This is just a quick post to share that Agile Tour Toronto is coming soon. It is on November 3 in Toronto. It will be a great day with plenty to do, much to learn, and so many people to meet.
We will be there too. Berteig Consulting has a booth and many of us will be there to meet all of you. Hope to see you there!
Here is the link: http://www.torontoagilecommunity.org/att2011
Wow! The 3rd and last day of the Scrum Gathering in Seattle was epic! I am tired and thrilled to have participated in such a great day, and such a great conference. Thank you to all who made this happen.
Un-Conference Sessions Using Open Space Technology
This was something that I had some reservations about. What does this mean that we all decide what will happen and how it takes shape? However, this was, by-far, one of the most interesting and engaging parts of the entire conference. Here are the 4 principles of Open Space: (1) The right people show up (2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could (3) It starts when it starts (4) It’s over when it’s over.
There is one law to Open Space: If you are not learning or contributing where you are, find a place when you can learn or contribute.
And there are two roles in Open Space: (1) Bumblebees – these people bounce around to other sessions and add new ideas. (2) Butterflies – these people sit somewhere and look beautiful, and may not attend sessions. I guess that I was neither a bumblebee or butterfly, like most of the participants.
So we were encouraged to come up with topics that we wanted to facilitate and/or learn about and pick a time slot and location. This happened quite naturally – which was added to the marketplace for the participants to choose which sessions they would like to attend and contribute to.
Open Space - one participant adding his session to the wall
My 1st Session – Team Estimation Game by Chris Sims
This is the first time that I had the privilege of seeing Chris in action. He is a dynamic and very effective teacher and facilitator. The game is another method for teams to estimate effort for User Stories (in Scrum) or Value Drivers (in OpenAgile) or whatever you use for your particular Agile method.
He had us form small teams to estimate effort on consuming various types of fruit (which were on cards) including: grapes, orange, durian, pineapple, apple, blueberries, pomegranate, and coconut.
Step One: This was carried out by each person taking turns and doing one of two things: (1) placing a new card on the wall or (2) changing the position of one card. This was pretty easy and allowed us to have conversations on what we meant when we did an action.
Step Two: Then the team had to add numbers (also on cards) as a way to categorize the effort that would be done. Now each person had three options: (1) place a new card number, (2) moving a single card on the wall, or (3) passing which means that you agree with what is currently on the wall.
Chris Sims (on left) showing the Team Estimation Game
My 2nd Session – How to Launch a Team by Roger Brown
Roger showed us a few things to keep in mind when helping to launch an Agile team (usually done by him in a 3 day training on-site).
A ScrumMaster or Coach has certain things to do during the various stages of a team’s development: (1) in Forming, he needs to be directive and tell the team what needs to get done, (2) in Storming, he needs to focus on conflict resolution for the team, (3) in Norming, he needs be a facilitator and observe and then offer ways to improve, and (4) in Performing, he either needs to work on organizational obstacles or move on to another team.
Roger explained how the constant sprint length for a team helps it to get into a rhythm and get data such as the team’s velocity (the speed at which it gets things done). He also offered a great tool for people to use called the Market of Skills which comes from Lyssa Adkin’s book “Coaching Agile Teams”. Other things to use include a team working agreement, team vision, and a definition of done. He said that he likes to spin up 2 or more teams at a time to that they can learn from each other.
<
Notes from Roger Brown - How to Launch a Team
My 3rd Session – Collaborative Work Spaces by Skip Angel
Skip made this session very collaborative and got us to add own challenges and questions to a flip chart page and then get us to share how we would solve each others challenges.
Insights included: share visual stories to help the team see benefits, promote outcomes, tools to use for collaboration. Some tools and useful sites: http://sococo.com, http://onemoreagileblog.com, http://cocoo.com, and http://agileadvice.com !
Skip Angel on Collaborative Work Spaces
Here is the format that he shared for a User Story: As a (type of user) I want (something) so that (value). Enter the things within the parentheses ( ).
Here are the 4 techniques for splitting stories that he shared: (1) Conjunctions / Connectors – words such as if, and, but or even commas. (2) Generic Words – eg. activities which could be broken into sports, dancing, and board games. (3) Acceptance Criteria – which is a list of pass/fail items that if agreed the story is done. (4) Time-line – which are steps of sequence to get something done.
