Than you.

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

1) If you are currently looking for a Scrum type job.  What role?  What experience level?  Tell me what you can about *you* and *your needs*.

2) If you are working in a company and know you have OPEN REAL positions for people who are in the first position above (LOOKING for work).

3) If you know people in your circle of friends PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE forward this email or call them today and have them contact me directly.

In the past six months or so I have been informally connecting these three groups of people together and have promised myself to take it up a notch and see if we can get our community working together to solve some of these things.

I know all three types of you are out there.

Time to speak up!

I am going to try a *small* experiment.

And see where it goes.

Fair?

Let’s go!

Let me know.

And.

As usual.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos (mvizdos@gmail.com)

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

One of the things I hear a lot about (both inside and outside of our little industry in the world) is the differences between coaches, consultants, and mentors.

Which brought me back to a discussion I had a few years ago with John Snuggs (shout out!) who used to poke me about wearing my “Captain Obvious” hat.

Which then lead to the super-hero-wearing-ScrumMaster in the comic strip above.

And.

Then the elephant.

Huh?

What does that elephant represent?

In America, we talk about this thing called, “An elephant in the room” which is something reallllllllllly uncomfortable that everyone knows is there but is afraid to bring it up.  Make sense?

Sooo… besides being the elephant in the room… what does Captain Obvious need to teach us about Scrum “Coaches” versus “Consultants” versus “Mentors”?

This could be one of those epic postings with me talking about the ins-and-outs of the three words and how they not only sound different — but in the real world ARE different.

So.

Question to you… and I will talk and post more about this… in the comments section write more about the good, the bad, and the ugly about the differences you see in either the people you hire, work with, or ARE.

Elephant recognized.

Let’s hear more about what this means to you.  And your teams.  And your organizations.

And of course… this is leading somewhere.  It always does.

And it usually surprises even me (heh).

Time for Captain Obvious.  Pointing out the elephant in the room.

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

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!

I am working with a lot of teams and hearing about this problem coming up again.

Kind of like a cough that will not go away (that is for another day).

Ah… Kids back in school.  Spreading knowledge.

And.

Lots of other stuff.

Germ mines that bring new germs home to their parents, who have not seen most of the stuff out there in the past.. and so on and so on.

Then.

Those parents go to collocated team rooms.

With people who do not have kids.

Germ-o-phobe-hilarity-ensues.

The original blog entry is located at http://www.implementingscrum.com/2007/01/08/sick-stay-home/.

Read it.

Post it on your team room walls.

Send it home to people on your teams who are still calling in (or ask them to call in and GO home!).

Good luck out there.

- mike vizdos

Happy start of the new week!

Scott Ambler and I have put together a survey that will collect some additional data that he will present at the Agile 2008 conference next month. Please take the survey and pass it on to any local lists or contacts you have.

The cool thing about the outcome of this — and other data we collect — is that it is shared for all to use and analyze as you want.

Here is more info:

====

We have put together a survey exploring the adoption rate of various Agile
practices and of the 12 agile principles. The survey is posted at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4FN_2bty_2bYE0Mhb7yQPZKWtg_3d_3d
and will take 5 minutes to complete.

It will run until August 2 2008.

As with other surveys the results will be posted online at
www.ambysoft.com/surveys/. We’re taking an open approach to this survey in that the source data, with the exception of identifying information to protect people’s privacy, will be posted online. We’re sharing the data with the community so that everyone may analyze it for their own purposes — you won’t have to rely on us to analyze it for you. We’ll also post the original questions as they were asked as well as a slide deck summarizing our analysis. All of these assets can be used free of charge. Scott will also be sharing the results at the forthcoming Agile 2008 conference, www.agile2008.org, here in his home town of Toronto the first week of August.

We’re not going to bribe you with promises to win a book or a gift certificate. Instead, we’re asking you to give back to the community by spending a few minutes to share your agile experiences with the IT community. The results of this survey will be a shared asset that we can all take advantage of.

Thank you very much for your attention, and we sincerely hope that you will choose to take a few minutes of your valuable time to fill out this survey. Our apologies if you have received several copies of this email.

- Scott Ambler and Mike Vizdos

[This is a message from the heart / full transparency "on" / and not specific to Scrum --- more of the "State of the Site at www.implementingscrum.com and, "Where do we take it in the future...."]

Last week I asked a specific question that I have received a ton of feedback as of today (thank you to everyone who responded).

For people who have been regular readers of this blog for a while, I hope you can tell that I am constantly “creating” this site using feedback from you — inspecting and adapting — eating my own dog food as it were. For new readers, please expect this trend to continue.

If you have not noticed… I have removed all google advertising from the site; per feedback from you I thought this would be best (even though it was a car payment [plus] a month in revenue!).

And, the site as it stands today (and in the future) the blog entries and comics will continue to be “free” (just your time, which I appreciate) in the future.

