© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Agile Education Series

Getting Started with Scrum

…in plain English!

Alex Kanaan

SCRUM

About Me

Connect With Me

More about Me http://www.alexkanaan.com

Read My Blog http://www.alexkanaan.com/#latestnews

Contact Me http://www.alexkanaan.com/#contact

Follow my Tweets @AlexKanDu

Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/arkanaan

© 2014 Alex Kanaan 4

Getting Started

“Some Housekeeping Items”

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Getting StartedWorking Agreements:• Electronics by Exception• Be Participative• Hear everyone• Phones on silent• There are no stupid questions• Think energetic• Have FUN!

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Getting Started

Definition of DONE

Definition of READY

Definition of FUN

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© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Future SessionsWorkshops on:• Backlog and Writing User Stories• Sizing Techniques• Release Planning• In-Sprint practices

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© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Our baseline

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Agile Enthusiasm Level

Can’t live without it

Hate it

Agi

le K

now

ledg

e

Indifferent

Can barely spell it

Understand roles & ceremonies

I can apply it now!

Initial your Dot!

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Scrum Bingo

• Scrum Master• Product Owner• Backlog• Sprint• Velocity• Point• User Story• Sprint Planning

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Pick 9 terms

• Iterative • Incremental • Self directed • Scrum Team • Acceptance

Criteria• Agile • Retrospective

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SCRUM What is it?

What’s its value?

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Getting Started with ScrumWhat’s it All About - Outline

• In layman’s terms• Why are we doing this• WIIFM? Selling Agile to your organization &

leadership• Values and characteristics of Scrum• Making the Mona Lisa Smile ☺• Scrum Mechanics• Overcoming common mistakes

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What Do all these companiesHave in Common?

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‘My Aha moment’ The Forest vs. The Trees

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Layman’s Overview“What IS Agile?!”

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AgileW/O Agile

“INDIVIUALSAND

INTERACTIONS

PROCESSES

OVER

ANDTOOLS”

“WORKING SOFTWARE

COMPREHENSIVE

OVER

DOCUMENTATION”

“RESPONDINGTO

CHANGEFOLLOWING

OVER

APLAN”

“CUSTOMER

CONTRACTOVER

NEGOTIATION”COLLABORATION

Layman’s OverviewThe Agile Manifesto

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Layman’s OverviewAgile Umbrella

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SCRUM

Kanban

eXtreme Programming

LEAN

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Gains from Scrum10,000 Team Data

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2x

50% faster

Balance Teams

250% better Quality!

© data analytics by Rally Software https://www.rallydev.com/finally-get-real-data-about-benefits-adopting-agile?nid=6201

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Gains from ScrumInnovation!

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Exercise Home Repair Projects

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Exercise Home Repair Projects

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• Three Projects: A, B, C • ONE team to do the work • Each project takes one month to complete • DEFINTION OF VALUE: Once a project goes live, it will give us

$1,000 of savings per month • How much Value in $’s do you get over 4 months, if:

a) The team works on the three projects sequentially b) The team works on the three projects simultaneously

Hint: Select Method with Highest Benefit (value)

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

AnswerHome Repair Project

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Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 TotalProject A Build $1000 $1000 $1000 $3000Project B Build $1000 $1000 $2000Project C Build $1000 $1000

$6000

Sequential

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 TotalProject A Build Build Build $1000 $1000Project B Build Build Build $1000 $1000Project C Build Build Build $1000 $1000

$3000

Simultaneous

Which Method would you choose and why?

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Realizing Value Early!

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Traditional Project• Wait until end to

deliver benefits• Deliver to Plan

SCRUM Project• Deliver incremental value for early benefits

• Deliver on value

Month

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Analyze Requirements for functions A, B, C, D

Build functions A, B, C, D

Test Deliver

A B

C D

Prioritize functions based on Value

Build Test Deliver

A

Build Test Deliver

B

Build Test Deliver

E

Customer Satisfied!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Waterfall vs. Agile Plan vs. Value Driven

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Fixed

Estimated

Waterfall AgileRequirements Resources Time

FeaturesTimeResources

WaterfallAgile

COST/SCHEDULE Estimates from PLANSEstimates from Release Themes & Intended Features

Value Driven

Plan Driven

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“…plans are useless but planning is indispensable”

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64% of Software features are never or rarely used!

