Thanks
jack

I agree with Tobias according to the fact that “Sprint” is Team’s Job.

Stakeholders just check out at the Sprint Review when the Sprint Work is DONE.

Stakeholders haven’t to loose their time with (impediment?), their wishes are A GOOD PRODUCT IN TIME… nothing else.

For the rest, great Metaphor…. I ever thought that SCRUM is some Management FENG SHUI….

scruming yours

Pierre

In order to help the Team:
- navigate the waters of ‘how’ and ‘how long’
- connect the Release- and Sprint-Planning
- connect the Product- and Sprint-Backlog
I thought a mini-guideline for the evaluation process of Stories might be useful.

It has 3 dimensions: Value, Effort, Risk (VER) with scales from 1 to 3, under the control of 3 roles. The Client (Product Owner) marks the Value of the Story.
The Developer (Team member) marks the Effort needed for the Story.
The Architect (Team member with deeper knowledge of the system) marks the Risk of the Story (i.e. how disruptive to current architecture).

The VER triplets could better inform the choice of candidate Stories to be transfered from the Product Backlog to the Sprint Backlog.

With the caveat:
Plans are worthless. Planning is essential. (Eisenhower)

Yes, I did mean the Sprint Burndown is for all to see. And, I certainly agree with Tobias’ point that it could encourage those outside the team to ‘help’ unbidden. What I teach my teams, Scrum Masters and managers is that the information within the Sprint is for the team, because they control what happens during that time. The Scrum Master as sheepdog should be nipping at the heels of those stepping over that line.

On the other hand, it is the job of management to reflect back–from outside of the team–how the process appeared to go and the results obtained, during the Sprint Review or other appropriate time. I help managers see that this reflective, potentially challenging, role is part of their job. NOT to take back control from the team, but to coach and challenge and inspire the team to its own greatness. A team sees itself more clearly precisely by having a reflection from outside of itself. Management is well suited for that in Agile. See my presentation on What Manager’s Should be Doing for their Teams (https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://collectiveedgecoaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/WhatManagersShouldbeDoingforAgileTeams.pdf)

Being a fan of Chris Corrigan’s Tao of Open Space” I was obviously drawn to this perspective of Scrum

Tobias,

Sprint burndowns should be highly visible and for all to see, including stakeholders. I insist on having the Sprint burndown in the background during our daily Scrums and stakeholders are permitted to attend quietly. My hope is that “flat lining” burndown will encourage anybody involved to ask : Can we do anything to help? If that isn’t the automatic reaction and the room is filled with
Scrum Hawks , which is often the case; it can help the ScrumMaster identify quickly the smell and act on it.

As a Scrum, we need to build up the courage to be fully transparent and stakeholders need to develop “the ability to hear unwelcome news” (Esther Derby) and react appropriately. Thankfully all teams have experienced ScrumMasters to ensure that this happens

Cheers!
Eric Laramée
Agile Coach

I am of the opinion that the sprint burndown is just as important to the stakeholders as it is to the actual development team. if not then you have already violate the first Tao, ‘The Way is Transparent’.

For us we feel it’s important that ANYONE should be able to see just how well, or not, the actual sprint is going. It’s the Scrum Master’s job to see to it that the stakeholders do not interfere with the sprint but they sure should be able to see how it’s going.