Please continue to tell your friends and teams around the universe about this site (thank you). If you have not done so already, now is a great time (smile).

As you may not realize, I own a company (Vizdos Enterprises, LLC) and work around the world helping clients Implement Scrum at all levels in hundreds — at this point probably over a thousand — of locations.

I am also a Certified Scrum Trainer (one of less than 50 in this great Universe) and spend a lot of time on the road doing the CSM Workshops (although it is not my main revenue stream).

I will be in more than 30 cities in the USA between now and the end of the year.

And I have some plans to head overseas too.

Lots of travel. And that is what is just currently booked.

I need to update both the Scrum Alliance site with these new dates, along with my public google calendar.

Be sure if you are in the USA I should be arriving to a city near you!

I DO have a family and one of my personal goals is to start to cut back on travel again.

My five and eight year old boys are growing up. And… for anyone who travels extensively… you know how this works. If you are interested in doing what I do, we can talk about the pros and cons anytime!

This is where I need you (sorry for the long intro… but this is like having a one way conversation!).

The results of the “voting” for more blog entries were positive. Both as they stand today and in more video/audio formats.

And, starting next week you will start to see different flavors of them being produced more often (maybe more than Dominc (my oldest son) and I doing youtube videos.

There will be other avenues and distribution channels over time.

Again… inspect and adapt.

The comic strips and blog entires about those comic strips will continue to be free.

This next part is not a sales pitch — it is to gain serious interest (although you may consider it a pitch).

I am starting a “Premium Content” area of the site.

Ah.

That means dinero/cash/euros/whatever out of your pocket (or your company or organization).

I am looking for a limited number of people who would be interested in becoming “Charter Members” of the Premium Content area of implementingscrum.com.

I will request each of the limited Charter Members pay a fee, and, in return this fee will continue to remain the same forever for you (if the price goes up, you will pay the same subscription amount as long as you are a member).

I am looking for an initial three month commitment from you (and me) to actually “test” some new features as they are developed.

So, in addition to becoming “Charter Members” you will help guide the content and delivery mechanisms for the future subscribers of the site — both “free” and “Premium”.

Are you interested in doing something like this with me?

The journey will be fun.

And — as a Charter Member — you will have a safe place as part of a new community to help yourself — and others — learn even more about Scrum and other Agile Practices.

I only want serious people who have a positive attitude and a true spirit of adventure.

Is that you?

If so, please let me know.

Who knows?

Heck, when I started this site I could not believe the impact that one person (actually two — Tony (the artist) and I) could have on an industry.

Change happens one person at a time.

And good Karma is always a good thing to possess, even if only for a millisecond of time in your life.

If you are interested, stop by www.implementingscrum.com/premium for a bit more information and sign-up to become a Charter Member for the Premium Content.

Risk free.

This is an incredibly limited opportunity and I will cut it off on or before June 30, 2008 for new Charter Members (if there is too great of a response, a waiting list will begin).

Part of this limitation is to take it in small steps and inspect and adapt along the way.

Thank you for reading all of this.

If you are not ready to sign-up as a Charter Member today, please pass this information on to others who may be interested.

I do sincerely appreciate it.

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

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

Hi.

[This is a message from the heart / full transparency "on" / and not specific to Scrum --- more of the "State of the Site at www.implementingscrum.com and, "Where do we take it in the future...."]

Last week I asked a specific question that I have received a ton of feedback as of today (thank you to everyone who responded).

For people who have been regular readers of this blog for a while, I hope you can tell that I am constantly “creating” this site using feedback from you — inspecting and adapting — eating my own dog food as it were. For new readers, please expect this trend to continue.

If you have not noticed… I have removed all google advertising from the site; per feedback from you I thought this would be best (even though it was a car payment [plus] a month in revenue!).

And, the site as it stands today (and in the future) the blog entries and comics will continue to be “free” (just your time, which I appreciate) in the future.

Please continue to tell your friends and teams around the universe about this site (thank you). If you have not done so already, now is a great time (smile).

As you may not realize, I own a company (Vizdos Enterprises, LLC) and work around the world helping clients Implement Scrum at all levels in hundreds — at this point probably over a thousand — of locations.

I am also a Certified Scrum Trainer (one of less than 50 in this great Universe) and spend a lot of time on the road doing the CSM Workshops (although it is not my main revenue stream).

I will be in more than 30 cities in the USA between now and the end of the year.

And I have some plans to head overseas too.

Lots of travel. And that is what is just currently booked.

I need to update both the Scrum Alliance site with these new dates, along with my public google calendar.

Be sure if you are in the USA I should be arriving to a city near you!

I DO have a family and one of my personal goals is to start to cut back on travel again.

My five and eight year old boys are growing up. And… for anyone who travels extensively… you know how this works. If you are interested in doing what I do, we can talk about the pros and cons anytime!

