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Showing posts from August, 2010

Responsibilities in Scrum, or Why Scrum Developers Should Get Paid More!

During last week's CSM/Jumpstart in Bern, Andreas Schliep and I were asked for a "RACI" -- a responsibility matrix for Scrum. We turned the question around and asked our participants to come up with one. Using dot-voting, they identified who is responsible for the following:
Selecting Team Members and ToolsPlanning Tasks; Ensuring good implementationsDefining and Imposing StandardsBudget, Scope, Priorities, Coordinating WorkCommit to Delivery Dates (release)Assign Tasks; Customer Communication Remove Impediments; Reporting Change Management; Risk Management; ComplianceReturn on Investment; Improving Performance  A couple of interesting things were visible from the poll (excel Scrum Responsibility Matrix). First, is a project manager still needed in a Scrum project? No! In a classical approach, the project manager is responsible for (almost) everything, but in Scrum, all of the responsibilities of a project leader are covered. The management facing roles are generally cov…

Scrum Breakfast/September Introduction to Lean and Agile

Usually I moderate the monthly Scrum Breakfast and leaving the speaking to rotating volunteers. As the Lean Agile Scrum Conference in Zurich takes place next week, I thought an introduction to the basic topics and current trends in project (and company!) management would be an optimal warm-up to the conference. So I am going to take the floor with an

Introduction to Lean and Agile

As a Project Manager, Software Engineer, Line Manager, Business Analyst, Developer, Tester you have probably heard a lot about Lean and Agile. Perhaps you are using some of the major practices, like Scrum, Kanban or Extreme Programming (XP). Why all the hype? Is this just hype, or is a more profound change happening which is driving companies to a leaner, more agile approach to creating value and developing software?

This talk will give your an overview of the current trends in Management and Engineering Practices, in particular as they relate to software product developme…