Random Thought Scrum Challenge – #1

[25/02/10]

Hi,

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

Random Thought Scrum Challenge – #1

Scrum Challenge #1 OVER: Scrum is…

[26/02/10]

Hi all,

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

Random Thought Scrum Challenge – #1

[25/02/10]

Hi,

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

How I Stole an Office and Fixed Our Daily Scrum

[22/02/10]
How I Stole an Office and Fixed our Daily Scrum As I mentioned in my last article, I'm new to Scrum, and the journey to implement Scrum has had its challenges and rewards. After using Scrum for a month or so, I started to see a deficiency; we ...

[22/02/10] - CST Application Process Improvement Community

[22/02/10] - Scrum Alliance National, USA: Managing Director

[19/02/10] - Why Go Agile—Why Should I Embrace Change?

[19/02/10] - How to Sustain Adaptive Planning

[19/02/10] - SA Vision - Submit Your Input on Feb 22-23

[19/02/10] - 2010 – ImplementingScrum and a New Year…

[12/02/10] - Determining How Agile You Are Comparatively

[11/02/10] - Scrum Agile Poster

[11/02/10] - Succeeding With Agile Training class on August 25, 2010 in Dallas.

[11/02/10] - Certified ScrumMaster Training class on August 23, 2010 in Dallas.

[11/02/10] - Scrum Tool

[11/02/10] - Scrumpad