This is where I need you (sorry for the long intro… but this is like having a one way conversation!).

The results of the “voting” for more blog entries were positive. Both as they stand today and in more video/audio formats.

And, starting next week you will start to see different flavors of them being produced more often (maybe more than Dominc (my oldest son) and I doing youtube videos.

There will be other avenues and distribution channels over time.

Again… inspect and adapt.

The comic strips and blog entires about those comic strips will continue to be free.

This next part is not a sales pitch — it is to gain serious interest (although you may consider it a pitch).

I am starting a “Premium Content” area of the site.

Ah.

That means dinero/cash/euros/whatever out of your pocket (or your company or organization).

I am looking for a limited number of people who would be interested in becoming “Charter Members” of the Premium Content area of implementingscrum.com.

I will request each of the limited Charter Members pay a fee, and, in return this fee will continue to remain the same forever for you (if the price goes up, you will pay the same subscription amount as long as you are a member).

I am looking for an initial three month commitment from you (and me) to actually “test” some new features as they are developed.

So, in addition to becoming “Charter Members” you will help guide the content and delivery mechanisms for the future subscribers of the site — both “free” and “Premium”.

Are you interested in doing something like this with me?

The journey will be fun.

And — as a Charter Member — you will have a safe place as part of a new community to help yourself — and others — learn even more about Scrum and other Agile Practices.

I only want serious people who have a positive attitude and a true spirit of adventure.

Is that you?

If so, please let me know.

Who knows?

Heck, when I started this site I could not believe the impact that one person (actually two — Tony (the artist) and I) could have on an industry.

Change happens one person at a time.

And good Karma is always a good thing to possess, even if only for a millisecond of time in your life.

If you are interested, stop by www.implementingscrum.com/premium for a bit more information and sign-up to become a Charter Member for the Premium Content.

Risk free.

This is an incredibly limited opportunity and I will cut it off on or before June 30, 2008 for new Charter Members (if there is too great of a response, a waiting list will begin).

Part of this limitation is to take it in small steps and inspect and adapt along the way.

Thank you for reading all of this.

If you are not ready to sign-up as a Charter Member today, please pass this information on to others who may be interested.

I do sincerely appreciate it.

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

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

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

Thanks as usual for coming back this week and helping me spread the word about this site.

If you have some time today, please tell three or four of your friends about it, and let’s see if even more people can have fun with us.

Ask them to subscribe. Please. There are opportunities all over the site (please let me know if it is confusing in any way!). In fact, you can forward them this note and have them Subscribe to Implementing Scrum via Email!

Now… about “Fun.”

Yeah, I know, I know… we do serious work in the real world Mike….

I know.

I live it, as I hope you can tell.

So last week I wrote a few segments about Fantasy Island, and I really loved that comic strip.

One of the things listed was, “You may be on Fantasy Island” if you play Planning Poker without your Product Owner.

For a quick overview on an introduction to Planning Poker, please see this posting.

And come back! I am not going anywhere.

You back?

See. I told you I’d still be here. I am persistent that way (get it geeks of the world?!?! HA??? Ug… nevermind lol).

OK.

Ug.

WARNING: IF you have a very sensitive sense of humor (or none at all)… PLEASE STOP READING THIS POSTING.

My title tonight varied from, “How Planning Poker is like Unprotected Sex” to the one you see you actually displayed.

Guess it is at least a little more politically correct.

SO.

Um.

How can Planning Poker look like a one night stand?

Let me see if that can be answered sufficiently….

1) When you leave a Product Owner out of the process, you are at risk of waking up the next morning wanting to gnaw your left arm off. Clear?

OK.

Next one.

2) A Product Backlog does not have to be something that the Scrum Gods (aka Mr. Schwaber or others) think is perfect. Here is a fair question for you…. “Does it meet the needs of your customer?” If yes, all is good. If no, hire me (smile). Um. Dunno what that has to do with a one night stand (sorry).

3) Scrum Planning Poker without a Product Owner lands you in Fantasy Island. And. You cannot get off. Much like drinking and partying which can lead to the one night stand. You know, cannot get off the Island. And… never get to “Done.”

4) You cannot do any type of real release planning. Just like a one night stand, you may wind up with something you will have to live with for the rest of your life in about 10 months with not a clue it was coming (see my “Making Babies” post). Well, you saw it building and growing, but you have no idea what you are in for.

5) Hmmm…. I think the number one reason was the best (lol). Let me think. Oh…. this thing called “Group Think” may take place where everyone makes ASSumptions about the other. Can lead to going back to #1 in this list (smile).

6) Having a Product Owner there is like wearing a…. hmmm… do I dare say it? Nope. Use your imagination if you can. And. If it is missing it may feel fine but your team can wind up catching something that is hard to get rid of – or even cause your team to die.

