This is another version of the “UnScripted” blog entry on the site implementingscrum.com.

Today I’d actually like to post a question from one of my readers that I’d like to get feedback from you — the community — via answers in the comments of this blog.  I’ll plan on doing a follow-up to this but as usual, I want to show the community we can all learn from each other…

I have an opinion.   Of course!

—————————–

Hello Mike,

I took your class last year and I am a CSM now. I have not had the chance to be Scrum Master on a project yet, but it is in the near future.

Currently I am on a project that has 2 week sprints and on a team of 8.

The question came up yesterday during our Retrospective that during out last sprint there were a lot of chickens on the scrum calls.

How do we handle this?

I know that if you don’t have any tasks to complete or you have completed your tasks you should be reporting yourself as “chicken”, but with stakeholders on the call everyday hearing 2 people report tasks and the rest of the team reporting “chicken” every day for almost 2 weeks…doesn’t that appear to the stakeholders that only 2 people are working?

IS there another way to still follow the Pig/Chicken rule without appearing to the stakeholders that there are a lot of people not working?

Please advise.

This was a discussion that was placed on the action item list due to too many conflicts between team members.

Have you seen this before?

How was it handled in other teams/projects?

Comments Please!

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

This may be my most favorit cartoon yet.

Hang on.

And get ready to turn up the volume!

- mike vizdos

If you have any ideas please contact me and we can talk about exploring them via a comic strip or even you writing a guest blog entry!

Here is the scenario:

You are running a Scrum Team in an organization that contains a large contingent of Waterfall Projects and surviving somehow in a command-and-control environment.

Maybe you even have multiple teams running at this point.

You are following the “Combo Approach” of rolling this out, and you have support of the team and a person at the highest level within the organization, so that when impediments are hit they can be cleared if you ask.

All of the sudden, there is a reorganization.

The Chickens have moved around.

Your Scrum Team inherits some very new Chickens with little experience using Scrum and are pretty tight when it comes to command-and-control management styles.

One of the new Chickens walks into the Scrum Team room and asks for status reports to start up again. In writing using the template this Chicken has always used to get control of projects.

Starting today.

You look at this Chicken in amazement.

You ask, “Why?”

This project seems to be out of control in the view of this Chicken.

“We also need to start having daily one hour status meetings from everyone in this group… Fifteen minutes is not enough. I (The Chicken) will run the meeting and set the agenda. It may have to be two times a day.”

The Chicken wants a “all hands” meeting at the end of the day today for a few hours.

The Chicken is thinking about instituting mandatory sixty hour work weeks.

The words “Microsoft Project” are thrown around.

The Chicken also wants to put the teams back into offices because their stature in the company is high — the team members have all been with the company for a long time and want their own offices back (according to the Chicken).

The Chicken wants to have an all day post moderm to determine the root cause of the problems with this team because the boss of the Chicken wants the Chicken to be in charge.

So,

What do YOU do?

- As a Team Member?
- As a ScrumMaster?
- As a Product Owner?
- As “The Chicken”?

Comment on your responses.

Let’s get the conversation going!

Hopefully this will be of use for both new and regular readers.First, the story of the Chicken and Pig. Read more here. And here if you speak more than just English.

Even if you are not a techie, some of these stories and cartoons at the blog may help tell good stories.

One of the most popular on the site is here. I do not know why, but can imagine some. Whatever .

If you just like looking at cartoons, check out here. There is a thumbnail of all cartoons every created on this site. Just click and enjoy.

Rinse and repeat.

So that gives a good tour of what the site is today.

I’d recommend coming back in the next few weeks. Subscribe now.

Because things are about to change.

There will be a new look and feel to the site.

The site is moving to a dedicated server — faster cartoon loading for you.

You will get more for your money.

OK. Well. The site is still free.

And no advertisements (hopefully that will continue!).

Even if you are not a geek — tell your friends. Or just have fun reading about geeks (that would be me and people I work with).

And strange things that happen in our world.

And.

I promise Tony will be back to work on new comic strips soon. Really. I promise.

Like when my parents come to visit — I know they really just come to see my kids. Just like the cartoons are the lifeblood of this site. I appreciate knowing that and providing those and my blog entries as a bonus (smie).

Have a great weekend (or welcome to Monday) and happy surfing!

If you or your friends [or enemies] have not signed up for FREE updates to this blog, please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

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!

OK.

So what was I talking about a few nights ago with the cartoon posting above?

It really truly is not politically correct.

In no sense of any being.

But.

It is HIlarious to me.

Because it can help me make a point.

Actually tonight, eight points.

Eight Points.

Just for you.

How is that for a Thursday night or Friday morning?

Hmm.

