Shai Raiten's Blog : Scrum 3.0

The Git Hole

shair — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:31:00 GMT

I consider myself a calm person with plenty of tolerance, I believe in productive discussion and love it – Part of my job as a consultant is to talk with Teams and explain them why you should choose a specific product over another, in 99.9% of those meetings there is one guy that don’t like the change (No One Like Changes) and you need in a calm way to explain and show him the benefits of the new tool – Forcing someone to do something is never a good thing.

But sometimes there is no wining side in a discussion, you might say discussion are not about winning is about Accepting and Understanding, but Imagine yourself this scenario - You are a religious man, how about a discussion with a non-religious about “Does God Exists”?

You can throw billion argumentation's but nothing will matter because in this discussion there is not Logic but Faith and Emotions, so you can spend hours but in the end the non-religious will not believe and the religious will.

Even when you talk about Technology there is emotions if you like it or not – If you not believe me you should read some theory's from Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan and Sub Judice , (Latin for "under judgment"), I hope in this discussion you’ll understand you are not the first and for sure not the last how think he can control his emotions when you make a choice.

So why I told you all about that? Lately I’ve being asked about why TFS and Not Git?

First I think Git is a wonderful version control system and I even use it for several projects, I use SVN and several other Open Source Version Control Systems.

The reason sometimes I’m using other systems than TFS, is for specific projects:

Project I do by myself and I don’t need work assignment or project management.
Projects that doesn’t have Testers, Product Manager or anyone else besides Developers.
Projects that doesn't care about team collaboration and think that Email is a great solution for tracking the team.
Project that doesn't have the money to buy TFS (Dream Spark)

The question itself implies that the person didn’t understand what is TFS, and just think about saving his praised code.

Team Foundation Server – This is a suite of development tools all within a single platform
The idea of one platform for the entire team is brilliant. Microsoft created tools for each individual position on the team; there are tools for Requirements Management, design tools for Architects, Developer tools and of course testing tools ranging from manual test to automation and load testing. All is this is now under one platform. When the entire team works on the same platform the collaboration and integration become easy and fluent, collecting data to generate reports no longer needs to take a lot of time. The team’s efforts are now integrated as part of the platform. Synchronizing between different tools is no longer necessary because all are working together in one place.

So after I explain what is TFS the person told me –> but TFS doesn’t have distributed version control.

SO WHAT? Git doesn’t have Bug Management, Load Testing, UML Designer, Build Machine and a lot more. It’s not all about Code!

So developers think that everything about the Product is up to them – and they are wrong! the product is something that everyone is part of, the Project Manager, the Business Analysis, the Developers, Tester and more.

Sometimes one less feature is best for the Team than one extra feature just for you!

Now, let’s go back to the discussion, even after I explain TFS the person still want Git (although his company bought TFS) and in that point I understand that this is the same discussion as “Does God Exists” because the person has HMS (Hate Microsoft Syndrome) and this is what he believes.

Is there a cure? I really don’t know. But I do know that Emotions overcome common sense and facts.

I Love Microsoft and I really Love TFS, but TFS is not the only tool at the market today that gives teams the ability to work together under a single platform, there is IBM Jazz or HP ALM Solution, but with not doubt TFS is mature and most popular ALM tool today and I will continue recommend TFS and I’ll not surrender the HMS!!!

God, give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Thanks

Black Jack Using Scrum – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

shair — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:01:00 GMT

Black Jack Using Scrum – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Last year I attended MIX10 conference in Las Vegas, because MIX is very near (Yes I’m GOING!!!!) I decided to plan my strategy of wining (I lost the last time…) in “Black Jack” based on Scrum Methodology.

Many thanks Yaniv Kessler for helping me finish this article.

So Before I Reveal My Custom Scrum Methodology let's talk about? -> What is Scrum?

Scrum is an iterative, incremental framework for project management and agile software development.

