Perfecting Scrum Basics
Find clear definitions and the original thinking behind the core Scrum Framework.
Retrospectives
One of the core principles in Scrum is the idea of continuous improvement. Each Sprint the Team engages in an inspect-and-adapt cycle during the Retrospective meeting. Beyond that though, the Scrum Guide doesn’t offer much insight into how to run a successful Retrospective and how to use the meeting to improve production, quality, and velocity. Visit the full course page.
How To Launch a Scrum Team
Join us as we share how we help clients launch teams. We share our step-by-step backlog for launching new teams or reinvigorating old. Three different perspectives from three Scrum Inc. coaches on what to do, what the common impediments are, how to avoid the worst and conquer the inevitable. Visit the full course page.
All Topics on Scrum Basics
Scrum Godfathers: Takeuchi and Nonaka
Takeuchi and Nonaka are Godfathers of the Scrum Agile Process since they coined the term in their seminal paper in the Harvard Business Review in 1986: Takeuchi, H. and I. Nonaka, The New New Product Development Game. Harvard Business Review, 1986(January-February)....
Scrum Evolution: Type A, B, and C Sprints
One of the key influences that led to creation of the first Scrum was a paper on the Japanese way of new product development by Takeuchi and Nonaka [2]. This paper had a chart showing product development separated into silo’s (Type A), phases slightly...
Scrum: Involving the Customer
Creation of the Agile Manifesto at Snowbird 2001 There was a dialogue in the scrumdevelopment group today on how customers should be involved with Scrum teams, prompting me to regurgitate a few of the examples I have been involved in since the first Scrum in 1993....
Google Gmail
Now that I have given away Gmail accounts to anyone on the PatientKeeper development team who wants one, I have a few more to pass on to people in the Scrum community. If you have been looking for a Gmail account, send me a note. First come, first serve.
Scrum: Subsumption Architecture and Emergent Behavior
PicBot exhibiting emergent behavior Yesterday's posting on the birth of Scrum generated some questions on Rodney Brooks' subsumption architecture. One could argue that Agile processes emerge architectures by building the simplest possible thing and evolving into more...
Start with Scrum
Primavera Looked for Something Better Bob Schatz came to Primavera a few years ago as the new Vice President of Development. He brought with him experiences from his career at General Electric and then a software start-up. Steeped in the principles of leadership,...
Waterfall Method: A Colossal Blunder!
Larman, Craig. Agile and Iterative Development. Addison Wesley, 2003. I have received many requests for documentation of project failures caused by the waterfall method and the history of the many disasters introduced by accident when the Department of Defense...
Real Time Process Improvement with SCRUM
Tonight, I am giving a presentation on SCRUM at the Boston Software Process Improvement Network monthly meeting at MITRE Corp. in Bedford, MA. It is a variant of the SCRUM Theory and Practice portion of the OTUG workshop I did in Minneapolis last year. Sutherland,...
The Deeper Theory of Scrum
In response to requests for presentations on Scrum, my lectures in Minneapolis in 2003 are the best material. I'm moving it back to the top of the page for those interested in checking out the slides and the first slide says it all: The Zen of SCRUM So simple, anyone...
SCRUM: Productivity Gains with eXtreme Programming
For some years now, several authors of the Agile Manifesto have discussed Scrum as a process wrapper for XP processes. It's introduction to a new team can be quick and easy, and XP engineering processes can be adopted over time as the team can adapt. Also, Scrum has a...
Early History of Scrum: First Scrum Creates Component Model
At a meeting of the Microsoft Business Framework Advisory Council in Redmond last week, I was reminded once again that there is a lack of good component models in object design tools. The best one I have seen was created by the first software Scrum at Easel...
SCRUM: Pigs and Chickens
Pig Snouts at bullysticks.com Ken Schwaber started the pigs and chickens story in the early days of Scrum. The terminology is now under deep discussion in the newsgroups: A chicken and a pig were brainstorming... Chicken: Let's start a restaurant! Pig: What would we...
Working Together In "War Rooms" Doubles Teams’ Productivity, University Of Michigan Researchers Find
PHILADELPHIA---Teams of workers that labored together for several months in specially designed "war rooms" were twice as productive as their counterparts working in traditional office arrangements, a study by University of Michigan researchers has found. Results of...
Agile Alliance: New User Groups
There are user groups springing up around the Agile Alliance focused on improving development processes. Groups are international in scope. I recently reported on the Calgary: Calgary Agile Methods User Group (CAMUG) The Thames Valley Agile Special Interest Group...
Voices From the Past: Uncle Bob on Project Management
Several people have asked me to republish historic information on Scrum. This was posted on my website in 1995 after Agile Manifesto signatory, Bob Martin, sounded off on project management. Group: comp.lang.smalltalk From: rmartin@rcmcon.com Robert Martin Org: R. C....
SCRUM: Maybe we need to take a lesson from the South Africans
Naked Springboks tested at camp South Africans are agonising over their defeat by New Zealand. South African rugby players were subjected to naked toughening-up exercises at a gruelling boot camp before the World Cup in Australia. Some South Africans doubt the wisdom...
Scrum: Another way to think about scaling a project
It is hard for people to realize how radical SCRUM is because it is such a simple process, anyone can do it. Here is an example to expand your thinking about SCRUM. Below is data from Jones, Capers. Applied Software Measurement, Second Edition. McGraw Hill, 1997 on...
Agile Manifesto: Who does it have in common with Open Source and Hacking?
Eric Raymond's analysis of the convergence of hacking, open source, and the agile movement is of interest. Eric is well known for writing two seminal open source articles that have strongly influenced the movement: "[Hacker] is a very complex term, but more than...
SCRUM: How to Fail with the Rational Unified Process: Seven Steps to Pain and Suffering
I received a request not to post this article previously, even though it was posted elsewhere. Craig Larman agreed to send anyone a copy. Now it has a home on the Agile Alliance site for easy access. It's a good read and everyone should check it out. How to Fail with...
SCRUM: IEEE Computer Agile Issue – June 2003
IEEE Computer published an issue on agile development this month. Of particular interest is an article on the history of iterative development which is highly recommended for anyone interested in the background of Scrum or any other Agile method. Larman, Craig and...
SCRUM: Review of Agile Software Development with SCRUM
Slashdot review of best available book on SCRUM Schwaber, K. and Beedle, M. (forward by Jeff Sutherland) Agile Software Development with SCRUM. Prentice Hall, 2001. This book holds a remarkable ranking of 602 on Amazon's best seller list and gets five star reviews....
SCRUM: Keep Team Size Under 7!
A few teams in a 500 person development group at IDX Systems (now GE Healthcare) generated production code at five times the industry average, while most of the teams who executed SCRUM, only doubled productivity over industry average. One of the problems in the large...
SCRUM: Removing bottlenecks is a core systems design principle
How do you optimize throughput in any systems process? Goldratt's book is extremely useful to any techncial expert, whether in software development, or a surgeon in the Operating Room of the Future. It is written as a novel, easy and fun to read, and based on...
SCRUM: Saving the Product While Downsizing 96%
Mike Cohn has written a very cool article on how he used SCRUM to assure product survival and a company sale with 12 people after laying off 88. SCRUM works best under pressure! Cohn, Mike. From the Front Line: The Upside of Downsizing. STQE Magazine 5:1:18-21,...
SCRUM: Agile database development
Fowler, Martin and Sadalage, Pramod. Evolutionary Database Design Abstract: Over the last few years we've developed a number of techniques that allow a database design to evolve as an application develops. This is a very important capability for agile methodologies....
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