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!
May 13, 2008
Hi all.
The topic this week is about keeping things simple.
And picking one thing at a time and doing it well.
Very well.
Tonight I am writing a little bit about it.
Let’s see if I can actually get the comic strip up tomorrow (when I make my drive over to Portland, Maine).
You’ll see.
Hmmm…
As complicated as this week seems to me and you.
There is always a simple solution.
Really.
- mike vizdos
Hola.
Been a long day for me. The comic strip is ready.
Sometimes this seems like the simple thing.
Maybe that makes sense 
.
I’ll post it tomorrow.
- mike
Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
[After you read this you may want to check out an updated posting to this cartoon at: http://www.implementingscrum.com/2012/01/04/scrummasters-feel-like-giving-up-sometimes/]
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!
Originally Published:
April 21, 2008
[Updated posting to this cartoon at: http://www.implementingscrum.com/2012/01/04/scrummasters-feel-like-giving-up-sometimes/]
Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
Remember about a month ago our ScrumMaster got “whacked” and disappeared for a while. Last week he reappeared in the hospital.
Today, he is back at work.
And.
He did not die.
Assuming positive intent, he really wanted to just help the guy in the SUV with directions.
He never got there, as we can see. And is seems like the guy in the SUV made a run for it, not liking what he saw on the ground (what would you do if you saw a fashion forward guy wearing a blue thingee on the ground; wait…. hold that thought…. we also use talking pigs and chickens in this cartoon… never mind).
So what does this have to do with Scrum?
As a consultant, I am constantly working with both prospects (those who have not engaged me for any services yet) and current / past clients. I have a strong relationship with people in the industry, and consider myself a person who is not afraid to speak up and give the honest truth.
Not a lot of people like doing that.
Sometimes, as we saw, clients do not like to hear the truth. They want to keep doing waterfall, and make the conscious decision that in the end they will succumb to what is known as the, “Iterative and Incremental Death March.”
They will then go find someone who will say, “Yes” to anything they ask of them.
And this occurs with most organizations trying to use Scrum on more than one project in an organization.
It is a choice.
What about the small minority of organizations that succeed with implementing Scrum in their organization?
Wow.
Incredible things happen.
To the people as individuals, as team members, and the organization as a whole.
These are the organizations I enjoy working with; however, as you can see, they are a small minority in the world.
You know what I have started doing more and more lately (which uggg is hard for me!)?
Saying “No.”
And working only with organizations and teams and people who sincerely want this Scrum thing to work.
Sometimes I get conned into thinking an organization is truly interested, and get burned. Life happens.
We all learn and move on.
This is not the majority of time though, and yes, even I need to assume positive intent.
Why am I telling you all of this?
First and foremost… think about where you are today on your team and within your organization.
Are you constantly saying, “Yes” even when you know it makes no sense?
Do you need help saying, “No” sometimes?
Where can you go for that help?
And remember… a dead ScrumMaster is a useless one.
DO NOT commit career suicide.
But remember… you DO have a choice.
Always.
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!
April 15, 2008
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