by Bob Hartman on January 5, 2010
Time for another chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate. This month’s theme is “Getting a Fresh Start” so the question is going to be about starting an agile project. This question is simple, but has a lot of nuances which make a complete answer imperitive. Remember, everyone is eligible no matter who they are, but also remember that I am the final arbiter and my decision is the one that counts. Keep in mind that I am a Certified Scrum Coach so that will be my perspective. As in the last contest I won’t be answering questions (much) and please list any assumptions I should make when reading your answer. Please your answer in the comments section below so we can all see it. Also use a real email address when leaving the comment since that address has to be valid in order to get the Amazon gift certificate. [click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on January 4, 2010
Back on September 23, 2009, I posted a blog entry titled “New to agile? What does the ScrumMaster do anyway?” The response was amazing. It was easily the most popular blog posting I’ve ever created. It made me realize people are starving for information about the ScrumMaster role and what it entails. At the time I didn’t quite know what I could do to give people more on the topic without boring myself writing it and boring YOU with dry content. Then I thought maybe this could be fun for all of us if I wrote it as a continuing story. Sound like fun to you? It certainly sounded like more fun to me to do it that way! Brilliant (I hope!).
So, based on my brilliant idea, this is the introduction to “The ScrumMaster Diaries.” It is a fictional account of an organization converting to Scrum. It is VERY loosely based on some things I have actually witnessed, but all of the names have been changed (to protect the guilty) and even if people see themselves in these blog postings I doubt I was really basing it on them anyway. Each person in the story is more of a blend of people, not specific individuals. [click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on January 1, 2010
This will be a monthly feature during 2010 and beyond. I’m going to give you some blog posts, articles and popular items from right here that I think are interesting enough to share. There is plenty of good stuff here, so take your time exploring… [click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on December 31, 2009
The new year starts tonight. I’m extremely excited because I have HUGE plans for this blog during 2010. I don’t know if I can live up to all of the things I want to do so I decided to make my goals public. I find when I make my goals public I am more likely to reach them. I’m hoping so anyway! [click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on December 30, 2009
Was 2009 a good year or a bad year for you? I have to admit it was a good year for Agile For All. We hit almost every goal we set. We far exceeded some of them. On a few we came up short, but like a good agile team we made sure those were the ones of lowest overall value. If during 2010 we have similar performance in relation to our goals then we will be very satisfied. We were responsive to our clients and we definitely were Making Agile a Reality® for them. We met our company mission while living our principles and values every day. It has been satisfying to see our clients become successful, but it has been even more satisfying seeing them recommend us to other companies and friends. For those opportunities I want to take a moment and thank all of our clients. Without you our company value of being sustainable wouldn’t be possible! [click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on December 29, 2009
Do you want to see several different ways agile and scrum burn-down charts can lie? If so, you are in the right place! This month I went on a burn-down chart craze and posted several blog entries about the different ways those charts can lie to us or expose us to team dysfunction. In order, the blog entries are:
The whole series had a LOT of web hits, so clearly I’ve touched a nerve. Good luck improving your agile or scrum metrics. Sometime next year I’ll do a series on metrics in general. Our current state of the art for agile teams is pretty pathetic because the data can be skewed so badly (as shown by all of these blog posts).
Until next time I’ll be Making Agile a Reality® by helping people understand the real meaning behind their agile burn down charts.
by Bob Hartman on December 28, 2009
That burndown chart looks sweet doesn’t it? The team finished the iteration on time. What could possibly be wrong. Well, a lot actually. Notice that one day this team completed a tremendous amount of work. Do you ever see teams really do that? It certainly could be a symptom of allowing large stories and they just got completed that day. But I’m not buying it. When I see a chart like this I immediately think the team is hiding something. Most of the time they are hiding that they changed the scope for the iteration. They saw their trajectory and simply said we have to remove some scope in order to have a successful iteration. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO DO THIS!!! There are far better ways to fail. If a team starts to believe this is ok then they will use it as a fallback position too often. How do I know this is the situation? Easy, I look at the burnUP chart.
