Scrum teams are often surrounded by numbers.
Velocity, throughput, cycle time, burndown charts and delivery forecasts can all be useful for a while.
But there comes a point in some conversations when the numbers stop helping.
They are still being discussed. They are still being reported. But they are no longer bringing the team closer to reality.
That is the moment I start listening differently.
Continue reading What I listen for in a Scrum team when numbers stop helpingOne of the harder parts of being a Scrum Master is this: sometimes you can see that a team needs to slow down, but managers or stakeholders want the opposite.
That is understandable.
From the outside, slowing down can look like reduced effort.
But in practice, reducing overload is often how delivery improves.
The key is not to argue for ‘slowing down’ in the abstract.
It is to help people see that too much work in progress, too many competing priorities and too much pressure to start work are often the very things that stop work from finishing.
Continue reading How to influence when slowing down is the right move
