Agile Mentors Podcast from Mountain Goat Software

#15: Answering Questions from Quora with Brian Milner

Brian takes some of the most popular questions about Scrum from Quora.com and answers them.
Overview
If you are unfamiliar with it, Quora.com is a site people in the technology industry go to to ask and answer questions. For a change of pace, I decided to take a batch of the most popular questions from the site and provide my own answers to them. If you have questions you’d like to include in a similar episode in the future, make sure to email them to podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com.
Listen now to discover:
01:14 Brian explains the premise behind this episode’s topic
02:25 Question 1: Why do iterations in Agile start from Wednesday to Tuesday rather than Monday to Friday?
09:00 Question 2: Are Burndown charts even useful?
16:14 Question 3: Who decides sprint duration in a Scrum project?
18:50 Question 4: As a Scrummaster, how do you deal with people being late or refusing to come to Daily Scrums?
24.32 Question 5: Can a User Story be used for bugs?
26:54 Question 6: Can Agile work without a Scrummaster?
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Join us next time where we will be discussing the topic of Quality with our guest Mitch Lacey.
References and resources mentioned in the show
Send your questions for a future episode to podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com.
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenter is:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Show edited by Rhett Gill.

#14: What does it mean to be Product-Centric? With Scott Dunn

Scott Dunn joins Brian to talk about what it means to be product-centric
Overview
Being product-centric has become a recent buzzword and objective for companies. But what does it mean? Is it the next stage of becoming agile? Or is it something that should drive an agile transformation in the first place? In this episode Scott and Brian discuss their definitions of what it means to be product-centric, and whether this is different to being customer-focused. They also look at the limitations that can stop teams from being more focused on the customer and long-term product value, such as being forced to fight those daily fires.
Listen now to discover:
00:23 - What does the term product-centric mean?
07:13 - Is there a difference between being product-centric and customer focused?
14:47 - Are nonprofits customer-focused entities?
22:02 - Does product-centric mean putting quality first?
28:23 - How does a disconnect between leadership and teams affect things?
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Next time, I’ll be answering questions you’ve sent into the show as well as addressing other common agile questions.
References and resources mentioned in the show
Impact Mapping and Story Mapping
The Scrum Guide
Kano Model for prioritization
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer with more than 20 years of experience in management, project management (PMP), engagement management, and software development (MCSD). He is passionate about strengths-based teams and a solutions-based approach to people and organizational issues.
Show edited by Rhett Gill.

#13: What does cross-functional really mean?

Lance Dacy joins Brian to dig into cross-functionality.
Overview
You will often hear people say that Scrum teams are cross-functional. But what do we mean when we say that? Are we talking about a jack of all trades but master of none? Do we want team members who can do anything? How does a cross-functional team actually work together and what should we do as agilists to support and nurture cross-functionality in our teams? Join as we discuss these and other aspects of cross-functional teams.
Listen now to discover:
02:00 Lance tells us how he defines cross-functional teams
04:34 Brian compares cross-functional teams to the A-Team
08:58 Lance talks about generalists vs specialists
12:39 Brian talks about T-shaped individuals
18:05 Brian discusses the Equity Couch
24:10 Brian describes the Market of Skills tool
27:45 Lance talks about personality profiles
29:20 Brian asks Lance about how to handle cross-functionality on specialist teams
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Scott Dunn joins us again to discuss the term ‘product-centric.’
References and resources mentioned in the show
The A-Team
Market of Skills by Lyssa Adkins
OSEMN Process
What does Scrum mean by Cross-functional?
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Lance Dacy is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®. Lance brings a great personality and servant heart to his workshops. He loves seeing people walk away with tangible and practical things they can do with their teams straight away.
Show edited by Rhett Gill.

