agile, scrum, coaching, lean
Posts tagged list
Top 10 Posts 2011
052 days
by scrumphony
in General
I was quite curious what blog posts got the most clicks in the past year. The following list is the result of the analysis I ran:
- 7 Agile Sins
- How to Kick Off Your New Scrum Team
- 10 Things To Drive Your ScrumMaster Crazy
- What`s your favorite Agile Game?
- How To Defend Against The 10 Things To Drive Your ScrumMaster Crazy
- Don’t Be A Scrum Zombie
- Marshmallow Challenge in the Kindergarten
- 10 Things To Mess Up Your Retrospective
- 5 Reasons A Product Owner Team Might Be A Good Idea
- Watermelon Reporting
If you haven’t read them yet, they are definitely worth the read 
BTW, the blog post with the most discussions was “5 Reasons A Product Owner Team Might Be A Good Idea“. What blog post did you like the most? Leave a comment.
6 Things You Might Try in 2012
055 days
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katieharbath/4764671272/
2011 draws to a close and it is time to set your goals for 2012. If you’re not sure what challenges to put on your plan for 2012, the following list could be a starting point.
1 retro 2011
Before jumping into 2012 it might be a good idea to do a retrospective for the past year. Sit together with your family, draw a timeline and collect all the good things that happened to you in 2011. But do me a favor and forget about the bad things to keep 2011 in good memory.
2 question your org structure
When was the last time you questioned the organizational structure of your company? Does it still fit with the way you’re working? Does it support you in your daily business? No? Then it is definitely time to openly question this structure. I saw a lot of companies trying to introduce agile frameworks like Scrum but without changing the current org structure. It never worked. Let’s try to avoid it! Invite for a kick off meeting to get the discussions rolling and start the change process. It is worth it.
3 ask why
Why did your company introduce Scrum? Why do they think that agile frameworks will help. Why is this process in place. Why do we need to fill out this excel spreadsheet? Why does it take so long to get new hardware? Why is Bob behaving like an idiot? Why are you doing your job? Why is this task so important.
Why questions are the most powerful questions. They are a great trigger to ignite change in your workplace or even in your private life. Why questions will help you in your quest for a life of continuously improvements.
4 offer uncalled help
When was the last time you actively offered help? Don’t wait to be asked. When you see somebody struggling, offer them your help. This shouldn’t be limited to your work life, but also to your private life. Unfortunately, the number of people who are offering uncalled help is decreasing year after year. It starts with so simple things, like opening the door for someone who is balancing a cup of coffee in one and a laptop in the other hand. Try it out, it will brighten up your day.
5 work on your listening skill
Have a look at this great TED talk by Julian Treasure. He talks about 5 ways to listen better. Definitely worth the time!
6 genba walk
If you’re a manager or team lead, this one is for you. Instead of sitting in your office and waiting till everyone comes to you, leave your office and visit your employees. Genba is a Japanese term meaning “the real place”. Go to the places in your company, where the real value is created. The idea of a genba walk is that problems are visible and the best improvement ideas will come from going to the genba. It is also a great opportunity to improve your communication with your team.
What else to you have on your agenda for the year 2012? Leave a comment! Thanks.
10 things to mess up your retrospective
499 days
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metabolico/583204694/
It’s about time for a new list. Today, I decided to write a list on how to mess up your retrospective. There are a lot of possibilities to do this and the following tips will help you doing so
1 – don’t prepare anything
As the retrospective is the simplest and least important meeting of all Scrum meetings, it doesn’t need any preparation. Just come together and start. Wait, where are the pens and the post-its? Forget about it! Just sit together and chat a bit.
2 – Start immediately
As there is no need to set the stage, start immediately with gathering data. Immediately start the retrospective with asking the two questions: “What went wrong?” and “What went well”. That should be sufficient to get great results.
3 – Don’t check if the tasks of the last Retro were done
We don’t care about the old crap from the last retrospective. If it was important enough, it will make it again to our retrospective results. And again, and again, and again, and again….
4 – don’t use post its
Post Its are evil! Endless trees have to die to create this evildoing. You have silent and introvert people in your team? Then maybe it is time for them to learn to speak up. It also helps to reduce all of this retrospective waste, with all of these things that can’t be solved anyway.
5 – Forget about the Insight
Insight? Isn’t it clear why you failed in your last sprint? Maybe you should also skip the “Gather data” step and instantly start to “Decide what to do”.
6 – No DUE date
Due dates are for waterfallers. As we’re working in an agile environment, we don’t need any due dates.
7 – no responsible
Repeat after me: “We’re no waterfallers”. A responsible person is a concept from the stone age. We as a team will make sure that the task will be done.
8 – No time box
This whole concept of a time box is exhausting, isn’t it? Can’t we just skip it for the retrospective? Just sit together and talk and for sure we will have something valuable in the ehh, when it is over, eventually…
9 – try to solve everything
You collected a big list of issues? Then you should try to solve all of them. It can’t be that you ignore some of the problems of the last sprint. Define a task for each identified impediment or problem and solve it in the next sprint.
10 – Always use the same scheme
Always ask the same questions and do the same exercises in all of your retrospectives. This will create a comfy environment for your team and you ensure that you’ll always have a energized and creative team. Your retrospective results will be awesome. Ignore all of this fancy new methods to facilitate a retrospective. This is all new age shit.
