Scrum Master Study

ESVP Parts Played

Explorer—Wants to participate in and learn everything discussed in the retrospective Shopper—Wants to listen to everything and choose what he takes away from the retrospective Vacationer—Wants to relax and be a tourist in the retrospective Prisoner—Wants to be elsewhere and is attending the retrospective because it is required. SM collates the responses, prepares, and shares the information with the group.

Spring Planning Meetings are time-boxed at

2hrs/week for duration of sprint bc this prevents straying into discussions that should take place in other meetings the release planning or sprint reviews

Kanban

A Japanese word meaning "card" or "visible record" that refers to cards used to control the flow of production through a factory

Portfolio

A group of related programs with the objective of delivering business outcomes as defined in the PORTFOLIO Vision Statement

Program

A group of related projects, with the objective of delivering business outcomes as defined in the PVS; the Prioritized PROGRAM backlog incorporates the PPBL for all projects in a program

Paired comparison

A list of all user stories in PPBL which are then compared with each other one at a time, as they are compared a decision is made as to which is more important and thus, a prioritized list is generated

Sprint Review

A meeting when the ST shows the PO and ALL STAKEHOLDERS what was accomplished during the sprint and what to do next. Typically this takes the form of a demo of the deliverable to the PO and project stakeholders

Estimation Poker or Planning Poker

Derivative of Wideband Delphi that uses the Fibonacci Series to estimate user stories; users get a cosensus on estimates for tasks and independent thinking vs. group think

Burndown and Burnup Charts

Present data in two different ways

Product Owner Qualities

Product Expert, business domain and scrum process knowledge, excellent communication and negotiation skills, handles uncertainties, approachable, decisive, pragmatic and goal-oriented

Project Vision Statement

Explains the business need the project is intended to meet rather than how the need will meet the project; it should focus on the problem rather than the solution; it should be flexible and not be too specific because it can change

All-In Advantages

Going all in can reduce resistance, It avoids problems created by having agile and traditional teams work together, An all-in transition will be over more quickly

Create Project Vision - Mandatory Input Tool and Output

Input - Business Case Tool - Project Vision Meeting Output - Project Vision Statement

Create project vision - Initiate

Input - Business Case presented to the Stakeholders and Sponsors; the business is reviewed and defined by the PO and stakeholders to create a project vision statement (inspiration and focus for the project) in the Stakeholder Meeting

Identify SM's - Initiate

Inputs are PO and PVS; tool used is selection criteria; there may be certain pre-conditions and stipulations for certain team members and their roles; Outputs are Identified SM and Stakeholders

Identify Stakeholders - Initiate

Inputs are PO, SM and PVS; Tools are ST selection, Identified ST and Release Prioritization Methods; Outputs are Identified ST

The 19 processes are made up of

Inputs, tools and outputs; some are mandatory and some are not but depend on the project, organization or industry

Release Phase Ship Deliverables Inputs, Tools and Outputs

Inputs: PO, Stakeholders, Accepted Deliverables and Release Planning Schedule Tools: Organizational Deployment Methods Outputs: Working Deliverables Agreement

Release Phase Retrospect Project Inputs, Tools and Outputs

Inputs: SCT Tools: Retrospect Project Meeting Outputs: Agreed Actionable Improvements and Assigned Action Items and Due Dates

Retrospect Project Inputs, Tools, Outputs

Inputs: SCT Tools: Retrospect Project Meeting, ESVP, Speedboat Outputs: Agreed Actionable Improvements

Lean Kanban

Integrates the use of visualization methods as prescribed by Kanban along with the principles of lean creating a visual incremental evolutionary process management system

User Group Meetings (UGM)

Involve relevant Stakeholders (primarily users) and customers and provide SCT with first-hand information about their expectations. This info is used in creating Acceptance Criteria and developing epics, creates buy-in and helps to create a common understanding to SCT and relevant Stakeholders

Bottom up Approach a/k/a grass roots approach

Involves a lot of planning and preparation; the change is introduced at the bottom level and then goes up; believed to be the best approach to transition, but still needs middle and top management support. There is less control and coordination in this approach

Project Vision Meeting

Meeting at the end of Project Vision Statement to present the Business case to the:. + stakeholders - understand the purpose and benefits + sponsors - will provide funding + PO, CPO + SM, Chief Scrum Master

Flow of scrum process

Business case (scrum Stakeholder meeting), project vision statement, prioritized backlog in the form of user stories (by product owner prioritizing highest value to lowest), out to the side of PPBL is release planning schedule, each Sprint begins with a sprint planning meeting, sprint backlog, create deliverables, daily standup (continuous feedback) during sprint, sprint review at the end of each sprint (demo shippable product to PO and relevant stakeholders. PO accepts deliverables if they meet acceptance criteria), Retrospect Sprint Meeting (discuss ways to improve) at the end of Sprint cycle and accepted deliverables,

Deployment Mechanisms

Can be different based on industry, target users, and positioning. Depending on the product being delivered, it can take place remotely or may involve the physical shipping or transition of an item. Because it tends to involve a high level of risk, organizations have well-defined and established deployment mechanisms, with detailed processes to ensure compliance with applicable standards and quality assurance measures, sign-offs by specific management representatives, user approval mechanisms, and guidelines regarding minimum functionality for a release.

Scrum of Scrum of Scrums Meeting

Can be done when several ST's work together on a project, the SOS meeting can scale up another level; this meeting is held to coordinate/integrate projects at a higher level; this layer adds a significant amount of logistical complexity

Change Requests

Can come from improvements discussed and approved in the develop Epics, create PPBL and Groom PPBL

Awareness - ADAPT acronym

Change begins with an awareness that the status quo is no longer desirable. One possible tool to create awareness is "Focus attention on the most important reasons to change". Instead of list a lot of common problem a project faces every day, focus on the two, or three major problem that reflect the need of change.

MoSCoW prioritization scheme

Comes from acronym of "Must have (w/o them no value), Should Have, Could Have and Won't Have (nice to have but not necessary to be included)

Effort Estimated Task List Mandatory Output for Estimation Methods

Comes from the information gathered during the Sprint Planning Meeting and is used to determine velocity for the sprint

Mandatory Output for Commit User Stories

Committed User Stories

Identify Tasks

Committed User Stories are broken down into specific tasks and compiled into a Task List. During this process the Sprint Planning Meeting is held to facilitate creation of the task list

Desire - ADAPT acronym

Communicate how Scrum can help address those problems. Creating desire into people is very difficult. For example "I am aware that I should eat more vegetables; I don't yet desire to make that change in my diet". Two tools to create desire, after being aware of the need of change, are "Create a sense of urgency" and "Build momentum". When creating a sense of urgency you make it clear to others that the status quo cannot continue as such for long. When building momentum you don't focus on those who are reluctant or opposed to Scrum, you spend your time and effort helping those who are already enthusiastic.Further you can use incentives. But pay attention to the "old form" of incentives. Incentives for individuals lead against a mindset of "we're all together in this" mentality.

XP values

Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage

Difference between cooperation and collaboration

Cooperation has to do with when the FINISHED PRODUCT is the RESULT of the WORK EFFORT of various team members and collaboration is the PROCESS of a TEAM working together using EACH OTHER'S inputs to PRODUCE something GREATER

SRM Problems

Responsibility of ST and SM smooth progression 1) ST may refuses to accept when PO rejects a PBLI - need a good ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA written on board or chart 2) Team members blame each other for failure to complete Sprint goals - Scrum about collective responsibility ergo failure for Sprint = failure for whole ST 3) ST can over estimate velocity - Investigate and resolve 4) a member of ST can be absent during Sprint - Investigate failure and resolve

Mandatory Input of Estimate and Commit User Stories and Identify Tasks Process

SCT, User Stories;

Retrospect Sprint Inputs and Outputs

SM, ST,

Acceptance Criteria Tools AND Outputs

SRM and Accepted Deliverables

Committed User Stories

ST commits to a subset of estimated user stories the believe they can complete based on velocity; the Committed User Stories should also be selected based on the priorities defined by the PO

Commit User Stories

ST commits to deliver the customer requirements in the form of committed US

Identify Task Process - Mandatory Output

Task List

Create Deliverables Tools

Team Expertise

Self-organized benefits 2.4.1 p26 and goals 2.4.1 p27

Team buy-in, motivation and innovative and creative environments

Team Velocity

Team velocity is independent of team composition and is a reasonable number which describes how much work the team can get done per time frame (sprint)

Resolving Transition to Scrum Issues

Trust to help establish good relationship between the team and the SM. SM should neutralize any issues with middle management. ST sets their own realistic iterations.

