We have trained hundreds of Scrum teams. We have also talked to hundreds of other teams using Scrum. We have found that many Scrum teams start out with great success only to plateau. This stagnation occurs for several reasons. For mid-size to large organizations (>200 developers) these reasons include:

• The challenges the teams are hitting are not directly addressed by Scrum.  read more »

We have trained hundreds of Scrum teams. We have also talked to hundreds of other teams using Scrum. We have found that many Scrum teams start out with great success only to plateau. This stagnation occurs for several reasons. For mid-size to large organizations (>200 developers) these reasons include:

• The challenges the teams are hitting are not directly addressed by Scrum.  read more »

The Felder-Silverman learning model is useful in that it illustrates how different people learn in different manners.  This page has considerable information on this method.

1. You do not have to be right all the time to be credible.  Credibility actually comes from genuine listening.

2. You gain respect not by demanding it, nor by demonstrating prowess; you gain respect by giving it.

3. Every reasoning person who believes a thing is in some way correct.  Find that first.

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I think we've all had the experience of someone being hard to convince when the evidence is clear. Could be a co-worker, a manager or someone who reports to you.  We've had times when this lack of seeing something is accompanied by belligerance or aome other negative attitude. What can you do when this happens?

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This page was written by Alan Shalloway as an attempt to make it easier for others to learn how to speak more easily in front of others.

Being a good speaker is a skill that can be learned.  I remember when I started learning how to speak in front of groups.  I had always been good in talking to groups of 3-5 people.  But put me in a room in front of 10 or more and it was fairly nerve wracking. I've heard it said that speaking in front of a group of people is more terrifying than dying to many people.

How did I make this transition?

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Most change programs fail, but the odds of success can be greatly improved by taking into account nine counterintuitive insights about how employees interpret their environment and choose to act.

The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition is one of many models describing how learners go from beginner to expert. Here’s a textual summary of it.

The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition is one of many models describing how learners go from beginner to expert. Here’s a nice drawing depicting it.

Hi. This section has been mostly written by me, Alan Shalloway, founder and CEO of Net Objectives. I'm living proof that good coaches can be made as I used to be very bad as a coach. I even wrote a blog (on becoming a coach) about this to help others. This section includes some of my own personal lessons learned as well as recommended resources. I am a firm believer that if someone wants to serve as a coach they can learn to be a good one. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a gift you are born with.  read more »