On a recent engagement, we found it difficult to do our Sprint planning following the structured product backlog the team had prepared. This was mainly due to the fact that a very successful Release Planning session had changed the direction we first took. We were left with a product backlog that was not really “cut” [...]
Strategies, Product Road maps, Release Plans, Sprint or Iteration plans, daily plans… none of these plans really live up to most “old guard” managers and CXOs expectations. We are always confronted with the reality that we cannot predict the future and that adjusting the future to our plan might not always be wise nor possible… [...]
Only 3 roles are really defined in Scrum: Product Owner Team Scrum Master Their responsibility is well defined, codified, and everyone who has been lucky enough to be given one of these roles can find inspiration and support in various books and online resources such as blogs or discussion forums. Great… But what about the [...]
Jun 292011
A quick post to highlight an important issue I have witnessed many times at Stand Up meetings: people spending more time and effort recounting what they did yesterday than explaining what they want to achieve today. When teaching or coaching Scrum, I always repeat the same thing: there are 3 levels of planning. Release Level: [...]
From http://www.scrum.org/scrumbut “ScrumButs and Modifying Scrum ScrumButs are reasons why teams can’t take full advantage of Scrum to solve the problems and realize the benefits. Every Scrum role, rule, and timebox is designed to provide the desired benefits and address the problems. ScrumButs mean that Scrum has exposed a dysfunction that is contributing to the [...]
We have made the decision to come and live back in France. Various reasons for this, one being that we are moving to the South of France, where sun and bbqs will be aplenty:) the other main reason is that our two daughters will have an education “a la French”, which both my wife and [...]
“Bus Factor”, term used to describe an unforeseen event impacting your team, usually in the form of the disappearance of one or more of your team members (Q:”What would happen if John was hit by a bus??” A: He wouldn’t be able to come to work). Some people don’t like the negativity of the analogy [...]
Apr 062011
“We are learning new ways of delivering software, by doing it and helping others do it”… As a coach, I go through a deconstruction process every time I join a new team. Why is that? Well, I don’t believe it is possible for a company to decide to move to Scrum or XP or Kanban, [...]
Mar 092011
Creating the Guiding Coalition / Right People / People on the group are supported – sponsored by the Stakeholders When the group is assembled, we need to ensure that they are getting the right backing from the Stakeholders and deciders of the change. “Are these people supported and sponsored by the initial Stakeholders’ group who [...]
Mar 012011
Insight “noun the ability to see and understand clearly the inner nature of things, esp. by intuition a clear understanding of the inner nature of some specific thing Psychol. awareness of one’s own mental attitudes and behavior Psychiatry recognition of one’s own mental disorder” How many times have you heard people say that with insight, [...]
