Agile Games – Scrum Gathering South Africa

Over the last 2 weeks I have been kept busy with the South African Scrum Gathering. I was co-presenting Agile Games (which is blogged about here) and a Product Owner team session, which I will write about shortly. There were 2 Agile Game sessions held – one in Johannesburg for 30 minute and one in Cape Town for 90 minutes. Due to the duration being so different Karen Greaves and I decided to do all different games at these sessions.

Johannesburg

All the Jhb games were originally played with Alan Cyment.

• Vampire
• Singing, Numbers, Clapping
• Columbian Hypnotist

Read more on how to play these games here: http://inevitablyagile.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/agile-games-session/

This session was also video taped – http://vimeo.com/29561926 - Enjoy!!

Cape Town

Singing, Numbers, Clapping

(originally played with Alan Cyment)

Read how to play this here:http://inevitablyagile.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/agile-games-session/.

Discussion points:

Non Musical Chairs
(from TastyCupcakes.org http://tastycupcakes.org/2011/04/non-musical-chairs/)

Prep:

Form groups of 5 to 15, arrange chairs in circle facing outwards. Pick a “Chair Person”.

Intro:

Goal is for the “Chair Person” to sit in the empty chair and for the rest to prevent this.

Rules: No touching the Chair Person. No moving the chairs. If you stand you must move chairs. Once Chair Person is sitting all raise hands and wait for other groups to finish.

Once all done, have a 1 minute retrospective (the Chair Persons must huddle in a corner and not watch). Repeat for 3 rounds.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points:

Broken Skype
(Invented by Sam Laing and Karen Greaves - adapted from Broken Telephone)

Prep:

Come up with 3 hand signs – 1 simple, 2 complex. Have people stand in rows all facing 1 direction, looking at each others backs – max 10 persons in a row.

Intro:

There is no talking allowed. Facilitator taps on back persons back, they turn around. Show the sign ONCE. That person turns around and taps the person in front of hims back, repeat until you get to the front. Widen rows and have front people show the sign they got. Now show the actual sign.

Round 1 – use the simple sign (We used ASL for “technique”)

Round 2 – use the complex sign (We touched our ears, two fingers to nose, two fingers to palm)

Round 3 – have the rows form circles. Again you will show the person on your left the sign ONCE and so on. Everyone can see the sign but may not “act it” until it is their turn. They can correct at will based on what they have observed. At the end form a large circle and all do the sign together. (We used ASL for “copy cat” and then “empty glass”)

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points:

Origami
(originally played with Carlton Nettleton)

Prep:

Find 2 origami things to make – keep them fairly simple. We used a frog and a box. Have loads of blank paper in correct starting shape, and print out enough instructions for half the audience.

Intro:

Round 1: Get everyone to partner up and sit back to back. One person will fold, One will read instructions. The one building may not see the instructions, the one explaining may not see whats being built. Pick easier origami(frog) and hand out with paper to built it. 5 minutes, build as many as possible.

Round 2: Collect all papers. This time sit facing your partner. Now the one reading can see whats being folded.Hand out other origami and paper. 5 minutes, build as many as possible.

Round 3: Collect all papers. This time sit next to your partner. You can both see the instructions and the folded paper. Only one person may fold. Teams can pick which origami they want to build. 5 minutes, once the one is build – hand out the other one to build.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points:

Water Game
(Invented by group of delegates and Sam Laing at Agile 2011)

Prep:

A glass per person, a straw per person (bendy ones are great – but plain straight ones work as well), a jug of water per team of 5-7 people.

Intro:

Form teams of 5 to 7. Aim is to fill as many glasses with water as possible in 2 minutes, using only the straws. You can suck water but not into your mouth – only to top of straw – don’t cheat!. Have all teams hold up glasses at end and pick winner. Pour water back into jug. 1 minute to inspect and adapt.

Repeat for 2 more rounds.

Variations – have glasses of various shapes available. Have various types of straws available. Hand out more straws or less. Hand out scissors.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points:

Don’t Blow It
(from TastyCupcakes.org http://tastycupcakes.org/2011/04/dont-blow-it/)

Prep:

Many balloons, and blindfolds – we use kids party masks and blanked out the eyes. Split into groups of 3 to 5. Volunteer a person to fetch the blindfold and balloons.

