Jonathan Corrales

Product Manager, Project Manager, or Product Owner? Do you know the difference? 🔍 Project Manager: ⮑ Focuses on timelines, milestones, and resources ⮑ Responsible for the execution of a plan, ensuring it’s delivered on time and within scope ⮑ Typically manages cross-functional team alignment ⮑ Often has specialized certifications like PMP (Project Management Professional) and others ⮑ Typically has a focus on outputs, not that outcomes don't matter 🔍 Product Owner (in Agile): ⮑ Is a specific role within the Scrum methodology ⮑ Prioritizes the product backlog, ensuring the dev team is working on the most valuable items ⮑ Translates the product vision into actionable stories for the development team ⮑ Serves as the voice of the customer in day-to-day work with developers ⮑ Typically has a focus on outputs, not that outcomes don't matter 🔍 Product Manager: ⮑ Owns the product vision and strategy ⮑ Responsible for delivering value to customers and the business ⮑ Balances customer needs and business goals with other areas like technical feasibility and usability, usually by collaborating closely with engineers and designers ⮑ Is much more focused on outcomes than outputs "But Spencer, what about Program Managers, and all these other similar titles?" Look, pal. I can only help you so much at once, OK. Follow my Substack for more. #product #productmanagement #projectmanagement #productops #agile

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🔥 Scrum Masters: Stop Running Meetings—Start Leading Teams Scrum Masters love to say, “I facilitate events.” But what does that really mean? 🚨 Sending meeting invites? That’s scheduling. 🚨 Booking conference rooms? That’s admin work. 🚨 Taking notes & sending MoMs? That’s being a scribe. 🚨 Ordering pizza for retros? That’s catering. None of that is facilitation. None of that makes you a leader. Many a Scrum Master are stuck in admin mode, confusing facilitation with logistics. 💡 Real Scrum Masters Facilitate Self-Management—Not Dependency ✅ Great facilitators empower teams to own decisions. Instead of running meetings, they create the conditions for productive discussions where teams drive the outcomes. ✅ They design interactions, not just schedules. Facilitation isn’t about controlling the flow—it’s about enabling collaboration, surfacing different perspectives, and helping teams uncover their solutions. ✅ They create the space for disagreement, not silence. A lack of conflict isn’t alignment—it’s disengagement. A Scrum Master ensures psychological safety so that difficult conversations happen constructively. 💡 A well-facilitated Scrum event doesn’t feel like it was “led” by the Scrum Master—it feels like the team came together and made it happen. 💬 The Best Facilitators Believe in Their Teams ✔️ People are intelligent and resourceful. If you don’t trust them to make decisions, they never will. ✔️ A team’s decisions are more potent than any single person’s opinion, including the Scrum master’s. ✔️ Titles don’t determine who has the best ideas. Hierarchies kill innovation—facilitation unlocks it. 🚨 If your facilitation leaves the team feeling like you did all the work, you’re not empowering them—you’re babysitting them. #scrummaster #scrum #ReTHINKscrum #agile #ReTHINKagile #ManagementandLeadership Agilemania Agilemania Malaysia

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If you join a team as a Scrum Master today, you’re entering a market where you can’t just blend into the background. The first weeks are where you set the tone, build credibility and prove you were a good hire. Weeks 1–4 Make it your full-time job to learn how this team really works. Sit in on everything you can, from daily scrums to unplanned conversations. Pay attention to how work moves from idea to done, where it stalls and how decisions are made. Talk to people one-on-one and ask what slows them down or frustrates them. Start capturing specific examples and metrics, even if they feel small. How many tickets carry over from sprint to sprint? How often are priorities changing? How many meetings actually end with clear outcomes? By the end of week four, you should have a map of the team’s reality, written in their language, not in Agile jargon. Weeks 5–8 Begin showing the team what you’ve observed in a way that makes them curious instead of defensive. Use what you collected to create a simple visual or story that helps them see their work from a different angle. Highlight small wins you’ve spotted, like fewer rollovers or better backlog clarity and call out the people making those wins happen. You’re building trust here.. you want them to feel that your observations are there to help, not to police. This is also the time to experiment with small adjustments: maybe changing the way you run the retro, adding a 5-minute daily planning check or creating a clearer definition of done. Keep tracking data so you can show what’s improving. Weeks 9–12 Start collaborating on bigger changes. The groundwork you laid means you now know which issues are symptoms and which are root causes. Work with the team to design improvements they believe in, not just ones you think are “best practice.” For example, if priorities keep changing mid-sprint, help them work with stakeholders to agree on a clear commitment process. If too much work is stuck in progress, run a short experiment to reduce WIP and see what happens. Keep sharing the results openly, so the team and stakeholders can see the impact in both numbers and day-to-day experience. In the first 90 days, your goal isn’t to push “Agile” harder. It’s to show that you’ve been paying close attention, you understand the reality of their work, and you can help them make it better in ways that matter to them.

