Is blogging “dead”?

I don’t think it is, but is is very different way to communicate with people on a large scale.

Or is it?

Here I can publish as much (or as little) as I want with no limitations of 140 characters and stay very focused on Scrum and implementing this change in organizations.

And this scares me.

I travel a lot and work with so many incredible people around the world.

And.

People I have never met “follow” me in various places and for some reason follow what I write (and either love me or hate me, and I am OK with that).  I love sharing my experiences with you.  Right or wrong, they are my experiences and I know sharing them helps some people (and pisses off others).

When I look at the sheer number of people who have been impacted by this blog and our little comic strips in the past, it almost overwhelms me.

OK.  That’s bullshit.  It does overwhelm me.

Then, I am reminded.

I am not writing “for the masses”.

I am writing for you.

Or more specifically… TO you.

You.

One person.  An individual.  Not dozens, or hundreds, or thousands, or more (eek).

One person.

You.

I enjoy the style of me almost being able to “sit down” and have a conversation with you, imagining your responses to what I convey here and taking you down a windy road together with me — and there usually is something to think about when I end the posting.  It’s not for everyone, but this is an important medium for me to be able to do this with you.

I am also being reminded that change cannot happen in an organization overnight.

It has to happen starting with one person.

You.

Or… for me to take more responsibility… I have to accept change in me.

Stop trying to change the world.

Or your organization.

Or your team.

Focus on you.

The rest will follow.

Good luck!

Now… what can we do together as the next step?

Not “everyone.”

You.  And me.

Using GoogleTranslate, you can select to have any page automatically translated in up to 58 different languages.  You’ll see this option on each page  over on the right side of the page (there is a little widget there).  Of course it will be using automated translations from Google Translate services, but I’d be interested to hear your comments to see if it is of any value to my international viewers.  PLEASE let me know what you think!

Also, if you are interested in helping me translate any of the cartoons on the site, please let me know (check out TRANSLATIONS here for more information about helping me with this).

Also — there is some great new stuff coming soon to the site. Please stay tuned and as usual let me know any of your ideas, suggestions, or comments!

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

Are you interested in publishing some of your very own ideas out on www.implementingscrum.com ?

I am amazed at the number of blogs out there about Scrum and Agile.   And then there are also people (could this be you??) who have great ideas and then do nothing to get the word out about your ideas.  Or you may have a blog and want to get to a larger audience.

So.

Here is my offer:

Look through the cartoons and find one that strikes a nerve, pisses you off, makes you laugh, or are totally stunned with.  That is step one.

Step two is to contact me about an idea to flesh out regarding that cartoon.

If it makes sense for the both of us, create sometime totally original and I’ll work with you to get posted out here.    It has to be original and you’ll get full credit with all the link backs that make sense to your stuff.  It cannot be commercially oriented (like trying to sell stuff to my readers).

Fair?

Easy?

There is a very large following of people around the world with this blog (hey, YOU are reading this [THANK YOU by the way]).  This could be the platform to get your ideas out to a large audience.

Thoughts?  Ideas?

Let’s get started!

I am thinking if there is enough interest I may schedule a guest blog posting each week on a certain day.  Hmm… Perhaps you’ll be seeing one Monday?

Modifying Scrum is a bad idea.

Do you hear me?  Do you REALLY think modifying Scrum is a good idea?

Why?

Scrum is a simple framework.  It works.

Yet, in most places I get called into for consulting with clients around the world, this is one of the major causes of projects failing.

People try to mess with it.  Because they know better.

OK… do that… then call me to come in and tell you to go back to the basics.  I make a great living doing this — but this is FREE advice.  Hey… if you still want to bring me in, call me and I will happily deliver this message to whoever you want (heck — I can even do this over the phone for you — what’s the worst that can happen, the receiver can hang up on me — not too bad for a five second telephone call!).

There is a reason that Scrum is a simple framework.

It’s supposed to be.

Think about it.

Most organizations — from very small to the largest enterprises — hire, employ, or contract very smart and intelligent people.  These very well-meaning very smart and intelligent people then think they can improve Scrum… before even understanding what power Scrum as a framework brings to the table.

Think about it.

Your organization is probably a political quagmire.  Most are.

If you are luck enough not to be in this situation, think of one of your favorite Dilbert Cartoons and laugh — this does happen in most places.

So… you have this political bullshit going on in the organization before Scrum.  As dysfunctional as it is, people have learned to thrive and succeed in this environment.  Actually the people that are dysfunctional created this dysfunctional system.  This could be you (ouch… hard to look in the mirror sometimes — trust me — I KNOW!!!).

Then you introduce Scrum.  And then an amazing thing happens.

Take a guess?

“Mike – Scrum is causing a lot of problems so we HAVE to modify it and make it better.”

“Mike – WE are different.”

OK.. on the first one… really really really look at what problems you think Scrum are causing.  I do a root cause analysis workshop with clients and usually almost ALL of the problems were there before Scrum was implemented.

Scrum exposes existing problems.

Get over it.  As a ScrumMaster, this is something you get paid to work with the Scrum Team, the Product Owner, and outside stakeholders to manage.  Put on your big kid pants and start having those tough conversations.

Yeah.

You are different.  And special.

But.

Um.

Use Scrum as the basic framework.

Watch.  Observe.

Inspect and Adapt.

Sound familiar?

Now does this comic strip make sense?

Let me know your thoughts!

Or… do as the majority of organizations who try to implement Scrum and fail — go back to what you were doing before and blame Scrum.  It’s a cop-out the industry (read: meaning people like you and me) still allows to happen.  Sad… but true.

Grow a spine and try to have a tough conversation TODAY!

[By the way - the original posting for this cartoon is located at http://www.implementingscrum.com/2008/05/06/kiss-keep-it-simple-stupid/

Welcome back to another week at www.implementingscrum.com.

I hope you enjoyed last weeks posting and are looking forward to learning something new this week with me.  This is an important concept — we learn together (thank you!).  Please post comments below or tweet about this (or whatever other social media thing you use today!).

One of the big problems I see people talking about (and talking and talking — NOT DOING) is the concept of planning in Scrum.

Bottom line.  Instead of talking about it (and becoming stuck in analysis paralysis and NOT DELIVERING), do it.

How much time?

Enough to get started.

Really.  Get started on Delivering Working Software.

The original posting for this comic strip was about 2.5 years ago and um… wow… it was pretty politically incorrect.  Oh well… Blogs are timeless (smile).  That original posting talked about the rules for planning poker, about being on Fantasy Island (you may or may not be old enough to remember that show — google it), and quickly devolved into possible sexual innuendo.  Oops.  Or you are welcome (smile).  You can take a look at the original posting here.

So what really is “enough” to get started?

When you look at Scrum, there are so many opportunities to plan.  And execute.  And Deliver.

Remember the reason for using Scrum — DELIVER something of value to your customer and end users.  Reduce Risk.  Whatever.  Deliver.  Inspect and adapt.  Really. Hmm… Seems like I may be over using the words DELIVER and REALLY.  Wonder Why?  It needs repeating.  Really (smile).

You can do long range Release planning at the Product Backlog level.

You can do short term Sprint Planning at the Sprint Backlog level.

You can do Daily Planning and adjusting at the Daily Standup level.

You can track all this planning on different Burn Down Charts.

Plan plan plan.

Bla bla bla.

What does your customer really want?

Really?

Really?

ASK.

You can get stuck PLANNING for a long time.

DELIVER.  Get to DONE.

Yeah… you still need to PLAN in Scrum.

But what is REALLY important to your end users and customers.

Do they really care about the plan?

Hmmm… not if you keep missing deadlines and deliveries.  Plans then become a CYA (cover-your-ass) thing that opens the gulf of distrust even more between the team, the customers, and other stake holders.  Traditional Project Managers then use it to beat people over the head about missing dates.  You know the cycle.

So.

Stop it.

Plan enough.

This is one of the *tough* conversations you need to have with your stakeholders at all different levels.

I can promise you (from experience) — these conversations SUCK at the beginning.  Mostly because a traditional Project Manager has been making excuses for the team about missing dates (and using the Project Manager Whammy Stick to do strange things to the team).

As a ScrumMaster though — remember — who is REALLY responsible for delivering on a Scrum Team?

The Team.

Yeah, as a Scrum Master you are responsible for facilitating the process (or framework or whatever you want to call Scrum) AND making sure the Scrum Team understands their roles.  Oh… and also working with the Product Owner.  And Oh… the outside Stakeholders.  Welcome to reality.

This is real world stuff.

So how can you keep it from sucking?

