Tag: Team Work

What is the first thing to do when working as a Scrum Master with a new team? Whether the team is experienced in agile software development or not, it is important to create a basis that all future collaboration is build upon. This is the key to avoid misunderstandings based on assumptions or a lack of clarification which will affect all future collaboration and in worst case might damage trust. Therefore I believe a simple session or exercise should be the first step whenever start working with a team: Set expectation and boundaries! This post focuses on expectations as the basis for collaboration as Scrum Master with your team. Make use of your Scrum Master toolbox in order to keep …

The First Thing To Do As Scrum Master With Your Team Read more »

When implementing agile software development in teams, context seems one of the least noticed factors. That’s remarkable as it is one of the most important aspects to consider when adopting agile methods. With a series of posts I want to shed some light on that topic, looking at context in agile software developments from different angles. Contexts that are relevant and worth to consider when starting agile software development are organizational culture, team setup (distributed or collocated, skill levels, language and cultural differences) and experience in agile methods and principles (maturity).

All of you who are familiar with the Agile Software Development Manifesto, this post seems familiar. Actually the inspiration for it comes from the Agile Manifesto, which says: Customer collaboration over contract negotiation My inspiration for this post actually comes from that. Only that I don’t want to limit collaboration to contracts. Collaboration is something that I find usefully in any part of software development, even outside of software development. But let’s focus on work space in this post. Whenever I worked in an collaborative environment, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t that important what the subject of the project was or which methodology or project management framework was used. What brought the joy was collaboration with colleagues, clients or other …

Collaboration vs Negotiation Read more »

There is always a debate regarding the ideal size for a scrum team. The scrum guide recommends seven members plus two or minus two as the ideal number. There seems no consensus among the agile community regarding what the best size of a team may be. However, one issue that people are in agreement with is that smaller teams are more functional and productive. A quote from the scrum guide states that “small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint” The question then is, how small is small? This will depend on a number of factors.

Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools. This statement is part of the agile manifesto. It highlights the importance of people and communication within the project. The key to understanding this statement is understanding the meaning of the word over. It may seem simple yet many people get it wrong. The word over is repeated four times in the Agile manifesto. The word over in this context means that while processes and tools are important in software development, individuals and interactions are more valued. This doesn’t mean we do away with the tools and processes. Actually we cannot work without them, but we should put more emphasis on the people and effective communication rather than following rigid processes. Developers love …

Unfold The Agile Manifesto – Part 2 Read more »