#scaledagile

šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦ Richard Gunther šŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆšŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ørichardgunther@twit.social
2025-06-13

Day 2 teaching Agile Essentials. Let's do this! #agile #scaledagile #softwaredevelopment #training #virtualtraining

An orange title slide with subtle geographic patterns and shading from a presentation deck. "Lean, Agile & Scaled Agile Essentials" presented by Springbach Consulting.
2025-04-09

me at standup for day 4 of meetings week

#ScaledAgile
(actual src: oglaf.com/ablutions/, this one is nsfw)

panel from an oglaf comic. godwasher: "Today I put six white stones in a line. I stood across them and whispered vowels."
just small circles šŸ•Šsmallcircles@social.coop
2025-01-22

#ReminderToSelf šŸ¤”

#ScaledAgile is a useful *concept*. There is indeed such thing as 'vibrant scaled agile' in good organization structure plus culture. Something unique and tailored necessarily. And optimized, chiseled in better shape, maintained well.

Then there is #ScaledAgile the name. Here a sad story to tell. Whole flocks of developers adore #bikeshedding names and play #ideology #flamewars. Blind for the *essence* and rationale of the underlying concept, they reject it based on the name.

Kimberly H. Wolfsonkimberlywolfson@babka.social
2025-01-14

Are you a Developer for the next fast growing app looking for help managing your incremental value and voice of the customer? I’m your person. DM for an exploratory conversation. #productmanagement #agile #scaledagile #SAFe #opentowork

The Challenge of Finding True Agile Experts

A long time ago, when I was a junior Scrum Master, my Chief Agile Coach posed a thought-provoking question:
ā€œIf you had a limited budget, would you hire a Scrum Master or a Software Engineer?ā€

At the time, I replied, ā€œA Software Engineer, because they produce measurable output.ā€

Now, years later, I reflect on that conversation with a deeper understanding. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside exceptional Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, and Product Owners. Yet, let’s be honest:

The majority of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches lack a clear understanding of the how and why behind their roles. Many find themselves stuck in these positions, not out of passion or conviction, but because they see no alternatives. Instead of pursuing what they believe is right, they focus on maintaining their roles, often to the detriment of their teams and organizations.

The market is saturated with so-called Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches. For every open position, there are often over 200 applicants. Since these roles are unregulated, anyone can claim the title. Unfortunately, this influx of underqualified individuals has created challenges for the Agile community.

The Problem with Unqualified Agile Practitioners

Agile practitioners are perceived as experts, wielding authority. However, when they lack the necessary experience or knowledge, they themselves become the biggest impediments. This issue is compounded when they fail to listen to those they aim to serve, addressing superficial concerns rather than solving real problems. Instead of driving transformation, they retreat into an ā€œAgile kindergarten,ā€ disconnected from reality.

Moreover, the oversupply of candidates drives salaries down, making these roles less attractive to true experts. As a result, the market loses talented professionals who could excel in these positions, creating a vicious cycle.

What Makes a Great Agile Expert?

A true Agile expert must navigate a complex and diverse set of responsibilities, including but not limited to:

  1. Team and Dependency Mapping
    Utilizing frameworks like Team Topologies to visualize and optimize team structures.
  2. Implementing the Right Workflows
    Choosing and establishing methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban based on team needs.
  3. Scaling Agile
    Adopting frameworks like Nexus, Spotify, Scrum@Scale, or SAFe to scale Agile practices effectively.
  4. Ensuring Transparency
    Leveraging tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, and Confluence to provide visibility into workflows.
  5. Metrics and Retrospectives
    Establishing metrics and cascading retrospectives to identify and address impediments.
  6. Teaching Best Practices
    Guiding teams on concepts like Definition of Done (DoD), Definition of Ready (DoR), OKRs, and Acceptance Criteria (AC).
  7. Driving DevOps Adoption
    Helping developers embrace DevOps practices, if necessary.
  8. Facilitating Vision and Strategy
    Supporting the creation of visions, missions, and strategies at both the organizational and team levels.
  9. Effort and Value Estimation
    Introducing estimation techniques like T-shirt sizes or story points, and prioritization methods like WSJF or Cost of Delay.
  10. Conflict Resolution and Coaching
    Combining skills in mediation and coaching to empower individuals, resolve conflicts, and harmonize Agile methods with existing structures.

This list only scratches the surface of what a skilled Agile practitioner must handle. Organizations seeking to hire an Agile Coach should ask candidates to explain these methodologies. Doing so can reveal whether they possess the expertise needed for the role.

Reflecting on the Industry Today

There was a time when companies hired almost anyone with a self-declared title of Scrum Master or Agile Coach. That window gave me the chance to enter this profession. However, times have changed, and so has my perspective.

If my Chief Agile Coach asked me the same question today, I’d answer differently:
ā€œI would hire a qualified Scrum Master—someone with both experience and a strong theoretical foundation. This is a critical role, and you can’t entrust it to just anyone with a certification.ā€

Agility works. It offers practical solutions to structural challenges that companies face. While traditional waterfall project management isn’t a viable alternative, the challenge lies in finding the right people to implement Agile effectively. Companies must embrace agility to adapt and compete, but doing so successfully requires truly qualified Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters.