Deliver.  Team — do you hear this? DELIVER.

And guess what… once you are delivering on your commitments the conversations shift to AWESOMEness.  Really.  This is not just my dream fantasy world.  It happens.  Daily.

It will suck wind at the beginning.

Plan.

Enough.

Execute.

Deliver.

Inspect and adapt.

That’s enough planning in Scrum.  Yes… DO IT.

AND.

Deliver!

Scrum is not a Silver Bullet.

Delivering builds confidence.

Try it.

Welcome to 2012.

Here we are.  Another year to look forward to.

Another year to look back on.

Looking back on 2011 for the blog at www.implementingscrum.com, I did not publish a lot of information.  However, an interesting thing continues to occur — people viewing the content (some of it now almost five years old) and subscribing to the updates has increased dramatically.

So.

Looking forward to 2012, here is my commitment to you, a valued member of this community (THANK YOU) so much.

I’ll take it up a notch and start paddling again.

Like any great ScrumMaster or Agile Coach, I have to keep at it with this blog because there is so much information we all still need to share.

That’s my commitment for 2012.  You’ll be hearing from me at least on a weekly basis with new cartoons (or at least new commentaries from me!) and updates on my latest and greatest stuff.

What’s yours?

Are you going to start paddling again?

Good luck.  Commit here if you’d like, and let’s see where we go this year together.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos (Follow me on twitter @mvizdos and Facebook)

PS – You may remember this original comic strip from 2008 (wow time flies), it is located at: www.implementingscrum.com/2008/04/21/up-the-creek-without-a-paddle/ 

I wanted to let you know that I (Mike Vizdos) will be hosting a Scrum Basics Webinar on Thursday, September 29, from 12:00 – 13:00 Eastern Time.

If you could please tweet about it (I am @mvizdos there) and let people know.

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/844020585

I know this is late notice but I wanted to make sure you have an opportunity to see the “basic” Scrum presentation — very similar to the one that is sent to you when you subscribed at www.implementingscrum.com!  In addition to the basic overview, there will be more information on Starting a Scrum Project AND revealing more of the mysteries of the X-Y-Z component that Scrum does not really explicitly talk about but is needed in the real world (where you and I live!).  Probably a few bonuses too!

Please pass it on for me and I hope to “hear” you online.  There will also be time for Q&A in an interactive environment.

Here is the link to register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/844020585

Thank you.

- mike

PS => You can also get updates via Facebook at: www.facebook.com/vizdosenterprises and on google + at: http://gplus.to/MichaelVizdos

Scrum Training today is available in many different flavors and formats around the world.

People are always debating the values of “certification” and this will be an endless discussion.  While everyone is having these discussions (yawn to me), I continue to travel the world training people on Scrum.  And other agile techniques.  I also *use* this stuff daily  to run my company (more on this in another posting) and coach individuals to help us both keep improving our skills.

Welcome back to the ImplementingScrum site.  If this is your first time here, take a peek around.  There is a TON of information here.  This site has been around for almost five years now, and while some of the ways I implement techniques today are different (they keep improving) the comic strips here usually start some good conversations.

So I selected one of the most popular and un-politically-correct comic strips from a posting I published a LONG time ago (take a look at it here — cute, and wow that was so long ago in this internet age we live in today).  I have mostly been using things like Twitter and FaceBook (and others) to get information out — but also realize this channel of communicating with people (via the blog) is important… so it is [again] restarting with more postings of my [possible rants] in the future!

And. I titled this blog posting pretty provocatively.

I know the combination of un-politically-correct and provocative will help open conversations.  Who knows what kind of conversations, but hey that is up to you!

THAT is the important thing with this blog.  People either love it or hate it, but talk about it.

So… Let’s bring that to the topic of “Certified Scrum Training – Debunking the Bullshit.”

This should be fun, huh?  I figure if you are still with me than you are wondering why this is  important.

I am a Certified Scrum Trainer and that is a trademarked name from the Scrum Alliance, the body that certifies people who have taken my class as Certified ScrumMasters.

It does not certify competency.  It cannot.  OK… Like it or leave it, that’s an established fact (that people will debate!).

It does certify people who have taken the workshop have paid their money, the Certified Scrum Trainer has paid the Scrum Alliance a $50.00 fee so that they can take the assessment and become members (all Certified Scrum Trainers must do that).  And you can do a lot more with the Scrum Alliance — and should.  Here is some good background information from the Scrum Alliance FAQ that tells you how to move forward with them after you are a Certified ScrumMaster.

There are still a limited number of Certified Scrum Trainers in the world.  The market is showing that there is still a pretty strong demand for this type of Certification.  Why is there a demand?  People want it (possibly not the people taking the workshop — could  be their bosses or organizations are forcing them to attend or organizations want to send one person expecting that the newly Certified ScrumMaster can train the rest of the organization).  All of those statements are up for debate, and will always be debated.

Fine.

Move on with the debate.

So if it is so controversial, why do I do it?

I LOVE teaching this workshop.  I have fun.  I learn.  Every time.  Every place.

Here is a current description of what it is like to take the workshop with me… www.michaelvizdos.com/experiential-csm.

It has evolved (and will continue after each workshop, as no one is ever the same).

People who have taken the Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop with me are usually satisfied.  I know I cannot solve problems for all of the attendees — that is not the purpose.

The purpose of the Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop that people attend with me today (and remember it continues to evolve) is to learn about Scrum in an experiential way.  They should be able to answer questions about Scrum on their own by the end of the two days — using the framework and experiences from attending.

People who attend my Certified ScrumMaster Training Workshop receive a lot of value — because it is an environment where people can learn (from me and mostly the other attendees).  My training is different than any other Certified Scrum Trainer.  It should be (other organizations disagree and that is OK).

I also tell every attendee that this will not make them experts at being a ScrumMaster, Product Owner, or Team Member.

In fact, I now understand  that each individual will walk out at the end of the two days latching onto only one or two things that we discussed AND that fits into their current world paradigm (it used to bug me, now it does not).

Wow.

Two days… and only one or two key things (that was said and they heard what they wanted to hear).

Is this cutting through the bullshit of debates and bla bla bla out there about Scrum Certification?

I am sure there is SO much more that can (and will be) said on this topic.  Like I said up front, this is a provocative and controversial topic.

And the purpose of this blog over the years has evolved into learning about how to have tough conversations about Software Development.

Yes… Scrum can be used outside of Software Development (another topic for later again!!) but here’s the thing…

Talk about this stuff all you want.

Get out there and practice it.

Thank you!

Looking forward to hearing comments, suggestions, and ideas on here, in FaceBook, GooglePlus, or however else you want.

Talk.

But do.

Go….

With Scrum, and Scrum Teams, similar things can also be said.

Take for instance this blog posting about Scrum and Social Networking.

Over three years ago, the social networking thing was just catching on.

Five years ago, twitter did not exist (or about a dozen people were using it).  Facebook is now a huge.  LinkedIn has gone public.  Plaxo.. well… um… I am not even sure this is running anymore (for me at least).

This is one of the first postings from me you have seen in a while on ImplementingScrum.com.

Why?

Well… as technology has changed so have my habits of communicating information (and maybe yours?).

My habits today include posting things on my personal FaceBook Page; however, like a lot of you who mix business and personal stuff… things got out of control (again… perhaps this has happened to you?).  I recently created a new FaceBook Page for me as “VizdosEnterprises”  – this clean-up has helped me keep my friends as friends and now people who are really connected to me as a company well, as a professional.  You can follow my future world travels there.  It’s how we communicate today, so please feel free to “like” it!

I am on twitter a lot as mvizdos and tweeting lots of random information.  Eventually I may separate out that to business stuff too.  But I also know that twitter is for small stuff that is at the moment.  And it comes from “me” still (smile).  On that note… I’ll remind you of the power of Twitter and relationships some time in the future.

LinkedIn is powerful — I am still not utilizing it enough.

Which brings us back to this blog.  It has been around for almost five years and has gone through many iterations and changes.

The fact remains that people love the cartoons (or hate them… and that’s OK with me too).

They are making a difference.

So.

I will continue to examine some of the older comic strips on this site and re-write some new ideas on the topics.  Maybe even create some new ones (smile).  I’d also invite you to let me know if you want to write a guest posting.

You are a member of a worldwide group of people who really care about making a difference.

Let’s continue doing that.

So… you’ll see me in social media and you’ll start seeing more postings here with the comic strips.

Because that what this site is about.

Comic strips about Scrum and starting difficult conversations.  Like this one… may not seem difficult to you (or important), but I thought it would be good to get stuff into the open with you.

Let’s see where we go from here.

