Scrum: when projects move faster

by Alessandra Granaudo

On May 17/18th Danny (Danko) Kovatch will be in Italy (Bologna) for his Certified Scrum Master training.

Here are his answers to our questions about his course and why you should attend it!

Enjoy! 😉

An interview with Danko Kovatch

Avanscoperta: Danny (Danko) Kovatch, Agile coach and Trainer. Can you tell us your Agile story?

Danko: Well, the story is an ordinary one yet funny one.

Once upon a time I was a manager in a company and we decided go try a new approach called Agile.
We were considering two offers: XP and Scrum and since Scrum was cheaper, we chose this one. 😉
During the implementation I saw that something remarkable happened to the people. It was like someone sparked the mindset of the people. They were engaged, the project moved faster and was much more efficient, and then I realized what I wanted to do.

At the beginning I was an internal consultant within the company, moving from one site in the world to another, after that I quit and went to manage two startups while implementing Agile there and finally I realized that it is better to found a company.

It was only natural to name it AgileSparks.
Nowadays, AgileSparks has several chapters around the world and its vision is to increase the efficiency within our customers by using the Agile mindset and tools.

Avanscoperta: Can you briefly describe what do you consider to be the essence of Scrum and what does it mean to implement an Agile approach?

Danko: This is easy. If you are getting better you are doing Agile, all the rest are details.
In other words, use any tool that you have (meetings, mindset, etc.) to become better and know that this is the Agile way. This is the reason why the** retrospective meeting** is the most important meeting in Scrum.

Avanscoperta: The** role of a manager** in the Agile world and the impact of Scrum.
What can managers do to give teams enough space to self-organize and find their own way of working, while still keeping control?

Danko: This is easy to explain and hard to implement since everybody want a change but** almost nobody wants to be changed**. Managers, similarly to parents, need to slowly but surely, let go of their “kids”.
In other words, while implementing the mindset of “begin with the end in mind”, the vision of a manager is to have an independent team. In order to do it, the manager should instill the right mindset and give more and more tools for the team to act in a better and independent way.

Avanscoperta: How can organizations measure the ROI of Scrum? Do you have suggestions?

Danko: ROI is simply a set of KPIs that reflect whether the company got better. Each company should decide on their specific KPIs and while implementing Scrum, they need to see the improvement during the implementation.

Avanscoperta: You are also author of AdvanScrum, what is what’s the key message of the book?

Danko: AdvanScrum is basically a new mindset wrapped up in a set of tools and techniques that are based on the experience of our consultants during hundreds of implementations around the world, along the past 6 years.
The mindset is easy to explain, Scrum is only a tool and it is only the first step toward efficiency. The next step is to gradually start to let go of the meetings and create a self organizing teams that their trust and communication within the company are so high that they are considered to be hyper productive teams.

Avanscoperta: Why should people attend your Certified Scrum Master? What makes it different from other CSM workshops?

Danko: While attending a CSM class, you will learn:

  • WHAT is the Scrum way,
  • WHAT needs to be done and
  • WHAT is highly recommended not to do.

While attending MY class, you will learn

  • HOW to implement it,
  • HOW to avoid common mistakes and
  • HOW to instill the relevant motivation mindset that will cause a stickiness of Scrum in the organization way after you will be done teaching the company how to implement Scrum. Basicall, I am teaching the basic element to create the Sparks in order for the “fire” of Scrum to last years.

Many thanks and see you in Bologna, on May 17/18th! 🙂

See here the workshop: Certified Scrum Master with Danny (Danko) Kovatch.

Photo by Olga Guryanova

Check out the full list of our upcoming training courses: Avanscoperta Workshops.