9. Starting a New Job as a Scrum Master
Jon and Vic are joined by Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) in an undisclosed location for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee. In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss the following topics: Wisdom of crowds Respect people First week on the job Training Conquest Coaching retreats / bootcamps Reach out to Jon (@waterScrumBan) and Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter – and use the hashtags #askAgileCoffee or #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.
8. Last ‘cast from Paradise Perks: Sayonara, Paradaisu – pt.3
The last installment of our final Paradise Perks session (you have to admit, the ambient noise could get loud). Recorded the day after their presentation at Scrum Day San Diego, Jon and Vic are joined by Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee. In this episode, our Agile heroes discuss the following topics: Software development is not manufacturing “Bat outta hell” syndrome We ended with a quick retro on the event. Reach out to Jon (@waterScrumBan) and Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter – and use the hashtags #askAgileCoffee or #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.
7. Last ‘cast from Paradise Perks: Adios, Paraíso – pt.2
Part 2 of the Paradise Perks finale, Jon and Vic are joined by Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee. It’s our last podcast from Paradise Perks in Irvine (alas, the institution has shuttered its doors), and this session (recorded on June 14th) is divided into three parts, all using the lean coffee format. In this episode, the Agile heroes discuss the following topics: Zero QA – is QA really necessary? Planned Serendipity – lean coffee format, and introducing Gangplank as an example of this Enabling Innovation – the role of…
6. Last ‘cast from Paradise Perks: Goodnight, Paradise – pt.1
Fresh off their Scrum Day San Diego appearance, Jon and Vic are joined by Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) for a lively morning of Agile and Coffee. It’s our last podcast from Paradise Perks in Irvine (alas, the institution has shuttered its doors), and this session (recorded on June 14th) is divided into three parts, all using the lean coffee format. In this episode, the Agile heroes discuss the following topics: Culture eats what? Key Man syndrome and amoeba hump reverts “Agile practies make me tired” Two new uses for Agile Coffee: afterglows and cold-calling Reach out to…
Capacity Planning worksheet for Scrum teams
[ UPDATE July 2016 – I no longer subscribe completely to the concept of capacity planning, at least to this level of detail. I will keep this post available, but I will not maintain the fancy spreadsheet 😉 It’s fun to geek out with numbers and formulas, but we could do better having meaningful conversations with our teams. ] The topic of Capacity Planning came up in a recent coffee, and I decided to introduce it to my new team. I just developed a spreadsheet (illustration below) that helps make visible the number of hours that each team member is…
5. Creativity in Agile? Use Your Imagination
Live from Paradise Perks, Dr. Dave Cornelius (@DrCorneliusInfo) and Arielle Caron join Jon and Vic use the lean coffee format to discuss the following topics: 1. XScale 2. Kill Agile 3. koans, problem solving and goose in a bottle 4. brainstorming / inceptions … worthwhile? 5. Creative Inc’s model of brainstorming 6. Greenhousing and Jesse’s Lasso Reach out to Jon (@waterScrumBan) and Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter – and use the hashtags #askAgileCoffee or #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.
4. Coffee is Done When it’s Done
Live from Paradise Perks, Jon and Vic use the lean coffee format to discuss the following topics: Agile Games and Gamification Scrum as a gamification platform techniques used by people like Bryan Beecham (@BillyGarnet) at Iceberg Ideas Agile in Japan referenced The New New Product Development Game by Takeuchi and Nonaka, 1986 Training, Taboos and Readiness Jon’s favorite book: Training from the Back of the Room by Sharon L Bowman Recursion: Use it or Lose it Jim McCarthy (Software for your Head, the Booted, etc.) Jon brought up the movie Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp, but I thought he said “Elwood” and completely missed…
What is Minimally Viable Agile?
Jon recently asked (at 14:00 of episode 3 of the podcast) what’s Agile and what’s not. Do you ever hear “Oh, that’s not Agile” as a pejorative? There’a a lot of controversy – even a heated debate – about what constitutes the minimum necessary to still be considered “Agile”. Agile, of course, is not one method, but a collection of related methods. The term “agile” indicates (for us) a nimbleness or adaptability of these related methods. Could you boil Agile down into Iteration (the inspect-and-adapt cycle) and Incrementalism (breaking deliverables down into small units of business value)? What about respect for…
3. Lean Coffee for Two: Minimally Viable Agile
Vic (@AgileCoffee) and Jon use the lean coffee format to discuss the following topics: Minimally Viable Agile Transparency between POs, SMs and teams Non-IT Agile Safe environments and the Soup Plus we take a look ahead to the following agile/lean events both in California and across the USA: Scrum Day San Diego – June 13 Interact with local executives, ask why they went with Scrum and Agile and hear the benefits they received from this new way of working. Agile2014 – Orlando, FL — July 31 – Aug 1 AgileAlliance’s annual conference will reinforce our understanding of proven methods and will illuminate some of the exciting…
Using an Inception to kick off a project
Agile Inceptions are powerful and fast ways to get a team to internalize a vision. It’s a two-day investment that saves the company months of up-front planning and allows the teams to begin immediately deliver core product functionality. Overview Since mid-2013, I’ve been involved with teams adopting the Agile Inception format used by Pivotal Labs to kick off new projects. I’ve been fortunate to participate in these inception meetings with a couple teams from Pivotal, and I’d like to share my observations on their agenda and process. The inception model is a kickoff strategy that is repeatable and well-vetted. At it’s core,…