The Virtual Scrum

/
We are fans of iterative software development and daily scrums but we hate meetings and the scrum was a meeting. So we canned it and instead at the end of every day each of us updates a shared Google Doc with answers to these questions:
  • What did you do today? (we use video to “show” what we did)
  • Decisions pending? (are you owed a decision)
  • Barriers faced? (anything stopping you)
  • How can we make it simpler? (KISS)
  • Are you on schedule? (can you meet the deadline)
  • What’s on for tomorrow? (your punch list)

The next day we post questions and comments in the journal based upon the above, and come the end of that day we make another entry and repeat. No meetings, no email. Best thing we have ever done!

What Agile Really Means

/

I exchanged some great email with Alex Deaconu as part of a regular quarterly review we do and his insights into our adoption of a truly agile development methodology really struck me. First, true confessions, we have been proclaiming to be an agile shop for years. We lied. Or at least we fooled ourselves really well. I think we are just starting to understand the power of short burst iterations. Alex summed up what this means perfectly:

We're hunting bigger game while expending less energy, at this point a miss doesn't hurt as much.

In the end, it's obvious the only enemy is time; keeping ahead of the curve.

More steps forward than steps back; more calculated lunges towards our intended target; more agile.

To keep stepping forward, and a step back to not hurt as much:

  • build fast
  • build well
  • reduce
  • reuse
  • recycle

Calculate lunges:

  • no shortcuts
  • no excuses
  • bounce off obstacles while recovering cleanly

More agile:

  • no shortcuts
  • no excuses

Well said Alex! Thank you!