BossTalks.com Tag: scrum

jkeppens on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

jkeppens — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:43:18 +0000

Scrum doesn't need a Project Manager. In the projects I worked with, we typically give the Product Owner role to the PMs. It works fine as long as the PM takes onboard the responsibilities and limitations that come with the role.

1. he is the owner of the product back log. Basically he communicates to business and creates the user stories and adds them to the backlog. He is in charge of deciding what priority each item on the back log has. This means basically he is in a effect in charge of planning and deciding what features are developed when. (initial estimations are done with the dev team at projects I work with. We estimate in complexity points, which means you estimate how much work something is compared to another task you did. The PO then puts a time on this).

2. the product owner calculates each sprint what the available complexity points are for the team. This is done taking holidays, vacation, etc... in mind. Based on this calculated number, he makes a prioritized list of backlog items he would like done in the sprint. This is discussed with the team during the first part of the sprint meeting (at the start of the sprint). In the second part of our sprint meeting (we call it the technical sprint), our dev team typically does small analysis of the stories and divides them in tasks. We then estimate the tasks and if needed we split the tasks further (task max 2 working days or 13h actual work). Based on this we couple back to the PO what the real estimates are and he can decide to add a story or remove a story if needed. Very important: never overcommit! it doesn't work!

3. during the sprint, the team has their daily scrum meetings. All problems and questions that arise are relayed back to the PO by the Scrum Master. The PO is then responsible for providing answers on the questions. In our company we also relay things such as "we need 2 extra servers" to the PO and he talks to the responsible departments for it.

4. If for some reason extra important features are required, the PO has the possibility to halt the sprint and start a new sprint. This is an exceptional situation and should be used with care. Never start messing with the content of your sprint mid sprint: emergency break + new sprint.

Earlier I said that the PM should also take on the limitations of the PO role to make it work. With this I mean that:

1. he should stay away from the team as much as possible mid sprint. Asking "is it done?" a million times leads to frustration. If developers can concentrate for a longer period of time, you loose momentum and your velocity drops. If there are issues, the SM will inform the PO. You need a good SM that dares to say NO to the PO btw. An SM that always says "yes", will lead to contra-productive situations.

2. he should not try to (micro-)manage the project or play boss. Scrum leads to self-managing teams. It works quite fine. Interaction in the team is very important and a good mix between junior and senior members where the juniors receive coaching by the seniors is needed.

3. if working with a burndown chart, keep it away from your PO, unless he knows how to interprete it. A burndown chart is not rocket science and it surely isn't a straight line down. If the PO starts panicking when you are above the most ideal line (especially in Greenhopper where it's a straight line down, while it's actually a curved line with slow slope in the beginning and steeper at the end), it will lead to frustration, annoyance and mockery.

With kind regards,

Jeroen

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annasmith on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

annasmith — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:43:37 +0000

I have found a software which Shares Microsoft Project schedules with team. Includes Project Portfolio Management, Issue Tracking, Risk Management, Timesheet Management, Document Management, Calendar Management, Forums, Reports and Project Dashboard.

A good hosted Project Management software that suits my EPM needs is called valleyspeak project server, which I found at http://www.valleyspeak.com. One of the main reasons why I like the software is the fact that I could continue to work in Microsoft Project 2007 while sharing my Microsoft Project plans with my teams.

ValleySpeak Project Server provides 100% 2-way integration with Microsoft Project 2007. While Project Managers can continue to plan and manage projects using Microsoft Project 2007 as usual, Team Members can now view and submit updates to the project plans in real time, simply by using any web browser.

Because it is a hosted service, I did not have to buy expensive software or deal with installation and maintenance headaches. The functionality that I have with valleyspeak to manage my geographically dispersed teams works well for me. We also evaluated Basecamp and some other solutions but were not impressed.

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andy on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

andy — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:30:36 +0000

Sorry, but software development does not need management. You need management for the company and its employees but not to develop software
First: Team Spirit: team spirit is built by developing great software, challanging tasks and good working environment. I start to gag when people talk about how to motivate developers. If you need to get drunk then go together to a bar and drink beer.
Second: Conflicting Situation: normally the business drives that and IMHO senior developer should be able to find a solution if the conflict is technical nature otherwise fire them. Any Senior Developer who thinks that his way is the only way is not Senior at all. Unfortunately there are many developers out there who think they are Senior but which aren't.
Third: People Management: many projects are composed of many developers and in bigger companies their are coming from different departments are so they are not managed by the PM or Scrum Master. In my opinion the developers' manager should not be part of the project and if the company is quite small then it someone from the upper management anyhow which are most likely not involved in the project.

Just look at JBoss, Apache or Linux where the is no people management made within the project and they still drive. Of course, that is only true for the development side of the projects.

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white on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

white — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:37:20 +0000

Well, so who is expected to manage people if not PM? I know that Scrum people call it Scrum Master, who's defined as a mentor and the one who is responsible for making decisions. However, people management as an essential part of any project and somebody has got to be responsible for this, too.