#12: Kanban with Kert Peterson

Kert joins Brian again to talk about Kanban
Kanban is a pull system of working where work is ‘pulled’ in based on a team’s capacity. Whether it’s a card from a backlog, or a bin of items on a manufacturing floor, the concept of pulling in work is common to both kanban and scrum. It supports the idea of being agile because whenever you’re pulling work in, you’re basing it on the latest feedback and emergent needs so that you can focus on delivering the most value. Listen now for an overview of Kanban as well as common mistakes to avoid.
Listen now to discover:
00:48 - The origin of Kanban’s meaning
04:34 - How the principles of Kanban are expressed in Scrum
07:00 - Common misconceptions people have about Kanban
09:00 - The five pillars of Kanban
12:58 - How to get started
19:41 - How to improve your current Kanban process
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
I’ll be joined by Lance Dacy as we talk about cross-functional teams.
References and resources mentioned in the show
Kanban University
The Official Guide to the Kanban Method
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Kert began his professional career as a Software Engineer in NASA's Space Shuttle program, affording him practical insights into the daily challenges faced by engineers, designers, and testers. Driven by the belief that learning unlocks potential, Kert has pioneered educational programs for Dell, Rockwell Collins, Amazon.com, and Capital One Financial. Kert is one of the few trainers world-wide to be actively credentialed as both a Scrum and Kanban trainer by Scrum Alliance and Kanban University, respectively.
Show edited by Rhett Gill.

#11: Estimating in Agile with Mike Cohn

Brian and Mike talk about why and how to use Story Points in estimating.
Overview
To estimate or not to estimate. There are many different views on the matter. It’s important then to start with why. Why would we spend time estimating in the first place? What is the benefit of that effort? Do all Agile teams need to estimate? Join Brian Milner and Mike Cohn as they discuss estimating using Story Points in order to plan for things such as releases.
Listen now to discover:
1:51 - Mike talks about the 3 reasons why would we estimate in the first place?
4:30 - Brian asks about the #NoEstimates movement
8:00 - Brian talks about the marketing aspect of his conference talk this year
9:42 - Mike defines what a Story Point is
14:30 - Mike talks about using Story Points as a performance metric
21:20 - Mike talks about consistency in point scales across teams
25:58 - Mike talks about working with contractual constraints when using Story Points
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Join us as we dive into Kanban with Kert Peterson. We’ll talk about this close relative to Scrum and discuss how these two can coexists in today’s Agile world.
References and resources mentioned in the show
Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn
Agile Estimating and Planning online ecourse by Mike Cohn
Woody Zuill of the #noestimates movement (and Mob Programming)
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Mike Cohn is co-founder of the Scrum Alliance, and founder of Mountain Goat Software. He’s a veteran of applying Scrum and agile principles and practices to help organizations build better products, and ship them on time.
Show edited by Rhett Gill

#10: Why User Stories are the Best Way to Capture Requirements with Mike Cohn

Brian and Mike talk about how to capture requirements with User Stories.
User Stories are not native to Scrum. We actually borrow the practice from XP. Traditionally, requirements were gathered in huge binders that were very detailed and complex. These were considered complete and were locked down when development began. Teams quickly found that change was a constant and this method of capturing requirements didn’t allow for requirements to emerge. Enter User Stories.
Listen now to discover:
2:15 - Mike talks about the history of User Stories
4:00 - Mike discusses the problem User Stories is attempting to solve
4:58 - Mike talks about making lunch
7:30 - Mike talks about when NOT to use User Stories
10:26 - Mike and Brian talk about The Beatles
14:00 - Is As a User an ok way to start a User Story?
15:00 - Mike talks about Job Stories
19:55 - Mike talks about some common mistakes people make with User Stories
23:00 - Is the So That clause needed?
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Mike Cohn returns to discuss Estimating with Brian. Mike has written a book about this (Agile Estimating and Planning) and will share his insights on this important topic.
References and resources mentioned in the show
User Stories Applied - by Mike Cohn
Better User Stories course - by Mike Cohn
Billboard interview with Paul McCartney where he talks about using personal pronouns
Intercom who makes chatbots
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Mike Cohn is co-founder of the Scrum Alliance, and founder of Mountain Goat Software. He’s a veteran of applying Scrum and agile principles and practices to help organizations build better products, and ship them on time.
Show edited by Rhett Gill.