Until then, enjoy this comic strip.

And.

Think about how all these changes can be applied in your Scrum world today?

Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.  I appreciate all the comments from the last posting and comic strip, and it feels good for me to get back into posting the comics and new thoughts.

It seems like you enjoy them too (thank you).

If you ARE in this situation, start the difficult conversations today about how to fix it… and SHARE this posting within your organization.

If you are NOT in this situation, well… count yourself lucky and SHARE this posting with your friends who might be in the following situation!

Is your organization struggling to come up with an “Enterprise Plan” for rolling out Agile [and Scrum in particular]?

I am working with clients today that have a similar problem.  I have worked with many many many large [and small] enterprises over the years and have seen many patterns that work.  I have also been personally involved with ideas that have failed (and yeah, some were even my ideas).

Here is the number one reason I have seen that “Enterprise Rollouts” of Agile and Scrum FAIL:

They try to implement it too fast and furious.

Does this sound familiar?

Here is some great advice (and I know most people will ignore it AND possibly even disagree with me) for successfully rolling out Agile and Scrum projects:

Start with ONE project.

That’s it.  Sound too easy?  Hmm… Remember that the easiest and obvious answer may be that way for a reason!

“But Mike,” people say to me.

“WE are different.”

“WE need to get our entire portfolio up and running using Agile and Scrum across the worldwide distributed enterprise so that we can get metrics and tools in place to increase our time to market, lower costs, and make everyone feel like it is a party coming to work every day.”

OK… so the “party” part in that last statement was made up by me (smile).  Just making sure you are with me.

The idea that, “We are different” and “we need to do bla bla bla bla” ALL RIGHT NOW will kill your Agile and Scrum implementation.

Don’t believe me?

OK… try it and get back to me.  Or… continue down this thread with me….

If you are jumping on the Agile Bandwagon and using Scrum to transform your entire enterprise because “everyone else is now doing it” (yeah… Agile and Scrum have hit mainstream!) here is another word of advice.

STOP.

Right now.

Please.

Remember it took your organization years (and maybe decades) to paint yourself into the corner you are in today.  Your organization has probably spent years coming up with incredibly complicated frameworks, processes, or  methodologies to get things done.  People have been promoted and rewarded for building empires and silos of expertise.

You also know that if you keep doing this, you are screwed.

Because your competitors are now all “Agile” and a lot are using this thing called “Scrum.”

There is still a major failure rate out there using Scrum (and the other Agile techniques).

Why is this?

Organizations — made up of really smart people (usually) — are making one of the greatest and most common mistakes in history… trying to inject too much change at one time.

Remember what happens when you try to do this (on a regular basis even)?

The organization will always always always go back to the way it was.

Dysfunctional.

Comfortable, but Dysfunctional.

AND… just as screwed as before you wanted to start this Enterprise Rollout of Agile and Scrum.

So.

Listen.

PLEASE.

If you are just getting started (or have already been down the path to where now “Scrum” or “Agile” is a bad and forbidden word in your organization) with a Scrum and Agile change management process….

Start with ONE Scrum project.

Get Executive Sponsorship as high up into the organization as possible (they need to take the fire cover for you and will be burning political favors).

Worry about scaling it later.

Otherwise, you’ll be just as comfortably dysfunctional and screwed at the end of the day.

Don’t believe me?

That’s OK.

Your competitors do.

Let me know your thoughts.

I am listening!

I arrive in London Sunday, February 20th and am out on the 23rd.  While I be facilitating a Certified ScumMaster Workshop during the day on Monday and Tuesday on Goswell Road, I’d be up for meeting anyone on any evening starting Sunday.

I’ll be at Heathrow on Tuesday night (thinking of staying in that little micro-hotel again!] and then back across the pond to the USA on Wednesday.

Interested in meeting up with me?  Think someplace like “The Slaughtered Lamb” (oh what a place… and YES it REALLY exists!).

Let me know!

[also... you can follow me on twitter @mvizdos for even more fun and off-the-wall comments or head to www.michaelvizdos.com and sign up for my e-mail only list there where I chronicle the learnings from all the places I go in the world]

Cheers.

- mike vizdos

Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.

And yeah, it’s been a long hiatus from my contributions to this site (by the way… for those of you who do not know… my name is Michael Vizdos and I am solely responsible for all content on this blog… it is not a huge corporate entity or machine — it is a way for the two of us to communicate).

So much has changed since starting this site in 2006.  Life — both personal and professional — has changed in many ways for me.

What about you?

In trying to figure out how to get things restarted here, I thought this would be an appropriate comic strip (originally posted as http://www.implementingscrum.com/2008/04/21/up-the-creek-without-a-paddle/ years ago).

See… in all the traveling and working (on personal and professional stuff over the past few years)… I have learned that the stuff I write about and post on this site IS important and DOES have an impact.

And.

I stopped paddling.  Stopped posting.  And kept watching — in amazement and awe — how this site kept growing and growing without me doing anything.

Yikes.  I need to step up and start contributing once again.

Much of the “work work” I do today involves training (still — but not as much as the past!) the Certified ScrumMaster Workshop.  It is an aweome experience — described as *life changing* by many attendees and has evolved dramatically.

The major shift of this training workshop is because I am seeing that most people in the industry today seem “OK” with Scrum being almost ho-hum-bla-bla-bla (well… maybe except for Jeff Sutherland, who continues to kick my ass to up my game [and probably does not know he has this impact on me]).

Scrum involves a lot of work.

This is where I am spending most of my time with work today — facilitating teams that are having a hard time with keeping the paddle moving against this never-ending tide of change resistance.

Fun stuff for me.

It is failing all over the place now… and there are a lot of blog entries dedicated to writing and discussing this.

Me… I want to focus on the positive.

And the tough stuff.

Professionally I am now at a point where I can — and DO — select my clients (as much as they select me for whatever reasons [which I am extremely grateful for!].

And.

I am really now only selecting to work with people who WANT to be successful with using Scrum — and the other agile techniques that are also required for a successful organizational change to occur.

It takes time.

It does not happen overnight.

I am proof of that (smile).

So… Here I go again.

I’ve looked at myself and have seen and recognized that I “stopped paddling” and well… it had a lot of consequences (both good and bad).

My choice now with this site is to start paddling again and keep pushing things forward.

It starts with you and me.  Just two people.  We are all that matters to get things going together.

Are you ready to start again with me?

I’ll ask for feedback continually… much like a great ScrumMaster needs to do.

Time to get back in the boat.

Here we go!

I am going to start posting my upcoming travel plans so people have a chance to meet up with me.  I’ll plan on doing this only once every few weeks, as needed.  This is so that I can get a chance to meet with readers in the various places I visit around the world.

I will be in Amsterdam starting this Friday afternoon, November 12 through November 15th late night to meet with other Scrum Trainers and the new Managing Director of the Scrum Alliance — and for the first day of the Scrum Gathering there.

From there, I’ll be headed to Phoenix, Arizona. I’ll be facilitating a Certified ScrumMaster Workshop there on the 17th and 18th, and I’ll be presenting a free session at the Phoenix Scrum Users Group meeting on the 18th!

If you are interested in meeting up with me, please contact me and let me know.   If you are interested in recommending the workshop to others for me, I’d sincerely appreciate it!

Here’s hoping that I’ll be able to meet up with some of you in my upcoming travels.

- mike

When you think of estimating and planning techniques in Scrum, what method do you think of first?

Wait.

“There is an official way Scrum says you *must* do estimating and planning,” you may be thinking.

You’d be incorrect.

And.

Thats OK.

See, there is nothing in Scrum that says you have to use any certain technique for estimating and planning.

My recommendation though:

DO SOMETHING.

People will continue arguing about the different techniques for-e-v-e-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So what.

If you have something that works today, use it.

If you do not have a clue about how to do estimation and planning, or think:

“Hey we are using Scrum and we do not need to tell the customer when we are going to finish….”

Um… try telling your customer that.  Let me know how that goes, because I can pretty much guarantee that answer will not invoke any confidence in your delivery as a team.

Remember, your customer does not care about story points or gummy bears or peanuts or t-shirt sizes or dart boards or ouiga boards or whatever.

Ask the customer what they really care about.

THE answer to that question may rock your universe.

So.

What kind of estimation and planning techniques are you using today?

What works?

What fails?

Please feel free to discuss these and other answers about this topic in the comments of this thread.

Phew.

See.

I did something today for YOU.

Instead of estimating and planning on when this next cartoon strip would get to you… I just did it.

THAT is why people are reading this (you are my customer as someone who reads this blog, and I thank you for that!).