Epics

Unrefined user stories in the PPBL written in the initial stages of the project; usually too large for teams to complete in a single Sprint. Therefore, they are broken down into smaller more granular User Stories that are short, simple and easy tasks to be completed in the Sprint. Epics do not show transparency in empirical process control.

Daily Standups Outputs

Updated Sprint Burndown Chart, Updated Impediment Log, Groom PPBL

Release Prioritization Methods (RPM)

Used to develop a RP (Release Plan) and determined by the senior mgmt and are organization/industry specific;

Create User Stories Mandatory Outputs

User Stories and User Story Acceptance Criteria

Create User Stories Mandatory Tools

User Story Expertise,

The Scrum Guidance Body documents can be updated with

Whatever is learned as part of the sprint

Storming (Tuckman's Group Development)

When a group determines leadership and roles of its members; the stage when the team tries to accomplish the work; however, power struggles may occur, and there is often chaos or confusion among team members

Requirements Churn

When stakeholders (customers, users, stakeholders) change the requirements of what they want during a project. This is done through create, commit and estimate user stores; Waste is what adds no value to the customer.

In the waterfall, TPM, methods, costs, schedules

and scope are monitored and altered to achieve desired result

Collaboration tools

face-to-face communication, decision rooms, war rooms, scrum boards, wall displays, shared tables

Initiate

first phase of a project. 1) Create project vision and Identify PO 2) Identify SM and Stakeholders 3) form ST 4) Develop Epics 5) Create PPBL 6) Conduct Release Planning Outputs are Identify PO and PVS

collaboration 2.5 p28-30

focuses on AAA - Awareness, Articulation and Appropriation. It also advocates. Collaboration and product development is a shared value creation process involving the SCT working together with the stakeholders to create and validate deliverables to meet the goals outlined in the project vision and the greatest value

self-organization 2.4 p26

focuses on ST, teams deliver greater value when they self-organize rather than command and control leadership. IT allows teams to have authority and take ownership of the work and it gives the team responsibility to figure out ways to convert PPBL into finished project without intervention of stakeholders outside of the ST

Why can teams be distributed

outsourcing, offshoring, work from home,

Crystal Methods

people-centric, lightweight and easy to adapt, developmental processes and tools are not fixed rather are adjusted to the requirements and the characteristics of the project; the color spectrum is used to decide on the variant for a project

Waterfall Model

predictable non-changing and non-complex projects; linear process done in phases or silos; each phase is finished before the next phase begins. milestone between each phase and is based on the control and command

Objectives of the Retrospect Sprint Meeting

primary objectives of the RSM are: 1) Things the team needs to keep doing (best practices) 2) Things the team needs to begin doing (process improvements) 3) Things the team needs to stop doing (process problems and bottlenecks). After this, a list of Agreed Actionable Improvements is created

scrum is a comprehensive framework that includes

principles, aspects and processes can be modified to meet requirements. are used in portfolios, programs and projects in any industry, products, services and any developed deliverables and projects of any size and complexity

Product

product, service or other deliverable

Prioritization may be based on a

subjective estimate of the projected business value of the profitability or based on the results and analysis of the user market using customer interviews, surveys, financial models and analytical models and financial techniques, etc.

DSDM is a

system-oriented method with 6 distinct phases 1)pre-project 2) feasibility 3) exploration 4) engineering 5) deployment 6) benefit assessment

All conflicts in the ST must be resolved by

the ST. values of courage, openness, respect

AUP models its processes and techniques on

the value of simplicity, agility, customizability, self-organization and independence of tools and focus on high value activities. These principles and values are put into action in phases (i.e., Inception, elaboration, construction and transition).

Information Radiators

used in Inspection to show transparency and clear visibility into the team's progress (i.e., Burndown Charts, Scrumboards)

Personas

used to identify the needs of the target user; Highly detailed fictional characters with a picture, age, environment, goals, gender, education, interests and goals. They represent the majority of users and other stakeholders who may not use the product directly; they help SCT better understand users, requirements and goals and help PO prioritize features in the PPBL

simplicity is achieved by

using small feature sets, focusing on client value, ensuring good upfront design

Problems with Programs and Portfolios

usually involve Coordination across teams; improper management can cause failure, communication tools are scaled to match requirements of teams in programs/portfolios, ST's much address internal/external communications with other teams and stakeholders

Forming (Tuckman's Group Development)

fun stage because everything is new and because they have not yet encountered any difficulties; When a group comes into existence and seeks direction from a leader about the nature of its tasks and procedures

In Scrum, each deliverable

goes before QA as it is developed; customer value is always in mind along with strict controls are in place (i.e., acceptance criteria and done) to avoid deviations from the customer requirements

How is work done in scrum

incrementally through sprints which means errors are fixed right away along with all quality related tasks. this ensures that quality is inherent in any deliverable as a part of the sprint

agile

inspect-adapt cycles, little upfront planning, iterative process, decentralized management and the highest business value functions are done first; cross-functional teams working in sprints; customer reviews work completed regularly which ensures product meets customer expectations;

The Release Phase

involves delivering the Accepted Deliverables to the customer and identifying, documenting and internalizing the lessons learned during the project

Sprint Backlog

is a list of tasks to be completed created by ST in the Identify, Estimate and Create Sprint Backlog tasks are shown on the Scrumboard or task board which gives visible view of status of the US in the backlog. The main reason for the SBL is for the ST to manage themselves during the Sprint. The SBL is used to create deliverables; during the create SBL PO clarifies requirements to ST; Risks associated with various tasks and any mitigating activities to address identified risks are also included as tasks in the SBL. Don't add new US to items already committed to for the current Sprint. Can add items that were missed or overlooked. NEW items should be added to the overall PPBL and included in a future Sprint.

Product Development

is a shared value-creation process in which all stakeholders work together to deliver the greatest value

Inspection 2.3.2 p23

is achieved through the use of a Scrumboards, burndown charts and other information radiators; Collection of feedback from the customer and other stakeholders gathered during the develop epics, create PPBL and CRP stages and through the Sprint Review meeting in the demonstrate and validate process 3) Inspection and approval of the Deliverables by the Product Owner and the customer in the Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process.

Risk - 6th aspect of scrum

is an uncertain event or set of events that can affect the objectives of a project and may contribute to its success or failure; positive impact risks are opportunities and negative impact risks are threats

Review and Retrospect Phase

is concerned with reviewing deliverables and the work that has been done and determining ways to improve practices and methods used to do project work; in large organizations it may also include Scrum of Scrum Meetings; it is used in PPP's; products, services or any other results to be delivered to Stakeholders; project of any size or complexity

Develop epics

is done in user group meetings of the PO and stakeholders, Inputs are: SCT, PVS. The PVS is the basis for developing or creating the epics which are large unrefined user stories; Tools: User Group Meetings (UGM); Outputs: Epics and personas

Advantages for time-boxing

is high velocity for teams, little overhead, efficient development; however, arbitrary time-boxing can lead to team demotivation and apprehensive environment

Risk management in scrum

is iterative process and should begin at project initiation and continuous throughout the plc; Risks should be identified, assessed and responded to by the SCT to determine the best approach to handle identified risks and proper course of action taken. TPM handles risks upfront even before many risks are identified

scrum

is the most popular agile framework for developing and sustaining complex projects; it is adaptive, iterative, fast, flexible and effective methodology. It ensures transparency in communication and a collaborative approach, customer-centric creates collective accountability and continuous delivery of value and handles all kinds of projects

The goal of the sprint

is to learn and improve and Be ready with a potentially shippable product Increment at the end of each sprint. The Product Owner doesn't need to ship after every sprint but this is the team's job to make it possible

User Stories Writing Expertise

is what the PO has based on his interaction with Stakeholders, business knowledge and expertise, inputs from the team, develops the US that will be the initial PPBL

Scrum Teams should be collocated because

it allows questions to be answered quickly, problems are fixed on the spot, less friction and trust is gained faster

iterative process

it is A process that is repeated more than once to meet a desired goal. The five process groups are repeated throughout the project's life because of change requests, responses to change, corrective action, and so on. It Helps product development improve over time because of the continuous feedback and ensuring that any change can be included as part of the project

TPM/Waterfall prioritization is

multiple task prioritization tools and they use setting deadlines and using prioritization matricies

How does Waterfall use prioritization

multiple task prioritization tools. From the Project Manager's point of view, prioritization is integral because certain tasks must be accomplished first to expedite the development process and achieve the project goals. Some of the traditional techniques of task prioritization include setting deadlines for delegated tasks and using prioritization matrices

Sponsor

non-core also a stakeholder to whom everyone is accountable in the end; provides resources and support; want to understand financial bottom line related to a product or service; more concerned with financial outcomes (i.e., benefits of scrum, target deadlines, estimated costs, overall risks and mitigation, expected release dates and final deliverables) than the individual tasks

Stakeholders

non-core role and include customers, users, sponsors; they interface with the SCT to provide them with input and influence the project throughout the plc and they receive the collaborative benefits of the project; Stakeholders may also play a role in the Develop Epics, create PPBL, conduct release planning etc.