Think about it this way.

You are arriving on “Fantasy Island” if you think…

1) You can stock the Product Backlog without a Product Owner present during Planning Poker

2) The definition of “Done” is not important to anyone

3) BurnDown Charts are useless, actually more useless of tracking tasks

4) The CSM Workshop is a waste of your time

5) You can pronounce the last name for

Ricardo

(c’mon Fantasy Island Buffs (or OK… is there even a “buff” reading this?))

6) Documentation is not needed on any agile projects

7) Scrum is a Silver Bullet

You can get a date with the “Hot” ScrumMaster replacement (smile) or Jessica Alba or with some hot babe with her Bottom Up.

9) This cartoon is about SCUBA Diving [strangely enough this is one of the most downloaded cartoon on this site)

…. OK.

Enough for now.

Man.

I can go on for a while.

But I think you get the picture.

What have I missed?

Now….

Do you see where you can spend a lot of time on Fantasy Island?

Do you want to leave it?

Really?

Why?

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!

OK.

This week may be the week that actually dates people reading this blog.

Tattoo. Not Toto.

Scary.

But true.

Admittedly I have had grey hair for a while (that is one of the reasons I keep it short short lol) and I know I am one of those people “in between” on the high and low-age readership of this group. Next year will be 20 years in the industry for me, so I do have some real life experience. And for you, a lot of this life is lived working with clients on Scrum Projects around the world.

And.

This may be one of my favorite cartoons Tony has done to date. This has been one that has been brewing and talked about for over a year with clients and class participants.

And as usual, Tony nailed it (got it right for the non-Americans — this is a good thing (smile)).

Maybe for tonight I just leave you with the cartoon.

An give you a little more about it as the week progresses.

I am on the road.

And wow do I have some ideas and opinions on this one.

See where this one cartoon strip can lead you?

First… see if you get the context of it!

Here is the cheater link if you have no clue (and THAT is OK!).

Please read part two here

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!

Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.

I am a bit worried about some of the things I am seeing out there.

Um.

The night before a Sprint Review meeting, I am seeing people stay late.

Uh.

Really late.

Like into the morning before the Sprint Review meeting.

Sometimes, it is minutes before.

Ug.

Oh no.

What does this remind you of?

What is wrong with that picture?

And what is right with the picture above?

Seriously folks.

Don’t kill Scrum this way.

Just go back to whatever you used to call it.

Really.

Or.

Look at what you are really doing.

Remember the objective of Scrum?

Working Software.

On one machine.

Real working software.

Not vaporware or conference-ware or some scripted bla bla bla.

Please.

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!

Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.

So.

A few weeks ago had someone in a class explain this. He was trained as an Antropologist — not a software developer.

Interesting dude. Really.

Let’s say your current organizational system is like a river flowing down stream.

How rough varies.

Introduce change.

Any change.

Just one.

Scrum for example (funny how that gets worked into this conversation, eh?).

Pretend that change is a boat (or canoe, as drawn!).

Insert a Chicken and Pig for some humor (smile).

Following along with me?

Now.

Paddle.

What happens when you stop paddling?

The river flushes you back down stream.

That’s the gist.

Easy brilliance.

Does this apply in your current situation?

If you are about to just embark on this journey, remember to always keep paddling!

Stop paddling and you have made a choice to give it up — and make room for something else to take its place.

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!

Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.

Wahoo. We made it another week and did not wind up six feet under or having our ashes spread in some remote location of the world. In other words… yipee… we all made it another week to see another great cartoon and continue learning.

OK… so the title of this one is a little twisted. OK. A lot twisted. I guess I should have named it “The ScrumMaster Guide to Picking Up Filing Cabinets” but then who would really want to read about that?

This week I am writing about something that all people playing the role of ScrumMaster must be aware of.

Actually, I’d consider it important for the ScrumMaster on a team to help show the Team Members and Product Owner — through example — what to do when you are in over your head and really need help.

How many times have you been in a situation where you felt like you had to “wing it” or “fake” an answer?

We have learned that as a Product Owner, that can have dire consequences for the team.

Instead of “faking it” or “winging it” or “making up an answer” the Product Owner should feel safe enough to say to the team, “I do not know, but I will find out and get back to you in the agreed upon time.”

And then do that.

Guess what following through on promises helps build?

Trust.

Really.

The agreed upon time should be something that is ummm…. agreed upon by the team — maybe as one of the team norms that are posted on the wall of your team room.

You have those, don’t you?

Right next to the Burndown Chart and team Definition of Done, right (smile)?

So what can the ScrumMaster do to help show the team that they do not know everything (really… we do not!) and sometimes we need to bring in outside help.

Think about Retrospectives.

