Agile Fashion » Scrum

Applying to Become a Certified Scrum Trainer

Aaron — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:06:44 +0000

The Scrum Alliance is accepting new applicants to become Certified Scrum Trainers (CST) and I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring. If you would like to know why I am applying, please feel free to read my letter of intent.

Tobias Mayer has a post on the new CST application process, including a link to the full process description.

Kool-Aid, Dogfood or Champaigne?

Aaron — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:39:16 +0000

The saying, “you drank the Kool-Aid” may be a derisive way to say someone has been indoctrinated. Similar to a Borg-related “you will be assimilated“. Admitting to drinking the Kool-Aid seems synonymous with “going native“. I think it’s worse than that. It’s forever linked to the Guyana Tragedy for me and is tantamount to committing suicide.

The concept of dogfooding I understand and I am a fan. Both of the verbification of nouns and of using your own product. Just not of the words. Similar to not wanting to be a pig, I do not want to be a pig noshing on some dog food. Although pigs are smarter than chickens. Pigs must not have that sophisticated of a palette, I guess. I wouldn’t want to work in a dog food factory that practiced this, either.

I am a fan of brew making and like to go wine tasting at smaller places. It helps me understand the craft so that I may try to practice it myself. Understanding all the ingredients, the process and the taste sought after. I think the phrase is gaining some popularity and I am now blatantly advocating for its use. Let’s drink our own champagne!

What Works Right Now?

Aaron — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:15:57 +0000

Agile infiltrates an increasing amount of organizations. Changes in the jargon detect its influence. Phrases and words like “inspect and adapt”, “vertical slice”, “velocity”, and “collaborate” start getting batted around like volleyballs at a beach party. People ask questions in the serious tone of a late-night host discovering what is interesting about the guest: “What is the highest ranked item?”, “What are the acceptance criteria?”, “What does the team think?”. Zealots mutter incomprehensible phrases like “maximize the work not done” and “tracking actual hours worked is unnecessary”. People insist it takes a shift in mindset to understand, and yet we don’t sign up for loosing ours in the bargain. How should this be dealt with? Where to start?

Some current activities must be worthwhile. Utilizing these new Agile tools for working, the team can gain consensus on what those things are. It’s not that what we’re doing is under investigation like a new federal appointee. How can the team carry on the best of the organization while remaining willing to change that which does not work and moving on?

With the basics understood, one way may be through reflecting on what works right now. Retrospect and close out the old while opening up to the new. This may be intensive, as the scope of the session could be broad and wide.

What works well for the team? These are the team’s working agreements. What works in the process? Map out how ideas turn in to revenue with a value stream.

The best way to capture the information is with high visibility. Hung on the wall and written to be read across a room. While analyzing the information the team also looks for immediate improvements and prepares the way to embrace the new Agile culture.

Using a retrospective approach in this way helps the team build consensus through collaboration. Keep an active meeting objective visible, as well as an area to park off-topic suggestions and ideas. With the iterative approach of Agile the team can also safely begin transitioning away from traditional behaviors and courageously embracing this modern approach to software development.