We recently caught up with Ethan Summers, Commercial Operations Lead with Fledging, to ask him about the impact that his recent Scrum Master and Product Owner training has made in his professional life.
Fledging is part of Birmingham, AL’s rapidly growing tech startup community and they are doing some awesome things with product design and release in the portable SSD space. If you have a need for fast, secure, portable, and stylish storage, check them out here.
Since this was a short interview format, I’ll just list the questions along with his responses below!
Q: How has the Scrum Master and Product Owner training changed the mindset with which you approach your business?
We’re building into everything. We’re a startup in an industry full of tech titans with huge bank accounts, so all we really have is our creativity and agility. Scrum is helping be a lot more nimble. One major way is our Product process. We’ve rebuilt how we evaluate product concepts so that we get to “Yes” or “No” faster and in a validated way.
Q: Have you incorporated any of the training into your workflow yet?
We’re right in the middle of that right now. The Product example above is one good example. But we’re trying to use it for everything. We don’t see any domain as off limits, even the “perpetual work” domains like our Production team, because they can run process improvement sprints or even decide to treat a whole month, with all its Production demands, as a kind of sprint. We’ve also started using concepts like the Daily Roundup right away.
Q: Have you seen any immediate benefits to bringing these thought processes into your business?
We have! The Daily Roundup came at the perfect time during the quarantine. It would be really easy to lose touch with each other. Instead, we implemented Daily Roundups and now we all touch base at the beginning and end of each day to discuss what we’re working on, expected roadblocks, and so on. Our team’s reporting a lot of satisfaction both personally and professionally with this process.
Q: Do you think LSM/LSPO training would be helpful for other startups?
As long as they’re not a competitor, absolutely! But it would be a terrible waste of time for our competitors.
Q: Would it be an added benefit for all members of a team to have this training (so that everyone understands it and are on the same page)?
Yes, I think so. Our CEO already has the training. Our CSO and I went through the same class. We have a Software Engineer going through it right now and our Head of Operations goes in May. Frankly, I think everyone on our team should do it.
If you are interested in learning more about our LSM (Scrum Master) and LSPO (Product Owner) training classes then head over to our class page to get the details. Currently, those living near Birmingham, AL might even be eligible for a full scholarship to attend!