Tiago Andrade e Silva - scrumpt.com

Apresentações da primeira reunião utilizadores Scrum

2008-10-20T11:41:00Z

Eis as apresentações utilizadas durante o primeiro encontro de utilizadores de Scrum :

Scrum Principles and Values - Mitch Lacey - Scrum Principles and Values.pdf
Top 9 challenges of adopting Scrum - Cesario Ramos - Challenges_in_adopting_scrum.pdf
Scrum in a Waterfall Country: Brazilian Cases - Alexandre Magno - Scrum_In_a_Waterfall_Country.pdf
Distributed Scrum project for Dutch railways - Jan Vermeir - Distributed_Scrum_for_Dutch_Railways.pdf
Scrum e Microsoft Visual Team System - Tiago Pascoal - Scrum e Team System.pdf

Classic Mistakes

2008-10-09T09:05:56Z

Eight years ago I read the book Radid Development by Steve McConnell. In this book Steve presents the classic mistakes in software development and I found it "very funny" to notice that my company was doing exactly the same mistakes that Steve pointed out like: Feature Creep, Gold-Plating, Adding people to a late project, etc.

Today I came across a interesting whitepaper where Construx updates these classic mistakes after surveing 500 Software Practicioners. They introduce some new classic mistakes like Confusing estimates with targets or Excessive multi-tasking among others.

Primeiro encontro do Grupo Português da Scrum Alliance

2008-09-09T16:55:00Z

No próximo dia 19 de Setembro terá lugar o primeiro encontro do Grupo Português da Scrum Alliance.

Haverá apresentações de diversos oradores internacionais, entre os quais Mitch Lacey(CST), Alexandre Magno (CSP- Brasil) , Cesário Ramos (CSM - Holanda), Jan Vermeir (CSM). Os tópicos falarão sobre "Agile Principles - Why We Do What We Do", "Distributed Scrum project for Dutch railways", Scrum in a Waterfall Country: Brazilian Cases, um debate e um conjnunto de tópicos a definir pelos participantes.

O encontro será no auditório da Microsoft.

Quick Start to Sprint Backlog template

2008-08-28T08:41:23Z

I started using Mitch Lacey's Sprint Backlog Templates in our scrum projects. Here is a small guide to help someone new to it quickly start using it.

A. Preparing the ground  - The initial tasks you need to do to prepare the template for your project:

1. Fill in the team roster. The Alias will be used in the other sheets (Driver column in the Sprint Sheet). The alias should not changed after the other sheets are filled (unless you change sprint data - Column Sprint!$F).

Fill in any extra information about the team. All information besides the alias will be purely informational.

Also in this sheet, you should fill in the Sprint Vision (Team Roster!$C$4) so it is clear for all members of the team.

2. Set the sprint start date in Capacity!$E$3

If your dates are not in US format you need to manually change the week days in column D because formula for I6 expects English week days.

3. Specify your options for the project in the Analysis!E40:E47:

a. SkipWeekends (Analysis!E40) - (0=30 calendar days; 1=30 working days). Set to 1 to have dates skip over weekends (30 working day sprint, >30 calendar day sprint). Do not switch after Sprint has started or data will be stored under wrong days.

b. DailyScrumDateModifier (Analysis!E41) -Number of days added to or subtracted from today's date to ensure the highlighted date column in the sprint worksheet corresponds to the day of the current daily Scrum meeting. In the Spint worksheet, Today's day will be highlighted. This value adjusts the day that is highlighted. Negative number to go back from today's date; positive number to go forward from today's date.

Do not change the Workbook-Wide Constants These are constants for the formulas used elsewhere.

4. Define your functional areas in Project Specific Reports!A9:A24. If you need to change the number of columns you will need to adjust the Data validation of columns B of the Sprint Worksheet by going to Data, and then Data Validation menu.

5. Fill in the Sprint Backlog items

a. Worktype - select between Feature, Tax, Precondition or spike

i. Feature - describes functionality that will be valuable to either a user or purchaser of a system or software.

ii. Tax - A tax is the cost of doing business

iii. Precondition - Preconditions are items that must happen at the completion

iv. Spike - Brief experiment to learn more about an area of application. Timeboxed, which allows the spike to be estimated.

b. Deliverable Area - You can select from the functional areas of your project that you defined in step 4. This will allow you to get a report based on the functional areas.

c. Product Backlog Item or Group -

d. Work Item ID - The Id of the work item.

e. Sprint Work item Description - Description of the work to be done.

f. Driver - Who will be responsible to drive this work item.

g. Status - it is automatic set for "Complete";"In progress" and "pending". You can manually add "Postponed" and "Cancelled", so it shows up in the reports.

h. Pri - Priority of the Work item

i. Initial - The initial estimate for this work item.

