I have a place for the public class next week. Wahoo.
Pls contact me directly if you’d like me to work with your team on Wednesday next week!
Also… Cartoons restarting SOON.
Hi all.
This week I am doing a quick hop from Richmond to Seattle.
I am headed to San Diego next week and I need a place to host a class on Monday and Tuesday. If u have a room available please contact me directly offline from here asap.
I’ll be speaking at the users group there on Tuesday night and right now have some billable time opening on wednesday - lemme know if you’d be interested in me stopping by and working with your team.
I am then at a private client on Thursday and Friday.
Hope all is well.
Tony and I are cranking up the cartoons again very soon. I know that is the main reason you love visiting the site!
Have a great day.
-mike Vizdos
Good day,
Yesterday I promised I would start a difficult conversation for someone out there.
If this one is for you, please use it.
If it is not applicable to you, bag it and save it for the future. And maybe hope it does not happen to you.
The original cartoon and blog entry on the topic of “Done” was one of the first I published on the site. It is something that has been slapping me in the face more and more lately.
Here is one of the difficult conversations you may be facing:
Let’s say you have completed a task on a user story. You are happy to be moving it from “Work in process” to “Done” on your story board.
It is indeed a happy event.
Pause.
Do me a favor.
Walk into a “Best Buy” right when it opens. On a weekday.
If you cannot do that, here is what happens….
Right when the doors open, you have about 15 people (all the staff) standing in the door opening CLAPPING THEIR HANDS as you walk in.
Managers are watching the employees like hawks to make sure they clap.
I am dead serious.
Do this.
And.
Notice something.
While they are clapping at you, they are chatting between themselves, some of them are actually texting their friends on the phone, blowing bubbles with bubble gum, or staring off into space.
And that is just the employees interested in you being there.
While I am sure this is meant to be a great welcoming gesture, it is extremely uncomfortable to both the people walking into the store to buy their headset (or other cool technical crap) and the employees who are being “forced” to do this.
Now.
Back to moving tasks from “Work in Process” to “Done.”
I have seen teams who have been told that “YOU WILL CLAP YOUR HANDS” when tasks are moved to “Done.”
Um.
Do you see a parallel here between Scrum Team Members and Best Buy Employees and their Customers?
If this “Ceremony” does not work for your Scrum Team…
Talk to your outside stakeholders about it.
If you are an outside stakeholder on a Scrum Team who thinks “forcing” people to clap when stories are moved to “Done” is a good thing…
Please please please stop by Best Buy at opening on a weekday and feel the experience.
Remember. Feelings?
They matter.
OK now.
Start talking :).
Let me know how it turns out via comments or email.
Thank you,
- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com
Hi,
Hopefully some people have noticed the new tag line for the site at implementingscrum.com, which is:
“Starting Tough Conversations about Software Development.”
I have received emails asking me to tone it down.
If anything, I wish I could turn it up a little more.
Really?
Why?
I have to start speaking up for the various Scrum Roles out there since sometimes it is hard for people to start these difficult conversations.
PLEASE.
Use past cartoons and blog entries on my site to start the conversations.
Or… contact me directly to address a specific conversation you need to have with someone for you.
Huh?
Let’s try it and see.
You’ll see the first one tomorrow.
Let’s start REALLY having those tough conversations.
Someone has to start them.
If not you… I will (smile).
Thank you,
- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com
… the world as we know it was turned upside down and inside out?
At least the world as we know it here?
Because the world as we know it “outside” of our little Scrum world is going to change drastically this week.
Interested?
Stick with me.
Had some AWESOME conversations over the weekend that may cause a bit of controversy and an entire SHIFT as possibly never seen in this industry (or at least in a while).
Nothing new.
Really.
But it is almost time to release “it” :).
Smile.
- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com
PS –> Remember if you sign-up for an e-mail subscription at www.implementingscrum.com/subscribe you’ll get some FREE videos AND be first to hear about the latest and greatest information from me. Tell your friends while there is still time!
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