Original Posting: March 4, 2008

As many of you know, next week is a HUGE conference in Orlando, Florida.   The comic strip above was created a few years ago when I was speaking at a different conference, but I wanted to re-post it for both the people who ARE and ARE NOT going to the conference.

The original posting addressed seven things I try to do to get the most value out of any conference setting.  I encourage you to review those tips — or see them for the first time — here.

So… first… for those of you NOT going… I will be posting a lot of real time information of my happenings there via twitter (this is really micro-level blogging these days!) and on FaceBook for larger thoughts than just 140 characters.  For those of you who know about hash tags and groups on Twitter and FaceBook… look into  those.

Why is this important if you are NOT going?

You’ll get some great tidbits of information from me and a bunch of other people who will be on the ground there.  Meeting.  Face-to-Face.  Hearing about stuff both inside and outside the Scrum World.  Because this really is important to what we do on a daily basis.

And.

Last week I announced to my e-mail followers that I have listened and will not post much more than new (or re-purposed — like this one) comic strips about Implementing Scrum on this blog.  For those of you interested in following my fun travel exploits (well, I think they are fun… but yeah… outside the scope of this!) and other stuff that I’ll blog about outside of Scrum — head over to www.michaelvizdos.com and subscribe via email (you’ll see how to do it there!).   I will be adding an RSS Feed there soon, but it is not up yet.

For those of you who WILL be going — or know people who will be going — please review the seven tips here.   Help pass on the word about these tips!

If you have more tips or suggestions — please add them to the comments section of this entry.

I am making the personal investment to head down to the conference to meet people — both new and those who I have not seen in a while.

I am not speaking at this conference.

For me, it is ALL about the networking.  Meeting PEOPLE.  Real People.  Outside of the side of the screen you are reading now!

This is also one of the first postings in a long time on this site, and I know the important thing about this site is the comic strips and how they can help people start tough conversations.

Some of the toughest conversations always need to take place face-to-face.

It does not matter if you are heading to the conference or not… the important thing to reflect on with this comic strip is to make sure you get out into the world once in a while — especially in this industry.

A lot of changes are happening on a constant basis.

The updated focus of this blog going forward is to start reminding myself and you that it is VERY important to have tough conversations.

Get out there and start.

Maybe it is just with the person sitting next to you….

Or… Maybe we can meet face to face — contact me if you are interested!

Eesh. Time really does fly, huh?

First, I’d like to welcome all the new subscribers to the blog in the past six weeks — thank you.

And of course, thanks to the “old” followers too. You all ROCK.

I have been doing a lot of work lately around the world — both in training and gaining new skills in coaching both teams and individuals. You can follow a lot of my daily escapades more on twitter (I am mvizdos there)… the community there is even a lot more relaxed than what happens here (if you can imagine that!).

As much as that is a great thing, yes, I know you want comic strips about Scrum.

There are a few already in the pipeline.

And.

Many many many many new ideas.

Including the almost 100 cartoons that are out on the site that I actually should go back and do some polishing on — nothing is ever static in our world and I need to keep showing you this by example (as bad as it has been lately).

I do not want to use “work” as an excuse, but look at the time invested in sharpening what I do to be able to provide everyone with new and interesting content so that we can all learn together.

There are more translations ready to be posted too.

This idea that I thought of almost four years ago has really grown into a sustainable community — and I want to make sure you are continuing to get what you want out of me.

I learn as you do too. Please remember that!

And in the true spirit of inspecting and adapting… let’s see where we all go next.

I appreciate your continued following, feedback, and yes, even business.

Most of all, I am totally blown away by the personal relationships I am building with so many of you.

I see an opportunity to bring those of us personally together to improve what we do on a daily basis — and I’ll be sharing more of that soon too.

Thank you so much.

- mike vizdos

Many people continue to ask me, “What does it take to become a CST (Certified Scrum Trainer)?”

I have been a CST for many years now and have had the incredible opportunity to travel the world, meet awesome new people, and help train (and mentor) new people in the possibilities of what Scrum can deliver for teams.

For the past few months, the Scrum Alliance has been looking for input on a new CST process. I have included input early on (both in person at some face-to-face meetings and via some of the discussion groups).

The decision of the new CST process will be completed by the Board of Directors of the Scrum Alliance, the non-profit organization that certifies people as Scrum Masters in a variety of programs — including the creation of new Certified Scrum Trainers.

The note below was sent to the various lists of people who have been coming up with many competing ideas for what the “new” CST process should look like.

This is no way reflects any point of view other than my own, and I wanted to put some transparency on this topic out to the Scrum community because there are some good observations we can all take and move forward with as our community continues to grow.

Comments are welcome, as usual. Please tweet about this and send it to your friends and enemies who may be interested in what is happening within this community.

I have no inside information about “what” will happen. I am not involved in the decision process.

I *will* support whatever decision comes from the Board of Directors at the Scrum Alliance.

Here is the e-mail I sent (it is a bit long!) to the current CSTs and some of the lists of teams that are creating competing processes….

========

Please note: I have cross posted this note to a few groups discussing
the new CST process… this is a long posting and I am mainly doing it
to get some thoughts out of my head. I am not asking you to agree or
disagree (smile)].

Hi all,

I’d like to just pipe in for a few moments to express some reasons for
me being relatively silent to the various “camps” coming up with new
ideas for a CST process. I’ll relate this (good or bad) using the
framework I and others teach about facilitating great retrospectives.

[tangent on]

I have the courage to state this because I think many others who have
been silent on this topic may feel the same way (based on feedback
over the years of being with this group).

Being an introvert (as many people are in this community [we found out
recently by meeting face-to-face in Orlando]), I work very hard — by
example — to try and show others how we must step out of our comfort
zones to get better (and in the case of Orlando, I thank Jean for
stepping in and help us all keep it a positive and successful event as
Jim had to bow out at the last minute for personal life reasons!). I
highly recommend someone else step out of their comfort zone and
facilitate the next meeting face-to-face.

[tangent off]

I am a current CST and have been for a while. As many people know, I
am extremely passionate about this topic and love teaching others the
possible benefits for them in their organizations. Over the years of
doing this (both coaching and training teams internationally), I have
personally mentored and been mentored by many of the people both
within and outside of the CST group. I am continually humbled by the
incredible experiences and passion of the people in this group and
amazed at how we *somehow* continually move forward.

When the stage was set for this new introduction of a CST process, I
understood the message from Tobias of the basic rules of this and we
were able to all have input, with a decision to be made by the Board
of Directors on March 28.

Then, I watched as we started gathering data. In this phase, I
observed that the various groups got into the serious phases of trying
to setup norms for the goal and then rapidly enter into the storming
phase.

When people are not involved in this storming phase face-to-face, our
non-verbal communications (90% +) are *lost* in just pure emails. The
groups continually went back to forming and into storming as new
people came into the different and various conversations. Some new
ideas came out of meeting face-to-face in both Orlando and other
places.

Many insights were being generated.

Then, various ideas and sub-teams split off so people could get out of
both the forming and storming phases into the norming phase. This is
now where a lot of the sub-teams are in today. Feedback within each
of these teams now has been much different as I watch from the outside
as an observer. There are at least four proposals for the Board of
Directors to decide upon.

We are coming soon to the point where the Board of Directors will have
to complete the next phase — deciding what to do. This is an
incredibly important decision for both current and future CSTs.

A decision WILL be made. It has to be done. It is part of the
process that must be DONE in order to move forward.

When the decision is made, we will close the decision process.

Then.

As a group, we will then go back to the forming stages and figure out
how to inspect and adapt this updated CST process.

It will change over time as we attempt to implement it. It will not
be perfect. It never is.

And this is OK.

As we scale the CST group even more, we will actually see this pattern
continue. I say this because this has been a problem facing CSTs
since the “early days” when we were a very small group. Now, all the
issues continue to be required to scale. And this will continue.

I have personally made the decision to stay [relatively] quiet
throughout this process because of a statement I interpreted early on
as being, “Shut up.”

So, I did.

Why?

I understood that the process I described above would eventually
unfold. It was a personal decision on my part, and I applaud all the
people who have been involved on the various proposals. Thank you all
for doing that.

And.

As of March 28th, a decision will be made.

I have personally decided to work with and embrace any changes that
will be required as we move forward — even if I do not agree with it
100% (as with the many contracts I have had to sign with the Scrum
Alliance in the past as a CST). I know it will not be something that
I reject 100% (and if for some reason it is, I will decide to leave
and do something else — remember, we all have a choice to do this or
go and do something else).

As a group, we need to move forward and perform on our ideas.

