Scrum Gathering 2015 Notes
I used to attend Agile and quality related conferences years ago and have saved notes from many of them. While some topics have become overtaken by events since then, there still seem to be some useful ideas that I’d like to pass along.
Monday Keynote (Mike Cohn) “Let Go of Knowing: How Holding onto Views May Be Holding You Back”
Mike defined an estimate as “a best guess about the best way to produce the best results.” He asked people to be open minded and “willing to consider new ideas” with the attitude that “I could be wrong.” And in a related thought, he asked “What do you believe now that you did not before?”
Somewhat surprisingly, he said a high-performing team could get away with no Daily Meeting.
He did ask why should we wait to the end of the Sprint (i.e., at the retrospective) to talk about improvement? However, he wondered whether people will, in this ad hoc approach, only raise problems and sit on other improvements perceived as less critical?
He closed with three points:
1. Question your assumptions
2. Exhibit intellectual humility (willing to accept that a belief you have can be wrong)
a. Dunning-Kruger Effect — the less we know the less we think there is to know
3. Avoid brand loyalty — doesn’t mean you have to, or should, question everything, e.g.,
a. Sprints should be <= 4 weeks;
b. Get something “Done” each Sprint;
c. Meet at the start of the Sprint to understand where you’re going.
Bob Hartman (AgileBob) “How to Have “Agile” Conversations with Executives”
His thoughts on such communication were:
· Do it one on one, not multiple people trying to address an executive on the same topic.
· Avoid the “used car salesman” approach: yes/no questions that can be perceived as manipulative.
· Bring data about $$ — executives speak this language.
· Phrase problem back to them.
Hartman encouraged forward thinking, that is, “Every time you have a conversation, you are setting up the next one” — what is your end goal before you start?
He also reminded us that “Stories are memorable, facts are forgettable.”
He noted that great teams solve problems; weak ones are victim to it, live with it, work around it.
Finally, he asked “How do you get 25% better a year? 1% every 2 weeks.”
Michael Sahota “People Over Process”
Two thoughts:
· Without “safety,” nothing else matters Do team members trust one another enough to feel safe?
· Vulnerability in others, we see as “courage”
Anu Smalley “Product Owner Must BEs”
Two thoughts:
· PO as “single source of truth”
· “Don’t look back, that isn’t the direction you’re going in.”
Dhaval Panchal “Estimate Anchors Benefits”
Regardless of the apparent detail, an estimate is a guess. Expert judgment or statistical model: we don’t know what we don’t know other than we know there are things we don’t know. Acknowledging this isn’t “giving up,” but admitting we must move forward with less than perfect information. Therefore, how do we do this most effectively? What is the cost vs benefit of an increasingly detailed estimation effort compared to moving forward and having an approach that can adapt more easily to change? Our illusion of control results in passing risk down the lifecycle.
Alan Cyment “A Sip of Organic Agility a Day Keeps Stale Scrum Away”
He encouraged moving from couch potatoes to Shu potatoes, starting with retrospectives.
He used a gardening metaphor saying organic growth slower than transplanting, so stop trying to be a Sensei and become a Gardener.
Chris Sims “Active Listening”
Form a community of practice to really practice skills besides exchanging information/ideas. [I would encourage this to be done at least with the team facilitators, i.e., Scrum Masters.]
Executive “carrying an invisible gun”
Exercise of he and I across the room and people raising things that could impair communication.
He divided up the rest of his comments as if they were college course levels:
101
· How do you take notes?
· How do you avoid using “Charged words”?
· Use other’s their language with them.
· Close the feedback loop for confirmation (paraphrase).
201
· “Active listening” is somewhat like a retrospective.
· Ask “What else do I need to know?”
· “Why” questions are tricky as they can be an emotional trigger for those perceiving them to be a “challenge” word, e.g., “Why is that a problem?” implying it shouldn’t be. [Can depend on the way this question is delivered.]
· “Powerful questions” are a key coaching technique.
301
· Learn to show empathy/connection over emotional “outburst”.
· Validation doesn’t mean accepting that the concern is “right”.
· What we know but really don’t.
There were a series of presentations on the subject of ”Transformation”.
Randy Hale “Transformation Goals”
His transformation advice was to:
· Find and focus on the one big pain point.
· Recognize when big wins are hidden as small ones.
· Focus on outcomes for the business.
· Enable people — training is but a part of that
· Build high-performing teams
· Deliver business value
· Release on demand — DevOps implementation
· Enable leadership to “tell the story”
Michael Wollin “Transformation”
His transformation advice was:
· “Most people do not listen to understand but with the intent to reply.” — Stephen Covey
· In a transformation, who has to “prove it”? Should be Sr. Leadership
Michael Sahota & Steven Green “Transformation”
His transformation advice was that the only thing leaders do of value is create culture.
There was an Open Space session on “How does an introvert work on an agile team?”
Reference was made to Susan Cain’s book Quiet and her TED talk.
Extroverts are productive with stimulation; introverts with as little as possible.
Here are pictures of the flipchart material presented in the session:
