Videos on Scrum and Agile Project Management
Prevailing organizational structures are from the last century. Complete reorganization of traditional business and operation models is needed to support modern way of creating software. Agile transformation requires a holistic approach – makeover to something new is as much about culture, attitude and values as it is about structures. Active unlearning of old traits is needed in order to make room for the new. Straight talk, absolutely honest, frank and open conversation about both problems and successes, is a necessity of developing an agile culture. To have lasting and sustained results, understanding of underlying values and principles is essential. Role of change agents and other people supporting the transition is important in the cultural change. Fix-it-all methods and best practices won’t help as every person, team, and organization needs to find their own inspect-and-adapt path in the search for renewal. [vimeo 40777334 480 270] Conference slides: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1404049/agilejkl/korhonen_tormala-beyond_scrum.pdf Video Producer: http://agilejkl.com/
In Agile and Scrum, we spend a lot of time talking about how to better manage software development teams using processes, methods, prescriptions and other rules of thumb. We spend very little time talking about the largest and most important ingredient of any agile team: the team and people themselves
Just imagine that you come to a different country and get a team of consultants with whom you need to do their first Scrum implementation project. On top of that, you are not managing the communication with the client, as you are only a sub-contractor. Not enough? You don’t speak official project language, which makes communication with the client VERY difficult. Want to know how it goes so far?
The Mikado Method is a simple straight forward methodology for large scale refactoring. We’ve all been there; tasked with a change, which as optimistic developers we say won’t take us long, weeks later we’re still fighting the system. Enter the Mikado Method, a way to peel the layers of complexity away from any system. Systematically attack refactoring, in the knowledge that every change you make will be for the better of the system, rather than hoping it will be.
Runners find that they can go faster with a lower perceived effort when they exercise in a pack. The same thing happens when our software teams gel, and when our management teams decide to work together for mutual benefit. We are, by nature, social beings—but culture teaches us to hold back and avoid deep connection.
Many teams who are already using Scrum would like to know what benefits they can get by moving to Kanban. Dropping the Sprint timebox can seem quite scary but on the other hand spending less time planning and estimating seems attractive to many developers. How do you know that you haven’t thrown the baby out with the bathwater?
How do agile projects accurately forecast their budget when they are typically just a bunch of hippies coding without requirements or documentation? Waterfall projects are obviously much better at budgeting with all of the traditional up front design and planning, right? Anyone who has been on a waterfall project can see that this is a complete fallacy.
