Category: Kunst, Art & Expressery

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Mova seu Scrum para o Meio de Campo (Seis Traços Essenciais do Jogo)

In my paper “Moving Your Scrum Downfield” I have described the six essential traits of the game of Scrum. They are the traits that underly the rules of the game and make Scrum work.

Vinicius Dos Santos has kindly translated my paper to Portuguese, as “Mova seu Scrum para o Meio de Campo (Seis Traços Essenciais do Jogo)”.

This feels like a great addition to the translation of my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide” to Portuguese as “Scrum – Um Guia de Bolso (Um companheiro de viagem inteligente).”

Following describes (in Portuguese) how the six essential traits of the game are indicative of Scrum coming to life (“Como os seis traços essenciais do jogo são indicativas de que o Scrum está a ganhar vida”):

  1. Scrum é simples, mas suficiente. Os jogadores desdobram o potencial do Scrum usando as regras simples que se aplicam e exploram como as táticas, interações, comportamentos e os seis traços essenciais fazem o Scrum funcionar.
  2. O DNA do Scrum. Os jogadores formam uma unidade auto-organizada em torno do desafio de criar colectivamente incrementos de trabalho observáveis e factuais, enquanto empregam empirismo para gerir todo o trabalho e progresso.
  3. Os Jogadores Demonstram Responsabilidade. Os jogadores contribuem para os valiosos resultados do sistema através de uma colaboração energética e da partilha e desafio de regras, acordos, habilidades, práticas, idéias e pontos de vista.
  4. Transparência para fluxos de valor. Os jogadores usam artefatos Scrum para manter a transparência sobre todo o trabalho feito e a ser feito, gerenciar um fluxo de valor e preservar a capacidade de capitalizar oportunidades imprevistas.
  5. Fechando os Ciclos. Os jogadores fecham regularmente e repetidamente os muitos ciclos de encravamento dentro de um Sprint até ao encerramento total no final de um Sprint e preservam a capacidade de se adaptar sem obstáculos ao nível macro.
  6. Os Valores Scrum. Os Valores Scrum de Compromisso, Foco, Abertura, Respeito e Coragem assumem destaque nos comportamentos, relacionamentos, ações e decisões dos atores e seu ecossistema.
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“A Few Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know”

My new book “97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know” is now available.

In a Zoom Webinar I have read following Things from the book:

  • article 4. Ken Schwaber – Scrum is simple. Just use it as is.
  • article 28. James O. Coplien – Specialization is for insects
  • article 30. Bas Vodde – Digital tools considered harmful: Jira
  • article 33. James W. Grenning – Agile is more than sprinting
  • article 58. Marcus Raitner – The court jester at the touchline
  • article 69. Stijn Decneut – How human nature overcomplicates what is already complex
  • article 84. Paul Oldfield – Networks and respect
  • article 91. Bob Warfield – The “standing meeting”
  • article 93. Jasper Lamers – Scrum events are rituals to ensure good harvest

Encore:

  • article 73. Daniel James Gullo – The effects of working from home

Besides the recorded episode being available on my YouTube channel, find the audio version on SoundCloud.

Thank you for watching. Thank you for the feedback. Thank you for being an inspiration to other Scrum practitioners.

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Availability of the book “97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know”

My new book “97 Things Every Scrum Practitioner Should Know” is widely available, electronically as well as in print.

Following are a few channels: eBooks.com, Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Spain, Google Books, Barnes & Noble, Bol.com, Computer Bookshop India, Amazon India, Books.com Taiwan, Amazon Japan and PWN Poland.

No fewer than 68 practitioners expended the effort to write one or more essays about Scrum for you. We did not invite them for their titles, ranks, or positions. We invited them because they have valuable insights to share with fellow practitioners like you. I thank every single one of them.
I thank you, reader, for buying the book, but even more for employing Scrum and for sharing and spreading how you make use of Scrum in addressing your specific challenges. Keep being an inspiration to other Scrum practitioners.

Find the full description of the book also at the website of the publisher, O’Reilly Media.

– – –

O’Reilly Media and I started collaborating on the book in August 2019. Looking back, I had no idea what I was getting into, where it would take me, or how much 97 is (a lot, actually, as I discovered). Inviting and working with authors from around the globe was an exciting endeavor however.

The work has much consumed (and sometimes drained and overwhelmed) me, but I am very happy with the result. Given the tons of available literature on Scrum, it proved not an easy feat trying to still make a difference. Thanks to the generous and insightful contributions of the participating authors, I believe we have done that.