Met Chris Sims
I spoke for a few minutes with Chris. We talked about David Parker who used to work at Berteig Consulting (where I work) and now works at Agile Learning Labs (where Chris works). Chris had nothing but praise for David!
Sharing by Participants on the entire Scrum Gathering
Each person shared something that they like or enjoyed about the conference. I shared three things: (1) the humility of the Certified Scrum Trainers (CST) and the Certified Scrum Coaches (CSC) to share with all of us their knowledge and their ears, (2) the wisdom of everyone at the conference, and (3) the amount of smiles and laughter that was the reality of all of us who attended.
Closing Keynote by Joe Justice and WikiSpeed
Joe gave an epic keynote on his team that built a car that gets 100+ MPG. It was amazing and super inspiring! I don’t even know what to say about it. He and his distributed, collaborative, and highly Agile team of volunteers did incredible things. I hope to buy one of their cars when I done with my current car. It is that good!
Joe Justice showing the WikiSpeed Car
Final Thoughts on the Scrum Gathering in Seattle
So this was my first Scrum Gathering and it was amazing. From the people to the food to sessions to the Open Space to the Certified Scrum Trainers and Certified Scrum Coaches to the people who it made run so well – Fantastic! I hope to attend another Scrum Gathering in the near future. I already plan on attending the one in London, England in October 2011.
Warm regards,
Paul Heidema
So after another day at the Scrum Gathering in Seattle, I am tired! Not just from the sessions, conversations, and the learning but also from waking up in a time zone that is not my own. I live near Toronto which is 3 hours earlier than Seattle. I am slowly getting used to it. Especially that today is a sunny day.
Mastering the Basics of Leadership Storytelling by Steve Denning
Steve Denning showed us how the art of storytelling can uplift and help people to see why a change is needed. He got all of us to do an exercise (1) What’s the problem? (2) What would the world look like if the problem was fixed? (3) Tell the story of the person who doesn’t want the change.
When I did the exercise I though of a client that saw that there was value in using Scrum and Agile but was unable to see the need for organization to adopt them or the urgency to make the change as soon as possible.
Steve also spoke about 3 good ways to get peoples attention: (1) share something unexpected (2) share something relevant to the audience (3) and make it negative. I understand what he is saying but I am more motivated by a positive outlook instead of scaring people by harsh realities. To each his own I guess.
Steve also shared the 7 rules for performing storytelling: (1) maintain eye contact (2) maintain open body stance (3) don’t hide behind notes and podiums (4) use gestures using your whole body (5) dare to pause! (6) practice, practice, practice and (7) be there, be present by planting feet on the ground.
Steve Denning - Leadership Storytelling
I will co-train with Carlton Nettleton
I met again with Carlton Nettleton who is a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) out of San Diego. I am excited that will be co-training a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) training seminar sometime in Toronto during the month of August or September. So… keep those dates open! He is very interesting guy and I have no doubt that he is a great teacher and trainer.
I also met Mike Cohn
If you don’t know who Mike Cohn, I recommend searching for him on the net right now! He is a well-known author, trainer and coach in the Agile and Scrum world. We spoke about our experiences and some of our learnings. I also shared how Mishkin Berteig and I have used OpenAgile to help C-level managers and upper managers to be an Agile team so that the teams on the ground see the example by the leadership. He is open and kind man.
Agile Coach Self-Assessment: Where Do You Stand on Competencies by Lyssa Adkins
This is by far my favourite session that I attended in the first 2 days of the 3 day conference. She got all 30 participants to stand and be players in the session. This is what we need more of in conferences that are in the Scrum and Agile world.
Lyssa Adkins - Coaching Competencies
She placed 8 phrases on the ground that were quadrants coming from a centre point that represented parts of an Agile coach. The 8 phrases were: (1) mentoring, (2) technical mastery, (3) transformation mastery, (4) teaching, (5) facilitating, (6) Agile Lean practitioner, (7) business mastery and (8) coaching. We had to do a few things. First, figure which section we were strongest in. Second, choose which section which we wanted to be in. Third, decide which will be our sections to work on (we had to choose 3 in priority) and then choose on section that we would let go.