Vendors (scrum)

non-core role that are external to the organization and provide products and services not within the core competencies of the project organization

What roles can be combined in Scrum

none

Adaptation 2.3.3 p24

occurs and SCT and Stakeholders learn through Transparency and Inspection and then adapt by making improvements in the work they are doing; adaptions are integrated into later sprints and projects; embedded in these processes are opportunities to adapt and change requirements and business realities (DSM, Risk Identification, Change Requests, SGB, Retrospect Sprint, Retrospect Project Meetings)

TDD has become popular because

of the numerous advantages it offers like rapid and reliable results, constant feedback and reduced debugging time

Lean

optimizes an organization's system to produce valuable results based on its resources, needs and alternatives while reducing waste

100-point method

(Dean Leffingwell and Don Widrig 2003) each customer is given 100 points they use to VOTE for user stories that are most important. At the end of the process, the user stories' points are calculated and put in the order by the number of points they received.

Scrum Portfolios

+ Portfolio Product Owner: defines strategic objectives and priorities for the portfolio. + Portfolio Scrum Master: Solves problems, impediments facilitates and conducts meetings for the portfolio.

Scrum Programs

+ Program Product Owner: Solves problems, impediments facilitates and conducts meetings for the program. + Program Scrum Master: Removes roadblocks for the program.

Retrospect Project Meeting

+ To review identify, document and internalize the lessons learned, review positives, negatives and Potential opportunities for improvement. + Not time-boxed. + SCT and Stakeholders May be conducted in person or in a virtual format

Fingers Raised in Fist of Five

1 finger means team member disagrees and has major concerns; 2 fingers mean disagree and wants to discuss the minor issues; 3 fingers means they aren't sure but will go with groups consensus; 4 fingers mean they agree with the group but want to discuss some minor issues; 5 fingers mean they agree with the group completely

Scrum Team During Create Deliverables

1) Create Deliverables 2) Identifies risks and implement risk mitigation actions 3) Updates impediment log and dependencies

Plan and Estimate - 2nd Phase of a Project

1) Create User Stories 2) Estimate and Commit User Stories 3) Identify Tasks 4) Estimate Tasks 5) Create SBL

19 scrum processes

1) Create project vision 2) Identify stakeholders and SM 3) PO and SM choose SCT 4) Develop epics 5) Create PPBL 6) Conduct Release Planning 7) Create User Stories 9) Approve, Estimate and Commit User Stories 10) Create Tasks 11) Estimate Tasks 12) Create SBL's

Example of Waterfall adaption challenge

1) How the customer explained it 2) How the team understood it 3) How the engineers designed it 4) How construction built it 5) How the consultant described it 6) How the project was documented 7) What was operational 8) How the customer was billed 9) How it was supported 10) What the customer really needed

5 phases of scrum

1) Initiate 2) Plan and Estimate 3) Implement 4) Review and Retrospect 5) Release

FDD has 6 major roles

1) PM 2) Chief Architect 3) Development Manager 4) Chief Programmers 5) Class Owners 6) Domain Experts

Access risks based on 2 factors

1) Probability of each risk's occurrence 2) The possible Impact of an event occurring; P X I = high probability and impact. once a risk is identified it is important to understand it, the potential causes and the possible effects

Release Phase Processes

1) Ship Deliverables (delivered to Stakeholders) when a formal Working Deliverables Agreement 2) Retrospect Sprint

ASD Phases of Devlopment

1) Speculation 2) Collaborative 3) Lean

SBL Problems to Resolve before design begins

1) Team member(s) Outlier doesn't come to consensus estimations - repeat estimations until consensus if Outlier refuses, look at technical aspects 2) Team member dominates planning session not giving others chance to share ideas - good to appoint a devil's advocate to question every decision and ensure every opinion is shared 3) Team's disagreement w/ PO re: priority of US; if disagreements, PO should explain logic; PO has final say

Daily Standup Meeting Problems

1) Too much interference in working of team and planning and implementation of mitigation actions of risks. They may clarify but NOT INTERFERE, concerns addressed offline; goal of DSU provide updates to PO and ST

Scrum Team Goals

1) Understand Project vision and value to the organization 2) Estimate User Stories and assign tasks to themselves in create SBL (3) Identify tasks in identify tasks process 4) apply and leverage their expertise in create deliverable 5) deliver shippable results in demonstrate and validate 6) discuss impediments together during daily standups 7) clarify discrepancies and doubts and remain open to learning and change 8) upgrade knowledge and skills 9) maintain stability through the duration of the project by not trading out team members unless unavoidable 10) leverage team cross functionality 11) proactively seek work

Scrum Team During the Conduct Daily Standup Process

1) Update Burndown chart, scrumboard and can discuss impediment log 2) Discuss issues faced by individuals and seek solutions to motivate the team 3) Identify Risks 4) Submit change requests if needed

When prioritizing User Stories in the PPBL 3 factsors are taken into consideration 2.6 p32

1) Value 2) Risk or Uncertainty 3) Dependencies

two categories of scrum roles

1) core roles individuals involved in the producing the product or service and are fully committed and responsible for the success of each iteration and the project as a whole (PO, SM AND ST) 2) non-core roles - optional and may include all team members who are interested in the project; they have no formal role with the team, but may interface with the team (stakeholders, vendors, scrum guidance body)

6 principles of scrum

1) empirical process control 2) self-organization 3) collaboration 4) value-based prioritization 5) time boxing 6) iterative development

Why do you need agile?

1) rapidly changing market and technology 2) shrink time to market and customer innovation 3) reduce testing and experimentation costs (simulation and automation) 4) customer value is delivered at pos not point of plan 5) need for an adaptive method of development rather than traditional predictive methods

Agile Principles

1. Customer satisfaction (highest priority) through early and continuous delivery of value 2) Customer changes in requirements are welcome (change for the customer's competitive advantage; individuals and iteration over following a plan) 3) Frequent delivery of working software (REAL value through iterations is delivered frequently over detailed documentation) 4) Customer collaboration (with ST and business people working together daily throughout plc over contract negotiation) 5) Motivated individuals (Emphasis on giving ST and their interactions, giving them the environment and support they need to get the job done)

Groom PPBL Benefits

1. Knowledge gained from a previous Sprint is incorporated into future Sprints. 2. The latest business and technical requirements are added to the next Sprint. 3. Grooming ensures that the Prioritized Product Backlog is refined before the Sprint Planning Meeting so that the team has a better idea of the requirements prior to the meeting.

