Hi all.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) I am finishing up a class on Agile Requirements in Philadelphia. It has been a great experience for me (today) and expect that the class will be a success when I leave tomorrow.
I will be headed to Arizona late tomorrow night to teach a CSM Workshop on Thursday and Friday; it is sold out and there will be a great mix of people in attendance.
Throughout today, and into tomorrow and the rest of the week — I commit to making sure that I do not “dog” traditional Project Managers but instead try to point out why anyone would have a hard time (sometimes) making the transition from traditional waterfall projects to more agile techniques.
This is something I blogged about yesterday in my current posting for the week.
One day at a time my friends and readers.
I will continue to let you know how it goes this week.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate all of your feedback and opinions!
Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.This week we are looking at a topic that comes up quite often in the real world.Much like everything on this blog (smile).Last week I was in Minneapolis teaching a bunch of new Certified ScrumMasters (hi to all you new ones!) and this week I am in Philadelphia and then Arizona (then… pretty much hanging home for the rest of the year with a few days here and there with clients). I need to remember to keep having a life (or at least try!).
One of the topics I see a lot (in fact, after Tony sent me the comic over the weekend, I saw a similar question on one of the yahoo groups) is, “What is the value of a Certified ScrumMaster?” I have written about the topic here (wow this is the most popular comic strip on the site!) and a summary of others here (and talked about it in person all around the world).
This is not just a question I see in the USA. This is worldwide.
Remember this!
And.
The other question I see coming from this is, “Do I need to hire a Certified ScrumMaster help me?”
This week the comic depicts what a lot of Chickens struggle with.
And Pigs.
And even newly Certified ScrumMasters.
Really.
And it is OK.
But. And you knew a “but” would be coming….
I want you to help me get the word out to the various people looking to hire a Certified ScrumMaster that it is not as easy as “just” placing an ad on one of the online job boards and hoping you will come up with the right person.
Huh?
Just to remind myself that I am not totally insane (just a little, as people who know me can attest), I went out looking on some of the more popular job boards and did a search on a few keywords — like “Certified ScrumMaster” and “Scrum” and for kicks I did a combination of “PMP (or PMI) and Scrum” in various combinations.
Ug.
It is scary what is out there today.
As I was reminded last week during a CSM Workshop I was teaching, I should not keep promoting the “divide” between traditional waterfall method Project Managers and Certified ScrumMaster roles.
It got me thinking.
Wow. I do this. And it is not a good thing.
So. I will try — and this will be hard for me (and think about it… possibly anyone in the agile community) to compare “traditional project managers” with “Certified ScrumMaster” roles.
It is easy to do.
Should we keep doing it?
No. As it was pointed out to me, this keeps the two “camps” separate on a lot of occasions.
Wow.
OK.
So.
Read the comic strip above.
Are you — and your HR or purchasing people (for contractors) doing the same thing today?
The sad thing is this instance is not made up (it is a mixture of various ad postings we see today).
Next week, I will dive a little deeper into the process of interviewing people for the ScrumMaster position.
And why this Certification is of value. Really… there is value in having it!
This week, while I am teaching and working with clients, I will make sure I stop making the distinction between “traditional project managers” and “Certified ScrumMaster” roles.
Can I do it?
How about this.
I will try.
And. I will ask for feedback during the workshops (and please send it to me!).
And.
Next week I will report on my progress AND tell you about various interviewing techniques for hiring a Certified ScrumMaster.
It may be a few more comics before we are “done” with this topic.
It has a lot to be examined.
Where are you with doing this today?
Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
November 12, 2007
Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.This week I am writing to you about something that usually gives me a shiver down my back.Meetings.
More to the point — useless meetings.
You know the type. Let’s have a meeting to have a meeting to discuss what we talked about at our last meeting and review what we have not completed but might get done before we have the next meeting in a few weeks.
Ug.
Breath.
This idea started with an email my wife got from a friend last week that basically said, “I am in a meeting and want to stick a pencil through my eye.”
I know the feeling.
This familiar to you?
Then… I am reading one of the copies of CIO Magazine (specific link here) from when I was gone last month and….
Let me recap what Scrum and “Meetings” have in common (this is correlating an the “five tips” talked about in the brief article I read by Diann Daniel):
1) Schedule only when necessary.
OK. In Scrum, you have a daily standup meeting. Fifteen minutes max. This is your daily planning.
You also have a Sprint Review meeting — where your outside stakeholders can come and see what is happening — working software is preferred.
You also have a Sprint Retrospective — where you and the team work on things that went well, went not-so-well, and what specific few items you can work on improving in your next iteration.
2) Reduce the frequency.
So it may seem that Scrum has a lot of “meetings” to some people.
Hmmm.
These “meetings” should ideally start turning into how people do work together on a daily basis.
3) Create an agenda.
This one is easy.
Daily — The three questions. What have you done since yesterday, what are you going to do today, and what are your impediments.
Keep it simple.
4) Recap.
If there are impediments (things in your way)… the ScrumMaster is responsible for making sure the impediments get removed. This does not mean the ScrumMaster must remove them; however, it usually takes a ScrumMaster role to make sure that things are getting out of your way. One of the ways this gets accomplished is by working with the team in showing them how to remove their own impediments. Cool when it works.
5) Do the minutes.
So in Scrum (and agile in general) one of the items in the Agile Manifesto is, “Working software over comprehensive documentation.” To me, this means that you should not ignore the fact that risks (possibly impediments) need to be tracked in an organization (see my blog entry on compliance!). Remember though… do not overkill it. Do what is needed and move on.
When people are transitioning from “old waterfall” development techniques to this agile stuff (Scrum in particular), sometimes they have a hard time remembering that the old ways they did meetings were ineffective and gave people a bad taste in their mouths (translation: UGGGGGGG WHY AM I HERE?!@@?).
As a ScrumMaster, part of your daily workings with the team will involve them in talking to one another.
Some people call that “meeting.”
Time to get over it and start working together.
Getting some ideas of how to help get this working in your organization?
Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
November 5, 2007
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