I also met Vibhu Srinivasan who is one of the newest CSTs (just become one on Sunday). He lives in India and is an extremely nice guy. We were asked to work with one person at the end of the session with Lyssa and then check in with each other to see what progress we made.
Second day was great! Tomorrow we get to be part of the “un-conference” sessions where the participants choose what is important and then prioritize that stuff and work through it together. It should be great!
Warm regards,
Paul Heidema
I have now just returned from Day 1 of the Scrum Gathering in Seattle. This is my first Scrum Gathering and it is turning out to be great!
Participants at the Scrum Gathering in Seattle
This is what I did throughout the day and some take-aways and learnings that I have gathered:
The Business Case for Agile: What Every Executive Needs to Know with speaker John Rudd
- there are now fewer constraints, with more variables in our world
- example of horse races, move bets to the horses in front
- use examples of failures in your organization to encourage the change
- benefits and ROI model
- waterfall: 15%
- agile: 30%
- agile with reduced scope: 50%
- People that I met in the session:
- Bill Rosner from Capital Group who is on a Scrum team in California
- James Kauffman who is the ScrumMaster near Seattle
Do We Have a Good Coach or a Bad Coach? with speaker Alan Atlas
- all about learning: good or bad
- results for a coach: direct (eg. launching a Scrum team), indirect (eg. less bugs produced)
- the SKERT framework: Skills, Knowledge, Environment, Results, Type of coach
- get feedback on coach throughout the year
the SKERT framework by Alan Atlas
30 Minute Chat with Alan Atlas
The Scrum Alliance set up this great thing: Scrum To Go. A participant can sign up for a private session with an experience Scrum coach, I believe that all of them were Certified Scrum Coaches (CSC). So I signed up to speak with Alan Atlas. He was very kind and knowledgeable. I asked him about becoming a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) and many questions about helping teams to use Agile and Scrum. He offered three things to help when team members are not buying-in or becoming empowered on the Scrum team. (1) Team members to convince themselves of its usefulness and validity. (2) Peer pressure from other team members to become active participants. (3) Cheap coaching tricks such as putting those against Scrum in charge (you are now the ScrumMaster) or getting those team members to research something and share it with the team. He said that we don’t like to do bad work, so they will try to get the task done.
Scrum To Go: coaching sessions
Met Other Great People
Talked with Roger Brown (a CST) about the Certified Scrum Coach (CSC) process and how it has evolved. I also asked him about co-training with him for me to become a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). I also met Vernon Stinebaker (a CST) who lives in China and was trained by Mishkin Berteig, my colleague, many years back. I had the honour of meeting Lyssa Adkins (a CST) in person for the first time. I spoke with Lyssa, emailed back and forth, and I was part of her Agile Coaching Circle which took place over conference calls and emails. She is a wonderful person who is extremely motivated to work with coaches who, in her words, are the change catalysts in organizations. She introduced me to Carlton Nettleton (a CST) who I spoke with about co-training with him to become a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST).
Overall it was a great day. I look forward to learning more and meeting more great people. My take away for the day: Scrum people just like helping!
Warm regards,
Paul Heidema
Now I am in Vancouver only one step away from Seattle, which is the location for the Scrum Gathering. I will go tonight to the hotel and register. I am excited to see the layout and look into the sessions.
I just read that the 3rd day of this 3 day conference has many sessions called “un-conference” open sessions. I like that this is a creative way to hold sessions which are normally setup with a speaker and a bunch of learners.
I hope that we will experience what we train. An environment where individuals interact to learn things, instead of a bunch people that have cups needed to filled up by an expert.
More to come!
Warm regards,
Paul Heidema
I, Paul Heidema, am currently waiting at the Toronto airport for my flight to Vancouver and then to Seattle where I will be attending the Scrum Gathering. This will be my first Scrum Gathering, so I am excited, curious and a little nervous. What will it be like? Will I enjoy myself? What talks should I attend? Will I feel lonely? What is expected of me? These are just a few questions that I have rolling around in my mind.
