My Lean Startup Interview

The folks at DZone were kind enough to invite me over for a chat during Agile2011 to have a conversation about agile, kanban and lean startup.

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Scrum Extensions (or what we already do to make Scrum work)

In case you have not already heard, there is a recent press release on Scrum.org with regards to the adoption of Scrum Extensions.

Today’s announcement marks a new era in Scrum’s evolution by making available a public mechanism for providing feedback on the Scrum Guide and a model for proposing extensions to the basic framework.

scrum extensionsNow I’m all in favor of extending Scrum, and even the name Scrumology (apologies to Kane Mar who probably gets a fair amount of my hate mail) was my take on all of the ways in which you may need to extend it to succeed in your organization. In fact, I’ve taken quite a bit of criticism for my rather progressive take on the Scrum philosophy over the years.

So on one hand, I feel somewhat validated that Scrum.org has opened it up for extensions.

On the other hand, Scrum no longer belongs to Jeff Sutherland & Ken Schwaber.

Scrum belongs to you[Read More]

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Kanban Kickoff

Release and Iteration kickoffs can be challenging. Luckily for us, some of the same techniques we use to manage the flow of work within a Release or Iteration can be used to help us with our kickoffs.

Kanban 101 reminds us to:
- Make Work Visible
- Limit Work In Progress
- Help Work to Flow

Kanban Story Sizing:

Create 3 columns before beginning your story sizing exercise. Label them Ready to Size, Sizing and Sized. Place all of the stories you wish to size in the Ready to Size column. Pull the stories through each column as you progress. Since I’m usually planning with one team, I only put a WIP limit on the Sizing column and keep it at 1.

I use Index Cards for this exercise, but you could project your Agile Lifecycle Management software up onto a wall or Skype it and accomplish the same thing… [Read More]

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Rewind Your Mind

rewind“A good engineer thinks in reverse and asks himself about the stylistic consequences of the components and systems he proposes” – Helmut Jan

This advice is not limited to engineers. It also applies to many of us who want to produce software that actually matters to people.

Thinking in reverse, yet leaning forward can yield innovative results. This can be especially helpful when you feel as though you’ve become stagnant in your day to day activities.

Applied to Lean Startup

As the Lean Startup movement continues to gain momentum, one has to be careful not to blindly speed through the Build -> Measure -> Learn loops.

As Eric Ries stated in his Mixergy interview, even though you act in… [Read More]

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A Silent Retrospective Workshop Comes to DC

Silent Retrospective Workshop in ActionSilent Retrospective Workshop in Action

When: October 26th 2011

Where: AgileDC

What: It can be difficult to convince team members to speak up in a retrospective. Each individual needs to have his or her voice heard, and by incorporating silent work techniques you can foster participation in those who may otherwise be left out.

Come to this interactive workshop as we explore the power of silent work and group collaboration in retrospectives. You’ll walk away with real world techniques to help bring out the inner voices of your team.

If you are still on the fence about attending, I’m including my slides and a few pictures of what this workshop will entail.

I may tweak the format a bit depending on the audience and room layout…[Read More]

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