We'd like to welcome Kevin Thompson's Deep Scrum to our blogroll. Why do we like Kevin's blog? Because of irreverent writing like this, from a post titled When Scrum is Too Much:
Kevin Thompson: “Deep Scrum”
Leave a reply
CSM: The reviews are in…
We're blushing. Drew Powers, the new editor of the SF Bay Area Chapter of the Project Management Institute's newsletter, attended our Certified ScrumMaster workshop in September and has written a thoroughly glowing account of the class, concluding that Agile is indeed highly relevant for Project Managers:
Read the full article…
Agile Learning Games at AgilePalooza San Francisco
By: Chris Sims
I just found this video from AgilePalooza San Francisco 2009. It’s Yours Truly facilitating a short game that explores what certain interpersonal dynamics ‘look’ like when we act them out very explicitly.
This one is me reporting out about a session I had hosted early in the conference called “Agile Leads to Organizational Pain!”
Cheers,
Happy Birthday Internet!
Agile Open NorCal: Requirements Discovery & Story Mapping Workshop
Chris and Jeremy Lightsmith proposed similar sessions, and so chose to combine them into one. About 15 people showed up for an exercise-based session on generating requirements using the Story Mapping technique, which Chris first learned about from Jeff Patton. As I’ve done in the past, I served as the putative “client,” in my guise as editor-in-chief of a newspaper—come on, you remember newspapers, those things the Brits used to wrap fish back in the olden days? (BTW, the New York Times is now a mere 11 inches wide. I think this is the next step toward ceasing print publication, as it’s now conveniently laid out to be printed on your home printer.)
Read the full article…
Experiential Intro to Agile: First session of the day at Agile Open Northern California
We're just finishing up with Chris' first session at Agile Open Northern California, an experiential introduction to Agile. Chris led a group of 16 through two simulation exercises, then teased out the basics of Agile during the debriefs. Below is graphic facilitator Elizabeth McClellan's capture of the first exercise, where participants drew and folded paper party invitations–first using a wasteful batch and cue process, next using a more agile, incremental approach:
How not to hold a webinar
The short answer to the title question is, of course, don't hold one at all.
The long answer is: Read the full article…
What we learned from (teaching) our first Certified ScrumMaster class
Chris recently co-taught Agile Learning Labs' Certified ScrumMaster training course under the visionary tutelage of Jeff McKenna. Jeff, as you no doubt know, was a member of the first Scrum team, and he knows a thing or two on the subject. He and Chris worked well together. One student quipped, "It's like Chris is the Mom and Jeff is the dad." If your mom is a former lounge lizard with a beard…. No, it makes sense. Chris is the nurturer who wants to provide you with a safe place to learn to crawl, then walk, then run; Jeff, on the other hand, is the wise and wisecracking veteran of the front lines, with a satchel full of war stories–and riveting delivery. Having both in the classroom made for a fun, dynamic learning environment.
The Agile Product Manager’s Guide to the Galaxy
Yesterday Chris and I got together with Steve Bockman to hold a rehearsal for a new class: The Agile Product Manager's Guide to the Galaxy, which debuts on Wednesday September 30. I got to play the persnickety customer during a couple of exercises, and I think my portrayal was a bit… authentic. Ah well, they'll be well prepared to demonstrate special-forces-approved customer interview techniques come Wednesday.
It's going to be a fun day: user stories, story mapping, paper prototyping, and assorted other tools and techniques to limber up a product manager.
There is still time to sign up, or try your luck bidding on a seat on ebay!
Yes, there will be a test at the end. The answer is 42.
Agile Retrospectives – Part 2
In my first post about retrospectives, I described what a retrospective is, why you want to do them, and described the Retrospective Prime Directive. Now it's time to talk about how to do a retrospective.