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Retrotip: Treasure Map

Invite your team to form groups and have them create a treasure map based on their journey so far (or the past couple of Sprints). What is the treasure they’re looking for? What obstacles and traps are on their way? What hidden temples have they found? After twenty minutes of creative work, let the groups present their treasure maps and work together to identify themes and find improvements.

I stole this retrorip from The Liberators 😉

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Clearly express essential needs across groups with “What I Need From You”

The Liberating Structure “What I Need From You” (WINFY) helps groups to clearly express their needs and for others to clearly respond to those requests, sidestepping the kind of corporate jargon that often muddies such requests.

Read all about it in this article: https://medium.com/the-liberators/clearly-express-essential-needs-across-groups-with-what-i-need-from-you-8114093a312

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The (surprising) 9 most common challenges that Product Owners face, and affect their Scrum Teams

  1. The PO doesn’t have enough time
  2. The PO doesn’t have the right skills and I’m expected to train him/her
  3. The PO can’t create a Release plan (or other critical artifacts for that role, like Vision or Product Backlog)
  4. The PO does not engage with the team and ends up working alone
  5. The team suffers from slow feedback and the PO doesn’t get the feedback they need either
  6. The PO does not feel empowered to make decisions
  7. The PO serves many teams and/or has many roles
  8. The PO is a micro-manager and wants to control everything that happens
  9. The PO needs to serve and align with too many stakeholders

Read the complete post and listen to the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast here: https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/2018/11/blog/the-surprising-9-most-common-challenges-that-product-owners-face-and-affect-their-scrum-teams/

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Six Guidelines for Saying No to a Stakeholder

Saying no can be very difficult. Most of us like to please others. But when we say no, we disappoint the requester.

Here are six guidelines for saying no to a stakeholder by Mike Cohn:

  1. Be Clear with Stakeholders: Is this No? Or No, for Now?
  2. Express Appreciation and Empathy for Customers
  3. Offer Only One Reason for Saying No
  4. Convey that You Each Have the Same Goal
  5. Explain the Consequences of Saying Yes to the Stakeholder
  6. Offer the Customer an Alternative

Read the complete article here: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/six-guidelines-for-saying-no-to-a-stakeholder

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Ten sentences with all the Scrum Master advice you’ll ever need

Mike Cohn has been a Scrum Master for over 20 years. Over that time, he gave and collected quite a lot of advice and distilled it down to the ten best bits for you:

  1. Never Commit the Team to Anything Without Consulting Them First
  2. Remember You’re There to Help The Team Look Good
  3. Don’t Beat the Team over the Head with an Agile Rule Book
  4. Nothing Is Permanent So Experiment with Your Process
  5. Ensure Team Members and Stakeholders View Each Other as Peers
  6. Protect the Team, Including in More Ways than You May Think
  7. Banish Failure from Your Vocabulary
  8. Praise Often But Always Sincerely
  9. Encourage the Team to Take Over Your Job
  10. Shut Up and Listen

Read the complete article here: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/ten-sentences-with-all-the-scrum-master-advice-youll-ever-need