And.

What if the ScrumMaster is part of the problem in the current system?

You know the answer.

Get help.

Really.

Ask someone else to facilitate the Retrospective.

I have written about this in the past, but have been recently reminded how important this is for all roles of the Scrum Team.

Wow.

Something as simple as asking for help.

That simple.

But.

It does not get performed enough.

As a ScrumMaster, how can you make some simple changes on a daily basis to show the team how to become the best they possibly can?

Remember that the implementation of Scrum should sometimes be taken in small baby steps.

Which small baby step can you take today?

Please share them with us in the comments or on the forum.

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!

Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com. We made it another seven or eight days on this earth — congratulations (smile).

So last week the post was a little long, and I put out some real life information that hit home hard for me. I received a ton of great feedback and people offering a lot of great advice. One thing I do want to make clear is that client was not my only client — something I have learned to not do in the past (depend on 1 client 100% of the time). As a consultant, this is a position you want to get yourself into. Really. Look at me as an example!

This week.

Um.

Where is our “old” ScrumMaster?

I kinda liked him. He was a little “off” at times; however, he started to grow on me and help with a lot of examples.

He seems to have disappeared last week.

Seems to have gotten himself whacked by some shady characters.

Oh no.

What has Tony done. What have I done?

At this point, there is now a [hot] ScrumMaster who has no problem saying, “Yes” to anything and everything asked of her.

Um.

Is this dangerous?

One word.

YES.

Notice the usage of capital letters above.

YES I AM YELLING THIS TO YOU THIS IS DANGEROUS.

I am trying to make a point (smile).

And, you may be asking yourself, “Mike… What point are you trying to make this week?”

Really?

You do not see it?

Look hard.

Read the comic strip above again, and again, and again.

Then, send me an e-mail (or write a comment on this blog entry) about what you think it means.

Really.

C’mon.

Take action and do it.

It will take you less than three minutes.

Please.

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!

This is a hard story to tell.

You may want to grab some Kleenex.

OK.

It is not that bad.

But you may want to read this through a few times and pass it on to people in your organization.

There are some great lessons learned (for me anyway).

Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent.

But.

It is a story that must be told.

Since.

Well.

It involves me.

As the ScrumMaster.

And.

I wound up becoming a “Dead” ScrumMaster today.

How did that happen?

About three weeks ago I got called into meet with the CIO of a large private company somewhere on this planet (actually it was through someone who knew him and I and trusted us both).

The company is professing itself as “Doing Agile” and has a few small projects started up.

The CIO had a particular project in mind [for me] and we spent about a half an hour having a conversation about what he wanted me to do, and discussing some of the implications (including implosion of the project).

Basically at the end of the conversation my direction was set — in the next day and a half… figure out fast how to make the biggest impact.

Boy.

I guess I did. In retrospect.

You see, the project they were getting ready to kick off as “Agile” was still not an officially funded project.

Read that last sentence loud and clearly — they had no approved budget. This was all supposedly under the radar.

So, as with a lot of organizations, people spent months and many many many hours creating the “perfect” power point presentation for their senior leadership team to review. This was prior to me coming in.

It was not good enough yet, and the team had two weeks to clean up the presentation.

I boldly asked for a team that could produce some working software during those two weeks, while the parallel effort of the funding presentation went on.

We started gaining the needed resources (wow.. did I say resources [yes... PEOPLE and the other stuff to DO a project??!!) and ideas.

We were going to take their highest priority customer and run a [one] real transaction set through a real working architecture (not on power point).

It was approved by a VP on Friday afternoon, just before a holiday weekend. I went home excited.

I arrived back on Tuesday morning and the team starting getting wind of this, and we got together in the afternoon to talk about what would happen in the next 8 business days.

Lots of blank stares and smiles, but people started getting excited.

It was something the team could focus on.

Technical people working on technical stuff — not power point presentations.

We reviewed the basics of Scrum and that during the next two weeks we would get a course — by doing the work — on what it looks like to actually do it.

Once we delivered, we would have a Retrospective and see what we could improve once the project was funded and actually “officially” started.

We talked a little about User Stories — this is a Use Case shop — and we wound up writing very basic user stories that were tasked out. No owners, no estimates. This is “normal” [real world] from what I see on the first cut in situations [and timing] like this.

Should I have put a stop to the project (or un-project) then? I made a call not to do that.

We went home.

The next morning we had a temporary conference room and we had an effective stand-up meeting.

Kept it at 15 minutes.

People were off and doing real work.

It was cool to see. I stood back.

We had an impediment with getting some dev machines that was taken care of by the team and outside stakeholders in an incredibly quick manner. Kudos for getting that first impediment out of the way!