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“Where Do Scrum Masters Go Next?” Hey Agile family 👋, Let’s have a real conversation about career growth as a Scrum Master in 2025 because a lot of us are asking the same question right now: “What’s next for me beyond Scrum?” I remember when I first started out I was focused on getting my team to understand the why behind Agile, making sure we were delivering value, running retros that actually meant something, and keeping energy high during sprints. But over time, I started to realize something. At some point, you master the ceremonies, the framework, and the coaching rhythm and then you start to feel that nudge. The nudge that says, “You’re ready for more impact.” So where do you go next? 💡 Here are a few natural next chapters for Scrum Masters: 1️⃣ Agile Coach – You go from serving one team to influencing the culture of many. You start shaping how the organization thinks about agility. 2️⃣ Product Owner / Product Manager – You shift your lens from how the team works to what the team builds and why. You start driving value and strategy. 3️⃣ Delivery / Project Manager – Some Scrum Masters blend Agile with structure, ensuring delivery across multiple moving parts. 4️⃣ Release Train Engineer (RTE) or Transformation Lead – For those operating in scaled environments (SAFe, LeSS), you guide the coordination of many teams working toward one vision. 🎓 Certifications to Look Into: 🌀 Advanced CSM or PSM II/III – Deepen your craft as a servant leader. 💬 ICAgile Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC) – Perfect if your next step is coaching people, not just teams. 🧭 SAFe Scrum Master / SAFe RTE – Great for those stepping into enterprise or scaled roles. 🎯 CSPO / PSPO / PMI-ACP – For the Product-minded. ⚙️ PMP or Lean Six Sigma – If you want to merge Agile with process improvement or delivery management. ⏳ When should you make the move? When you start feeling that your biggest impact isn’t in running the ceremonies but in elevating how people think, lead, and deliver together. That’s your sign you’re ready to level up. The Scrum Master role is powerful but it’s also a stepping stone. The facilitation, empathy, and leadership skills you build here can take you anywhere: ➡️ Agile Coaching ➡️ Product Strategy ➡️ Delivery Leadership ➡️ Transformation Roles So wherever your path leads remember: you’re not “leaving Scrum”… you’re evolving beyond it. 🌱 Keep learning. Keep coaching. Keep growing forward. #Agile #ScrumMaster #CareerGrowth #AgileCoach #Leadership #ProductManagement #ProfessionalDevelopment #Scrum #ContinuousImprovement

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Program Manager vs Project Manager vs Scrum Master In the world of delivery and transformation titles can blur, but roles matter. Here's a breakdown to help you navigate the differences: 🚀 Program Manager: The Strategic Navigator - Oversees multiple related projects (a program) aligned to strategic business goals. - Focus: Long-term value, cross-project coordination, stakeholder alignment. - Key Traits: Strategic thinking, risk management, executive communication. - Example: Launching a new product line across regions: coordinating marketing, tech, compliance, and operations. 🚄 Project Manager: The Tactical Driver Scope: Manages a single project with defined scope, timeline, and budget. Focus: Deliverables, milestones, resource allocation. Key Traits: Planning, execution, issue resolution. Example: Delivering a new mobile app — from requirements to release. 🚤 Scrum Master: The Enabler Scope: Facilitates agile teams using Scrum methodology. Focus: Team dynamics, sprint planning, removing blockers. Key Traits: Servant leadership, coaching, process improvement. Example: Supporting a dev team building features in 2-week sprints, ensuring ceremonies run smoothly. 🤝 Interactions A Program Manager may oversee several Project Managers and Scrum Masters. A Project Manager might work with agile teams and collaborate with a Scrum Master. A Scrum Master focuses on team health and agile delivery, not scope or budget. 💡 Tip: Titles vary across organizations. Always clarify responsibilities, not just roles. graphic courtesy of copilot #ProgramManager #ProjectManager #ScrumMaster #AgileLeadership #DeliveryExcellence #StrategicThinking #TransformationLeadership #ExecutionMatters #CrossFunctionalTeams #StakeholderAlignment #LeadershipRoles #CareerGrowth #TechLeadership #RoleClarity #ProfessionalDevelopment #AgileDelivery #ProjectExecution #ProcessImprovement #KnowTheDifference #LeadershipInsights #TeamSuccess #DeliveryDoneRight #SachinRandunneInsights

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