[click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on December 23, 2009
This blog entry is being posted on Wednesday, December 23 at noon MST. Why? Because I don’t plan to be on my computer very much, if at all, between then and sometime on December 28th. Between those two dates I intend to watch my favorite movie a number of times. Yes, my favorite movie of all time is “Miracle on 34th Street” in the original black and white version. It has been my favorite movie for as long as I can remember.
One of the reasons I like the movie is because in many ways I can relate to the character portrayed by a very young Natalie Wood. She goes from being very logical and not believing to believing with all her heart because she sees something which literally transforms her thinking. This happens to me all the time. I like to think I’m pretty open-minded about things, but a lot of the time I’m really not that open-minded. Instead I am like Susan Walker (Wood’s character) who is completely consumed with logic and what she knows she knows. Fortunately, like little Susan I can be persuaded, it just isn’t easy. It takes something pretty big and special. Fortunately that happens a lot!
When a transforming event occurs it changes my life and makes me a better person. This has happened to me in all areas of life including business, personal relationships, sports and anything else you can name. I’m always thankful for all of those great events. At this time of year I try to take the time to appreciate them all more fully and part of that is enjoying personal and spiritual time with the people I care most about. So, despite the fact I love interacting with those of you out there in cyberspace, it is time for me to take some time away this week and be with family and friends.
Until next time I hope you are Making Agile a Reality® by remembering to be sustainable (don’t work overtime this week!) and enjoying life while appreciating work.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas or at least enjoy this time of year (depending on your spiritual beliefs). I know for me it is truly the most wonderful time of the year!
by Bob Hartman on December 22, 2009
Ever see a burndown chart like the one to the left? I’ve been on a big burndown chart kick lately and when I saw this one I just couldn’t resist using it. This one is a bit different from my previous blog entries here and here. This burndown chart is a release burndown rather than an iteration burndown. It sure looks like the team was incredibly successful and finished early, right? Wrong! What this burndown actually shows is all of the stories being “done” and the release not actually occurring for several more iterations. How is that possible? [click to continue…]
by Bob Hartman on December 21, 2009
I’m honored to be the featured speaker at the January 28, 2010 meeting of the Phoenix Scrum User Group. I’ll be making a presentation called “Doing Agile Isn’t the Same as BEING Agile!” The presentation is loosely based on my blog entry “Agile antipattern: Doing Agile!“ If you are in the Phoenix area please stop by on the evening of the 28th and introduce yourself. The basic abstract for the presentation is below. Go to the Phoenix Scrum User Group home page for more details (should be updated soon).
Doing Agile Isn’t the Same as BEING Agile
People often say “We’re doing agile at my company.” What does that really mean? Unfortunately it usually means the organization has picked a small number of agile practices they attempt to do without really paying attention to the overall results. If a company is “doing agile well” it may even mean they are doing as many agile practices as possible. However, in practice there is a big difference between “doing agile” and “being agile!” Companies BEING Agile perform better than companies doing agile. They see higher morale among their employees. They use Agile as a tool rather than a process. Most importantly, being Agile means being devoted to the principles which drive success rather than hoping the practices will drive success. Whether you are using XP, Scrum, AUP, Crystal or another agile methodology come learn the basic principles and how to internalize them so your team, organization or enterprise can BE agile rather than DO agile!
Time for another chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate. This month’s theme is “Getting a Fresh Start” so the question is going to be about starting an agile project. This question is simple, but has a lot of nuances which make a complete answer imperitive. Remember, everyone is eligible no matter who they are, but also remember that I am the final arbiter and my decision is the one that counts. Keep in mind that I am a Certified Scrum Coach so that will be my perspective. As in the last contest I won’t be answering questions (much) and please list any assumptions I should make when reading your answer. Please your answer in the comments section below so we can all see it. Also use a real email address when leaving the comment since that address has to be valid in order to get the Amazon gift certificate. [click to continue…]
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