This is the conclusion of a three part series for the week. It has been interesting for me to write and people have written me some great emails about their thoughts on this.
Thank you.
Two nights ago I posted the first of three comic strips by a guest artist (my son Dominic). You can view that here if you have not already seen it. Part two is here. Please remember that our awesome guest artist is turning eight very soon — and drawing is one of his passions.
So take a look back at the first two panels of the series for the week. I’ll wait.
The first is where the Chicken asks the age old question.
The second, well, the Chicken get attacked by what I will call “reality.”
And.
Reality happens all the time in each of our lives.
Really.
I guess that is why they call it reality.
This final panel shows that Pig (team member) has the back of the Chicken.
What does this mean?
Think about it.
Without the Chickens — or possibly outside stakeholders in your world — the project would probably never have been funded.
Or.
Continued to be funded.
Remember, in an agile world funding really should depend on a team delivering potentially shippable software each iteration.
This is tough to do.
And.
Chickens can help the Pigs remove the impediments.
So.
Why should Chickens and Pigs work together?
Hmmmm.
This panel of the cartoon shows that while the Chicken is being attacked by their monsters (outside the project room where the Pigs are working on the Sprint Backlog), the Pigs (team members) see that sometimes they need to step-up and actually help the Pigs “fight” the monsters.
Even if sometimes the Pigs are left for dead.
Huh?
Think about how this can be applied to what is happening on your team today.
It really and truly is a symbiotic relationship.
That must be fostered.
Who’s responsibility is this?
Think about that and talk to your team about it.
And remember both need the other to survive.
Hope this helps!
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!
February 27,2008
This week is a bit different than the usual…. whatever that may be (smile).
Last night I posted the first of three comic strips by a guest artist (my son Dominic). You can view that here if you have not already seen it. Please remember that our awesome guest artist is turning eight very soon — and drawing is one of his passions.
So.
In the first part of this series, the Chicken looked into the mirror and saw a monster.
Something that the Chicken may or may not have wanted to face.
But.
The question was asked. You know… “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall….”
And.
The mirror answered.
In this part of the cartoon (number 2 of 3), you will notice that the monster is out and attacking the Chicken with full force.
Huh?
What does this mean in the real world?
One interpretation may be that the monsters — let’s possibly call them stakeholders — sometimes are not on the same page as the other Chickens in expectations. And, when it is time to do a Sprint Review, the Chickens may have to face some very difficult questions.
Like, “Who is your Product Owner?”
Like, “What the heck do you think you are doing?”
Like, “Wow. This is the most awesome thing I have ever seen in my entire career since I coded in COBOL in 1963 [expecting emails LOL].”
That last one would be a good monster for those that are paying any attention.
This happens in reality.
At some point, Chickens (and the other roles including ScrumMaster and Product Owner) will have to face down some big monsters.
Possibly, this is because the team has asked them to clear some impediments.
And some impediments are really stinky.
And.
Finally.
Maybe.
Just Maybe.
Someone else on the the team can stand up and help defeat a bad monster for the team. Together.
As a team.
We will cover that topic tomorrow night.
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!
February 26,2008
Tony had the weekend off (his wife / Product Owner took off with some friends) and my son Dominic was very psyched about doing a drawing this week for all of you.
As usual, I gave him a topic and this is his rendition. This comic strip will be given to you over the next three days, in black and white, with no text.
Why?
A few reasons… first…. Dominic was horribly sick this weekend and his daddy (me) is on the road a bit right now. He did an awesome drawing of the series on paper and I was able to bring it with me on the trip for the week. Using the iPhone camera, I took separate pictures of each of the three parts of this comic strip.
Is it perfect? Well… the drawings are. Dominic rocks. The pictures quality (or lower than I expected) is from me; I accept responsibility for that part. They are not optimized for speed of loading, so I also apologize for any “slower” than normal load times.
Is it good enough?
I think so. And that is the reason I wanted to actually use what Dominic and I produced for the week.
I think and hope you will get the message over the next three postings.
Remember. Agile and Scrum concentrates on delivering potentially shippable software.
It is something you and your team can build on.
And.
You should have a place where you and the team can look back (maybe during a retrospective [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]) in a safe environment.
And.
Not do the same mistakes again.
In this first segment, think back to when you were a kid. Yes, I know for some of us this may have been a loooong time ago. But think — and also start thinking of why I am trying to bring a child’s perspective into this series every once in a while.
The Chicken is looking into the mirror — the magic mirror — and asks that question which always gets asked in the story books.
Paraphrasing, it goes something like this: “Mirror Mirror on the wall…. Who is the fairest of them all?”
And.
Honestly.
The majority of times a Chicken never wants to hear the truth.
The “monsters” that get in the way are usually huge.
Really huge.
And ugly.
And, the Pigs and everyone else on the team knows that this is true.
Wow.
So part of the whole thing with Scrum is to talk about Transparency.
The Chicken tonight at the end of the first panel looks into the mirror.
And.
The Chicken does not like what it see’s in the mirror.
Do you?
Really?
More on this tomorrow.
Hang in there with me… and you may be shocked what we each learn.
Trust me.
I have looked long and hard into some of these mirrors.
Recently, in fact.
Sometimes it is easy to get lost in those mirrors. A fun and scary place to be all at once.
And sometimes.
You need to get out.
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!
February 25, 2008
Hi all,
I want to let you know I will be out and about traveling again over the near term (working with clients and teaching classes and speaking at conferences). I make this announcement to make sure if I am visiting an area you live in (or are interested in traveling to get there) we may have a chance to meet and chat. Plus, it makes traveling a lot more fun for me.
The “official” public places I will be include:
– Certified ScrumMaster Workshop in Portland, Oregon (March 3-4, 2008)
– Speaking on “Scrum in the Real World” at SD West Expo in Santa Clara (March 6, 2008)
– Certified ScrumMaster Workshop in New York City, New York (March 17-18).
Go ahead and check out the links to the workshops and speaking engagements and topics and sign up if you are interested.
More importantly, this is as close to a personal invitation to please contact me so we can actually meet in person // do some professional networking (over a beer or whatever is fine with me!).
It is a small world.
Thank you.
- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com
Hi,
I am announcing another test (remember — inspect and adapt) on our site at implementingscrum.com.
Know what a Product Backlog is?
I am opening the Product Backlog to you — the reader — for input.
Is it the perfect tool for this? Maybe not.
However.
Let’s see if we can get some things started on here.
You can read more about it (see the product backlog and be able to enter your ideas into the product backlog) here.
Thank you.
- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com
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