You’re a manager. You recently helped implement Scrum in your organization. You have received praise for this, because quality of work is now steadily improving and customers are delighted by the steady stream of product improvements. Your Scrum teams are now self-organizing. Things are flowing so smoothly now, the team has taken on tasks that […]
Teams
Scrum by Example – Feeling Pain from Your Daily Scrum?
Dramatis Personae Steve – a ScrumMaster and the hero of our story Michael – another ScrumMaster for a different team Doug – a member of Steve’s team James – a member of Steve’s team Fred – a member of Steve’s team Paula – the Product Owner of Steve’s team Steve and the team are starting […]
How to Cross-Skill and Grow T-shaped Team Members
As we discussed in “Specialists Are Overrated,” developing cross-skills and “T-Shaped” people in a team has many benefits – for the team/organization itself, the customer, and the individual. That’s all fine and good to say, but how do you figure out where to start? There are two major ways to discover opportunities for cross-skilling: Kanban/Scrum […]
Specialists Are Overrated
“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” – Agile Manifesto “Watch the baton, not the runner.” – D. Reinertsen, 2007[1] Traditionally, notions of efficiency have been to minimize cost by utilizing experts (i.e. expensive people) only on the most difficult problems and having cheaper workers do […]
Don’t Inflict Scrum or Kanban on Teams
(This article is part of the Beyond Scrum series) We’ve all experienced the pain of having someone impose a change on us – it doesn’t work. Forcing change conflicts with the essential human need for autonomy – No one likes being told what to do (if they didn’t ask to be). Whichever model for understanding […]
Scrum Development Team – Who’s In It?
I’m frequently asked if a Tester, Business Analyst, User Experience (UX) person, Database Analyst, or Security Expert is part of the Scrum team? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: many people misunderstand the Scrum Guide. Scrum Development Team Membership The Scrum Guide has a short section called “The Development Team” which says: The Development Team consists […]
Beyond Scrum Blog Series
We’ve had requests for a single page that lists all the ongoing Beyond Scrum blog posts in one handy spot, and we’re happy to oblige! The below list will be updated as new posts are added. Scrum Alone is Not Enough Simplicity Scrum Development Team – Who’s In It? What is the Recommended Scrum Team […]
Agile Change or Adoption: Define Small Organizational Changes
(Continued from Agile Change or Adoption Always Starts with Why : 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) Seeing an organizational change map with seven to eight proposed major changes can feel daunting and discouraging. It’s even worse when we realize that list will keep growing as new organizational problems are discovered. By taking on only one or two changes at a […]