Yesterday I thought I’d try something different and opened a “Scrum Challenge” with an open ended statement, “Scrum is…”

Wow, did you respond. Many comments came in connected to the blog entry (you can see the originals up to the date of writing this entry; however, I know there will be more! Others came in over Twitter.

I do love the Internet and my followers (all of you!!!). I thank all who participated. I may make this a regular event with different “Random” Scrum Challenge questions!

When starting the *random* open ended statement with, “Scrum is…”, here is a list of the responses:

• Pure Randomness (Twitter)
• Humane (Twitter)
• A project framework designed for efficient human communication
• A magic potion that heals leprosy and cures blindness
• what gets IT Done
• A framework with constraints on behavior that cause a complex adaptive system to self-organize into an intelligent state
• Not a way to solve your problems. It is a way to find what the problems are.
• Moving forward while running in circle
• Just another way of spelling “common sense”
• Not a silver bullet, but I will never run another project without it.
• The only way software should be developed!
• An ugly word (and deliberately so).

This is an awesome list from my readers about what their perception of Scrum is (and is not). I got this by asking a very open ended two word statement… “Scrum is….”

What has this list of peoples perception caused you to think about what Scrum is (and is not)? Do you agree or disagree with them all?

Now… How can you apply this on your Scrum Teams?

Think about the possibilities in your organization if you change around questions to an open ended statement, and then be quiet [shut up] and wait for the responses.

This is an effective technique I use when training new ScrumMasters and coaching existing teams.

My next question… Do you want to see something like this in the future?

I’ll ask a seemingly *random* question related to Scrum and then allow for about 24 hours to tally up the results — then give you (my reader!) a synopsis of the results AND how you can use what you have learned in this posting in your real world today.

This will not be the only posting type (you’ll still get cartoons, interviews, and guest postings too!).

Can this type of entry help you start some of the tough conversations about software development?

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations in the comments section below this blog entry.

I appreciate it and am glad to be “back” doing this again…

Thank you!

- mike vizdos

How about this.

I am working with some other Scrum Trainers right now in preparing something that is so mind-blowing in our community that well, the repricussions may be felt around our little universe.

Really.

It is THAT big.

Our Sprint One on the project we are working on will be completed and ready to roll into Production — immediately following our first iteration — will be unveiled on January 5, 2009.

This is an opportunity of a lifetime.

Just as the journey to get us all here today has been fun — you WILL receive new tools and knowledge that has yet to be released into the wild.

Woot.

There will be a sign-up page for this coming soon.

So this list can continue concentrating on announcements and cartoons, while this new list will allow you to gain greater power, have better sex, and start changing the world.

OK.

So maybe not have better sex… but I always wanted to say that in a blog posting (smile).

More soon.

YOU ROCK!

Thank you,

- mike vizdos

www.michaelvizdos.com

www.implementingscrum.com

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

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

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).

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!

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

Today, as promised, I will tell you about the debrief related to the exercise for the cartoon this week (see above and yesterday for the actual exercise and the day before for the setup of why we are doing this!).

Please read over the past two days so you get some decent context about what I am about to cover next. It is that important (smile).

After everyone is sitting down and breathing they may actually be looking at you like, “OK, Why the heck have we done this exercise?”

First question for you to think about, then I will go about explaining why we do what we do here.

So.

Why do you think this exercise is done.

Take a moment and think about that before continuing.

I will still be here!

OK. Now that you are back… let me go into how I debrief this exercise.

First, I ask people, “How did this exercise feel?”

Leave it open ended.

And.

Shut up and let someone talk.

They will. They always do. Really.

Depending on the answers, I then take them through a guided tour of the three parts, and then ask a lot of open ended questions about the purpose of each section.

One of the things I constantly work on as both a ScrumMaster and Certified Scrum Trainer is learning how to shut up and listen — and NOT answer the questions I ask. This is a constant struggle for me and something that was pointed while I was co-teaching a class about six months ago; since then I have made sure I am aware of when I do this.

Sorry for the small tangent but I think it is important for you, my reader, that this will be a constant struggle going forward (if it is not — let me know how you are handling it!).

So.

For the first section I ask the “managers” how it felt for them. And let them talk.

Then, I turn it around to the “workers” — and how it felt for them. And. Let them talk.

This starts some light bulbs going off in some of their heads. This is a good thing.

And I point out how few (mainly by asking again) how few people completed this exercise.

No matter where I do this in the world — and it is a lot of places — the results do not vary that much.

So. It is not just a “North American” or “European” or “Indian” or “Insert your country here” thing.

Cool to see in action.

Next, I ask people who “finished” the second part of the exercise.

Almost all do.

Why?

Because they were given instructions on what the end goal was, and they knew how to do it.

