Scrum creates opportunities for feedback, but XP makes feedback technically possible

I was speaking with a friend recently who told me that his Scrum team had not held a Sprint Retrospective for several months.

I found myself wondering: at what point does a team stop practising Scrum and merely retain some of its vocabulary?

The Sprint Retrospective is one of Scrum’s formal opportunities for feedback. Remove it and the team loses a regular opportunity to inspect and adapt how it works.

Scrum is built around such feedback loops.

The Scrum Team frequently inspects its progress, its ways of working and the Increment it is creating. At the Sprint Review, stakeholders can examine what has been produced and influence what happens next.

Yet simply holding every Scrum event is not enough. Creating an opportunity for feedback is not the same as being able to respond to it.

Why I swapped VLC for Screenbox on Windows 11

For as long as I can remember, VLC media player has been a staple on all my PCs and laptops. VLC is the ol’ reliable of software – feed it virtually any media format, and it just plays it without fuss.

But recently on Windows 11, I noticed a frustrating issue: launching VLC took anywhere between 10 to 30 seconds. Double-clicking an MP4 and sitting through a 15-second delay just to watch a local video quickly wore thin.

So, last week I replaced VLC with an app that uses the same VLC engine, but which opens instantly and is arguably prettier, Screenbox.

Cynefin and GTD: the weekly review as a sense-making practice

The Getting Things Done (GTD) weekly review is often described as essential maintenance for your productivity system. You gather loose papers, process your inboxes, download your head, update your projects and review your calendar. This keeps your system current and trustworthy.

But the weekly review can do something deeper. It can help you notice when your understanding of a situation is no longer accurate.

Seen through Cynefin, the weekly review becomes a regular opportunity to notice what has changed and adapt our response.

One act of self trust

In yesterday’s post, I suggested that the deeper outcome of productivity is not optimisation but self-trust.

Self-trust does not appear because we find the perfect system. It develops through experience.

Each time we make a realistic commitment and follow through, we give ourselves a little more evidence that we can rely on ourselves.

Start with something small

Large commitments can feel important, but they are not always the best place to begin.

Choose one small action that would make life slightly easier for your future self.

Why trust matters more than optimisation

Productivity advice often focuses on optimisation.

We are encouraged to find the fastest tool, the most efficient workflow, or the perfect morning routine. There is always another app to install, another system to refine, another technique to master.

But the deeper purpose of productivity is not efficiency.

It is self-trust.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31