Imran Qureshi

Most Agile teams measure the wrong things. And that’s why they deliver output instead of outcomes. ↳ Here’s the truth → KPIs define culture. ↳ Measure the wrong ones, and you kill agility. ↳ Measure the right ones, and you accelerate value. 📌 5 powerful KPIs every Scrum Master should track: 1. Feature Completion → Are we delivering what we committed? 2. Cycle Time → How fast are we turning ideas into value? 3. Escaped Defects → Are we protecting the customer experience? 4. Burndown Accuracy → Are we planning realistically? 5. Team Happiness Index → Are we building sustainable teams? But delivery metrics alone are not enough. You must connect them to business value: 1. Customer Satisfaction (NPS, CSAT) → Is value being felt by users? 2. Business Value Delivered → Are we solving the right problems? 3. ROI of Features → Are we turning investment into impact? 4. Market Responsiveness → Are we adapting faster than competitors? I learned this the hard way in my early Scrum Master days. tracking vanity metrics that looked good on slides but never solved real delivery pain. Most Agile teams measure the wrong things. That’s why they deliver output instead of outcomes. 📌What’s the one metric your team couldn’t live without? Drop it in the comments. Sharing is learning.

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Stop preaching the Agile Manifesto to your clients. Yes, I love it. It's brilliant. But using it as your primary coaching tool is lazy – and sometimes even dangerous. Here's why:  The Agile Manifesto was written to describe what works in agile teams. It was never meant as a blueprint to transform corporations. The Manifesto assumes a certain culture. A certain view of people. A leadership style that creates trust and psychological safety. In that soil, its values and principles make perfect sense. But drop the same Manifesto into a Tayloristic culture – with rigid hierarchies, performance rankings, annual budgets, risk aversion… – and what happens?  👉 It gets ignored as "hippie talk"  👉 Or worse: it gets deliberately misunderstood and weaponized So if you're an agile coach pointing to the Manifesto as *the* solution, you're skipping the real work. You have to help leaders unlearn their old assumptions about people and management first. You have to build the cultural foundation.  Only then does the Agile Manifesto stop being "hippie stuff" – and start becoming a powerful guide. The Manifesto is not the beginning of the journey. It's the destination. #agile #leadership #AgileCoaching #AgileTransformation #culture

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Demanding a certification in a single development process (such as Scrum) is like demanding that a Michelin 3-star chef be certified in boiling water. No single process is adequate. The best processes are created by the teams that use them, and they involve elements from "all" of the canned processes and additional elements invented by the teams as well. They are context-dependent and change constantly as we learn.

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✅ 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞? As Scrum Masters, our role goes far beyond facilitating ceremonies—we exist to help teams thrive, deliver value consistently, and continuously improve. Productivity in Agile isn’t about working faster, but about working smarter, with clarity, flow, and focus. Here are some practical ways I enable teams to achieve this: ✅ 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 🔹 Ensure stories are small, clear, and testable. 🔹 Apply the INVEST criteria to improve story quality. 🔹 This reduces wasted time during Sprint execution. ✅ 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 🔹 Act as a shield from organizational blockers. 🔹 Partner with management to address systemic challenges like dependency delays, unclear requirements, or environment issues. ✅ 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 🔹 Encourage limiting Work In Progress (WIP). 🔹 Use Kanban boards to visualize workflow. 🔹 Promote swarming and pairing so tasks get finished, not just started. ✅ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 🔹 Drive practices like automation, CI/CD, peer reviews, and a strong Definition of Done. 🔹 This prevents defects from piling up later. ✅ 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 🔹 Retrospectives aren’t just meetings—they’re opportunities. 🔹 Support the team in choosing 1–2 actionable improvements each Sprint. 🔹 Ensure there’s accountability to follow through. ✅ 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 🔹 Help the team balance capacity with Sprint goals. 🔹 Educate stakeholders on the hidden cost of multitasking and context switching. ✅ 𝐅𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 🔹 Teams innovate and grow only when they feel safe. 🔹 Encourage openness to raise blockers, experiment, and learn fast from failures. At the heart of it, productivity is about creating an environment where teams can focus, collaborate, and continuously improve without fear or distraction. ✅ Want more Scrum insights and practical techniques? 🔹 Join our WhatsApp group here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/d2CTUCnu ✅ Need 1:1 Scrum coaching, interview prep, or Agile guidance? 📞 Call me at 9137275692 ✅ If you’ve ever faced a situation where your team struggled with unclear goals or direction, how did you handle it? Share your experience in the comments—I’d love to learn from you! ✅ Follow Chandan Kumar for real-world Agile strategies, Scrum tips, and leadership lessons from the field

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STOP COLLECTING CERTIFICATES. START CHOOSING THE RIGHT ONE. Most people do certifications blindly. Wrong order. Wrong reason. Zero impact. Here’s a clean, no-fluff guide on what to do when. WHO ARE YOU Product or Scrum Master in delivery mode Engineering lead handling flow and ops Manager scaling multiple teams Career switcher exploring Agile basics WHAT TO PICK AND WHEN SCRUM When: Building new products, time-boxed sprints, cross-functional team Pick: CSM or PSM Why: Clarity on roles, ceremonies, sprint discipline Avoid if: Your work is mostly tickets, BAU, high interrupt rate KANBAN When: Support, maintenance, DevOps, multiple inflow sources Pick: KMP path (KSD, KSI) or Team Kanban Practitioner Why: Flow, WIP limits, cycle time, continuous delivery Avoid if: Your org demands strict sprint commitments and story point targets SAFe When: 3+ teams, shared dependencies, portfolio governance Pick: SSM or SASM for team level, SA for leaders Why: Roles at scale, PI Planning, alignment across trains Avoid if: You have one or two teams and no real scaling pain AGILE FOUNDATIONS When: You want breadth across Scrum, Kanban, XP, Lean Pick: ICP (ICAgile) or PMI-ACP Why: Principles, patterns, broad mindset Avoid if: You need immediate, role-specific tactics this quarter FAST DECISION RULES One team, product build, need cadence → Scrum Many interrupts, SLAs, BAU, support → Kanban Multiple teams, shared roadmap, governance → SAFe Exploring or pivoting careers → Agile foundations first ROLE-BASED SHORTLIST Scrum Master new to role → PSM I or CSM, then KMP basics Product Owner → Scrum plus product discovery add-ons DevOps/Platform → Kanban track first, then Scrum add-on if needed SM or APM with 4+ teams → SAFe team-level cert, then LPM concepts Program/Portfolio leader → SAFe SA or LPM after a foundations cert COMMON MISTAKES Doing SAFe with a single team Using Scrum for pure ops work Chasing badges without applying practices Skipping metrics: lead time, cycle time, flow efficiency, escape rate APPLY IT IN 30 DAYS Week 1: Map your work type and demand pattern Week 2: Pick the track using the decision rules above Week 3: Pilot 2-3 practices (WIP limits or Sprint Goal or PI prep) Week 4: Track one metric and one outcome; share results OUTCOME YOU WANT Team flow improves Predictability increases Less status noise, more delivered value Cert supports your context, not the other way around NEXT Comment your role + team size + work type. I’ll suggest a custom path. Like ,Share & Follow... 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨 𝒕𝒐 𝒁 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒎 & 𝑨𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 -  https://lnkd.in/gUFsSFvR

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An attempt and an experiment. I heard "Product Backlog" is the most often searched term by the Agile community. Consolidated a few principles, practices, tools, and techniques in a guide. Very short, crisp, and practical. Happy reading! https://lnkd.in/gtdJ5XBS #agilewow #product #productbacklog #agile #scrum AgileWoW

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