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By Standish Group

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Remember this?

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Remember this?

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One of most expensive features built by

Microsoft Office!

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Characteristics of Scrum

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Characteristics of Scrum?Teams

– Dedicated collaborative self-organizing– Communicate using various ceremonies– Evolve using Inspect and Adapt– Team wins/loses together

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X

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Characteristics of Scrum?• Iterative Development• Sustainable pace• Servant-Leadership• No hard-defined requirements• Change is OK!!

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Characteristics of ScrumIncremental vs. Iterative

➢ Defined Scope➢ Fully formed

Idea delivered one bit at a time

11/15/14 31©JeffPatton,allrightsreserved,www.AgileProductDesign.com

➢ Vague Scope➢ Start with a rough

version and build-up by validating

vs.

Incremental Iterative

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Incremental Approach

©JeffPatton,allrightsreserved,www.AgileProductDesign.com

1 2 3 4 5

• Build one bit at a time

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Iterative Approach

©JeffPatton,allrightsreserved,www.AgileProductDesign.com

• Buildaroughversion,validateit,thenslowlybuildsupquality

1 2 3 4 5

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Growing PainsHang in There

• In early sprints, team is starting to jell • Around sprints 3-5, team learns their

sustainable velocity, and becomes more predictable

• Fail often, fail fast• Don’t give up, inspect and adapt!• It’s a change, it will not “feel” natural

initially. We are un-learning certain habits

11/15/14 34

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Agile Team Game

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Game Rules!

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Get as many balls completed as possible within the two minute timebox

• The ball must touch every person on the team • You may not pass it to the person immediately to

your right, or immediately to your left • The ball has to have AIR time • The ball has to end in the same place it started

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Agile Team Game “What did we learn?”

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Break 10 mins

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Scrum Mechanics

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Scrum Machine

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Scrum Machine

RolesCeremonies

Artifacts

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Product Owner

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The Product Owner• Product expert• From the Business• Represents interests of stakeholders, business

customers and users• Responsible for value!• He or she gets to decide which features get to

be delivered and when• Keeps features in Product Backlog and decides

on priority sequence• Accepts or rejects the work

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Product Backlog

Order User Story Size

1 As a student I want class ratings to make better class selections

40 pts

2 As an administrator, I want to update class ratings to reflect latest survey

5 pts

3 As a professor, I want to view my class ratings for feedback

8 pts

4 As a professor, I want to get an alert when my class rating changes >10% for feedback

20 pts

…. As a user, I want something, for a benefit

xx pts45

Product Owner

• List of Stories and epics (requirements from the user perspective)

• Prioritized in value order • Owned by Product Owner • What the team pulls from to

work, in each Sprint Valu

e

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

User stories

As a <user role>,I want

<functionality>so that <value>.

• Acceptance criteria..

• ….. • ….. • ….

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

User stories

As a professor, I want to view my class ratings for feedback

• Acceptance criteria..

• Hide student rater names • Update numbers hourly • Link to course descriptions

User Story The Who, What, Why Delivers value!

Acceptance Criteria How to test it Identify is it Done?

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Good User Stories

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Independent Negotiable Valuable Estimatable Small Testable

Bill Wake, Extreme Programming Explored and Refactoring Workbook

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Scrum Master

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

The Scrum Master

• Servant leader• Empowers team to self-

organize• Facilitates removal of

impediments• Responsible for Scrum

ceremonies• Ensures team focus and

protects team against external disruptions

• Does not direct the team

• Does not assign work• Does not size or set

delivery dates• Is not a PM

DO’S DON’TS

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Team!