The parallel process of getting the project funded (via the power point presentation) was happening outside of the room.

We started talking about the “Cone of Uncertainty.”

I left town that evening and the team worked for two days focusing on the tasks and items on the wall.

All highly visible to the people walking into the room (or by it).

The team got moved around a bit each day, but we had our eye on one room for the “final week” of this part of the project (or is that pre-proect?).

Not all the team members were there all the time. Hmmm…

Stand-ups stayed focused and on track. No more three hour status meetings to schedule status meetings with the entire team.

People (including me) were calling in if they could not be physically located in the team room.

I arrived the next Monday morning to the new location for the team. It was “ours” for the week. The five business days remaining on this part of the project.

New building. But we could have all the players collocated in one room or on the phone. Things were humming along.

Impediments came up and were handled by the team. Awesome. We even got a temporary AC unit put in the room to cool us off — 12 people in a small room with lots of computers… you know how that can get.

The parallel process of getting the project funded was happening outside of the room. Still. Small concern, which, in retrospect, I should have dealt with better.

During the few days I was there that week, I did what I told the CIO and others I would be doing — a lot of observation on team interaction.

I did not want to jump in and be the answer man for coding [nor did I really feel like me getting into the code would help anyone -- including the people that really needed to be in it (which was awesome to see how people recognized this and stood up and took ownership without being directed!)].

I did a little nudging along the way to fill out the task cards with owners and estimates (so we could start having what looked like a Burn Down to see what that represents); however, I mainly stayed out of the way and let the technical team dive in and watch them do what many thought to be impossible.

The goal now was to deliver working software, not a methodology (a tough balance in this situation).

Get to “Done.”

Before leaving, the Project Manager and I came up with a plan for the following week.

Assuming the project was funded, the Project Manager would start assembling the team and getting them lined up to start the “real work” the next week (people had to be lined up to work on this project).

I would not be on site this week, and meeting notices started coming into my inbox as expected and according to our plan.

Then, Thursday night I get a call telling me the client probably does not want me back. It came to fruition today.

Partly because I “sat in the corner” watching.

Partly because people heard me say things that did not tow the party line (and I did not do the Schwaber, “You Suck and that makes me Sad“).

Partly because I did not code.

Partly because I was not engaged with that team doing the request for outside funding.

I am sure there are a lot of reasons.

Go back and notice a key role missing. One that was unfortunately a key to this part of the success — or lack thereof — of this part of the project.

I did not do a good job of managing and communicating expectations with all of the stakeholders — known and unknown.

Funny thing happened though.

I hear the team delivered working software.

And.

I had a lot of great conversations with the people on the team and saw negative energy transform into a powerful focus of delivering working code in a very short period of time.

Is it perfect?

No.

Is it something they can show to outside stakeholders that has true business value for them today?

I think so.

So in part I have failed that team, and I am sorry. I am doing the failure bow now — hoping they understand.

And.

I have learned [again] that any ScrumMaster can be taken out and shot at any time.

Hopefully this is a lesson learned that does not happen to you.

It has happened to me before.

And.

Will again.

I do this at a lot of places around the world, and I know I cannot please everyone all the time.

Is it any wonder that most teams fail using Scrum?

Yet.

I try.

As do others.

Yet.

I will not blow smoke or be a “yes man” (or woman, as in the last panel of this cartoon).

And.

I am OK with that.

In some places people call this career suicide — so YOU be careful.

Read this lesson.

Read this real world situation.

And.

Talk about it with other another ScrumMaster or two or three in your organization.

Talk about it with your stakeholders.

Talk about it with your Scrum Team.

Talk about it with your Product Owner.

Talk.

Have the conversations.

BEFORE things implode on you.

Because remember.

A Dead ScrumMaster is a useless ScrumMaster.

I am going to go eat some humble pie and hope that someone learns something from this posting.

I apologize if it was a long one this week.

Lots for me to learn.

Still.

I may post more on this during the week.

And if you want to hire me (smile)….

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

OK.

I surrender.

Please.

Let’s stop the misquotes and fires about the virus-like position that has been taken by multiple people I quoted and see if we can come up with an answer that makes sense for all of us.

Especially you — the reader.

If you recall… two nights ago I presented a comic strip and blog entry about something I had seen over the weekend.

Wow.

I did not even come close to expecting the traffic and responses related to that one.

The first response (of many) came in yesterday morning:

Hi Mike,

I didn�t see Jason�s post, but as a preacher’s kid (make that double preacher’s kid) and ScrumMaster (woof), I would take Jason’s comments as a complement. I DO think you are like a preacher – but like you said – not preachy, more like a spiritual leader. Scrum and spirituality are very much linked in my mind because of the emphasis on continuous improvement.