It will not be easy.

I hope others will join me, and encourage you to do this. If you
decide not to embrace the continual changes, leave. Really. Maybe
start something competitive (as we have seen some key founders of the
Scrum Alliance do in the past). It is OK!

This is the only way we will be able to move forward and inspect and adapt.

Let’s see what happens. Let’s also keep doing what we have committed
to do as CSTs — keep doing the best we can as the professionals we
are.

And.

Keep learning with the people who are willing to do this with us. We
all have a choice to do this.

I hope this expresses some of the reasons I have been [relatively]
silent during this process, and some of the observations I have made
[correctly or incorrectly, I accept that responsibility].

It is not that I do not care.

I am extremely passionate about what I do and will continue to learn
how to get better with each new person I work with around the world.

Thanks for reading this long thought process.

- mike vizdos

Well I am still in India and I hear your feedback that you want more cartoons.

So… withouth further ado this week, you will see a brand new one.

It focuses on a really cool Bear, and how you can do estimation and planning.

That’s it for the teaser…. Coming soon!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

In case you did not hear, I am currently in India working with offshore teams here through the end of the month.

I have worked with many offshore teams (from Costa Rica to Kyiv and Moscow and other places around the world) and I have been trying to get on-site in India for years.

And.

It required I get on a plane to meet them all.

Face to face. In person.

So.

Here I am.

On the ground. In India.

Really!

I am seeing a lot of similarities between other offshore teams trying to implement Scrum and other agile techniques.

There are also some differences. Which may or may not be news to some people.

I am going to still wait to draw some conclusions.

However, if you have any questions about working with offshore teams in India — hey — now is the time to use *me* as your voice here.

Ask me. You know I’ll ask people on the ground here!

You can ask via comments below, on twitter or any way that is easiest for you!

I’ll report back what I find here.

And maybe even post some videos . Some that may not have anything to do with IT and Scrum .

Have an awesome day and let me know what questions you have for the Indian Offshore Teams! Commenting at the end of this post will help me collect all the questions in one place — and twitter also works.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

Sorry I went “dark” here for a week. Eeek… I am in India through the end of this month (and yeah.. I’ll blog about the experience so far WOW!).

Just wanted to let you know I am getting great comments about the latest Scrum Challenge #2 regarding “An Awesome Product Owner on a Scrum Team will…”

So.

Today.

Go and talk to your Product Owner or Scrum Team Members about this.

Start some conversations!

Please use twitter to complete this statement or contact me or comment here (or on the original blog entry). [heh... no excuse for you NOT to answer!]

Thank you!

- mike vizdos

Wow, the responses last week from my first “Random Thought Scrum Challenge” were awesome.

Thank you for all who participated. Let’s try another one for the week.

Same rules: You’ll have just about 24 hours to respond, so please post this on twitter and anywhere else (your own blog?) where you think interest may be around this one.

I’ll then post a synopsis of the results like I did for the first Scrum Challenge — Scrum Is…

So… this weeks Random Thought Scrum Challenge #2 is:

“An awesome Product Owner on a Scrum Team will…”

OK… finish that statement via Twitter (@mvizdos) or below in the comments.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Than you.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Update for the week:

I’ll be posting a guest entry tomorrow night that is a pretty different point of view I originally took on a comic strip I did a while ago. It is from someone I have been coaching (and being coached right back at) for over a few years now. This guy knows his stuff.

Then, I’ll post a new comic. Really!

Then I’ll finish off the week with another Scrum Challenge question. It was extremely well received last week so I’ll try it again and see where it goes.

And hint hint for my readers near New Delhi — I’ll be there SOON. Like VERY soon. For a while. I *want* to meet you, so I’ll get more out to you soon about this and hopefully we can meet face-to-face. I am extremely excited about this opportunity and also for everyone else, I’ll write blog entries from the point of view of “The Traveling Scrum Dude.” Usually in all its glory (if you remember back to Kyiv, Costa Rica, Russia, and other places.

Now all I need is my Visa from the Embassy. Sounds like yesterday was a major holiday over in India, so the Embassy was closed. They are processing my application as I am writing this. So cross your fingers, eyes, and toes that it gets here (with my passport) by the end of the week!

Things are heating back up at www.implementingscrum.com and welcome both new and my “old” readers — you are dear and near to me in ways you can never imagine. Welcome back (for me).

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Yesterday I thought I’d try something different and opened a “Scrum Challenge” with an open ended statement, “Scrum is…”

Wow, did you respond. Many comments came in connected to the blog entry (you can see the originals up to the date of writing this entry; however, I know there will be more! Others came in over Twitter.

I do love the Internet and my followers (all of you!!!). I thank all who participated. I may make this a regular event with different “Random” Scrum Challenge questions!

When starting the *random* open ended statement with, “Scrum is…”, here is a list of the responses:

• Pure Randomness (Twitter)
• Humane (Twitter)
• A project framework designed for efficient human communication
• A magic potion that heals leprosy and cures blindness
• what gets IT Done
• A framework with constraints on behavior that cause a complex adaptive system to self-organize into an intelligent state
• Not a way to solve your problems. It is a way to find what the problems are.
• Moving forward while running in circle
• Just another way of spelling “common sense”
• Not a silver bullet, but I will never run another project without it.
• The only way software should be developed!
• An ugly word (and deliberately so).

This is an awesome list from my readers about what their perception of Scrum is (and is not). I got this by asking a very open ended two word statement… “Scrum is….”

What has this list of peoples perception caused you to think about what Scrum is (and is not)? Do you agree or disagree with them all?

Now… How can you apply this on your Scrum Teams?

Think about the possibilities in your organization if you change around questions to an open ended statement, and then be quiet [shut up] and wait for the responses.

This is an effective technique I use when training new ScrumMasters and coaching existing teams.

My next question… Do you want to see something like this in the future?

I’ll ask a seemingly *random* question related to Scrum and then allow for about 24 hours to tally up the results — then give you (my reader!) a synopsis of the results AND how you can use what you have learned in this posting in your real world today.

This will not be the only posting type (you’ll still get cartoons, interviews, and guest postings too!).

Can this type of entry help you start some of the tough conversations about software development?

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations in the comments section below this blog entry.

I appreciate it and am glad to be “back” doing this again…

Thank you!

- mike vizdos

I am gathering some great guest postings and am starting to queue up some new cartoons about Scrum (yeah!!!!). You’ll start seeing them in your email and/or on your RSS feeds soon (remember e-mail subscribers get some really cool freebies and other “inside information”).

I want to try something tonight, and I want you to pass this on to your friends (and enemies) and anyone who either knows what Scrum is — or is not.

I want you to finish this sentence:

“Scrum is…”

And… post them to comments on the blog or on twitter (I am mvizdos there and please retweet this challenge (you can do this right on top of this posting under the title!).

What am I going to do with it?

Well… I am giving the universe 24.235 hours to respond. After that, I will have to create a post that integrates all your ideas.

Think it can be done?

Let’s see where this goes!

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

I’d like to welcome my new subscribers and the ones that have been with me for years.

Years.

Wow. This little blog with cartoons started back in 2006 and I continue to see strong readership. For that, I thank you. During this time, we have all grown both professionally and personally; hopefully for the better. Keep telling your friends and co-wokers and family about this little slice of fun on the Internet. Scrum or not — people learn here! And share.

So.

Here we are… getting well into 2010 and I am ready to get back to posting cartoons (have some in the pipeline already) and as usual, trying new things (inspect and adapt).

Last year I spent more that 200,000+ miles on the road (well, mostly air) internationally, meeting many of you (and many of you I still want to meet some day face-to-face). Realizing that many of us will not meet regularly, I am still committed to keep this a growing and thriving community.

So. Again (smile).

The postings will begin once again.

And.

What do you want to see here that will help you?

Please let me know.

The Contact Page at this site has quite a few ways to keep in touch with me. Use them. I am here.

Let’s see where we go in 2010!

Together….

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

I sincerely apologize for not posting a lot of new information each week (like I used to do — with new comic strips and very useful write-ups).

Here are the top five impediments for me, and as I break through them the consistency of this site will pick up once again…..

1) Family.  My father passed away in April.  While I know it has been a long time, it is still an issue with me and I am working through it.  I’ve also got some other pressing family matters that are being taken care of as I write this.  You’ll learn more about that stuff in some upcoming posts.

2) FaceBook.  I have found that using facebook is a very powerful medium to “meet” old and new friends for connections.  I can be found there at http://www.facebook.com/ImplementingScrum.

