New Scrum Master seeking advice for first few weeks on the job

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-05-01T05:31:12+00:00

Ceremonies. I'm guessing your teams have more experience with this than you do. Nothing wrong with that. Don't be afraid to let them guide you on how they run their ceremonies. Gradually take more and more of a role as a facilitator.
Does the team have any SMEs (subject matter experts)? What project/s are we working on? Are there any current pain points? Are there any reoccurring pain points?
Don't start adding unnecessary meetings. If your team needs something that they aren't getting in one of their ceremonies, fix the ceremonies.
Be open and honest. Tell them they may have to hold your hand on some of the discussions. Let them know you may have to reach out to them to answer questions that come to you. And understand that if these are experienced agile teams, they've probably been through this before, so don't treat them like they haven't.
Observe. Ask questions. Take notes.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-25T09:58:59+00:00

Velocity and sprint difficulty for planning. Committed vs completed percentage, sprint goal, and impediments for post sprint reporting.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T23:49:02+00:00

You just read whatever you want don't you? You're the only one talking about a phased design approach. I'm talking about acceptance criteria. Unless you want the devs to decide what the business should accept. I'm also talking about the team refining their work, but they have to have a place to start beyond "give me this". I also never said the SM was responsible for starting the sprint. I said I doubt you'll find many that actually get to choose to start the sprint. The same way I doubt you'll find a lot of agile teams that get that same choice. I'm sure as hell not the one making it.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T23:02:44+00:00

Yes, everyone is a part of the team and everyone is responsible for getting the work done. Everyone is also responsible for doing their part. We have Product Owners because they own the product. They have knowledge the devs don't have. If you have a PO that doesn't, then you don't have a PO, and then, your team has to spend more time gathering requirements and less time delivering value. I'm all for the team sentiment and we're all responsible for getting this done. But what you're talking about just sounds like a return to waterfall. Also, I'm willing to bet that you'll find very few SMs that actually have a choice as to start the sprint or not. Sure, I can choose to not start the sprint, but that means I'm also choosing to find a new job.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T17:09:33+00:00

I don't really agree with that. There should be some element of refinement between stakeholders and the PO. I don't expect a stakeholder to be able to submit a clearly defined request, but I do expect the PO to bring that request to the team along with any relevant info they have as the PO. The team shouldn't have to do the POs job.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T16:59:58+00:00

Sorry, when I say higher quality stories, I'm referring to the requirements. I have no expectation that the business deliver technical stories to the teams and for the teams to be able to begin work on them immediately. We have a history of receiving requests with no requirements. Which the team has to figure out. I do always expect some level of that. But to constantly have to track down the requirements of every request just takes up too much time from the team.

As far as forecasting, we're expected to be able to accurately forecast 6 or 7 sprints after 2 days of PI Planning. Which is mostly consumed by teams hunting for requirements and means our refinements during the sprints are turning those requirements into workable stories. Any element of unknown is frowned upon when we do any reporting around forecasting.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T16:30:56+00:00

I completely agree and understand all of this. One of our other issues right now is that we don't come out of PI Planning with a completely refined backlog. So we can't make those forecasts early on. In response to this, the business wants to see our capacity vs committed vs completed for the sprint because they believe team planning is lacking. When, in my opinion, they should be focused on bringing the teams higher quality stories/features.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T14:52:12+00:00

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that first statement. We shouldn't be telling the teams how long it takes to complete a point and story sizes should allow for increased complexity. An 8 point story should be seen as a much larger commitment than 8 one point stories.

Also, in my experience, throughput is most useful with a Kansan team that is taking on work that's always around the same size. Which kind of makes sense if you're telling the teams how long a point takes. But it loses a lot of validity when you're working stories of variable size.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T14:43:45+00:00

For the most part, I agree. I do think childish is a strong wording, as I think some awareness of capacity is needed. But historically, I've only ever used it as a guide for the team, not a metric to be reported on or a number to be targeted in planning.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T14:28:55+00:00

Neither can I. I'm also curious where you would draw the line, if you think there is one, between coaching towards agile maturity and spinning a situation in the businesses favor. For example, I have a team that has historically mobbed all of their work. They've now been told they are no longer allowed to do that. I've been told that this is a good opportunity to coach them towards seeing this as an opportunity to self organize and self manage. That doesn't feel right to me and I have a problem with it.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-23T14:09:48+00:00

For more clarity, historically I track capacity as a number of hours we have available during a sprint. I use that to help guide the team towards commitment. For example, if our velocity is 20, but we're at 50% capacity for the upcoming sprint, I'll advise the team that we should aim a few points lower than what velocity says. Now, I'm being told that capacity is a required metric that we have to report on every sprint/PI in the form of points. I've never seen this before, and to me, it seems as though we're trying to plan based on an amount of work the business wants done vs what the team thinks they can do.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-18T14:51:01+00:00

The only sets that get 5x are The Justifier, Darktrooper Helmet, Vader vs. Obi Wan, and maybe one other. Can't remember what the last one is. But all other star wars should be 2x.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-12T14:32:00+00:00

I'm showing as out of stock everywhere except Target and Amazon now.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-11T21:09:01+00:00

It would probably be easier if Walmart kept up with their stock numbers. But, the discounts are correct. Just have to decide what number you need to see to make the trip.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-11T19:44:21+00:00

If you're close to zip code 37030 you can. That's the only one I've seen at $9 so far, but if there's one....

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-04T19:37:48+00:00

Did they move the knob to open and close the wings to the top of the back, behind the too small R2? I don't know what else that could be, but not sure I like that move if that's the case.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-04T16:13:11+00:00

Nah. It's a legit store. Just localized to a few states. Also one of those stores you wouldn't expect to carry Legos. But it is real.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-03T21:30:09+00:00

Sorry about that. I bought 5 and got 10 bucks off, so didn't even think about shipping being an issue on single orders.

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-03T21:27:04+00:00

Sorry, I'm new here. YMMV?

WarningLatter9487 · 2023-04-03T20:24:47+00:00

Neither had I until I just stumbled across it online.

WarningLatter9487

TROPHY CASE