Intro:

Goal is to blow the biggest balloon (not the most!).

Rules: Only the blindfolded person can touch the balloon (and hence blow and tie it). Balloon must be tied to be considered “done”. Team says whether to blow or stop. Volunteer a blower for each round. Facilitators can randomly pop balloons to insert some fear and laughs and jumps! Each round is 1 minute.

Round 1: everyone stands close – shoulders touching.

Round 2: can stand anywhere.

Round 3: No talking, can only communicate with blower via touch.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points:

Jumping Circle Close
(Invented by Sam Laing and Karen Greaves)

Read how to play this here http://inevitablyagile.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/agile-games-session/.

Feedback Door
(Idea from here, but adapted: http://agile.dzone.com/news/feedback-door )

As you can tell from the feedback – everyone seemed to have an AWESOME time – Karen and I included. Agile Games are not for everyone – some people prefer more serious discussions and formal learning sessions – but hopefully even those sceptics will see the value in these games oneday.

If you attended either session – please leave us feedback in a comment as we would love to improve – Thanks!

Coaching Dojo … in Cape Town :)

The Coaching Circles in Cape Town are immensely powerful. They have grown from strength to strength and have evolved to become much more than we originally thought possible Many people from various roles and with varying ranges of experience are getting to learn new things, seeking advice from peers and bounce ideas around like minded individuals.

I am looking for something a little different though. I would like to practice my coaching skills with other coaches and learn from them, perhaps show them something new. Amongst these skills are: Listening, Observing, Questioning, Feedback and many more. I stumbled upon the idea of coaching dojo’s and would like to try it out. Essentially it is role playing with team members taking a turn to seek coaching, be the coach and observe the interaction.

 

“When Japanese martial artists want to deepen their knowledge, learn new techniques, and advance their skills, they gather in a training center, the dojo. “

 

 

The Learning Objectives:

• Practice listening without judgement
• Gather information more effectively
• ask different kinds of questions to understand real problem
• Become aware of how you coach
• Observe other coaching techniques and styles
• Gain fresh insight into a problem you may face at work

 

 

Basic Concept: 10 minutes per round (min 3 rounds, max 4)

Form groups of 3 (if uneven can have 1 or 2 groups of 4)

• 1 “Seeker” of coaching
• 1 “coach”
• 1 (or 2) “observers”

 

Pick a card with a challenge or discuss a real challenge for you (Seeker). Then Coach and Observe. 5 minutes total

Each provide feedback (seeker 1 min, coach 1 min, observer 3 min) 5 minus total

Switch Roles – can change topic – seekers choice.

 

 

At end – group Retro: 10 minutes

(depending on size of group can use various facilitation techniques for this)

• What was your experience with your group?
• What did you learn?
• What did you like?
• What are your ideas for improvement?

 

 Who is this for?

This is not intended to replace the coaching circles. It is for those particularly wanting to improve coaching skills. With that in mind, you need to be actively practicing coaching for at least a year to join the dojo. This means you regularly coach/encourage/train others you work with. If you think this could be for you PLEASE let me know by leaving a comment – thanks!

When will these start happening?

From what I can see the current Coaching Circle session will be ending with a group retro on 26 September 2011.

I’d like to propose the first dojo happen in the second week of October (10th to 14th). I reckon it will take a minimum of 60min – but would like some chat time before/after – so 90minutes should be perfect.

Where?

I’m open for ideas – ideally a company with bigger open area, or house with large lounge? Very casual. Very social.

Ideas / Thoughts???

Please leave comments below with your thoughts or questions or suggestions … I would LOVE to hear from you

 

 

Inspiration and formats from here:

• http://www.agilexp.com/presentations/AgileCoachesDojo.pdf
• http://agilecoach.typepad.com/agile-coaching/2010/08/improving-agile-coaching-skills.html
• http://agilitrix.com/2011/04/coaching-skills-dojo/
• http://www.agilelearninglabs.com/modules/coaching-dojo/
• http://www.friendlyanarchist.com/end-fake-productivity-review-the-dojo/

 

 

 

 

 

Powerful Questions

Agile 2011 Session: Powerful Questions by Carton Nettleton

… blurb off Agile 2011 site:

“Picking the right question or reframing an issue can introduce a profound shift in the conversation. In this hands-on workshop, we will discuss how to create your own powerful questions and practice this skill. Leave with a practical tool you can use with your Teams today.”