Usually when I attend a conference, Agile or not I am with others that are familiar with the movement of the event. Not this time. However, my wife Laila is coming for the trip which makes it that much more enjoyable even though she is not attending the conference.
I hope to meet many trainers, consultants, people new to Scrum and all kinds of unique and wonderful people.
I am also in the process of applying to become a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). I hope to meet other CSTs and learn from there experience.
I will post more throughout the event.
Warm regards,
Paul Heidema
I know that coaching is hard. It requires many skills including: facilitation, encouragement, experience, an openness to learn, and interpersonal skills. I have learned that many believe that good Agile training and coaching requires technical skills (in a software development environment) above any other ability. I do believe that technical are important. However, those skills can be learned and advanced within the time with a team, training and/or coaching.
I have met many people that would like to train and coach. The one thing that seems to be lacking in many of them that would like to be effective is strong and well-developed interpersonal skills. I mean skills that include the ability to relate well with others, the ability to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with others as they learn and practice the art of being Agile, and the ability to observe and offer suggestions with humility.
Technical skills can be learned over time. Interpersonal skills are much harder to learn and have a much deeper impact on those that are being trained and coached. The second set of skills help teams develop, aid management in becoming part of the Agile transformation, and allow individuals to become partners in the process of culture change.
Wouldn’t you want an Agile coach that has integrity, wisdom, and humility over one that is proficient in .Net, Java, and can build databases?
I have been coaching an Agile-Lean team in Waterloo over the last month or so. It has been very rewarding for me (and the team I hope). I have learned that coaching is very much about accompaniment. To have a positive effect on the team that one is coaching, we need to walk shoulder to shoulder with them. The exhaustion of coaching (physically) is well worth the learning and advancement (mentally and spiritually). It is so valuable to witness the “a-ha” moments and have some of my own light-bulb insights. It is such an honour to serve as a coach for any team, especially if that team makes you feel like one of the team members. (Paul J. Heidema)
Hi All,
Here is a collection of interesting reads and articles that either Mishkin Berteig (@mberteig) or Paul Heidema (@paulheidema) reposted on Twitter.
RT @daverooneyca RT @gilbroza: Mincing no words: People are NOT resources! http://bit.ly/3iZwpI [A-freaking-men!!]
RT @jbrains jbrains.ca classic: Forget velocity http://mee.bo/dB2sw3
RT @AgileAdvice Comparison of OpenAgile with Scrum http://bit.ly/dBLCxP #Agile #Scrum #OpenAgile
RT @flowchainsensei Culture change is Free “I discovered the folly of culture change programmes years ago” ~John Seddon http://bit.ly/9Nwv8e
One of my favorite books! RT @mr_alan_cooper @flowchainsensei In return I offer J. Gall: http://bit.ly/bMPtoC
RT @estherderby RT @jasonlittle Simple Exercise to Demonstrate Value of Collaboration http://ow.ly/1nK4wm
RT @mohamed_rafie RT @sf105: Agile Learning Design: Periodic Table http://bit.ly/7K7Eyy
RT @jeffpatton good points in this piece – emerging practices for adding ux work to agile development by http://bit.ly/6HpkOe
RT @davidparker9 OpenAgile – New Management Methodology by @titusperide: http://bit.ly/5pD1ps
RT @agilenature Keep the Balance – The Scrum Product Owner http://ff.im/-foXWY
You can join Twitter by visiting http://twitter.com and following their steps.
If you are interested in what OpenAgile or other agile methods are all about please follow @mberteig @paulheidema and many others of the ones listed above.
Interesting article about a team:
EIGHT TEAM MUST-HAVES
On certain kinds of problems, Prof. Richard Field says a team always comes up with better solutions than does an individual. He offers these eight must-haves for a successful team…
Note: Was originally posted on the Financial Post!
Great News!
We at Berteig Consulting have been developing OpenAgile with the OpenAgile Champions and we are ready to hold the first ever public OpenAgile Team Member training session. OpenAgile is a new method of using Agile methods for all kinds of work (beyond just software and IT). Now we have our first ever public OpenAgile Team Member Training. The first seminar is taking place in Ottawa, our nation’s capital.
