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Subject:RE: I'm now blogging about Agile & TW From:"Sarah Blake" <Sarah -dot- Blake -at- microfocus -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 4 Dec 2009 19:02:13 -0000
I think, however, it is fair to say that a lot of companies or
individual teams say (and indeed believe) that they're using SCRUM, but
are in fact not.
I once worked on a challenging project where I was part of a distributed
SCRUM team, working with developers at another site who were in a
timezone two hours ahead of mine and worked Sun-Thurs. Which is a
slight issue, for a start :)
As it was, it took two months before I was even on any of the same email
lists (and not for want of pushing!), and there were other problems; the
lead developers regularly held planning/retrospective meetings on
Sundays, for example, and insisted that I produce a four-month project
plan for the documentation and work to it; and I more than once had
senior chickens assign me specific pieces of work during scrums.
That's not SCRUM, and if you try to /actually/ use SCRUM behaviour in
that kind of situation it's unlikely to be responded to well. But I'm
sure if you asked those involved, they'd be absolutely certain that they
were being Agile.
Using SCRUM properly requires a lot of senior people to step out of
their comfort zones and devolve control, as well as for the troops on
the ground to take it. And if you get caught in a situation where they
don't do the former but still expect you to be doing the latter, things
can get a bit ticklish.
S.
> SCRUM is anarchistic enough that significant responsibility falls on
you to
> assume the appropriate posture. Or should I say it's existentialist?
You
> are a strong contributor because you contribute strongly -- a weak
> contributor because you contribute weakly. If that makes you feel
despair
> or forlornness, talk to Sartre. If things don't work that way, then
it
> can't honestly be Agile -- it's something else. So one responsibility
is
> for you to understand Agile and SCRUM, and respond appropriately to
whatever
> it is that you're thrust into.
>
> cud
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