3) Twitter.  Wow.  Talk about instant feedback.  This is the place I can get it — and share with others immediately.  If you are not connected to me there please take the time and do it here: http://twitter.com/mvizdos.

4) I have been traveling the world and one of the new things I am working on is another book.  I should be under contract soon, so that takes some priorities away from available time for me.

5) Clients.  And I want to say a sincere THANK YOU SO MUCH for connecting with me as either a potential client, current client, or new client.  And.  Thank you for paying me.  I have seen such tremendous change in the world (and I have been around the world a LOT lately!) and really do see that — when applied correctly — Scrum can truly transform the way we work.

So.

That’s my list and I am sticking to it.  As I slowly remove barriers in order to get out new comics — or use some of the almost 100 on the site with new write-ups and lessons learned — they will start coming again.

Thank you for being either an email subscriber or RSS reader.

Keep the comments coming.

Remember.

This site is for you — the Scrum Community!

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Tell me.

Who else will?

Thank you.

- mike Vizdos

We have some great things happening in year #4 and I want as many people as possible to take off with me — and you — on this endeavor.

With me?

PLEASE pass this on.

Today.

Now.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

What have we all done (me — and you) over the past three years that we can amp up for year #4 of the most awesome site about Scrum on the planet.

Please let me know via comments or email directly.

Thank you.

- mike Vizdos

By time you read this I am probably off the grid.

I’d like your feedback — sincere feedback — as to what your favorite cartoon has been to date — and why.

Please direct comments or emails to me about your feedback.

I appreciate it.

And.

I am hopefully off the grid with my two boys until Monday late evening.

But.

Or.

And.

This will really help me, you, and the entire Scrum Community move forward as year #4 of this site comes into existence.

Thank you.

Sincerely.

So much.

- mike vizdos

Just wanted to let you know I am on the road most of the month of September… check out www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll for what is coming.

If you know people looking for a class, check out that site.

If you want to just get together when I am in town… let me know.

I am about to go off the grid until Tuesday next week.

Wow.  I realize time is flying.

Since my fathers diagnosis and death back in April, you know I have been off my “game.”

I want to get back into it.

The good news is right now I get to meet people where I visit.

Would love to talk to *you* more.

Respond and it will be next week when I get back to you.

Thank you so much for sticking with me.

We still have *lots* to learn from each other!

Keep with me please.

It will be worth it for the both of us — and to the Scrum community as a whole.  I promise.

Many apologies for where I am today.

From ashes the Phoenix will rise.

I need you for this to happen.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

Thanks to all my new subscribers and for all my existing subscribers for helping me pass the word out on this site.  I have been heads down lately with client work, and I am now in the process of creating a new pipeline of cartoons with Tony for some upcoming series.

I was thinking though… we have a TON of GREAT comic strips out here today (almost 100).

Interested in becoming a guest poster using one of the existing comic strips out there?

Well… here’s how… contact me and let me know which comic strip you’d like to write about.  I’ll post your write-up on my site using my comic strip with your name attributed to the write-up.

Why would I want to do this?

Well… I know after I have written many blog entries with the comic strips I’d like to add to it or totally re-write it.

I can’t be the only one.

So… if you are interested in becoming a guest writer for an existing comic strip on the site www.implementingscrum.com, contact me and let’s talk!

I’ll be off the “work circuit” for  few weeks.  I have a trip planned with my older son Dominic next week… but I will have some time to write and make some cool new things available for you, my constant reader.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

I have a lot of assumptions about what people need from this site (www.implementingscrum.com) and the community we have been building here over the years.

As you know, I love doing what I do here….

Here is what I also know… I sometimes make an ASS out of U and ME by making assumptions.

So.

Write me.  Call me.  Contact me via twitter.  Leave something on Face Book.  Leave comments here.

I need to know.

From you.

Please .

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

First, let me apologize for not getting the latest comic strip to you.

As I write this, I am reflecting on the past week (plus) where I traveled to London, did a free talk as soon as I landed, facilitated my first [awesome] CSM class in London, hopped back on a plane to the USA, spent the morning with my youngest kid, drove three hours south to Raleigh, NC, and have spent the past two days teaching one of the most advanced public class I have done in a while — and thank all the participants here for helping me up my own game.

And now.

I am cooked.

I am actually holding back driving to Richmond tonight so I do not wind up on the side of the road.  Or rather, in a ditch somewhere.

So.

Cartoon.

Coming soon.

I’ll probably be “off the grid” for the next few days (see my facebook and twitter status – link to me via the sidebar on the right of the site) for blogging.

On Sunday I am headed to Boise, Idaho for an incredible group on Monday and Tuesday, then am heading over to Phoenix on Wednesday, where I teach Thursday and Friday.  (www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll). It sounds like user group meetings will happen in each place I am.

So.

I am trying to keep the “balance” on in life (whatever that is), and accept responsibility for not “being there” for all you, constant readers.

I hope there is a lesson in it for all of us .

Keep pluggin’ along where you are.

You are making a difference!

- mike
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Quick update on life in my world… Welcome all new subscribers (via email and RSS).  I like to try and update everyone at least once-a-month so you know where I will be and where we can meet!

I am on my way to London in a few hours and will be facilitating a free talk tomorrow night. If you are around, please stop by!

I am then teaching in London for a few days (a few seats still open – contact me) and then will play tourist on Saturday, leaving on Sunday.  After arriving home Sunday night, I’ll be heading to Raleigh, NC (actually, Cary) on Monday night to teach a class there on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I’ll be home with my boys for a few days (then they go on a cool vacation) and I am headed to Boise, Idaho and Phoenix, Arizona.  I’ll be on the road around the world a lot (as usual) for the remainder of the year.  Please contact me if you’d like to meet in person.

I have just received the next comic strip, which I should be posting while I am in London.  If you enjoy gummy bears this one is for you!

I am starting to vet jobs for distribution at www.implementingscrum.com/scrum-jobs.  Take a look there and let me know if it interests you.  It is free.  Also… it is international (anyone interested in Vietnam?). If you have some REAL jobs within your organization, this is the place to let some very high qualified people know about them!

There are some great things coming — as usual.  I always want to hear your comments so please keep those coming to me too.

Have a great day/evening.

Change your world today.

- mike vizdos

Last week I spent a lot of time on improving my own skills… so we’ll see how that plays out in the future!

I have been talking about connecting people looking for Scrum Jobs with REAL people who have Scrum Job Openings in their Organization.

Over the past few weeks I have been silently getting names of people who are looking for Scrum Jobs.  I expect now that anyone who visits www.implementingscrum.com/scrum-jobs and is looking for a job WILL go out and do this.  NOW.

Also… and here is the challenge… if you are in an organization who is looking for a person with Scrum Jobs skills, please go to www.implementingscrum.com/scrum-jobs and see if I can help you make a connection.

What is the fee for this?

FREE.  Zero.  Zilch.   Nada.

Why am I doing this?

Mainly good Karma.

Pass it on!  Twitter this link.  Retwitter it if you see it.  Put it up on FaceBook.  E-mail it to your friends.  Start to create some buzzzzzz for this.  Please.

So… can you help me meet the challenge of actually making the ultimate hook-up of at least one person looking for a Scrum Job with a person in an organization who needs a qualified person here.

Transparency.

Trust.

Walking what I teach…

Let’s see how it works!

Good luck.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

The chat test today during the two hour-long sessions was a success.

I learned many things, and, as all things we do with Scrum the next iteration will be even better.

I can go into the retrospective we had — but suffice it to say that there were enough in the “cons” section (versus “pro”) for trying another tool.

So.

From 13:00 – 14:00 EST (GMT-4), Friday, June 12, 2009, we will test a new page (it is located at www.implementingscrum.com/chat).  And a new chat system.  Feel free to go in and take a look at it ahead of time; however, I will plan on being there for an hour in the afternoon to discuss a Product Backlog for the ImplementingScrum site.

As a stakeholder, I’d really appreciate like your input.

Tony is back from a short vacation and we will have yet another comic strip out early next week.

And.

I’ll make an announcement on Friday night that will put another service “live” on this site.  And yes, as usual, it is still all free.  I do love what I do for a living, and thank all my clients (and future clients) for the work I get so that I can give back to the community through initiatives like this site, www.implementingscrum.com.

And hey… if you are not following me on Twitter yet… do so on the right side of the screen in the sidebar.  It is 2009 and there is so much GREAT stuff on that system about agile and scrum.  Stuff you should not miss!  Including real-time announcements that I do not make via the blog entry or e-mail (it is usually THAT time sensitive!).