#AcceptanceCriteria #Agile #AgileChallenges #AgileCoach #AgileExpertise #AgileMarket #AgileMethodologies #AgilePractices #AgileTransformation #AzureDevOps #Coaching #ConflictResolution #Confluence #CostOfDelay #DefinitionOfDone #DefinitionOfReady #DevOps #EffortEstimation #Jira #Kanban #Mediation #Mission #Nexus #OKRs #Prioritization #ProductOwner #Retrospectives #SAFe #ScaledAgile #Scrum #ScrumMaster #SpotifyModel #Strategy #TeamTopologies #ValueEstimation #Vision #WaterfallVsAgile

SCRUMschauscrumschau
2024-01-30
2023-12-14

Which certification factories (*) do you see out there?

(*) commercial organisations whose purpose has become to sustain the primary income source of certified trainers who would not otherwise sell training classes without the certification. And whose primary purpose has shifted away from knowledge sharing, fulfilling education and learning needs of its professional community and and doing good by it

#Agile #Kanban #ScaledAgile #Lean #BusinessAgility

agilesourceagilesource
2023-09-12

Has anyone used community.scaledagile.com. I see a lot of references to it, but 200$/y seems too much for private use.

2023-09-05

Hi, Mastodon, I'm hoping you can help me #GetFediHired

I'm a certified Scaled Agile Product Owner with five years of direct industry experience leading development teams, mostly in the Health sector.

I'm located in Indianapolis, USA or would love to join you in #RemoteWork.

#fediHired #fedijobs #tech #agile #ProductOwner #ScaledAgile #SAFe

I just saw a #UserStory which went:
"AS A - organisation,
I WANT - to implement x,
SO THAT - X is implemented"

I'm losing my fucking mind in this job. #agile #scaledagile

BetaCodex Network | since 2008BetaCodex@techhub.social
2023-07-08

If you are interested bringing about organizational transformation to Beta, then checking out this latest research of ours about #decentralization, coherent self-organization and #CellStructureDesign will be worth your while!

Read the "Cell Structure Design Patterns" white paper here: betacodex.org/white-papers/ (no registration needed)

#transformation #newwork #orgdesign #agile #agility #lean #beyondbudgeting #teal #scrum #agiletransformation #agilemindset #scaledagile #scalingagile #eodf #odf

Bret Mogilefskymogul@mastodon.cloud
2023-04-15

There are some other points in the referenced post I'd quibble with, but the point is solid and evergreen, and supports my advice for everyone considering #ScaledAgile:

1) If you're not applying agile practices well at the team level first, don't expect using SAFe to get there; that's a prerequisite for SAFe, not a side benefit!

2) Don't treat SAFe as a cargo-culted bible; use it as a parts-bank of integrated methods that you can adopt (or drop!) as appropriate.
mastodon.cloud/@mogul/11020448

Dion Hinchcliffedhinchcliffe
2023-03-09

Great update today from the team..

500 partners to help orgs adopt/succeed with .

Over 1 million people now trained on the SAFe framework.

My analysis on how SAFe addresses challenges of delivering to large enterprises coming soon!

2023-02-02

#ScaledAgile-#CargoCult des Tages: ein "Demand Management Scrum Team" zwischen dem Kunden und dem Chief Product Owner, das Anforderungen evaluiert und spezifiziert. Realsatire.

borisgloger.com/blog/2018/07/1

2023-01-29

@jchyip
A few that work in that space: Al Shalloway, BlueDolphin consultant Wolfram Müller et alt, and Andrew Kallman.

I rather suggest avoiding it all together:
- bit.ly/SAFe4DecisionMakers and one of its fork
- safedelusion.com/

#Agile #Scaling #ScaledAgile #ScaledAgileFramework

Sascha Wenningersufw
2023-01-13

Quite amused that in a whole 2-day SAFe training course, ā€œdocumentationā€ was only mentioned once, in the context of the Agile Manifesto. The Scalable Agile website has not substantial mention outside of this context. Quite sad. There are agile ways of documenting, and it’s essential to sustainable delivery. But somehow we cargo-cult a whole ā€œdocumentation is uncoolā€ ethic that’s really quite counterproductive.

2022-12-16

I just noticed that SAFe has something called SAFe ScrumXP which "combines the benefits of Scrum and XP".

Yeah, I'm here to tell you that you don't need SAFe to combine the benefits of Scrum and XP. You can do that yourself.

It's curious that predictive models (waterfall, v-model, SAFe) are an 'either-or' choice, whereas adaptive models (XP, Scrum, Kanban, Lean) may be combined intelligently without anyone losing their minds over it.

#agile #scaledagile #scrum #xp

My weekly newsletter on research on #digitalization: Agile at scale works but requires some structure and a lot of skill; innovation hindered by risk aversion that is worth discussing; middle managers in a squeeze need to wear several hats comfortably; e-government in South Korea has succeeded in the course of decades + race to the South Pole, lean office, artificial intelligence that writes code #innovation #agile #scaledagile #middlemanagement #korea #egovernment enedos.substack.com/p/edos-202

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