Author: nsholman

Imagine you just finished working on an intense project sprint and want to review your group’s progress. While you could simply talk it over with your teammates and move on to the next sprint, proper methods and techniques known as agile retrospectives exist that serve to strengthen your review experience.  According to GroupMap’s analysis, “An agile retrospective is a short meeting for project teams to reflect on the most recent stage of their project, analyze their processes, and identify things they can do better moving forward.” (Groupmap) These agile retrospectives allow project teams to self-organize and are a fundamental staple in Agile development.

Now that we have established what an agile retrospective is, let us discuss various tools to enhance your team. For starters there is the Starfish template. This template is simple; “Use 5 categories to reflect on team practices and activities and how they are impacting our results” (Fernandez).These categories are start, stop, less, more, and keep. Let’s say you want to keep your current workflow schedule but with more communication between teammates. Simply pin each objective to its respective section and you are done.

Of course this is not the only way to self organize. Other templates such as PIPA (Puzzles, Ideas, Problems, Appreciations), and ORID (Objective, Reflective, Interpretive, Decision) are among various visual tools to compliment the Agile retrospective experience. “Any team, regardless of their level of Agility, can use retrospectives to improve.”(Fernandez).

References

Image courtesy of https://luis-goncalves.com/content/uploads/2013/08/starfish-exercise_luis-goncalves.png

Cohn, M. (n.d.). Self-Organizing Agile Teams Don’t Just Happen by Chance. Retrieved from https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/self-organizing-teams-are-not-put-together-randomly

Fernandez, M. (2018, June 19). Top 10 Agile Retrospective Templates & Techniques. Retrieved from https://instantagenda.com/top-10-retrospective-templates/

Lu, J. (2018, April 08). Agile Retrospective Template, Online Retrospective Tools. Retrieved from https://www.groupmap.com/map-templates/agile-retrospective/

Let’s say after weighing different career options you decided to become a Scrum Master in the field of software project management. Congratulations, but do you even know what a Scrum Master even is? For starters, “a Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum… by helping everyone understand scrum theory, practices, rules and values.”(Scrum.org). They seek to reinforce important Scrum principles such as the prioritization of “individuals’ interactions over processes and tools” and “customer collaboration over contact negotiation” (Scrum Alliance). The learning the fundamentals of Scrum requires more than what is learned in a standard college level course. Proper scrum training requires special courses and certifications.

Those who seek Scrum Master certification have multiple options to choose from. For now we will be discussing what The Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org have to offer. The Scrum alliance is an organization that was founded in 2001, they tout themselves as the “largest, most established and influential professional membership and certification organization in the Agile community” (Scrum Alliance). While it is the most popular certification it has its caveats. In his rundown of Scrum certifications, sales/marketing professional Chris Crawley points out that all it required was a 2 day training course. “This led to obvious criticism, considering someone without any experience in Scrum and demonstrated no knowledge of it could still walk out of the course as a Certified Scrum Master by simply paying the registration fee and attending the course.” (Crawley, 2017). This was remedied with an updated assessment in 2012 but many still have their doubts.

Then there is the Professional Scrum Master(PSM) held by Scrum.org. While it and the Scrum Alliance’s certification are based off the foundations of the Scrum Guide, the PSM focuses more on assessments and reinforcing the knowledge gained. This hands-on direct teaching style is backed by Crawley’s discussions with clients who own both stating, “But clients who hold both certifications have shared the PSM is more knowledge based on the direct teachings found in the Scrum Guide.” (Crowley, 2017).

So there you have it. The path to being a proficient Scrum Master has several obstacles and requirements. It is not for everyone, but the knowledge gained through certifications only enlightens and elevates those who seek them. Whether you choose to partake in a Scrum Alliance course or enroll in Scrum.org PSM assessments, the payoff will be worth it with the right work ethic and confidence.

References/Citations

“Certification Types & Tracks.” Foundational & Advanced Scrum Training & Certifications, 2019, http://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified.

Crawley, Chris. “Which Is The Best SCRUM MASTER Certification?” LinkedIn, 20 Apr. 2017, http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-best-scrum-master-certification-chris-crawley-csm.

“Professional Scrum Master I.” Scrum.org, Scrum.org, 2019, http://www.scrum.org/professional-scrum-master-i-certification.

“What Is a Scrum Master?” Scrum.org, http://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-scrum-master.

Scrum Alliance. “Who Is Scrum Alliance®.” About Us, http://www.scrumalliance.org/about-us.