I enjoyed looking for commonalities and shared themes as essays poured in. I have tried to group and order the collected essays in a way that makes sense to the many seeking Scrum practitioners out there. It was a way to create some flow across the book:

  • Part I. Start, Adopt, Repeat: 11 Things. Because adopting Scrum is more than just a one-time effort of introducing Scrum; it is a continual exercise of thinking, rethinking, and discovery.
  • Part II. Products Deliver Value: 11 Things. Because in a complex world of unstable requirements and ever-evolving technologies, “product” provides a minimal form of stability to organize your work with Scrum.
  • Part III. Collaboration Is Key: 10 Things. Because creating, sustaining, and evolving complex products and services in complex and changing environments requires collective intelligence, skills, and expertise.
  • Part IV. Development Is Multifaceted Work: 12 Things. Because development of complex products (in often complex circumstances) requires more than technically producing work (like coding or programming only).
  • Part V. Events, Not Meetings: 10 Things. Because what are commonly called the Scrum meetings are actually events that provide specific opportunities for inspection and adaptation.
  • Part VI. Mastery Does Matter: 12 Things. Because mastery matters not just for Scrum Masters, although they are quite important as masters of ceremony.
  • Part VII. People, All Too Human: 8 Things. Because development is done by people, often resulting in work for people. And people are…people.
  • Part VIII. Values Drive Behavior: 6 Things. Because Scrum is a framework of rules, principles, and…values. And values drive behavior.
  • Part IX. Organizational Design: 9 Things. Because introducing Scrum is not possible without impacting the organization and existing organizational structures.
  • Part X. Scrum Off Script: 8 Things. Because for Scrum practitioners to help shape the future of Scrum, we need imagination combined with historical awareness.

Fortunately, the essays can be read separately as well. At the end of the book, a Scrum Glossary was added, listing and explaining in the simplest way the terms used in the book.

Warm regards
Gunther
independent Scrum Caretaker

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Announcing the book “97 Things every Scrum practitioner should know”

During the fall of 2019, I got totally consumed (and sometimes drained and overwhelmed) by an exciting new Scrum book project. Having finalized the manuscript I finally feel comfortable sharing more information about it.

O’Reilly Media envisioned adding a book about Scrum to their “97 Things” series and got in touch with me (through Dave West of Scrum.org). By the end of August 2019, we decided to get started. I had the honor of curating the initiative. We agreed on calling our new book “97 Things every Scrum practitioner should know.” The goal was to compose a book consisting of 97 essays with diverse angles and perspectives on the Scrum framework from contributors globally.

I had no idea what I was getting into, or how much 97 actually is (a lot, I discovered), or where it would take me. But I liked the challenge. Once into it, I liked it so much that I decided to make it my main focus, holding off most other work request and re-ordering my existing plans. It turned out an exciting and insightful experience. I had the pleasure of collecting, editing and ordering essays about Scrum from seasoned Scrum practitioners across the planet on behalf of the many seeking Scrum practitioners out there.

In a few incremental waves, we ended up inviting 129 people to contribute, not minded by their title, organization or position. We invited potential contributors for their insights, past or on-going, and the potential value of sharing them with fellow practitioners. In the end, 69 authors accepted our invitation and delivered one or more articles (indeed, an average of 1.406 articles per author). I cannot thank them enough for going through the effort of writing down their thoughts, perspectives and experience, and their willingness to make them available for Scrum practitioners worldwide.

Find an overview of them, alphabetically sorted, in the PDF “97 Things every Scrum practitioner should know (Contributors).” Or try to recognize them on following overview:

In the current version of the manuscript, the 97 essays are grouped and ordered* along following themes:

  • “Start, Adopt, Repeat.” holds 11 Things.
  • “Products Deliver Value.” holds 11 Things.
  • “Collaboration Is Key.” holds 10 Things.
  • “Development Is Multi-faceted Work.” holds 12 Things.
  • “Events, Not Meetings.” holds 10 Things.
  • “Mastery Does Matter.” holds 12 Things.
  • “People, All Too Human.” holds 8 Things.
  • “Values Drive Behavior.” holds 6 Things.
  • “Organizational Design.” holds 9 Things.
  • “Scrum Off Script.” holds 8 Things.

I also owe a huge thank you to O’Reilly Media for the trust and the collaborative partnership, specifically to Chris Guzikowski and Ryan Shaw for initiating this endeavor and to Corbin Collins for sustaining it. More than being a king of punctuation, Corbin has impressively improved the language and clarity of quite some, if not all, of the 97 Things.