7) And I guess my final word of advice… If you find yourself out during that “last call” and someone has that “five beer” look… GO HOME ALONE. This can be paralleled to playing Planning Poker without a Product Owner. If the Product Owner is not there… CANCEL THE MEETING.

Wow.

Was that the most inuendo-filled-posting I have ever posted? I think the most inuendo-filled-COMIC-STRIP was the one on CSM Training. Strange how that is the most downloaded comic strip on the site (smile).

Hehe… It was a little fun.

Now… back to the work thing.

And remember your PRODUCT OWNER!

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!

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

Wow. I saw something at a client site a few weeks ago that inspired the cartoon for this week.

This is real life.

As it is every week and every posting with me.

And.

Unexpected to say the least.

I’ll let you in on the actual pictures of the inspiration tomorrow… but for now let’s continue with the point for this week.

Sometimes it feels like you are working on the same thing day after day.

At least sometimes it feels that way to me. Maybe it is just me (smile).

Kinda like a treadmill. This is something that you walk on forever and actually get nowhere.

Are you there in your [work] life?

What about your Team?

And your Organization?

What can help you get out of this — or “off the treadmill?”

Umm.

I could sugar coat it with a bunch of inspirational bla bla, and sometimes I do that.

Tonight… zero sugar coating. It is not going to happen, as sometimes you need to hear this and actually take a hard knock of reality (like sometimes people on the team need to be “voted” off the island!).

Here goes.

The only way off the treadmill is for you to make a change.

Take responsibility.

Be accountable.

To who?

You.

The rest of the Team and Organization will follow.

Or will they?

Does it really matter to you?

Worry about you first.

Really.

The rest will follow.

Or not.

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.

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!

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!

Just wanted to let you know that the comic strip and blog entry this week is going to hit a nerve.

It did.

With me.

Be prepared for a reality check.

Sometimes life just throws them at you.

Thank you,

- Mike Vizdos

Contact Information

www.implementingscrum.com
www.michaelvizdos.com
AOL IM: MikeV Work
Skype: mvizdos

=========

For a complete list of my upcoming workshops and public appearances please visit www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll.

Need a Mentor? Take a look at www.michaelvizdos.com/telephone and please let me know your feedback and thoughts.

==========

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!

Some of you may be familiar with the term, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas….”

Well, tonight I am introducing a new guest writer to the blog, a guy I have worked with for almost the past three years on some major enterprise rollouts of Scrum and co-train with him on a pretty regular basis. His name is Mark Pushinsky and this “enlightenment” came to him a few years ago and we have been waiting on how to actually introduce this to the Scrum Community.

So… without further ado… here is his write-up on the topic (and thanks to Tony as usual for the cartoon!).

I may add something to it later this week (smile).

=================

I was on my way back from Vegas sitting on a plane, with a massive hangover…….and this thought occurred to me.

I know they say that, �What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas� but this occurred to me on the plane ride home and I am pretty sure we cleared Nevada airspace before it did so I feel compelled to share it.

Do you know about the �Cone of Uncertainty�? It is a phenomena that people in software use to describe the fact that when you start a project you have no idea when you�ll finish.

The longer the project goes and the closer you get to finishing the better/more accurate your estimate. Basically you are pretty sure your going to finish it the day before its done.

We have been trying to make it go away in software for many years. Fancy new estimation techniques, months and months of analysis, and brute force have not materially changed the fact that software projects are unpredictable!

Period!

Managers having been trying for decades to make it disappear/pretend it doesn�t exist/figure out how to make it turn from a cone into a cylinder.

Yet time and time again the uncertainty in projects remains.

The epiphany that occurred to me is that Agile or Scrum flips it around. This means that if you ask me what I can deliver in the next 2-4 weeks I am pretty accurate, if you ask me what I am going to deliver 3 months from now I have some uncertainty, but I can give you a reasonable guess, and if you ask me what I can deliver 6 months from now I have no idea…….

When we teach Estimation and Planning in class, we make a point of saying that Agile does not make the �Cone� disappear.

Nothing will!

We use light weight, proven techniques to make our best guess at long term plans.

We don�t pretend to know the end…….in fact we are pretty sure it will change……and we commit to be back in 2-4 weeks to tell you how its changed.

Then we focus on short term commitments, doing the right things, executing well, and delivering real business value.

I have found that after a couple of iterations of working that way we get customers focused more on prioritization, the next release, and getting impediments removed.

They begin to worry less about when the whole thing will be done.

I think the best way to end a project is to stop working on it before all of �The Requirements� have been implemented.

The 80/20 rule, right?

=================

So there goes.

Mark is an awesome person, trainer, and mentor by the way…. While our opinions do not match 100% I love the opportunity to provide an outlet for different opinions and thoughts (even if we are competitors and collaborators in the marketplace).