How many processes in scrum

19 fundamental processes distributed through the 5 phases and 8 processes for scaling scrum

scrum principles

6 Core guidelines in scrum that are mandatory for all scrum projects; non-negotiable and must be applied as specified in the SBOK Guide. The Scrum principles are: a) Empirical Process Control b) Self-organization c) Collaboration d) Value-based Prioritization e) Time-boxing f) Iterative Development

Agile Principles part2

6) deliver info face-to-face bc it's more dynamic than paper telephone and email 7) working software is primary the measure of progress based on the value of the product delivered to the customer 8) sustainable pace of work by the (Everyone - sponsors, developers and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. This helps to improve quality of product delivery 9) continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility (i.e., Continuous Integration, Refactoring and Incremental Re-architecture) 10) simplicity (maximize the amount of work not done through small feature sets; focus on client value) 11) self-organizing empowered teams deliver greater value, create team buy-in 12) team reflects to become more effective and adjusts its behavior accordingly

How to Play Planning Poker

7 participants get a pack of cards, which involve the estimation of US and the activities required to deliver EUS. Players use animals and assign points to each animal to represent the size large and small and explain why to convince each other as to why they made the choice. Then repeat the entire cycle to re-estimate. In scrum everyone makes a choice re: estimates.

What is a scrum project

A Scrum project involves a collaborative effort to create a new product, service, or other result as defined in the Project Vision Statement. Projects are impacted by constraints of time, cost, scope, quality, resources, organizational capabilities, and other limitations that make them difficult to plan, execute, manage, and ultimately succeed

A Story Point represents what?

A Story Point represents relative or comparative effort to complete tasks (4 hours of 1 developer's time); estimation time in hours

Project

A collaborative enterprise to either create new products or services or to deliver results as defined in the PVS; a PPBL of prioritized requirements; they are impacted by constraints of time, cost, scope, resources, quality, other organization capabilities

Done Criteria

A set of rules applied to all user stories; removes ambiguity and helps adhere to mandatory quality norms; a US is done when demonstrated to PO who judges it based on both the Done and US Acceptance Criteria; DONE Criteria is an output to Create PPBL in initiate

Agile Unified Process (AUP)

A simplified version of IBM's Rational Unified Process and was developed by Scott Ambler. It combines industry-tried-and-tested agile techniques such as TDD, Agile Modeling and Database Refactoring to deliver working product of the best quality

adaptive software development (ASD)

A software development came out of RAD work by Jim Highsmith and Sam Bayer. This risk driven and change tolerant approach is feature based and target driven. It is used when requirements cannot be clearly expressed early in the life cycle. It provides constant adaptation of processes to work at hand, provision of solutions to problems surfacing in large project and iterative, incremental development with continuous prototyping. ASD believes a plan cannot admit uncertainties and risks as these two indicate a flawed and failed plan.

Affinity Estimating

A technique designed to rapidly estimate a large feature backlog. It uses sticky notes or index cards and tape user stories on a wall or surface from small to large. team begins with a subset of user stories from PPBL and places them in silence according to size; once all placed, team reviews and can move them around appropriately, then team discusses and finally, the PO will put sizing categories on the wall (small, med or large) or numbers relative to size and then team will move user stories into categories as last step; benefits of this approach is process is transparent, visible to everyone and easy to do

Speedboat

A technique that is time-boxed to a few minutes and can be used to conduct the RSM. Team members play the role of the crew on a speed boat. Boat must reach an island (symbolic of the project vision). Sticky notes are used by the attendees to record engines and anchors. Engines help them reach the island, while anchors hinder them from reaching the island. Once all items are documented, the information is collated, discussed, and prioritized by way of a voting process. Engines are recognized and mitigation actions are planned for the anchors, based on priority.

Task List

A to-do list of all tasks the ST has committed to for the next sprint. it contains a description and estimates derived during the create tasks process; should include any testing or integration efforts so the product increment from the sprint can be successfully integrated into deliverables from previous sprints; task granularity is decided by the ST

Test Driven Development (TDD)

A way of developing software where the test cases are developed, and often automated using test code first and developing the least amount of code necessary to pass the test later. The entire project is broken down into small, client-valued features that need to be developed in the shortest possible development cycle. Tests are written based on client requirements and specifications. Tests designed in this stage are used to design and write the product code

TDD can be categorized in 2 levels

ATDD - Acceptance TDD requiring a distinct acceptance test and DTDD - Developer TDD - writing a single developer test

Portfolio Example2

Aerospace Organization - Project Build a launch vehicle Program - Successful launch of satellite Portfolio - All active satellite programs

Domain Driven Design (DDD)

Agile development approach meant for handling complex designs along with evolving the overall project system

Crystal roles

All Crystal methods have 4 roles, executive sponsor, lead designer, developers and experienced users

Product Owner (Scrum)

An individual responsible for achieving maximum business value for a project, keeping the Stakeholders engaged, articulating the VOC, keeps Stakeholders engaged and writes user stories and manages and grooms the PPBL, brings concerns of the stakeholders, maintains business justification, quality and risk aspects; the PO helps defines PVS, helps create project charter and budget; PO choose SM and ST members, develop collaboration plan and Team Building Plan with SM. PO defines acceptance criteria and has two views 1) the VOC (all stakeholders) 2) understand needs and workings of the ST, assessing viability and delivery of service

Transparency is achieved by 2.3.1 p22

An open Project Vision Statement which can be viewed by all stakeholders and the ST • A PPBL with prioritized User Stories that can be viewed by everyone, inside and outside the Scrum Team • A RPS which may be coordinated across multiple ST's • Clear visibility into the team's progress through Information radiators • Daily Standups conducted during the Conduct Daily Standup process, • Sprint Reviews conducted during the Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process

3 core dimensions of collaborative work

Awareness, Articulation and Appropriation

TPM

Based on Processes, value justification is done before the project is begun; large predictable, comprehensive, process style is linear, lots of documentation and upfront planning, autocratic management, command and control leadership, unchanging/sustainable, team performance is measured using plan conformity, ROI= end of project life so You may succeed with the plan but the customer can still not be satisfied; limited Customer involvement

Length of Sprint (LoS)

Based on inputs business requirements and RPS, the PO and ST determine the LoS; usually remains the same throughout project; can be 1 to 6 weeks, but maximum benefits recommended 4 weeks; very stable can be 6 weeks 1) Short enough to keep the business risk acceptable to the Product Owner. 2) Short enough to be able to synchronize the development work with other business events. 3) No more than one month.

Challenge to adaptation in waterfall

Because it is a sequential approach, inadequate input translations in the beginning will translate to bad outputs in the end because the customer's interpretation of the finished project may be very different from what was understood and produced by the team.

Release Planning Session (RP session)

Conducted to create a Release Plan (RP Schedule) which defines when different user functionality or products will be delivered to customer and doesn't have to be completed before beginning work and can be updated as relevant info is available; should spend 20% or less on this process

Portfolio Example1

Construction Company - Project Build a house; Program - Housing Complex; Portfolio - All the housing projects for the Company

What is the difference between cooperation and collaboration

Cooperation occurs when the work product consists of the sum of the work efforts of various people on a team. Collaboration occurs when a team works together to play off each other's inputs to produce something greater

Scrum of Scrums (SOS Meetings)

Coordination of multiple ST's working on a large project; Analogous to daily standups, but facilitated by Chief Scrum Master. Also the SM from each ST is present, but anyone can attend. This meeting is intended to focus on areas of coordination and integration between the different Scrum Teams. Important when scaling scrum to large projects.

Agile Manifesto

Created by Folwer and HighSmith in 2001; 1) Individual and iteration over Process and tools 2) Customer Collaboration over Contract negotiation 3) Responding to Change or following a detailed plan 4) Working Software or detailed documentation

Crystal Family of Methodologies

Crystal Clear, Crystal Yellow, Crystal Orange, Crystal Orange Web, Crystal Red, Crystal Maroon, Crystal Diamond and Crystal Sapphire

Organizational chart of scrum

Customer gives requirements to PO PO is VOC and gives prioritized requirements to ST, creates product backlog and acceptance criteria SM ensures proper work environment for the ST ST demos product iterations to PO during sprint review

Daily Standup

Daily Standup Meeting (time-boxed to 15 mins) and it is not canceled or delayed if one or more members are not able to attend. Only ST has to be present; asks 3 questions; can talk about other things but very light; SM ensures stay on task and every ST member ensures actively participate; representatives of KEY Stakeholders (sponsors, users, suppliers) can attend ONLY to clarify on products, tools, development techniques, changes in products being developed, etc., SM ensures any concerns are offline between relevant members; GOAL to update ST and PO

Daily Standup Tools

Daily Standup, Three Daily Questions (clearly show work status)

Product Owner Other Responsibilities

Determining initial and overall requirements and kickoff activities; Representing users of the product or service and thorough understanding of user community; securing initial and ongoing financial; focusing on value creation and overall ROI; assessing viability and ensuring delivery of product or service; ST aligned with business objectives; key project decisions rests with PO. During Daily Standup, the PO's participation is defined by the ST but the PO is responsible for making scope vs. schedule trade-off decisions

Scrum Master Responsibilities

Develop Epics Process - facilitates creation of the epics and personas Create User Stories - Assists ST in creating user stories and acceptance criteria Create Deliverables Process - supports ST in creating deliverables agreed to for the sprint and helps update the scrumboard and impediment log

Organizational Deployment Methods

Different based on industry, target users and positioning; can be remote or shipping or transition deployment; usually high risk so use well-defined and established deployment mechanisms; require sign-offs, customer/sponsor approval mechanism and specific guidelines

Discussions

Discussions between ST and SM are encouraged but happen after the meeting to ensure that the Daily Standup Meeting is short.

