UPDATE 2013: There’s a condensed, infographic-y version here If you’re new to the agile world, what are behaviors to look for? In the chart you find examples of what I deem “agile” and “not quite so agile” behavior. These are, of course, completely subjective! Also I think there are rather too many scales. What would …
Author Archives: Corinna Baldauf
Don’t keep stuck to your daily routine
There’s a certain type of quiet movie that I like a lot. It usually starts with a stranger entering a closed group, e.g. a village and the dynamics that enfold because of it. “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert“, “Fried Green Tomatoes” or “Kitchen Stories” are excellent examples. Did you ever stop to …
Assess your agile engineering practices
Some weeks ago I read a slide deck by Jeff Nielsen about “Five Key Numbers to Gauge your Agile Engineering Efforts“. Even though using agile engineering practices is no goal in itself, the practices are usually helpful in reaching the ultimate goal of useful software. That’s why I compiled the five numbers into a single …
Scrum Master Emergency Kit
The other day at work, I was asked to moderate an impromptu meeting and while I gathered markers and stickie notes to rush to the meeting, I thought how nice it would be to have a ready-packed kit. Something to just grab and you’re good to go for basic moderation. As white boards and flip …
My Appreciation Card for ALE 2011
Last week I attended ALE 2011, an unconference organized by members of Agile Lean Europe (ALE) – “A network for collaboration of Agile & Lean thinkers and activists across Europe”. I’d like to go full circle and give to ALE 2011 something that I got to know at the conference: an appreciation card.
Agile @ Universities
Don’t you love it, when you’re sitting in a talk with a “this sounds vaguely interesting”-attitude and it turns out to be really inspiring? Happened to me at ALE 2011 with Bruce Scharlau‘s talk about “Agile at the University”. He presented the various ways, he teaches agile at Aberdeen and how all of us in …
Software Craftsmanship
A couple of days ago we talked about the Software Craftsmanship movement at work. I thought of the movement as an extension to the agile movement, that goes full circle to agile’s roots in software development, and focuses on practising coding skills. This is the Software Craftsmanship Manifesto: As aspiring Software Craftsmen we are raising …
Scrum Masters’ Occupational Hazards?
[Something light for the weekend (the sun is finally shining, yay!)] When taking notes on white boards or flip charts all day you’ll eventually lose grip on an uncapped marker: The marker stains weren’t impressed by my washing machine. I guess that’s why they are called “dry-erase” markers and not “wet-washed”… Too bad, I liked …
Getting things done: Daily goals
Searching for ways to stay more focused on the stories, several of our teams use the following trick: Each morning during standup they set themselves a daily goal. In some teams these goals are for the whole team, in others each team member sets a goal for themselves (or pairs). Either way works fine for …
That goes without saying! Not.
Whenever someone complains about a third (absent) person I usually suggest talking to said person directly. In my mind it makes perfect sense that we can’t expect someone to behave differently in the future, if they’re unaware that their behavior offended someone. Surprisingly often I get replies like: “But that should be self-evident! I really …