In the past, the Certified ScrumMaster examination process has been relatively simple. If you answer all the questions, you are awarded the certification. You could answer every question incorrectly and still pass. That is about to change in April, 2012.

The Scrum Alliance is building credibility into the certification designation by modifying the standard of passing the exam. From April 2012 forward, the CSM’s will have to demonstrate a minimum level of knowledge and proficiency of Scrum/Agile methodologies.

I think this is good news for our industry. It takes our integrity up a level. We can’t imagine all doctors passing their exams simply because they answered questions. That would be crazy. While we are not doctors, we should expect high performance standards from our peers and colleagues who regulate our trade.

All of you who have taken the CSM exam previously, I am sure you answered all the questions brilliantly and contribute highly to your Scrum teams. To all of you who will take the exam after April 1, you know you will have earned your certification. All of us need to continue to move Scrum to the forefront of great development teams and beyond.

Any questions related to these changes should be directed to the Scrum Alliance.

Are Product Demos painful and shallow on the feedback?

This is what we hear from our Scrum teams over and over.  The Scrum framework is simple and elegant, but implementation can be complex.

Asking questions is risky business.  We have no control over the answer and we may not like the answer.  But as ScrumMasters, Product Owners, and developers, we must be fearless in our quest to drive greatness for our end users.   Here are some question examples to bring life to your next Scrum ceremony.  

You have a meeting at 3:00.  Are you looking forward with dread or anticipation?

Scrum meetings are a frequent and essential occurrence as we move through the Scrum framework.  As a team member, a Product Owner, or a ScrumMaster, we have an obligation to facilitate meetings that are engaging.  How to accomplish that??  It requires awareness and practice.

An engaging meeting. That sounds like a tall order.  Webster’s Dictionary defines engaging:  : to attract and hold by influence or power : to interlock with : to hold the attention of : to induce to participate.

I have been to many a product demo that is lack luster.  I have seen daily standups where team members leave asking, “what are we doing next?”,  and retrospectives that are dominated by one or two people. Meetings are a forum for learning.  Learning about the product, the requirements, or learning about the people involved in development.  To craft a successful meeting, we must shift our perspective.  We must view meetings as a opportunity and challenge to expand our ability to engage.

How are we going to accomplish this engagement?  By running a meeting that appeals to all learning styles and team members.  If we use the Learning Type Measure from 4MAT, we know the learning language that everyone speaks. Whether the ScrumMaster or Product Owner is directing the meeting, if a framework is followed, engagement will be embedded.

The first step is to answer the question Why?  Why are these features important, why do the stakeholders value something, why was this process selected?  Then we move to What?  What features have been built, what does the market research say, what are the advantages of the new development process?  How is the next question in the meeting format.  How will the features work in the real world, how can this be built with the resources available to us, how will we test the product in the market?  Finally, we need to know What if?  What if we shift our budget to finance the newest trend in the market place, what if we eliminate feature X for feature Y, what if we re-organize our priorities to meet the deadline?

A meeting framework grounded in good learning strategies will propel your team to a higher degree of effectiveness and achievement.  Want to learn more?  Join 3Back for our new course targeted at teams and meeting dynamics, 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

That would be Connie.  Learning through reflection and analysis, she is an asset to any team.  Deep in reflective thought and analyzing the discussion, lends to possible negative body language that can be misinterpreted!  Connie crosses her arms because she is internalizing the conversation.  As for clock watching, Connie runs a tight schedule and expects other team members to show the same respect.

Challenged with how to implement processes, moving to action is not her strong point.  What to do is always clear, but to Connie, how to do it is puzzling.  Decisions are ” either/ or ” for Connie; being correct has a high priority.    Connie prefers to think about what will probably happen, rather that what the possibilities are.  Looking historically for solutions is her thought pattern, rather than projecting big picture, risk-taking solutions.  Maximizing certainty is where Connie operates best.

Connie’s biggest strength is knowing the experts, the data and the latest information from the super highway.  Separating fact from feeling gives Connie the ability to make decisions without personal involvement.  Not getting involved in the drama on the team is a breath of fresh air!  Organization is her strong suit and follow through with projects and reports comes easy to her.  Connie has the utmost respect for authority and expects it to be returned.  Logic and linear thinking come naturally and Connie will have great patience with you as she explains every detail in the process.

Connie will lead your organization to a reputation of outstanding tradition and prestige.

