Together we are, The Three Amigo’s
In a previous blog post, Improving processes with Lego, I discussed how the Lego Flow Game can be used to show how changes in rules/processes can affect the flow of development, leading onto discussion to identify process improvements. In the discussions that followed the completion of the Lego Flow Game exercise, my Development Team mapped the delivery […]
10-Pin Bowling Retrospective
This blog post was originally published on the Scrum Alliance website on 8th March 2016. The Scrum Guide states, “The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.” There are a number of resources available (books and websites) […]
The non-agility of the PDR process
One thing every Agile methodology has in common is the concept feedback loops, and ideally, fast feedback. These feedback loops can be internal or external and can take place at varying intervals. Feedback can be received from customers through UAT (user acceptance testing) or following the release of a product increment. Alternatively, feedback can be […]
4-4-2 or 4-3-3? What is your team formation?
The formation that a delivery team adopts is normally set out at the beginning of a piece of work during the Inception process. Some of questions that may be asked during an Inception are ‘what are the keys roles and competencies required for this delivery’ and ‘what does our A-Team look like’? The answers to […]
Improving processes with Lego
Looking back at my first two years as a Scrum Master, my Sprint Retrospectives were dull, boring and always followed the same format. This was a format that I had been introduced to during my time as a Product Owner, where the Scrum Master would ask the Development Team to write on post-it notes the […]
Could a Product Owner be a Google Car test driver?
It is often said that the aim for the Scrum Master is to make themselves redundant. They should be looking to create such a high performing team that the team are able to remove their own impediments and no longer require any facilitation. Geoff Watts provides a great analogy in his book, Scrum Mastery, that of Nanny McPhee. Hopefully you will have seen […]
Product Ownership from a distance
In a previous post I provided an introduction to my time as a Product Owner and how I went from Passenger to Driver. I would like to continue that journey and consider how things changed when we moved from an internal Development Team to an external, third party Development Team. During the course of the […]
Product Backlog Refinement
In Scrum there is no formal event that covers the refinement of the Product Backlog. Instead, the Scrum Guide states that the “Scrum Team decides how and when refinement is done” and that “refinement usually consumes no more than 10% of the capacity of the Development Team.” As a Product Owner, I facilitated mid-Sprint Product Backlog refinement […]
Passenger to Driver – My introduction to Product Ownership
Having provided a brief overview of my Agile journey, I thought that I would take a closer look at my introduction to software development and my role as a Product Owner. Although I was aware that an IT project had started in order to bring the processing of the data I analysed in-house, I had […]
My Agile Journey
I have not taken a typical route into IT and software development, although, as I look back at the roles I have undertaken I am able to see some similarities and reuse of skills. After graduating from university with a degree in Criminology and Social Policy, I spent seven years as a civilian in the […]