Scrum Day Europe 2017

Scrum Day Europe 2017 (Amsterdam)

Scrum Day Europe in Amsterdam wordt georganiseerd door scrum.org en Prowareness. Gunther Verheyen en Ken Schwaber initieerden het event in 2012. Anno 2017 op Scrum Day Europe wordt scrum.org vertegenwoordigd door Dave West (product owner bij scrum.org). De conferentie gaat door in het Pakhuis “De Zwijger” aan de kade. Het publiek bestaat vnl. Uit Nederlandse scrum.org  community leden, ik zelf een van de weinige (of enige) Belgische aanwezigen. Er was vooral een leuke sfeer, gezellige bedoening. Ik ontmoette er heel wat vrienden (PSTs) uit Nederland, zowel Ron Eringa, Barry Overeem, Christiaan Verwijs, Dajo Breddels, maar ook Johannes Schartau en Sergey Kotlov.

De conferentie bestaat zowel uit talks (sprekers op het podium) als meer interactieve workshops. Ikzelf mocht een talk geven over “create products with impact” – dat was opnieuw een leerrijke ervaring. (Alhoewel eerlijk gezegd ik ook graag interactieve “training from the back of the room” workshops geef).

Een impressie van de sessies

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XP Days Benelux 2016

XP Days Benelux 2016 edition took place at Kapellerput (Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Next year edition – 2017 – will take place in Belgium (Elewijt Center, Zemst)

We’ve enjoyed sessions such as:

  • retrospectives with Lego Serious Play
  • coaching stances
  • 50 ideas for graphical facilitation
  • How to create your own training games
  • evening boards games
  • Large-Scale transformation at BASE
  • etc

Photos of XP Days Benelux 2016, 24th & 25th of November, 2016, Heeze, The Netherlands.

Lean Kanban Benelux 2016

Lean Kanban Benelux 2016

Lean Kanban Benelux is part of the global conference series dedicated to adopting Modern Management Methods (Lean Kanban). There were different speakers of the Lean Kanban community at the event, including David J. Anderson (author of Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business).

Erik Jan Kaak and David J. Anderson presented a talk, and I delivered an interactive session on Playing Lean (Lean startup). Other insightful sessions were the Kanban Lego Game and an Okaloa FlowLab Simulation.

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XP Days Benelux 2015

XP Days Benelux 2015 took place 3rd & 4th of December at Elewijt Conference Center. The conference has a lot of history! XP Days has been running since 2003. XP Days brings together enthusiasts to share and learn about agile product-software development, lean thinking, eXtreme Programming, etc.

The XP Days 2015 edition has been great! We learned Italian on the tunes of “old Macdonald had a farm” and Japanese when watching Aikido and Danish when humming a beer song with Per Beining. The atmosphere at XP Days is excellent, and the overall experience is enjoyable.

IMG_0487

At the start of the morning sessions and the start of the afternoon sessions, speakers have the opportunity to pitch their sessions. In this way, the conference attendees get a better view on the topic of the different sessions and can decide last moment which session to attend.

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Agile Tour Brussels 2015

Agile Tour Brussels has been a great event, likewise previous editions.

The sessions I’ve attended:

  • Solving impediments with agile/lean techniques (by Ben Linders)
  • Poet’s guide to acceptance testing (by George Dinwiddie)
  • Causal-loop diagrams (by co-learning)

Solving impediments with agile/lean techniques (by Ben Linders)

My preference is simulations / (serious) games/workshops, simply because you learn a lot more (and it sticks).

Agile Tour Brussels 2015 impediments game 3
Agile Tour Brussels 2015 impediments game 2

  

This simulation involves a list of issues (impediments) of different kinds and a list of tools/techniques/practices to tackle problems. Some of those practices do originate in agile/lean; others have been recognised as agile/lean because agile/lean people often use these 🙂 Some of the practices have existed for a long time! Any self-respecting ‘real’ manager should know and apply those practices!

Agile Tour Brussels 2015 impediments game

The goal of the simulation is to discuss the given impediment and find (one or more) practices best suitable to start solving the impediment. As well, the discussion evolves of who is supposed to take action. Typical areas such as requirements, priorities, and budget are the product owner’s responsibility. Specific team impediments should be reflected in the team by (for example) the Scrum Master (in a Scrum team), and the Scrum Master can assist in exploring how to tackle the issue. The team itself must take on some actions, so the team learns how to deal with problems in the future.