Details:
City: Ottawa
Date: January 26-27, 2009
Price: $750.00
For more information visit: http://www.berteigconsulting.com/OpenAgileCertificationOATrainingJanuary2010OttawaOntarioCanada
OpenAgile is a system for rapidly delivering value that is based on Truthfulness, Consultative Decision-Making and constant learning. OpenAgile is an “open source” process – a community of practitioners is helping to build it, and anyone can learn about it and use it and then contribute back to it!
We are pleased to announce a new seminar: CSPO – Certified Scrum Product Owner. We have found in our coaching assignments with our various customers that they were struggling to find qualified and well trained Product Owners. Therefore we are offering this new seminar. During this seminar we will train the participant how to do the fundamental tasks of the Product Owner in the Scrum environment. The attendees will learn how to develop a comprehensive Product Backlog, competently add value to the Scrum team during the Sprint, fully understand how Scrum works and their role within it. With a maximum class size of five people, this seminar is designed to allow participants to dig deep into the role of the Product Owner. The first day will be an introduction to Scrum slanted towards the role of the Product Owner. The second day will be an in-depth look at this role. Our first CSPO seminar will take place soon. Please refer to our website http://www.berteigconsulting.com/CSPOCourseDescription to reserve space for yourself or others on your team.
We look forward to adding value to your team!
Upcoming Certified Scrum Product Owner training seminars:
April 23 – 24, 2009 in Newmarket (Berteig Consulting Office)
June 25 – 26, 2009 in Newmarket (Berteig Consulting Office)
July 23 – 24, 2009 in Newmarket (Berteig Consulting Office)
August 20 – 21, 2009 in Newmarket (Berteig Consulting Office)
September 17 – 18, 2009 in Newmarket (Berteig Consulting Office)
If you would like more information contact us at sales@berteigconsulting.com
Here is a free course…
For the first time the Symbian Partner Event (SPE) opens its doors not only to Symbian partners, but also to mobile developers, handset manufacturers, network operators, the Open Source Community and members of the press. Whether you are new to mobile or an experienced Symbian developer, SPE has something for everyone.
SPE is a free, full-day event that will immerse you in the Symbian community. With an agenda featuring keynotes, seminars and panels from the leading minds in the global mobile industry, and an exhibition hall packed with the latest and greatest Symbian solutions, SPE is ‘dressed to impress´.
Not only do you get all the above, but you can also apply for exhibition space and to participate in our renowned Fast Pitch session – all free of charge. Curious about Fast Pitch? This is an amazing opportunity for 15 companies to get face-to-face with handset manufacturers and network operators and present a 5-minute pitch of their solutions.
Remember this is your chance to meet and network with movers-and-shakers of the global mobile industry. Space is limited so register now to guarantee your spot!
Symbian Partner Event – December 4, 2008
http://www.symbianpartnerevent.com
Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California
2 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, California, 94105
REGISTER:
http://www.symbianpartnerevent.com/Registrar/Index.php?sEventCode=SYM08002
From Paul Heidema:
Most people despise the end of Sunday. This means that Monday, the dreaded start of the work week, is just around the corner. Most people don’ have a team that they trust at work. Most people are unable to be truthful with their boss, or even truthful with themselves about their work.
Fortunately, I am not one of those people. I work with great people. They are kind, honest, caring, and very professional. I work at Berteig Consulting. My team is made up of four people, one of which is me. Travis, who is very gifted in the arts is also very professional and down to earth. Mishkin is an ideal boss who cares deeply about his co-workers, and treats us all like brothers and sisters. Laila is pure and able to make others feel completely at home (she is also my wife).
I never know what will happen each week but I do know that I will be happy and enjoying the experience with such a wonderful team.