B. Daily updates - The daily information to be updated on the template.

On the end of the day or the morning of the next day each person of the team needs to update the time spent with each work item and re-estimate the remaining time to complete the task.

Go to the correspondent Day of the iteration and fill :

1. Spent - Time spent during that day with that work item

2. Left - The remaining time to complete the work item. It can be higher then the previous Left value due to new knowledge you acquired during that day.

C. Analysis - Checking the flow of the sprint

On the Analysis worksheet you can see the burndown chart per items and hours and several other overall indicators that are self explanatory.

Semana de Eventos sobre Scrum em Setembro

2008-07-29T09:26:00Z

A Fullsix está a organizar um outro ciclo de eventos sobre Scrum que decorrerá em Setembro deste ano.

Haverá a repetição da certificação Scrum Master, e o workshop "Agile Estimation and Planning". As novidades são o workshop "Agile Requirements Gathering" e a primeira reunião do grupo Português da Scrum Alliance.

Eis a lista de eventos:

Certified Scrum Master - 15 e 16 Setembro de 2008
Agile Estimation and Planning - 17 de Setembro de 2008
Agile Requirements Management -18 de Setembro de 2008
First Annual Scrum Portuguese Users Group Meeting -19 de Setembro de 2008

Scrum garante alta performance empresarial

2008-07-22T13:16:00Z

Recentemente a Semana Informática publicou um artigo sobre Scrum como resultado de uma entrevista feita ao Mitch Lacey .

O mesmo pode ser lido em

http://www.semanainformatica.xl.pt/892/act/300.shtml

Documentação Ágil

2008-05-15T17:22:19Z

Um dos principios do Agile Manifesto é "Working software over comprehensive documentation".

O que faz pensar na questão sobre qual e quanta documentação é que é precisa.

Coloquei esta questão ao Mitch Lacey numa entrevista que lhe fiz no início deste ano. A resposta pode ser vista aqui. No entanto, ao ler o livro Agile Database Techniques reparei numa secção sobre documentação que achei muito interessante.

Aqui está um resumo (em inglês)

Documentation is an intrinsic part of any system. The creation and maintenance of which is a "necessary Evil". Liek agile models, agile documents are just barely good enough.

A document is agile when it meets the following criteria:

Agile documents maximize stakeholder investment- The benefit provided by an agile document is greater than the investment in its creation and maintenance.
Agile documents are "lean and mean" - They contain just enough information to fulfill its purpose, in other words it is as simple as it can possibly be. Bullets form is allowed. Content is more important than representation.
Agile documents fulfill a purpose- They fulfill a single defined purpose. If you don't know why you are creating the document, or the purpose is questionable, then stop and rethink what you are doing.
Agile documents describe information that is not likely to change- The greater the chance that information will change the less value there is in investing significant time writing about it.
Agile documents describe "good things to know"- They capture critical information, information that is not readily obvious.
Agile documents have a specific customer and facilitate the work efforts of that customer - A document written for maintenance developers is different from user documentation or tutorial. Work closely with the customer for your documentation if you want to create something that will meet their needs.
Agile documents are sufficiently accurate, consistent and detailed - Agile documents don't need to be perfect, they just need to be good enough.
Agile documents are sufficiently indexed - Documentation isn't effective if you cannot easily find the information contained in it.

From the book Agile Database Techniques: Effective Strategies for the Agile Software Developer (Wiley Application Development) (Paperback), by Scott Amber

Novo Ciclo de eventos Agile / Scrum

2008-04-08T14:23:00Z

Após o grande sucesso que foram os eventos sobre Scrum organizados em janeiro pela Fullsix, Mitch Lacy irá estar novamente em Portugal na semana de 21 de abril de 2008.

A agenda de eventos que conta com o apoio da Microsoft é:

Dia 21 e 22 : Certified Scrum Master

Dia 23: Agile Estimation and Planning

Dia 24: Scrum for Managers (de manhã) - Auditório da Microsoft.

Scrum for Clientes (tarde) - Auditório da Microsoft.

Interview with Mitch Lacey

2008-03-10T14:29:00Z

Last January Fullsix Portugal brought Mitch Lacey to present in Portugal a series of events related to Scrum: "Scrum for Managers" and "Certified Scrum Master".

This interview took place after his stay in Portugal.