Have you seen Connie? If you have and are looking for tools to maximize her contribution to your Scrum team, join 3Back for our new teams course, 4MAT for Scrum Teams.

3Back has announced the introduction of their new Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) course program, this program is aimed at software development professionals who need to raise their technical game, in order to build robust scalable products in today’s modern enterprise environments. The program is delivered in 2 parts: 3 days of core technical engineering agility training, and 2 days of scrum process training.

The 3 day core technical training is delivered in a course called Effective Scrum Developer (ESD).This new training course is unique, by balancing the effort to learn theory, with applied practice. The ESD course is delivered in a tool specific manner using Visual Studio 2010.

The 2 days of scrum process training can be achieved by completing either a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) or other qualified course. The first ESD course will be held in Minneapolis, MN., beginning June 9-11, at the Normandale Community College.

3Back Senior Trainer & Managing Partner, Douglas Shimp, CST. believes this Agile Pathway™ is another stepping stone towards improving organizational agility and team success.

3Back is a Scrum Management Consulting and Training company that helps leading companies improve their applied business agility. 3Back regularly provides 1^st step training in the form of public and private scrum training around the United States for Certified ScrumMaster and Certified Product Owners. Additionally, 3Back provides adoption and tuning services for improved business agility with their Agile Pathways™ program. They are experts in applied Scrum. “We make teams better.”

Source:3Back Scrum Consulting and Training

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Select Scope Manager
A commercial web-based package that provides planning capabilties to all aspects of Scrum and XP projects. Evaluation version available to download from site. I’ve worked with some Select products in the past and they’re not bad, but not very customizable.

Scarab
Java server based artifact tracking system, highly customizable. Distributed under a BSD/Apache style license.

Scrum for Team System
This is an add-in guidance package for Microsoft Team System, it fully covers Scrum and lets you get work done fast. No customizable available but it works without it. This was co-developed with Ken Schwaber so it reflects how Scrum needs to be done. Let’s users create their own views but comes with a dozen or so that are quite sufficient. Supports single team or multiple team projects and is currently being updated to version 2.0 where it’ll have more flexibility. If you have Team System in place and are struggling with the MSF for Agile package then take a look at this, you won’t be disappointed.

Although there are dozens of software solutions tools for managing agile workflow, it is best to finds the tools that are naturally adaptable in your work environment.

Just about any tool can help you and any of these tools or others can become a barrier to your success. Make the tool serve your purpose. You should not feel like you are bending to the tool’s purpose.  The tool must serve product development otherwise get rid of it.

Two common reasons you cannot get rid of a tool that is hurting you….

1. You cannot get rid of it is because someone else is mandating the tools use. Just because you paid a ton of money for a tool doesn’t mean it was a good decision and mandating a tool will not make the decision better but, it might save your career from political egg on the face. The team would dump it if they were allowed.
2. You must use a tool like the one you have to meet audit requirements. This shows up in regulated environments.

When you have the freedom to let the people who must use the tool on a regular basis make the call, don’t be surprised if this year they want tool “X”, and next year it is tool “Y”. What is more important is the ability to adapt!

There is a growing focus on the Scrum Alliance and it’s ability to help identify  training providers. The Scrum Alliance recognized education providers as they exist today are limited to the Certified Scrum Trainer (CST).

Common Training

• Certified ScrumMaster
• Certified Scrum Product Owner
• Certified Scrum Developer
• User Story Writing and Analysis
• Use Case Writing and Analysis
• Interactive Games
• User Cases
• Design Patterns
• Test Driven Development
• Refactoring
• Continuous Integration
• Object Oriented Design
• Deep Dive Scrum Master Workshops

There are more but, that is the quick list.

1. A placeholder story is a sign of sloppy planning
2. All work should be known ahead of time and planned during sprint planning
3. Yes, this allows the Product Owner to dump things into the sprint as needed.
4. Sometimes we have a history of unexpected bugs/issues of handle it now. This allows us to track how much of that is showing up and leave some slack for when it does.
5. We often have work we know we will have to do but, don’t know what it is yet.

Comment: This is a way to track how much unknown work is showing up and manage the amount by triggering a conversation when needed. One of the most common issues for scrum teams is what to do about work that we expect to have to do during a Sprint, but don’t actually know the details about yet, such as bugs we have to fix in existing systems, or expected sales support efforts. Using Place holder stories is a a method to manage these “known unknowns”.