Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
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!
December 10, 2007
Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.So I do a lot of writing about food. I love food, as anyone who knows me can tell 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!
September 24, 2007
Hi all,
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.
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
August 21, 2007
« Newer Articles
