July 2009 - Posts

• Why Use Scrum If Change Isn't Important?

  Is Scrum really only valuable to folks who care about agility (or Agility)? Let's say I'm running a project with defined requirements, fixed scope, a fixed schedule (firm completion/release date), and fixed resources. What advantages does Scrum offer over other project management methodologies? How about the ability to maximize team efficiency? So, my requirements are clearly defined and I don't expect to change my product backlog based upon feedback from sprint reviews. So what? I still get the advantage of a pull system for work (scrum team members self-assign work efficiently instead of waiting for a manager or a Gantt chart to tell them what to do). I get the advantage of keeping the team from multi-tasking and other work-robbing interruptions. I get the advantages of acceptance criteria and the Definition of Done. I get the advantage of clearly knowing my status at any given time without a lot of overhead. I get the advantage of team and workflow process refinement/improvement via retrospectives. I get a simple system that lets me track work and predict when the project will be done fairly accurately. I even get the ability to reassure my customers and stakeholders that I am on track because I can show progress at regular intervals. In short, I get all of these advantages without any disadvantages... and I get a much easier project management framework to boot. The big bonus here is I get to show folks how an empowered team using a pull system can be much more efficient than the old command-and-control model while being easier to manage because they mostly manage themselves. Sure, I can get some of these benefits of Scrum without running Scrum... but all of them? As easy as I can by just adopting Scrum? Think what it would do to most organizations who don't value agility (the ability to react to change), to see the other benefits of Scrum and then realize they can get all this and the ability to course-correct without the pain and waste of throwing a lot of suddenly-obsolete work away. Being Agile means you can change but you don’t have to. Do what makes sense for your organization. Many people dismiss the idea of trying Scrum because their organization is more interested in predictability than agility, not realizing that Scrum allows both. If whatever process you’re following now isn’t making you happy, maybe you should reconsider Scrum for all of these other reasons. Posted Jul 16 2009, 03:53 PM by John Clifford with no comments Filed under: agile, Scrum, processes

• Greetings!

  Welcome to the first post on my new software development blog! Let me tell you a little about myself. I'm an experienced software developer, tester, program and project manager, QA manager, and development team manager, with over two decades of experience in high tech. I've worked at small startups and the world's largest software company. I've written device drivers, OS portability layers, libraries, utilities, and UI components, for environments including CP/M-80, MS-DOS, Windows and Windows CE, AmigaDOS, MacOS, PalmOS, Unix, VAX VMS, and IBM MVS/TSO. I've worked on development tools, desktop applications, and platforms. I've managed developers, testers, program and project managers, and entire development teams. And I've had the privilege of working with some very smart people at very successful companies... and with some very smart people at very unsuccessful companies. I've learned that failure can be a great learning opportunity, and that the opportunities to turn failure into success are really within our control if we're willing to face the brutal facts, recognizing those signs of disaster that are so obvious in hindsight and then devising a solution while there is still time. Agile retrospectives are a great tool for this, as are other tools and techniques. Many of my posts will be about what I see, and have seen, along with some general observations and perhaps answers to questions. Feel free to leave comments, or contact me through the blog or via Construx's website.  Posted Jul 14 2009, 05:53 PM by John Clifford with 1 comment(s) Filed under: practices, planning