Read More..."Sprint Retrospectives with Kanban"
I was asked to pull the In Practice series together into a book, so I have. Here's the blurb: You can buy it at amazon.com. ISBN 978-1-908552-49-5, 260 pages. Welcome to "Scrum in an Hour", a brief introduction to the most popular of agile frameworks. This material actually lasts 50 minutes, and is intended for use as a one-hour "brown bag" or "lunch and learn" session with a few minutes at each side for attendees to assemble and disperse. Anyone is free to use it. There are no pre-requisites for this video, although it may be helpful to print out and distribute a few copies of The Scrum Guide for occasional reference during any session you might arrange. Alternatively you may prefer to download and configure a version of The Agile Buddy Guide if you wish to reinforce organizational sponsorship for change. The presentation is aimed at a very general audience, from managers and business stakeholders to developers and other technical types. In collaboration with DZone, I've put together an Agile Patterns Reference Card which is available for free download from their site. Use it to take an empirical, evidence-based approach to the agile transformation problem. Read More..."Agile Patterns DZone Refcard" (PDF) | Have a question about Scrum or agile practice in general? I hang out in the Scrum Forum and I'm a certified trainer. Post a query there and I'll help if I can: scrum.org/Community/Forums If you're after an overview of Scrum and what it's about, you can have a look at my presentation Scrum in an Hour. There is also a companion text, The Agile Buddy Guide. For the low-down on many topical issues, you can see Agile Tom, the Scrum Shack's resident cat. I'm Chief Scientist at proAgile Ltd. Agile transformation is my bag. I tweet and blog quite actively about this. I'm also the curator at agilepatterns.org. I teach the official Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master class quite regularly. Additionally I'm an accredited trainer with Debrett's, and coach the soft skills needed to make organizational change effective. Hobbywise, I'm into Extreme Ironing. I've ironed underneath the ice-sheet of a frozen lake, and I've also gifted the world with the "fusion" sport of bog snorkelling + extreme ironing. twitter: https://twitter.com/dr_ian_mitchell linked in: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/docmitchell mob: +44 (0) 7849694162 Becoming Agile: Evidence Based Management: It's critically important to understand that measurement is strategic in nature. Senior executives are accountable for the value an organization provides and for corporate reputation. If the measurement of value is poor, then the outlook is grim. However, if the understanding of value is challenged and curated in an empirical way, with a timely focus on quality outcomes rather than circumstantial outputs, then it becomes possible to survive and thrive. Continuous improvement is enabled. Management, in other words, has to be evidence-based. This is of essential concern where an agile organization with an innovation capability is to be cultivated. In this presentation we introduce four key value areas executives might wish to focus on: Current Value, Unrealized Value, Time to Market, and Ability to Innovate. Innovation Accounting in Scrum: In Scrum a Product Owner can be described as a "value maximizer"...but how is value calculated? In this presentation we consider how empiricism ought to underpin any assessment, and at how the discipline of "Innovation Accounting" can challenge predictive value assumptions. This month's gargoyle is a winged lion on the Church of the Holy Trinity in Startforth, Teesdale. The village of Startforth lies on the south bank of the river Tees and overlooks Barnard Castle in County Durham. The church was built in 1863 in a late 13th century Gothic style, and replaced an earlier medieval building. The tower has big diagonal stepped buttresses, while the porch has a double-chamfered arch and spheric triangle window on each side; stone benches, a Minton-tiled floor and a scissor-braced roof. The church contains an octagonal limestone font with shields, including an 'RK' monogram probably for King Richard III (a similar font lies in Barnard Castle parish church). There is an incised slab beneath the altar, and a worn 14th century female effigy lies to the north. There are six 13th century cross slabs in the porch including a priest's slab with chalice, book and blessing hand. For previously featured gargoyles, go down to The Vault. |
