Agile & Scrum Basics

Darius Juostas
Mar-2020
Agenda
Overall PPM status – Green

• Intro to Agile & Scrum

• Scrum events: Sprint Planning, Daily Standups, Reviews &
Retros
• Definition of Done & Definition of Ready
• Refinement
• Q&A

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Myself
Overall PPM status – Green

- 20+ years PM (PMBOK, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, ScrumBan, etc.)

- 10+ years team manager
- 10+ years with Agile (SM, PO) (Adform, Tieto, Barclays, Danske)
- PMP, CSM, CSP, LeSS, CAL, …
- ITIL v3 Foundation, Service Operation, CMMI, Lean, SixSigma, ...
- Mathematics and Computer Science Master degree
- ISM Project Management Master program
- PM, Agile, Leadership trainer experience
- Scrum Guide and Nexus Guide translator to Lithuanian
- Agile events

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Why?
Overall PPM status – Green

“Here is Edward Bear,

coming downstairs now,
bump, bump, bump, bump,
on the back of his head,
behind Christopher Robin. It
is, as far as he knows, the
only way of coming
downstairs, but sometimes
he feels that there is another
way, if only he could stop
bumping for a moment and
think of it.”

A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

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What does Agile mean?
Overall PPM status – Green

agile (adʒʌɪl)
adjective

1. Able to move quickly and easily. Able

to think and understand quickly
2. Relating to or denoting a method of
project management, used especially
for software development, that is
characterized by the division of tasks
into short phases of work and frequent
reassessment and adaptation of plans

Lexico, powered by Oxford

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Agile Manifesto (2001) – Agile values
Overall PPM status – Green

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Agile Principles
Overall PPM status – Green
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of
valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness
change for the customer's competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months,
with a preference to the shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support
they need, and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not being done – is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behaviour accordingly.

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Agile frameworks, methods, practices …
Overall PPM status – Green

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Agile frameworks
Overall PPM status – Green

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Scrum
Overall PPM status – Green
Scrum is a framework for developing,
delivering, and sustaining complex products.

Scrum (n): A framework within which people

can address complex adaptive problems,
while productively and creatively delivering
products of the highest possible value.

Scrum is:
• Lightweight
• Simple to understand
• Difficult to master

The Scrum framework consists of Scrum

Teams and their associated roles, events, http://www.scrumguides.org/
artifacts, and rules, described throughout the https://www.scrumalliance.org/
Scrum Guide.

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Scrum: artifacts, roles and events
Overall PPM status – Green

Scrum

Product Product
Backlog Owner

Sprint Scrum
Artifacts Roles
Backlog Master

Increment Development Team

Events

Sprint Daily Sprint

Sprint Retrospective
Planning Scrum Review

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Scrum at a glance
Overall PPM status – Green

Policies:
• Definition of Done
• Definition of Ready
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Scrum roles
Overall PPM status – Green

Development Team… Scrum Master… Product Owner…

Do the things right Get better Do the right things

How Shielding What and Why

Cross functional team Coaching Knowledge
T-shaped Facilitating Time
Removing own impediments Removing impediments Authority
Self organized Well connected Good communicator
7 +/- 2 Well respected Bridge Business and Dev.
Servant leader Maximise value / ROI
Just one person

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Scrum theory
Overall PPM status – Green
Scrum is founded on empirical process control theory.

Three pillars uphold every implementation of empirical process

control
• Transparency
• Inspection
• Adaptation

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Product backlog
Overall PPM status – Green

What is Items Example

• A list of all desired work on the Features Esti-
Backlog item
product mate
Bugs Allow an existing customer to
• Many items are high-level to 5
request for a car loan
start with detail added later
Tech work Allow an existing customer to
2
• Ordered by the product owner cancel the request
And adjusted as the product Stories Allow an existing customer to
3
owner learns more change the request
Product backlog
Knowledge Automate approval of car
• Helps create a shift from items 20
acquisition loan request
documents to discussions
Allow no existing customers
Process 40
Improvement to request car loan

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User stories – the iceberg
Overall PPM status – Green

Theme
A collection of
related user
stories
Priority

Details

Epic
A large user story

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User stories – slice horizontally vs. vertically
Overall PPM status – Green

Slicing horizontally vs. Slicing vertically

Back-end

API

Front-end

Testing

Not testable & not releasable Testable & potentially releasable

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User stories – why estimate?
Overall PPM status – Green

We use estimates:
1. To guide the Product Backlog prioritisation
2. To focus our Sprint Planning efforts
3. To predict the future

The items on the

When considering
Product Backlog When we have Story
what to include in the
should be ordered by Point estimates on all
upcoming Sprint, we
taking into account the items on the Product
should only consider
value, cost and risk of Backlog, and when we
as many Story Points
each item. have a measurement
as were completed in
of Velocity of the
the previous Sprint(s).
The Story Point team, we can, for all
estimate for an item is intents and purposes,
This is called the
“proportional” to the predict the future.
Velocity of the team.
cost of the item.

