10 Essential Facts About Scrum

Scrum is fast becoming the hottest thing in project management.

It’s the most prominent of a number of Agile techniques which fix “Time” and “Cost” – rather than “Features”.  That’s not to say that the goal of delivering a defined outcome and associated benefits is in any way diminished.

These techniques were first developed for software development projects – but in today’s climate they will resonate with those working in many other sectors.

Scrum is not the answer for every project but it includes very effective techniques which can be applied where appropriate – possibly to subsets of larger projects and programmes being run in more conventional ways.

The following notes will not make you a “Scrum Master” – but they may whet your appetite and encourage you to explore the books, websites and courses suggested below.

1. The name “Scrum” emerged as a rugby analogy where a self organising team moves  down the field - together
2. Many projects involve learning, innovation and surprises, so a major recurring theme of Scrum is to “inspect and adapt”
3. “Sprints” of intense activity are launched with a planning meeting and close with a Sprint Retrospective. This review questions “what we should start, stop and continue doing”
4. “Stand-up” meetings are held daily during Sprints when each member briefly states what’s completed, what they will do next, and what’s in their way
5. The “Product Owner” identifies product features in the form of a prioritised list and is responsible for ROI
6. The “Team” is typically a dedicated group of 5-10 people with the different skill sets needed to deliver the product
7. The “Scrum Master” is a facilitator rather than a manager – guiding the Team, resolving issues and interfacing with the Product Owner
8. The “Product Backlog” is a definitive and prioritised list of remaining features and tasks – so becomes the product road map
9. The “Sprint Burndown” tracks estimated hours work outstanding against the “time-boxed” Sprint hours available
10. Scrum is not just about processes – it’s a different style of working which is energetic, collaborative, and flexible.

>> Buy Ken Schwaber’s “Agile Project Management with Scrum”
>> Find other Scrum books and resources
>> Explore Scrum training courses
>> Upcoming Scrum Master Certification courses
>> Download the “Scrum Primer” from the Scrum Alliance website
>> Using Agile in a legal practice – Larry Port
>> What’s Different about Agile

Blogalot - July 2010

What’s Different about Agile?

Agile is advancing rapidly up project management and systems development agendas worldwide.  Specific approaches such as Scrum are becoming mainstream.  It’s not new. DSDM has origins in the 1990s.  The Agile Manifesto was written by advocates of iterative and incremental development methods in 2001.

The table below is derived from the 2005 book “Challenges of Migrating to Agile Methodologies” by Sridhar P Nerur (et al).

The vital issue for those attracted to the concept of Agile is, for any given situation, to balance the benefits of a responsive and flexible approach with one that imposes more rigour and discipline.

>> Agile Training Courses
>> ScrumMaster Courses
>> DSDM Atern Courses
>> The Agile Manifesto

Blogalot - June 2010

Agile Project Management - 10 Golden Rules

Successful Application of Approaches such as DSDM Atern and RAD is Underpinned by Essential Rules

Agile project management specialist, Keith Richards, has distilled 10 golden rules based on his personal experience of facilitating and leading agile projects in hundreds of organisations. He shared these at the recent Best Practice User Group Showcase in London.

1. Define the project objective in less than 10 words
- all team members should be able to write it on a post-it note
2. Build a team with those who can say “can”
- “if you think you can’t, you can’t” (Carol Bartz)
3. Go slow early to go fast
- do enough design up front
4. Look backwards to go forwards
- learn lessons along the way
5. Change is great!
- Agile techniques are designed to handle changing requirements
6. To be understood, seek first to understand
- A great bit of philosophy from Stephen Covey
7. Collect actuals - this is the oxygen for your project
- You can’t control what you can’t measure (Tom DeMarco)
8. Use fat communications channels
- Go Face to Face!
9. Work hard at controlling what you can’t control
- Or at least control the consequences of what you can’t control
10. One more day? NO.
- Zero time tolerance - this is the NUMBER ONE rule

>> DSDM courses at Focus
>> PRINCE2 courses at Focus
>> Buy ‘Agile Project Management: running PRINCE2 projects with DSDM Atern’ by Keith Richards
>> Focus LinkedIn group

Blogalot  June 2009