Tiago Andrade e Silva: The number of inscriptions in the sessions you presented in Portugal were completely over everyone’s initial thoughts. Why do you think that happened ?

Mitch Lacey: I would like to think it was because of me, but I’m a realist and know it was not. J Scrum has been growing exponentially worldwide over the last four years. The last time I checked, there were over 25,000 ScrumMasters worldwide. When I became involved in Scrum in 2003-2004, there were just over 3000 ScrumMasters. I think people realize that traditional development methods do not form-fit every software project and people are looking for better methods to deliver value to our customers. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Scrum is another tool in a company’s tool belt, and people want the right tool for the right job.

Tiago Andrade e Silva: How did working in Microsoft influence your professional life and especially your adoption of the Agile methods ?

Mitch Lacey: I am very thankful for Microsoft, specifically Michael Corrigan, who supported my desire to improve our organization through the experimentation and eventual adoption of Scrum and other agile practices and principles. Microsoft is a very unique place with very special people. Without the flexibility I had at Microsoft, I would not be where I am today. My current employer, Ascentium (http://www.ascentium.com) is also very supportive of my efforts in building the agile community worldwide. Without their support, I would not have been able to meet and work with you or Microsoft Portugal. I am pretty lucky.

Tiago Andrade e Silva: On most of the questions posed by the attendees to the several sessions you presented, they stated that Portuguese Culture is different, so, scrum would be more difficult to apply or could not be applied. Is that a common statement despite the culture ? Do you hear it a lot ?

Mitch Lacey: Tiago, I hear a lot of questions that are very similar to this. The most common concerns are:

· My company is unique, Scrum or agile cannot work here

· We deliver a unique product, agile won’t work here

· Our culture will not support agile or Scrum

I think that when we look at national cultures, we have many variances. As I learned in my trip to Portugal, morning is a nebulous time. I learned that first hand. I do believe, however, that people all have a common set of principles when it comes to business and social interaction. We all want to do what is right, we all want to deliver value to our customers, we all want to feel like we are making a difference. I have not come across a company or a culture that does not strive for this. In the end, it is all a matter of perspective and how open people are to change.

Tiago Andrade e Silva: How can we use scrum to manage the dependencies between tasks ? Especially the external dependencies like client approval of creative design ?

Mitch Lacey: Scrum is not a silver bullet, and there are no magical practices in Scrum that allows teams to manage dependencies between tasks or external dependencies like client approval of creative design. What Scrum will do is highlight the areas that need improvement in your organization – it will make the dysfunction that exists between teams and/or clients the center of attention. How these problems are addressed are ultimately up to company leaders and teams. I have techniques for managing this that are covered in the Certified ScrumMaster course that is scheduled for April in Lisbon – we’ll get into it heavily there. J

Tiago Andrade e Silva: One of the principles of the Agile Manifesto is “Working software over comprehensive documentation”. How much documentation is the right documentation ?

Mitch Lacey: The right amount of documentation is just that, the right amount and no more. How much is the right amount? That depends on several factors, two of them being the customer and the organization. How much documentation does the customer need for us to deliver an application? If the application is a web site that collects addresses for a marketing promotion and it will only be used one time, the right amount of documentation required may be light. On the other hand, if a team is building a banking website that allows people to fulfill online transaction, there will be federal regulations in place. As a result, the right amount of documentation will be significantly higher. The key point of the Agile Manifesto is to deliver the right documentation for your project or customer and to not deliver documentation for the sake of just delivering documentation.

Tiago Andrade e Silva: How can scrum be used in teams that handle multiple concurrent projects ?

Mitch Lacey: I think the quickest way to get something done is to start it and finish it, regardless of the method being used to manage the project. What I mean by this is that is a person has to split his/her time across multiple, concurrent project, that person will have a lot of work that is in progress. Work in progress is like having goods that are in manufacturing – they partially comprised of raw materials and some of the goods are closer to finished. A car on an assembly line that has every part except the engine cannot be sold – it is unfinished. Having it sit there is waste. This is similar in software when we ask people to split their time across multiple projects – there is enormous waste. Scrum will not solve these problems, but it will certainly highlight them and force them to be addressed (or ignored).

Tiago Andrade e Silva: Which are the biggest challenges that the companies that start to adopt Scrum encounter ?

Mitch Lacey: The biggest challenges I see are companies that are not ready for the problems that Scrum exposes and companies that adopt part of Scrum and call it Scrum. When they do the latter, they fool themselves into thinking they will receive the benefits of Scrum without putting in the hard work of the actual implementation. Managing agile projects takes an extremely high amount of discipline to stay focused and keep the project on track. If this is ignored, people will fail.