As Ghandi said � �Be the change you want in the world.� I believe that you do that by helping people question their beliefs, behaviors and discuss them. Like you, my pastor does not us what to think or how to think it, but ask those probing questions to help us come to our own core values. I find this to be generally true in the UCC � United Church of Christ.

Anyway � I read your site religiously (ha ha). I use your cartoons to prompt discussion and to keep the humor in the air when things get hard. Please continue to post.

Thanks,
Christy Zuzelo

Ohhhhhhhh K. Um….. Daughter of two preachers kids? Yikes. I will not even delve into THAT topic here (smile) but I am sure Christy is a well-adjusted adult who loves my comics.

[Christy thank you for the note -- yours was one of many I wanted to post up here as a follow-up!]

So then,

Out of the blue I see this posting. Ashwin has been a great supporter (albeit it quiet up to his posting!) as most of you are.

Really?

You?

Quiet on this topic?

Why?

Plenty of others are joining into the fray..

HL Arlidge here.

And then someone named Ashwin (another long time reader of the blog) posts this entry.

Wow.

Jason Gorman got the guts (this is an Americanism) to put up his original posting with the cartoon, located here.

Phew. I do not need to post it here! I have permission to do so by the way… but go to his site to see what is happening!

Arlin fired more back here.

And then Jason more here.

Following all of this?

Wow.

Will it continue?

Probably.

is this a good thing?

What do you think? Post a comment or on your blog and let me know!

I do understand that getting stuff like this is important to everyone inside — and “outside” the Agile Software Development Community.

And, for the record, check out my posting on “ScrumMaster and Snake Oil.” A fun read. Or at least I think so.

Thank you.

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

PS — I may have missed something here. But please post comments to this posting at the end!

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!

Well, I was able to tell you a little about my first two days of this week. If you have not seen it, go here.

Upon arriving into Richmond (my home base) at about midnight, i got the opportunity to make the final preparations for the Certified ScrumMaster Workshop I would be delivering on Wednesday and Thursday.

It would be yet another great class where the attendees walked out of there with a new respect (as did I) for what Scrum can and cannot do.

I have done this course around the world and have trained on my own, with one other person, and with two other people.

Wow.

What a change this makes to both the overall presentation and the outcome to the attendees.

Is this bad?

The easy answer to this is, “No.”

Can every Certified Scrum Trainer co-teach with other people?

Nope.

When it works though….

It is like magic.

I have been lucky enough to work with multiple trainers around the would (and most are not CST’s).

Lucky?

Am I nuts?

Think about it.

If some initial ground rules are set between the two or three people training the class — it can be extremely more powerful at the end of the two days for the attendees.

The first sentence of this is important.

And.

This last one with another Certified Scrum Practitioner (who is looking to become a Certified Scrum Trainer) worked out very well. It was, to be 100% transparent, a surprise to me.

While I was initially looking for the art of the possible, I also knew our styles of coaching in the past has been wildly (sometimes) divergent in techniques.

I made a bad assumption.

Wow.

Like a lot of things in real life that we all live in.

The course got great feedback (sorry about the air conditioning versus the constant heater war going on with the HVAC system… we finally (at the end of day 2) were shown how to useeeeeee the system). Sigh.

So now there are about 11 new Certified ScrumMasters running around Virginia in one place or another.

I’d say it was one of my best classes (workshops) to date.

Why?

Well… let me know why you think this is so….

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.

Wow. I just did an informal count (and recount) of all the comic strips that have been posted on this site. This is comic strip #65 since we started with the initial comic series of the Chicken and Pig since September 11, 2006.

I was having a conversation with another “Scrum Person” last week over lunch and the topic of this site came up. He was surprised that this blog has been updated on such a consistent basis since we started the site. Turns out a lot of people in the industry thought this idea had no staying power. I met for dinner with an ex-CIO of a past client this evening (just got back and am writing this now!) who was surprised we only had 60-something cartoons up there… so…. information is taking off in all different directions about this site.

Back to my pundits…. [Still getting over the fact that I do have people out there that want me to fall flat on my face!]

“This is Scrum… how much can you really talk about this each week Mike?”

“Scrum is a simple framework. That’s it. Duh!”

And.

I agree.

It is.

A simple framework.

It is designed to be that way.

For a reason.

What makes this fun for me — and I hope for the people who read this on a regular basis — is the fact there is almost a never-ending product backlog of ideas for me to write about and Tony to illustrate new comic strips for us.

Huh?

Remember… Scrum deals with people. Not resources. People.

This is not a static topic that will go away. People will continually show me there is new material to write about in the context of Scrum.

And for that, I thank you sincerely.

