Author Archive
Easy but Hard
Posted by: | CommentsI have been just reading another pre-release book from the Mike Cohn series. This series has been very impressive. The book I am reading is Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition. The following quote really stood out:
Agile is easy to get going, yet hard to do well. Many reasons collude to make this so. Chief among them is that agile exposes the dirt people have been sweeping under the rug for years. Who wants to look at that? Yet, we must.
Yes the problems are going to be exposed. From my experience this has been one of the most difficult areas of Agile adoption. It causes so much stress for the team. We know Agile should work but to get to the point where it can work requires so much work.
Product Owners
Posted by: | CommentsWhat does a product owner do? What is his or her responsibility? Who makes a good product owner?
These are all critical question when adopting Agile. The role of a product owner is unique to Agile. It is the combination of multiple roles.
An excellent new book is being published on the role of the product owner:
I have been reading the electronic version of this book and found it to be very informative. The chapter headings are:
- Understanding the Product Owner Role
- Envisioning the Product
- Working with the Product Backlog
- Planning the Release
- Collaborating in the Sprint Meetings
- Transitioning into the Product Owner Role
Roman Pichler, the author, does an excellent job of presenting the material. This book is another excellent addition to the Mike Cohn series.
The book will be available the middle of April.
Vision
Posted by: | CommentsWhere there is no vision, the people perish Proverbs 28:19
The ancient proverb could be restated in development as “Where there is no vision the project fails”.
It is important the every product has a vision. The vision makes the intangibles of the project understandable. The vision gives the road map of the who, why, what and when of the project.
- Who are our customers
We must understand who will be using our product. Product focused on actual customer requirements will help keep it lean and easier to develop. - Why is the product being developed
Again this focuses on the customer. There must be a compelling reason for this product. Will it help the customer to be more efficient in their work? Are we working to keep ahead of the competition by providing innovative features? - What are the critical features of this new product
Do you know what is needed to make the product a success? What are the top priority features the customer desires. - When do we need to deliver
The time box constraint. Product must be delivered to the customer for it to be useful.
The vision can always be referenced when there are decisions to be made about the product backlog. It helps set priorities and make sure the the most critical features are released.
With out the vision how can the team know when they have reached their goal?
Sit with the team
Posted by: | CommentsTeams are core to agile practices and a ScrumMaster plays a critical role in optimizing team execution. One of the common impediments that interfers with this is the team work area or lack thereof. Without a common workarea it is very difficult to really understand what is going on with a team. The daily standups are a very inadequate way of tracking team progress. So much more is learned when you hear the intra-team discussions. It is these informal times expose what is really going one with a team.
We as ScrumMaster need to keep in continuous touch with the team. It is imperative that we sit with our teams as much as possible. This is the only effective way you can be an effective gate keeper.
One for the team
Posted by: | CommentsAs a ScrumMaster I am really sold on the Agile methodology. My enthusiasm can create angst for the team. I am really proud of the team I am working with right now. They have overcome many obstacles and really embrace Agile. They do not have a “cargo cult” mindset but a real commitment to be the most productive team in the company.
The team is willing to be a leader and will take on the risks. Because of this can do mentality I wanted to have all who were interested to view our first sprint demo. So what I did was use the largest distribution list for our department for our invitation list. Well this was a mistake and really caused the team to become very uneasy. They pointed out that we had overcome many obstacles in this sprint but there was not really much to show for it in the demo. We have completed one user story well and it is “done” according to our new standards of acceptance but it was only one user story.
They were correct. Perception is everything and we only have a “simple” user story to display for all of our work the last 3 weeks. The extended stake holders would not really understand what was involved in what we accomplished.
So I canceled the original meeting and invited a much smaller group to stake holders to the sprint demo. A lesson learned on consulting the team before make a major decision on who to invite to our sprint review.
The Team and Company Culture – Part 2
Posted by: | CommentsTeams are powerful entities. They are much more powerful then just a group of individuals. This in itself can be a major deterrent in changing the culture. Once a team is formed, stays together for six or more months and becomes self-organizing it can become very influential.
It is very difficult for managers to ignore the requests of the team especially when it is very productive and working toward the corporate goals. It is interesting that teams usually request changes that will make them more productive. These changes such as a team work area, change in performance review procedures, setting goals and self-governance are actually better for the company.
