Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
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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 Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!

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 Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!

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 Forum to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

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

Hi everyone,

I received some feedback today that the second picture that Mark included in his posting yesterday was not showing up in some browsers.

Guess I was a little distracted last night, as the pilot was landing my plane over the Potomac River last night had to take a sharp bank to the right and I watched as the wing (which I was sitting over) actually graze the water and make waves. Yikes. Guess it is better to make waves then crash and burn into another airplane on the runway. Hmmm… Almost as profound as the posting from Mark last night (smile).

Aneeeeway… I updated his original posting this evening with a JPG version of the file; please let me know if that has fixed the problem for you.

For me, I am in a place that is freezing and am seeing that there will be some really cold white stuff headed here this weekend. At least (I hope) I am on the first flight out on Thursday morning (and back here Sunday night) so I will hopefully miss the mess.

Thanks for continuing to read and respond to these blog entries. I hope you are receiving some real value from what you read here.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master?
Come to my next workshop!

Some of you may be familiar with the term, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas….”

Well, tonight I am introducing a new guest writer to the blog, a guy I have worked with for almost the past three years on some major enterprise rollouts of Scrum and co-train with him on a pretty regular basis. His name is Mark Pushinsky and this “enlightenment” came to him a few years ago and we have been waiting on how to actually introduce this to the Scrum Community.

So… without further ado… here is his write-up on the topic (and thanks to Tony as usual for the cartoon!).

I may add something to it later this week (smile).

=================

I was on my way back from Vegas sitting on a plane, with a massive hangover…….and this thought occurred to me.

I know they say that, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” but this occurred to me on the plane ride home and I am pretty sure we cleared Nevada airspace before it did so I feel compelled to share it.

Do you know about the “Cone of Uncertainty”? It is a phenomena that people in software use to describe the fact that when you start a project you have no idea when you’ll finish.

The longer the project goes and the closer you get to finishing the better/more accurate your estimate. Basically you are pretty sure your going to finish it the day before its done.



We have been trying to make it go away in software for many years. Fancy new estimation techniques, months and months of analysis, and brute force have not materially changed the fact that software projects are unpredictable!

Period!

Managers having been trying for decades to make it disappear/pretend it doesn’t exist/figure out how to make it turn from a cone into a cylinder.

Yet time and time again the uncertainty in projects remains.

The epiphany that occurred to me is that Agile or Scrum flips it around. This means that if you ask me what I can deliver in the next 2-4 weeks I am pretty accurate, if you ask me what I am going to deliver 3 months from now I have some uncertainty, but I can give you a reasonable guess, and if you ask me what I can deliver 6 months from now I have no idea…….





When we teach Estimation and Planning in class, we make a point of saying that Agile does not make the “Cone” disappear.

Nothing will!

We use light weight, proven techniques to make our best guess at long term plans.

We don’t pretend to know the end…….in fact we are pretty sure it will change……and we commit to be back in 2-4 weeks to tell you how its changed.

Then we focus on short term commitments, doing the right things, executing well, and delivering real business value.

I have found that after a couple of iterations of working that way we get customers focused more on prioritization, the next release, and getting impediments removed.

They begin to worry less about when the whole thing will be done.

I think the best way to end a project is to stop working on it before all of “The Requirements” have been implemented.

The 80/20 rule, right?

=================

So there goes.

Mark is an awesome person, trainer, and mentor by the way…. While our opinions do not match 100% I love the opportunity to provide an outlet for different opinions and thoughts (even if we are competitors and collaborators in the marketplace).

Let me know if you are interested in contributing in the future!

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!

Hi all.

Well, I finally had the idea to try and see if posting any information or videos on YouTube.com would help us spread the word more about Scrum.

So, tonight I had my almost-eight-year-old son (Dominic) and I record a very low-tech version of the cartoon using some audio files and the “original” Chicken an Pig cartoon. Right now, it is mainly a test.

My son and I are willing to post a version of the cartoons with commentary by myself and him on an ongoing basis.

Is this worth our time? My son loves doing this and I think this can add some very new perspectives on Scrum and all we do.

Thoughts?

