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A lot of current projects are implementing some sort of service based architecture. Testing in this architecture becomes more complex. When implementing an OSB project with Scrum you test-automation is imperative. Scrum will require more frequent testing of your system. This is only feasible (in time and money) when you automate as much as possible.   Using [...]

Last Thursday I gave a presentation about ‘Agile system development with Scrum' to an audience of project managers, business consultants and more technically involved IT people. My main purpose was to provoke a ‘paradigm change' since most people in the audience aren't involved in agile system development currently. So a large part of my presentation was about predictability [...]

Last year I published a Whitebook in Dutch about the combination of PRINCE2 and Scrum. I also promised an English translation. It is long overdue, sorry about that, but finally here it is. Why combining PRINCE2 with Scrum? I think Scrum is great and we all should use the Scrum approach whenever possible. The ‘whenever possible' bit [...]

I do love Scrum. But at the same time Scrums sucks at a lot of areas from a business point of view. In my opinion the Scrum process is great to get things done. It's great to get a motivated team with focus, it maximizes creativity and delivers value. The business side of Scrum however is almost [...]

The combination of PRINCE2 and Scrum has received the stamp of approval by the auditor.

Traditionally (if that even exists with agile project management) the team's velocity is expressed in the number of story points delivered per iteration (sprint). In an ideal (theoretical) world, the next iteration's velocity should be the same (or slightly better) then the last one. In the real world this is not the case. One cause is the [...]

My (Dutch) presentation on the combination of PRINCE2 and Scrum is published on slideshare. One warning though. In 1.5 hours it isn't possible to explain all the details of both PRINCE2 and Scrum, so I didn't. I told a little bit about Scrum and almost nothing about PRINCE2. The presentation was mostly about the specifics of [...]

Three words: Gemba, Kaikaku, Kaizen. Gemba means ‘the place truth can be found'. Kaikaku means ‘radical improvement'. Kaizen means ‘gradual improvement'. Projects are all about change. Usually we're talking about a large change (Kaikaku). That's why it's a project: a temporary organization with a specific goal. You might also argue that an agile project approach also has some Kaizen characteristics: [...]

Yesterday I published my latest Whitebook ‘PRINCE2 + Scrum: 1 + 1 = 3‘ (in Dutch) in which I make the case that PRINCE2 adds value to Scrum. This Whitebook is largely based on my presentation ‘Agile results with PRINCE2 control', which in turn is based on my latest real life project experiences. I'll try to [...]

I'm happy to announce that I'll be presenting (in Dutch) at seminar ‘Agile project results with PRINCE2 Control' Thursday the 26th of November. I'll share my experiences combining PRINCE2 with Scrum and explain what makes this combination very successful. Also, we have reserved plenty of time for questions and discussions, so hopefully there is a lot [...]

Scrum Masters normally do not have access to a Project Board but in my opinion, they should. With PRINCE2 the Project Board is accountable for the project's success. Within the Project Board there are three separate roles: The Executive is accountable for the project's Business Case. The Senior User represents the people whom will use the [...]

In most projects some amount of analysis is required. With an agile method like Scrum there's no room for a separate analysis phase. It is assumed that analysis can be done concurrently with design and build activities. This is often true when the business process is known. Sometimes also the business process needs to be determined. This is [...]

Most people advocate a “crash” start when implementing Scrum. Don't think, just go! It's very difficult to explain the advantages of Scrum when the customer is not used to “agile” thinking. Because Scrum delivers tangible results in short increments one could think it's possibly better to let the results do the talking. Here in the Netherlands the [...]

Timeboxes are widely used in agile and non-agile projects. The idea is that scope is (or should be) limited to the amount that is feasible within the given timeframe. The assumption is that the team is capable of limiting itself to tasks that can be completed within the timebox. But what happens when the teams discovers that [...]

One might say that managing expectations becomes much easier with an agile approach like Scrum. In stead of waiting for months before there is any result visible the Scrum approach delivers results each iteration (each sprint), thus building trust and creating positive energy. I would argue that managing expectations is much more challenging than one would think [...]

The Scrum method does not explicitly state that a business case is needed. So why should you have one? First of all, let me ask you another question. “Do Scrum projects have a business case?” Well of course they do. Every project has a business case. A “reason why”, a “justification of”, a specific goal. Sometimes a business [...]

I was asked by one of my clients to give a short introduction into Agile. As we did not have an appropriate presentation for this kind of audience and knowledge level I decided to create a new presentation. And while I was thinking of a good metaphor to compare traditional waterfall against agile methodologies the [...]

We as Agilists are extremely result driven: delivering value to the customer as soon as possible is the axle around which our work and vision revolve. This can help us but also hamper us in the process of bringing Agile to a non-Agile environment. Being aware of this may already help us be more effective [...]

The 2010 US Scrum Gathering in Orlando wraps up after an all-Open Space Day 3, exemplifying the collaborative and empirical essence of Scrum as its originally intended. By Mike Bria

Look around you and you'll find that many organizations claiming to be Agile or "doing Scrum" are actually doing something else. I call it W-agile. They dress up the work in the trappings of XP and Scrum but really work in nested mini-waterfalls focusing on one big delivery at the end of the project. Often, developers are working in isolation from their business stakeholders which misses the original agile vision. For example, this week I ran a class on Planning with User Stories. Questions asked (see pic) by the people on the course hinted that they were working in a...