Its been a while since I’ve posted – many reasons, mostly excuses and of course the big one, as always, time.

I have been inspired by Maritza to plan a project in my life using agile techniques and blog about it.

The BHAG

My BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) is to: Be Fit and Slim

See how nice and airy and fairy that is? No clear definition just a fluffy ideal And like so many projects out there it has a deadline: February 2013.

Now all projects should be explained using their “WHY?”. I am getting married next year in March, but more importantly the honeymoon is to be on a sun kissed beach somewhere. I want to be feeling fit and energetic and looking good in a bikini by then.

As good agilists know, we should ask “why?” a few times … Currently I am feeling fat and lazy. I weigh the most I ever have. I dont fit into the vast majority of my clothes. Yes I’m exercising: gym with trainer twice a week, running twice a week – but really I use that as an excuse to eat what ever I want. Also, I’m smoking again. I know. Believe me I KNOW.

The Plan

To try something to help with the diet and exercise for one month, inspect and adapt, and also think about the weather in the next month and its effect on exercise (we are heading into winter here).

Sprints

We will sprint for 1 week, starting on a Sunday. On the Sunday we will plan in detail for the following week.

This includes:

• coming up with a menu for the next week – when you pre-plan meals you are less likely to stray
• take into account socializing with friends, eating out etc.
• buying all food needed for the menu
• planning the weeks exercise – take into account business trips, weather impact, races etc

Velocity

We have no idea of what we can achieve realistically, so for the first sprint we are just going to aim high and use the results to plan better next week.

Review

Every Sunday morning we will have a review. This will include measurements, reflect on progress of week – what did we achieve, what was easy, what was hard, where did we slack off.

Retrospective

Every Sunday after the review we will look at our process and adapt it. What did we learn from the review, what else did we notice, what were our moods like.

Daily

Every day in the evening we will discuss and plan for the next day. This might include laying out clothes and setting alarms for early morning gym sessions, preparing breakfast and lunches etc.

Taskboard

On the wall in our passage I have put up:

• Notes for the diet – this would be similar to best practices for a dev team.
• Weekly meal plan
• Weekly exercise plan

Metrics

We have a burndown chart for our weight, but I think we need a way to measure fitness as well. Thinking of having a fitness test once a month, something like: number of pushups in 1 minute, number of sit-ups in 1 minute, time for a 1.5 km run.

I would love to hear your thoughts … today is day 1 and I must say I am feeling apprehensive. VERY.

This site makes me smile and feel positive though – I must remember to look at it often!

This post is the last in a series on the Growth Path of a scrum master:

(1) The Growth Path of a Scrum Master

(2) The SHU scrum master

(3) The HA scrum master

(4) The RI scrum master

(5) Evaluate yourself : Scrum Master Shu Ha Ri Test

A few weeks ago we did a survey on Growing Agile and used the classic Jnr, Int, Snr classifications for a scrum master.

We defined them as follows:

• Junior – need mentoring
• Intermediate – comfortable in role
• Senior – coaching other scrum masters

These definitions above exclude time (years in role) and age. I still prefer Shu – Ha – Ri as people leap to fewer conclusions – in my opinion anyway.

Here are a set of statements to get you thinking about where you are. Perhaps in some areas you are the master? And you may still be needing assistance in others. (PS: Thats normal!)

(The numbering means nothing – its just to allow comments to be easier.)

1. You have read a few Scrum specific books.
2. You have read a few books on other agile topics – Kanban, Lean, Facilitation etc
3. You regularly read blog posts and tweets related to agile topics.
4. You partake in conversations (in person or online) debating certain aspects of scrum/agile with colleagues.
5. You partake in conversations (in person or online) debating certain aspects of scrum/agile with strangers.
6. You partake in conversations (in person or online) debating certain aspects of scrum/agile with friends/family
7. You ask other scrum masters what/how they do things.
8. You observe other scrum masters and offer them feedback.
9. You invite others to observe you and give you feedback.
10. The task board, burndown and other “wall artifacts”  are up to date.
11. All meetings for the sprint boundary are setup.
12. You prepare for each retrospective for a couple of hours.
13. Your grooming is a team conversation with business.
14. Your team works as a unit, not as mini silos (analysis,dev,test,qa)
15. The team pulls their work
16. You attend coaching circles to improve your skills
17. You meet with other SMs from other companies to learn to be better
18. You attend conferences and course to improve your skills
19. You have conversations with team members individually to build your relationship
20. You have conversations with your Product Owner to build your relationship
21. You have conversations with Management to build your relationship
22. You have conversations with team members and product owners not on your scrum team  to build your relationship with them
23. You encourage small failure and the learning behind it
24. You practise what you preach
25. You have stories to tell on success and failures

These statements are off the top of my head … there are thousands more – please add yours to the comments and I will update the post (and give you credit!). The things I mentioned above might come as a surprise to you. Since when is reading and relationship building part of your job description as a scrum master? Well – it is – if you want to be a good one. We try and teach these and other topics in our course Growing Agile Scrum Masters.  These are the keys to becoming great! Content includes: Coaching Self Assessment, Trust, Giving and Receiving Feedback, Listening Skills, Facilitation Skills, Detachment, Self Improvement, Team Assessment, Building Relationships, Scrum Training, Impediments, Motivation, Retrospectives.