Tag: agile teams

High-trust teams need less process

Process is useful. It creates structure, makes work visible and helps people coordinate.

But as teams mature and trust grows, some processes become unnecessary. What once provided helpful support can become friction.

Process often compensates for low trust

When trust is low, organisations tend to introduce more controls:

  • additional approvals
  • detailed status reports
  • frequent progress checks
  • rigid handovers
  • rules designed around exceptional failures

These may provide reassurance, but they also slow decisions and reduce autonomy. Over time, people may focus more on satisfying the process than achieving the outcome.

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My new book is available: What kind of problem is this?

Book cover for What kind of problem is this? It shows an illustration of the Cynefin framework: four domains, clear, complicated, complex and chaotic.
My new book’s cover

I’m delighted to say that my new book, What kind of problem is this?, is now available to buy from Lulu.

The full title is What kind of problem is this? A Scrum Master’s field guide to using Cynefin in real team situations.

It is a practical book for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, Product Owners, delivery leaders and anyone who works with Scrum but has sometimes wondered why the same practices work beautifully in one situation and fall flat in another.

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Agile as a learning system, not a delivery framework

Agile is often described as a way to deliver work faster.

That is not wrong, but it is incomplete.

At its best, Agile is not simply a delivery framework. It is a learning system. It helps teams discover what is true, what is valuable, what is possible and what needs to change.

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Scrum Masters and Cynefin – where learning matters most

This is the third post in a short series exploring the Scrum Master role through the four main Cynefin domains:

  • clear
  • complicated
  • complex
  • chaotic

The first post looked at the clear domain, where simple rules and repeatable practice can help.

The second post looked at the complicated domain, where teams need expertise, analysis and informed judgement.

This post looks at the complex domain.

What is the complex domain?

In the complex domain, the relationship between cause and effect can only be understood afterwards.

The work is uncertain. The team cannot simply apply a checklist or ask an expert for the right answer. There may be no single right answer.

Instead, the team needs to learn through action.

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Scrum Masters and Cynefin – when simple rules help

This is the first post in a short series exploring the Scrum Master role through the four main Cynefin domains:

  • clear
  • complicated
  • complex
  • chaotic

Cynefin is useful because it reminds us that not all work is the same.

Some work is uncertain and needs experimentation.
Some work needs expert analysis.
Some work is urgent and unstable.

But some work really is straightforward.

Continue reading Scrum Masters and Cynefin – when simple rules help