I hope to see you online to discuss the Product Backlog for the site at 13:00 EST (GMT-4) at the following address:  www.implementingscrum.com/chat.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

I want to try a new service so if you have time Thursday, June 11, 2009, to try this with me — I will be online from 10:00AM – 11:00AM and then 2:00PM – 3:00PM (Both are in Eastern Time (GMT-4) – I am currently in Richmond, Virginia, USA).

It is an interactive chat session that may have some potential for all of us.

See you Thursday! Let’s see where this leads…

- mike vizdos

And — THANK YOU for waiting — a BRAND NEW comic strip. I am excited to get this new one out to you. I hope you enjoy…

A Sprint is typically 30 days (can be less — more for another posting) and a lot of places I go to and consult with look at the word “Sprint” as a bad word.

The general idea of a Sprint is for all stakeholders to get into a regular heartbeat of delivery (you know, so the team can deliver potentially shippable products on a regular basis).

For some teams, this looks like a continuous non-stop treadmill or running in a mouse cage (do you get a good visual on that now?).

And it goes on and on and on…. with teams never getting to “Done.”

This is sad.

How can you keep this from happening?

Well, I see a few ways that I’d like to examine today.

I want to examine how this is not a bad word or term and how it can be used effectively for sustainable development.

The whole idea of Scrum is to produce working software on a regular basis.

Working Software.

Say it with me now… “Working Software.”

Nothing else. Everything else is, well, not “working software.”

This does not mean the team has to forget about the differences between the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog (hmmm… foreshadowing my next two topics and comic strips) — because this is one of the ways a team usually gets to this point.

Think about it.

Who is committing to the work you are doing as a team during the Sprint?

If you are on the floor laughing, or have a blank stare on your face right now… let me re-frame the question to…

Who is SUPPOSED to commit the the work you are doing as a team during the Sprint?

If all else fails, what is the last thing we do before starting a new Sprint over again?

Stop and think about this.

It begins with the letter, “R”.

A Retrospective is probably needed.

Maybe this means reading a book about it.

And I mean READING it until the end and then actually PRACTICING what you read about.

There is a night and day difference between a crappy Retrospective and a good one.  Retrospectives work.

Use them.

Find out why your team thinks the word “Sprint” is a bad word.

It should not be a never-ending cycle.

Really.

And.

If it is…

Maybe it is time to perform an “Abnormal Termination” of the Sprint, call it a day, and go back to the Scrum Basics.

Hope this helps stop the insanity of never-ending-Sprints.

What else can you recommend to help stop this?

Send your comments and share some of your experiences.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

Welcome back to a new week at www.implementingscrum.com.

This week (tomorrow night, actually) I will introduce the first of a comic strip in a three part series (of course punctuated by other blog postings) over the next three weeks.

As usual, this blog posting can be consumed and enjoyed alone.

However.

As with all the comic strips Tony and I have published here over the years, please remember that you should take these in moderation.

And context.

And.

Use each one of them to start having some tough conversations about Software Development in your environment today.

Hope you have a great week, and enjoy the NEW comic strip coming to you tomorrow (I am excited…. FINALLY… I know… I know….).

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

I started using “Solo Scrum” again. This means that I am playing the three roles all by myself.

What are the three roles?

1) Product Owner
2) Team Member
3) ScrumMaster.

After only one day (Thursday) of using this again, some big things jumped out at me as lessons learned.

Take a look at the video and please provide comments to what you see so far.

Is this kind of thing useful to you? Do you see similar mistakes?

I’ll see if I can make some improvements on Friday and share them with you.

Have an awesome weekend (or welcome to Monday!).

Thank you!

- mike vizdos
www.implementingscrum.com
www.michaelvizdos.com

Thanks for reading this latest blog entry at www.implementingscrum.com.

Today I want to introduce you to the latest translated cartoon on the site in Tagalog.

Quick… What country is this the official language for? C’mon… no peeking at Google (smile).

I’ll let you know (since I really did not know either!)… it is the official language of the Philippines.

This brings the total count of translated versions for the Pig and Chicken Story to over a dozen now!

Thanks to all who have contributed so far, including Randy Dichoso for this one!

Interested in translating this into your language?

Contact me and I’ll let you know how to do it.

This continues to show the truly International flavor of Scrum and where it is being adopted everywhere in the world.

I hope you are having a great day (or morning or night!)…

I’ve got three more brand new cartoons in the pipeline over the next three weeks… on brand new topics and exploring even further into this world of Implementing Scrum we are all so involved in.

[warning -- a little bit long -- over 802.13453223 words -- sorry]

This week has been instrumental in helping me get some great clarity of where I am taking the site in the future.  Some people I know missed my original posting earlier this week — so if you did not read them go back a few posting to see what has lead to this posting tonight!

I am headed out this weekend (a camping trip with my two boys) and will return on Monday afternoon.

And.

I have no travel plans for next week.

So here is the Product Backlog for the site (prioritized, not estimated yet) — we’ll see what makes it to the Sprint Backlog for next week.

1) Cartoons – Publish one translated (of the original chicken and pig) along with a new one (this is actually on Sprints!).  We have three more comic strips in the pipeline for release on the blog in the future.

2) Job Board – The infrastructure is setup.  Now we need about 3-5 people to help bring it to fruition.  I need to schedule a call or start an email thread with those who are interested in helping me on this project.  If you are, please contact me and you’ll hear from me early next week.

3) Training Material – The infrastructure is setup.  I need to publish the rollout plan for making this happen and start implementing it next week by people signing up for a new list.  The goal will be to get people enough information on an on-going basis that they can then take it back to their locations and deliver it with ease. Options will include FREE, a subscription to talk to the trainers who are developing this (and recorded web-casts), and of course on-site paid consultation with me and other trainers to help you jump-start the tailoring process and we will work with you hand-in-hand to develop and even co-teach the class with you.  The free information will be just as good as the other available options… I promise that!  I’ll need you to keep me honest on that!

4) Remember that “Scrum on a Page” that I asked for comments on a few months ago.  Wow.  I had so much information to synthesize that I am now ready to meet with Tony and have him do a “Implementing Scrum” overhaul on it to match the site.  This will become the cornerstone of the site and will be used in multiple ways.  I am super-excited about this!  And.  It will not be perfect; however, just like the theme of our site, we need to have something to start those tough conversations.  I think this will hit that mark!

5) Build a small affiliate program.  As many of you know, I travel a LOT around the world.  One of the ways this is possible is by making sure I can sell seats into the workshops (or create billable consulting hours).  If you are interested in becoming an affiliate for selling seats into my classes — or even consulting engagements — this is the time for you to contact me and let me know your interest.  The model rocks, and will be rolled out soon too.

6) I am in need of a developer to help me take an XML file and run it through some sort of converter so that I do not have to manually create the page www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll.  I have access to the XML file and I’d like the output to look similar to what is out there today.  This is something that just irks me because the data is available and without automation we have dual work to do (bad thing!).

7) I need to port the site www.michaelvizdos.com to a wordpress site.  The infrastructure is setup.  Just time is needed to actually do it.  Fun stuff.  But… I need to keep driving revenue from that site and keeping the implementingscrum.com site as free from advertisers as possible (I hope you enjoy that it REALLY does not have any advertising except for some things about me.

I need a few people who can commit to checking the forum a few days per week and making sure that spam does not get interjected.  I have been really bad at checking this on a regular basis and know the forum is an important place for REAL people using Scrum to exchange information.  Interested?  Please let me know.  I’d appreciate it.

So, this is the PRODUCT backlog of what I have going on just for the site.  This is in addition to all the traveling I am currently doing and plan on doing in the future.

Have a great weekend!

If you have any input on the priority of things listed above, please comment about it here and I will listen to all my stakeholders (you) [smile].

Thank you, again, for everything you do. 

- mike vizdos

Is this selfish of us doing this?

We will promise that you will not be able to “certify” new Scrum Masters (from the point of view of the Scrum Alliance, a non-profit organization).  

Does this matter?

If you *would* like “Certified” trainers to come in and help with your training roll-outs — we are available to do that.  In the end, we have realized that there is more of a need to get people exposed to the Certified Scrum Training materials that a few of us have been selling (the training services of) for many years.

Here is the plan.

Try to use this information in your organization.

If you need help, contact one of us who have basically open-sourced our full two-day CSM class.

Fair?

Inspect and Adapt.

Let’s see where it leads.

Ready?

Contact us for more information on how to get this information. Now!

Also.

Contact us with your success stories!

Thanks for believing in this.

Let’s see where it goes!

- Mike Vizdos (mvizdos@gmail.com)

I know I have been “out of pocket” for a while — mostly cleaning up some personal life stuff with my father passing away last month (thank you all for the kind words and thoughts!).