#9: Scrum Artifacts with Kert Peterson

Brian and Kert talk about the final component of the Scrum Framework - Artifacts.
Overview
The term “artifact” seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? Why would the authors of Scrum include this as a component of the framework? What are the main artifacts that Scrum prescribes? And what are some of the other artifacts that are not required but many teams see as helpful to the running of a Scrum team? In this episode, Brian and Kert will discuss this final component of the Scrum framework in the Scrum Framework series and give you pointers on how to make the most out of the Scrum artifacts.
Listen now to discover:
3:45 - hear Kert and Brian talk about the roots of this term
6:15 - Kert talks about his experience with documentation working at NASA
9:15 - Kert talks about the two backlogs in Scrum
12:30 - Brian and Kert talk about what level of detail is needed in backlog items
16:12 - Who is the therapist on a Scrum team?
19:00 Is tasking out everything required for Sprint Planning?
23:41 - Kert talks about how Ken Schwaber called Scrum, “The Art of the Possible”
31:27 Brian and Kert talk about the Definition of Done
33:24 Brian talks about a tool to facilitate the creation of a Definition of Done
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Mike Cohn returns to discuss User Stories with Brian. Mike has literally written the book on User Stories (User Stories Applied) and shares his wealth of experience and knowledge on the subject.
References and resources mentioned in the show
Married at First Site - Lifetime TV Network
Larry Maccherone talks about Kanban Metrics
David A. Koontz’s exercise for creating a Definition of Done
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Kert began his professional career as a Software Engineer in NASA's Space Shuttle program, affording him practical insights into the daily challenges faced by engineers, designers, and testers. Driven by the belief that learning unlocks potential, Kert has pioneered educational programs for Dell, Rockwell Collins, Amazon.com, and Capital One Financial. Kert is one of the few trainers world-wide to be actively credentialed as both a Scrum and Kanban trainer by Scrum Alliance and Kanban University, respectively.

#8: Sprint Retrospectives with Scott Dunn

Join Brian Milner and guest co-host Scott Dunn as they discuss why the retrospective is an important part of agile and how to use this meeting to help teams to improve continuously.
Overview
In this episode, Brian Milner is joined by guest co-host Scott Dunn, Certified Enterprise Coach and Scrum Trainer, to get insights into delivering retrospective sessions that energize and inform the whole team — while ensuring they are effective at meeting goals.
A sprint retrospective is a great way for teams to reflect on the previous sprint but this meeting can become stale if you sleepwalk your way through the same agenda every time. Brian and Scott discuss the Scrum Master’s responsibility to take ownership of the retrospective and the importance of developing a toolkit of techniques that you can use and adapt to engage and motivate your teams.
There are many great retrospective ideas in the Agile community, including variations and additions on the basic questions and creative facilitation techniques. Sharing their experiences and offering advice to Scrum Masters on how to empower their teams, drive participation and unlock creativity, Brian and Scott discuss the importance of innovation and how to establish a culture of trust and accomplishment to maximize the value of this meeting.
Listen now to discover:
· 00:03:00 - Why Scrum Masters need to establish safety for retrospectives to work
· 00:07:00 - How to structure a retrospective to motivate teams
· 00:09:00 - Why it is not the Scrum Master’s responsibility to resolve all impediments
· 00:11:00 - How to empower your team to have more agency over the work and make a difference as team members
· 00:13:30 - Why Scrum Masters need to take ownership of the retrospective
· 00:19:00 - Why you need to change up your retrospective to engage your team
· 00:19:30 - How to conduct fun and engaging retrospectives
· 00:23:58 - How to influence and shape your team’s culture
· 00:26:10 - How to get value from a retrospective with an introverted team
References and resources mentioned in the show
· Strengths-based Leadership - Gallup
· Training from the Back of the Room – Sharon Bowman
· Marcus Buckingham
· Agile Retrospectives - Making Good Teams Great - Esther Derby and Diana Larson
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
· Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
· Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer with more than 20 years of experience in management, project management (PMP), engagement management, and software development (MCSD). He is passionate about strengths-based teams and a solutions-based approach to people and organizational issues.

