Hi,

Are you interested in publishing some of your very own ideas out on www.implementingscrum.com ?

I am amazed at the number of blogs out there about Scrum and Agile.   And then there are also people (could this be you??) who have great ideas and then do nothing to get the word out about your ideas.  Or you may have a blog and want to get to a larger audience.

So.

Here is my offer:

Look through the cartoons and find one that strikes a nerve, pisses you off, makes you laugh, or are totally stunned with.  That is step one.

Step two is to contact me about an idea to flesh out regarding that cartoon.

If it makes sense for the both of us, create sometime totally original and I’ll work with you to get posted out here.    It has to be original and you’ll get full credit with all the link backs that make sense to your stuff.  It cannot be commercially oriented (like trying to sell stuff to my readers).

Fair?

Easy?

There is a very large following of people around the world with this blog (hey, YOU are reading this [THANK YOU by the way]).  This could be the platform to get your ideas out to a large audience.

Thoughts?  Ideas?

Let’s get started!

I am thinking if there is enough interest I may schedule a guest blog posting each week on a certain day.  Hmm… Perhaps you’ll be seeing one Monday?

Modifying Scrum is a bad idea.

Do you hear me?  Do you REALLY think modifying Scrum is a good idea?

Why?

Scrum is a simple framework.  It works.

Yet, in most places I get called into for consulting with clients around the world, this is one of the major causes of projects failing.

People try to mess with it.  Because they know better.

OK… do that… then call me to come in and tell you to go back to the basics.  I make a great living doing this — but this is FREE advice.  Hey… if you still want to bring me in, call me and I will happily deliver this message to whoever you want (heck — I can even do this over the phone for you — what’s the worst that can happen, the receiver can hang up on me — not too bad for a five second telephone call!).

There is a reason that Scrum is a simple framework.

It’s supposed to be.

Think about it.

Most organizations — from very small to the largest enterprises — hire, employ, or contract very smart and intelligent people.  These very well-meaning very smart and intelligent people then think they can improve Scrum… before even understanding what power Scrum as a framework brings to the table.

Think about it.

Your organization is probably a political quagmire.  Most are.

If you are luck enough not to be in this situation, think of one of your favorite Dilbert Cartoons and laugh — this does happen in most places.

So… you have this political bullshit going on in the organization before Scrum.  As dysfunctional as it is, people have learned to thrive and succeed in this environment.  Actually the people that are dysfunctional created this dysfunctional system.  This could be you (ouch… hard to look in the mirror sometimes — trust me — I KNOW!!!).

Then you introduce Scrum.  And then an amazing thing happens.

Take a guess?

“Mike – Scrum is causing a lot of problems so we HAVE to modify it and make it better.”

“Mike – WE are different.”

OK.. on the first one… really really really look at what problems you think Scrum are causing.  I do a root cause analysis workshop with clients and usually almost ALL of the problems were there before Scrum was implemented.

Scrum exposes existing problems.

Get over it.  As a ScrumMaster, this is something you get paid to work with the Scrum Team, the Product Owner, and outside stakeholders to manage.  Put on your big kid pants and start having those tough conversations.

Yeah.

You are different.  And special.

But.

Um.

Use Scrum as the basic framework.

Watch.  Observe.

Inspect and Adapt.

Sound familiar?

Now does this comic strip make sense?

Let me know your thoughts!

Or… do as the majority of organizations who try to implement Scrum and fail — go back to what you were doing before and blame Scrum.  It’s a cop-out the industry (read: meaning people like you and me) still allows to happen.  Sad… but true.

Grow a spine and try to have a tough conversation TODAY!

[By the way - the original posting for this cartoon is located at http://www.implementingscrum.com/2008/05/06/kiss-keep-it-simple-stupid/

Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.

I hope you enjoyed last weeks posting and are looking forward to learning something new this week with me.  This is an important concept — we learn together (thank you!).  Please post comments below or tweet about this (or whatever other social media thing you use today!).

One of the big problems I see people talking about (and talking and talking — NOT DOING) is the concept of planning in Scrum.

Bottom line.  Instead of talking about it (and becoming stuck in analysis paralysis and NOT DELIVERING), do it.

How much time?

Enough to get started.

Really.  Get started on Delivering Working Software.

The original posting for this comic strip was about 2.5 years ago and um… wow… it was pretty politically incorrect.  Oh well… Blogs are timeless (smile).  That original posting talked about the rules for planning poker, about being on Fantasy Island (you may or may not be old enough to remember that show — google it), and quickly devolved into possible sexual innuendo.  Oops.  Or you are welcome (smile).  You can take a look at the original posting here.

So what really is “enough” to get started?

When you look at Scrum, there are so many opportunities to plan.  And execute.  And Deliver.

Remember the reason for using Scrum — DELIVER something of value to your customer and end users.  Reduce Risk.  Whatever.  Deliver.  Inspect and adapt.  Really. Hmm… Seems like I may be over using the words DELIVER and REALLY.  Wonder Why?  It needs repeating.  Really (smile).

You can do long range Release planning at the Product Backlog level.

You can do short term Sprint Planning at the Sprint Backlog level.

You can do Daily Planning and adjusting at the Daily Standup level.

You can track all this planning on different Burn Down Charts.

Plan plan plan.

Bla bla bla.

What does your customer really want?

Really?

Really?

ASK.

You can get stuck PLANNING for a long time.

DELIVER.  Get to DONE.

Yeah… you still need to PLAN in Scrum.

But what is REALLY important to your end users and customers.

Do they really care about the plan?

Hmmm… not if you keep missing deadlines and deliveries.  Plans then become a CYA (cover-your-ass) thing that opens the gulf of distrust even more between the team, the customers, and other stake holders.  Traditional Project Managers then use it to beat people over the head about missing dates.  You know the cycle.

So.

Stop it.

Plan enough.

This is one of the *tough* conversations you need to have with your stakeholders at all different levels.

I can promise you (from experience) — these conversations SUCK at the beginning.  Mostly because a traditional Project Manager has been making excuses for the team about missing dates (and using the Project Manager Whammy Stick to do strange things to the team).

As a ScrumMaster though — remember — who is REALLY responsible for delivering on a Scrum Team?

The Team.

Yeah, as a Scrum Master you are responsible for facilitating the process (or framework or whatever you want to call Scrum) AND making sure the Scrum Team understands their roles.  Oh… and also working with the Product Owner.  And Oh… the outside Stakeholders.  Welcome to reality.

This is real world stuff.

So how can you keep it from sucking?

Deliver.  Team — do you hear this? DELIVER.

And guess what… once you are delivering on your commitments the conversations shift to AWESOMEness.  Really.  This is not just my dream fantasy world.  It happens.  Daily.

It will suck wind at the beginning.

Plan.

Enough.

Execute.

Deliver.

Inspect and adapt.

That’s enough planning in Scrum.  Yes… DO IT.

AND.

Deliver!

Scrum is not a Silver Bullet.

Delivering builds confidence.

Try it.

Welcome to 2012.

Here we are.  Another year to look forward to.

Another year to look back on.

Looking back on 2011 for the blog at www.implementingscrum.com, I did not publish a lot of information.  However, an interesting thing continues to occur — people viewing the content (some of it now almost five years old) and subscribing to the updates has increased dramatically.

So.

Looking forward to 2012, here is my commitment to you, a valued member of this community (THANK YOU) so much.

I’ll take it up a notch and start paddling again.

Like any great ScrumMaster or Agile Coach, I have to keep at it with this blog because there is so much information we all still need to share.

That’s my commitment for 2012.  You’ll be hearing from me at least on a weekly basis with new cartoons (or at least new commentaries from me!) and updates on my latest and greatest stuff.

What’s yours?

Are you going to start paddling again?

Good luck.  Commit here if you’d like, and let’s see where we go this year together.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos (Follow me on twitter @mvizdos and Facebook)

PS – You may remember this original comic strip from 2008 (wow time flies), it is located at: www.implementingscrum.com/2008/04/21/up-the-creek-without-a-paddle/