on the 1 year / $99 license.

Advanced Product Owner Training – Online

The Advanced CSPO credential requires 1 year of experience and an additional 16h of training. Of that 16h, only about 4h of that needs to be “live” (synchronous) and all of it can be delivered virtually.
A couple of colleagues I respect, Jason Tanner and Carleton Nettleton, have begun offering A-CSPO courses online. You can find listings for these offerings via this link:

https://scrumalliance.org/courses-events/search?ctyp=AdvCspo&tr=73718







BOOKS



Book: The Advantage – Patrick Lencioni
https://www.amazon.com/Advantage-Enhanced-Organizational-Everything-Business-ebook/dp/B006ORWT3Y
he makes the case that there’s a huge advantage to addressing what he terms as organizational “health”. This gets to aspects of culture and mindset change. He also points out that they’re not as easy to measure and so get overlooked by most organizations.



Kotter’s Change Model

Michael Sahota, along with many coaches, will reference the Kotter Change Model. (Michael touches on it in slide 38 of the deck above.) Kotter outlines 8 ‘commandments’ for being effective with organizational change. You can get a good intro to this material
here:

https://www.kotterinc.com/8-steps-process-for-leading-change/



Abrashoff, “It’s Your Ship”

Covers a worst to first story of a Surface Ship. You’ll notice that he actually engages the crew, and gets begins operating along Agile lines. I like it because it precedes the Agile Manifesto

https://smile.amazon.com/Its-Your-Ship-Management-Techniques-ebook/dp/B001HPW9R4

Marquet, “Turn This Ship Around”

Covers a worst to first story of a Sub. This material currently is getting more attention in Agile circles than Abrashoff’s earlier work.

https://smile.amazon.com/Turn-Ship-Around-Turning-Followers-ebook/dp/B00AFPVP0Y

You also can get a sense of the material via videos on YouTube, like this one:

https://youtu.be/pYKH2uSax8U



Secret Language of Leadership - by Steve Denning

Steve covers a pattern for effective storytelling, and how to use stories to lead organizations.

book http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Language-Leadership-Leaders-Narrative/dp/0787987891

Steve has apparently repackaged this material into this title (which I have not yet read)

http://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Guide-Storytelling-Mastering-Discipline/dp/0470548673

Change the Culture, Change the Game - by Connors and Smith

This book frames how Culture starts at a Leadership level, and how shifting that culture (or mindset!) is a game-changer for organizational success.

book http://www.amazon.com/Change-Culture-Game-Breakthrough-Organization/dp/1591845394



Kotler, “Stealing Fire”

This is a different take on conditions that lead to high performance, often abbreviated VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. One of the stories is about how SEAL teams train to get into this state, so that the whole group moves as a single organism.
It’s a look into ways into high performance.

https://smile.amazon.com/Stealing-Fire-Maverick-Scientists-Revolutionizing-ebook/dp/B01GCCT3G6



BONUS! BOOKS:
BOOK: In addition to the books in your resource list, I mentioned

“Death by Meeting”, Lencioni, Patrick

https://smile.amazon.com/Death-Meeting-Leadership-Business-Lencioni-ebook/dp/B008L03W7O

(you can probably find it in your local library as well)

Lencioni outlines that

Meetings are how we accomplish work collectively

Most meetings are poor because people run them in a single fashion

There are actually 4 different types of meetings

Daily Check In (OMG – a Daily Scrum)

Weekly Tactical (OMG – Sprint Planning)

Monthly Strategic (OMG – Release Planning)

Quarterly Offsite (OMG – Roadmapping / Strategy)

For even more ideas, you can take a look at the books I track on goodreads.com:

http://bit.ly/BernieReads



Beyond the books in your resource list, you can take a look at the books I track on goodreads.com:

http://bit.ly/BernieReads





Job Description

This recently circulated amongst a group of Trainers and Coaches.
There were some praises recorded, and someone recognized that it comes from a blog post about 5 years ago from Charles Bradley, another
Agilist:



Job Title: Scrum Master

Location: Raleigh, NC

Duration: 5+ months

Let me know the expected billing rate on W2 or 1099

Jobs Description:

- Guiding the team and organization on how to use Agile/Scrum practices

- Guiding the team on how to get the most of our self-organization

- Guiding the team on self-organizing to fill in the intentional gaps left in the Agile/Scrum frameworks

- Assessing the Scrum Maturity of the team and organization and coaching the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team and organization

- Removing impediments or guiding the team to remove impediments by finding the right personnel to remove the impediment.

- Building a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised without fear of blame, retribution, or being judged, with an emphasis of healing and problem solving.

- Facilitating getting the work done without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work.

- Facilitating discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution

- Assisting with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and radiating information

- Supporting and educating the Product Owner, especially with respect to grooming and maintaining the product backlog.

- Providing all support to the team using a servant leadership style whenever possible, and leading by example

Required Skills/Experience

- Scrum Master certification

- Experience playing the Scrum Master role for at least 2-3 year for a software development team that was diligently applying Scrum principles, practices, and theory.

- Good skills and knowledge of servant leadership, facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, continual improvement, empowerment, and increasing transparency

- Knowledge of numerous well documented patterns and techniques for filling in the intentional gaps left in the Scrum approach(example:
numerous Burndown techniques, numerous Retrospective formats, handling bugs, etc)


last updated september 2019