I’m looking forward to your experiences, when trying these things out. Please leave a comment 
7 tricks to generate new blog post ideas
2139 days
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qisur/4351196974/
I’m currently sitting at my desk and thinking about what to write about in my next blog post. @breskeby was so kind to mention that if I don’t have anything to say I shouldn’t write a blog post. I think he is right, but on the other hand I don’t want to break my habit of writing a blog post every week. I’m caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
But then @fjeisenberg came around the corner and proposed the topic “How to find ideas to blog about”. I liked the idea. And now that’s the topic of this blog post. Thanks Florian
1- Ask your followers on twitter
As this already worked for me, it will also work for you. Just ask your followers on twitter what they want you to blog about. If you’re lucky you’ll get one or more good idea you can use.
2 – Install the WordPress client on your mobile phone
In the past several of my articles came onto my mind, when I was outside with my kids. Or I had a great idea when sitting at my desk at work. Before I used WordPress on my mobile phone, I forgot about these ideas most of the time. But now, every time I have a good idea for an article I create a skeleton article on my blog using my mobile phone. That way you can create a pool of article ideas. Unfortunately, none of the articles in my pool inspired me today
3 – Have a theme for your blog
It often helps to have a theme for your blog. In spring of this year I started a series called “Food for Thought“. It really helped me to generate a lot of articles based on this theme. A lot of other successful blogger did the same. A good example is @jurgenappelo’s blog about Management 3.0 which is now a successful book in the agile community. I’m still searching for the theme that works for me, but some day I’ll find it.
4 – Use your twitter timeline
If you follow enough people on twitter you may have the chance to observe an interesting conversation or a new idea. Use this as a starting point for your article. Refer to the tweet and write about your opinion about the topic, instead of writing a simple tweet or comment.
5 – Conversational writing
A few weeks ago @catoliv and @mfloryan started a conversation by writing blog posts. One was writing the initial blog post and the other one was answering with another blog post. This way you get inspired by the other person and get some feed for your own blog. Find someone on twitter (or elsewhere) and start doing the same.
6 – Write about your own experience
One of my most successful articles “10 things to drive your ScrumMaster crazy” was based on real life experience of a team at that time. One day they bugged me that much, that I decided to create a list of the things that drove me crazy. There are several other articles in my blog which are based on real life experience. IMHO that’s maybe the best approach.
7 – Ask your blog readers
Yes, that’s a good idea Dear blog readers, what do you want me to write about in the future? Did you like anything special in the past I should write a follow up? Do you think there is the one topic I have to write about? What do you wish to read on this blog? Please leave a comment. Thanks!
11 Hints to Improve Your Scrum Meetings
6167 days
I saw a lot of Scrum meetings out there, that are not more than a skeleton. Everybody is attending but nobody is participating. To improve such situations I collected 11 hints to improve your Scrum Meetings.
Daily Scrum
1 – Walk the Board
Instead of answering the “three questions”, which leads in most teams to answering only the first two questions, walk the board. This means, use your Sprint Backlog to talk about what is currently in progress and what is planned for today. That way you’re concentrating on the really important things, instead of talking about the past.
2 – Show what you’re working on
Pictures are often better than words. Show your colleagues what your currently working on. And yes, it is possible to still do this within the 15 minutes time box.
3 – Appreciate the Daily Scrum as a Mini Sprint Planning
The main reason for the Daily Scrum isn’t the reporting. The main reason for the Daily Scrum is to plan your work for the day. The meeting should be used to plan your next steps in towards your overall Sprint goal. Try to change the context of the Daily Scrum and use it as a Mini Sprint Planning meeting.
Sprint Planning
4 – Demand commitment
I know that in the last update of the Scrum Guide the commitment was alleviated, but I think I’m not the only one who thinks this is the wrong direction. At least in Europe I still think that the commitment is an important part of Scrum. That’s why I demand the commitment of every team member e.g. at the end of a Sprint Planning. Write your Sprint goals on a flip chart and let everybody sign it. Put it on the wall of your team room.
5 – Avoid big tasks
I believe every ScrumMaster heard this sentence more than once “This task is not splittable”. Bullshit! I’m convinced that 95% of all tasks can be splitted in smaller ones. Don’t accept big tasks, just because you want to finish the meeting and head to lunch. And this leads us to…
6 – Bring food
The Sprint Planning meeting is the longest meeting in Scrum. Avoid that the blood glucose level is going down and everybody wants to leave as soon as possible. Bring food!
Sprint Review
7 – Rehearse the Sprint Review
Nothing sucks more than an unprepared Sprint Review. Take your time and prepare the Sprint Review properly. If it’s the last day of your Sprint and a feature is still not running, skip it. Concentrate on what is working and prepare a great show. Your stakeholders will love you.
8 – Use the daily Scrum to plan the last steps
The last Daily Scrum should be used to talk about the last steps that have to be taken to reach the Sprint Goal. Nothing is more important that day.
Sprint Retrospective
9 – Define a responsible
At the end of a Sprint Retrospective you normally have a list of (a few) improvements for the next Sprint. But as long as nobody was assigned to the improvements, nothing will happen. I know there are exceptions, but having a responsible team member per improvement helps to keep the team commitment.
10 – Define a DUE Date
The same is true for a due date. You may decide, that all improvements have to be done till the end of the next Sprint, but there are tasks that will take longer. Set a due date for every improvement to help to track it.
11 – Make the results visible
I saw a lot of teams that put the results of their retrospective into a Wiki or an agile tool. The problem with this approach is, that nobody will see them anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. Put the results on a flipchart and hang it in your team room, so that everybody can see them. If a item on this list is done, put a check behind it. Another approach is, to add the tasks of your retrospective to your Sprint Backlog.
I hope this list is helpful. If you have other ideas to improve your Scrum meetings, I’d appreciate a comment. Stay curious!
Recent comments