Let me know if you are interested in contributing in the future!

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 I am addressing something that has been bothering me — and others in the industry too — and maybe even you, my great reader!

Scrum talks about having having working software at the end of every Sprint (or iteration).

Wow.

Not a Requirements Document. Working Software.

Not a Design Specification. Working Software.

Not a great Architecture PowerPoint Presentation. Working Software.

Not Compiled Code. Working Software.

Not an incredible Test Plan with Automated Testing and complete coverage. Working Software.

Yikes.

Get the point here?

Not too preachy I hope (smile).

That is awesome, right?

“Working Software” then became recast or known a, “Potentially Shippable Product.”

Huh?

Is there a difference?

Yes.

There is a difference.

Think about it.

In your Scrum Teams today, do you have someone from your Production and Support areas involved with your Sprint on a daily basis? How about the Daily Scrum (or Daily Stand-up meeting)? What about in your Sprint Planning? Planning Poker?

Any planning?

At all?

Hmmm.

Now OK.

We may have different definitions of Production and Support people. You can look at them as one separate team, two separate teams, or actually part of your Scrum Team.

In Agile and Scrum, I’d argue that the Production and Support people should be an integral part of the Scrum Team.

In the end, it is the Scrum Team agreeing on the definition of, “Done” for the Sprint (or iteration).

And where does Working Software actually spend most of its usable life?

Say it with me now… “In Production and Support.”

Wow.

What a paradigm shift in the way you are working today.

Or is it?

And.

Think about this.

If your Scrum Team does not include the Production and Support people into your Scrum Team, you may be creating more “Working Software” than the rest of organization can handle.

What? You may be asking yourself?

Are you kidding me?

Nope.

I see this.

Often.

And.

One way I advise clients about handling this situation is to include the Production and Support people into the Scrum Team.

Do they always listen?

Nah.

And then they have a big dump truck full of stuff (waste…. work in process…. inventory….).

What does this cost an organization?

What is this costing your organization today?

Do you care?

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.

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!

The posting from yesterday seems to have started some additional conversations today.

And people are taking a stand.

More tomorrow as I see where it leads… and will send you an update on the fun conversations happening around this topic.

Thank you!

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

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 a new day at www.implementingscrum.com.

So this past week I have watched Scrum be called a lot of names and publicly flogged for some of it’s practices.

Um.

People.

Get over it.

Please.

Remember, Scrum helps people, teams, and organizations transform their business to be the best it can be.

Are there other things out there that can make that claim?

Absolutely.

However (you knew one was on the way!)….

Scrum works in a lot of different environments.

This is from personal experience. With teams working and using Scrum around the world.

Then I see this blog entry by a guy named Jason Gorman (a great chap from the UK); the title of the entry was, “How Scrum Spreads – The Scrum Viral Life Cycle.”

I thought, wow, that is an interesting way of looking at things, and sent him a note to let him know I liked the article (maybe not agree with everything there) and then asked him to come to my site to check it out.

Oye.

At it he came. The posting where he replied is currently down, because it seems like some people were offended by what he wrote. So, I will summarize (from my recollection) of what he said about this blog (www.implementingscrum.com) in his blog:

[This struck me, but wow.... the parallels he made were pretty good from my perspective -- I did not even realize I was doing this]

This is from my vantage point and memory…

He created a little cartoon with some religious overtones (this is what I think ticked off some of his readers). I thought it was kinda cute. Not our style in the least; however, any time I see someone attempting to create a cartoon on any agile topic I usually get a good laugh (as long as I am not drawing them). The blog entry talked about how I write my blog in a way a lot of preachers talk at the pulpit.

I do not see me as a preachy sort of person. Heck, I laugh when I see some of those late night Church Folks (anyone remember the Church Lady from Saturday Night Live??).

Annneeeway…. over the weekend Jason took down the postings because he did not want to offend anyone on his site.

Two words to his reader:

“Lighten Up.”

This blog is meant to poke fun at what a lot of us actually do for a living. It is pretty edgy sometimes — on purpose — and tries to get its readers into a mindset where maybe — and this is a big maybe — they will question the way they are working today and see if it makes sense to try something new.

So.

I will close this blog entry with an invitation to Jason to re-post his original entry over the weekend over on our site here. I will post it un-edited and may comment on it after that is posted here. I’ll take any “heat” from the community, and want to really find out if this really is a problem within the Agile Community.

And if it is…. why is that?

So.

This could be a total dud.

Or a great way to open up some discussions with the readers of this blog and many others in the Agile Software Development Space.

[Updated February 6, 2008 -- More Here!]

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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….

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After leaving town on Sunday late afternoon I arrive in Atlanta (yeah… it was not a hub for me… an actual destination!) and hopped on the MARTA (their train system) to one of the outward bound stations; I arrived around 9:00 PM. Spent the night in a decent Holiday Inn Express (non-smoking, thank you!) and got started at 7:00 AM to head to the training center via the hotel shuttle.

