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Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!
Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.So there are a few different ways a Scum Team can get started.This week, we examine what is called the “Top Down” approach.Just from the words used to describe this approach makes me feel a little queazy (sick to my stomach).Why?It invokes thoughts of command-and-control organizations, something that has a tough time implementing Scrum — or any new framework / methodology / whatever within their organization.
When the top level “CxO” (”x” can = “Executive” or “Technical” or “Financial” or whatever bigwigs like as their titles) comes up with these great ideas and wants to “push” it down to the people that work for them, a lot of the times the people actually doing the work roll their eyes and think, “Oh, another change of the week.”
And suck it up.
And.
Do it.
Only to the point where things do not break.
And.
They stay under the radar and do not rock the boat.
And.
Are not really productive with this Scrum stuff that is being shoved down their throats.
Yikes.
We have seen this before (in this series of cartoons, you may want to look at the, “You Suck. And Somebody is Sad” entry.
Ouch.
It happens way too often.
And.
There is usually a very large mushroom cloud going off somewhere in the organization.
Then.
Some other “fad” gets brought in to clean up the mess of the last one.
Rinse and Repeat.
Ug.
Frustrating, huh?
I think you can see if you are in an organization that is rolling out Scrum in this fashion….
[political correctness off]
You are screwed.
[political correctness on]
So.
What can you do besides look for another job?
See if you can help actually make it work.
And.
That will be what the next cartoon in this series will address.
Until then, remember.
All is not lost!
Really.
Gotta run….Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.
You can also enter The Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
October 1, 2007
Hi all,
Some of you may have noticed last night there may have been a “large” file distributed to you. If that was the case, please accept my apologies.
Now for the good news — all the “original” blog entries are now located here — every entry for the past year (plus!).
I need your assistance please.
If you have a few minutes and notice the “tags” (or categories) in the right column of your screen — please make sure they make sense and/or let me know if they need to be consolidated or updated in any way.
And.
If you are paying attention and reading this (thank you by the way, AGAIN!!!!)…. we now have over 50 cartoons on the site and growing every week. For those of you that do not know, I have co-authored a book with Scott Ambler in the past, and now publishers are starting to show interest in our site to publish as a real book (wahoo!).
I have some ideas I’d love to share and bounce off some people… if you are interested (there is no pay) in becoming a sounding board for some of the ideas, please let me know and we can have some conversations via email or actually talk!
And.
One final request.
The site is growing each week — and I thank you for that! If you can, PLEASE pass this site (even “just” the homepage) to your friends and co-workers anywhere in the world. I will continue to appreciate it. We are translated in almost a dozen languages so far, with plenty more opportunities out there (any takers?).
Hope you have a great day.
- mike vizdos
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Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!
Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.So I do a lot of writing about food. I love food, as anyone who knows me can tell you.
Some of the past postings referencing food include:
1. The Classic Story of the Pig and Chicken [our first comic strip on the site]
2. The Food Factor. Another Metric. [Boy did THIS one get comments!]
3. BBQ Sauce. Sweet or Hot?
4. What’s for Dinner? [my six year old son did the art work]
And now.
This one.
So what does this really have to do about Scrum?
Failure is a good thing in Scrum. Not Food.
It happens all the time — even in “traditional” projects; however, with Scrum, you can fail early and often.
And this is OK.
So how does a team of people in a highly competitive environment — maybe weaning themselves off the command-and-control type management style — actually start working as a team?
Part of the job of a ScrumMaster is to help teams start identifying failures — early and often.
And this is HARD to do.
Really.
So.
One of the techniques I teach people when coaching new teams is something called, “The Failure Bow.” It comes from Improvisational Theater and it helps people ummm, not take themselves so seriously.
Yes. Software Development is a serious game, and should not be taken lightly.
But. And this time I do mean, “But.”
Scrum is about people.
The basic premise of this is the following:
A person on the team screws up. Makes a mistake. Immediately — maybe even during — following the mistake, the person who messed up can throw up their hands and say, “Unexpected Results!”
Now. With a team just started out, this is tough to do. Especially from teams that work in silence today.
In a team that is working well, guess what happens?
People laugh and have fun with it.
And.
The mistake is [usually] not repeated. Because people learn immediately — and move on.
Here is an exercise I do with teams (usually when either starting a new team or at a Retrospective):
Everyone stand up. And think about something that they have screwed up recently (they do not have to share this with anyone).
Now, make an exaggerated gesture about how you feel. And walk around the room talking to people about something in using that gesture.
It sometimes results in laughter, but most of the time it is quiet and subdued in the room.
Now.
Think of the same thing you recently screwed up.
Put your hands up and go around the room talking to others with your hands raised over your head.
Start each greeting with, “Unexpected Results!”
Wow.
The room erupts in laughter and noise.
And people see the point.
Usually (smile).
Hope this helps in some situations. It does for me often. Maybe because I screw up a lot (I mean learn!).
Gotta run….
Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.
You can also enter The Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
September 24, 2007
Hi all,
I am in Boston now (got in this morning) and will be at the SD Best Practices Conference through Friday afternoon, and speaking on Friday morning about Scrum in the Real World. If you are attending and want to meet — or have people from your organization here — please let them know to stop by and say, “Hi.”
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Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!
This week Tony and I complete the last of a three part series on Retrospectives. Part one is here and part two is there (smile).
First, let me ask you a question — what do you see when you look at this cartoon strip?
Really think about it.
There is no right or wrong answer. Your objective and subjective opinion matters.
Now, lets take a moment to step back and see what the team has come up with. OK, so the team right now is you, and use me as the facilitator.
Make a list of what you think these are. Go ahead. Nobody is watching you, its OK.
If you have done the exercise above, take a moment and step back (take some time) to reflect on the different pictures that have been developed from your list.
Take some time and think about them.
Close your eyes — do not fall asleep — and visualize this. Open them when you are done so you can continue reading this blog entry!
Hmmm.
The list may be pretty long.
Maybe take the top two or three things on the list you created.
Can you use them to make a difference on what you do daily with Scrum Teams?
What are you personally going to do with this information now?
Thank you for taking the time to do this, as I know your time is valuable.
Now.
Guess what we just did?
We used a framework from the book, “Agile Retrospectives, Making Good Teams Great,” by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen. Other great books on various agile topics can be found here.
The framework has five things — and go back up (now that you have the list) — to help you get the most from your retrospectives.
- Set the Stage
- Gather Data
- Generate Insights
- Decide What to Do
- Close the Retrospective.
Wow.
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?
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Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!
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!
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
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Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!
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!