Professional Scrum Master training on 19 & 20 march in Utrecht
I’ll be giving the Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master training in Utrecht on March 19 and 20.
You can register at here at Scrum.org
Check AgiliX for more information.
Integration Scrum
This pattern is about an approach I used quite a couple of times to deal with inter team dependencies.
In cooperation with Kate Terlecka for review and feedback.
NAME
Integration Scrum.
CONTEXT
A project consisting of multiple Scrum teams must produce a potentially shippable increment every sprint. Each Scrum team develops features independently. All Scrum teams together develop multiple integrated features at the system level.
Example:
Scrum team 1 develops a feature for ordering a new product through a web shop. A second Scrum team 2 develops a feature for billing and administrating the new product in the financial systems. The overall feature value is in the two features working together correctly.
PROBLEM
Projects consisting of multiple Scrum teams must provide a mechanism for organizing the development and execution of system level tests in each sprint. Many of the technical problems in the development life cycle are addressed by continuous integration practices. The remaining problem is organizing who is developing and executing the system level tests and how to deal with defects.
FORCES
• Postponing system level testing increases risk about project progress and feature correctness. If a separate team is responsible for system level testing unnecessary hand-offs, delay and upfront planning is needed.
• Developing and executing system level tests requires effort from the Scrum teams involved. The Scrum teams should therefore be able to plan for system level test activities in their sprint-planning meetings.
• No explicit Scrum team is in charge for developing and executing the system level tests and as a result ownership and commitment may suffer. The Scrum teams involved should therefore explicitly commit for delivering it.
• The Scrum teams needed to provide features at the system level can differ from sprint to sprint. For example, feature 1 & 2 needs Scrum team 1 & 2 while feature 2 & 3 needs Scrum team 2 & 3. It should be possible therefore for Integration Scrum composition to change each sprint.
SOLUTION
Introduce an Integration Scrum event where Scrum teams representatives collaborate on getting the tasks done and create a shared plan for system level testing activities for the involved Scrum Teams.
In detail:
Introduce an Integration Scrum event where representatives of the Scrum teams collaborate as frequently as needed for getting the tasks done related to system level testing. The Integration Scrum is responsible for defining system level test tasks and making them transparent to their Scrum Teams on their Scrum boards. The people who are actually working on a Scrum Integration task take place in the Integration Scrum events.
Identify system level testing Scrum Team dependencies during Sprint Planning I. The Scrum Teams choose which features to implement and therefore also know with which Scrum teams they need to work together the coming sprint. In Sprint Planning II the Scrum Teams together plan the work needed to develop and perform system level testing and commit to it. A result could be a shared task list for system level testing activities.
RESULTING CONTEXT
This pattern enables Scrum teams to extend their Definition Of Done more easily with integration and system testing.
The intent of the Integration Scrum is similar to the Scrum of Scrums. The Integration Scrum specializes the Scrum of Scrums, which is a generic form of synchronizing multiple Scrum teams. If the Integration Scrum hampers lateral communication use Scrum of Scrums and Daily Scrum to find a solution.
Scrum & Complexity
Complex system theory and especially social complex systems are getting a lot of attention the last few years in the Agile community.
Complexity remains a ‘complex’ topic as there are so many views and perspectives from e.g. neurobiology, anthropology, social sciences, mathematics, molecular biology, philosphy, economic studies and computing science just to name a few 
Scrum is build around empirical process theory, but also around complexity theory in general and Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) in particular. See Jeff Sutherland on this.
In a CAS something spectacular can happen! Without any centralized control and with very simple rules the most amazing results can be obtained. Termites for example make these great hills full of chambers and complex tunnels and groups of people are able so solve problems they do not know upfront how to solve. Individuals self organize, the right results emerge and the CAS adapts to a changing environment to stay successful. Wow… this is to good to be true!
See Beats 2006, Complexity, learning and organizations for details.
Interesting to notice is that a CAS naturally moves towards operating in a region called the edge of chaos. This is interesting because research shows that groups of people operating in the edge of chaos are maximal creative and productive.