The first class this week was geared toward, “Agile Project Management” and about 14 people had signed up. We had 8 show up.

So.

Eight it would be.

This course talks a lot of Agile from a much different perspective than just “Scrum” — which of course I normally teach to certify new ScrumMasters.

It was a great two day course that I facilitated discussions about topics such as the origins of Agile, Agile Project Management basics, Lean and Agile, XP, Scrum, and a few other topics. As with most of the courses I teach, the feedback was great (OK… so the projector at this site sucked but I could do nothing about it turning black text into blue text).

One good story that came out of this that I feel like sharing includes a story from a company that is implementing XP (Extreme Programming... remember… the Agile Practice that actually talks about engineering practices — Scrum does not by design!). This is not a Fortune 50 company; instead, it is a company that is looking at revenue (religiously??!!) and had brought in Scrum.

What is happening in their shop?

Hmmm…. Something I did not expect.

See. The development team was/is using a modified version of Scrum and XP; and they are blowing away the quality standards that have been measured in the past (however that was).

And.

People starting seeing that the customer was astounded.

That’s a great thing, right?

Uh.

Not really.

Why?

Well…. the company using this modified version of Scrum and XP became so good at producing software without defects that….

… take a breath please….

…. the support team in operations had nothing to do.

The customers had nothing to report as not working.

Fabulous some people would think.

Including me!

But.

The majority of this organizations revenue comes from support and maintenance contracts.

Uh.

See the problem?

Do you?

Really?

And this was from bringing in Agile / Scrum / XP.

Interesting learnings.

I will cover our Richmond CSM class tomorrow.

It was awesome and I did some co-teaching with a non-CST (Certified Scrum Trainers) who should soon be a trainer. Tomorrow I will tell you more about co-teaching with another instructor and why I feel this is something everyone should try.

And try again.

And again.

Again.

I got home from Atlanta at about midnight so I could prepare the for the next days of classes — a CSM class in my home base of Richmond, Virginia. More on the tomorrow. Gotta keep you in some suspense. Or whatever we call that in geek-speak blog worlds.

Have an incredible Friday!

I will be putting in cabinets into the kitchen with my wife. For all those who have taken the course, I’d rate that a 20+ for story points (smile). Hope you understand that reference!

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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.

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I hope this posting challenges some of your current thinking. If it does, please share it with others in your organization. It can be a great conversation starter (like a lot of the postings on this site!). If it does not challenge your current thinking or beliefs… think about why that is so.

Ready?

There is a saying I’ve heard in the past that goes something like this:

“The farther away people get from the money, the less they live in reality.”

Think about this for a minute. I’ll wait (smile).

In most organizations I work with — no matter what the “size” — there always seems to be a divide (sometimes a chasm) between the “Business” versus the “IT” side of the house. This includes government clients and both for-profit and non-profit organizations.

Huh?

When people in the outside world hear about this “divide” in an organization, eyes glaze over when I try to explain this.

Really. They don’t care.

They are consumers.

They buy your product or service.

That’s all.

If you are a Developer (this includes all the various roles like architect, tester, coder, and other names like that) let me ask you a serious question:

“When was the last time you picked up an industry trade rag or read a “real” business magazine or newspaper?”

The trade rags exist for every business domain out there.

Really. I have worked in many industries and there is at least one specific to your business no matter what you do.

This is scary but true.

I am not talking about technical journals (well… keep reading those AND start looking at the business perspective).

I am also not talking about Playboy (although they do have great articles and cool gadget reviews).

Think about resources like The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, and others.

Why should Developers care about keeping in touch with what is happening in the business world?

Think about the statement I made above… About “Customers”…

“They don’t care. They are consumers. They buy your product or service.”

What does this mean?

Think.

Again.

Please.

Who are your Customers?

Most Developers I speak with about this answer, “The Business Side” of the organization (for example, Business Analysts or Sales or Support or some muckity-muck Vice President or other bigwig).

Uh.

No.

Your Customer in your organization is the person that pays for the ultimate product or service your organization sells.

What?

Think about something simple, like umm…. Sugar. As a product.

[Side note: I have actually worked with a major company that produces sugar and now know more than I need to know about what they actually do to make and deliver it!].

There is a ton of stuff (from an IT and Manufacturing perspective) that goes into getting that five pound bag of sweetness into your pantry at home.

The people (Customers) who use the sugar want it for something specific… to make things sweet.

Do they even care — or even think — about what went into getting that sugar there?

Here is an answer that is tough for IT and Business people to swallow, but I am going to say it.

Probably not.

I may even go as far to say, “They do not care.”

They paid for a five pound bag of sugar and moved on with their life.

