Think about the last time you read a book.
Non-fiction? Fiction? It really does not matter.
And this book you read… what did you DO after you read the book?
Did you put it back on your book shelf?
Did you even finish it (smile — you see, *I* start a LOT of books!)
And there it gathers dust until one day… for some reason… you got the urge to pick it back up again.
Started at the beginning.
Or maybe a few pages back from where you left your bookmark.
And.
What did you learn after re-reading the same book again?
Anything?
Think. Really Think. [challenge ON my reader!]
Now.
What if you read a bunch of books on a topics after using Google to search for “Scrum.” [Note: Page 1 baby!]
And.
What if you read a bunch of cool blogs on the topic of Scrum (like www.implementingscrum.com or my personal site at www.michaelvizdos.com).
And.
Did nothing with that information.
Until.
One day, you took a class from someone experienced who tied together the real-life version with the book version of the topic.
Then.
You went back and read the “books” again.
What happened?
Was it the same experience or were you able to read it from a totally new perspective?
Please share via comments…. I am looking forward to continue learning with you!
Thank you,
- mike vizdos
Hi all.
I need your help.
Actually… my plans for 2009 depend on your input.
Wow.
Imagine a blank sheet of paper in front of you.
I am doing that now. Actually, it has been blank for a little while.
I am in analysis paralysis.
So.
Here is what I need from you….
My goal for 2009 is to show how Scrum works in the real world using a creative manner with real world people.
What would you do?
Zero constraints.
Well. One.
I am going to use Scrum to implement whatever I do.
I have some ideas brewing. Which I will share in this comment thread in a bit.
I’d like to hear your ideas.
Blank sheet of paper.
Go :).
Please put your ideas in the comment section on this blog entry.
And spread the word about this for me.
My 2009 depends on it (smile).
In advance, let me say a sincere, “Thank you.”
And let’s see where it leads me…. Or us as a community.
- mike vizdos
Hi all,
Today I faciliated a 1/2 day experiential report about Scrum by using Scrum.
It was in Boston with an awesome group of about 36 people in attendance.
Nobody really knew other people in the audience prior to the meeting. Wow, how things changed using Scrum.
As usual, I put the trust in the team and they were mega successful.
Readers both on RSS and my awesome e-mail subscibers can both view the presentation at www.implementingscrum.com/sd.
E-mail readers — look familiar?
RSS Reader? You MAY really want to get subscribed via email so you can see some great content behind that presentation.
No.
The presentation was not just that powerpoint slide.
It was used to show what Scrum looks like at a high level.
Then.
We used Scrum to answer questions from the group about Scrum.
Huh?
If I can get a high speed connection tomorrow, I’ll send the updates to the page and notify you so you can see what happended.
Actually.. I have been taping a lot of exercise outputs.
Amazing patterns — and anti-patterns emerge.
Thought this was more important than a comic strip tonight.
Which, by the way I have on me (smile) and is ready to go.
But.
I thouht this information would help a lot of you out there.
Comments as usual are more than welcome.
Hasta Manana.
- mike vizdos
PS –> Think about the last time you read a book and then went through something like the book in real life. What happened? We’ll examine that tomorrow night with the comic strip. Sorry I know I could not keep you hanging all night. You’re welcome for the awesome foreshadowing (smile).
One of the things I stories I have recently started talking about in my Certified ScrumMaster Workhops is about how Scrum really amplifies both the functional and dysfunctional aspects of an organization.
And the story I tell is that of an older movie called, “Spinal Tap.”
Ever hear of it?
If not, it is a “Rock-U-Mentary” about a fake band who gets followed around by a camera crew.
Ask anyone in your office about the “11″ line and have them do it in their best accent (they will know what you are talking about if they have seen the movie).
The main gist of that line is that during an interview, one of the band members asks why their amplifiers have an “11″ on them, instead of just the normal “10.”
Blank stare.
Then…. the band member says, “Because 11 is louder.”
And then the interviewer basically asks, “Why not just make 10 louder?”
Blank stare.
Band member, “Well, because this one’s got an eleven.”
So I may have screwed it up since it has been almost 25+ years since seeing the movie (I think… yikes!).
I have heard it is best watched in some kind of altered state; however, I would not condone or recommend that to anyone reading this article.