Poet’s guide to acceptance testing (by George Dinwiddie)

The Given-When-Then format is a style to represent tests and is part of Behaviour Driven Development. The goal of the exercise was to evaluate the level of clearness (un)ambiguousness of given tests. Frequently tests are filled with clutter, pre-conditions, post-conditions, and other irrelevant information. Also, You should carefully choose words to have the correct meaning in the tests. Hence the link with poetry 😉

Agile Tour Brussels 2015 acceptance testing

Smells (warnings) regarding test scenarios:

Agile Tour Brussels 2015 acceptance testing 2

Resources:

Causal-loop diagrams (by co-learning)

A causal loop diagram is a causal diagram that aids in visualising how different variables in a system are interrelated. (wikipedia.org)

You can use Causal-loop diagrams to analyse how the system will behave when changing variables or adding a ‘solution’ (or ‘quick-fix’).

The exercise involved the creation of a causal-loop diagram regarding the change of having individual versus shared ownership of a system component. See the example below.

Agile Tour Brussels 2015 causal loop diagram

The variables identified:

  • Quality of the component
  • Quality of the product
  • Level of coherence (holistic view)
  • (number of) Integration issues
  • Level of knowledge sharing / knowledge availability
  • (number of) Organisational silos
  • Level of reusability (maintainability) of the component
  • (number of) different technologies

Lean UX workshop

Creation of proto-personas and hypothesis statements

Agile Tour Brussels 2015 proto-personas
Agile Tour Brussels 2015 proto persona Google Glass
Agile Tour Brussels 2015 hypothesis statement

 

Agile By Example 2015

Agile By Example 2015

Agile by Example (in Warsaw, Poland) is a great conference. On the 1st day there are workshops, on the 2nd and 3rd day the meeting takes place in a cinema!

Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw

There are great presentations on a giant screen and comfortable chairs to sit in. One could say that there’s a greater distance between the speaker and the audience, but for me, the experience was superior 🙂 Moreover, the speakers were hanging around after their session, so you could go and speak with them ask some questions.

The talks have been recorded, and videos will be published on the Agile By Example channel.

 

Day 1

Workshop on management 3.0 workout techniques (by Daniel Skowroński @_skowronski)

We’ve created our map and played the moving motivators.

ABE 15 - Management 3.0
ABE 15 – Management 3.0

Day 2

Beyond Budgeting (by Bjarte Bogsnes @bbogsnes)

ABE15 - Beyond Budgetting
ABE15 – Beyond Budgeting

 

Evo Planning (by Niels Malotaux @nielsmx)

Niels talked about “evolutionary planning.”

ABE 15 - Evo Planning
ABE 15 – Evo Planning

Make Impact Not Software (by Gojko Adzic @gojkoadzic)

Gojko presented a great talk. Gojko presents on high tempo, telling a story, nicely visualized and in-depth.

ABE 15 - Make Impact Not Software
ABE 15 – Make Impact Not Software
ABE 15 - Make Impact Not Software
ABE 15 – Make Impact Not Software
ABE 15 - Make Impact Not Software
ABE 15 – Make Impact Not Software

Be on a par during Sprint Retrospective (by Izabela Kowalik @izabela_kowalik)

Proposal on an alternative way to hold retrospective (instead of the usual Glad, Sad, Mad) FYI, here’s a site about different retrospective formats.

ABE 15 - Be on a par during Sprint Retrospective
ABE 15 – Be on par during Sprint Retrospective

Silent Sort Estimating (by Tomasz Wykowski, @twykowski)

Technique for estimating (alternative to planning poker)

ABE 15 - Silent Sort Estimating
ABE 15 – Silent Sort Estimating
ABE 15 - Silent Sort Estimating
ABE 15 – Silent Sort Estimating

My Lean Spectacles (by Tobbe Gyllebring, @drunkcod)

ABE 15 - My Lean Spectacles
ABE 15 – My Lean Spectacles

Great talk by Tobbe. What I surely remember:

FAIL = “First Attempt In Learning.”