Working Deliverables Agreement

Documents the successful completion of the Sprint; Formal customer Acceptance is critical to revenue recognition; not necessarily the responsibility of PO, but customer acceptance criteria is defined by company policies

What happens in a SPM

During the 1st half of the meeting the PO explains highest priority user stories in the PPBL to the ST. Often new backlog items are defined during the meeting. Then the ST and the PO define the Sprint goal. During the 2nd half of the meeting, the ST will then excuse the product owner from the room and break the backlog Items down into tasks. The product owner is expected to be on call during this phase (previously called the sprint definition meeting) for renegotiation or to answer questions that affect the time estimates. This portion of the sprint planning meeting is time-boxed as well.

Performing (Tuckman's Group Development)

During this stage, the team becomes its most cohesive, and it operates at its highest level in terms of performance. The members have evolved into an efficient team of peer professionals who are consistently productive. When a group performs its task, having previously established how this performance will be carried out

DSDM

Dynamic Systems Development Method is a system-oriented method with 6 distinct phases - pre-project phase, the feasibility phase, exploration and engineering phase, deployment phase and benefit assessment phase

Deliverables

Each deliverable goes to the Quality assurance team as it's developed and testing is done according to Acceptance criteria and done to avoid deviations to the customer requirements

User Story Dependencies are resolved by

Either splitting or combining the user story

iterative development 2.8 p35

Emphasizes how to better manage changes and build products that satisfy customer needs; it helps to delineate PO's and the organization's responsibilities related to iterative development; all work is divided into units called sprints where a potentially shippable product is produced

Stakeholder Engagement

Ensure effective collaboration and Stakeholder involvement in the project, continually assess business impact, maintain regular communication with Stakeholders and manage Stakeholder expectations

Stakeholder engagement

Ensure effective collaboration and involvement in the project, continually assess business impact, maintain regular communication with stakeholders, manage stakeholder's expectations

Prioritized Product Backlog Review Meeting

Ensures that US and Acceptance Criteria are understood and written properly by the PO and they reflect the actual Stakeholder and customer requirements and priorities. These meeting also ensure that irrelevant US are removed and any APPROVED Change Requests or Identified Risks are incorporated into the PPBL or reprioritization of existing US

Mandatory Output of Estimate and Commit User Stories and Identify Tasks Process

Estimated User Stories (EUS)

Mandatory Tools for Estimate and Commit User Stories and Identify Tasks Process

Estimation Methods Tools - Wideband Delphi, planning or estimation poker, Fist of Five

User Story Acceptance Criteria

Every User Story has associated Acceptance Criteria by PO and PO ensures it is communicated to ST and everyone agrees to it in SPM. User Stories are subjective, so the Acceptance Criteria provide the objectivity required for the User Story to be considered as DONE or NOT DONE during the Sprint Review providing clarity to the team on what is expected of a User Story, remove ambiguity, and help align expectations

Sprint Review Meeting

For SCT and relevant Stakeholders; it is held after the sprint during the demonstrate and validate sprint process to the PO for Acceptance. It is time-boxed to 4 hours for a one month sprint. ST demonstrates product to PO. PO reviews the product against the agreed upon acceptance criteria and either accepts or rejects the completed user stories. SM makes sure the PO doesn't change acceptance criteria of a committed US in the middle of a sprint. Can also discuss the impediment log during the SRM

Tuckman's Model of Group Dynamics

Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing

Incremental Transition to Scrum

Gradual change in the culture; start with different divisions in an iterative fashion to reduce risk and to provide lessons learned for future iterations; consider how much of the organization requires a transition to Scrum methods; if the entire company is transitioned at the same time, it may result in interruption of profit generating activities;

Sprint Planning Meeting - Mandatory Tool for Commit User Stories

Held before the sprint in the Planing and Estimate Phase and is time-boxed to 2 hours per week of the Sprint duration (8 hours for a one moth sprint). SPM is divided into two parts: During the first half of the meeting, the PO explains the highest priority User Stories or requirements in the PPBL to the ST. The ST with the PO then defines the Sprint goal. 2. Task Estimation—During the second half of the meeting, the ST decides "how" to complete the selected PPBL Items to fulfill the Sprint goal. At times, the Task Planning Meetings (conducted during the Create Tasks process) and the Task Estimation Meetings (conducted during Estimate Tasks process) are also referred to as Sprint Planning Meetings.

Chief Scrum Master

In large projects, the Chief Scrum Master is responsible for communicating information from one team to another during the Scrum of Scrums (SoS) Meeting which the Chief Scrum Master moderates and addresses and removes impediments that impact more than one ST

Chief Product Owner

In the case of large projects, the Chief Product Owner prepares and maintains the overall Prioritized Product Backlog for a large projects through PO's of ST's. He or she coordinates work among multiple Product Owners of the Scrum Teams. The Product Owners, in turn, manage their respective parts of the Prioritized Product Backlog. CPO interfaces with Program Product Owner (PPO) to ensure alignment of large project with program goals and objectives

Demonstrate and Validate Sprint

In this process, the Scrum Team demonstrates the Sprint Deliverables to the Product Owner and relevant stakeholders in a Sprint Review Meeting hoping to secure APPROVAL and ACCEPTANCE by the PO

XP benefits

Incremental development, flexibility scheduling, automated test codes, verbal communication, ever evolving design, close collaboration and tying in the short-term and long-term drives of all those involved

Scrum

Iterative process model, People over Process; cross-functional teams work in parallel, small to large in size (large projects use multiple ST's work in sync to produce progress), unpredictable/volatile domains, minimal documentation as and when req'd (focuses on interim deliverables to deliver real value to customer) and low upfront planning, adaptable to change, decentralized management so they don't depend on mgmt and it encourages them to be innovative problem solvers, collaborative leadership, team performance is measured in business value created by the team, value justification is done throughout the project, ROI starts early and continues throughout project at the end of every sprint

being agile

Jim Highsmith to be able to create and respond to change while still being profitable in a turbulent business environment; the ability to combine flexibility and stability

Important to Incremental Transitions to Scrum

Keep a backlog of scrum elements to be introduced and prioritized, which elements give you the biggest bang for the buck, and which elements can be easily introduced

Scrum Team Qualities

Knowledge of Scrum, Collaborative, generalists/specialists, self-organizing, self-motivated proactive, technical expert, cross-functional, team player, independent, responsible, intuitive, goal-oriented, introspective. Soft skills also determine the success of self-organizing

Agile Methods

Lean Kanban, Extreme Programming, Crystal Methods, Dynamic Systems Development Methods, Feature Driven Development

Estimation Criteria Mandatory Tool

Make it easy for the ST to estimate effort and enable them to evaluate and address inefficiencies when necessary. It can be expressed in numerous ways, with two common expressions of estimation criteria are Story Points and Ideal Time.

Product Owner Main Responsibilities

Maximum business value, VOC, Maintaining business justification

5 Aspects of scrum

Must be applied throughout the plc; 1) Organization 2) Business justification 3) Quality 4) Change 5) Risk

New PM's when transition to Scrum

New managers will coordinate and manage functions like inter-departmental coordination outside the STs; no micromanagement; mid-level manages would perform all of their duties except for the ones that conflict with scrum don't assign work or manage work for team, they remove hurdles or blocks the team fails to do and suggest ways of improving a product; will recruit and remove team members alongside SM; budget and financial management; work with SM to facilitate smooth functioning of ST

Ability - ADAPT acronym

Once a team or an organisation has the awareness and desire to become agile, you have to work on the ability to become agile (and then becoming good at it).The main tool is: Get professional help! An education process containing professional coaching and training is needed to really understand what the agile values are and how really Scrum works. A coach should help the team in a step by step transition to Agile. A big bang approach "from today on we'll do only pair programming" does not work!