But all of this runs contrary to most companies management hierarchy. How does one manage a self-organized work team? You don’t! Good teams need to be guided to where they should be going. The manager needs to make sure they do not go off track and provide the best environment for the team to excel. This leadership is very important for a team to function at optimal levels.
The Team and Company Culture – Part 1
Posted by: | CommentsDoes a company really believe that is team is more productive than individual contributors? Take a look at the how a company does performance reviews and compensation.
Most performance reviews focus on how the individual performed in the last year. After the review the individual is informed as to what their new compensation with be. Very little is considered about the team they are working on. The following are some of the issues this causes for a team:
- The individual’s performance is more important than the team’s performance.
- Individuals feel reluctant to share their knowledge with the team.
- The team is not rewarded for performing well.
In most companies the culture is based on the individual not the team. So the individual is concerned that they will not receive the appropriate recognition if contributing to the success of a team.
Team Building and Focus
Posted by: | CommentsWhen there is a lack of focus this is a lack of teamwork. When each developer has other projects to work on they are not working together.
In an Agile team it is critical that each member has the same vision and goal. Unless the team is first the team will not succeed. When team members are more concerned about their own individual gaols instead of team goals you have lost the team focus.
Unless we can all capture the same vision we will fail. Oh, we may get a product out the door but will it be the best product we could have produced if we were focus.
In order to produce quality team work and capture the vision we have to spend quantity time together. This means working side by side with each other for hours a day. Time spent together ends up creating a team works together well an helps keep them focused on the vision.
Team Focus or Lack of it
Posted by: | CommentsDuring a sprint a team has to remain focused on the goal. So often the team gets distracted from the goal. Some of the sources of distraction are as follows:
- Other Projects
- Personal issues
- Lack of hardware
- Lack of team synergy
Other Projects
These can range from pet project from a manager to the previous project a team member was working on. Also, there always seems to be an emergency project that needs to be worked on. All of these affect the velocity of a team and may affect if the team is able to finish the user stories it has committed to. It is important that the ScrumMaster communicates to the management and product owner how much other projects are affecting the team and when they become major impediments. I my role as a ScrumMaster this has been the most prevalent issues I had to deal with. It is no fun when you have to tell a resource manager you report to that they are affecting the viability of a project.
Personal Problems
All of us face time when we have family issues or have physical problems that need attention. Unfortunately our jobs may be the cause of many of our problems. Our jobs cause stress that may affect our health and our families. It is important that we create a healthy work environment that does not cause excessive stress. Employees need to have time with their families and time for recreation to keep a healthy body. A good exercise routine leads to a more productive employee and less visit to the doctor. If we keep to a 40 hour work week we will have time to spend with our families.
Lack of hardware
It in uncalled for that companies invest in adequate hardware for their employees. Niceties such as dual large monitor, powerful laptops and large disk drives are cheep compared the cost of a employee. Necessary hardware should be available to the employee without having to go through excessive red tape. Also the supporting build and testing environments should be setup and supported from the beginning. There is no excuse for the lack of good hardware.
Lack of team synergy
So often a team is a team in name only. So often the individuals are just working on their tasks and nothing else. If they finish early they will find something that interests them to do and not even consider what other task they can work on.
In a productive team the members learn how to leverage each others strengths. They work together for a single purpose. There is no individual recognition. We as a team work together toward the goal of finishing the sprint goals. Each member makes sure they do their part by taking on available tasks.
User Story Sizing and Acceptance Criteria
Posted by: | CommentsWhen doing sizing with story points people will get hung up on the details. They want all of the acceptance test requirements understood. The beauty of story points is that they have no units of time associated with them. We are just look at relative complexity compare to other stories in our back log. So if each story is at the same level of understanding it all works out.
It is not necessary to do detailed acceptance criteria before sizing. The acceptance criteria should be very general. Such as what is the expected result and what are critical negative cases. We do not need to deal with the wireframes or UI at this time. This will be done during the iteration planning. Here is an example from the a team backlog:
Confirm – Email – Indicate email not listed
As an agent, I want the system to provide an option, so that I can indicate that the email that the customer wants to confirm is not listed.
Acceptance:
Expected: Agent enters an email that has not been previously used and the system indicates the email can be confirmed.
Negative: Agent enters a email that is in the system and the system indicates the email cannot be confirmed for the customer.