Powerful Questions are:

• Probing
• Create options
• For the listener NOT you

Why do we use powerful questions?

• generate curioisty
• surface underlying assumptions
• invite creativity
• generate energy & forward movement
• touch deeper meanings
• stimulate reflection and dialogue

“What has to change for….”

Not an interrogation – pause – create a space for reflection

TED Talk – Expansive vs Reductive Listening

Don’t try and solve the problem

Example Questions
How can we make this more fun?
Can you speak more to that?
What do you care about?
Can you try it for a week?
How does that make you feel?
How’s that working for you?
What do you need to know?
Can you explain that to me?
How can you do that better?
What does that cost you?
What skills can you use?
Why do you care?
What is another way?
What is it we’re not seeing?
What might be another perspective?
How might someone else see this?
How can you contribute more?
What’s holding you back?
What if…
How do you know?
I wonder…
Who cares about this?
I’m curious…
What is possible here?

What will I take away from this session?
I will keep some powerful questions in my notebook – ready to use – until they become more habit
Remembering not to solve the problem – this is a really tough one!

The handouts from the session can be found here: http://submit2011.agilealliance.org/files/session_pdfs/PowerfulQuestionsOutline.pdf
A summary mindmap by one of the attendees: http://p.astah.net/d/ovw0ttqs
More on another session: http://agileopencalifornia.com/wiki/index.php?title=T8_Powerful_Questions

Hooray, We’re Agile Testers! What’s Next?

So first off just a little note to explain that I left this session early to go and see a dentist – so my notes only cover the first part only. Oh and a little disclaimer – these are my notes and so they might not all make sense …

Agile2011 session : Advanced Topics in Agile Testing by Lisa Crispin & Janet Gregory

… blurb off Agile2011 site
“Your team successfully adopted Agile, you have traction on practices such as CI, TDD, maybe ATDD. Still, you see lots of room for improvement in testing. Do you sometimes miss or misunderstand customer needs? Is it sometimes hard to complete all testing activities each iteration? In this interactive tutorial, you’ll practice ways to better understand and capture customer needs; collaborate more effectively and enjoyably with developers and other team members; improve continuous integration and delivery; manage technical debt; plan and estimate in ways that ensure testing “keeps up”.”

Test Manager – should be a people manager and not a micro manager. Needs to coach testers and not manage them.

Question: Do we need metrics?

Main aim is to stay potentially shippable.

Cultural influences

Key take away: You cant force but you can influence.

Culture Exercise: Transitioning from previous practices to agile practices.
Ask “what do you want to achieve”
Have pilot and involve Test Manager
Expose “improvement areas” in the “we have always done” conversations

QA label & responsibility
- team with no job titles
team to deliver and take responsibility
litmus test – agile or not – perhaps you just need to leave if its not your cup of tea?

transparency and visibility – show the value and ROI
explain the benefits and the costs → articulate, use the team to help with this.

“testing is not a phase” – shift your mindset
Develop a learning culture – no blame
Give time to learn and develop

Book Recommendation – Tribal Leadership

Customer Issues
requirements – story mapping, mind mapping a feature/theme from a testing perspective
priorities
features over quality

Aim: Find questions and then get them answered

Pics from session:

Specification by example
ask your customer for examples
- include undesirable behaviour
- shows intent
- turn them into tests
- automate them

Story done vs feature done – what is difference?

Its easier to sell documentation than automated tests. Automated tests are living documentation.

User persona’s for exploratory testing
- Jonathon Kohl - man & machines
Tours
- James Whitteker - whats the value of a tester
- James Bach

What are the most important things in your product?
Make rough notes on exploratory testing to figure out how to learn when we missed things.