Tiago Andrade e Silva: Can you tell us a little about the book you are writing ?

Mitch Lacey: The book What to Expect the First Year saved our marriage when our first child was born. In moments we felt we were going insane, that book helped us to realize that we were going through a normal process that parents have gone through for generations. We took comfort in the knowledge that the changes and feelings we were experiencing were not new to the world, just new to us. The book gave us a glimpse of the milestones and obstacles waiting around the next corner and anticipated our questions with enough clarity and examples to allow us to address our baby’s needs.

My first Agile project felt a bit like my first year as a father. Most of the time, I was lost and unsure about where to turn. What I needed was a What to Expect when You’re Adopting Agile book!

Since no such book existed at the time, my team and I muddled through as best we could. As the project champion, I built a team that was open to experimenting and evolving to Agile. We were determined to become better, and better we became. We read a new book every other week, and experimented with the concepts and ideas in that book. It was not easy; we made as many bad decisions as we made good ones. It took a lot of discipline and patience to work through our issues and team dysfunctions, but we did it.

We constantly asked ourselves, “Should we be progressing the way we are? What are we missing and what can we improve?” What was missing was a book that was only one step ahead of where we were as a team.

These days, when coaching teams that are evolving to Agile, I always ask how their adoption is progressing. They inevitably reply with a long list of problems they are having. Without fail, their list mirrors the list of problems I encountered on my first Agile project. New teams struggle with building a release plan, identifying and prioritizing requirements and creating potentially releasable software within an iteration.

Adopting Agile: 101 Tips for Surviving the First Year puts the crucial first year into perspective. Just like the parents who need reassurance that what they are experiencing is normal, this book will help reassure new agile adopters that what they are experiencing may be new to them, but is common to teams the world over. This book provides real-world stories, examples and exercises that an executive, manager or team member can use to survive the experience of evolving their organization to Agile principles & practices.

I have the full table of contents on my website at http://www.mitchlacey.com

Tiago Andrade e Silva: What sessions do you foresee for the next cycle of events on your next visit to Portugal in April ?

Mitch Lacey: I feel extremely lucky to be asked to return to Portugal to provide more workshops on agile and Scrum. The needs we identified in our last trip were around more development practices, estimation practices and more Scrum workshops. As a result, we are working on building an agenda that covers the following:

· Practicing and doing Test-Driven Development course

· Certified ScrumMaster course (maybe two of them)

· Agile Estimation and Planning course

· Certified Product Owner course

· Implementing Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2008

Given that we only have five days, it will be challenging – hopefully we can offer more solutions to the Portuguese software community in July or August!

Lastly, it was an honor to be able to come to Portugal to do the workshops. The people, culture and history of Portugal was amazing. Thank you to everyone who I had the opportunity to meet and participate in the workshops – It was truly the best group I have ever had!

Tiago Andrade e Silva: Thank you very much Mitch!

For more information regarding the next Certified Scrum Master visits http://www.fullsix.pt/scrum/

Novo Curso "Certified Scrum Master" a 21 de Abril

2008-02-14T17:52:00Z

A Fullsix irá organizar um novo ciclo de eventos Scrum com o Mitch Lacey na semana de 21 de Abril de 2008.

Um dos eventos será o segundo ciclo Certified Scrum Master.

Já existem muitas pré inscrições de pessoas que já não tiveram lugar no primeiro ciclo mas ainda há lugares livres.

Mais informações e registo em http://www.fullsix.pt/scrum/

Slides evento Scrum for Managers

2008-02-11T14:44:00Z

O Mitch Lacey disponibilizou os slides que foram apresentados no evento "Scrum for Managers" que decorreu no auditório do Taguspark no passdo dia 1 de Fevereiro de 2008.

Os slides encontram-se em http://mitchlacey.com/docs/scrumformanagers.pdf

Certified Scrum Master course in Lisboa

2008-01-24T22:27:00Z

A Fullsix organizou pela primeira vez em Portugal um ciclo de eventos relacionados com a metodologia de desenvolvimento Scrum.

Estão organizados diversos eventos com o formador certificado Mitch Lacey :

Scrum for Managers na Microsoft (Inscrições esgotadas em 24 horas)
Certified Scrum Master (esgotado)
Team Foundation Server e Scrum

Dado o sucesso destes eventos está já a ser organizado um segundo ciclo de certificação na semana de 7 de Abril de 2008.