A Great Learning Alternative: Top 7 Podcasts for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches

If you drive to work through the city or countryside for a couple of hours every day, you can use this time to learn something new. For example, you can listen to podcasts. Professional education is important for everyone, but if you’re a Scrum Master or an Agile coach, you must show others the example of constant personal development. Of course, you can learn something new about areas that have nothing to do with your work, but you can also use your free time to hear the opinions of Agile experts and to learn more about the latest trends in project management.

Scrum Masters are coaches who can lead their teams to success or failure. Experienced Scrum Masters always try to deeply understand their teams and to optimize the working process. They need to deal with various problems that may distract the development team, to plan any activities associated with the development process, and to review the work done by the team. A common misconception is that many people think of Scrum Masters as of project managers, while the truth is that Scrum teams are, to an extent, self-organized. Agile coaches should provide a more global perspective and understand the objectives of the team more deeply than regular project managers do.

If you’re an Agile coach, you should constantly develop as a leader, which is impossible without such things as learning and personal growth. If you don’t have enough time to study books and articles about management, you still can learn just by listening to various podcasts and make the best out of your drive to work or morning jog.

What Makes Podcasts a Pleasurable Learning Alternative

There are so many books on Scrum and Agile that it may be really difficult to understand where to start. That’s why so many coaches turn to various compiling lists of the best Agile books. We look for blogs and articles, in the same way, trying to navigate through hundreds of electronic and printed sources on this topic. Reading is a necessary part of learning Agile, however, it’s not the only way available. Podcasts are an alternative that can help you learn something new while driving or working out.

You may be surprised by how many podcasts are devoted to Agile and Scrum. Here is the same problem as with the books: What to choose? What podcasts are better than others? Some podcasts may be discontinued, others may be too new to prove their real value to listeners. To help you with this choice, we selected the best Agile/Scrum podcasts for you.

List of Podcasts for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches

1. Modern Change Management: Hosted by Jason Little, who also wrote Lean Change Management, this podcast focuses on Agile transformation, culture, and organizational change. It has many interesting interviews and describes real cases with useful practical tips. Episodes are about 40 minutes long.
2. Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Vasco Duarte is an Agile coach and a certified Scrum master. In his podcast, Vasco interviews other Agile coaches and experienced Scrum masters from all over the world. They discuss any topics, including sprint planning, team motivation, scaling, strategies, test-driven and behavior-driven development, etc. Here you can learn many tips and tricks from thought leaders and Agile gurus. Each episode is about 10 minutes long.
3. Meta-Cast: Josh Anderson and Bob Galen have coached dozens of teams and they are always ready to share their great experience on transformations with you. There are more than 100 episodes that address Agile basics, architecture, leadership, planning, etc. Episodes are 30-60 minutes long.
4. Agile in 3 Minutes: The author of this podcast describes it as the simplest podcast possible. Here you can learn about all of the most important Agile topics, with all the information compressed to three minutes. If you are new to Agile and don’t know where to start, Agile in 3 Minutes will certainly help you.
5. Agile for Humans: Tension, humor, and lots of useful information from top experts like Lisa Adkins, Josh Kirievsky, Esther Derby, Ron Jeffries, and others — these are the main reasons why you should listen to this podcast. The host Ryan Ripley always chooses the most important and relevant topics, mostly focusing on interactions Agile is impossible without.
6. The Agile Pubcast: Two Agile coaches walk into a bar… and create a podcast. Paul Goddard and Geoff Watts never write scripts and never know where the discussion would go. Instead, they grab some beer and talk about everything from recruiting Scrum masters to the neuroscience of coaching and to creative methods of decision-making. Episodes are 30-60 minutes long.
7. Deliver It Cast: There are a few podcasts aimed toward product owners, and Deliver It Cast is, probably, the best one. It’s focused on product value, metrics, estimates, etc. The host, Cory Bryan, and perfectly selected guests (Roman Pichler, David Hussman, Geoff Watts, etc.) share their experiences and talk about delivering value. It’s certainly a great choice for everyone who wants to better understand product ownership within Agile frameworks.

Conclusion

It’s hard to be a Scrum Master or an Agile coach without learning and devoting some time to self-improvement. Fortunately, even if you don’t have enough time to read books, you still can learn something new every day by listening to podcasts. Agile experts from all over the world share their knowledge and provide useful tips — all you have to do is just listen to the right podcast while driving to work or having your lunch.