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The Team• Cross functional team• Self-organizing• Delivers working code every sprint• Sizes the work• Plans the Sprint plans• Commits to the Sprint plan• Ideal size is 5-9 members – 2 pizza rule• Fully allocated members• Accountable • Collaborate with each other and the Product Owner

Always includes: Developers

Testers

Sometimes includes:

BA’s Architect

UX DBA

Other tech SMEs

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Scrum Roles• We have just completed the roles…• Let’s Recap the roles:

– Product Owner– Scrum Master– Team

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Sprint Backlog

User Story Pts Tasks Hrs Owner

As an administrator, I want to update class ratings to reflect latest survey

5 Task – Design entry ScreenTask – Build entry ScreenTask - Retrieve rating valueTask – Update class tableTask – Functional testTask – Integration testTask – update user manual

86261282

JimJohnJenJanetJackJessaJames

User story2 X Task a, Task b, Task c….. xx names

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Team

• List of stories team commits to, the upcoming sprint • Broken down to tasks that are estimated in hours • Team self assigns tasks • Stories = Points, Tasks = Hours

Sprint n Plan

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Sprint Planning

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• A ceremony at the beginning of each Sprint • Team pulls the prioritized story on top of the

backlog • Team decomposes this story to tasks

1. Teams pulls next prioritized story 2. Team continues to pull and decompose into

tasks, UNTIL the sprint capacity is met! 3. Team Commits to the sprint plan!

Prior to Sprint Planning, Backlog refined and prioritized. Stories must meet Definition of Ready!

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Daily Standup

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• Attended by entire team • Same time everyday • 15 minutes MAX • 3 Questions: − What I did yesterday − What I will work on today − Any Impediments

• Not a status report • Only team members speak

Who are they giving the updates to?

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Sprint Review/Demo

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• A ceremony at the end of each Sprint 1. Team demonstrates the accepted stories, potentially

shippable increment

Sprint Retrospective• A ceremony at the end of each Sprint 1. Team identifies opportunities for improvement 2. What went well, what we need to improve

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Sample Calendar

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Mon Tues Wed Thur FriS2 Sprint

Plan

S3 Refine S3 Refine

S2 DemoS2 Retro

S3 Sprint Plan

S4 Refine S4 Refine

Daily Standup

Daily Standup

Daily Standup

Daily Standup

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Overcome Common Mistakes

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© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Let Scrum Values Be Your Compass

• Focus• Commitment• Respect• Openness• Courage

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Mistake #1: Mini waterfall• Agile is not mini waterfall!

– Each Sprint must be potentially shippable– Test early!– Stories are not “tasks”, e.g. test story.

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Design Built TestSprint Sprint Sprint

No!

D B TSprint Sprint Sprint Little better, but No!

High risk of non-deliveryD B T D B T

Sprint Sprint Sprint

Yes!

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Mistake #2 Projects instead of Teams!

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Scrum Master Product Owner

Developers Testers

BA’s

• Teams jell and become high performing.

• Do not assign them to other work , dedicate them

• Do not disband them at project end • Ensure a good pipleline of work • Team has predictable momentum

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Mistake #3 Chasing Velocity

• What happens when team is pushed?– Burn out– Team dynamic breaks down– Quality suffers– Team starts to fudge their numbers, to

look good– Team focuses on achieving velocity than

achieving the work

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Strive for sustainable pace!

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Closing• Scrum adoption is a journey• Don’t do it for the sake of following

another SDLC• Strive to realize innovation and

flexibility• Live the Scrum values, mechanics

alone are not enough• This is true change, it takes courage!

Scrum is simple but not easy!66

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Future SessionsWorkshops on:• Backlog and Writing User Stories• Sizing Techniques• Release Planning• In-Sprint practices

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We will contact you for upcoming workshops

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Parting Words

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Class Retrospective

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Keep Stop

Add New idea’s!

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Where are we now

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Agile Enthusiasm Level

Can’t live without it

Hate it

Agi

le K

now

ledg

e

Indifferent

Can barely spell it

Understand roles & ceremonies

I can apply it now!

Initial your Dot!

© 2014 Alex Kanaan

Resources• Agile Project Management with Scrum

– Ken Schwaber• Succeeding with Agile, User Stories

Applied– Mike Cohn

• Agile Retrospectives – Esther Derby and Diana Larsen