So what does an amplifier with an “11″ have to do with Scrum and introducing it into an organization?
Comments here are welcome again, as it seemed to spark some great discussions last week (scroll down to the bottom to see all the comments people have left… wow!) …. (of which I really need to go back and answer if appropriate)!
Here are my questions, but you can answer them (or your own) any way you’d like (It’s almost like being a moderator for the US Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates this year sigh):
1) What are the top five GREAT things that have been amplified in your organization when introducing Scrum?
2) What are the top five INSANE things (read: Dysfunctions) that have been amplified when introducing Scrum?
3) Was Scrum the cause of them?
4) Did Scrum force a change one way or the other?
Let’s see where it leads.
If anything, go watch the movie if you’ve got some time to kill :).
Of course, that is AFTER you respond to the questions via comments back to the site!
Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
The Guest Blogger this week is Michele Sliger, a fellow Certified Scrum Trainer and awesome person in general (smile).
A few weeks ago some of the Trainers got together in a super-secret-location-on-Earth for a couple of days.
We had a lot of fun, I learned a ton, and you can be sure I will write more about it in this blog in the future!
Michele posed the question to the Trainers, “What are the Scrum Values?”
And. Gulp. I could not name all of them.
Shame on me.
Or? Are they something I just *do* like a lot of people already?
Either way, I thought this would be a good platform for Michele to discuss the Scrum Values and give some great examples for you to use with your Scrum Teams.
Keep learning… I do daily….
Here is the write-up from Michele:
====================
Like Mike, I am a Certified Scrum Trainer and I make my living teaching Scrum and coaching Scrum teams.
One of the things I teach is the Scrum values. Do you know what they are? Take a second and see if you can name them all.
I will give you a hint: there are five, they are one word in length, and one of them is not Honesty. Now stop reading for a moment and when you think you have got them all, come on back.
Ready?
Okay, how did you do?
I am sure none of you cheated by going to the first Scrum book, “Agile Software Development with Scrum” and flipping to the last chapter.
(I can hear it now: “Heck, she said that Honesty wasn’t a value, so where’s the problem?”)
The five Scrum values are, in no particular order:
- 1. Commitment
2. Focus
3. Openness
4. Respect
5. Courage.
Now what do you suppose these mean?
Ask a roomful of people and you’ll get a roomful of answers.
- Openness means that we will tell the product owner “no” when we can’t do any more work in the Sprint.
- Openness means that we will tell management that we are doing Scrum even though we are afraid they will make us stop.
- Openness means that when my colleague takes a three-hour lunch break instead of finishing her tasks that I will have a difficult conversation with her.
- Openness means telling you that I did in fact cheat. I looked up the values in the back of the black book.
(I once had an argument with a co-worker on what “being truthful” meant.
He said that it wasn’t lying if he went to a topless bar and didn’t tell his wife. I said it was a lie, one of omission. We went back and forth, each sure of our morality. So I’m pleased that Ken was careful in his naming with the value of Openness, instead of something like Honesty or Truthfulness, so I don’t have to have arguments over what truth means!)
Because we each interpret the values differently as individuals and as teams, we really need to take a look at each value and decide as a team what that value means to us.
Here are a couple of ways you can do that:
If your group does regular brown-bag lunches, open spaces, or Scrum cocktail hours, pass out copies of that last chapter and say, “This is what we’ll be talking about at our next get-together.”
Then have that informal conversation and see what the team thinks about the values.
Are there any that surprised them?
Are there any that weren’t in line with their personal values?
Can they say that the team has been adhering to all the values?
Are there any values that they think should be listed that are not?
And are there any values that they would like to make a bigger, more overt, part of their daily activities?
When working on the facilitation of team working agreements, try this exercise.
List the values, and this simple template that can be used to turn each value into an actionable working agreement:
We believe in [value] therefore we will [do something].
For example, your team might come back with:
- We believe in respect, therefore we will show up on time for all meetings.
The point is to get those values on the wall somewhere, where they can serve as reminders to the team of the drivers behind the Scrum practices, and of how the team has chosen to work together.
Remember, Scrum is not only value-driven in how it provides the most important features first to the customer, it is also value-driven in how the people choose to work together to get the job done.
====================
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!
March 25, 2008
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