Assigned Action Items and Due Dates

Once the agreed actionable improvements have been elaborated and refined, the ST considers the action items, each action item has a due date for completion and Release phase is complete

Ship Deliverables Tools

Organizational Deployment Methods

Scrum began

Originated in 80's with Herotaka Tacuchi and Ikiro Nonaka emulate Rugby flexible and all-inclusive. In 95 at OOPSLA (object-oriented programming systems language and applications) Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland said applicable to software development

Estimate User Stories (EUS)

PO clarifies User Stories in order for the Scrum Master and Scrum Team to estimate the EFFORT required to develop the functionality described in each User Story. Estimations are done by individual ST members; different ST's will have different estimations based on complexity, time and effort so a benchmark is required to set estimations can be made in relation to benchmark

TPM's that transition to Scrum

PO outward facing, the one who communicates with the Stakeholders and sets priorities for the project; SM removes impediments, ensures scrum is followed; ST also perform some of the traditional roles of PM (i.e., they manage themselves and their time which gives them a sense of ownership of their own success

Ship Deliverables Inputs

PO, Stakeholder, SGB (In the Ship Deliverables process, the Scrum Guidance Body can provide recommendations and guidelines regarding the deployment of products. These are best practices that should be taken into account when deploying a product to the customer in order to maximize the value delivered.)

Scrum artifacts

PPBL (viewed by all stakeholders and ST) SBL, Project vision statement (stakeholders and the ST), RP Schedule

3 Factors affecting PPBL

PPBL based on 3 factors: value (PO and highest business value first), risk/uncertainty (the more uncertain, the riskier the product and they are first; riskier products carry risk mitigation actions which are prioritized against BL = RAPBL) and dependencies (user stories that depend on other user stories (functional and non-functional requirements))

Articulation

People collaboratively working together must divide work into units and assign the units of work among team members distribute and when work is done come back together as a cohesive team

Awareness

People working together need to be aware of each other's work

Planning Poker

Planning Poker, also called Scrum or Estimation poker, it is a derivative of the wideband delphi technique. It is a estimation technique that uses consensus to estimate effort or relative size of user stories or the effort required to create them. Estimating is initially anonymous to avoid undue influence / bias. Estimates tend to be less optimistic and more accurate than task estimates mechanically combined (via some formula).

Promotion - ADAPT

Promotion has three goals, first to lay the groundwork for the next ADAPT cycle, second to reinforce the agile behavior on existing Scrum team and third to create awareness among people outside the Scrum team. A tool to promote Scrum is to attract attention and interest. Not by transform Scrum in a marketing campaign, but by showing the success of teams that uses Scrum day by day. Providing food to visitors helps to provides more attendees and better mood.

Demonstrate and Validate Sprint Inputs

SCT, Sprint Deliverables, SBL

Acceptance Testing

Refers to the Assessment of the ability of the completed deliverable to meet its Acceptance Criteria. This provides information to the PO to help make a decision about approving or rejecting the deliverable; a list of Accepted Deliverables is maintained and updated after each SRM

Team Expertise

Refers to the collective expertise of the ST to understand the US and tasks in the SBL in order to create the final deliverables. It is used to assess the inputs needed to execute the planned work of the project

Conduct and Coordinate Sprints process

Relevant only for large projects where multiple STs are involved. Facilitated by Chief SM or SM; NOT TIME-BOXED short meetings held at predetermined intervals or when required by STs. They are used to focus on areas of coordination and integration between the different STs. A rep from each ST meets to share status of their team like issues, dependencies, and risks impacting them. For larger projects, multiple levels of these meetings may be convened to share the status of the respective teams.

PPBL a/k/a

Risk Adjusted Product Backlog (RAPBL)

Estimates Tasks Process Mandatory Inputs

SCT and Task List

Benefits of Collaboration in Scrum Projects

SCT collaborates with each other and Stakeholders to create dilverables with the greatest value so the need for change because of poor translation of requirements are minimized; ST has Clarity and change requests are minimized because PO and stakeholders collaborate to create Project vision, epics and PPBL; the daily standups, Groom PPBL and the Retrospect Sprint provide scope to the SCT by discussing what's been done and what needs to be done so change requests and re-works are also minimized

Velocity Consensus

SCT needs to have a consensus on ideal velocity that the ST can achieve. PO can raise justifiable objections to the estimates made by the ST but responsibility and accountability for key project decisions rests with PO

Conduct Release Planning (Initiate) CRP

SCT reviews the user stories in the PPBL to develop a release planning schedule (a phased deployment schedule that can be shared with the Stakeholders) and the length of sprints is determined in this process; Inputs: SCT, Stakeholders, PVS, PPBL, Done Criteria; Tools: RP Session; Output: RPS and Length of Sprint (LoS)

Estimate Tasks

SCT uses SPM to estimate the effort required for each task

Identify Task Process - Mandatory Inputs

SCT, Committed User Stories, Task Planning Meeting and Task List

Mandatory Inputs of Commit User Stories

SCT, Estimated User Stories and Length of Sprint

Create User Stories Mandatory Inputs

SCT, PPBL, Done Criteria and Personas

Create Deliverables Inputs

SCT, SBL, Scrumboard

Retrospect Sprint Meeting

ST facilitates this meeting. it is time-boxed to 4 hours for a one-month Sprint and conducted as part of the Retrospect Sprint process. The length may be scaled up or down relative to the LoS. Recommends, the be PO be present. This is when the ST and SM review/reflect on the previous Sprint in terms of the processes followed, tools employed, collaboration and communication, etc. They discuss what went well and what didn't. This gives SM opportunity to re-work and improve the ST in next sprint; the goal of RSM is to make actionable improvements in upcoming sprints and can be made a part of SGB documents. One team member is the scribe and documents the discussions and items for future action. This meeting should be in an open and relaxed environment to encourage full participation by all team members

During daily scrum as an example of Adaption

ST openly discusses impediments; after the meeting the SM coordinates help from other team members; more experienced team members mentor those with less experience in the project or technology; if more is still needed, the SM acquires it externally

Daily Standup Input

ST, SM, Sprint Burndown Chart, Impediment Log

scrumboard

Scrumboard displays the SBL tasks status of the US in the current Sprint. It is a tool used for Inspection created by the ST to plan and track progress of the SBL. Don't add new US to items already committed to for the current Sprint. You can add items that were missed or overlooked. New items should be added to the overall PPBL and included in a future Sprint. The scrumboard is wiped off and a new scrumboard is created for the next Sprint

Scrum Master Qualities

Servant leader, team's scrum expert, Leadership style, problem-solving, availability (available to schedule, oversee and facilitate meetings) commitment (committed to see that the ST has a conducive environment for work), moderator, approachable, motivator, perceptive, mentor, coordination skills, and introspective

User stories

Short, simple descriptions written by customers answering who, what and why. they may be written throughout the duration of the project. Initial user stories are written at a high level of functionality and are called EPICs (too large to complete in a single spring). SCT and stakeholders work together to refine requirements (Develop epics from create user stories) and then are considered for inclusion in the sprint and then used to create project deliverables

US Acceptance Criteria should include

Should not be vague or too generalized. Defined Acceptance Criteria should ensure that the team is able to verify the outcomes are in alignment with the sponsor organization's goals and objectives

Burnup Chart

Shows the work completed as part of the Sprint

FDD has 2 core principles

Software development is a human activity and client-valued functionality

Create Deliverables Outputs

Sprint Deliverables, Update Scrumboard

What is done first in a Sprint

Sprint Goal

Identify Task Process - Mandatory Tools

Sprint Planning Meeting

Mandatory Tools for Commit User Stories

Sprint Planning Meeting (used by the SCT) and Communication Techniques

Estimates Tasks Process Mandatory Tools

Sprint Planning Meetings, Estimation Criteria and Estimation Methods

Scrum Guidance Body (SGB)

The Scrum Guidance Body (SGB) is an optional role. It generally consists of a group of documents and/or a group of experts who are typically offer guidance to the team to adapt and define objectives regarding quality, government regulations, security, and other key organizational parameters. They guide the work carried out by the PO, SM and ST and the ST can ask for advice from the SGB. The SGB does not make decisions about project, but acts as a guidance body for all levels (porject, programs and portfolios). The SGB are involved with Create User Stories, estimate tasks, in all technical aspects of create deliverables, and Groom PPBL

What is in the scrumboard

The Scrumboard preferably should be kept on paper or white board, but can also be kept on an electronic spreadsheet. The scrumboard contains four columns to indicate the progress of the estimated tasks for the Sprint: a To Do column for tasks not yet started, an In Progress column for the tasks started but not yet completed, a Testing column for tasks completed but in the process of being tested, and a Done column for the tasks that have been completed and successfully tested.

