Hi all,
Happy start of the new week!
Scott Ambler and I have put together a survey that will collect some additional data that he will present at the Agile 2008 conference next month. Please take the survey and pass it on to any local lists or contacts you have.
The cool thing about the outcome of this — and other data we collect — is that it is shared for all to use and analyze as you want.
Here is more info:
====
We have put together a survey exploring the adoption rate of various Agile
practices and of the 12 agile principles. The survey is posted at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4FN_2bty_2bYE0Mhb7yQPZKWtg_3d_3d
and will take 5 minutes to complete.
It will run until August 2 2008.
As with other surveys the results will be posted online at
www.ambysoft.com/surveys/. We’re taking an open approach to this survey in that the source data, with the exception of identifying information to protect people’s privacy, will be posted online. We’re sharing the data with the community so that everyone may analyze it for their own purposes — you won’t have to rely on us to analyze it for you. We’ll also post the original questions as they were asked as well as a slide deck summarizing our analysis. All of these assets can be used free of charge. Scott will also be sharing the results at the forthcoming Agile 2008 conference, www.agile2008.org, here in his home town of Toronto the first week of August.
We’re not going to bribe you with promises to win a book or a gift certificate. Instead, we’re asking you to give back to the community by spending a few minutes to share your agile experiences with the IT community. The results of this survey will be a shared asset that we can all take advantage of.
Thank you very much for your attention, and we sincerely hope that you will choose to take a few minutes of your valuable time to fill out this survey. Our apologies if you have received several copies of this email.
- Scott Ambler and Mike Vizdos
So today we are talking about something called Agile Modeling.
It is a concept that has been spearheaded in our industry by a guy named Scott Ambler. It is not some place for hot young women to send their modeling portfolios (when I worked with Scott, this happened on many occasions [if there are hot women who want to send me their pics please send them here (smile)]).
Sorry got a bit off topic.
So.
What is this Agile Modeling stuff and how does it pertain to Scrum?
Think about how we do things in Scrum (and a lot of other agile software development techniques).
We inspect and adapt.
Agile Modeling uses a lot of the same concepts.
Except this is looking at the documentation and modeling techniques within agile software development.
Something that Scrum does not really talk about but it something that is needed when actually developing software for a living.
There is a concept called Agile Modeling Driven Development (AMDD). More information about it can be found here.
Read it. Learn it. Use it.
Really. It is an incredible resource for agile teams.
One of the things that irks me (bad) when I walk into an agile team and they say, “Oh, we are using Scrum we do not DO documentation.”
What?
Ug.
Everyone does.
We do some type of modeling throughout the entire project lifecycle; this includes project initiation (or startup or “Sprint Zero”), during Sprint Planning, and on a just-in-time basis throughout a Sprint (Scott calls this “model storming”).
And this leads to Agile Modeling. Something more of us can all learn a little more about.
It will also help keep you out of heat with your “Compliance People.” You can read a little more about that here.
And what about this reference to Luke and Leia in the cartoon this week?
Ah.
You will have to keep coming back to learn more about that connection.
The plot thickens.
Have a great day!
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!
January 8, 2008
I sincerely appreciate it.
And please feel free to help me pass on the word about this site to your friends and co-workers around the world who may be interested in the new — and existing — rich content on this site about Scrum and how I see things when working with clients around the world and training new ScrumMasters for their roles.
Today I am going to start with an introduction of a new character for our site. All of the other characters are introduced in more detail here.
His name is Scott Ambler and he has been one of my personal mentors for many years. We co-wrote a book a few years ago and have traveled to some pretty cool places on the globe over the years. In addition to Scott being a friend and mentor, he has also published about 20 books (either as author or co-author) and now, as he likes to say, “IBM joined me.” He now works for IBM as an Agile Practice Lead (pretty cool job I think) and we still keep in touch.
His profile can be found at www.ambysoft.com/scottAmbler.html.
So why have I included him as a character on this site?
He knows a lot about various different agile methodologies. In fact, he is the leader in the industry on a lot of them (because like Ken Schwaber, Scott Ambler has helped get the word out about different agile software development methods).
And.
He is a bit on the controversial side. For instance, he is not a big fan of the current certification model that I (and others) teach; this should add some good content for the cartoons (smile).
Sorta like I approach things in life.
Coincidence?
Hmmm.
So, starting tomorrow you will get an introduction to the character that is Scott Ambler in the first official cartoon for 2008 on implementingscrum.com.
This should be another fun year.
Hang on for the ride.
Get involved.
And help us all learn more about Scrum and other agile methodologies.
And remember, like the other characters, what Tony and I say in the cartoons use purely artistic license and may not reflect their real world views or opinions.
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!
January 7, 2008
Welcome back to another day at www.implementingscrum.com.
As I wrote about yesterday, this is probably the last comic strip of 2007. Tony and I hope you enjoy it and learn from it; this is a question that comes up pretty regularly from both the readers of this blog and at client sites I visit around the world.
