Notes to self

Your work is not just your work anymore. Probably it never was. Your work is also your life.  Probably the biggest part of your life. But your work is not you: it is also you. Having that in mind here are some notes for you my dear me: Sometimes you trust people too much. People …

Scrum Master Tip #7 – Small improvements for greater Scrum teams

Hi :) Christmas is gone but I have a gift to you, a rather small one, but as it happens with almost anything in life, great things come in small packages (cof cof cof) . I'll write about some small improvements I've done before that actually helped my teams a lot in finding their path …

Turning Dysfunctions into Actions – Fighting the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

Hi All :) I just got this challenge today, from a colleague of mine, to convert my post   5 dysfunctions of a team  into something  positive we could show people without  scare them.  So rather than just posting on walls why we suck, the challenge is to post something that would make us think about …

Dysfunctions of a Team

Hi  :) Today I want to share with you part of  what I've learned with this amazing book  from Patrick Lencioni -The Five dysfunctions of a Team - which I truly recommend you to read. Doesn't matter if you are a Scrum Master, developer, tester,  manager or other, as long if you are a person capable of …

Open Space – how to?

Hi Last week I had the pleasure of helping to prepare an Open Space session together with Jorgen Hesselberg after his trip to Europe for his talk at xp2013. I though of sharing some tips with you on how to set up an Open Space Session, and who knows?, I may be able to give …

Creating your Scrum Cards – Free Template

Hi :) So after writing about how I prepare my templates (Creating your own Scrum Cards) for the team to write down User Stories, Bugs, Tasks and Improvements, I got some requests to make my template available. So here it is : US-Bugs-Task-ToPrint (excel format). Normally I print them using the coloured paper I want …

Creating your own Scrum Cards

Hi! Quick Tip Today: Creating a User Story Card You can use index cards and write on them, of if you are like me: a bit lazy but you like things pretty visible and kind of organized, you just have to do some tuned cards in a text editor (Word for 75% population), print them …

Dealing with Legacy bugs in Scrum – THE BUGLOG!

Hi! After writing about Sprint backlogs - how you can create one and why it should be the big elephant in the room, I remembered we rarely see people talking about the nasty legacy bugs the scrum team gets during the sprint and how to fit them inside the sprint. First a disclaimer: when I …

About Usefulness

This one will be short. Just want sharing something I just found out. I realised every time I get up of my desk to pick up a water, a coffee, go to the printer, whatever.. I always also find someone looking for something, and meanwhile I also found out that I always manage to help …

Building your Sprint Backlog / Scrum Board

Hi :) Today a practical tip for building a Sprint Backlog aka Scrum Board. Why should we have a board? The board main function is to allow team to visualize remaining work (tracking) and facilitate daily synchronization (Re-plan). Everyday the team gets together, looks at the board (which contains the committed work) and the team …

Being a Coach

Hi :) Here are some thoughts, based on my experience, about being a coach. I realized it's not about technology, processes and frameworks. It's not about teaching people how to do stuff, although it helps if you can show them a new way or help them finding a solution. But that is not at all, …

Leaders and Servants – Tips for the Scrum master

Scrum masters are not meant to lead (lead technically or in terms of business), they are meant to serve. And serving has different flavours. This 'epiphany' started with a 15 seconds chat with a fellow Scrum Master. - " Should you be a leader? "- I asked the scrum master - " Of course"- He …

Ode to the Scrum Master

I'm the darkest hour I bring trouble and pain My words are sour I'll make you play my game. Come to me with no stubbon mindset I'll break you and your assumptions like the dawn by the sunset My voice stands against interruptions But I try to heal, and all I get is hurt. I …

The 7 Feet Under model – losing good people

It's time for me to finally publish and share my famous 7 Feet Under model. WARNING: this post contains strange things as Zombies, dirt, graves, stupidity, sarcasm and some other weird thoughts that may hirt the reader. enter at your own peril. The '7 Feet under model' is a simple visual summary of  my observations …

The Deliver Crap Project

Hi This was a draft post I had here for a long time, it's a rainy dark day here in berlin today. Looks like a nice day to release  this post :). The Deliver Crap Project Sometimes people forget their purpose while creating products or services: to serve a need. I would go further and …

Engage your team – seeking and finding followers

Dear reader, How often when leading we use good examples to support us? How often when talking, while trying to explain something, we use that person (which we know it's already engaged) as an example to support to our case? It's human, we always seek for supporters. That's why we try to be surrounded by …

Scrum Master TIP #6 – Retrospectives (2)

Hi there :)! Back in February I wrote this post about Retrospectives, giving hints on whom, when, why and  how to do it, plus some references for you to learn more about it. The thing is: I may not have focused something really really important: People HATE retrospectives, your job is to make them have …

Perceptions – How important in a TEAM

    Wikipedia says that PERCEPTION is.. ..The organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to fabricate a mental representation through the process of transduction, which sensors in the body transform signals from the environment into encoded neural signals   And how important this is! … Perception simply defines the shape of the world for you. …

Deadlines: a boost

When you work with a team of smart people, deadlines can actually be positive thing. But there's a catch: deadline cannot be fake. If the deadline is something with meaning for end users (not just for the sake of plans- although we all understand the importance of those), the team will take a responsible approach …