Ideal Time

The amount of time an assignment would take if there were no interruptions or distractions. Some Agile projects provide estimates using this rather than actual time

What happens if customers are not happy with a deliverable from a sprint

The issues are listed in the prioritized product backlog (PPBL) and fixed in next sprint

Business Case

The justification for an information system in a well-structured document or verbal statement, formal and comprehensive or informal and brief, containing the background of why we need the project, tangible and intangible benefits, desired outcomes, can also use a SWOT and gap analysis, list of identified risks, and estimations of time, effort and cost. Ends with the Project Vision Meeting

Sustainable Pace

The pace at which the Scrum Team can work and sustain comfortably for an indefinite period of time. translates to increased employee satisfaction, stability, and increased estimation accuracy, which leads to increased customer satisfaction. To develop a truly high quality product and maintain a healthy work environment, it is important to carry out integration-type activities regularly, rather than delaying the integration work until the end in such circumstances.

Top down Approach

The transition is widely communicated; there is an effort to provide education about the change to everyone but can be a source of change resistance. he employees may not be happy when faced with the prospect of sudden alterations. There may also be some communication issues

Scrum of Scrum Details of Meetings

This meeting is facilitated by Chief Scrum Master and conducted at predetermined intervals or when required by the STs. During this meeting, questions answered are: 1) What has your team been working on since the last meeting 2) What is your team going to get done by the next meeting 3) What are your impediments and can other teams help you 4) What are the decisions made in your team that can impact other teams - Any intersessions between teams is usually handled outside of this and following this session

Value-based prioritization 2.6 p31

This principle highlights the focus of Scrum to deliver maximum business value, from early in the project and continuing throughout. it helps with adaptability and iterative development

collective ownership is achieved

Through the estimate and commit user stories process allows team to take ownership of the project and their work which leads to better quality

Constant Risk Identification as an example of Adaption

Throughout the project, risks are inputs in adaptation and are identified by the SCT in develop eips, create PPBL, create deliverables, groom PPBL create SBL and conduct daily standups

Time-Boxing 2.7 p32

Time is a primary and limited constraint in scrum. It is used to effectively manage and execute in Scrum. It refers to the amount of time allocated for each process in Scrum. It ensures the ST doesn't assign too much or too little work to be done. it ensures they don't expend time and energy for work they have no clarity for. Sprints, Daily Standups, SPM's and SRM's

User Story Prioritization Methods

Tools used to prioritize the user stories or PPBL on the basis of business value: a) MoSCoW prioritization scheme b) Paired comparison c) 100-point method

Methods for Transitioning to Scrum

Top down and Bottom up Approach

Transform - ADAPT acronym

Transfer the implications of Scrum outside the development organization. If the Scrum implementation among the teams is successful, there is still a high risk that the organisation around the Scrum development teams (human resources, sales, marketing, or other groups) is not compatible with Scrum. It's impossible for a development team to remain agile on its own. There is just one tool to transfer Scrum to other departments: communicating with these groups. I do not mean that the rest of the organization needs to start using Scrum.What I mean is that the rest of the organization must become at least compatible with Scrum.

Create User Stories (Plan and Estimate phase)

User stories (written by the PO) and their User Story acceptance criteria are created; user stories may be written by the PO throughout the project to ensure the VOC is clearly depicted and understood by all Stakeholders; initially are high-level functionalities; user story exercises can then be held by ST members creating the refined user stories and estimates; the ST ensures that defined Acceptance Criteria are appropriate for the US and clear regarding requirements to the ST. The US are then incorporated into the PPBL

What is the VOC in Scrum

Voice of the Customer; represented by the PO. The PO translates both the implicit and explicit needs of the customer into User Stories in the PPBL

Ship Deliverables Outputs

Working Deliverables Agreement

Extreme Programming

XP makes it possible to keep the cost of changing software from rising radically with time

empirical process control (TIA)

a core philosophy of scrum based on 3 main ideas of (TIA) transparency, inspection and adaptation; Empirical process control uses frequent inspections and adaptations, it is more useful in and focused on volatile environments where the requirements and the desired outputs are not clearly defined; many decisions are made based on observation and experimentation rather than details and planing

Wideband Delphi Technique

a group-based estimation technique for determining how much work is involved and how long it will take to complete. Individuals within a team anonymously provide estimations for each item and the initial estimates are then plotted on a chart. The team then discusses the factors that influenced their estimates and proceed to a second round of estimation. This process is repeated until the estimates of individuals are close to each other and a consensus for the final estimate can be reached.

Effort Estimated Task List

a list of tasks associated with the committed User Stories included in a Sprint. It is expressed in terms of the estimation criteria agreed upon by the team and is used by the ST during Sprint Planning Meetings to CREATE the Sprint Backlog and the Sprint Burndown Chart and used to determine when the team needs to reduce it's commitment or add more user stories during sprint planning

Velocity

a measure of the amount of work or measure of work completed by the Team during a single Sprint and is the key metric in Scrum. Velocity is calculated at the end of the Sprint by totaling the Points for all fully completed User Stories. It can be a problem if you use Velocity as a goal because the points attributed to the user stories is subjective so you have to be careful not to over inflate the points given

Released planning schedule (RPS) - Initiate

a phased deployment schedule with planned intervals and dates of releases that can be shared with the stakeholders; it enables ST to have an overview of releases and delivery schedule so they are aligned with PO and relevant Stakeholders (primarily the sponsor); doesn't have to be done at the end of every Sprint; may be done after several Sprints

Scrum iterative decision-making

a process that produces plans by which resources are converted into products or systems that meet human needs and wants or solve problems; focuses on satisfying customer requirements (i.e.) plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of something before it is built or made or a decorative pattern

Fist of Five

a simple and fast mechanism that can be used as an estimation practice, as well as a general group consensus building technique. After initial discussion on a given item for estimation, the Scrum Team members are each asked to vote on a scale of 1 to 5 using their fingers. the number of fingers displayed represent the estimation value; this technique is good because it builds a consensus and drives discussion bc team members are asked to explain why; team votes based on their level of agreement and desire to discuss

Communication Techniques - Mandatory Tool for Commit User Stories

accurate, effective, informal face-to-face communication primarily through colocation of ST (2.5.2 p30); SM ensures effective communication is available so the team can self-organize, collaborate and work effectively

19 scrum processes address

address the specific activities and flow of a scrum project. there are 19 processes which are 5 phases

Transparency allows

all facets of any Scrum process to be observed by anyone which makes easy and transparent flow of information throughout the organization and creates an open work culture

Sprints allow the customer

allow them to regularly interact with the SCT and to deliver feedback and change requirements

collocation

allows both formal and informal interaction between team members. This provides the advantage of having team members always at hand for coordination, problem-solving, and learning. • Questions get answered quickly. • Problems are fixed on the spot. • Less friction occurs between interactions. • Trust is gained and awarded much more quickly

In agile quality and constraints can be

altered to achieve maximum business value

Domain

an area of activity to which the user applies a program or functionality. Many domains are batched and a model is designed which is a system of abstractions that can be used to design the overall project and solve the problems related to the batched domains

ESVP Retrospect Project Meeting

an exercise that can be conducted at the start of the Retrospect Sprint Meeting to understand the mindset of the participants and set the tone for the meeting. Attendees are asked to anonymously indicate which best represents how they feel regarding their participation in the meeting.

