Migration and Clarity

Massachusetts, my home, has experienced progressively warmer winters. One consequence is that many birds that used to migrate through Massachusetts now stop in Massachusetts for the winter. The result is birds everywhere. Ben, a farmer in the middle of Massachusetts, had been plagued by an overwhelming number of ducks, geese, and other migratory birds. They … Continue reading →

Muck the Duck

These are the jokes I told in my Scrum Master classes. Brick-Laying Duck New buildings were going up all over town. The best were made from brick. And, as you would expect, bars were always nearby to salve the pains of the working folk In one of the bars, one of the brick layers always … Continue reading →

Look at Capability, not Title.

Development team or Delivery team. Continue reading →

Scrum is simple, just use it as is!!

Scrum is a mindset, an approach to turning complex, chaotic problems into something that can be used. Jeff Sutherland and I based it on these pillars: Small, self-organizing, self-managing teams; Lean principles; and, Empiricism, using frequent inspection and adaptation to guide the work of the teams to the most successful outcome possible. The Scrum Guide … Continue reading →

Scrum @ 21

Scrum at 21 – A Look Back Through the Eyes of Ken Schwaber, its co-creator I’m told that it has been 21 years since Scrum became public when Jeff Sutherland and I presented it at an Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages & Applications (OOPSLA) workshop in Austin, TX in October of 1995. Time sure does fly. Things … Continue reading →

Building an Agile Organization Part 2

How can I find qualified Scrum help? “The Professional Scrum Master® (PSM® I) Certification from Scrum.Org is one of the most valuable agile certifications in the market. The greater the depth and extent of knowledge needed to earn a certificate, the greater its value.  By this measure, the PSM assessments are significantly more valuable than … Continue reading →

Nexus

I will be conducting a Nexus workshop in Boston on November 17-18, with Richard Hundhausen and Rob Maher, fleshing out the Nexus Guide with examples, case studies, practices and tooling –         Why Nexus? The word Nexus refers to a connected group or series that are integrated, linked together. When I use the phrase Nexus. I also … Continue reading →

Greed and Control Can Ruin an Industry and Movement

It has come to my attention that Scrum Alliance is trying to register a trademark on, “SCRUM USER GROUP,” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Word on the street is that that the Trademark Office has indicated that it will publish this trademark shortly for opposition.  If no one opposes, I understand that the … Continue reading →

Do you think there are culture barriers in promoting the idea of Scrum in China?

No more than any other culture. The sticking point for how well a culture can take advantage of Scrum is the belief in predictability. People who are culturally attuned to predictability want to believe that they can predict the future. Their job is then to cause the future to come true by forcing the people … Continue reading →