Category: Agile Principles
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Introduction to Scrum and Management (Part 6 of 6)
This is the part I wrote first. All the other parts were written to justify this coldhearted analysis on what should be the role of management in Scrum. I was convinced that there had to be something more for management to do than “support the team and get out of the way.” Over the years,…
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Introduction to Scrum and Management (Part 5 of 6)
Pavley.com presents, the penultimate episode of ITSAM! Starring the algorithms of Scrum. The computational thinking that makes it possible to do “twice the work in half the time.” Last episode, part 4, starred the story point as a data structure of enumerated values and its function as a signal of complexity. Story points are expressed as…
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Introduction to Scrum and Management (Part 4 of 5 or 6)
Our story so far: in part 3 I described the Scrum team as a data structure-an undirected graph. I tried to show how the properties of an undirected graph predict how a Scrum team behaves and how it can be optimized for productive behavior. Part of that optimization is keeping teams small, eliminating hubs, and…
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Introduction to Scrum and Management (Part 3 of 5 or 6)
Ah, I can see from those weary, sleepy eyes, that like me, you are obsessed with improving your team’s WIP (work in progress). Stick with me and we’ll get to the bottom of the productivity conundrum with the power of our computational thinking! In part two, I listed the three data structures and four algorithms…
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Introduction to Scrum and Management (Part 2 of 4 or 5)
Welcome back! In part one, I expressed my dismay that Scrum was conceived with no formal role for management, especially not Engineering Management. I also claimed that Scrum is Agile, that Scrum is not dead, and that Scrum was created long before the hyperconnected Internet we now inhabit came into being. I found that Jeff…
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The Three Laws of Agile Process
As early as 2007 Agile practitioners, or at least people who blog about Agile, began to observe that we live in a post-agile world. I’m not sure what means but Agile is a conversation about the best way to manage the software development process that has been going on for a long time. Has it…
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Communication Flavors
It’s not even funny how human networks and computer networks exhibit the same behaviors. I know we’re all patiently waiting for the singularity, for the event where computer networks become sentient and life as we know it changes forever. But given how the current example of networked sentient beings behave I fear that switching platforms…
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Volunteer Scrum Master Handbook
I have to disclose upfront that I am more of an Agile guy than a Scrum guy. Which is to say I feel more at home discussing Agile in general than Scrum in particular. (I’m not even sure how to capitalize it–SCRUM or scrum?) Over the years I’ve made my peace with Scrum and as…
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Agile Fables
I love a good fable. The kind that Aesop used to write with animals acting out human morality tales. Of course, if you do the research, you quickly find out that Aesop didn’t write most (if any of the fables) we ascribe to him and like Shakespeare he probably never existed. I don’t let reality…
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Managing the De-Motivated
It still amazes me how a process created by engineers for engineers can make so many engineers so unhappy. I’ve seen all kinds of responses to Agile from engineers. Some are immediately enthusiastic. Others are cautiously optimistic. Many are amused and cynical. And some are down right hostile. Over time the responses polarize and the…