From Mishkin Berteig:
Every day that we start work, I’m happy to be here. It’s a bit cliche, but I love the people I’m working with. I also love the work we are doing. The vision of the company is maturing and our focus on education has already changed the way some things are being done. I like our work environment: there are three of us “crammed” into a small office room – we are constantly collaborating, discussing options and problems and reminding each other of work to do. Hiring Laila to work with us part time has been an incredible change. She thinks systematically about our way of working and makes suggestions in such a loving way that it is impossible to feel like we were even doing anything wrong in the first place. For me personally, having Travis focus on the role of Process Facilitator (ScrumMaster) has also been a huge relief for me. He keeps us in line with a lightweight agile process and I’m loving it!!! Finally, for me, focusing my own efforts on business value has been great – with the help of Paul, Laila and Travis, I now have the mental space and the actual time to devote to this critical part of running a business. I’m still learning like crazy, and it’s great fun! I wish everyone could work in an environment like this… which is, of course, why we offer the services that we offer!
From Travis Birch:
At Berteig Consulting, we practice Agile. I am currently working in the role of process facilitator for our new team of 4. We work in 1-week iterations. As a couple of the team members have a 4-day work week, we have our retrospective on Monday mornings at 10 AM, followed by the planning meeting for our next iteration at 11 AM. The remaining work days begin with a daily stand-up meeting using the reporting methods of a daily Scrum (each member reports 3 things to the team – “What I did yesterday”, What I’m doing today”, and “What are my obstacles”). We work in a collocated team room, with items, tasks, obstacles, definition of done and burn-down chart all up on the walls. We just completed our second iteration. As part of today’s retrospective, team members actually did some demos – Mishkin showed us some of the great changes he’s made to his course material and Paul demoed our beautiful newsletter. Laila even demoed some travel tools that she’s been working on for the trainers. We also decided to each write our reflections in order to share them with those who might find it useful as a way of wrapping up the retrospective for this iteration.
Visibility of work and openness of consultation feeds an overall feeling of excitement and optimism in the team!
From Laila Heidema:
Having worked at Berteig Consulting for merely two weeks, I already feel that I am part of a team. I feel that I am contributing in helping people with their business in an environment that is creative, supportive, joyful and cooperative. I know that each week will bring interesting new tasks that will not feel like a mundane set of work, or carried out in order to finish the week. Rather, each project is completed with a sense of contribution towards the company’s quest to be the best corporate educator for humanity. Were it not for Berteig’s positive atmosphere and team dynamic, this would not be possible.
I recently started writing a book review on Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams by Alistair Cockburn. Check out the first part of my review. I have read Chapter 1 entitled Explained (View from the Outside). It was a very interesting chapter that set Crystal Clear as the answerer to Alistair Cockburn. It made many aspects of the Crystal family clear in my mind. I enjoyed the questions, and the answers were insightful and helped me to put the ideas into a whole picture.
At the moment I am reading Chapter 2 entitled Applied (The Seven Properties). Frequent Delivery, Reflective Improvement, and Osmotic Communication made sense to me and aligned somewhat to my own beliefs. When I started reading the fourth property, Personal Safety, certain parts seemed fine, while others set off warning bells. I believe that the purpose of any team is to progress. This is achieved through trust, respect and unity.
Cockburn says “Once personal safety and amicability are established, a useful, playful dynamic may emerge. People may wage competition with each other. They may argue loudly, even to the verge of fighting, without taking it personally. In the case where someone does take it personally, they sort it out and set things straight again.” – page 31.
The statements above concern me. Cockburn addresses trust by saying that people will not take it personally. Respect is lost because they “… May argue loudly, even to the verge of fighting”. I would be unable to say that I respect someone if I yell at them or even raise my voice. Now unity is completely destroyed. For some reason our society and many societies around the world not only condone competition, it is seen as a way to judge attributes of excellence in an individual. This is not a good sign for our progress towards unity in human civilization.
I agree that being polite and not stating one’s opinion is harmful for trust. However, it is preferable to use consultation instead of competition. Imagine that a team is encouraged to compete with itself to achieve better results. Would there not be feelings of resentment or heightened levels of stress? Now imagine a team that is encouraged to consult and raise the team together without focusing on individual success. Would not this team feel excited to be around each other? Would they become fast friends and grow as a unit? Would family members of the team be enthusiastic to be included in picnics and socials?
Now the big question:
What is better, individual success or team unity that add value to not only the team but all who interact with them?
I will continue to read this book and post my reviews. I find it interesting that this book has helped to see the confusion that is happening all around the world in terms of progress, success, and human development.
I welcome any comments on my posts.