7. Improve Customer Collaboration

Question 1

What are the dangers of equating Agile and traditional roles?

Answer 1

1. Place people in poorly fitting roles

2. Perpetuate stereotype of slow organisational change

Question 2

What can be said about Agile roles in regards to traditional roles?

Answer 2

That they are usually radically different in nature. The traditional roles should not be used as a way to understand Agile roles. Instead, we must do away with the traditional roles and look at Agile roles with a fresh pair of eyes.

Question 3

How is the traditional Project Manager different from the agile Scrum Master?

Answer 3

A project manager is used to being the point person for the project. People in the organisation will come to them for status updates, and they’re responsible for hiring and firing people on their team.

A scrum master is a COMPLETELY different role. A scrum master acts as a coach — instead of having authority over the team, you’ll be encouraging them to take on greater responsibilities.

Question 4

What are the top three characteristics of a Scrum Master?

Answer 4

1. Coaches
2. Encourages
3. Facilitates self-management

Question 5

How is the traditional Business Analyst different from the agile Product Owner?

Answer 5

They are entirely different.

A business analyst will typically create project requirements for the team. Then, it’s up to the team to deliver those requirements. There is a handoff here.

On the other hand, a product owner works with the team to deliver the product — there is a shared responsibility between the product owner and the development team.

Question 6

What are the top two characteristics of a Product Owner?

Answer 6

1. Works with the team

2. Has shared responsibility

Question 7

What do most Agile coaches believe about the importance of the Product Owner and what’s the reason behind that?

Answer 7

That it’s the most important role on the team. This makes a lot of sense because the Product Owner owns the product — they are responsible for setting the direction and prioritising the work.

Question 8

What can be said about the authority of the Product Owner in an Agile team and what can be said about their being knowledgeable?

Answer 8

That they should have authority to make real-time decisions. They should have most of the answers. If the developers have a question, they shouldn’t have to email someone for an answer.

Question 9

How is a Product Manager different than a Product Owner?

Answer 9

A Product Manager works on the long-time strategy for a product — they create the budget and look at competing products. Once they have a vision, then they’ll bring in a Product Owner to actually own the product.

Question 10

What does a Product Owner work off of in a typical Agile team?

Answer 10

A product backlog, which is a ranked list of different features that the Product Owner would like included in the product.

Question 11

What did the course say was the key thing to remember about the Product Owner?

Answer 11

That they’re fully integrated into the team. They should sit with the team and be able to answer questions.

Question 12

What is the primary disadvantage of not having a Product Owner in the team or having one that is not committed to the team?

Answer 12

The team may lose a sense of direction. The developers will just deliver the parts of the product that they can finish first, which may or may not have the highest customer value.

Question 13

What is the “master” in Scrum Master about and what is it not?

Answer 13

It’s about mastering the Scrum, not about mastering the team.

Question 14

Is a Scrum Master a manager?

Answer 14

No. They are much closer to being a trainer or a coach.

Question 15

What are the characteristics of a Scrum Master?

Answer 15

1. Operate as a trainer or coach
2. Administrative worker
3. Bulldoze obstacles
4. Shield from outer interference
5. Conflict negotiator

Question 16

Why do most software projects fail and what is the fix for this in accordance with the Agile mindset?

Answer 16

Not because of some overwhelming technical challenge but rather because of bad communication. The Agile fix for this is to put much more emphasis on face-to-facee interactions.

Question 17

What can be said about teaching and learning in Agile teams?

Answer 17

Everyone on an Agile team should always be teaching and learning.

Question 18

What can be said about distributing knowledge in an Agile team?

Answer 18

That it should be a goal to distribute the knowledge to everyone else on the team.

Question 19

What is groupthink?

Answer 19

It’s when a group decides to agree with the opinion of the few experts in the group. Think “Sam says it’s a good idea, so it must be right.”

Question 20

What can be said about groupthink in Agile teams and why?

Answer 20

That an Agile team should avoid groupthink because everyone should be able to ask challenging questions about the product. This means that a tester should be able to ask a question to the database developer about their design of the database.

Question 21

What can be said about developers explaining their people to other people in the team in Agile teams and what does this call for?

Answer 21

That if a developer can’t simply explain their thinking to someone else, then it’s probably not a well-designed solution. So, the team should always be having face-to-face meetings where everyone’s contributing their ideas and asking challenging questions.