I’d love to hear your feedback. Please spread the word.

Here is the link to the video:

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Hi all,

Some of the most frequently commented posts I write here have to do with what I, as Michael Vizdos [consultant, author, and all around good guy most of the time], go through as a life of a consultant.

So tonight I am going to tell you how a totally crappy day turned into a great ending of the day.

Now.

People who do not travel for a living think people who travel for a living live high on the hog and can go anyplace in the world they want.

In a lot of cases, that is true.

Sometimes it take you to far-away lands like Kyiv and Moscow or Budapest.

And, as you may be able to tell, I enjoy flying to far away lands with different cultures, food, people, and things to do.

Today, my plan was much easier. Hop onto a plan from Richmond, Virginia (my home base) and fly to the north east to meet with a client. I’d be wheels-up by 6:30 AM and arrive at the client location by 9:45 AM for the day’s work.

Alas, this did not happen.

Too bad nobody can control the weather. At least the people working at the Richmond Airport; of course if someone could control weather they probably would not be working at the airport.

After closing the airport up until about noon because of fog (wow I have some awesome pics), planes were able to start coming in and flying out. A total mess does not describe the situation. And where I was headed TO had even worse weather than where I was stuck in Richmond.

Fun stuff, eh?

Now, I have near-Platinum status with Delta. This means I fly way too much with Delta. Period.

Today’s flight was on US Air, one where I have a ton of mileage but no real “clout” like the other airline clubs. Pretty much I am a regular joe. You know… like you and our friends. Nothing special.

So. After being really nice with the ground crew there in Richmond — with one women training two new agents in their first week of work — they took care of me and did the best they could. They rocked and did an awesome job in a totally non-fun situation; it was one of the worse days I can imagine to be working in that industry.

Big tip for people who do not travel a lot and want to blow someone’s brains off if they get mad at the customer experience: Don’t do it. Nice works. Almost 100% of the time.

You CAN go off on the agent if that agent treats you with total disrespect and tells you to take long walk off a short pier. See… then… you should and do get their badge numbers and write a letter to the airlines. People take that seriously.

Today I messed up (I was so happy to get out of Richmond!) and did not get the gate agents name; however, after this is posted I will send this blog entry to the folks at US Air to let them know they got it right today.

Kudos.

So instead of landing where I needed to be at 9:45 this morning, it was almost 6:30 this evening.

I got here.

And.

I am happy.

I was able to meet with a core team of people I will be working with on a possible project engagement. It was some great meet and greet time to see where we are all coming from (with perspectives, beer drinking ability (or lack there-of)) and learning a little more about our personal and professional backgrounds.

Tomorrow morning will start early with an executive at the client company.

Game face on.

Filters Off.

This is what I do.

Hope this little glimpse into the realities of the life of a consultant was educational and interesting to you.

I’d really not change what I do.

But.

It is not for everyone!

Have a great day.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Hi all.

Today I’d like to issue you a challenge and follow-through tasks.

The “winners” get bragging rights.

Huh?

OK.

As you may (or may not know) there are a few regular characters in our comic strips. Each of the characters can be found by, “Meeting the Cast.”

Here is what I’d like you to do for me today — if not sooner.

Please.

Head on over to that page and read about what our characters are fleshing out to be (as “real” characters if we can take it that far).

People — it is OK if you do not understand what a “persona” is right now; basically, we want to have a little fun and see what the characters actually “look like” when they are not working in our comic strips. When they leave the office, what do they do? What are their hobbies? What are their dark secrets? Where do they vacation?

Those sort of questions should be addressed based on what we have already written about them today.

Or… if you totally disagree with what we have come up with — give us a better one!

Good or bad idea?

Who knows.

It will be a little fun. All rights remain ours to use in the future (although we will let people know who added what!).

And.

There will probably be a point to this little exercise.

Feel free to write me off-line or via the comment section underneath the original blog entry (or this one… I can be flexible).

Have fun.

Make it a team exercise.

See where it leads.

And get it done this week!

Thank you.

- mike vizdos
www.implementingscrum.com
www.michaelvizdos.com