Jan/083
Scrum My Day!
I’m currently using Scrum project development method at my work and I’d like to share some experiences and opinions about it.
The Scrum works well for small groups, it requires daily meeting and good time estimation. Do you see a problem here?
I see at least two of them :
- Daily Meetings
- Time Estimation
Daily Meetings
15 minutes at max. But I still haven’t got the real idea of it, we just update our tasks : time used, etc. At Nvidia we had project meeting once a week, that was enough, and we had some real things to talk about. I mean, what’s the point of doing a meeting almost every morning which goes like : “Good Morning!”, “Let’s see our tasks..” … update the tasks properties, “Anything else?”, “No”, “Ok, let’s get back to work.”.
How to improve :
- Everybody updates their own tasks on daily basis, without the meeting.
- Meeting once a week.
- If you have a problem, don’t wonder around waiting for the next meeting, ask about it right away -> in bigger issues schedule an extra meeting.
Time Estimation
This keeps popping up everywhere, we try to be so exact and still we are always late, why is that? Because it is not possible to estimate the time used for software project exactly.
We are currently estimating our tasks on hour basis and I don’t like that. More accurate time scale means more noise, and that is something I would like to avoid.
How to improve :
- Estimate how many days the task will take, that is more realistic than hours.
- Always estimate with the worst case. If you can do it earlier that’s great and leaves time for other things.
3:50 pm on January 11th, 2008
(partial repeat of my response to your comment on my site)
I’d strongly suggest someone on your team read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130676349/wwwagilegamed-20
Your team isn’t using Scrum yet. The daily meeting isn’t about updating preordained task estimates. It’s a huddle for the team to address the real issues of progress on complex problems AS A TEAM. I’d half bet that there is still a lead in the mix directing all of this.
It doesn’t sound like your team is using real velocity to adjust your future estimates as well.
The cargo cult pattern is not unusual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
This is why I recommend the book, CSM classes and coaching. The rules are simple, the principles are not.
3:57 pm on January 11th, 2008
Yeah, I think we have missed some points on using Scrum, but I’m not suprised as it is easy to misunderstand. Like I said, meetings should be kept only if there is something to really talk about.
Thanks for the tips! I’ll definetly check that book.