When they need more, they will get it from a neighbor or go to the store and get more. They consume it.

And are willing to pay for it.

Wow.

This means your Customer is actually someone who has to part with their cash and put it into the organization bank account.

This is not…

… a budgetary or imaginary number.

… some mystical “divisional spend” you may receive.

… a VP or some higher up.

Think of it this way.

The customer could actually be YOU.

What if you looked at whatever you do to actually add value from the Customer perspective?

Would that change the way you work today (or tomorrow or the next day, week, or month)?

So.

Why am I harping on getting out there and doing some reading about what is happening in your industry — or the business world — in general?

Why do you think?

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Wow.

Well…. reality has set it and Tony (the artist) delivered the cartoon on time (as usual). And, as usual, it is a great one (nothing but the best here!). Unfortunately for you, it will not be visible until my next posting.

I have been teaching a class today (and the rest of this week) and ugggg…. I am sorry to say the posting that I was going to deliver this evening (today) is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I am out of steam today and want to make sure what I deliver to you is of the best quality.

So…. tomorrow it is (smile).

Here is a preview….

Think about social networking.

And what it can mean for you personally.

And for your team.

And organization.

It can be pretty mind-blowing.

And.

I will cover it in my next posting!

Sorry for the delay. Thanks for understanding.

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

As I wrote about yesterday, this is probably the last comic strip of 2007. Tony and I hope you enjoy it and learn from it; this is a question that comes up pretty regularly from both the readers of this blog and at client sites I visit around the world.

[Full Disclosure ON]

I have been working with Scott in one capacity or another since September 11, 2001. Scott is one of my many mentors (he is also one of my most outspoken mentors) within the agile community. While everyone may not agree with him, he has (co)-written almost twenty books on various agile topics (one was with me!) and a lot of my learning style can be seen by his acts. For that I thank him sincerely — and often.

[Full Disclosure OFF]

This is what has been posted publicly by Scott Ambler:

My December 2007 print column entitled “Scaling On-Site Customer” is now online at http://www.ddj.com/architect/204801134. It examines the challenges surrounding having a stakeholder(s) actively involved with an agile project in the role of an on-site customer or product owner. This role is hard enough for simple projects, but at scale it becomes extremely difficult. The article provides
advice from Agile Modeling for how to augment this role and address the challenges associated with it.

I’ve also blogged about this topic at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler?entry=agile_stakeholders_at_scale.

- Scott

Scott W. Ambler
Practice Leader Agile Development, IBM Methods Group

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/rational/bios/ambler.html

Agility at Scale: http://www.ibm.com/rational/agile/

To read the DDJ article, you will probably have to register as a user — and they seem pretty good about not spamming you. Scott will not spam you from his other sites mentioned.

Will you agree with everything he has written?

Probably not.

Is he OK with that?

Sure.

He totally understands that people will not always agree with him.

And.

This is something I have learned from him.

It has come in handy over the years.

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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 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?

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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.

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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!

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More to the point — useless meetings.

You know the type. Let’s have a meeting to have a meeting to discuss what we talked about at our last meeting and review what we have not completed but might get done before we have the next meeting in a few weeks.

Ug.

Breath.

This idea started with an email my wife got from a friend last week that basically said, “I am in a meeting and want to stick a pencil through my eye.”

I know the feeling.

This familiar to you?

Then… I am reading one of the copies of CIO Magazine (specific link here) from when I was gone last month and….

Let me recap what Scrum and “Meetings” have in common (this is correlating an the “five tips” talked about in the brief article I read by Diann Daniel):

1) Schedule only when necessary.

OK. In Scrum, you have a daily standup meeting. Fifteen minutes max. This is your daily planning.

You also have a Sprint Review meeting — where your outside stakeholders can come and see what is happening — working software is preferred.

You also have a Sprint Retrospective — where you and the team work on things that went well, went not-so-well, and what specific few items you can work on improving in your next iteration.

2) Reduce the frequency.

So it may seem that Scrum has a lot of “meetings” to some people.

Hmmm.

These “meetings” should ideally start turning into how people do work together on a daily basis.

3) Create an agenda.

This one is easy.

Daily — The three questions. What have you done since yesterday, what are you going to do today, and what are your impediments.

Keep it simple.

4) Recap.

If there are impediments (things in your way)… the ScrumMaster is responsible for making sure the impediments get removed. This does not mean the ScrumMaster must remove them; however, it usually takes a ScrumMaster role to make sure that things are getting out of your way. One of the ways this gets accomplished is by working with the team in showing them how to remove their own impediments. Cool when it works.

5) Do the minutes.

So in Scrum (and agile in general) one of the items in the Agile Manifesto is, “Working software over comprehensive documentation.” To me, this means that you should not ignore the fact that risks (possibly impediments) need to be tracked in an organization (see my blog entry on compliance!). Remember though… do not overkill it. Do what is needed and move on.

