Scrum

Scrum And Kanban — Like Day And Night

It’s true — the contrast between Scrum and Kanban is like Day and Night! Look at this angle: Kanban stories go through major phases...without ‘sprint’ boundaries... days go by without the story ever changing phase...like a story could be in the ‘Doing’ phase beyond two weeks (Sprint in SAFe is two weeks... Sprint is called iteration in SAFe). Unlike Scrum. Stories in Scrum had to be started, worked on, completed and done within a Sprint/Iteration. Kanban is like the moon... it has major phases that go on for a long time — beyond 12 hours; Scrum is like the sun...…
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Kanban or Scrum

So... should a team be Kanban or scrum? Let the team decide... then adapt from there. I see the beauty of both. In SAFe, it does not matter which agile framework you use...as long as all teams that are involved in delivering the solution are in cadence and in synch with each other.
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No Two Scrum Teams Are Identical… And That’s Okay!

No Two Scrum Teams Are Identical… And That’s Okay!

I still yet to see two scrum teams that are identical... have you? There is always something different that makes them not identical... Just like no game of Chess is identical to another Sure ... there are similar Scrum teams or similar games of chess ... but never identical... It is because Scrum and Chess are both about people. We are all unique. Even identical twins...one can discern their differences...as such, one can't treat them the same way... That's why when Hitachi Tools tried to implement Toyota's TPS ... they failed ... TPS as it is implemented at Toyota did…
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The Psychological View of Scrum

The Psychological View of Scrum

What can I say... I love both Scrum and Chess ... I can draw parallelism between these two in terms of my state of consciousness when I am scrimmaging with teams or playing tournament chess. For both, I always achieve a state of 'flow' ... which has the following characteristics: I am working to accomplish clear tactical and strategic goals I get immediate feedback I must use significant skills to achieve my goals I am in control of my work and game and I have in my power to accomplish my goals I can concentrate on my goals I become…
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The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum

The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum

Currently enjoying reading "The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum" I recommend this book. Written by Dave West (CEO of Scrum.org) with two others...with foreword by Ken Schwaber (co-founder of Scrum). Met Dave West in person in Jan 2019, we chatted after his speech, then signed my copy of his book, "The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum" It is promising... I love the simplicity; a SAFe alternative... or potentially a SAFe killer. Watch item.
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Mission: Impossible (The Movie) and Scrum

Mission: Impossible (The Movie) and Scrum

Question: What is common between Ethan's Mission Impossible (MI) team and a Scrum team? Ethan and his MI team Answer: 1) both are willing to commit to a goal; 2) both have the notion that a team of people will have absolute autonomy and full authority to do its best; 3) the team decides how to do the work it selected or decided to accept (specially in Ethan's case). The MI team's Boss MI Bosses and the Scrum framework have something in common as well: both provide their respective team all the authority it needs to meet its commitment. Scrum…
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Pigs and Chickens

Pigs and Chickens

A chicken and a pig are together when the chicken says, "Let's start a 'Bed and Breakfast' business!" The pig replies, "What would we call this 'Bed and Breakfast' business?" The chicken says, "Ham and Egg B&B!" The pig says, "No thanks. I'd be committed, but you'd only be involved" --- Anonymous The story highlights the fact that in Scrum, the scrum team is committed to the goal of the sprint. They are the "pigs" in the story. The rest are just chickens...involved but not committed. These are the people who need to keep track of the Sprint... such as…
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The Power of Pull

The Power of Pull

An idea pushed to people is less successful in terms of its appreciation compared to an idea pulled in by the people. Example: a speaker who is simply dumping information to the audience is less successful compared to a speaker who is stirring the audiences' curiosity... the audience continuously pulling in information...they are drawn-in to what is being revealed to them -- an idea -- one piece at a time, and in the right sequence. Don't push in your idea, let your idea be pulled in by invoking curiosity. An audience must be curious enough and ready to entertain your…
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Mission: The Art of the  Possible

Mission: The Art of the Possible

"One of the fundamentals of Scrum is 'the art of the possible.' That is, Scrum instructs teams not to dwell on what can't be done, but to think about what can be done" -- Ken Schwaber (co-founder of Scrum). Given a Sprint and given your Team, what can be done, what is possible? Find out what is possible! It is impossible to do all we find out in one go; however, it is possible to find out what we can do now: the one with the highest priority! Once you find that out, make that your Sprint Goal, go do…
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Scrum = Football, A Metaphor

Scrum = Football, A Metaphor

Scrum meetings = Huddle A day of work = a down, In football, the team gets 4 chances to move the football forward 10 yards. A Sprint = First and ten. In football, the team gets 4 chances to move the football forward 10 yards. The first down is the first chance (the first time the team tries to move the ball). IF the team moves forward 10 or more yards, they've "made" the first down. Now they get 4 chances to move the football forward 10 yards AGAIN. They get another first down.If they don't get the full 10…
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What is the Heart of Scrum?

What is the Heart of Scrum?

"The heart of Scrum is assessing the condition of activities and empirically determining what to do next." -- Ken Schwaber, Inventor of Scrum (with Jeff Sutherland) Empiricism: Transparency, Inspection, Adaptation. Determination of what to do next arises from what's openly observed and inspected, from experience, training, and common sense (sometimes it is not common at all). We adapt to the situation based on these information...empirically determining what to do next. Example: Demo. The beauty of a demo -- within a sprint/iteration, program increment, or large solution --  is this: it allows one to observe and experience what has been created…
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Teaching  Rewards Us All

Teaching Rewards Us All

If you teach someone how to play chess, you have someone to play with. If you teach chess to few more people, we have more people to play with. Pretty soon, we can all have a tournament on a given weekend. And we all have fun playing chess together. Scrum is like chess. It has rules...and very teachable... it scales up to a lot of people. Teach one person on how scrum works. Then teach another one...and another one... And we all have fun delivering something of valuable together. Teaching rewards us all.
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