Although Scrum was intended for management of software development projects, it can be used to run software maintenance teams, or as a general project/program management approach.

Really what is Scrum?

[Full Article] SCRUM is a loose set of guidelines that govern the development process of a product, from its design stages to its completion.
It aims to cure some common failures of the typical development process, such as:

· Chaos due to changing requirements - the real or perceived requirements of a project usually change drastically from when the product is designed and until it is released. Under most product development methodologies, all design is done at the beginning of the project, and then no changes are allowed for or made when the requirements change.

· Unrealistic estimates of time, cost, and quality of the product - the project management and the developers tend to underestimate how much time and resources a project will take, and how much functionality can be produced within those constraints. In reality, this cannot be predicted accurately at the beginning of the development cycle.

· Developers are forced to lie about how the project is progressing - When management underestimates the time and cost needed to reach a certain level of quality, the developers must either lie about how much progress has been made on the product, or face the indignation of the management.

Among the most important ideas of scrum are developing in short iterations and having daily meetings with your team, these ideas help tackle and fix problems quickly, help measure the project’s velocity and finally allows for a more accurate estimation of the project’s completion date.

If you want to know more about Scrum in couple of minutes I’ll recommend you to see Scrum in under 10Min by Hamid Shojaee

Let’s Get Started – Scrum Vegas Style

Everyone who comes to Vegas and wants to gamble has a “Product” ready:

Product = “Earn A Lot Of Money & Have A Great Time” -> It is the “What” that will be built or achieved.

So with this idea in mind, I started planning my Product Backlog (integrating some important lessons from the last visit) by filling my wish list:

Sprints – Define how long you’re going to Play

The general recommendation is that iterations should be as short as possible, in Scrum max 30 days for sprint, each Sprint should contains the Goal of a specific sprint – My was – Not Losing!

Because my Vegas trip is limited only for 4 days I decide to schedule 8 Sprints (it’s also recommend to create at least 4 sprints).

* You need to define the total time (Money) you can afford to achieve your Product. – My was 1000$ or 4 Days

Sprint duration will be no more than 7 hours (Normal is between 3-30 days) and will include between 125$ - 250$ (In Development this is Work Remaining) – It is Very Important not to exceed the amount above – if so, this is the Time to speak with your Scrum Master (See below about Roles) and discuss how to continue with our Sprints and check if the Product release will be delayed or worst will not achieved? (Depends on how much money you lost :-()

After each Sprint you need to perform a 1 hour break (The normal is 15 minutes) that will include a stand up meeting (Monitor your progress – Burn Down Chart – See Below) with your Scrum Master (As I wrote above discuss all your problems and plan ahead), Pipi time, Search for another Table (Change Table change Luck) and Rest, because each day contains 2 Sprints. (Not Normal)

Roles & Tips

This "Product” cannot rely solely on your shoulders, So Let’s meet the Team

The main roles in Scrum are:

The “ScrumMaster”, who maintains the processes (typically in lieu of a project manager)
The “Product Owner”, who represents the stakeholders and the business
The “Team”, a cross-functional group of about 7 (Default) people who do the actual analysis, design, implementation, testing, etc.

In our “Product” I’ll have the “Product Owner” role (After all I know what I want and it’s my Money :-D) and the “Team” role (I’m not letting anyone playing with my money….).

But the “ScrumMaster” has to be someone you trust (anyone beside you) in helping you. Now, you’re probably asking yourself why would you need someone’s help?

If you are losing too much money, you become a “compulsive gambler” and you don’t want to stop or can’t – your Scrum Master is needed to pull you back to your room until the next sprint.
On the gambling floor, the Drinks are FREE, if you can’t control yourself - counting cards becomes impossible – the Scrum Master will help you count the cards.
You’re gambling and manage to control yourself from drinking alcohol, but than a Show comes up and couple of Beautiful Ladies are dancing just around your table and cause you to lose focus – Again, the ScrumMaster has to be there and ask those ladies to go and wait in your room, No No No – the ScrumMaster should help you continue your game by removing those obstacles!!!

