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Hi, I'm your host Vasco Duarte. Welcome

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to the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, where

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we share tips and tricks from Scrum

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Masters around the world. Every

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day we bring you inspiring answers

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to important questions that all Scrum

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Masters face day after day. Hello

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everybody, welcome to our big episode

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of the week. Of course, Success

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Thursday is the topic of today.

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We have with us this week,

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Patty Alaskowitz. Hey Patty, welcome back.

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Hello, thank you for having me again. It's

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a pleasure to have you here. Of course,

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we're going to talk about success, but before we

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dive into that, share with us what's

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your favorite retrospective format and why?

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Yes, I love retrospective. I

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didn't used to, but many, many

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years ago, and this is like

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2011, I went through yoga teacher

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training and that really

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taught me to be very self-reflective.

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So that's where my retrospective journey started and

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I realized the importance of it. But

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it is challenging because a lot

1:14

of times people don't want to look at

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themselves in the mirror or look at the

1:19

team in the mirror. It's

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difficult, it's uncomfortable. In

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addition to, in our previous

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episode, I was talking about this problem

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solving candidates that I created. I'm

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going to say, other

1:35

than that, one of

1:37

my favorite retrospectives is the

1:39

sailboat. I

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love that one because first of all, it's very simple. The

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visual is a sailboat. There's an anchor like

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what held us back. There's

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the sail with what's the wind in

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our sails. There's the sunshine with what's

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going really well. There

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might be like a, I don't know, a sailboat. when iceberg

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or of. A mountain climbing up in or

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something coming up in the distance. That might

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be the road block that we're gonna maybe

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run into. I'm

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a visual person so I love

2:11

using Miro or something visual to

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show these images of the anchor

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in the wind and the sun

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and the and them and the

2:19

iceberg speakers. To me that it

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it. It makes the connection.

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Of the the problem or

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the challenge and that that

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image and. That.

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Is something that is really strong

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because of my educational background Might

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My teaching background said that I

2:38

understand that that making those connections

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is really. Key

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to people remembering the

2:45

information afterwards so. I'm

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gonna say that one. And

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I think that's a great. Retrospective

2:54

Four Months The problem solving service that

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you mentioned yesterday. I think that that

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was also a idea. I really loved

3:00

how you describe that, so I'm looking

3:03

forward to seeing more on that myself

3:05

as well. But of us we run

3:07

this retrospectives because we want to be

3:09

successful and we want to help the

3:11

team's. Be. Successful. Ah, more

3:14

than anything. So let's describe that

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for our listeners. patty: What do

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you call a successful scrum master?

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What does that mean for you?

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A successful scrum master.

3:28

Is. Somebody.

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Who walks the walk? To

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me. That. Is

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the number one thing?

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That. I.

3:43

As a scrum master and now isn't

3:45

as rock, need to always be mindful

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of. Because.

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People would trust and this is

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human nature. People will trust people

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that do and say the same

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thing. Whether you do

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some the matinee something bad right they trust.

4:02

had. It If you do something positive,

4:04

Id say something. Positive people trust

4:06

that. But when you say something

4:08

positive and do something negative, spears

4:11

or rub, their people see it

4:13

whether it's subconscious or whether they're

4:15

aware of it. So.

4:17

For me coming into a team,

4:19

if I'm going to say we

4:22

need to have a tough conversation,

4:24

I need to be willing to

4:26

have tough conversations. Myself And this

4:28

is where. It goes back to

4:30

you know I had. Personal.

4:32

Coaches for many years because I

4:35

know what it's like. To

4:37

be in the code see

4:39

position. To be

4:41

uncomfortable. To. Trust somebody

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to help me over my

4:46

uncomfortable obstacles and see some

4:48

success. So as

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a scrum master, as a coach

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showing up and saying. I'm

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in this with you. I'm.

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Uncomfortable to I'm.

5:00

Pushing myself out of my comfort

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zone here to it's uncomfortable for

5:04

me to sit in silence and

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wait for somebody to speak. It's

5:09

in a retrospective when nobody wants

5:11

speak. Oh, And.

5:15

I think it goes a long way. When.

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People. In front of

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you see your vulnerability because and

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they feel comfortable doing and as

5:24

well. How

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do you keep yourself accountable? Because

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it's definitely not easy. To. Take

5:31

that position to show vulnerability. Decision

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to be mindful of walking the

5:35

walk as you just described up

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in a lot. what is your

5:40

i don't know weekly routine or

5:42

or how do you do that

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person all self reflection in order

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to stay focused and stay grounded?

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I am. I. Spend a

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lot of time impersonal retrospective. And

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self reflection. Am I'm

5:56

I'm naturally a thinker. so

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i think that sometimes hit It goes too far

6:00

down the rabbit hole. You got to be careful.

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But I, as I mentioned in

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the previous episode,

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in 2011, 2012,

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I started practicing yoga. And I went

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through a teacher training and became an

6:19

instructor myself. And that it's

6:21

a practice for a reason, you practice

6:24

being very mindful of when you

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are bumping up against your comfort

6:29

zone. And realizing

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that you're safe, there's

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no tiger coming to kill you.

6:35

That you're safe, you can take

6:37

a step. And once you take

6:40

the step, you realize, wow, I'm

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okay, I'm still alive. And I

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know that sounds like an exaggeration, but sometimes in

6:46

the human mind, you become

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very convinced that you're not

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going to survive. Even

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though, you know, again, that goes back to this, like, lizard

6:56

brain from when we were in the in

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the caves, right? But

7:02

realizing that if I

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am not

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attempting, if I'm not successful in a

7:10

pose, and I tell myself I

7:12

can't do this yoga pose, sometimes it's in my

7:14

head. And it's because I'm not

7:16

trying because my mind talks me out

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of it before I even attempt it.

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So just being mindful that

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that translates to everything I do

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as a scrum master natural coach.

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When I'm avoiding something, really

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sitting back and saying, what's

7:34

going on here? Why am I avoiding this? And

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like that, that I didn't describe it. Because

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I see when when working with

7:44

teams, I see teams doing the same. But

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what I've realized over the years is that

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the reason why I see teams doing the

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same is because I have practiced seeing myself

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doing that. And

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I think that that aspect of

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practicing on yourself so like being

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mindful of what you're doing is what

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helps us in the end being mindful

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of what the team is trying to

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do. Correct.

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And like I mentioned before, whether

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it's in a one-on-one conversation or even

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in front of a group saying, this

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is uncomfortable, but we're going

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to work through this together. I'm uncomfortable too, but

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look, I'm showing up and

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I'm still doing the thing. And

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I think the last thing I

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want to point out here is

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having like follow-up conversations

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and pointing again, whether it's an

8:38

individual or a team back to,

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do you remember where we used

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to be? Do you remember

8:44

where we were? Look

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at how much we've overcome. And

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by focusing people

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on how much they've achieved, it gives

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them the courage to take that next

8:56

step because the next

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step, the uncomfortable step, they

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never stop. The

9:05

tough thing always shows up, but you have

9:07

to have the courage

9:09

to keep taking the step because chances

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are it does become more difficult. Absolutely.

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And that's a very important lesson for all of us. Reflection

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starts with us. Self-reflecting. Thank you for

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sharing that, Patty. Part

9:26

of a successful Scrum Master job is to

9:28

help the product owner. Tomorrow

9:31

we explore that critical role in Scrum,

9:33

the product owner role. Tune in to

9:35

learn about product owner anti-patterns, what you

9:37

can do to help the product owner

9:40

and a real life example of what

9:42

a great product owner is and what

9:44

made it so. Tomorrow

9:46

on our Friday product owner episode.

9:48

See you tomorrow. We really

9:51

hope you liked our show. And

9:53

if you did, why not rate this podcast on

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