Scrum masters have to bring that thought to the team
It's not a time-management system, but a value-management system
4 Roles, 5 Events, 3 Artifacts
Understanding these is not enough, it takes a long time of experience to change your mindset
Agile Culture
A red metric is when the Plan is >30% off of actual team performance... and the plan needs to be changed.
Team members are team contributors and focus on team success even if it means delaying or missing individual commitments
Teams are groups of people who collaborate to achieve a common goal. There is no lead.
Small increments of code, build, integrate
Failures are learning opportunities and points of improvement
Predictive vs Empirical Process
Predictive is to make a plan and then follow it
Empirical is to update the plan as more information comes in (think of hurricane planning)
Divide and Conquer (break down large pieces of work or process or organization)
Inspect and Adapt (product, process, plan)
Create transparency (people work better when they have all the information)
4 Value Statements
We value Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
Higher morale and better results when people are working together and collaborating in teams
We value Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
Needs change over time... product needs to meet the needs not the requirements
To bring it down a level, we can say: Product Owner Collaboration over Acceptance Criteria Negotiation
We value Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
We don't want our system to be delivered, shelved and never used
We value Responding to Change over Following a Plan
Adaptive planning
12 Principles of Agile Development
Customer-Related Principles
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Agile says work iteratively (first iteration could be 3 weeks, second one 4 weeks, etc.). In scrum, there needs to be cadence and consistency in length of iterations.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
In scrum, the "Business Person" is the Product Owner
Business-Related Principles
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working product is the primary measure of progress.
If you finish the requirements, the design, the architecture, etc. you are still 0% done
Need to get things done really early
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Because of scrum (and 2-week sprints), this one goes out the window... sometimes we overcommit to a sprint. Scrum Master needs to make sure they don't do that.
Team-Related Principles
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Scrum
Framework
Why is it a Framework
Process - a sequence of procedures and activities with inputs, outputs, entrance criteria, exit criteria
Methodology - set of principles, tools, practices which can be used to guide processes
Framework - loose, but incomplete structure that describes a small set of elements and activities
4 Roles
Product Owner
Scrum Master
Developers
Stakeholders
5 Events
Sprint
Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
3 Artifacts
Product Backlog
Sprint Backlog
Increment
Roles
Scrum Master
Skillset:
Servant leader with a background in Agile and Scrum
Skilled in domain knowledge, coaching, facilitating, and teaching with a passion for delivery
Responsibilities:
Scrum Team's expert and coach for Scrum
Ensures impediments that would prevent the Scrum Team from meeting its sprint goal are removed
Prevent the team from being distracted from internal or external sources
Internal like if the team is about to make a bad planning decision
External like if a manager is trying to pull people off the team
Accountability:
Accountable for the scrum team's effectiveness
In service to the scrum team, product owner, organization
Service
Not a team lead, but a facilitator
Product Owner
Skillset:
Visionary with strong leadership and communication skills
Knowledgeable in customer needs and focused on maximizing value to stakeholders
Responsibilities:
Maximize value of product and work by dev team
Clearly express backlog items
Daily and weekly grooming of the product backlog
Ensure product backlog is visible to all
Voice of the customer
Order items to achieve goals and missions
Optimize the value of the work
Ensure developers understand items in product backlog to level needed
Define acceptance criteria
Accept/Reject work results
Developers
Scrum Team is 10 or fewer people
Skillset:
Creative problem solvers with excellent communication skills
The ability to self direct while supporting a larger team
Responsibilities:
Collaborate on solutions
Creates deliverable products
Mutual accountability
No sub-teams
Support Team Planning
Implement tasks in timebox
Minimize work in progress
Communicate needs and dependencies
Ensure quality products
Continuously learn.