Here is what you will see THIS WEEK.

1) Some explosive new information tomorrow night. Wow. This is huge. You will want to get signed up for this information AS SOON as it is released.

2) We are going to release a translated version of the Chicken and Pig original cartoon. This is a good one .

3) I am going to ask for about 5 or 6 people to help me kick off the “Scrum Job Connection” later this week via a conference call — and let’s see where we can take this. I am at the point where I will need some volunteers and I am asking YOU for a bit of help.

4) Want to make some money in this trying economy? Let me know if you’d like to become an affiliate for me — sales for consulting or training. Lots of options, and YOU know the local markets and KNOW what I can do to help them. Let’s see if there is a way we can work together and PROFIT together moving forward. I’ll be looking for a small handful of TRUSTED people to help me get his kicked off.

Thanks to all the new readers to the blog. If you have just joined us… Welcome.

If you have been around for a while… THANK YOU… and PLEASE keep spreading the word!

5) Finally, Tony and I have a handful of cartoons in the pipeline to get out on a regular basis again. I know… I know… it’s the MAIN reason you keep coming back to this site, and I totally get that and appreciate it.

Thank you!

Take some action on this email.

And.

Chat more later this week!

Thank you.

- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com

As usual, thank you so much for hanging in there with me over the years (or if you have signed up to read this blog recently).  I figured since part of Scrum is about transparency, I need to let you — my readers, friends, clients,business partners, business competitors, prospective-clients, past-clients, and anyone else who reads this very focused blog — know what has occurred in my personal life over the past six months.

I hope this gives some context about where I have been and where I am planning on going in the future (as you have been getting glances at it recently).

If you do not want to hear about it, you can skip this entry and I will return to “my” version of normal soon.

Last September, my father was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in the lining of his lungs.  It was diagnosed at that point as “stage 4″ (which is bad) and the doctors gave him a prognosis of six months to live.

Throughout the past six months, my father underwent treatments that I hope you or your loved ones will never have to go through in the future.  If you have been through this, you know where I am coming from.  He underwent test treatments at some of the nations finest clinics in both experimental and documented procedures.  He did this all without ever complaining a peep about it.

Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to bring my father and mother up from South Florida to the Gaylord Palms in Orlando during the Scrum Gathering and Trainers/Coaches retreat.  You may have seen him being wheeled around in the wheelchair by either myself or my mother.  He met so many of you there and was incredibly impressed with the quality of people I have decided to surround myself with on both a professional and personal level.  

Most people who saw him did not realize he had just left his last hospital visit when the doctors told him all preventative care was stopping.  The cancer had spread out-of-control to his brain, spine, lungs, blood, bones, liver, and a few other major organs.  Nothing more could be done to fight it.  It was over that weekend with me that he admitted that he finally realized he was dying.  He had an incredible time meeting many of you there, and again, some of the comments I heard from people who met him stated that he did not look like a person ready to die, but a person who knew how to live.

When he returned home from Orlando, Hospice was engaged to start helping around the house with my mother and sister.  Within one week (I arrived), it was so bad that we had to make the toughest decision to place him into a hospice facility. He knew he was ready to go.

Dozens and dozens of people came to visit him while he was in hospice.  Finally after Friday, I had to limit the amount of people coming in to the room so my father could rest.

A week ago Saturday my father spoke his last words to my mother, on their anniversary of their engagement, and asked her, “Will you marry me?” again.  This was after 43 years of marriage to the same man.  These were his last coherent spoken words to my mother.

By Sunday he had slipped into a space where, I have learned, the body and soul (however you want to look at it) starting shutting down in two different — very different — processes.  Up until Monday evening, my father could hear anything we said to him.  I know this because on many occasions we put people on speaker phone up to his ear to say their last goodbyes (this was heart wrenching and very personal) only to get through a few words before the person speaking and my father were in tears.  He could no longer communicate by voice.

A long day later (Tuesday) my father passed away at about 3:08 in the afternoon, with my mother and myself present at his last breath.  This was an incredible experience to be a part of, and I was honored to be there to be with them.

While we were (and still are) in mourning, my parents have a very religious base as Catholics (I am now an atheist, which you can see where some possible contention can come into place).  Since it was considered a “holy week” in the Church, my dad could not be buried until this week.

So, we had a memorial service last night and afternoon (over 200 people showed up) and then had the funeral mass this morning, with the burial to follow.  My great friend John and his wife Laurie hosted a celebration at their house after for almost 100 people (I thank them immensely for doing this for us!).

So.

Why do I bring up this information in a Scrum blog?

Well.

First off… I *know* this is totally off topic.

I also know that you have seen a change in the way things have been coming out of this blog for at least the past six months.  Now that my father has passed away, I thought I’d bring you up on what is happening in my life so you see I was not just putting you on “ignore.”

I had some other priorities.

Like everyone.

I am human.

If you’d like to find out more about my dad, you can visit www.michaelvizdos.com/father (there are a few places we’d like to send donations — anything would be awesome!).

I’ll write a little more tomorrow night about how this experience has changed me, and how it will help me focus on some incredible things that we — as a community — can do in this world to make some changes ranging from minor to totally mind blowing.

Stick with me.

I cannot do this alone.

Are you ready?

The world is about to change.

Well.  

At least our world.

For the better.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos

1) If you are currently looking for a Scrum type job.  What role?  What experience level?  Tell me what you can about *you* and *your needs*.

2) If you are working in a company and know you have OPEN REAL positions for people who are in the first position above (LOOKING for work).

3) If you know people in your circle of friends PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE forward this email or call them today and have them contact me directly.

In the past six months or so I have been informally connecting these three groups of people together and have promised myself to take it up a notch and see if we can get our community working together to solve some of these things.

I know all three types of you are out there.

Time to speak up!

I am going to try a *small* experiment.

And see where it goes.

Fair?

Let’s go!

Let me know.

And.

As usual.

Thank you.

- mike vizdos (mvizdos@gmail.com)

First, thanks for hanging in there as a subscriber to the blog — and welcome all new people subscribing to this site!

Here is an update on what’s been happening with me…

I have been offline for a few weeks, testing out a few new things for communication — more real-time with people.

The first one being twitter (www.twitter.com/mvizdos) and the next being Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Vizdos/1015423803). I have written a post about it in the past (wow — it’s been well over a year!) here.

I have been on the road for a while these past months, and have found that micro-blogging with people I meet at conferences and meetings helps bring the communication gap even closer together (if that makes sense). There is a shift happening here…. what will it mean to you and how your work gets done?

At this point, I’d recommend that if you are interested in reading more about what I do on a “daily” basis then join me on those two networks.

I’ll continue posting new things about Scrum on this site — along with new cartoons (I PROMISE).

Tomorrow you’ll get some requests for information from me to help guide the website at www.implementingscrum.com to new and better heights.

As a community we continue to grow. Your input in extremely valuable in this process.

Thank you!

- mike vizdos

Hope this is helpful for those who both attended and are reading this from afar // after…

I sat in on a discussion between Alistair Cockburn and Ken Schwaber at the Scrum Gathering in Orlando today (March 16, 2009).

It was basically a summary of what Alistair learned while co-teaching a CSM course with Ken Schwaber as he became one of “us” (a Certified Scrum Trainer, which I am one of LOL).

The list went something like this…

“You Thought You Knew Scrum?”

=====

1. Treat people as adults.

2. Teach “Ask the Team” by actually asking the team during class.

3. 3 Bells. Deliver. Ask the Team. Inspect and Adapt.

4. Scrum is a mirror.

5. Scrum with beginners produces crap.

6. Scrum is a genetic algorithm.

[oops... running out of time soon... darn time boxing]

…. and Alistair had an “aha” moment… “Continuous “us” improvement”…

7. The team does not fail a Sprint — Inspect and Adapt.

8. Don’t shun the Project Managers – turn them into Servant Leaders and Impediment Removers.

======

The bantering between Ken and Alistair was fun to watch, and as a trainer I learned some new things. There were a lot of discussions of the “list” of eight things.

This list was typed out in front of the audience as we went along through the session.

My thoughts… (an “a ha” moment in Alistair speak)…

One of the things I have been reminded of is that we all teach the Certified ScrumMaster class a little differently.

Which is a good thing. As the market continues to get flooded by new Certified Scrum Trainers, it will be up to the consumer to decide which stay and which go… and this will happen over time. There are a lot of Scrum training courses around the world… PLEASE do your due diligence before stepping into one!

And.

I think I need to create a cartoon character for Alistair (smile).