It is not rocket science.

And.

Think about how to apply this on your Scrum Team.

It is that easy.

The next section was introduced to me earlier this year and I have had mixed results with it — to my surprise (wow… even I can still get shocked at results LOL).

When I ask people to become “blind” (about a third of the people attending the workshop) and give them the exact same directions as part two of the exercise…. teams doing this do one of two things. They automatically help each other or they let the blind crash into things and other people.

Wow.

How true to life is this on your team today?

How can you change that going forward?

This part of the exercises is reflected upon pretty regularly throughout the remainder of the workshop. And as the days go on, people start to see what this means in their current environment.

Is this something that has opened your eyes?

Will anything change?

Who will initiate that change?

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!

Today, as promised, I will tell you about the exercise related to the cartoon this week (see above and yesterday for more information).

This is an exercise I normally do at a Certified ScrumMaster Workshop on the first morning of the first day; the main reason for doing this is because it drives home a lot of different points that I can then reference as the workshop continues.

It is that powerful.

And.

It is easy to do.

There are three steps to this exercise, and this is not something that I have invented alone.

Today I will talk about the three steps and tomorrow I will debrief about the different sections of what has actually occurred. This is also an example of what I do in real life (smile) with my workshops and exercises.

Step one is to break the team into “managers” (chickens) and “workers” (pigs).

They can self select. One of the first lessons with Scrum and Agile in general (smile).

This is also a good introduction to the terminology of chickens and pigs, along with their “old” versus “new” roles.

The managers are given instructions that they can only tell the worker what to do. The goal is to go sixty paces in about a minute (sometimes two depending on the number of attendees). They can tell the worker to go left, right, forward, backwards, stop, or go. They may not touch the worker.

The worker must listen to all instructions from the boss/manager without question. A pace is a regular pace and people are not allowed to skimp on any of these paces (understand?).

A few things to “prepare” for this: Setup the room beforehand with some masking tape on the floor. People are not allowed outside these boundaries. They can also (for later) represent something very important to the team — organizational constraints.

Say “start” and keep time.

One more thing (ug) — you can become a “barrier” if people are progressing too quickly. This is fun. Heh. Really.
After the time is up, have everyone stop where they are.

Most of the class does not get to sixty paces.

This is normal.

Step two in this exercise is to allow all the people to self organize and get to sixty paces.

It usually takes about thirty seconds from the time you say “start” until the time the team completes this part of the exercise.

When people are done, have them stop and raise their hands.

This third part is the beauty of the exercise and brings home some other points — of which I will write more about tomorrow. I need you to keep coming back and learning more with me!

Ask for people in the room who were born on a even day. Realistically this winds up being less than a third of the attendees.

Now.

Tell them they are blind.

And.

The team must self organize to make sure everyone goes sixty paces.

And.

Nobody can get hurt in the process.

When they are all done (keep a time limit of a minute or two again if needed), have the people sit down at their original seats.

Tomorrow I will go through the questions and answers I debrief with the attendees.

At least the beginning ones.

The lessons learned in this exercise are used throughout the remainder of the Certified ScrumMaster workshop.

Think about the questions that you may have when doing this exercise, and what, as a ScrumMaster working with a team, the implications would be.

Have a great day or evening and I will have more information tomorrow for you.

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!

This is an exercise that has evolved over the years of me teaching the Certified ScrumMaster Workshop (by myself and with others).

First let me explain the “idea” behind this cartoon (smile).

I recently spent some time back down in Boca Raton to see my parents (and have my boys spend time with their grandparents); for those of you who have not heard of it, let’s just say its where a lot of people go to retire — what a place for me to grow up! My father told me about a new law passed in Florida — and I am not kidding — that says a dog can not be considered a “second passenger” for the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) Lane (where vehicles with 2 or more people can drive on the highway because it is “faster” in lots of traffic).

Aneeeeway…. this brought me to a funny conclusion of, “What if the dog was a seeing eye dog?”

See the humor in it?

OK. It is pretty weak and not intended to tick off any person who is blind. Really.

The point is (finally Mike!)…. sometimes on a team you will have people that do not have a clue of what is happening around them. They do not see things that have happened in the past.

And.

This happens a lot of times when teams are either forming or add new people onto their existing Scrum Teams.

Wow.

So one of the exercises I do in the Certified ScrumMaster Workshops is the following:

WAIT.

I will post the exercise tomorrow.

Before reading the post tomorrow — THINK about what this can mean to your team, organization, and enterprise!

Wow.

More tomorrow on this.

I promise!

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!

Some of the past postings referencing food include:

1. The Classic Story of the Pig and Chicken [our first comic strip on the site]
2. The Food Factor. Another Metric. [Boy did THIS one get comments!]
3. BBQ Sauce. Sweet or Hot?
4. What’s for Dinner? [my six year old son did the art work]

And now.

