About Self Organizing Teams/ | App Developer Magazine Posted 4/11/2016 12:05:46 PM by CLEMENTINO DE MENDONCA, Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org A question from a budding Scrum Master, who is transitioning from a background as a traditional project manager: “In order to promote team bonding and self-organization, from now on I am going to try something new with the team. In the sprint planning meeting, instead of me breaking down the tasks for user stories between each team member, I am going to just identify tasks and hours needed and leave it at that, and then I will ask each team member to “pick” tasks from the sprint backlog on their own, and later, as soon as they complete a previously picked task.” He goes on to say: “The behavior I want to encourage is the following: 1. 2. Has anyone tried something like this before? My answer, in my experience as a Professional Scrum Master, and Professional Scrum Trainer was the following: “Your recommendation is definitely a best practice for Scrum Masters. "Agile Methods are: - Iterative
A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making Reprint: R0711C Many executives are surprised when previously successful leadership approaches fail in new situations, but different contexts call for different kinds of responses. Before addressing a situation, leaders need to recognize which... In January 1993, a gunman murdered seven people in a fast-food restaurant in Palatine, a suburb of Chicago. In his dual roles as an administrative executive and spokesperson for the police department, Deputy Chief Walter Gasior suddenly had to cope with several different situations at once. He had to deal with the grieving families and a frightened community, help direct the operations of an extremely busy police department, and take questions from the media, which inundated the town with reporters and film crews. “There would literally be four people coming at me with logistics and media issues all at once,” he recalls. A version of this article appeared in the November 2007 issue of Harvard Business Review.
The Burn-Down Chart: An Effective Planning and Tracking Tool Burn-downs charts are among the most common sprint tracking mechanisms used by Agile practitioners. Though their application and usage varies (some plot a burn-down chart using story points, whereas others use task count), plotting burn-down using effort remaining is the most effective and efficient way of using burn-down charts. This article looks at creating and updating a burn-down chart using the effort-remaining approach, interpreting burn-down under different scenarios, and examining common mistakes to avoid while using burn-downs. We conclude by looking at some of the benefits of using this innovative tool. How to create a burn-down chart The first step is to have a task breakdown in place. Figure 1 The Y axis depicts total hours in the sprint (420 hours), which should be completed by the end of the sprint. Updating the burn-down chart Each member picks up tasks from the task breakdown and works on them. As we progress during the sprint, the burn-down will look like this: Figure 2
A great article on modeling risk Nicholas Gall VP Distinguished Analyst 14 years at Gartner 35 years IT industry Nick Gall is a vice president in Gartner Research. As a founding member of Gartner’s Enterprise Planning and Architecture Strategies, Mr. Gall advises clients on enterprise strategies for interoperability, innovation and execution. Coverage Areas: by Nick Gall | January 28, 2009 | 2 Comments I finally got around to reading Risk Management in the New York Times Magazine. Wall StreetModelingRiskHow people game modelsHow all models eventually fail that I have ever read. All risk management systems, all (complex) models for that matter, are examples of robust yet fragile systems: robust in the face of expected events, yet extremely fragile in the face of unexpected events. Progress does not involve replacing one theory that is wrong with one that is right, rather it involves replacing one theory that is wrong with one that is more subtly wrong. Category: history quotation Tags:
User Stories and User Story Examples by Mike Cohn What is a user story? User stories are short, simple descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the person who desires the new capability, usually a user or customer of the system. They typically follow a simple template: As a < type of user >, I want < some goal > so that < some reason >. User stories are often written on index cards or sticky notes, stored in a shoe box, and arranged on walls or tables to facilitate planning and discussion. As such, they strongly shift the focus from writing about features to discussing them. Can you show some user story examples? One of the benefits of agile user stories is that they can be written at varying levels of detail. As a user, I can backup my entire hard drive. Because an epic is generally too large for an agile team to complete in one iteration, it is split into multiple smaller user stories before it is worked on. As a power user, I can specify files or folders to backup based on file size, date created and date modified.
Creativity Games - Weekly Games to Develop Creative Thinking This week we're scaring. Game: There are 3 random words below. Use them as inspiration for a monster that you may come across with a sci fi series. tower crispy dance This week we're recreating. Game: There is one random word below. synthetic This week we're seeking. Game: There are 4 random words below. caterpillar bridge mouse ink This week we're comparing. Game: There are 2 random words below. guitar mud This week we're defining. Game: There are 2 random words below. shooting wealthy This week we're progressing. Game: There are 5 random words below. needle stars lighthouse vet moss This week we're sleuthing. Game: There are 6 random (or seemingly random) words below. farm game choir scar pharmacy rehearsal This week we're constructing creative clues. Game: There are 3 random words below. dentist space lemonade This week we're inventing. Game: There is one random word below. wig This week it's all about the letters. Game: There is one random word below. harp This week we're scaling.
SSW TV - Videos by developers, for developers | .NET Training Please let this not be the future of reading on the web by Rian on 23 November 2011 In The Pummeling Pages, Brent Simmons sums up the experience of reading on the web, which is something I’ve become increasingly frustrated with as well: I was there because I just wanted to read something. I see the sentiment echoed everywhere, including tweets like this one by Alpesh Shah: Just to be clear about what we’re talking about, here are a few examples that illustrate why there is such a growing frustration with reading on the web. First, here is an article on Harvard Business Review that not only blocks me from reading anything until I click to dismiss the ad, it also messes with the other ads on the page: Here’s a story from Cracked.com, where in my unscientific estimation about 15% of the page above the fold is devoted to the actual text of the article: And finally, an example from Search Engine Land that illustrates the following sentiment in Brent’s article: They’re filled with ads and social-media sharing buttons “” and more ads.
Overview - Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) Manifesto for Agile Software Development Agile Project Management Handbook v2.0 | APMG Business Books In today’s ever-changing world, organisations and businesses are keen to adopt a more flexible approach to delivering projects, and want to become more agile. However, for organisations delivering projects and programmes, and where existing formal project management processes already exist, the informality of many of the agile approaches is daunting and is sometimes perceived as too risky. These project-focused organisations need a mature agile approach – agility within the concept of project delivery – Agile Project Management. Since its launch in 2010, DSDM’s Agile Project Management has proved very popular, and has enabled the adoption of Agile Project Management practice worldwide. Click here to take an AgilePM practice exam paper. This title is also available at APMG-Australasia for AgilePM candidates who wish to purchase directly from our Australian office. AgilePM® is a Registered Trade Mark of Dynamic Systems Development Method Limited.