RE: I'm now blogging about Agile & TW

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
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/

Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing --
generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need
from just one project. Fast and intuitive. http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: I'm now blogging about Agile & TW: From: Chris Despopoulos

Previous by Author: Re: Bad Documentation and Linux
Next by Author: RE: Word 2007 headings with outline numbering
Previous by Thread: Re: I'm now blogging about Agile & TW
Next by Thread: Re: I'm now blogging about Agile & TW


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads