Tales from the Sprint — our new podcast series

At Luxoft, we're passionate about sharing our expertise. And the new #LuxoftSerbia podcast series is the perfect way to spread knowledge of Scrum and Agile practices.

The first episode, “You need a team manifesto” is already on YouTube and you can watch it here:

We asked the host Maxim Tkalich, Scrum Master, about the topics that the podcast will cover in the future:

“We will cover basics of Scrum, Kanban and other frameworks and approaches. In addition, we will also dive into details of different Agile practices and will show their usage and interesting moments.”

Why are Agile practices important in IT nowadays?

“Because it’s impossible to stick to the original plan from the very beginning until the end. Thus, you need to adjust and adapt along the way, otherwise you risk losing the race on your market. It’s not about the plan, it’s all about the planning.“

Why is it important to talk more about Agile practices?

“Because a lot of people in our industry don’t know or understand the value that comes with these practices and either resist or choose to ignore this knowledge. And this becomes especially costly at a management level, when fresh managers with a couple of years of experience believe that they know everything and just start to make the wrong decisions without a deeper understanding of the situation, which can damage a project or a company. And we would like to share our knowledge and experience to reduce such situations and help others understand and implement these practices in the best way.”

Who are the guests?

“Guests are Scrum Masters, project managers and team members of different specializations. I believe that a mix of specialized and non-core specialists will be interesting for our audience. On the one hand, we have SMs and PMs, explaining things from their perspective. On the other, we have team members that share their experience or ask questions, that will help us to cover things that are interesting for everyone involved in development.”

Which skills and knowledge are required for the role of Scrum Master?

“Being a Scrum Master (and manager overall) takes more than just knowledge of a framework or the approach that you use. You cannot just simply follow those and hope everything will work out. It requires logic because you need to be logical, while creating/implementing/adjusting the workflow for your team. It requires critical thinking, because you need to think which decision is best in certain situation for you, your team and client and make a proper proposal. Empathy comes in handy with your teammates and understanding the pain points of a client. Agility will help you along the way especially when there is a need for adjustment. And understanding that you might be wrong should help you to balance those things out.”

The next episode of our “Tales from the Sprint” podcast is scheduled for tomorrow, December 6, and it will be dedicated to the topic of product thinking and being client centric. The host and the guest will discuss how to implement Agile practices in your team and how that benefits software developers.

Check the new episode tomorrow on Luxoft Serbia Linkedin and Facebook pages, and Luxoft YouTube channel.