Category Archives: Better Agile

The ScrumButt Test (3): Enabling Specifications

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

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

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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Impediments (or symptoms of) – Montreal Class July 2013

Below is a list of ‘failure modes’ for projects, as identified via the experience (in waterfall, whatever, agile or scrum) by the people in the Montreal July 2013 class.  These are not in priority order.  They suggest certain impediments to add to the Public Impediment List for your team. Lack of communication Too many impediments […]

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Starting with Scaling

Question: “We are starting Scrum. We have the kind of projects that require scaling. But how do we start with Scrum and have some scaling?” Answer: The basic framework of Scrum does not attempt to answer this question.  It assumes you will use lean-agile-scrum principles and values, and devise your own specific solution to this […]

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The ScrumButt Test (1): Iterations must be timeboxed

I will be doing a series of posts that discuss each element in the ScrumButt Test (see earlier post). In this first post, I will focus on the first element in the ScrumButt Test: “Iterations must be time-boxed to less than six weeks.” Remember that the first section of the test is to determine whether […]

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Sample Impediments (RDU)

Just did a course in Raleigh-Durham.  Here are some impediments the group identified…. Lack of people Turnover in staff Unclear scope Requirements changing too much Cutting corners Lack of communication with customer Bureaucracy – pessimistic stakeholders Poor morale Manage by fear Budget (insufficient) Lack of visibility Lack of management skill Dependencies (other projects) Traceability (lack […]

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Joe’s Unofficial Scrum Checklist V1.3

It is Memorial Day weekend and time for another edition of Joe’s Unofficial Scrum Checklist. (smile) No, not really. Someone in class asked what he could use to check if his teams were using Scrum well.  I suggested: The ScrumButt Test – 8 points. “A list summarizing Scrum” (V.5)  – 2 sides of one page.  […]

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PO Impediments – Charlotte May 2013

Several things to say about impediments: Few teams have a public impediment list. They should. Few teams are aggressively attacking impediments, as I see it. (I guess this depends on what one means by aggressive. I mean full time alienation of impediments. Mercilessly.) We must use impediments, and continuous improvement to get higher velocity in […]

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A purpose for Agile

In general, it is useful to do the most important things. Not the things we are most sure about.  Not the things that we can do well.  Not the things we can predict well (or better). But, we should do the most important things, usually one at a time. Yogi Berra said: You have to […]

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