Agreed Actionable Improvements

are the list of actionable items that the team has come up with to address problems and improve processes in order to enhance their performance in future sprints

Benefits of a 6 to 10 member scrum team

because it is large enough to have adequate skillsets needed and small enough to collaborate easily; communication and management is simple and requires little effort.. One drawback may be that smaller teams suffer from the loss of one team member; important to have a backup person in case you need to replace a team member; and team members with knowledge outside of their normal roles

Change - 4th aspect of scrum

because of change scrum uses short iterative sprints and welcomes feedback on its deliverables; Organizations should use change management processes to maximize benefits and minimize negative impacts related to change

Why does scrum want to deliver results as early as possible

because of the uncertainty of the result of a project and it's impossible to guarantee a project's success and completion; as a result presents an opportunity for reinvestment

Business justification

before a project begins a business assessment is done to demonstrate the need for undertaking a project. It answers the question "Why is this project needed?" Business justification drives all decision making related to a project and answers value-driven delivery.

Appropriation

being able to adapt technology to one's own situation which means the technology may be used in a completely different manner than expected by the designers

Self-organized ST is involved with task 2.4.1 p27

breakdown and estimation during the identify and estimate tasks phase where each member says the work they will do and if they need any help, the identify it during the daily standup; and the ST and SM work together to demonstrate the product increment created during the Sprint in the Demonstrate and Validate Sprint Process

waterfall is dwindling because

changing customer requirements have led to increased pressure on businesses to adapt and change their delivery methods

Crystal cycle

chartering, delivery cycle and wrap-up all help to achieve agility

Benefits of assessing risks

collaboration is achieved because risks are identified and dealt with efficiently; they are identified by the SCT in the develop epics, create deliverables and conduct daily standups; Scrum meeting tools provide opportunities to identify, assess and implement risk responses to high priority risks; team's true potential is realized because team works together to complete any missed tasks and meet the target. Also, there is continuous improvement through lessons learned

Key factors of the Crystal Method

comfort, discretionary money, essential money are vital to the "Weight of the methodology" which is represented in various colors of spectrum

Executive Support

communicate regularly, keep them aware of the latest progress, inform them of any issues and lags in project delivery, they should have clarity on: benefit of implementing scrum, how does this change, create benefits or prevents losses, how is being adaptive essential in the current business climate, what are deadlines and costs of transition, what is expected completion time and cost (best case, worst case estimates), risks/roadblocks, milestones, how often will execs meet,

Prioritized Product Backlog (a/k/a Risk Adjusted Product Backlog)

contains a dynamic prioritized list of business and project requirements written in the form of Epics; It also includes all APPROVED changes that can be appropriately prioritized in the Prioritized Product. Inputs: SCT, Epics and Personas; Tools: User Story Prioritization Methods; Output: PPBL and Done Criteria. Also, if multiple ST's working TOGETHER on a project, should only have ONE PPBL

continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility because of

continuous integration, refactoring, incremental re-architecture

Value-based prioritization can be seen in which processes

create PPBL and Groom PPBL during which if the ST must advise the PO of any risks they are aware of

XP roles

customer, developer, the tracker and the coach

Feature Driven Development (FDD)

devised by Jeff De Luca in 1997 and operates on principle of completing a project by breaking it down into small, client-valued functions that can be delivered in less than two weeks' time; it is iterative and consists of developing an overall model and developing a feature list before planning and building by feature list before planning, designing and building by feature

Scrum Team (scrum)

do the work; PO primarily responsible for selecting the ST members along with the SM. The ST is responsible for understanding the business requirements and working or estimating the User Stories specified by the PO in the PPBL and the SBL to create project deliverables. It is not necessary to have to have all members defined before project work begins

DDD Core Values

domain-oriented, model-driven design, ubiquitous language and bounded context; 1st ubiquitous language is established and domain is modeled. Then design, development and testing follow. Refining and refactoring of the domain model till it is satisfactory

Sprint Planning Meetings are good because they

enables the team to have a shared prospective on user stories and requirements so they can reliably estimate the effort required

Create PPBL (Initiate)

epics (unrefined user stories developed by the PO and stakeholders in PPBL) are refined and elaborated and prioritized to create a PPBL; this is also when the "DONE criteria" is established

Functional Managers transitioning to Scrum

may play the role of PO's and SM's

Collaboration is used in Scrum to

minimize risk and achieve satisfaction by delivering the greatest value in the shortest amount of time

In TPM, when is Risk management/risks decided

risks are handled upfront even before risks have been identified

Trust is NOT a

scrum value but courage, commitment and focus

The emphasis in Scrum is on

self-organization and self-motivation where the team assumes greater responsibility in making a project successful. This also ensures that there is team buy-in and shared ownership. This results in team motivation leading to an optimization of team efficiencies. The Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Scrum Team work very closely with relevant Stakeholder(s) for refining requirements as they go through the Develop Epic(s), Create Prioritized Product Backlog, and Create User Stories processes.

scrum master (scrum)

servant leader (leads by supporting the ST), the team facilitator, coach and motivator, ensures productive work environment for the ST, responsible for tracking and updating the Scrum, ensures following scrum processes, principles and aspects are followed, guides and teaches scrum practices to everyone involved, clears obstacles for the ST, guards them from external influences

Self-organized 2.4. p26

servant leader emphasizes and achieves results by focusing on the needs of the ST; self-organized doesn't mean team can act in any way they want but they follow scrum process

Dynamic Systems Development Methods (DSDM)

sets quality and effort in terms of costs and time at the outset and adjusts the project deliverables to meet the set criteria by prioritizing them into MUSTS, SHOULDS, CLOUDS AND WON'T HAVES (MoSCoW)

Burndown Chart

shows the amount of work remaining in the ongoing Sprint and allows for the detection of estimates that may have been incorrect. Also, it should be updated at the end of each day as work is completed. If it shows that the ST is not on task to finish on time, the SM should identify, resolve, remove and formally record any impediments in the Impediment log and try to remove them; Amount of estimated work remaining on Y axis and Across time on X axis

Quality - 3rd aspect of scrum

the ability of completed products or services to meet acceptance criteria and achieve business value expected by the customer. Quality related tasks are: development, testing and documentation and are completed in the same sprint by the same team. This ensures that quality is inherent in any deliverable as part of a sprint; continuous improvement with repetitive testing optimizes the probability of achieving the expected quality levels

simplicity

the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential in agile

Prioritization

the determination of the order and separation of what must be done now, from what needs to be done later.

value-based prioritization 2.6 p32

the highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of maximum business value

Continuous improvement is provided in scrum

through adaptability and transparency and because any issues in a product from a sprint are added to the ppbl and fixed in the next sprint which equals quality; this review of what went well and what didn't in the last sprint gives the SM opportunity to re-work and improve the ST in the next sprint

How does scrum ensure the gap between expectations of the customer and the deliverable product are reduced

through constant communication between the customers, users, stakeholders and the SCT

scrum CONSTRAINTS are

time, cost, scope, quality, resources and organizational and other capabilities. The objective of the project team is to create Deliverables as defined in Prioritized Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog. Scrum promotes prioritization and time-boxing over fixing a scope, cost and schedule

traditional pm like waterfall does not do

timely checks which may result in getting off schedule and doing a lot at the end of the project in order to finish on time; work is done in silos and no presentable functionality until the end of the project which presents huge risks to the project's success

In Scrum, ST's have more

to offer than technical expertise and can deliver greater value when self-organized

What ensures there is no scope for isolated planning in Scrum

when the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Scrum Team work very closely with relevant Stakeholder(s) for refining requirements as they go through the Develop Epic(s), Create Prioritized Product Backlog, and Create User Stories processes

Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process

when the ST demonstrates the potentially shippable Sprint Deliverables to the PO and Stakeholders. Since the product is potentially shippable, and the PPBL is prioritized by User Stories in the order of value created by them, the PO and customer can clearly visualize and articulate the value being created after every Sprint

Norming (Tuckman's Group Development)

when the team begins to mature, sort out their internal differences, and find solutions to work together. It is considered a period of adjustment and when a group establishes its procedures to move more formally toward a solution

Development managers transitioning to scrum

would confirm the right person is assigned to a team and people are retained in their capabilities, coordinators to make conducive work environments,