Quadrant for tests at feature level:
* idea – adjust the pyramid to your needs
Push the tests as low as you can to get the fastest feedback.

Making Testing keep up
Avoid
- mini waterfall
- unmaintainable code and tests
- insufficient automated tests

Stumbling blocks (smells)
- refactoring requires updating all the automated tests

QA manager -> managers the test community of practise. Need to recognise the value testers in an agile team

Invest in quality – under commit
Plan less work than you think you can do
Reduce the temptation to cut corners
Create tasks for learning skills, refactoring automated tests

Book Recommendation – Clean Coder by Bob Martin (Say no!)
Review of book: http://agile.techwell.com/blogs/agile-testing-lisa-crispin/clean-coder-tester

Using a specific tool will prevent devs from helping out testers because they dont want to learn the tool.

Test automation code is as critical as production code – the whole team needs to understand this.

If devs automate then testers are free to :
- help customers specify examples
- think of the right test cases
- do manual exploratory testing
- think of more good questions

Testers are sometimes taught things that dont work in agile like “ wait until its all done” – you need help unlearning this.

Non co-located teams are ‘dislocated’

Levels of testing – Product, Release, Sprint

What will I take away from this session?
That a manager should coach people rather than manage them, focus should be on a culture of learning.
To keep in mind that our main aim should be to stay potentially shippable.

Link to presentation: http://lisacrispin.com/downloads/Agile2011Tutorial_v4.pdf

A little bit more on the presentation here: http://www.agilecoach.ca/2011/08/16/thoughts-on-agile-2011-culture-matters/

24 August Update: A post by Riaan Rottier on the session: http://www.rotnetix.com/2011/08/28/agile-2011—hooray-were-agile-testers-whats-next/

Agile 2011 – Session Feedback

A couple of weeks ago I attended Agile2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the first time I attended a conference outside of my country, South Africa. Wow. It was huge! And I was so happy to finally meet in person all the people I have twitter conversations with regularly.

  

The most amazing part of the conference – as usual – are the connections you make with people at breakfast or lunch or dinner. I met some amazing people with with great ideas and who have inspired me to try all sorts of things More on that later…

I want to blog about the sessions I attended whilst I remember them – though admittedly they are already foggy in my mind. So instead I will type up the notes I took away from the sessions and give any lasting impressions I have . This will probably happen over the next few weeks, as I complete them I will update the points below to be hyperlinks. Whilst I attended the conference I came up with many ideas for blog posts that I wanted to write – so I’ll put these in there too

• [session] Hooray, We’re Agile Testers! What’s Next? Advanced Topics in Agile Testing: Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory
• [blog idea] How we do sprint planning – stories, acceptance criteria
• [blog idea] My agile 2011 journey – luggage,tooth,exercise,expense,talk,tattoo,things I’ve learned as a first time speaker & first time conference go’er
• [blog idea] Cultural Wins – share with others, reminder of the good
• [session] Coaching Success: Getting People to Take Responsibility & Demonstrate Ownership: Christopher Avery, Ashley Johnson
• [blog idea] Story of me going through steps
• [session] Why Care about Positive Emotions?: Barbara Fredrickson
• [session] Powerful Questions: Carlton Nettleton
• [session] Agile Coaching Self-Assessment — Where do you Stand on the Competencies?: Lyssa Adkins, Michael Spayd
• [session] Agile Game Incubator: Michael McCullough, Don McGreal
• [blog idea] My tasty cupcake game
• [session] Kaizen Lego Game: Francisco Trindade, Patrick Kua
• [session] The Culture of Agility: Pete Behrens
• [blog idea] Amazing SA agile community – circles,SUGSA,SG10 + 11, great people
• [blog idea] My dream – the learning place & why
• [session] Slackers and Debtors: Meet Commitments, Reduce Debt, and Improve Performance: James Shore
• [blog idea] A new understanding of slack and velocity
• [session] Lean Startup: How Development Looks Different When You’re Changing the World: Abby Fichtner
• [blog idea] Inspired by lean startups
• [open jam] Language Hunting: Willem Larsen
• [blog idea] Some of the amazing people I met on my journey
• [blog idea] Sessions I wish I could have attended
• [blog idea] my ever growing booklist

Hahaha – ok so as you can tell by the extensive list above – this might take me a while We’ll see how it goes.