Key indicators of Team happiness

Key indicators of team happiness was something that struck me the other day. Out of nothing, as always, something I heard while walking through the corridors and  that made this click on my head. Then I started observing some other things happening around me that also were a sign of team's happiness. There is more stuff …

A gift for the Agile Community

Hi there! WAZZUP ?!?   :D   Long time no see, it's how they say...when you are having fun you don't have time to tell about it :). But this is not what has brought me here today. today I have good news and A GIFT for all the people in the agile community. This …

Never assume- Always ASK

Today was a long nice day. I got home tired, I talked a lot, I listened a lot,  I saw a  lot and I want to do a lot. Just some minutes ago I twitered : '' note to self: never assume things. Specially when they are 'obvious'. There's no such thing as obvious.All depends where …

The new Pomodoro

Here you go, long time no see...but I'm back. And I have 2 great tips for you :). First: Read my dearest friend (@pintolaranja) new magazine on software TIPS and, right from there- Second: take this new amazing software and  implement your own Pomodoro technique : > 20 Cubed (yes, they say it also helps with your …

Changing Teams Changes you

Some weeks ago there I was with this team doing a retrospective. A team with no appointed Scrum master, luckily a team with a Team Leader, a true leader with an open, honest, transparent and human mindset. He was leading the retrospective, something he actually does pretty well. At the end I asked them how …

Scrum Master TIP #5 – Retrospectives

  Retrospectives are probably the most important event for Teams, and probably the less valued. What I'm writing now is just a glimpse on retrospectives.. just a minor part of it. I truly advise you to read more about it (check bellow recommended book).   What are Retrospectives?   Retrospectives are the right time for …

From 1 to Many: Simple things about Teams.

How it started Today I was working out some slides I have on Agile & Scrum Intro... and I have this slide that describes what a Scrum Team is: 5 to 9 people Cross-functional (Programmers+ testers+ UX+..) Members should be full-time Self-organized Collaborative Autonomous, regarding how to achieve commitments Self-managed Stable – same team throughout the product sprints Negotiates commitment with …

Scrum Master Tip #4 : Daily Scrums

Two of the three  most powerful things about  scrum are  the Inspect and Adapt chances we have constantly. Although sometimes we can't see how important this 2 things are, they actually are the heart of scrum. It's really easy to misunderstand this 2 things with retrospective. Most people would think Inspection and adaptation is something …

Scrum Master Tip #3 : Explain, Exemplify and Pratice

Being  a Scrum Master means a lot, if you do the right things. Being a Scrum Master is like being a leader: you won't drive the car, but you'll set on the passengers seat and you'll help the driver take the best route and be prepared for the risks of driving: without of course scaring …

Changes- why they are so difficult

I know this is a question that puzzles you as much as it puzzles me. I know you need people around you to change, or at least to embrace the idea that the world is constantly evolving. I know how frustrating it is to know an answer (right or wrong- it doesn't matter actually) to …

Agilitypedia – User Stories

What are user stories A user story is simply something a user wants. A user story is a very high-level definition of a requirement, containing just enough information so that the developers can produce a reasonable estimate of the effort to implement it. In short, user stories are very slim and high-level requirements artifacts. Why …

Did you say Increments or Excrements?

I'm from the north of Portugal. That isn't good nor it is bad, but it means something. People from the north have a temper. Also they say exactly what they think and, they mean exactly they say. This may be a problem, specially now that I'm working on the south. Let me tell you about the …

Definition of ready

What is that? Definition of Ready (DoR) is the sum of conditions under which User Stories (US), Product Backlog (PB) or Sprint Backlog (SB), must be so that the team can start the work. Definition of Ready  is also known as Readiness Criteria. Let me explain with an example :) Example Imagine my team noticed …

Velocity

What is Velocity? The truth is: Velocity is Velocity. And Velocity is measured..as velocity is. How do you measure your velocity while driving? (Considering the velocity counter is broken) :) You are driving for the last 2 hours, you've done 160km until now, so you know your average velocity is 80km per hour. If your …

Hints for Agile Transformation- Part 3

Have you ever seen a movie called Inception?           Watch it. It's the most valuable advice I could ever give to you. You need to know, and to practice, inception on those around if you want things to be Agile :). Have a nice week!

Deliver? Piece of cake!

Today I had this marvelous experience, we called it Innovation day. A bunch of strangers from the same company (yes this may happen in big companies) stuck together in groups to implement an idea. We didn't knew the Idea, we read about it in a corporate tool, but the author was not available. Fortunately it …

Scrum Master Tip #2 : Ready? Set, GO

It's a frequent thing for teams to say some things weren't delivered because Product backlog Items weren't properly defined. "The PO doesn't know what he wants". It doesn't mean that this is always true :) specially if the team is still in a Blaming stage. But it happens. If you work in a big company, …

Parkinson’s Law

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Daily Scrums

It's not easy to facilitate a Daily Scrum. 15 minutes of focused conversation, trying to bring everyone's attention to what matters the most. Avoid side-talks... ans most of all contain the will of Chickens and make them stay quiet. If someone goes to a daily Scrum (a chicken i mean) that shows that that person …