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User stories – units for estimating
Overall PPM status – Green

• Can you distinguish a 1-point story from a 2?

• How about a 17 from an 18?
• Use a set of numbers that make sense, like:
– 0, ½, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40 and 100
– Stay mostly in a 1-10 range

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Planning poker
Overall PPM status – Green

1. Each estimator is given a deck of cards,

each card has a valid estimate written on it
2. Customer/Product owner reads a story and
it’s discussed briefly
3. Each estimator selects a card that’s his or
her estimate
4. Cards are turned over so all can see them
5. Discuss differences (especially outliers)
6. Re-estimate until estimates converge

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Refinement
Overall PPM status – Green

Done as part of the Sprint.

Refinement of the product backlog
helps you make the right product
The responsibility of the Product
decisions by integrating new
Owner.
insights into the backlog, and it
helps you get the product backlog
The whole team should participate ready for the next sprint.
– the backlog should be known by
the whole team.

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Definition of Done (Exit criteria)
Overall PPM status – Green

• A DoD drives the quality of work and is used to

assess when a Item has been completed in that
state
• Team Agreement / Company Standard
• It is a (comprehensive) checklist of necessary, value-
added activities that assert the quality of a feature
and not the functionality of that feature
• DoD is informed by reality where it captures
activities that can be realistically committed by the
team to be completed

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Definition of Ready
Overall PPM status – Green

• Definition of Ready:
• The stories / tasks at the top of the Backlog that the Team
will be taking into the Sprint Backlog, must be Ready

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Sprint Planning meeting
Overall PPM status – Green
• The Development Team commit to
the Sprint Goal
• The Product Owner present the
Sprint Goal
• The Team pick one story from the
Product Backlog
• …and continues until the Team
cannot take more into the Sprint
• The Team break the stories into
(sub-)tasks
• The Team present their activities
for the Sprint

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Sprint Backlog
Overall PPM status – Green

Might be called a “Task Board”, “Story Wall”, or “Scrum Board”, …

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Daily Scrum (Daily Stand-up)
• Coordination
Overall PPM status – of
Green
team effort in order to reach the goals / plans: to plan next
24 hours and forecast upcoming work
• Standing up to keep it short – maximum 15 minutes
• Team decides structure of the meeting. Not a status meeting, it is protected
from others disruption
• The 3 questions for each team member are (recommendation):
• What did I do yesterday that helped the Team meet the plans?
• What will I do today to help the Team meet the plans?
• Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the Team from meeting the plans?
• Walk the Board, that is, structure the stand-up by walking through each work
item that is displayed on your board:
• Blockers
• Expedite or emergency items
• Items that haven't moved since last stand up (likely to be stuck)
• Everything else by priority

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Sprint Burndown chart
Overall PPM status – Green

Displays the quantity of work remaining and the

time elapsed since the start of the sprint.
Behind:
1. Work smarter
2. Get help
3. Renegotiate goal

Ahead:
1. Renegotiate goal
2. Invest in productivity

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Sprint Review
Overall PPM status – Green

The purpose of the Sprint Review is to get

feedback from stakeholders about the increment. Done
Increment Sprint Review

B Max 4hrs1
The increment is assessed against the sprint goal
determined during the sprint planning meeting. A

Participants in the Sprint Review are the full

Scrum Team and any relevant stakeholders Scrum Team

(management, customers, etc.)

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Retro meetings
Overall PPM status – Green

• The Retrospective meeting is an opportunity for the Team to inspect it self

and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next future
• All team members participate as a peer team members in the meeting
• The Retrospective occurs periodically (not too often, not to rarely) to assure
continues improvement in processes, relations and work results
• It is time-boxed
• It has to be positive and productive

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Retro meetings – how to?
Overall PPM status – Green

• Set the stage:

• Set the tone and direction for the retrospective
• Gather data:
• Create a shared memory; highlight pertinent information and events
• Generate insights:
• Think creatively; look for patterns, themes and connections
• Decide what to do:
• Generate and prioritize valuable, clear actions
• High priority actions has to have owners and timelines
• Close:
• Summarize and end the meeting

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Retro meetings – how to?
Overall PPM status – Green

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High productive Scrum
Overall PPM status – Green

Patterns for high productive Scrum

• Everyone must be trained in Scrum framework

• Backlog must be READY before taking into Sprint
• Software must be DONE at the end of the Sprint
• Pair immediately if only one person can do a task
• No Multitasking
• Physical Scrum Board
• 1 Week Sprints
• Everything (including support) is prioritized by PO

• Jens Østergaard, My Personal Journey 2017

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Scrum
Scrum – it’s a tool
Overall PPM status – Green
• Like any tools, Scrum is neither perfect nor complete
• Scrum doesn’t tell you everything that you need to do
• Scrum just provide certain constraints & guidelines
• You are expected to experiment with the process and customize it to your
environment
• In fact, you have to experiment!

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Overall PPM status – Green

Thank You!

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