I look forward to keeping you updated on the publication date, which we will derive from our actual progress. It is not expected to be later than July 2020, and will probably be sooner. As we speak, O’Reilly and I are working really hard to turn my manuscript into a book available for you, dear reader.

I believe we will be able to connect the world of seasoned practitioners to the world of seekers through “97 Things every Scrum practitioner should know.”

Warm regards
Gunther Verheyen
independent Scrum Caretaker
December 2019
(updated February 2020)

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Le parole di Scrum (Italian version of the Scrum glossary)

I am excited to announce that Michael Forni is working on an Italian translation of my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide”. We aim at releasing “Scrum – La Guida Tascabile” (working title) in 2018, hoping it brings value to many Italian Scrum practitioners.

I took the opportunity to revisit my original text (dating from 2013). It resulted in small revisions and an update to my Scrum Glossary. Michael and I hereby share the translation of the latter as “Le parole di Scrum“. We are more than happy to evaluate any suggestion you might have.

Note: in the translation process of the Scrum vocabulary and definitions, besides the obvious care in avoiding to change or alter the well-consolidated words of Scrum, we also considered the well-spread wording among the Agile community and the Italian version of the Scrum Guide.

Nota: per la traduzione della terminologia Scrum, ferma restando l’inopportunità di modificare o storpiare i consolidati sostantivi caratterizzanti del framework, si è tenuto in debito conto il lessico oramai d’uso comune tra i praticanti di Scrum, nonché le traduzioni delle varie versioni in italiano de “La Guida a Scrum”.

