Failure is not usually something organisations want to talk about.
We prefer words like delivery, progress, efficiency and success. Those are good things. But in Agile work, some of the most important learning comes from small failures that happen early enough to do something about them.
The key is not to avoid failure completely.
The key is to make failure safe enough, small enough and visible enough that the team can learn from it.
Continue reading What teams taught me by failing safelyAgile 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.
Continue reading Agile as a learning system, not a delivery frameworkThis is the third post in a short series exploring the Scrum Master role through the four main Cynefin domains:
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.
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.
Continue reading Scrum Masters and Cynefin – where learning matters mostWhen Agile drifts towards control rather than responsiveness, it is easy to turn Scrum events into performances.
Safe. Polished. Predictable. But quietly useless.
I saw this first-hand when I started as a Scrum Master in a new organisation.
I ran our Sprint Reviews as real conversations, not controlled presentations – and that shift towards openness and responsiveness was genuinely liberating for the team.
Continue reading When agile teams stop performing progress…