Lean = LeaRn

Day 3

Limit WIP or DIE (by Jim Benson @ourfounder )

I had the pleasure to dine & wine with Jim Benson and some other great agile people. Jim Benson’s talk was spot on: too many organizations struggle with too much WIP (Work in Progress) and fail to see that this prevents them from moving on to “real” flow.

ABE 15 - Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 – Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 - Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 – Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 - Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 – Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 - Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 – Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 - Limit WIP or DIE
ABE 15 – Limit WIP or DIE

Examples how to move towards Zero Defects (by Niels Malotaux @nielsmx)

ABE 15 - Examples how to move towards Zero Defects
ABE 15 – Examples of how to move towards Zero Defects
ABE 15 - Examples how to move towards Zero Defects
ABE 15 – Examples of how to move towards Zero Defects

Strategy Deployment: The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility (by Karl Scotland @kjscotland)

ABE 15 - Strategy Deployment - The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 – Strategy Deployment – The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 - Strategy Deployment - The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 – Strategy Deployment – The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 - Strategy Deployment - The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 – Strategy Deployment – The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 - Strategy Deployment - The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 – Strategy Deployment – The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 - Strategy Deployment - The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility
ABE 15 – Strategy Deployment – The Secret Sauce for Enterprise Agility

No estimates: how you can predict the release date of your project without estimating (by Vasco Duarte)

Vasco published his book on #NoEstimates. Besides being a widely discussed topic (like on Twitter) with many people saying nonsense, Vasco’s talk was amusing and enlightening. His book is on my reading list. FYI also Yves (Hanoulle) @YvesHanoulle facilitated a discussion on the #NoEstimates topic at ACB (Agile Consortium Belgium)

ABE 15 - NoEstimates
ABE 15 – NoEstimates
ABE 15 - NoEstimates
ABE 15 – NoEstimates
ABE 15 - NoEstimates
ABE 15 – NoEstimates
ABE 15 - NoEstimates
ABE 15 – NoEstimates

Product development is an experiment (by Jim Benson)

It’s one of my favourite talks. I am a massive advocate of approaching any product/service/software development as an experiment (hence my interest in Lean UX, Lean Startup, Discovery Kanban). Build/measure/learn is the basic cycle for any product development. Moreover, Jim explained that creative product development is a team sport: a collaborative approach.

ABE 15 - Product development is an experiment
ABE 15 – Product development is an experiment
ABE 15 - Product development is an experiment
ABE 15 – Product development is an experiment

Taking Back Agile (by Tim Ottinger @tottinge)

Great closing by Tim about going back to agile’s root values and principles.

ABE 15 - Taking back Agile
ABE 15 – Taking back Agile

Panel discussions and possibilities to talk with the experts were also happening.

I had the opportunity to wine & dine with great people:

ABE 15 - dinner
ABE 15 – dinner

Agile by Example, I’ll return.

ABE 15 - closing
ABE 15 – closing
XP Days Benelux

Mini XP Days Benelux 2015

XP Days Benelux is een jaarlijkse conferentie over XP, Agile, Lean en gaat afwisselend door in België en Nederlands. Er is per jaar een volledige editie (Maxi XP Days)  en een mini editie (Mini XP Days) die het beste van de sessies van de vorige Maxi terug uitbrengt.

XP Days Benelux

XP Days Benelux

Mini XP Days Benelux 2015 programme

Mini XP Days Benelux 2015 programme

Dit is een verslag van 4 sessies die ik bijgewoond heb tijdens de Mini XP Days Benelux 2015.

Product owner game (door Paul Kuijten)

(Educatieve) games bieden het voordeel dat je zaken (details) van de realiteit kan abstraheren en je kunt focussen op een concrete leerervaring. Gefaciliteerde workshops en games bieden een mogelijkheid om effectief iets te gronde te leren (iets dat ‘blijft’ hangen) door zelf dingen uit te proberen.

Het spel simuleert de rol van de product owner. Het is een kaartspel (de kaarten stellen de backlog items voor) en de dobbelsteen bepaalt wanneer het spel ten einde is (wanneer de ‘shipping’ gebeurt en dus toont aan hoeveel waarde er gecreëerd is totdat moment).

De doelstelling van het spel is om de rol en verantwoordelijkheden van de product owner beter te leren kennen, en om de balans tussen ‘refinement’ (het verder analyseren van items) en ‘oplevering’ (en dus creatie van waarde) te ontdekken.