Stakeholders
Skillset:
Anyone affected by project or products that scrum teams are delivering
Responsibilities:
Provide regular feedback
Attend demonstrations
Identify risks
Clearly articulate needs
Collaborate with other stakeholders and team
Respect others
Events
Introduction
What makes events events is that they are timeboxed - they have a maximum duration
Sprints are events, but are special in that their timebox is both a maximum and a minimum
Sprint
Heartbeat of Scrum
Duration <= 1 Month
Most common is 2-weeks
Result: Increment
Next sprint begins immediately after conclusion of previous sprint
No changes are made that endanger the sprint goal
Quality goals do not decrease
Scope may be re-negotiated between team and Product Owner
Sprints may be cancelled if the sprint goal becomes obsolete - only the PO has the authority to cancel sprint
Sprint Planning
4-hour meeting for 2-week sprint
Steps:
Product Owner and team determine Sprint Goal
Might do that based on risk or based on priority or based on nothing at all - it's his call!
Sprint Goal is a user capability
Product Owner suggests user stories for team to implement
User stories are "problems for the user to solve"
Team reviews their velocity and capacity. Negotiates with Product Owner (Scrum Master may help)
Velocity: How many SP a team gets done in a sprint
Team and PO agree on user stories to implement
Team breaks user stories down into small tasks and create Sprint Backlog
Scrum Team commits to the Sprint Goal
They aren't committing to the tasks or their stories or the backlog - they are committing to the Sprint Goal
Fist of five
Topics
Why is this Sprint Valuable?
What can actually get done this sprint?
How will we actually get this done?
Inputs
"Ready" Product Backlog Items
Team Capacity
SME Input
User Story Acceptance Criteria
Current Product
Feedback from Demo
Outputs:
Sprint Goal
Sprint Backlog
Roles:
Product Owner: Offers sprint goal, any clarifications, negotiates scope
Developers: Decide how much work is brought into the sprint, break down work into small 1-day tasks that create a Sprint Backlog
Scrum Master: Facilitates dialogue between team and Product Owner, Maintains the timebox, Ensures developers don't over or under-commit
Daily Scrum
15-minute meeting
Every day at the same time and place
Goals
Intended for the team to plan their day (NOT a status meeting)
Throw out the questions to the whole team all at once - "Team, what did we get done yesterday"
Encourage collaboration
Make sure everyone is participating
"Team, what are we going to get done today?"
"Team, what impediments are we facing that will keep us from achieving our Sprint Goal"
Goal of the Scrum Master is: Team leaves with a plan for the day
Scrum Master facilitates but does not lead the meeting
Team discusses what was completed yesterday, what they plan to do today, and impediments blocking their Sprint Goal
Benefits
Usually eliminates need for other meeting
Improves communications
Highlights impediments
Sprint Review
2 hours for a 2-week sprint
Goals
Demonstration of what was accomplished during the Sprint
Only demonstrate capabilities that meet the team's Definition of Done
Capture feedback from stakeholders and talk about next steps
Not a presentation - minimal slides. Product or Service should be the focus
Product Owner is usually the host/presenter
Whole team should attend
Sprint Retrospective
2 hours for a 2-week sprint
Goals
Inspect and adapt
Goal is to improve the product, process, and plan
Entire team discusses what worked well, what didn't work well, what they should stop doing, what they should continue doing, and what they should start doing
Product Backlog Refinement
Not an event
Product Owner brings stories to the team and gets their feedback - is it good? detailed? sized correctly? etc.
Ongoing activity throughout the Sprint as often as the Product Owner deems necessary
Artifacts
Introduction
Artifacts represent work or value for the user
Product Backlog
Owned by Product Owner
Product Owners build, maintain, prioritize, refine the backlog
Ordered List of what is needed to improve the product
The single source of work undertaken by the Scrum Team
User-facing description of user value that contains Epics, Features, and User Stories
User Story - Small size (i.e. one sprint). Much detail.
Feature - Medium size. Less detail.
Epic - Large size. Minimal detail.
Commitment: Product Goal
It is the "why" we are doing all this work
Sprint Backlog
Set of product backlog items selected for the sprint
Backlog items that can be completed within a sprint
Commitment: Sprint Goal
Single objective for the Sprint
Highest priority in the Sprint (including in Sprint Planning and Daily Scrum)
Commitment: Definition of Done
What do we need to do, as a team, to release value to our customers/stakeholders?
For a story to be done:
All of its acceptance criteria satisfied - each story has its own unique acceptance criteria
