Category Archives: agile

Posted on

Doodling and Visual note taking on ever extending canvas

We talked about Post It notes as my Swiss Knife tool, and I introduced you to the first and THE most important use; that being the Note taking tool.

Today, I want to talk about using it as a Canvas. I have two passions in my life: the Agile Transformation and the Art. The artist within me likes to doodle, and I often come up with some quick illustrations to provide visuals on a topic that I am going to be discussing or presenting. As they say, Picture is worth a thousand words. Here are some of my Agile Doodles.

And, if you are into visual note taking, PostIt notes can also morph into an ever extending canvas. Here is an example.

 

Visual Note taking with (ever extending) Post It canvas

 

This was done by a student in one of a workshop on ‘Jump start your Agile teams’, capturing notes about what is Agile and Scrum, all using Post It notes and Visual note taking.

All right, let’s summarize: We discussed three uses of the Post-It notes so far:

  • Taking notes during discussion and conversations; while still actively participating in them
  • Canvas for doodling
  • Ever extending canvas for Visual Notetaking

Go ahead, start doodling! And, share your many ways you use Post Its in the comments section below.

Are you clear about your Minimum MVP? If not, use this sheet to describe your MVP.

If yes, are you working towards completing and Shipping it?

[bctt tweet=”Can you describe your MVP using this sheet? pic.twitter.com/lQbiNIfvqi #Agile #Transformation “]

Posted on

#makeTheShift: Start using MMPs and MVIs

Too long we have used the terminologies such as Projects and Phases. It’s time to make the shift! Let’s overhaul our dictionary and start using terminologies such as MVPs and MVIs. Why such a big fuss about terminology itself?

Start using MMPs and MVIs

The terminology, the words we use influence our actions. The words that we use to describe things, to ourselves and our partners, affect that way we think. The thoughts affect our actions and eventually, the words have the influence on the Results that we seek. We do not want the handoffs, from one stage gate to other stage gates. Instead, we want to drive our efforts to put something, even a smaller increment of the product, in the hands of our Customers.

Shift the focus from Phases and onto creating Value. Identify the deliverables, no matter how small a product increment, that brings value to a customer. As Maryellen Weimer ( @FacultyFocus ) writes in her article, language has tremendous power to influence our thoughts and actions.

In his list of 7 Habits, Steven Covey recommends starting with an end state of mind! Identify MMP and MVIs and let them drive your development and deliveries.

[bctt tweet=”Identify MMP & MVIs-Let them drive your development & deliveries #makeTheShiftpic.twitter.com/KDPimPEkPg”]

Posted on

The “No” Repertoire for Scrum Teams

Learn to say 'No' to get more Done!

In the book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown,  author talks about the importance of saying ‘No’ to focus on and completing what is important and essential right now. Get Hyper Tip

In Scrum, you go into a Sprint having already made a commitment to a number of stories. What happens when your manager, supervisor, or one of the stakeholders comes to you requesting to take on one new thing on your plate. Are you a people pleaser? Do you say ‘Yes’?

If you said ‘Yes’, you already undermined the commitment the Team made to the sprint. A better approach would be to say ‘No’. But, how do you say ‘No’ to your manager, supervisor, or the stakeholder (who might be paying the bills)?

The “No” Repertoire

In the book, Greg suggests having a ‘No’ repertoire handy. You can get to this list when faced with a situation where you have to say ‘No’, and say it gracefully. Here is my version of the ‘No’ repertoire for Scrum teams.

  • No. We can not take on this new Story as we are already ‘in flight’ into a new Sprint.
  • Yes, we may be able to take on this new Story. But, what are you willing to de-prioritize from our current Sprint?
  • Thanks for this new Story. We can put it on our Product Backlog, and take it on in the next Sprint if it is still your Priority.
  • We can take on this new Story, but are you willing to put the success of the current Sprint on the line for this new Story?
  • Can you please explain the business reasons behind this urgency (on this new Story)?
  • Why can’t this new Story wait till we get into next Sprint?

[bctt tweet=”The “No” Repertoire for #Scrum Teams! http://www.nimeshsoni.com/get-hyper-tip-learn-to-say-no/ #getHyper #Agile”]

Yes, you can say ‘No’ to your stakeholders. You just have to learn the art of saying ‘No’ gracefully!

Posted on

the Ten commandments of User Stories

An interesting thought came to mind when I was explaining User Stories to one of the team I am coaching. There are some guiding principles and practices that we must follow to be successful in writing and executing the User Stories. These are what I call commandments of writing a User Story.

What do we mean by Commandments? Let’s first look at the definition of “Commandment”.
The commandments could be a religious or moral imperatives; they act as “guiding lighthouse” to a purpose, and you hope to live by those commandments to reach certain purpose in life. In essence, they are guiding principles for individuals you hope to live by.

Similarly, in Agile projects, the purpose is to deliver business value; in small increments with each iteration. User Story is the nucleus of Agile project and success of the project heavily depends on them. I believe there are “Ten Commandments of User Stories” that will help any team venturing on the Agile journey and guide them to success.

So, here they are: the Ten commandments of User Stories

  1. Thou must deliver Business value
  2. Thou must prioritize User Stories based on Business Value (by Product Owner) and Team must take collective ownership
  3. Thou must be validation-centric
  4. Thou must be “Done Done Done”
  5. Thou must have 3Cs
  6. Thou must be Cross-functional (California roll)
  7. Thou must INVEST in User Stories (the six attributes)
  8. Thou must Size and Estimate (using Story points)
  9. Thou must Swarm (and complete few stories at a time)
  10. Thou must post Story Burnup chart