  • Daily Scrum (sost. m.): evento a cadenza giornaliera limitato nella durata (time-boxed) a non più di 15 minuti – o meno – necessario a ri-pianificare il lavoro di sviluppo durante uno Sprint. Questo evento serve al Development Team per condividere i progressi giornalieri, pianificare il lavoro delle 24 ore successive e per aggiornare lo Sprint Backlog di conseguenza.
  • Definizione di “Fatto” (Definition of Done): insieme di elementi attesi e qualità che un prodotto deve dimostrare di avere affinché lo rendano rilasciabile, ad esempio compatibile ad un eventuale rilascio agli utenti del prodotto.
  • Development Team: gruppo di persone responsabili di organizzare e realizzare tutto il lavoro di sviluppo incrementale necessario per creare un Incremento rilasciabile non più tardi del termine di uno Sprint.
  • Durata dello Sprint: Durata, limitata nel tempo (time-box), di uno Sprint. Può essere di massimo 4 settimane o inferiore.
  • Emersione (Emergence): processo che porta alla luce o mette in risalto elementi non previsti, oppure la conoscenza di un fatto non precedentemente noto o diventato visibile inaspettatamente.
  • Empirismo: tipo di controllo dei processi nel quale le decisioni sono basate sull’osservazione di risultati, esperienze e sperimentazione. L’empirismo prevede di implementare ispezioni ed adeguamenti regolari, basati sulla trasparenza che, così facendo, viene ulteriormente rafforzata. È anche noto come “controllo empirico dei processi”.
  • Grafico “Burn-down”: rappresentazione grafica che mostra la progressiva e cumulativa diminuzione del lavoro rimanente rispetto al tempo.
  • Grafico “Burn-up”: rappresentazione grafica che mostra l’aumento di un parametro (ad esempio il valore) rispetto al tempo.
  • Impedimento: Qualunque intralcio o ostacolo che blocca o rallenta il lavoro del Development Team e che non può essere risolto attraverso l’auto organizzazione del Development Team. Deve essere segnalato non più tardi del primo Daily Scrum disponibile. Lo Scrum Master é responsabile della sua rimozione.
  • Incremento: set di lavoro potenzialmente utilizzabile che si aggiunge agli Incrementi precedentemente creati e coi quali forma – nell’insieme – un prodotto.
  • Previsione (Forecast): anticipazione di un trend futuro basato sull’osservazione del passato. Tipicamente selezione di determinate parti di Product Backlog ritenute consegnabili durante lo Sprint corrente o in quelli futuri, anche in relazione al Product Backlog futuro.
  • Product Backlog (sost. m.): elenco ordinato sempre in evoluzione di tutto quanto è ritenuto necessario dal Product Owner per poter creare, consegnare, manutenere e sostenere un prodotto.
  • Product Owner (sost f./m.): persona responsabile dell’ottimizzazione del valore espresso da un prodotto, attraverso la gestione incrementale del Product Backlog, nonché l’esplicitazione di tutte le aspettative e idee in esso contenute; referente unico dello Scrum Team verso tutti gli Stakeholders.
  • Affinamento (Refinement) del Product Backlog: attività portata avanti con continuità  durante lo Sprint, attraverso la quale Product Owner e membri del Development Team aggiungono granularità al Product Backlog, in continua evoluzione potenziale.
  • Scrum (sost. m.): (1) framework semplice per il rilascio di prodotti complessi; (2) framework semplice per la gestione di problemi complessi.
  • Scrum Master (sost f./m.): persona responsabile di favorire e sostenere un contesto Scrum attraverso attività di guida, addestramento, insegnamento e facilitazione di uno o più Scrum Team, nonché del loro sviluppo nella comprensione e corretto utilizzo di Scrum.
  • Scrum Team: combinazione delle responsabilità in capo a Product Owner, Development Team e Scrum Master.
  • Sprint (sost. m.): evento della durata massima di 4 settimane o meno, che funge da contenitore di tutti gli altri eventi Scrum. Punta a realizzare un sufficiente ammontare di lavoro, assicurando regolari ispezioni, riflessioni e adattamento a livello di prodotto e di strategie. Gli unici altri eventi ammessi in Scrum sono: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review e Sprint Retrospective.
  • Sprint Backlog (sost. m.): visione d’insieme – materializzata in varie forme ed in continua evoluzione – di tutte le attività selezionate dal Product Backlog da parte le Development Team e relative allo sviluppo necessario alla realizzazione dello Sprint goal.
  • Sprint Goal (sost. m.): affermazione sintetica che esprime l’obiettivo generale di uno Sprint.
  • Sprint Planning (sost. m.): evento della durata massima di 8 ore o più breve, che segna l’inizio del nuovo Sprint. L’evento è funzionale allo Scrum Team per ispezionare gli elementi del Product Backlog ritenuti in quel momento di maggior valore, nonché per determinarne la pianificazione all’interno di uno Sprint Backlog tenendo in considerazione lo Sprint Goal generale.
  • Sprint Retrospective (sost. f.): evento della durata massima di 3 ore o più breve, che segna il termine dello Sprint; l’evento è funzionale all’ispezione – da parte di tutti i membri dello Scrum Team – dello Sprint che si sta per concludere, nonché per decidere come lavorare nello Sprint successivo.
  • Sprint Review (sost. f.): evento della durata massima di 4 ore o più breve, che segna il termine dello sviluppo relativo allo Sprint. L’evento è funzionale all’ispezione – da parte dello Scrum Team e degli Stakeholders – dell’Incremento, del progresso generale e dei cambiamenti strategici, per permettere al Product Owner di aggiornare il Product Backlog.
  • Stakeholder (sost. f. / m.): persona esterna allo Scrum Team 1) portatrice di specifiche conoscenza e/o 2) rappresentante di un interesse per un prodotto, necessari per l’ulteriore evoluzione del prodotto.
  • Standard di sviluppo: l’insieme di standard e pratiche che un Development Team identifica come necessarie per creare Incrementi di prodotto potenzialmente rilasciabili non oltre il termine dello Sprint.
  • Time-box (sost. f.): contenitore temporale limitato, caratterizzato da una durata massima e potenzialmente fissa. In Scrum tutti gli eventi sono caratterizzati da una durata massima, ad eccezione dello Sprint, che ha una durata fissa.
  • Valori di Scrum: set di 5 valori e qualità fondamentali il framework Scrum: impegno, focalizzazione, apertura, rispetto e coraggio.
  • Velocity (sost. f.): indicatore molto diffuso che misura l’ammontare medio di Product Backlog trasformato in un Incremento, potenzialmente rilasciabile durante uno Sprint da parte di uno specifico (o dalla composizione di uno) Scrum Team. La Velocity rappresenta essenzialmente un utile supporto alla previsione del lavoro rilasciabile (forecast) a disposizione del Development Team, parte di uno Scrum Team.

On a personal note I want to share that I regularly get requests or suggestions for translations. Few get to the point of actually starting. I thank Michael for his commitment and wish him the persistence it takes for such a hard and complex endeavor. Rather than making a simple word-by-word translation, it involves adaptations, interpretations and redirections requiring affinities in English, Italian and Scrum​.​ This is far from trivial.

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Re-vers-ify (re-imagine your Scrum to re-vers-ify your organization)

Agility is why organizations adopt Scrum.

Organizations suffer as they fail to act with agility through product releases, on the market, for users and consumers, facing competitors. Scrum is mandated and it is overlooked that the agility demonstrated outwardly also depends on the setup of internal structures.