Praktisch: features in de backlog hebben een effort inschatting en een bepaling van de verwachtte waarden. Bij refinement tot op user story niveau, krijg je een nieuwe effort inschatting en waarde (zoals het hoort te zijn). Het spel (de sprints) kan abrupt eindigen – door het lot van de dobbelsteen.

Het is spel vond ik heel leuk en is een aanrader om te spelen met product owners, maar ook teams of andere stakeholders om het belang van een backlog en refinement te leren kennen.

De abstractie is hier dat we ons niet bezighouden met het detail (complexiteit) van effort en waarde bepaling, deze zijn gegeven. Het spel illustreert duidelijk de verschillende factoren die meespelen tijdens het rangschikken van een backlog.

Link naar het artikel op InfoQ: Playing the Product Owner Value Game

Product owner game (2)

Product owner game (2)

Product owner game (1)

Product owner game (1)

Product owner game (4)

Product owner game (4)

Product owner game (3)

Product owner game (3)

Visual facilitation (door Jef Cumps)

Visuele facilitatie is het gebruik van visuals en drawings / sketches tijdens workshops / besprekingen. Het incorporeren van visuals is een belangrijke troef om workshops / trainingen / besprekingen interactief te maken en de uitkomst te verhogen. Bij gebruik van visuals en het maken van visuals op maat tijdens een workshop kan de trainer/facilitator/spreker inspelen op input en is de inbreng, de betrokkenheid van de deelnemers veel groter.

Tijdens deze workshop beoefenden we de basis van sketching (schrijven van woorden; contouren, connectoren, frames, etc)

Nadruk werd gelegd op gebruik van kwalitatieve materialen (stiften) en papier.

Oefenen is belangrijk, dus koop je enkele stiften en flipchart papier en ga aan het werk (ik doe dat alvast, ook al na mijn 1e workshop ervaring met Mara Callaert)

Visual facilitation (4)

Visual facilitation (4)

Visual facilitation (3)

Visual facilitation (3)

Visual facilitation (1)

Visual facilitation (1)

Visual facilitation (2)

Visual facilitation (2)

Desirements on the fly (door Per M. Beining)

Per M. Beining presenteerde verschillende tools & technieken voor de flow van ‘business idea’ tot implementatie en roll-out. Dit was voor mij een interessant overzicht en een goede tip om bepaalde technieken, tools te leren of op te frissen. De lijst was niet exhaustief, maar zeker interessant! Per werkt in tussentijd ook blijkbaar aan een boek, dus feedback kan je hem altijd geven.

De besproken tools in deze presentatie (in geen specifieke volgorde):

Desirements on the fly

Desirements on the fly

Multi-level feedback cycle (door Kris Philippaerts)

Agile (Scrum) is gebaseerd op empirische controle – een continue cyclus van plan/do/check/act (inspectie en adaptatie). Dit betekent dat er veel verschillende feedback cycli aanwezig zijn, meer dan dat men op het eerste zicht erkent. De oefening bestaat er uit om voor de verschillende feedback cycli te achterhalen wat er gebeurt: tijdens welk ritueel (event, maar niet enkel ”meetings”), wat is de output (het artefact), wie is degene die het creëert.

En dit voor lange-termijn visie, business requirements, technische realisatie, planning en budget, en team dynamiek. Het doel van de oefening is ook te bekijken welke van deze feedback cycli expliciet aanwezig zijn in een framework zoals Scrum en welke impliciet. Belangrijk is om te realiseren dat deze feedback cycli bestaan en men vb. tijdens review en retrospectives rekening houdt met het bestaan ervan (of deze onderscheidt) en vervolgens de output naar de correcte stakeholders stuurt en opvolgt.

Link naar het artikel op InfoQ: Feedback Cycles in Scrum

Scrum feedback cycles team team dynamics

Scrum feedback cycles team team dynamics

Scrum feedback cycles technical realisation

Scrum feedback cycles technical realisation

Scrum feedback cycles planning and budget

Scrum feedback cycles planning and budget

Scrum feedback cycles long-term vision

Scrum feedback cycles long-term vision

Scrum feedback cycles business requirements

Scrum feedback cycles business requirements