This one.

So what does this really have to do about Scrum?

Failure is a good thing in Scrum. Not Food.
It happens all the time — even in “traditional” projects; however, with Scrum, you can fail early and often.

And this is OK.

So how does a team of people in a highly competitive environment — maybe weaning themselves off the command-and-control type management style — actually start working as a team?

Part of the job of a ScrumMaster is to help teams start identifying failures — early and often.

And this is HARD to do.

Really.

So.

One of the techniques I teach people when coaching new teams is something called, “The Failure Bow.” It comes from Improvisational Theater and it helps people ummm, not take themselves so seriously.

Yes. Software Development is a serious game, and should not be taken lightly.

But. And this time I do mean, “But.”

Scrum is about people.

The basic premise of this is the following:

A person on the team screws up. Makes a mistake. Immediately — maybe even during — following the mistake, the person who messed up can throw up their hands and say, “Unexpected Results!”

Now. With a team just started out, this is tough to do. Especially from teams that work in silence today.
In a team that is working well, guess what happens?

People laugh and have fun with it.

And.

The mistake is [usually] not repeated. Because people learn immediately — and move on.

Here is an exercise I do with teams (usually when either starting a new team or at a Retrospective):

Everyone stand up. And think about something that they have screwed up recently (they do not have to share this with anyone).

Now, make an exaggerated gesture about how you feel. And walk around the room talking to people about something in using that gesture.

It sometimes results in laughter, but most of the time it is quiet and subdued in the room.

Now.

Think of the same thing you recently screwed up.

Put your hands up and go around the room talking to others with your hands raised over your head.

Start each greeting with, “Unexpected Results!”

Wow.

The room erupts in laughter and noise.

And people see the point.

Usually (smile).

Hope this helps in some situations. It does for me often. Maybe because I screw up a lot (I mean learn!).

Gotta run!.

Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!

I just wanted to let you know that about 30 new Certified ScrumMasters joined our community today from a course Mark Pushinsky and I did in Charlotte, NC, the past two days. Mark and I would also like to thank Joe Little for helping setup the course here.

We were also fortunate enough to speak with a local agile users group (something I love doing when I travel!). We tried a new exercise about introducing Scrum and then doing a simulated 59 minute Scrum with a twist — the goal was for each team to go through the Scrum process and present their top impediments — with solutions — they have today while actually incrementing scrum in real world environments.

Think about how that may have played out.

Cool stuff.

And.

We had a small class of students (taking various courses at the university) in the audience which was mixed with professionals who had varying experiences in implementing scrum.

Fun stuff.

Next off… 2 more days of classes down in Charlotte — so Friday there will be almost 30 more CSM’s in the market down here. Wahoo!

Time to put “Zero to Sixty” back in action in my very own reality starting tomorrow morning.

Have a great day.� And check out where I have classes coming up soon (and think — Boca Raton, Florida in the winter brrrrr).

Thank you!

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

I want to take a quick opportunity to say a sincere apology for skipping a week of a new comic strip and blog entry. Excuses aside, my machine died and well…. live and learn. Inspect and adapt.

So you see a “new” look and feel the the blog entry today. Once my machine gets back from the shop, the blog will be fully integrated into the “real” site — for now, stick with me and realize this has to be “good enough” for now. At least I can communicate information with you!

I do not know if you have noticed, but the past entries in the blog have focused a lot on the word “and” instead of “but.”

Think how easy it is to always say, “Yeah… but….”.

Heck, I did it in the sentence above the last one and people probably did not even notice it.

Wow.

Old habits can be hard to break.

So.

Remember that Scrum has to do with the, “Art of the Possible.” Ken and others always remind us that we should continually look for something called “positive intent” in all interactions we have.

This is hard to do.

In business.

And.

In life in general.

This is something I must continually work on.

Daily.

Or even every hour or minute (smile).

One of the exercises I do in the ScrumMaster Workshop to help people always look for positive intent is something like the following:

“Let’s plan a party for after the session tonight.”

I need two volunteers.

One person starts the plan with an idea.

The other person then says “Yes, but….” (negative stuff)This continues and people struggle for a while.

Then.

We switch to…

One person starts the plan with an idea.

The other person then says “Yes, and….” (Build on it kind of stuff)

This continues and people actually get excited.Of course, the exercise can (and usually does) go off into wild directions.

But.

Oops. I mean…And.

It gives people a point of reference to NOT say “but” anymore.

And then I usually get called on saying “Yes, but” if I slip up in the rest of class.

This is something you can try with your Scrum Teams — either in a retrospective or some other point in time.

It may seem silly.

It works though.