Where is my city? – Lego scrum simulation

Posted on by tisquiiirrel

I really love games, that is why I am trying to use them in my work life too. When it comes to the serious questions – adopting new processed framework or show the team why it is great to work in a team – I prefer to use games too. It is fun, it is easy and very engaging. When I came across lego scrum simulation by Alexey Krivitsky, I thought – “Bingo! That is what I need.” In addition – I really wanted to buy some lego and could not find any excuse to do that…So it was my chance.

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Supernatural PM

Posted on by tisquiiirrel

I want to share my thoughts on the main project manager/scrum master/leader responsibilities in the team. In the vacancies texts I usually come across the following PMs responsibilities: he should plan, estimate, manage risks, etc. But why our projects are still so often a disaster, nevertheless our PMs are planning, estimating, managing risks, etc and doing that thoroughly?

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Misconceptions about agile

Posted on by tisquiiirrel

I definitely love that talks with people new to agile. I bet you came across that guy, great developer, really “star” in your company, who started the discussion with “Agile is a crap…Why do we need all this overhead,why I can’t just code?”. At that moment I usually open my mouth, having the intention to say something, but instead I remain silent, my face become red, blue, green and then red again. I would better keep my thoughts at that moment off this post 🙂

So, let’s talk about the misconceptions about agile I come across. Some of them are mine, as I am not a genius and started with agile as all of you.

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We have no time – the best way to kill your project

Posted on by tisquiiirrel

Everyone is writing unit tests, everyone cares about their tech debt, everyone performs refactoring… Sure! Enter the nearest dev team room and ask them several questions:

  • Do you do TDD?
  • Do you write unit tests?
  • Do you perform refactoring?

And you’ll hear the same I usually do – “No”. And when you ask “Why?” the answer will be “We have no time!”.

I am a cruel PM, one of those guys who keep saying to the teams: “We have no place for that in the budget!”. But it scares even me. So, PMs, stop blaming the teams, it’s your job to protect them and forget about “We have no time!”.

Continue reading We have no time – the best way to kill your project