In issue 3 of the five questions series we hear from Mike Cohn. Mike is the author of some of the most successful IT books, including Agile Estimating and Planning, User Stories Applied and his upcoming new book Succeeding with Agile.

A big thankyou to Mike for taking the time to squeeze these answers into his incredibly busy schedule.



Issues in the series

Issue 1: Ron Jeffries
Issue 2: Ken Schwaber
Issue 3: Mike Cohn
Issue 4: Alistair Cockburn

I am pleased to announce that I have recently gained my Certified Scrum Coach (CSC) qualification. So what does that mean? Well statistically I am now one of the 13 active CSC’s in the world (according to the Scrum Alliance site), so this is a very small community, when you consider that there are now over 35,000 Certified Scrum Masters (CSM’s) globally.

Why have I gone for the CSC and not CST (Certified Scrum Trainer). Well for me the CSC qualification reflects what I do in my day to day life. Yes it would be advantageous to be able to certify people as CSMs (something only CST’s can do), but the CST program is designed for people who are primarily giving 2-3 day training courses at public and privately run courses. This does not align with what I do. I do see the CSM course as an integral part of the adoption of Scrum within an organisation however; it is in reality only a starter for the weeks, months and even years of hard work required for a successful Scrum adoption.

So does this mean I now know everything about Scrum and my learning stops? No way! Far from it; although the CSC qualification is the pinnacle of the Scrum Alliance certifications we can never know enough and we must continually “Inspect and Adapt” and strive for continuous improvement. In some ways I consider this equivalent to passing my driving test. I am now able to get out there and learn for real

James Brett

To contact me please use the Contact Us page

For further information about the Scrum Alliance certifications please see their website here

In issue 2 of the five questions series we hear from one of the godfarthers of Scrum Ken Schwaber. Ken (along with Jeff Sutherland) is responsible for creating Scrum way back in the day, not only that but Ken created (or helped create) the Scrum Alliance and the Agile Alliance. Ken has produced three Scrum books that have guided so many people through the Scrum framework. So without further ado. I give you the man himself....Ken Schwaber!



Issues in the series

Issue 1: Ron Jeffries
Issue 2: Ken Schwaber
Issue 3: Mike Cohn
Issue 4: Alistair Cockburn

I have been working hard on a paper that relates Flock Theory by D.Rosen to Scrum and Scrum Teams. The paper has now been published by the Scrum Alliance as an official resource and can be found here on the Scrum Alliance website

Overview
In this article we look at Flock Theory by D.Rosen for answers to creating highly optimized, self organised Scrum teams. Once we have learned the technicalities of Scrum - the roles, the artifacts and the meetings - we then begin over time to gain an understanding that strong team work and communication is key to a good Scrum team. But how do we achieve that? How do we build a Scrum team and how do we provide for their needs? How do we manage the challenges of the social complexities involved in teamwork?

Mike Cohn's "Succeeding With Agile" Book
Mike will be adding the article to his new book Succeeding With Agile as further reading in his section on Teamwork.

Thanks
A big thank you to Stacia Broderick for proofing, check out her excellent book The Software Project Manager’s Bridge to Agility

The paper can also be downloaded from the downloads on Scrummaster.com.au here

Planning poker is a popular tool to aid in the estimation process in Scrum and XP teams. James Grenning is the guy who invented the concept and it was popularized by Mike Cohn. There is a great [short] clip of James Grenning talking about how Planning Poker came about on YouTube. Here it is for your viewing pleasure...



If you would like more information on Planning Poker check out the Planning Poker page where you will find details on how to play the game, links to Mountain Goat Software (Mike Cohn) and a source to buy the cards.

This is the first instalment of a brand new series of articles I will be bringing you over the next few months (or years, depending on its success). I have devised five questions that I intend to put to some of the leading lights in the Scrum industry, either famous, infamous or just those with a raft of experience. The questions are Scrum related and by asking them I hope to provide an insight into how these people think and what they think about Scrum.


The five questions are:

1. Can you describe what you would consider the top Scrum enabler in an organization?
2. Where do you see Scrum in 5 years time?
3. What has been your toughest Scrum challenge so far?
4. What makes you passionate about Scrum?
5. What can we learn from you about Scrum?

Issues in the series

Issue 1: Ron Jeffries
Issue 2: Ken Schwaber
Issue 3: Mike Cohn
Issue 4: Alistair Cockburn


Ron Jeffries

First up in the series is Ron Jefferies. Ron was involved in the original creation of the Agile Manifesto and is a leading practitioner in Agile, XP and Scrum. I hope you find Ron’s answers interesting, I know I did.

We are pleased to announce we have launched our first product on the products page. Planning Poker cards are an essential tool in the estimation process and we are pleased to announce that we are the first Australian supplier of these cards, with a completely fresh and new design.
Check out the products section here

Mike Visdos over at ImplementingScrum.com has kicked off a new series of podcasts called "ImplementingScrum - Unscripted", with yours truly as the the very first guest.

Mike and I spend around 8 minutes talking through the Australian Scrum Survey and some of the interesting results.

ImplementingScrum.com is one of the most popular Scrum websites with Mike offering a regular blog feed and a very entertaining Cartoon series. So head on over to to his site and check out our podcast and the rest of his articles. Click here for the Podcast and article