Organisational rigidity is the result when people are separated in functional silos, when collaboration is instructed through hand-overs and governance, when go-see management is not practiced, when the daily work has no room for discontinuous innovation. Basically, such rigidity is the anti-thesis of Agile and impedes outward agility.

Scrum is a simple framework for complex product delivery. Scrum thrives on the self-organizing capabilities of collaboractive people creating finished versions of product in short cycles, called Sprints. Scrum is in itself agnostic of internal structures, positions, titles, hierarchies. Scrum has no mandatory rules for organisational constructs. Scrum is simple, not easy. The simple rules and roles of Scrum are most often twisted and broken to fit an existing organization. Yet, it is nearly impossible to benefit really from adopting Scrum without updating the internal operating systems.

The sensible and courageous way forward is to re-vers-ify, to re-imagine your Scrum to re-emerge your organization. It is a path, not the destination. The destination, an updated organization, is unknown, remains to be discovered.

  • Use Product Backlog as the single plan for one (1) meaningful initiative (project/product/service). Slice the initiative if it is too big.
  • Reset the accountabilities for the selected initiative to Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team(s).
  • Facilitate the eco-system with tools, infrastructure and a (Scrum) team zone in order for them to create sashimi releases. A controlled and automated deployment pipeline is certainly a much needed step forward.
  • Repeat, grow, learn, expand.

“Re-vers-ify” is a narrative to help people re-invent their organizations; an invitation for people to re-imagine their Scrum to re-vers-ify their organization. Over the course of 2017 I have introduced re-vers-ify in several ways. I have now highlighted the essence in a short movie. It takes only slightly over 3 minutes of your time. Enjoy!

If you have more time to spend, consider reading my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide (A smart travel companion)“. It ends with following belief:

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Scrum, a simple framework for complex product delivery

Much has been said, is being said, and will be said about Scrum, the most adopted Agile process.

Scrum, in the end, is a simple framework for complex product delivery. Scrum has a limited set of mandatory rules and roles. They all serve to create an environment within which people inspect their work regularly, so they can adapt. Scrum is an open framework in the sense that people can employ a variety of specific practices. When these practices are employed well, the integral result is still… Scrum.

Despite/due to its popularity and simplicity, much misunderstandings exist. I highlighted the essence of the Scrum framework in a short movie. It takes less than 3 minutes of your time. Enjoy!

If you have more time to spend, consider reading my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide (A smart travel companion)“.

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The future of Agile (is in the small)

Where Agile is synonymous to ‘adaptive’, organizational adaptiveness comes through small, networked communities and ecosystems collaborating.

This will happen inside organizations, and across organizations. For many organizations the challenge is how to adopt such organizational setup. It is a critical challenge because it is the only way to wake up from the latent coma caused by size, cash and rigid structures. Many large organizations, in their current state, are dead already.

In 2013 I created the book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide (A smart travel companion)“, helping people restore, update or confirm their understanding of Scrum. I am currently working on a new book on the current state and the future value of ‘Agile’.

Find my thoughts on how the future of Agile is actually in the small in a short movie. It takes less than 2 minutes of your time. Enjoy!

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Scrum Master, the modern manager

A Scrum Master is rarely seen, let alone enacted, as a management role. The role however does show us how a modern manager would act.

Scrum Master, as a modern manager, fosters an environment of safety. An environment of safety is an environment in which people, from a traditional point of view, act in a highly unsafe way; speaking up, challenging, sharing, thinking, pausing, collaborating, deviating, creating, innovating.

In the past I have already published my views on how Scrum Master is a manager. I have now highlighted the essence of the Scrum Master role in a short movie. It takes less than 3 minutes of your time. Enjoy!

If you have more time to spend, consider reading my book “Scrum – A Pocket Guide (A smart travel companion)“.

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Thank you, readers. (What do you want in my new book?)

Dear reader

Thank you for reading, sharing and promoting my pocket guide to Scrum, in its various guises (English, Dutch, paperback, digital).

I created the English version in May 2013. It was published in November 2013. I am grateful that over 10,000 (ten thousand!) copies have been sold so far. Who would have guessed back then? And the story continues. In March 2017 the German translation was published.

I would love to hear what makes my book special for you. What sticks out? What are your favourite parts? Do you have a quote to share? Share it as a comment. Share it on Twitter. Or join the Facebook page for my book.

And… take it a step further. Writing that first book was a pivotal experience. I am working on a new book, more on Scrum and the Agile way of working (what else?). Share any ideas, topics, subjects you feel are valuable for my second book.

Warm regards
Gunther (Ullizee)
Gratified writer, connector, speaker, humaniser
29 March 2017