Does CSM certification make a good Scrum master? June 11, 2010
Posted by editor in Scrum.add a comment
I have been reading lots of discussions around the Scrum Alliance and its certification process. Does taking a two class make you a good Scrum masters? For an answer to this question, I asked some of my friends who have been great scrum masters.
The general opinion was that while the CSM class does give the basics of Scrum, it completely misses the ball on the “Human factor” involved in being a good Scrum master. Some of the best scrum masters seen are not certified but certification does help. The great thing about the CSM class is the interaction with others much less the certification part. Many times scrum masters learn by doing trial and error on Scrum basics and in doing so they end up causing a lot of damage to the team.
By going to a CSM or for that matter any training class , the interaction with the instructor and others in the class will get you going on the basics. I am an Agile coach and often play the role a scrum master. The toughest part in being a scrum master is not Scrum, it is being aware of what to do and what not to do in a team.
Every time I take the role of a Scrum master and coach Scrum masters, I always tell them not to apply the same rule to every team. Each team you will facilitate is different. As far as certifications go they are a nice to have tool , but that should certainly be not the criteria to hire a scrum master.
Along with it try to see if they pass the CFROC Test.
Are they committed to the team, Can the keep the focus on Scrum and distance themselves from the politics, Can they respect themselves and thier team members,
Are they open enough to help the team with whatever the team needs without taking any sides, Are they courageous enough to stand up to the team and protect them.
BTW this is spoken about in the CSM, but leaning and doing are two different things.
Is there a suggested list of books for agile teams? June 10, 2009
Posted by editor in Agile Practices, Scrum, TDD.add a comment
We are often asked about books for agile teams. Here is a great starter list for teams practicing agile software development.
Agile Bookshelf
What is a mission statement for scrum masters in a company? May 29, 2009
Posted by editor in Agile Practices, Scrum.add a comment
If you have multiple scrum masters in your organization, it will be good exercise to come up with a charter for your group.
Here is an example of one such statement
“ As scrum masters of , we are servant masters enabling teams to deliver business value in the software we develop, protecting teams from external interferences, resolving impediments that teams have and coach teams in better ways of achieving software agility”
Our core values are
- Passive listening
- Respect
- Courage to speak up
- Be compassionate and help team member be better at what they do.
- Always find new ways to improve.
- Remove impediments that team members have.
What are different way to size stories? Why do we do story points, not hours? February 1, 2009
Posted by editor in Agile Practices, Scrum.1 comment so far
ike Cohn talks a lot about this in his book Agile Estimation and Planning. You can use any measure to size stories.
Teams use different sizing techniques
T Shirt Sizing
X Small, Small , Medium , Large , Xtra Large
or
Coffee Sizing
Small, Tall, Grande
You can pick any sizing technique. Make up one if needed.
This is mainly done as we as humans and as managers are better at abstract terms. If we use hours as a way to size stories,then the managers in the room have questions, teams dont immediately feel comfortable with hours.
Sizing keeps the planning meeting at a fast pace.
A general measure you can use for T Shirt sizing is how many days it take to complete a story
Small story – 1-3 days
Medium – 3- 5 days
Large – 5 – 7 days
X Large > 10 days
In order to convert a story size to a number you can use either factorial, Fibonacci or Squares.
Sizing Techniques
If in a sprint your team does two small stories and two medium then your velocity is 9 * 2 + 4 * 2 = 26 ( if you are following the squares techique). Square is simple and works quite well.
How does Scrum work on large complex stories? We cant do this in a month? February 1, 2009
Posted by editor in Agile Practices, Scrum, XP Practices.add a comment
The word potentially shippable does not mean that you ship to production every Sprint in Scrum
You can have stories that span multiple sprints, that may not make it to production. This may be part of a larger EPIC story. The goal is to work on it every sprint. We have seen many instances where the product owner decided to ship the story half way through that process, as they see see that what is developed so far is not complete, but is good enough to ship.