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green on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

green — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:36:02 +0000

Guys, let's imagine the following team - 2 senior developers, 4 developers, 1 junior developer. They are working on same project. Who lead be accountable for the project progress? Who will be responsible? Who will make decisions in conflicting situations? Who will be able to manage people and build team spirit? Andy, it's not one senior developer (who really can be project manager at the same time), but two.
I agree to stop giving names. But one person in a team has to be main, very senior -- you name it. But he will be moving the project forward.

Loose management sucks. It's better no management at all. But sometimes no management can screw up best team, best project and best idea.

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andy on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

andy — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:47:38 +0000

I think that the PM normally does not manage people but the project. A PM is only necessary and crucial when the developers need a manager because they are not experienced enough. Any senior developer can manage himself and knows best what to do and how. I don't think the PM role should be rotated but the project should be split up into sub projects where someone is leading it. This also could mean that two developers share this position. I also don't like the process for the sake of the process. Scrum does not work because you like it but because the company is living it. If you forgot about the process you will find that the Scrum process if used in open-source projects quite a lot..

Well, today a lot of the software we are using are open-source software and therefore are commercialist by some means. The nature of open-source projects shapes the development team quite a lot but because it works so good maybe companies should try to adopt it. A few key features of open-source is that is have some strong technical leaders or visionaries, the developers are all senior or at least have the drive to become one and they all work in a very losely coupled team where management is done through motivation rather than authority.

-Andy

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white on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

white — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:00:27 +0000

By the way, the open source product is not a commercial product, and vice-versa. I believe that at some point there is a very significant difference, especially concerning the people management.

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white on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

white — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:59:11 +0000

I really into your point, especially after several hours trying to find people with sucessfull projects managed with the pure Scrum. :) And the only one reason I was doing this because few days ago I had a conversation with the guy, who was completely Scrumified and devoted to it, and he wanted to share his excitement about this with all people around.

Speaking about PM as a position, you are very right, but my main concern was about how people can rotate the PM role between each other in the Scrum process? Being a good developer doesn't mean that you can manage either people or process. And my concern is that giving the PM role to a wrong person can at least slow down the whole development process, but in the worsiest case it can put it on the wrong track which leads to failure.

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andy on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

andy — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:45:42 +0000

Well, if you have a look into open-source, like it did working for JBoss, you will see there is no boss. Some a leading a project but mostly due to their knowledge and contributions. So working where there is no PM is not difficult.
I also worked for companies where I was having more influence that the PM just because of sheer number of contributions and in-depth knowledge.

On another note a PM does not make sense in a Software Project whatsoever because he/she is most of the time not the developers boss because they do not have the authority to approve vacations, leave time, promotions etc. The idea, as far as I know, of the PM is to have a single go to person that leads the project and not the developers. But that is quite tricky if your developers know more than you are, what they should, and they don't want to go through the PM to discuss or design the project with other members of the team.

Finally I never saw Scrum really fly. The bigger companies screw it up quite easily and smaller companies don't need it because their customers are driving their business and so planning is not that important. In open-source I never saw it either because planning resources it fairly futile because they contribute or they don't.

-Andy

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white on "A question for iterative managers"

white — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:44:12 +0000

A have got a pretty interesting but simple question to those who are just fond of iteractive software project management strategies, like Scrump, RUP or even staged and modified waterfall model.

All these methodologies expect for close work with a client, in some of the strategies the client is playing an indispensibly role in the development team and ir required to make a lot of decisions.

What if your customer is not experienced or just doesn't want to play such a big role, and he wants you to come back with your proposals on his ideas, said verbally in a very inspecific manner? Every customer group is different, and keeping in mind that Scrum is very customer driven model, this could make a real problem in the process.

Are you are trying to implement different strategy or just find an intermediate manager?

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white on "Scrum startegy: the missed Project Manager"

white — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:03:04 +0000

I know there are some people in this forum who are familiar with the Scrum methodology of software development process. Personally, I never had experience with it, but during passing through different iterative strategies, I was pretty surprised with one of Scrum's point, what is the missed position of Project Manager in its life-cycle. Yes, the PM position is really missed in it, however, not the role. According to Scrum ideology, the team consists of even members, each of them are driven with the same goal and experienced enough to share one PM role from time to time.

Well, keeping in mind the Scrum is taken from the rugby term, which is also has connections with the chaos model, that explains a lot. However, having no PM in the team sounds weird to me. Sharing PM's role between each other sounds even more weird. I just can't understand the process. Who's the boss then? Who chooses the person, who will play PM next round? What if the chosen person sucks as PM badly, but still a good team member; is he about leaving a team or he'll still be engaged in the PM role rotation?

From the other hand, I heard a different opinion that the PM position still exists in Scrum strategy, but they call it Scrum master, like a coach in a sport team; however, his role is still supposed to have an indirect authority, rather then direct boss. Although, Scrum master is required to make decisions.

I'm totally lost now and I'd like to hear something back from Scrum-guys. I hope you can help me out.

Speaking about other question, had anyone see a successful Scrum implementation in the medium to large teams, or is it all about small ones?

Thanks.

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