Duncan questions Flashcards
What’s the purpose of the Daily Scrum ?
The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to allow the Devs to inspect their plan for the next 24 hrs and adapt Sp Backlog based on the progress toward the Sprint Goal depending on the opportunities and challenges Devs face on a daily basis.
It’s a timebox event for Devs to stay focused, increase the chance to achieve Sp Goal, improve efficient communication, identify impediments, create cohesion to solve them, make quick decisions and eliminate needs of other meetings.
What might happen if the team do not have the Daily Scrum?
Team might lose an opportunity to Inspect their progress on a Daily basis and to reduce the feedback loop. Impediments could be raised too late, risks could be increased , dev could lose focus, go on the wrong direction based on a delayed communication, work on less valuable items, feel alone then waste their time expected feedbacks, energy and motivation.
Empiricism requires transparency for effective inspection to occur.
What is inspected and adapted during the Daily Scrum?
Provide an example of what the Developers can do to increase transparency?
In Daily Scrum dev inspect the progress toward the Sp Goal and adapt their plan (Sp Backlog) for the next 24 hours.
To increase transparency, dev could create a collaborative board with work they have done, work for the day and work done. They could also use some complementary practices like visual tools such as a burn down chart to share the remaining work to do.
If your team asked you to facilitate the Daily Scrum what approach might you use?
I might teach them firstly how to do a timeboxed Daily Scrum and why this event could help them.
I would use for instance the 3Qs techniques, or other facilitation techniques such as active listening, timebox tool (time-timer, miro board,…), stick to speak.
If you stakeholders asked to join the Daily Scrum what might you say?
I would ask them why they want to attend the DS? Cause might be diverse :
Do they need more visibility ?
Do they want to keep control on the team?
Do they need daily reporting?
I would not invite them to join because they might interrupt the event even if they try to stay as an observer.
I would gently remind them that DS is the meeting for Developers by Developers to inspect their plan and adapt it to reach the Sp Goal. We want the Sc Team to be self managed and best know how to identify impediments and make the best decision.
I would encourage stakeholders to go and see Sc Teams if they need more visibility and assist the Sp Review to inspect the valuable and usable Increment.
For the 5th time in a row, the Product Owner is surprised with the outcomes of the Sprint. She expresses her anger and unhappiness during the Sprint Review. This has resulted in the Developers having low morale.
You are the Scrum Master, what would you do and why?
It seems that the PO discovered the Increment only at the SReview, with the consequences of having demotivated, not empowered team, loss of focus. This situation is a manifestation of a lack of decision making that was not reached as close to the point of work.
Here is what I tried in one such situation :
Enabling transparency of the Product backlog and having a clear Product Goal in order to help the whole Scum Team to inspect and adapt the progress toward the Product Goal. I have empowered the PO to take ownership, effectively managing the Prod Backlog and maximize the value delivered by the team.
Also, I have encourage the PO to feel considered as a team member, being part of the team so that dev could maximize value and focus on quality, being present (not only as the SReview) and applying Scrum Values generate motivation, build trust and re-enforce confidence in a context of uncertainty and complexity.
What’s the purpose of the Sprint Review?
The Sprint Review is a collaborative meeting to decide what to do next. This event is an opportunity for Sc Team and stakeholders to inspect the valuable and usable Increment, and offer some feedback in order to adapt the plan for the Product. They are collaborative discussing progress toward the Prod Goal, update the Prod Backlog based for instance on new user needs, market changes, stakeholders feedback, technical innovation…
What might we say to stakeholders who are too busy for the Sprint Review?
“Hi, you’re very welcome to attend our Sp Review next [Day]. A fantastic usefull and valuable product will présented and will serve this coffee and croissant :))
Sc Team will offer you an opportunity to inspect what we’ve done so far. No slides !! but enjoy a real product that save time, money and offer new functionalities.
You could then offer us some feedbacks regarding the product and what we discussed about the roadmad to make sure that our initial ideas is still answering user needs and market demand).
While coming next XX, only 3 hrs, you could then contribute to update the Prod Backlog with your insight regarding what to do next? develop the good functionalities and save time and money.
What is important for us is to build a trust relation with you , as a stakeholder. Having direct conversation with you is important, it brings sense and motivation for team members.
Warm regards,”
Who should go to the Sprint Retrospective and why?
All Scrum Team members should go to the Sp Retro in order to re-enforce Trust and Inspect their way of working (ie: what went well?, what need to be improved? how could we re enforce our Definition of Done for more quality and transparency? Our tools and way of working ?)
This event is just for Sc Team who contribute to deliver the value.
What’s the outcome of a good Sprint Retrospective?
The outcome of a good Sp Retrospective is deep conversation, courage to address the elephant and difficult subjects. Outcome are improved way of working, a stronger Definition of Done, team members who have the courage to share deep conversation, go through divergence and even face conflict situations, re-enforce trust.
Scrum Team could choose to have some improvement actions and allocate dedicated time on them on the next Sprint to work on.
In your experience, what’s the outcome of bad Sprint Retrospectives?
Based on my experience, the outcome of a bad Sp Retrospective could be :
- low impact on improvement process and tools
action not taken
- a week Definition of Done that might reduce transparency
- no courage to address the elephant,
- focus on details, waste time on no valuable discussions
- close minded, no discussions, conflict increased
- no respect each other, blame people / break trust
If you are facilitating a Sprint Retrospective and no-one has anything to say, what facilitation tools and techniques have you used?
To have everyone expressing their opinion, I would use some icebreaker techniques such as Dixit cards ; they are a powerful tool for enabling collective intelligence and open conversation. Because of their neutrality they invite each of us, individually, to express what they feel based on picking a card and evoquing their concern. Why did I choose this picture… It makes me think of…
As a SM I also use some timeline with team mood associated with important events to review how things are going during the Sprint.
Facilitation tools are various. I also use some Liberating Structure, my favorite for groups of people is : 1-2-4-all because it opens a pair conversation, unlocking sharing and breaking the silence before confronting things with the group.
How does the Product Owner make the Product Backlog transparent?
The PO makes the PB transparent by :
- making it visible and available for everyone in the organization
- keeping it up to date
- keeping it ordered by value
- writing in a language that everyone (stakeholder and Sc Team) understand
- open conversation for each PBi
- sharing and communicated a Prod Goal
(The Prod Backlog should be transparent but also because it may contain strategic data, should not be public (ie : public space where anyone could have access).
Who owns the Sprint Backlog and when do they update it?
Dev own the Sp Backlog, they inspect it all the time and update it as needed, as soon as they have new insight. Dev use it on a daily basis (at Daily Scrum) and adapt it depending on the new opportunity, learning and challenge they face. However they don’t wait for a dedicated event to provoke conversation if change happens.
Who owns the increment and what purpose does it serve?
The increment is owned by all the Scrum Team.
The purpose is to support empiricism by getting a usable and valuable piece of product that meets the DoD. It represents one little step torward to the Prod Goal and allows stakeholders and Sc Team to inspect it. Everyone could provide feedback based on what they observe in real life (bugs, design, ergonomy, performance), new insight (market change, business strategy) and adapt the Prod Backlog which represents the product roadmap.
The increment provides transparency for everyone.
