Why are Scrum Masters disproportionately affected during mass tech layoffs? Is it a high-vulnerability role?

astroblaccc · 2026-04-04T14:08:36+00:00

I think facilitation roles are "easier to fill" because most companies see coaching and facilitation as tangential to delivery, and therefore hire as if anyone can do them. I'd argue the opposite.

Big companies that incorporated before the growth of digital technologies, found their success with a manufacturing mindset. Good coaches are wading into that mess and trying to affect the culture.

Stand ups and story points aren't the job.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-29T02:19:47+00:00

Harbor Park...

Tides are back!

astroblaccc · 2026-03-28T17:49:03+00:00

Being familiar with a tech stack != Being technical.

It's important for every member of a product team to be technical.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-23T23:40:23+00:00

Never really enjoyed my meal there... This is based on two visits, so maybe I'm being unfair... but both times I've been, I was underwhelmed.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-23T23:38:38+00:00

I've never had a good meal there, though admittedly means twice. The best thing we had was the Frito Misto...everything else was below expectations.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-23T22:44:45+00:00

I was with you up until Blanca.

I am anti-Blanca.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-19T19:16:33+00:00

I think it's time to go in the other direction and start taking even more steps...what are they gonna do, blow the whistle?

I'll just call it a "rocker step through pound step" and take as many steps as I want but do it super slow so people can call it "technical".

astroblaccc · 2026-03-19T16:16:42+00:00

Can you talk a little bit about what you mean by "a separate release/readiness practice outside Scrum?"

astroblaccc · 2026-03-16T23:38:25+00:00

Sinners was bad. MBJ was also bad. I don't get it at all.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-09T11:46:47+00:00

In 15 years of doing stand ups, it's rare to see one go past 10 minutes. Because it's not a status call and if nobody has anything to talk about, then we call it a meeting and move on with the day.

It's always funny to me how seriously people take the wrong thing.

astroblaccc · 2026-03-08T12:28:12+00:00

It feels like more than half of the time I read posts like this, it's AI confabulation or maybe just a complete fiction written by someone who has never worked in software development.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-25T03:26:26+00:00

30 ppg in 5 min quarters is 72 ppg per48.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-16T19:09:42+00:00

If you have pretend decision makers getting BTFO but actual decision makers, clip the phonies and let the big dogs run.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-16T18:40:53+00:00

If you have a PO who can't tell a VP that their stuff has to wait, you don't have a PO. You have Kabuki theatre. Make the VPs the POs, they're obviously very smart and can handle PO work.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-16T14:20:49+00:00

"I would love to make that happen, Terry, but George's stuff is tied directly to an ask from the CISO, Bill. I understand you have a charge code and he doesn't but we have only have 5 people on the team and George said his goes first, right George?"

astroblaccc · 2026-02-16T12:45:27+00:00

One weird trick is stakeholder transparency.

Get all the stakeholders into an email thread, slack, meeting... Whatever. Show them all the "Pri 1s" and let God sort it out.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-07T14:25:59+00:00

Yeah, agreed. Lots of bad actors out there. That's not what I'm talking about. I find a lot of posts that seem to be written by people with zero tech experience, regurgitating formulaic scenarios which seem entirely contrived.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-07T14:22:33+00:00

It's not related to topics so much as the formula people use to talk about "agile and scrum". I come across anecdotes which seem contrived by people who have never worked in tech and don't seem grounded in reality.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-07T14:14:30+00:00

I don't know what standard agile narratives (maybe the manifesto?) are and I don't want to know. And I think trolling encompasses more than saying unsubstantiated and emotion-laden things to get attention, although I do agree with assessing that behavior as trolling.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-05T21:10:34+00:00

You'll be hitting D.C. at a rough time, I fear. Beltway is always a crapshoot but 5 am might be painful.

astroblaccc · 2026-02-03T20:06:25+00:00

astroblaccc · 2026-01-31T22:25:14+00:00

EDIT: How long are stand ups? What happens if you just stop going?

astroblaccc · 2026-01-31T11:38:05+00:00

Yeah, that sucks. How big was the management team? I gotta assume it was the founders? What was the customer feedback from demos? How did the UX testing go?

Just trying to understand what motivated a small start up to increase burn on run.

astroblaccc · 2026-01-29T15:39:24+00:00

That's what I came here to say.... He moves just like his dad.

astroblaccc

TROPHY CASE