Agile Advice - Working With Agile Methods (Scrum, OpenAgile, Lean)

The Rules of Scrum: There are no Breaks Between Sprints

Mishkin Berteig — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:58:05 +0000

Each Sprint that a Scrum Team does is an opportunity for learning through “inspect and adapt”. If there is a break or a pause between Sprints, the Scrum Team may forget what it has learned or fail to apply that learning in a timely manner in the next Sprint. Of course, many Scrum Teams end a Sprint before a weekend and start their next Sprint at the beginning of the next week. This non-working break is normal and acceptable. However, a break between Sprints during which some or all Scrum Team Members do other work is not acceptable.

The Rules of Scrum: Every Sprint is Four Weeks or Less in Duration

Mishkin Berteig — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:56:05 +0000

The length of a Sprint determines how quickly a Scrum Team can “inspect and adapt” to changing circumstances and learning. Scrum, as a tool for product development, sets an upper limit to the duration of a Sprint. In other words, Scrum sets a minimum for the frequency of the inspect and adapt cycle. This ensures that teams using Scrum get at least a certain minimum benefit. Scrum does not set a maximum frequency (minimum Sprint length). If a team has a five-week (or longer) Sprint, the benefits from Scrum rapidly drop off. In particular, you dramatically increase risks associated with short term planning, responding to change, team development, windows of business opportunity, and error detection. Having a cycle longer than four weeks is not Scrum and a team with such a cycle length should not claim to be using Scrum.

The Rules of Scrum: Every Sprint is the Same Length

Mishkin Berteig — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:24:11 +0000

The Sprint is the fundamental unit of work when using Scrum. Any product development effort using Scrum is, therefore, divided into Sprints. Sprints are fixed in length so that the team has a predictable amount of time available to them to do work, which in turn assists in both short and long-term planning. By making every Sprint the same length, the Scrum Team learns its own capacity for work. If the Sprint length changes, the rhythm of Scrum is broken and a team will have to re-learn its capacity which usually takes at least a few Sprints. If Sprints are rarely the same length, then the Scrum Team will struggle to do any reliable planning.

The Rules of Scrum: What is Scrum and Why is it that Way?

Mishkin Berteig — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:17:43 +0000

I am starting a new series of brief articles that go through the details of the Scrum process, artifacts and roles. These articles will be one or two paragraphs each and will have a razor-sharp focus on the fine structure … Continue reading →

Another Great Article by Mike Caspar

Mishkin Berteig — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:41:25 +0000

Many of you have heard that Scrum does not solve problems… it just exposes them! Mike Caspar has written a great in-depth article about why Scrum exposes problems (and why this is good!) with lots of great examples. I like his concluding remark:

Scrum does not have answers for not following Scrum.

Certified ScrumMaster – Mississauga – July 2013

Mishkin Berteig — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:03:48 +0000

The most popular Agile certification! This two day course gives you the foundations to be an effective ScrumMaster and contributes towards the requirements of the Scrum Alliance’s Certified ScrumMaster program. Delivered by Berteig Consulting’s own Mishkin Berteig!

By successfully completing this course you will be able to:

Remove obstacles that prevent teams from becoming high-performance.
Enable a team to follow the Scrum process to deliver great products and continuously improve their quality.
Describe Scrum to others including roles, meetings, artifacts and principles.
Fulfill the requirements of the Certified ScrumMaster program.

Days: July 10, 2013, July 11, 2013

Location:

Audience: This course is ideal for those who desire to create high-performance product development teams. Team leads, project managers and functional or line managers all can benefit from understanding Scrum’s amazing transformational power and the critical role of the ScrumMaster. If you are a member of the Project Management Institute, this course counts for 16 PDU’s and as part of the requirements towards the PMI-ACP designation.

Price: $1400.00

Contact: Valerie Senyk at 1-905-868-9995

Email: valerie@berteigconsulting.com

Link to Register: http://www.worldmindware.com/Certified-ScrumMaster-Mississauga-July-2013

Awesome Agile Article about the Retrospective

Mishkin Berteig — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:00:38 +0000

Glen Wang, a former student of mine, has written another fantastic article about Scrum called “The Retrospective: Know Yourself and Adapt to the World“. I love Glen’s philosophical take on things! This article is strongly recommended to any ScrumMasters, Process … Continue reading →

Agile: Cheating at Work

Mishkin Berteig — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:45:16 +0000

I just finished reading an excellent article about a UCLA prof who, for his game theory class, allowed the students to cheat

I strongly recommend reading this because this points to one of the big cultural barriers to using Agile methods effectively: we are focused on individual performance instead of the outcomes of a group (team) of people!

Certified Scrum Product Owner – Mississauga – June 2013

Mishkin Berteig — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:59:58 +0000

The Product Owner role is the most difficult in Scrum to do well. This Learning Event solves that problem by giving you real practical techniques that you can apply immediately!

Learning Objective(s): Create a Product Backlog that allows your Scrum team to start delivering value quickly.

Days: June 25, 2013, June 26, 2013

Location:

Audience: This course is designed for those who care about the business success of their products and projects: product managers, project managers, business unit leaders and business analysts. Some basic knowledge of Scrum is recommended prior to attending this Learning Event.

Price: $1600.00

Contact: Valerie Senyk at 1-905-868-9995

Email: valerie@berteigconsulting.com

Link to Register: http://www.worldmindware.com/Certified-Scrum-Product-Owner-Mississauga-June-2013

Coaching Agile Teams class – Toronto, Canada – June 17 & 18, 2013

Mishkin Berteig — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:33:54 +0000

Coaching Agile Teams course descriptionCoaching Agile Teams is a training experience that covers both the being and the doing of agile coaching. There’s a lot to learn, experience and practice! At the end of the course, you will be capable of applying many new tools and techniques, as well as your own mindset changes, to coach agile teams to high performance. As practical as it is provocative, the Coaching Agile Teams course challenges agile coaches to rise to the fullest expression of their role and offer simple, practical ways to get there.

Outcome
You’ll walk away from the course with your personal coaching improvement backlog – a tangible plan you can use to thoughtfully improve your coaching when you’re back in your daily circumstances. We use your real world situations and scenarios throughout the class allowing you to craft powerful ways to address the challenges you face. You’ll also have many new things to try with your teams and you will probably depart with a few provocative ideas to chew on (in fact, maybe wrangle with for a while). All of these outcomes add up to your ability to become the excellent agile coach your teams need.

Register for Coaching Teams Class here!
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6102981181?discount=Berteig_promo