There are a variety of roles in a software development team, each with their own special roles and responsibilities. Today we are going to discuss the skills of the Business Analyst. First let us discuss what exactly is a business analyst. According to an article by Villanova University, a business analyst is “multifaceted… tend to be clear communicators, smooth facilitators, precise analyzers and team players” (Villanova). They are an essential bridge between the gap that can divide the software development team and the business/corporate elements.

Now that we have covered the definition of the business analyst, let us divulge into its necessary skills and responsibilities. While the analyst role is difficult to pin down, a core theme of the job is communication. “Business analysts spend a significant amount of time interacting with clients, users, management, and developers.” (Doyle). This constant back and forth relay of information is what progresses development of software products. Aside from requiring strong communication skills a business analyst must also be efficient at critical thinking and analysis. Business analysts are more than simple middlemen; “the BA should be creative, should be able to analyze so many actors and factors at play within the context of the problem and creatively solve the problem by recommending solutions.” (Adesope). Combined with proper communication, the business analyst must engineer solutions in the event of development obstacles or shortcomings such as a need to adjust the scope. Thirdly there is modeling and documentation. “BSAs will often work with project stakeholders to identify, model, and then document their requirements and business domain details” (Ambler). A strong business analyst should keep these three skills under their belt if they are seeking a successful career.  

Looking at the image above. As you can see, the arch above the man’s head contains the three skills/responsibilities we discussed earlier along with some others. At the center of the arch is Communications Requirements, which highlights its importance in the field. When coordinating with agile development, the consistent flow of deliverables and greater emphasis on communicating with stakeholders makes business analysts more important than ever. In Scott Ambler’s essay on business analysts, he proposes “Active Stakeholder Participation”, stating that “the goal of this practice is to reduce the feedback loop and thereby improve communication” (Ambler). This streamlines the business analyst role while keeping them an integral member of the software development team.

Citations

Image Source: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-dba9ae69e7c87f77861663b1a68632e4

Adesope, Bola. “Top 5 Skills for Business Analysts.” BA Times, 25 Oct. 2018, http://www.batimes.com/articles/top-5-skills-for-business-analysts.html.

Ambler, Scott W. “Rethinking the Role of Business Analysts: Towards Agile Business Analysts?” Rethinking the Role of Business Analysts: Towards Agile Business Analysts?, agilemodeling.com/essays/businessAnalysts.htm.

“Business Analyst Career Path.” Villanovau.com, 21 Nov. 2013, http://www.villanovau.com/resources/business-analysis/business-analyst-career/.

Doyle, Alison. “Business Analyst Skill Set Plus Core Competencies.” The Balance Careers, 2 Nov. 2018, http://www.thebalancecareers.com/business-analyst-skill-set-2062363.

What makes a strong team? This is a question that has many answers, but all apply for different situations. In agile development, there is a focus on constant communications and shared responsibility in order to keep everything consistent. Much like the adjective it was named after agile favors dynamic functionality and helps to separate true teamwork from a mere collective of individuals.

In Rumesh Wijentunge’s article on teams in Scrum, his five core principles on development are, “Cross Functional, Self Organizing, Self Healing, Goal Oriented and committed, Lead and Protected by a leader” (Wijentunge, 2019). Cross functionality is when group members have a diverse set of skills that have overlap and a common goal. In agile this goal is to deliver a consistent product that satisfies the customer’s needs. Not everyone needs to be a swiss army knife, but being able to fill for someone’s role in the event they are not available helps keep everything running smooth. A team needs to be both self healing and organizing because this freedom to work interdependently comes at the cost of internal conflict resolution. The Scrum Leader/Project Lead is not a babysitter and any issues should be resolves within the group as to not impede progress.

Lastly let us talk about the importance of agile team leadership and positive attitudes during development. Wijentunge describes the leader as, “a servant leader who leads by example… and solve problems through subjective and objective discussions and analysis.” (Wijentunge, 2019). While the leader seemingly rank higher than everyone else it is still their responsibility to work within the agile team to keep operations running smooth. Confidence is another important aspect of agile teamwork. Intelliware’s presentation on agile team dynamics reinforces this belief, saying, “Everyone on the team is aware of and respects their own and each other team member’s abilities.” (Intelliware). This mutual understanding combined with cross functionality promotes team diversity. When combined with activities such as whiteboard sessions and proper debates keep work ethic strong and development consistent.

Work Cited

Iwdadmin. “Agile Team Dynamics.” Intelliware Development Inc., 20 May 2016, http://www.intelliware.com/agile-team-dynamics/.Wijetunge, Rumesh, et al.

“Importance of ‘Teams’ in Scrum.” KnowledgeHut Blog, KnowledgeHut, 18 Sept. 2017, http://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/agile/importance-of-teams-in-scrum.