Blog: Agile & Business

Scrum is Hard! (Scrum is fun!)

September 7, 2013

The classic phrase from Sutherland and Schwaber is: Scrum is simple, but Scrum is hard. Yet, with almost any decent Team, Scrum is fun. Unless the personal chemistry is dysfunctional. So: If I don’t warn you that Scrum is hard, I am lying. But if I don’t ‘warn’ you that Scrum will be fun, I […]

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At first, when Scrum and when Waterfall?

August 25, 2013

When your company is first starting Scrum, how do you decide which projects use Scrum and which ones do it ‘the old way’?  (Let’s assume the old way is a form of waterfall. You are waiting to transition them from waterfall, later.)  Assuming for now (for a transition period) some projects must remain in waterfall. […]

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What are impediments? Definition of Impediment

August 23, 2013

Definition of Impediment is anything that is slowing down the Team.  (The Scrum Team)  Anything! In PMP words, it is any kind of issue. And it may include risks as well, but typically only high probability risks that are likely to occur fairly soon. (I typically also recommend a simple risk log for each Certified […]

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When would I not want to do Scrum?

August 23, 2013

This is a slight variant on the question I asked before. I wanted to add a few things that I did not say before.  You still might want to do a project despite some of the things I will mention, but I have gotten impatient as I have gotten older. So, when? Some things I […]

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When should you NOT use Scrum?

August 21, 2013

I was asked this question in a class recently.  (When should I not use Scrum?)  I gave an answer, but I want to give a better answer, or at least a different one. To be fair, it is a hard question. And a hard question for me. My personal answer, which I gave, is I […]

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Creativity and Process

August 6, 2013

Here is a good quote: Now I have to tell you something, and I mean this in the best and most inoffensive way possible: I don’t believe in process. In fact, when I interview a potential employee and he or she says that ‘it’s all about the process,’ I see that as a bad sign […]

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The ScrumButt Test (3): Enabling Specifications

August 5, 2013

The third line in the ScrumButt Test is: “The Sprint starts with an Enabling Specification.” What does this mean? The first practical goal was to eliminate the analysis paralysis and delay associated with waiting until the specification was “complete”. On the other hand, too many agile teams are trying to be effective when ‘no one […]

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For Quick Decisions, Depend on Deadlines

August 4, 2013

In Saturday’s (8/2/2013) Wall Street Journal, Dan Ariely suggests that to reach a decision, and often just to make progress, you need deadlines.  Deadlines ‘force’ people to take action. This is what we have known with Scrum for years.  So, we have time-boxes all over the place (and I recommend using them more than just […]

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The ScrumButt Test (2): Working Software

July 27, 2013

The second line in the ScrumButt Test says: Software must be tested and working by the end of each iteration. This is the second of three items that confirms the team (project) is “iterative”. There is a series of small tests (within the ScrumButt Test) for whether the team is really doing Scrum (in my […]

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Do we need an Impediment List? Yes!

July 26, 2013

Yes, we need a public impediment list. Every Team does. Why? One argument against is that all impediments should be eliminated immediately.  Yes, if this were possible, this should be done.  But I think that assumes an incorrect view of what impediments are. Yes, it is true some impediments only appear from time to time. […]

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