#7: The Sprint Review is not a Demo with Julie Chickering

Join Brian Milner and Julie Chickering as they discuss the true purpose of the Sprint Review and why it is a mistake to call this event a ‘demo’.
Overview
Brian Milner talks with Julie Chickering about Sprint Reviews, addressing the myth that the Sprint Review is primarily an opportunity to ‘demo’ the increment to stakeholders.
As an experienced Project Management Professional, Julie shares her perspective on the Sprint Reviews from a project management viewpoint. She shares different ways to approach this event and offers advice on what components are needed for a good quality Sprint Review.
Brian and Julie agree that the Sprint Review meeting is probably the most important Scrum event for product people as it encourages collaboration and generates the feedback required to increase the chances of creating a successful product. However, opinions on who should attend the meeting, how it should be run, and how to collect relevant feedback can change quite considerably from one organization to another.
Are you holding Sprint Reviews every Sprint?
Do you have Stakeholders in your Sprint Reviews?
Are you getting valuable feedback from your Stakeholders in your Sprint Reviews?
Brian and Julie discuss why you should be answering “Yes” to each of these questions and share their tips on how to make your Sprint Review more effective.
Listen now to discover:
· 00:06:06 - How the Scrum Review saves time in the long run
· 00:10:20 - The benefits of reducing the distance between the developer and the end user
· 00:11:49 - The Stakeholder feedback window – how long should feedback take?
· 00:12:19 - Why you should never skip a Sprint Review
· 00:12:30 - Why Stakeholders need to be constantly engaged for a Scrum team to be successful
· 00:13:49 - The integral role of the Product Owner in Sprint Reviews
· 00:17:05 - Why you shouldn’t cancel a Sprint Review even if work isn’t “done”
· 00:21:36 - Why you need to clarity the definition of “done” to Stakeholders
· 00:27:19 - Tips and feedback to anyone wanting to improve their Sprint Reviews
· 00:31:02 - The importance of preparation before Sprint Reviews
· 00:34:29 - Methods of collecting feedback
· 00:39:32 - The best order for a Sprint review
· 00:41:36 - How to coach stakeholders to increase team productivity
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing…
Sprint Retrospectives with guest co-host Scott Dunn. You’ll learn the primary importance of this Scrum event and how to run effective and engaging Sprint Retrospective meetings that boost productivity and lead to positive change.
References and resources mentioned in the show
· Daniel Pink – When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
● Enjoyed what you heard today? Take a second to leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
● Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Julie Chickering is a certified Scrum Trainer as well as a CST, PMP, PMI-ACP CSM, CSPO, and Path to CSP Educator. She believes that Agile practices are packed with potential - to enable business agility, and breakthrough results. Julie loves to help people implement agile even when the environments are messy, people are complicated, and situations are challenging. She brings real-world experience working with people at all levels to adopt and roll out realistic Agile strategies organization-wide.

#6: How to make the Daily Scrum more effective with Julie Chickering

This week, Brian Milner is joined by Julie Chickering to talk about the best practices and common pitfalls to avoid during the Daily Scrum event.
Overview
Brian Milner and Julie Chickering discuss the true purpose of the Daily Scrum and how to make this 15-minute meeting more efficient.
According to the Scrum Guide, the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress towards the Sprint Goal, synchronize activities, and create a plan for the next 24 hours. Debunking the myth that “The Daily Scrum is a Status Meeting”, Julie and Brian share their first-hand experience of this misconception and show Scrum Masters how to transform the Daily Scrum into a purposeful and collaborative planning session led by the Developers, for the Developers.
You’ll learn how to get your Daily Scrum under control and discover new approaches to encourage productivity, accountability and collective ownership as well as Daily Scrum formats that encourage teamwork.
Finally, Brian and Julie dive deep into the struggles brought by remote working and the many alternatives to tackle this issue.
Listen now to discover:
- 02:00 - The purpose of the daily scrum and common misconceptions
- 11:00 - How to use the sprint backlog to prioritize work
- 00:12 - The importance of teamwork and striving for smaller stories that flow
- 14:56 - How to encourage developers to take ownership of the Daily Scrum
- 00:20 - Suggestions for Daily Scrum formats to encourage teamwork
- 00:22 - When to update items on the Sprint Backlog to benefit the Daily Scrum meeting
- 00:25 - How to encourage accountability and collective ownership of work
- 00:27 - How to monitor and assess unplanned work and forecast velocity
- 00:35 - Guidelines for problem identification and problem solving during the Daily Scrum
- 00:38 - How to adapt the Daily Scrum for distributed teams in a remote world
- 00:44 - The benefits of cross training
- 00:45 - The 16th minute concept
- 00:47 - Ken Schwaber’s clockwise scrum methodology
Listen next time when we’ll be discussing...
Julie joins Brian again to explain the true purpose of the Sprint Review and why it is a mistake to call this event a ‘demo’.
References and resources mentioned in the show
· Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber
· The Scrum Guide
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
· Enjoyed what you heard today? It would be great if you left a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
· Got an agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He’s passionate about making a difference in people’s day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Julie Chickering is a certified Scrum Trainer as well as a CST, PMP, PMI-ACP CSM, CSPO, and Path to CSP Educator. She believes that Agile practices are packed with potential — to enable business agility, and breakthrough results. Julie loves to help people implement agile even when the environments are messy, people are complicated, and situations are challenging. She brings real-world experience working with people at all levels to adopt and roll out realistic Agile strategies organization-wide.