SPaMCAST 340 -Tom Howlett - Scrum Master, Teams, Collaboration, Distributed Agile - a podcast by Thomas M. Cagley Jr

Software Process and Measurement Cast 340 features our interview with Tom Howlett.  Tom is a Scrum Master.  We talked about teams, collaboration and how to effectively be Agile in distributed teams.

Tom’s bio:

Tom's been building and working with teams that focus on continuous improvement for 15 years. In that time he's written about the difficulties he faced and how he overcame them in over 100 blog posts on "Diary of a Scrummaster", and a book called "A Programmer's Guide To People". He has a strong focus on breaking down the barriers that restrict collaboration (whether remote or co-located) and ensuring the people who do the work can effectively decide how it's done. He's becoming well known in the Agile community through his speaking and running his local group the "Cheltenham Geeks'. His company LeanTomato provides help forming new teams and helping existing ones meet people’s needs more effectively.

Contact information
Blog: Diary of a ScrumMaster
Twitter: @diaryofscrum
Website: LeanTomato

Remember:

Jo Ann Sweeny (Explaining Change) is running her annual Worth Working Summit.  Please visit http://www.worthworkingsummit.com/

Call to action!

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Re-Read Saturday News

The Re-Read Saturday focus on Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox’s The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement began on February 21^nd. The Goal has been hugely influential because it introduced the Theory of Constraints, which is central to lean thinking. The book is written as a business novel. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Blog and catch up on the re-read.

Note: If you don’t have a copy of the book, buy one.  If you use the link below it will support the Software Process and Measurement blog and podcast.

Dead Tree Version or Kindle Version 

I am beginning to think of which book will be next. Do you have any ideas?

Upcoming Events

CMMI Institute Global Congress
May 12-13 Seattle, WA, USA
My topic - Agile Risk Management
http://cmmiconferences.com/

DCG will also have a booth!

Next SPaMCast

The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our essay on Agile team decision making. Team based decision making requires mechanisms and prerequisites for creating consensus among team members. The prerequisites are a decision to be made, trust, knowledge and the tools to make a decisions. In many instances team members are assumed to have the required tools and techniques in their arsenal. In many instances team members are assumed by management and other team members to have the required tools and techniques in their arsenal.  Next week we will explore decision making and give you tools to make decisions.

Shameless Ad for my book!

Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, neither for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here.

Available in English and Chinese.

Further episodes of Software Process and Measurement Cast

Further podcasts by Thomas M. Cagley Jr

Website of Thomas M. Cagley Jr