In fact…. over the time we have been publishing this blog, it has grown in popularity (we consistently receive over a million hits per month) and some of the comic strips have been translated into over a dozen different languages.

What amazes me is that the comic strips (most of the times without the write-ups) are showing up in other Scrum Training presentations and being used selectively in team rooms and corporate presentations.

When I start seeing these posted in team rooms, seldom do people in the rooms realize I am the author of this site.

I ask, “Why do you post this (or these) comic strips?”

A consistent answer to me is, “They are great conversation starters with our outside stakeholders.”

“Oh, and they are funny and our team really relates to them.”

Wow.

Um.

When I started the vision for the site I originally thought I’d connect with an illustrator (it took me six months to find Tony) and start to see if we could push the envelope on some topics that a lot of people in the Scrum Community have been avoiding.

Or.

Should I say, “had” been avoiding.

Why do I say “had”?

I have seen that these comic strips and blog entries are now bringing out some very tough conversations about transparency or real-world issues between team members, product owners, ScrumMasters, and outside stakeholders.

Wow.

Bringing the fringe to the forefront.

In my case, one comic strip and/or blog entry at a time.

Do you see this happening in your team, organization, or enterprise today?

Has one — or more — of the comic strips help create some change that was really effective for your team?

What about thinking if one of the comic strips has been disruptive to your team?

I hope you do not agree with everything I write or Tony illustrates.

I do a lot of what I do to help people start thinking about the ordinary in an unordinary manner.

Is this happening for you?

If not… Why not?

Meanwhile, my plan is to keep cranking out new comic strips and blog entries no matter what my pundits are saying. I’ve never been one to follow the crowd. While it may not make me popular…. I stopped worrying about that sometime in high school and now think about how well I can sleep at night — and feel good about me. And not only about me (that sounds selfish in retrospective)…. but does this stuff add value to you (the person or group of people reading this blog and our comic strips)?

Is that a bad thing?

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!

I am sorry I was unable to write about this topic further last evening. Life happens and I thank you for staying with us.

You know how some days you just know things will not come out sounding correct? Last night I had one of those feelings.

So. I stopped.

Until tonight.

Without further ado….

I am blogging about Social Networking Sites.

Now…. before you think you hear crickets singing in the trees from the dead silence you may think this topic deserves…. please hold on and let me explain. There is actually a reason for using Social Networking Sites when you are on Scrum Teams.

Can you think of some off the top of your head?

Seriously.

Think of the possibilities!

Got some? Write them down, as that list — I hope — will motivate you to sign-up or become more active in some of the sites I mention this evening.

Trust me. I know there are a ton of Social Networking sites out there (heck, I am working with a few clients who are developing their own portals for niche markets today!).

I’d like to talk about the main Social Networking sites I am using today, along with “why” I am using them, and for how long. Will it be an exhaustive list?

No.

Do they work for me?

Yes. In different ways.

And.

In an Agile fashion, if it is delivering the results you expect, maybe that is “good enough” for now.

Will these change in the future?

Of course.

So.

Here is a snapshot of a few “Social Networking Sites” I use today (along with my links to them) with the main reasons why I use them.

I use three main Social Networking Sites today.

They include the following:

1. Plaxo
2. LinkedIn
3. FaceBook
4. Twitter.

I use Plaxo to keep my address book on my computer and iPhone up-to-date.

Why is this important?

I see a lot of people move around quite a bit — both personally and from company-to-company. As people become members of Plaxo, it keeps me up-to-date. If I have a business relationship with a person who moves from Company A to Company B, at least I am aware of it. As people then move from Company B to Company X, I know about it and stay informed.

From a Business standpoint, I find this information valuable so I can keep in contact.

Or at least try.

Which brings me to the next one I use, LinkedIn. I have been a member of that service since the product was in Beta many years ago. My personal network has over 500 people (who I have worked with in the past!) and the way this works is to “link you” to other people’s connections — out to what they call “degrees.” From spending the time using this tool, I am approaching almost 4 MILLION other people I can actually contact through the connections my direct contacts with me have.

My link to this profile is just below on the button.

This has been a powerful tool for me at the business level both for introductions to others — and making connections for people that I know and trust. Also, this is a place where people can find out more about me at a professional level, and even feel free to leave (or read) comments from people I have worked with in the past. It is something that I also use when talking to new people I meet and may want to do business with.

At the personal level, I got pulled into 2008 with FaceBook. OK… so this is what I thought would be a totally “personal” kind of site. It turns out that a lot of my contacts from the two services listed above also use FaceBook… and I am learning more about them too.

My “profile information” can bee seen in the little signature thingee below.

Are there other Social Networking sites out there?