When people are transitioning from “old waterfall” development techniques to this agile stuff (Scrum in particular), sometimes they have a hard time remembering that the old ways they did meetings were ineffective and gave people a bad taste in their mouths (translation: UGGGGGGG WHY AM I HERE?!@@?).

As a ScrumMaster, part of your daily workings with the team will involve them in talking to one another.

Some people call that “meeting.”

Time to get over it and start working together.

Getting some ideas of how to help get this working in your organization?
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I introduced each of these topics during the month (with a blog entry about my trip to Russia, and no real follow-up from Kyiv — which was awesome too!). I received some feedback that some people may have been offended by the “picture” used in the “Bottom Up” approach. Oh well. I have learned long ago that I will not be able to please everyone. And for those of you who are still hanging around — and passing around this site to your friends and co-workers — remember my more controversial comic strip is the one I published at the beginning of this year; it is located here and is the most popular comic strip on this site, exceeding all my expectations and proving that controversial topics — at least with this audience — is working to get the message across.

So.

I told you two ways NOT to do it. Well… you can — and many do — but (or AND) do this with your eyes open.

One of the best ways I have seen at organizations being able to successfully implement Scrum in their environment is by using a combination of the two methods already discussed.

It is about common sense after all.

And.

It is about people. Not technology.

So.

What can you do if you are interested in rolling out Scrum and have a chance at successfully doing this?

Remember. 75% of organizations FAIL at implementing Scrum; they die a slow iterative and incremental death. You can read more about this here.

If I were implementing Scrum (which, by the way, is what I actually work with teams around the world doing in real life (smile)), I’d make sure that the executives within your organization have a clue of what this is going to take.

Be honest with them.

This is not a Silver Bullet.

Just because people go to a CSM Course (or, as I call it, a workshop), does not qualify them to run a Scrum Team.

If you can get to the executives within the organization, have them pick someone to be the executive sponsor of this thing.

Read the above sentence again.

Someone.

One person.

And make sure this person has some large shoulders and political clout to help provide “cover fire” when the team hits their first roadblock.

When.

Not, “If.”

And.

This executive sponsor needs to be able to let the team fail. And learn from their failure. And help soften the blow if it is a bad thing for the organization.

The team needs to be responsible and not let this person “hang” in the future by making the same mistake again.

Really.

The last thing you really want to do is have an executive sponsor who continually gets burned by their Scrum Team(s).

And.

The people actually doing the work (Pigs) need to REALLY have skin in the game.

The Scrum Team needs to act like responsible adults and understand what they are getting into.

It is not all fun and games.

OK. Sometimes we have fun and play games.

But.

Remember.

The goal is to always produce business value to your organization.

What does that mean?

It varies by organization type (the different “types” are listed above).

What does this mean for you as a ScrumMaster?

Keep your eyes open.

And.

Remember.

“A Dead ScrumMaster is a useless ScrumMaster.”

Enough said?

Have fun out there!
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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!

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So if you are reading this post, I was not able to get to a computer this week to post a new cartoon.

I am on a vacation with my family where I may not have any internet access, so this is using some of the cool power of the new blogging platform on the site to send this to you.

Why would I even bother to post an entry when I am on vacation?

This is a reminder folks.

Talk time out and spend time with your family.

This work stuff will be there tomorrow.

I saw something interesting on TV the weekend before I left (my seven year old was sick ug)… we were looking at one of the Public Broadcasting stations and there was a continuous loop that was running with a message that said something like:

“Hey, it’s a great day outside. Go take your kid outside and play. Do something with them. Together. We are off the air from noon until three today so you can do this.”

I thought wow, that is neat.

And, because my poor kid was sick, I just changed the channel.

But.

The message came across to me.

We all need to spend time with our families.

And friends.

And significant others.

THAT is what is important.

Make a commitment THIS WEEK to do something different.

More next week…. I am bringing the family home to Washington, DC, and then flying out solo to Moscow and Kyiv to teach some classes for the following two weeks.

No rest for the weary.

So.

Take a break.

Breath.

It is good for you.

And everyone else!

Gotta run…

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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!

——

From Scott Ambler:

The article was originally motivated by the “How do I do Agile on a fixed price/estimate project” questions that I invariably get when working with clients or internal development teams. So I decided to take it one step further and address the question “How do I do Agile when one or more of the cost, schedule, or scope is fixed up front?”

The column first summarizes strategies for what you would do when each of these factors is allowed to vary so that you understand what trade-offs you’re making.

Then it describes what I consider to be your best approach remaining to you for each combination of constraining the three factors.

The main point of the article is that although it isn’t ideal to have one or more of these factors constrained, you can still take an Agile approach even when such constraints exist.

——

Hope it is helpful for you!

Gotta run….

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