New Blog Home

This is the home of my blog now http://inevitablyagile.wordpress.com/ … something went horribly corrupt with my wordpress install and due to time contraints I cant fiddle for a while So my old site www.inevitable.co.za will redirect everyone to this new address.

Once I’m back from Agile2011 I will dig a little deeper into problems or maybe just start something new somewhere else … can anyone recommend other blogging tools?

 

 

 

4 Hour Body Challenge

Friends of mine were reading this book and taking up the challenge so I thought, why not?

Tim Ferris doesn’t claim to have all the answers he is simply telling  his story and providing his results. If one of his “experiments” seemed to work then he would try it with a few other people. Most “experiments” in this book are accompanied by lots of scientific data and facts if that interests you 
The book is structured in an interesting way, you pick the areas you want to experiment in and try for a week, then inspect and adapt.
I decided to do the diet part – which is a slow-carb diet and the exercise part.
I will commit to four weeks and then see how it working out for me  

4 Hour Body Diet
There are a handful of rules – which are super duper easy. And really seem impossible at first. But google some recipes and you can totally make this work for you 
This diet involves a lot of cooking and preparation. So be ready for that. However many of the meals can be made in advance (to a point) and frozen.
Saturday cheat days are awesome … I look forward to them ALOT.
More details on basics of diet here:
http://fourhourbody.typepad.com/four-hour-body/2010/11/the-4-slow-carb-commandments.html#more

Foods allowed/not allowed: http://4hourpeople.com/question/369/slow-carb-foods-allowed-not-allowedHere are some of the recipes that I’ve tried:

(http://robbwolf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/The-Slow-Carb-Cookbook.pdf)

• BEATs – awesome breakfast, can be mostly made night before, just heat bacon in morning.
• Omelet Muffins – can be made night before. Makes 6 – I have 3 for a meal ‘portion’.
• Omelet Loaf - an adaptation of the muffins and by far my favourite!
• Shepard Pie – mince mix can be made in advance and frozen, 20min in oven with topping and its ready.http://www.4hourrecipes.com/recipe/4-hour-body-shepherds-pie/
• Lamb Potjie (Stew)
• Oxtail Stew
• Nutty Mash – awesome with most meals to replace “starch”- brown color with nutty flavour.http://www.4hourrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-fauxtatoes/
• Mash – as above but only use cauliflower & a can of butter beans – very white and fluffy looking.
• Italian meatballs – can be made in advance and frozen (5 squash ball size per meal)
• Chicken with beans & steamed veg
• Med-Rare steak pieces with salad
• Pork Stirfry
• Protein Shake – quick and easy for gym mornings
• Chicken,Brocoli & Almond Frittata – this seems a bit bland to me , is nice with 2 slices of ham added afterwards per slice. Maybe should cook it with ham and chicken.http://www.4hourrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-broccoli-almond-frittata/
• Bolognaise Sauce – I only make the sauce in this recipe (and i switch sausage for bacon bits)http://www.4hourbodyzone.com/slow-carb-spaghetti-bolognese/

4 Hour Body Exercises

For week 1 and 2 I just did the basics 3 times a week:

• bum raises * 20
• flying dog * 15 each side
• kettlebell swing 16kg * 50

Week 3 I upped this a bit – still 3 times a week:

• bum raises * 20
• flying dog * 15 each side
• kettlebell swing 20kg * 50
• 5 * frog man
• 5 * squats
• 5 * pushups (mens)

Week 4 I upped this a bit – still 3 times a week:

• bum raises * 20
• flying dog * 15 each side
• kettlebell swing 20kg * 50
• 5 * frog man
• 5 * squats
• 5 * pushups (mens)
• 20 situps on bosu
• 10 * cat vomit

Insights and Results so far…

• I’m glad I’m doing this in winter … the bean meals are nice and filling and warm

  