Yes.

Will I join them.

Maybe.

I do think as the “open standards” (where the different Social Networking Sites start “talking” to each other and “sharing” information) come about in this space, it will be a lot easier for people to become even more involved.

If they want.

I have personally not hopped on the Twitter bandwagon yet, since I really do not think people need to know everything I am doing every second of every day. Um. I don’t even want to remember that sometimes LOL.

OK. I am now on Twitter. Follow me! Man, how hip am I now!?!?!?

What does this all have to do with Scrum?

Remember.

Scrum deals with what?

People.

Not technology. There are plenty of other Agile Software Development techniques out there for that.

People.

People.

People.

Are you beginning to see how there may actually be a connection to these Social Networking sites and Scrum?

Do some thinking about it.

And get out there and do some personal and professional networking.

It is a small world.

Trust me. I travel it regularly (smile).

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!

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!

Thanks for sticking with us last week. We lost a few subscribers but by the end of the week we saw a large net increase. So thank you for helping me get the word out on this site and blog.

I also got some great feedback and ideas for content in the future.

Keep it coming please.

This week we conclude the three part series on the process of hiring a new ScrumMaster.

Part one is here.
Part two is here.
Part three is below (smile).

Part one talked about what a typical HR department posts when frankly, they are clueless on what they really need. The point here is to remember to work with the people posting the positions to make it realistic to what your team is looking to hire.

Really.

Part two talked about the interviewing process. Wow. This can be complicated – for both the potential scrummaster and the team that person may be working with.

Make it fun if you can.

Notice in the comic strip this week that the chicken did not make the final call for selecting a ScrumMaster.

Who should?

The pigs (or the scrum team).

Really.

Why?

Remember this person who will be filling the role of a ScrumMaster for the team is going to be working with the team on a daily basis.

What does a certified ScrumMaster do?

It depends on the circumstance. As I was reminded in a comment from my last comic strip (see the comment at the bottom and feel free to add to it!).

Some teams may actually like and receive a ScrumMaster who professes Scrum as the Silver Bullet.

Personally… I have not seen this work effectively; however, remember that is what I have found working with the teams around the world.

Remember though… everyone is different and we need to remember situations and teams need different things depending on their — or your — needs.

The last part of this comic strip talks about the possible need for a ScrumMaster to have to sit through the class for training anyway (and no it is not just to learn the “Secret Handshake of a ScrumMaster” (sigh).

Or.

Whatever training the Organization requires.

Read that last sentence and remember it!

Sometimes it is like the Dilbert comic I think many people have seen (and sent me!) this week. More on that later I think (smile)… this posting is long enough for today!

So.

What are you going to do differently when hiring your next ScrumMaster?

Anything?

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!

This week we are not publishing a new comic strip; instead, we are going to focus on some of the “real world” questions over in the Scrum Commuity at implementingscrum.com (http://www.implementingscrum.com/community/).

In addition to referencing some of the questions that have come up in the forum, I will link to some of the cartoons that reference the material in the forum postings to help people make the connection between the real-world questions and our real-life comic strips (smile).

Please also take note that the forum is a place where the community can ask and answer questions in an un-moderated format — and “all” the answers do not just come from “me” (there are other active members that can contribute). Also… I want to introduce you to a place where you can feel free to ask any questions related to Scrum — and use a powerful search component on the forum to look for more specific answers to questions that you may have.

I hope you enjoy the format this week and that we all (including me) learn even more about Scrum in the real world. It’s fun actually practicing this stuff in real life… but it can be a challenge sometimes.

If you are new here… or need a “refresher” on the Chicken and Pig story… go here (http://www.implementingscrum.com/blog/2006/09/11/the-classic-story-of-the-pig-and-chicken/)

Thank you!

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

PS –> Want to join the Forum? Click here!

Guess what?

A purely “Bottom Up” approach will yield much the same results.

Huh?

You may be asking yourself.

Mike…. what can you mean by this statement?

Here is a typical scenario I see using the “Bottom Up” approach….

A developer (and by this I mean anyone in the role of a tester, business analyst, coder, architect, bla bla bla techno-type-person) goes to a conference and gets fired up about some new methodology or framework to use in their environment.

Or, maybe they do not have a “conference” budget and can squeak a book budget out of their current manager (or wow… even buy it themselves!). You can check out great Agile Book recommendations here.

The point is, this person gets excited.

About Scrum. Of course.

“Wow.” They think.

“We have been doing a lot of what Scrum says but not calling it Scrum.”

[RED LIGHTS AND BIG DANGER SIGNS GO OFF IN MY HEAD WHEN I HEAR THIS.....]

It usually means there is nothing in place at this time to help the organization and they are hacking their way through a problem and looking a some major death marches [THAT makes me sad].

Or.

“Wow. This Scrum stuff looks like it is a Silver Bullet and will fix all my problems.”

It does not.

Scrum is not a Silver Bullet.

In fact, Scrum starts amplifying the dysfunctional areas within your organization.

Ouch.

Really?

Yes.

See…. the “problems” that usually start surfacing “because” of Scrum have always been there. Scrum is actually just making them more visible — and sometimes painful.

So.

It is doing the job it is supposed to do.

Now.

How does an organization handle this amplification of problems and issues?

Hmmmm….

Notice I said, “Organization.”

If one team starts trying to do this on their own and “fight” the current organizational boundaries…. to quote my last statement….

[Political Correctness OFF]

You are screwed.

[Political Correctness ON]

It is unfortunate and I have seen this time and time again.

A team is successful at implementing Scrum.

And.

All of the sudden, the rest of the organization starts seeing that they are successful.

Yikes.

Sometimes too successful.

And.

They get taken out behind the shed and, how can I put this…. get shot.

The organization rejects it.

And Scrum “fails.”

Hmmm.

So what to do?

I am saying a pure “Top Down” OR “Bottom Up” approach are not usually successful.

The next comic will address how to actually use a combination of these in order to be successful at implementing Scrum within an organization.

There is hope.

It can be done.

It is done every 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!

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

Since starting the site back in September, I have received a lot of email from readers regarding the cartoon about the Chicken and Pig. If you are not familiar with the story, please go read it here.

Please note: This is not a story I started. It has been around for a long time (even since before Scrum — applied in different circumstances).

I had one very long email thread (that I may one day publish here) that discusses how I am degrading people by referring to them as Chickens and Pigs.

Three words:

Get over it.

In addition to being a great way to have people recognize the role they play on a Scrum team, the analogy has allowed Tony and I to create this cartoon and website.

Cool stuff.

Maybe it is even something you’d like to pass around to your geek friends and neighbors.

And laugh. We all need that once in a while.

I hope you agree.

I still do intend to continue publishing on this site using Chickens, Pigs, and other “cast members” (including the ScrumMaster, Product Owner, and “Ken”). Who knows what else will appear in the future!

If any real Chickens and Pigs are offended, please tell them I apologize. No Animals, ScrumMasters, or Product Owners are being hurt in the production of this cartoon series (smile).

Have a great day!

- mike

Since the original publication of this cartoon series (starting September 11, 2006) I have made a few updates to the content of this page.Nothing has materially changed since we started the series; if anything, I hope it adds clarification to the overall content! This story is the first in an ongoing series to help explain what Scrum “is.”

And.

What Scrum “is not.”

Will we get it correct all the time?

Probably not. And that is OK. The plan is for all of us to learn.

Your comments are always welcome.

So, why are we using a Chicken and Pig? The story depicted above, as weird as it is, helps me — and others — explain two of the main types of people in Scrum.

I am amazed that the Human Resource Departments of many companies I consult with have not shut down this example; it is probably only a matter of time. This is still the best example I know of to explain the roles, and this is what our cartoon series reflects.

The basic premise of the Chicken and the Pig can be seen from the cartoon example above.

Here is an easy definition of the Chickens versus Pigs.

A Pig is someone who has skin in the game. Mike Cohn aptly refers to the people in that role as, “Having their Bacon on the line.”

Pig roles are considered core team members. Performers. People who “do” work.

Get it?

I would consider the roles of both Product Owner and the ScrumMaster to be pigs on a team.

A Chicken is someone who has something to gain by the Pigs performing, but in the end, really do not contribute day to day to “getting things done.” Their “eggs” are a renewable resource, and many get laid (eggs that is).

I get asked the following question by many people when starting to use Scrum:

“Can I be a Pig and Chicken at the same time?”

No.

You cannot be a Pig and a Chicken at the same time.

This is something I work with middle managers who struggle with this on a daily basis. The concept takes coaching, and constant [gentle] reminders that they cannot be a Pig/Chicken. I call this a Pigkin… and it is something you do not want to see in any organization!

A video commentary of this cartoon can be viewed here (it was posted February 16, 2008):

Meet the rest of our cast in this series!

We will examine this and other issues in this series, as this is fun to see happen (sometimes sad WHILE it is happening, but funny to imagine).

I do hope the simplicity of the cartoon above gets the point across. Remember it. It will serve us well in the journey ahead.

Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here. You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this cartoon and other Scrum topics.

Thank you!

Originally Published:
September 11, 2006
Updated:
May 1, 200
October 23, 2007
February 16, 2008 (with Video)
More:
November 29, 2006