Put more formally “there is maximum capacity for information computation”
- R. Lewin 1999. Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos.
Hmmm so what? why should I care?
Most of the time when you are developing software you are cracking a problem which you do not know how to solve upfront. Usually there is a lot of uncertainty on what to build exactly and on exactly how to build it.
A situation like this can be handled by moving your team towards the edge of chaos! The exciting part is that Scrum helps you set up the conditions for doing so and also providing all the inspection and adaptation points necessary not to fall over into chaos.
Professional Scrum Product Owner training op 16 en 17 january 2012
On 16 and 17 Januari 2012 I’ll be giving the Professional Scrum Product Owner training of Scrum.org. The training will be in Utrecht and will be in Dutch.
You can register and find more information here.
Rotation across Europe for the ALE Bathtubs
Back in March 2011 I came up with the idea for a Bathtub conference in the ALE community. See original thread here on the ALE Linked In group. The ALE Bathub was the first successful project that came from the ALE community that was being put together at that point in time. See ALE Network for the Bathtub and other ALE projects.
People thought it to be a good idea and we got off with ALE Bathtub 1 that was organized on Mar 2nd , Bathtub II on June 30th and Bathtub III on October 20th 2011.
At the first ALE conference in Berlin we came together and discussed my idea to move the Bathtub conference organization around Europe. The first team including Oana, Pascal, Carlo, Guntram and Cesario did a fantastic job for the first 3 Bathtubs but now it is time to pass the bucket and foster fresh ideas from other ALE members across the world.
The idea is that every Bathtub will be organized by different ALE people so that it becomes a real ALE event by the ALE people and for the ALE people.
For Bathtub IV we passed the bucket to Catia Oliveira and Michael Leber. They will be working on the organization and probably invite other to help out and make Bathtub IV even better the the first three.
ALE Bathtub III last slot by Ester Derby
Bathtub III is on October 20th from 21:00 until 22:40 CEST.
Final agenda
21:00 – 21:15 CEST | Esther Derby – Re-thinking Management
21:20 – 21:35 CEST | Scott Barber – An overview of Performance Testing for Agile/Lean teams
21:40 – 21:55 CEST |Cesario Ramos - Lean Agile Sandwich
22:00 – 22:15 CEST | Olav Maassen – ‘Surprise surprise’
22:20 – 22:35 CEST | Filippo De Santis – Xkanban
Goto Bathtub III for more info and registration.
Professional Scrum Master training 12 and 13 december Utrecht
I’ll be giving the Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master training in Utrecht on december 11 and 12.
Check AgiliX for more information.
ALE Bathtub III open for registration
The next bathtub is scheduled for october 20th from 2100 until 2300 CEST.
Make a note of it in your agenda.
At this moment we have the following confirmed speakers
1. Olav Maassen
2. Scott Barber (An overview of Performance Testing for Agile/Lean teams)
3. Filippo De Santis (Xkanban)
4. Cesario Ramos (Lean Agile Sandwich)
5. to be announced soon.
You can register at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/575550998
Speak on ALE Bathtub III on Oct 20?
ALE Bathtub III will be on Oct 20. The Bathtub will start at 2100 CEST and end at 2300 CEST.
There are still some slots open for a lightning talk of 12 min. Let me know if you are interested in giving a talk at Bathtub III by email or comment. See http://www.bathtubconferences.org/bathtub/ for more details.
Professional Scrum Foundations Training in Groningen op 21 & 22 November
I will be giving the Professional Scrum Foundations Training in Groningen on 21 & 22 November in The Netherlands.
Below a description in Dutch.
Om Scrum Teams succesvol te laten zijn is deze 2 daagse training een must. De training legt een grondige basis en bereidt hiermee de studenten voor om gelijk Scrum effectief te kunnen inzetten in het dagelijks werk. Het Scrum raamwerk, de Scrum rollen en Scrum activiteiten worden behandeld met de nadruk op toepassing in de praktijk.
Klik hier voor meer informatie en registratie mogelijkheden.
Deze training legt de basis voor de vervolg trainingen zoals Professional Product Owner en Professional Scrum Master.