• I think a slow cooker would be a good investment
• I’m no longer tired at work in the afternoon
• I’m enjoying the time spent cooking and eating
• Red wine is lovely when enjoyed with a nice meal
• Its really difficult to eat within 30min of waking up … I like to laze/snooze in bed (but i generally eat within 40min now)
• The first week I lost 3kg and many cm’s. Thereafter I gained 1 kg and my weight stayed consistent for 3 weeks. I was still losing cm’s though, and my clothes were looser.
• Drink 2L of water a day – this I only achieved on the first week – then I got lazy

  

Week 5 – the downfall  
I committed to doing this “diet” for 4 weeks. And I did. I saw results. I enjoyed the meals.
But this week – week 5 – I am taking off. I am eating what ever I want, and suprisingly that is not as much “cheating” as I thought it would be.

Week 6 – back on diet & exercise plan from week 4.
The last week of eating anything and lots of take aways was fun but definitely overrated. It was awesome to get back onto the diet. I am a little less strict now, so birthdays etc I share a slice of cake, but otherwise I am 100% back on the diet.

I will do another update with some measurements in about a month 

Recipe – Omelet Loaf

Note: makes enough for 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 eggs
• 250g cooked bacon bits
• 1 cup diced vegetables (courgettes, carrots, red pepper, spring onion)
• some salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp red pesto sauce (or any other spicy sauce for flavour)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Lightly grease silicon loaf tray (I use macadamia oil).
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add meat, vegetables, salt, ground pepper, and any other ingredients and stir to combine.
3. Bake for around 30-40 minutes until a knife inserted into the center of loaf comes out almost clean.
4. I usually cool, cut into 6 slices, then wrap in foil and leave in the fridge for easy munching in the morning.

Agile Games Session

What a fun and awesome evening at SUGSA last week No-one felt the cold wintery night – instead we were begging for aircon by the second game. Everyone was laughing and wine & beer flowed from the start. Karen Greaves and I took turns facilitating games, but mostly just laughed and drank wine! (Thanks to Pieter for keeping time and keeping us on track.)

 

Most of the games below were introduced to us by Alan Cyment, should you ever have a chance to attend a games session with him – go for it! I spent an entire day playing various games with Alan at the South African Scrum Gathering in 2010, it was great fun and I learned more than I thought possible in a day.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the games and some discussion points for after each game:

Vampire

Intro: You are all in the gloomy town of Straussberg, you walk slowly with your heads down. There is a vampire who can walk normally and he is hunting you. He will tap you on the arm and make a “slurping” sound when he bites you. You then make a “slurping” sound as loud as you can and become a vampire. (about 5 minutes)

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points: to experience feeling oppressed, and being the oppressor

 

Crazy Chat

Intro: In groups of two, select someone to go first. That person will for 1 minute talk about something they are most passionate about in life – their dogs, kids, work, a sport, etc. The other person has to stay seated and remain quiet but must act as disinterested as possible. After a minute switch roles.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points: to be more aware of when you are not paying attention and the effects it might have

A movie from Amsterdam  Scrum Gathering in November 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdLAD2_KaLY

 

Singing, clapping, numbers

Prep: come up with a quick clap routine, a song everyone knows (we use Humpty Dumpty)

Intro: form two lines with your partner opposite you. Practise the clapping game twice. Find a new partner, to sing the song you each take a turn saying 1 word – do this twice. Find a 3rd partner. You will say 1 then your partner claps once, the partner says 2 and then you clap twice – do this up to and including 5, do this game twice.

First round: Note the start time. Find clapping partner and play game twice – when done put hands in air. Once all hands in air note time. Quickly find song partner and play game twice – when done put hands in air. Note time. Quickly find numbers partner and play game twice – when done hands in air. Note time. Note total time.

Second round: This time the facilitator will be randomly shouting “clap” or “song” or “numbers”. Note start time. You need to find you partner and continue where you left off. Again – once done with each game twice, just put your hands in the air. Note the time once for a game everyones hands are in the air. Note the total time.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points: To illustrate the effects of multi tasking and stress. Sustainable pace. What looked like more work was being done?

 

Columbian Hypnotist

Intro: Find a partner – pick who will go first. Stand opposite each other as if the other is your mirror image. The first person will move and the other will imitate their movements – 30 seconds. Swop roles – 30 seconds. Now both move and keep with each other – 30 seconds.