[Full Disclosure ON]
I have been working with Scott in one capacity or another since September 11, 2001. Scott is one of my many mentors (he is also one of my most outspoken mentors) within the agile community. While everyone may not agree with him, he has (co)-written almost twenty books on various agile topics (one was with me!) and a lot of my learning style can be seen by his acts. For that I thank him sincerely — and often.
[Full Disclosure OFF]
This is what has been posted publicly by Scott Ambler:
My December 2007 print column entitled “Scaling On-Site Customer” is now online at http://www.ddj.com/architect/204801134. It examines the challenges surrounding having a stakeholder(s) actively involved with an agile project in the role of an on-site customer or product owner. This role is hard enough for simple projects, but at scale it becomes extremely difficult. The article provides
advice from Agile Modeling for how to augment this role and address the challenges associated with it.I’ve also blogged about this topic at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler?entry=agile_stakeholders_at_scale.
- Scott
Scott W. Ambler
Practice Leader Agile Development, IBM Methods Group
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/rational/bios/ambler.html
Agility at Scale: http://www.ibm.com/rational/agile/
To read the DDJ article, you will probably have to register as a user — and they seem pretty good about not spamming you. Scott will not spam you from his other sites mentioned.
Will you agree with everything he has written?
Probably not.
Is he OK with that?
Sure.
He totally understands that people will not always agree with him.
And.
This is something I have learned from him.
It has come in handy over the years.
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!
December 17, 2007
Without further ado, I present to you the cast and characters of the site www.implementingscrum.com. Think I missed something or need things to be added? Please let me know!
Otherwise, please enjoy and drive responsibly….
ScrumMaster
Our intrepid ScrumMaster is very passionate about his work. Scrum is not just “work” to him — it is a way of life. While gentle and thoughtful most of the time, he has his moments and gets on his soap-box every once in a while. In life outside of being a trainer, he has a wife and family, a dog, and 3.14784845 other various pets (on average). He also is a Certified Scrum Trainer and loves traveling the world spreading his larger mistakes (which, by the way, sometimes teach you the most). He is very introverted and an ex-command-and-control-a-holic.
Chicken
This is your typical stakeholder. If there is such a thing. Others may see the Chicken as their manager (we may add a character to the cast in the future if the Chicken Role needs a specific stand-in). Either way, Chicken does really try to “get it” and is continually looking to learn to improve. And, most of the time, the Chicken takes things out of context and winds up getting the Pig in some type of trouble in the future by their collective actions. Chicken is single (spends a lot of time on the net and playing World of WarCraft and searching for Jessica Alba pictures) and is always looking for other available Chickens who have not had their heads cut-off just yet.
Pig
The Pig in this series is a hard working team member. With real life issues at stake. Unfortunately, as true many times in life, the Pig winds up taking the fall (or blame) when things go horribly wrong. Yet the Pig stays with it. And gets results. Pig is a widow and lost its mate on a trip to the Dole Pineapple Farm during a VIP Pig Roast in Hawaii; no further comments can be made on this impending action. One other fact — since inheriting the insurance money, Pig REALLY does not have to actually “work” for a living. Hmmm…. will it one day walk out, or continue to stay and learn — or teach — as the case may be?
Product Owner
The Product Owner does a great job shielding the team from the outside noise of what the team needs to get done on a daily basis. Is this the right person for the role? This is something teams continually must address with the person in that role. When originally casting for this position, I had a super-hot model-type in mind; however, as with all casting calls, it wound up that this Product Owner REALLY was the right person for the role (OK… so in reality Tony (the illustrator) voted against this — something I will have to thank him for someday!). Semi-clueless on life (we actually do not know anything about his life outside of work at this point in time); however, this Product Owner understands his business like nobody else we know… which makes him an awesome Product Owner. And he knows that working with all the outside stakeholders on a project sucks (in real life too sometimes!); however, the team respects him and looks to him for priortization of the Product Backlog and being collocated with the team throughout the day to answer any questions they may have. See — he really is awesome!
Ken
Every methodology, framework, or process [whatever you want to "call" Scrum] needs a thought-leader. The other characters look to him occasionally for his “by the book” answers. All in fun, of course. And please do not ask me if the man wears black turtle necks to bed… you will have to ask his wife that one (smile… because you see, I have never had a “Ken Sighting” without him in his trademarked black turtleneck top).
Scott
His name is Scott Ambler and he has been one of my personal mentors for many years. We co-wrote a book a few years ago and have traveled to some pretty cool places on the globe over the years. In addition to Scott being a friend and mentor, he has also published about 20 books (either as author or co-author) and now, as he likes to say, “IBM joined me.” He now works for IBM as an Agile Practice Lead (pretty cool job I think) and we still keep in touch. His profile can be found at www.ambysoft.com/scottAmbler.html.
So why have I included him as a character on this site? He knows a lot about various different agile methodologies. In fact, he is the leader in the industry on a lot of them (because like Ken Schwaber, Scott Ambler has helped get the word out about different agile software development methods.
And.
He is a bit on the controversial side. For instance, he is not a big fan of the current certification model that I (and others) teach; this should add some good content for the cartoons (smile). Sorta like I approach things in life. Coincidence? Hmmm.
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!
April 23, 2007
Updated:
January 7, 2008
