InfoQ Homepage Scrum Content on InfoQ
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Agile, Orthodoxy and a Message From God
A long and complex thread on the ScrumDevelopment list, set off by the phrase "Agile 2.0," has been exploring the past and future of Agile methodologies (for good or ill) including so-called "next generations" approaches like AUP, MSF Agile, and AMDD. Ron Jeffries, Ken Schwaber and Scott Ambler are just a few of the serious agilists who participated in this lively conversation.
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Hanselminutes Podcast on Scrum Project Management
Scott Hanselman, a Certified Scrum Master at Corillian, has posted a podcast on the Scrum project management methodology. He uses Scrum in his own projects and feels that Scrum makes Agile approachable and easy to grasp. He goes over just-in-time task-level estimation, velocity, how burndown charts help forecast delivery dates, and the concept of when a feature can be considered really "done".
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Microsoft Counting On Scrum and XP
When Microsoft launched SQL Server 2005 last fall, ending a five-year wait for major revisions, Steve Ballmer acknowledged "It's been a bit long in the making, we're committed to a much closer cycle time."eWeek reports that they will do this using agile development methodologies, such as XP and Scrum. Yet they won't mandate methodology, stressing product quality instead to encourage improvement
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Ken Schwaber: Sacrificing Quality should be an Executive Management Decision
At Agile2006, Co-founder of the Scrum methodology Ken Schwaber argued that as professionals we should not accept business requests to sacrifice quality in order to meet timelines, and if quality does need to be sacrificed such a decision should be made by executive management and reflected in the financial statements of the company.
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Online Discussion on Scrum Requirements Basics
The ScrumDevelopment list has seen lively discussion lately on Requirements issues frequently faced by new teams: "Can the ScrumMaster be the Product Owner too?", "How do we prioritize our Product Backlog?" and "QA's role in a SCRUM process". New teams quickly discover that a poor-quality Product Backlog can frustrate and undermine a team that is otherwise raring to start delivering value.
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Patterns for Daily Stand-up Meetings Published
Jason Yip has published "It's not just standing up", Patterns for Daily Standups on Martin Fowler's Bliki. In the article he discusses the benefits and consequences of common practices for daily stand-ups. The patterns are intended to help direct the experimentation and adjustment of new practitioners as well as provide points of reflection to experienced practitioners.
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Agile Work Cheatsheets Posted
It's been said before: Agile may be simple, but it's not so easy. Mishkin Berteig contributes some one-page quick-references to jog our memories and keep us focused on delivering value.
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ScrumWorks Release 1.7.0 adds Tagging
Danube Technologies' latest ScrumWorks release 1.7.0 includes an important feature for enterprise users who need to trace back to multiple backlogs or integrate with other project tools - tagging and filtering with user-managed "themes".
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Keep those Stand Up Meetings Short and Sweet
Keeping the daily Scrum, or standup meeting, short is a challenge. Many of us are familiar with the "Talking Stick" used by some indigenous peoples to run run well organized tribal meetings. It's an elegantly simple way to keep a group focused and respectful. Kane Mar, a west coast XP coach has blogged about how a number of teams have adapted this idea. But seriously - using a Pig?!
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SirsiDynix Case Study: Jeff Sutherland on Highly Productive Distributed Scrum
Scrum co-creator Jeff Sutherland has just finished a paper on the SirsiDynix project, which he calls the most productive large Java project ever documented. The project used Distributed Scrum and some XP practices. Although distributed teams are often expected to experience reduced productivity, this team's productivity level matched that measured by Cohn on a co-located team!
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Fun: The Truth about Scrum Revealed
High Moon Studios, perhaps best known for their DarkWatch console game, uses the Scrum methodology to get things done. They've put out a passionate (if violent) 90-second video that tells the truth (and a little fiction) about working the Agile way.
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Are Traditional Project Managers De-Agilizing Projects?
David Nicolette fears that it is all too common to see agile teams have a traditional manager thrust upon them who doesn't understand agile and thereby harms the project through over control.