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points: Commanding someone as opposed to being controlled by someone (micromanaging) as opposed to working together.

 

Movers & Shakers

Intro: Pretend you are a victim. Silently seek out 2 other people – one to be your attacker and one to be your shield. Keep moving so that your shield is between you and your attacker. (around 2-3 minutes) Pretend you are a shield. Silently seek out 2 other people – one to be your attacker and another to be your victim. Keep moving so that you are between them.(Around 2-3 minutes) Silently find 2 other people. Form an equilateral triangle with them, keep moving until its perfect. Stop game when almost all people are still, maybe 1 or 2 shuffling. (Around 2 minutes)

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points: Complex problems can be solved easier by a large group. When you protect people move closer, when you attack people move further. Some complex problems get to 98% solved – is the last 2% worth solving?

 

Go

Intro: point at someone, they have to say go – then you walk towards them. They must point at someone else and wait for them to say go before moving and so on … (around 3 minutes)

Feedback: Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder.

Discussion points: Even with simple instructions, things can be hard. Seems counter intuitive – relearning natural impulses. Scrum is like this – easy instructions, difficult to follow.

 

Jumping Circle Close

Everyone stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder and depending on how much fun they had jump up and down fast or not at all

A big thank you to all those who participated – there are videos, so once they are up I will link to them. Karen and I have a lot more games that we want to play – so hopefully there will be another session soon.

 

The story of a themed release backlog

I love story maps. I love that they are big and visible. That at one glance you can see what is going to be delivered in the next release. That everyone can see what is coming up next. 

It worked really well in the beginning. It assisted our product owner in thinking about what he really wanted and thus empowering him to prioritise and communicate the reasoning behind that easily. Its up on the wall in the team room and everyone can see it easily.

There were some drawbacks though.  As its up on the wall – its hard to move to a meeting room for grooming sessions. That also means the product owner cant use it when hes communicating to customers/stakeholders. Another problem – as the stories get groomed they split up into smaller stories and your story map grows exponentially – and the wall couldn’t be extended… The product owner and myself were the ones updating the board … and I would prefer the team more involved in this. I believe a team that owns a story map with the product owner is the ideal to strive for.

We tried the online story map which was awesome, but as expected keeping the online map and the real wall map in sync quickly became problematic. (Especially as printing out and killing forests is something I’m loathe to do). Here is another online story map tool, that I stumbled upon http://toolsforagile.com/blog/archives/310 – also very nice!

A few weeks ago I read this blog post by Roman Pichler and decided to try some out-the-box thinking with regards to our release planning.

 

I loved the idea of boxing the themes (as opposed to columns on a story board). I also like the product and UI design parts – but would prefer them closer(?) to the theme they belong to. The constraints filled a gap that was missing for me – but again I wanted them closer(?) to where they impacted a story. But this was enough to kick start my imagination

We have a release planned for July, so the first priority was to make visible what was wanted in the release at a high level, per theme. I put each theme on a piece of flip chart paper  (from here on referred to as the theme page) so that it could easily be taken off the wall and carried to a meeting room for in depth discussion. Below is the “template” of the idea I implemented on each theme page.

Within the theme – we stick to a story map format. So the stories are broken down, with priorities (the theme priorities are in green),  story point sizes (purple) and any/all dependencies visible. The idea here was that if the persona had various flows through a theme – those flows could be depicted on the theme page as well (red arrows).
The priority for sprints is across themes is shown with pink stickies. This allows the Product Owner to prioritise stories across themes knowing where there are dependancies. Under each story are acceptance criteria – these are altered and discussed when the story is groomed and kept visible as a reminder to all.

 

To make it clear how many sprints we have until the release, and to show all team members holidays etc we put up monthly calendars down the side – laminated for easy changes – with all public holidays and leave etc on it.

 

Our release board is next to our sprint board in the team room. Big and visible, but with the ability to easily move to a meeting room.

Its very early days (week 1) so I’m sure that we will inspect and adapt as time goes on.

What do you think of our Release Backlog?