Scrum Log Jeff Sutherland

Scrum is an Agile development framework that Jeff Sutherland invented at Easel Corporation in 1993. Jeff worked with Ken Schwaber to formalize Scrum at OOPSLA'95. Together, they extended and enhanced Scrum at many software companies and helped write the Agile Manifesto.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Scrum Podcast: Andy Latham's conversations with thought leaders


Listen to conversations with thought-leaders at the interface between Web 2.0, Libraries, and the Semantic Web... by Andy Latham

Jeff Sutherland talks with Talis about SCRUM

In our latest Talking with Talis podcast, I talk with Jeff Sutherland about SCRUM. Jeff is one of the co-creators of SCRUM and is also the Chief Technology Officer of PatientKeeper.

During our conversation, we discuss the SCRUM process, examining the theory and the history behind it and we explore the benefits of adopting SCRUM in software development.

During the conversation, we refer to the following:

* Jeff's SCRUM blog

* Agile Software Development

* Ken Schwaber

* Scrum Alliance

* Kent Beck

* Extreme Programming

* Yahoo!

* Google AdWords

This conversation was conducted by telephone on Friday 13th April 2007 and edited in Audacity.

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Monday, April 16, 2007

Oursourcing Strategy: Only Work with Scrum Teams

I had an exciting week in the Amsterdam area at the beginning of April working with Xebia, a consulting company that has set up a subsidiary in India that uses a SirsiDynix style Scrum where geographic transparency rules and teams are made up of people from multiple locations that meet daily. Aggressive, well functioning Scrums can use this style of organization to radically force teams across geographies to function as one entity. If you want to outsource to India, work through the Xebia India team. You have to try this to see how it works. Set up a test case. Outsource one project to an India waterfall team. Outsource another through Xebia to an India Scrum team and see what happens. You will be surprised by the results.

There are only a few hours time difference between Amsterdam and India so their daily working relationship is excellent with overlapped schedules. I spent some time with the leader of the Indian organization who worked for Xebia in Amsterdam for many years and took the opportunity to return to India and build Agile teams. He and his Indian teams have a tight working relationship with the Amsterdam consulting group.

For information on Xebia, check out Serge Beaumont's blog item on the manager's role in Scrum. We were discussing this over a few beers at an outstanding Dutch restaurant and Serge asked me about the PatientKeeper MetaScrum which meets on a weekly basis. It is led by the Chief Product Owner. However, the CEO is almost always there and aggressively removes company impediments. This led Serge to a brilliant insight. The PatientKeeper CEO is the ScrumMaster of our MetaScrum! That's one of the reasons it works so well.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Deep Agile: A Dialogue Between Scrum and XP

The Plan is the ProblemPhoto from cover of Crosstalk, Apr 2007

Spend two days with two signatories of the Agile Manifesto - Jeff Sutherland, Co-Creator of Scrum, and Ron Jeffries, XP author and consultant.

You wouldn't want to miss a two day deep dive into Agile: Scrum, Extreme Programming(XP) and Lean steps to software development success. Not to mention how to get Scrum and XP working together ...

When: April 28 and 29th, 2007
Where: MIT Tang Center/E51-345, Cambridge, MA

Register here. All proceeds go to the Boston chapter of the ACM.