Tips:

The ScrumMaster has to be someone you Trust and even in very bad situations, such as when you are drunk. His words must have a deep effect on you. (Thanks Adam)
Buy your return Flight Ticket before and make sure this is “No Refund Ticket” – so you can’t use your way back home as stakes in a gamble.
Don’t come to play with 10$(If you don't know how much you can spend, use a subject expert matter to examine your budget and define a reasonable amount to Play – Same as Estimated Work) this is still a game of luck (Same as Life), have a basic amount to help you cross the BadMojo. :-D

Start and Track

After each sprint it’s very important to monitor your progress (This is what you do in the Stand Up Meeting) using “Burn Down Chart” - The “Burn Down Chart” is the number 1 reason for Scrum popularly, Burn Down shows remaining work (or Remaining Money) in the sprint backlog, this will help you see if your product is progressive smoothly.

Using the “Burn Down Chart” and it’s very easy to calculate the “Burn Down Velocity” - Velocity only helps you make achievable commitments in future iterations.

Finally “Burn Down Chart” helps you to provide a good estimation about the project’s completion date.

For example: if you allocate between 125$-250 (Developer = Remaining Work) for each sprint and from Sprint 1 to Sprint 2 I lost 500$ (1400$ - 900$) I could use the “Burn Down Chart” to see that in the current velocity (the velocity in which you lose money) you are going to lose all of it when we get to the 4th Sprint. (This is good for Development Team because this means that on the 4th Sprint the remaining work will be 0 and you’re done, but certainly not good for me.)

You might say to yourself that it is only an approximation and not the real thing- You are absolutely right - Burn Down shows"ESTIMATION"
but the graph below shows the same result in life as it shows in the graph above.

Summary

I hope this article helped you to understand Scrum from a different perspective and made you think about moving to developing\playing with Scrum.

Next time I get to Vegas, I’ll try my Black Jack Scrum Methodology and you can be sure I’ll let you know how it fared!

Enjoy – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Scrum Masters Workbench – Create Project Structure in 5 Sec

shair — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:13:39 GMT

Scrum Masters Workbench – Create Project Structure in 5 Sec

Scrum 3.0 is very cool and easy to use in Team System 2010 Beta 2 - Scrum for Team System 2010 Beta 2 – Getting Started, but the template is not enough,

Scrum for Team System Beta 2 comes with a free tool called “Scrum Masters Workbench”, this tool will help us to build the project structure much more easier.

Full Guide

Enjoy

Scrum for Team System 2010 Beta 2 – Getting Started

shair — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:39:00 GMT

Scrum for Team System 2010 Beta 2 – Getting Started

In my previous post I talked about the changes in Scrum 3.0 Scrum For Team System Version 3.0 - Beta 2 Released.

So how to get started with Scrum 3.0? as you know Team System comes with 2 default templates – Agile, CMMI.

To add the new Scrum template Download Scrum For Team System 3.0 Beta 2:

There are separate installers for 32bit and 64bit editions of Windows; you will need to choose the appropriate one for each server being deployed. For example, your TFS Application-Tier server may be running on 32bit Windows whilst your SharePoint server is 64bit, so you would use the 32bit installer for the TFS AT and 64bit installer for the SharePoint server.

Make sure you are running the installation with TFSSetup (Administrator).

The installation process is very fast, make sure the checkbox on launching the Deployment tool is checked.

There are two method to install Scrum template the Quick way or the Advanced ways,
using the Quick way will show all ProjectCollection available and Indicate if Scrum template already deployed, is not just click “Deploy” and you done.

After the installation is done you may notice a new Web Service called - ScrumforTeamSsytem

Now when creating a new team project the Scrum Template is there.

The process template page is not yet fully functional, the rest is!

Enjoy.