Archives

Getting Senior Buy-in

Questioner: How do I sell my executive team on doing this stuff? Jim Highsmith: Don’t. Just do it. They don’t know what you’re doing anyway. (This quote is also taken from “Fearless Change” by Rising and Manns. A great book, recommended. See Chapter 6.) I saw this Highsmith quote as a tagline on a Ron […]

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Is Scrum perfect?

Sometimes I want our Scrumming to be perfect. I want everyone to be happy, I want no arguments, I want maximum Business Value, no mistakes, no wasted time, no re-work, no stupid ideas, no misunderstanding what the customer wanted, no muss, no fuss, no confusion and no chaos. Then, I heard this song by Frank Sinatra: […]

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Why working software is important

In a recent discussion, Jeff Sutherland was talking about how important it was to have working software at the end of every Sprint. As a small part of that discussion, I suggested several reasons why working software (or what I call “done, done software”) is so important. Here is an excerpt from what I said […]

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Certified ScrumMaster Course with Jeff Sutherland Dec 15

I am next looking forward to doing a CSM course with Jeff Sutherland on Dec. 15 to 16. Should be lots of fun. I hope Jeff (or I) will take enough time to talk about “The Concept of Ba” by Takeuchi and Nonaka. I truly enjoy working with Jeff for lots of reasons. If you […]

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Some Agile Principles

Let’s discuss some agile principles. I often say the dance steps will be ugly if you don’t feel the music. There is a heated discussion now about the principles that underlie Scrum. I hope no one hurts himself.  By which I mean, in jest, that we often have the biggest fights about abstract things. On […]

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Value of Training (CSPO)

What’s Scrum training worth? I am about to lead a Certified Scrum Product Owner course. (2 days in NYC and a bit later in Saratoga Springs.) The question comes up: What is this course worth? I explain this in more detail in the course, but here’s the summary. In the course we talk about many […]

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AgileBusiness – new Yahoo group

Quick notice that we just started a Yahoo group called Agile Business. See here. Key words might include: Agile, Business, Business Value, Agile Project Management, Product Owner, business analyst, Lean, Product Management, Marketing, Executive, Manager, Agile for non-SW projects, etc, etc. Come and share your questions and your comments.  

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How do we know we have a good idea?

How do we know? I was reading the new book by Bas Vodde and Craig Larman recently. Recommended. It’s called “Scaling Lean and Agile Development.” In the beginning of the book, they give lots of ideas about “how to think.” At first, I found this curious, although the suggestions were very good. Only today did […]

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Yahoo Groups — 4 easy lessons

Apologies to those used to Yahoo groups. This is for beginners. First, why should you care? Because lots of really smart people use Yahoo groups (and ScrumDev in particular). Second, why should you worry? Because lots of people hear stupid things or get into flame wars on Yahoo groups (and similar). You must Think For […]

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Introverts and Individualists and Collocation

[Note: This blog post was published 4/29/2019.  The work-from-home ideas were not so strong then.  Read this and think.]   I am seeing a general trend. People are saying we should bend over backwards because implementers are introverts. (Yes, way over-simplifying a complex issue, but bear with me.) That position seems a bit too much, […]

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