Agile Otter Blog

Yeah, I know that's a heck of a clickbait title, but it's also the thesis of this blog post. According to the Scrum Guide (2016) : The Development Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint. Only members of the Development Team create the Increment. Development Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the Development Team’s overall efficiency and effectiveness. Development Teams have the following characteristics: They are self-organizing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Development Team how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality; Development Teams are cross-functional, with all of the skills as a team necessary to create a product Increment; Scrum recognizes no titles for Development Team members other than Developer, regardless...

A long time ago, I was in a company that (like my current company) was known for training and coaching agile teams. Some of our customers were continually asking us if we could double the class size so more people could sit in. Others were asking us to deliver the same content in half the time. Some were asking for both. Some didn't stop at "double" or "half." As we discussed more and more people getting less and less exposure to the deep ideas behind Agile methods (and XP technical practices in particular) my imagination got the best of me and I giggled. I was imaging a line of people on some kind of a conveyance, being carried past inspirational posters with agile slogans and images on them. Maybe something colorful like this (one of my favorites) Modern Agile wheel: Maybe something particularly clever and memorable from our Industrial Logic collection: Maybe like this one from acm-software : I initially thought of it as a moving sid...

I almost took the elevator up to my room today. A year or two ago, my wife bought me one of those step-counting devices, you know the ones which tell you how many steps you've taken by counting your arm-swings (I think)? If I remember correctly, I was pushing about 250 lbs body weight at the time. I might have been pushing over it a bit. Call me an over-achiever. When I got my step counter, I started being more aware of my habits. I knew how sedentary I was. I knew my heart rate. I could see how badly I was sleeping. It is a great tool because it makes me aware of myself. Along with that, I have had a few doctors, and so I have gotten some advice. I take as much as I know how and can stay mindful of, short of running or joining a gym. I'm just not a runner, and why should I join a gym when I'm never home to go there (or when I am, I have other things I need to do). Being a traveling consultant has its perks and struggles. I walk more, I sometimes exercise, I try ...