Hi all,
I just wanted to let you know that about 30 new Certified ScrumMasters joined our community today from a course Mark Pushinsky and I did in Charlotte, NC, the past two days. Mark and I would also like to thank Joe Little for helping setup the course here.
We were also fortunate enough to speak with a local agile users group (something I love doing when I travel!). We tried a new exercise about introducing Scrum and then doing a simulated 59 minute Scrum with a twist — the goal was for each team to go through the Scrum process and present their top impediments — with solutions — they have today while actually incrementing scrum in real world environments.
Think about how that may have played out.
Cool stuff.
And.
We had a small class of students (taking various courses at the university) in the audience which was mixed with professionals who had varying experiences in implementing scrum.
Fun stuff.
Next off… 2 more days of classes down in Charlotte — so Friday there will be almost 30 more CSM’s in the market down here. Wahoo!
Time to put “Zero to Sixty” back in action in my very own reality starting tomorrow morning.
Have a great day.� And check out where I have classes coming up soon (and think — Boca Raton, Florida in the winter brrrrr).
Thank you!
- mike vizdos - www.implementingscrum.com - www.michaelvizdos.com
Hi all,
I wanted to let you know I will be on the road quite a bit in the coming months. In addition to this, I’d also like to put out there if you see me in a location that is near you — and you would like to meet (for a beer or a quick consulting engagement or me talking to your local groups!) PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me or read more information about all this great stuff here.
I will be in Boston, MA, next week from Wednesday through Friday. I will be giving a talk there on Friday morning so click the link above to read more about it!
From there, I am headed to Spain (Madrid, Valencia, and a little fishing town) for a few weeks.
And then….
I turn right around and head over to teach a CSM Workshop in Moscow, Russia
October 18-19, 2007
Then a short hop over to Kyiv, Ukraine, for yet another world famous CSM Workshop.
October 23-24, 2007
Back in the USA, I will be doing CSM Workshops in the following cities (with associated dates):
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
November 8-9, 2007
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
November 15-16, 2007
Boca Raton, Florida, USA — Still setting this up but it will be right after Turkey Weekend!
Please contact me if you are interested in being notified when the next workshop is publicly available.
Need to see references or recommendations?
This week we are covering a topic near and dear to a lot of people in the Scrum Community.
Retrospectives. Part Deux.
Last week I covered the “old way” team have done them.
This week.
How some teams do it today.
So called, “By the Book.”
Ooops.
But Mike, “It LOOKS so easy!”
Three Questions:
1) What went right?
2) What went wrong?
3) What can we improve the next iteration?
If a team begins to mature and grow, this type of format will become mind-numbing and create no real value to the team.
Think about it.
And. I mean this in the nicest way.
A lot of team members are technical.
And a lot of them can be introverted.
This means they may not like answering the same darn question after every Sprint.
Ug.
Even extroverts will get bored by this.
Really.
And then things start going South.
Your teams become less effective.
And.
Team members that are in this situation may recognize there is a problem.
In real life, they may not say anything. Usually — and this is unfortunate — they do not say anything.
Productivity suffers.
People start questioning what they are doing.
And the ScrumMaster may not have a clue.
Yikes.
What next?
The next part of this series will discuss what you as a ScrumMaster can do. And even as a team member on a Scrum Team.
If you are on a team today and see this is a problem, please get the word out that NEXT WEEK I will reveal some great solutions that may help you and your team become more effective.
Or at least take a shot at it.
Stick with it!
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
September 10, 2007
Hi all.
I found out late last night that a friend and personal mentor died in a motorcycle accident on Monday night. His name is Brian Lyons and more information about him can be found at the blog on their corporate site.� His family has setup a personal site for more information here.
While we have a lot of fun on this site, I also wanted to take a moment to let his family, friends, and co-workers know that we are thinking about them in this sad time.
One of the things Brian was known for saying (in his email signature and phone calls) was, “Hi Ho!”
This always brought a smile to my face.
He will be missed and hopefully this will bring a smile to your face when thinking of him.
Thank you Brian. I have learned much from you.
- mike vizdos
———–
Brian was co-founder, CEO and CTO of Number Six Software, and co-author of UML 2 Toolkit. He is survived by his wife, Tamara, and his son Asher Francis. Our thoughts are with him and his family in this difficult time.
For those that would like to give back, just as Brian gave to this community, his family has requested that donations be made to the Brian Lyons Scholarship Fund at the University of Maryland, his Alma Mater.
Checks should be made payable to:
University of Maryland College Park Foundation.
The memo portion of the check should indicate: Brian Lyons Scholarship
Checks should be mailed to:
University of Maryland
Scholarship Office
4114 Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center
College Park, Maryland 20742
This week we are covering a topic near and dear to a lot of people in the Scrum Community.
Retrospectives.
[Edited April 5, 2008] I added a youtube video of this cartoon with my two sons — Dominc and Kenton. Check them out here:
I have been wanting to write about this topic since day one of this site; however, it kept sliding down my product backlog.
Why?
Mostly out of respect for this topic and the people in the Scrum Community who add to this valuable technique. Namely Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, and Norm Kerth.
This is going to be at least a two part series — maybe three.
Today’s posting looks back at the “old” way a traditional post-mortem was completed.
Think back. Or look at how you may possible be doing them today.
At the end of a project, management may have declared a project “successful.” This can take many formats, including actually delivering working software; however, many times in my own past I have attended these for one reason and one reason only — to complete a “check mark” on some project manager tick sheet. For compliance reasons.
We quickly talk about “lessons learned.” And of course they get filed away into the project notebook (or whatever you use for compliance and auditing).
NEVER to be looked at again.
Gulp.
And.
The team knows the project was a complete disaster.
Management is flying high because a date was “met”.
In the background, they are slapping high-fives with their peers because their project burned through two marriages and one person left the company because they were totally pissed off.
I have seen this happen.
And.
It makes me sad.
In the meeting, everyone gets around to sing happy camper songs and congratulatory awards are handed out.
“Congratulations. Katie worked 100 hour work weeks until the end and pulled in through for the team. And Joe, well, without him, the project would not have been where it is today.”
And them some $25.00 gift cards are handed out.
“Good job,” says the manager.
And.
The team is totally demoralized.
They know the product they delivered was not up to their own personal standards.
They know the product shipped with many bugs (but, because compliance says a product cannot ship with “severity one” bugs, mysteriously the night before all those pesky things were “downgraded” to a two or three — “Wahoo,” say the managers, “We shipped without any high severity bugs!”
Gulp.
So.
It may not be that bad where you work.
Unfortunately, I have seen this — sometimes many times.
And then people leave that project team to start a new project all over again. And guess what? They do the same thing again.
People become numb to the process.
People stop learning.
And.
It happens with both traditional waterfall teams and Scrum teams.
Today.
Is it happening with your team?
In the next part of this series, I am going to give you some solid techniques for dealing with this part of the process.
And not just “deal” with it.
But.
Make is a positive experience for everyone.
And.
Help improve your team and its interactions.
Sound like a dream?
At least it will not be a scary one.
There are things out there to help you.
Really!
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
September 4, 2007
April 6, 2008
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