Richard Birch

Sharing Scrum stories, learnings, tips, tricks and resources.

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

That ScrumMaster rut. When you call out the existence of too much noise and try to create clarity and focus for the team, but it is viewed as resistance, being unhelpful or just not understanding the wide and varied needs of the business. Hardest part of the job #tension #scrum

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@geoffcwatts @happiness_guy Amen, I've just given everything to my week. At the start, 90% wouldn't have been enough. My 100% yielded the results we needed. But then when other factors unravelled all the good stuff I was burned out and tetchy about it - too invested in my earlier effort. Next week gets 75%!

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@nigelebaker PMO, wielding standardised reporting tools.

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

Inertia ≠ best practice #scrum #adapt #changeitup #oldwayisnotnecessarilybest

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@majornelson Sub-Zero. Because brrrr. #freecodefridaycontest

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

Just seen a job advertisement for a ScrumMaster asking for someone "aggressive and commanding in nature, to control the team". #ithinkyouseekadifferentrole

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

Absolutely. The customers and the product we build for them are key...but we should never forget that it is people (with feelings) who build that product

[Geoff Watts @geoffcwatts]

The biggest difference between the good product owners and the great product owners is how much they have grasped the subtler, softer, more people-focussed characteristics required to master the role.

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@TheAgilePubcast @geoffcwatts @PaulKGoddard I've plopped an email Geoff's way. Verbose as ever! Would never fit into 140 characters 😂

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

Tuning into politics tonight to see whether parliament can be agile and adapt to new information, or whether it's sticking to a high level (and to many, flawed) plan made 2 years ago. #brexit #agile or #waterfall ?

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@nigelebaker Oh that thread is little a little box of missing the point.

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@nigelebaker I do think you might have delivered the Jira line with that little extra vitriol...

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@geoffcwatts @PaulKGoddard @TheAgilePubcast Truly sensational #kudos #scrum #freetheteam #christmasnumberone

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@ITPM_Blog I protect the team. The product owner protects the team. The team protects the team. Hell, here's a thought, the director level person has a try at protecting the team too. Why get stuck in a rut of having a shouty person and a protector to help defend from them. #newthinking

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

Spending my day arguing the case for ScrumMasters not to be made responsible for what is delivered and when, but instead to be tasked with nurturing a transparent, effective and adaptable work system. #agile #scrum #notblame #collectiveownership

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

I started Happiness Journalling today, thanks to @BattistonMattia's talk earlier in the month. Interesting to see the infectious nature of such ideas - I shared the fact i was doing it and within an hour had talked to 4 other people about it #agile #happiness #sharing

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@agilebear Local competition? #bristolzoo

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@nigelebaker Agilebeat. A self-managing DJ knocking out some phat cadence.

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

If Brexit isn't the perfect analogy for traditional project death-march thinking then I don't know what is. "We said we'd do it, so we'll just get on with it and deliver it". No consideration to new info or to changing requirements, circumstances and appetites #brexit #adapt

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

"I've not ever worked in agile before, my experience is really in waterfall. I'm not sure where to start, but I've lots of templates so I'll start there". 🤔 I sense a coaching opportunity #scrum #challenges #recruitmentcriteria

[Richard Birch @ScrumTales]

@allenholub Agree, I get this too, without having hardened my pragmatic stance re agile. It's the "we're special" syndrome. "These new, common sense and human ideas can't possibly work in our particular context, so we'll revert to an already obsolete playbook to solve our problems, thanks."